Stalwart Successor + Shilgengar, Sire of Famine + Heartmender

Stalwart Successor

Shilgengar, Sire of Famine

Heartmender

How it works

1. Activate Shilgengar by sacrificing Heartmender
2. When Heartmender dies, its persist ability triggers, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
3. When Heartmender enters, Stalwart Successor triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on Heartmender
4. Resolve the Shilgengar ability.
5. Repeat.

This intricate loop is masterminded by Shilgengar, Sire of Famine, who eagerly turns sacrificed creatures into Blood tokens to fund mass graveyard recursion. When you sacrifice Heartmender to Shilgengar, its persist ability triggers to bring it right back, but it would normally enter with a hindering -1/-1 counter. That is where Stalwart Successor cleverly steps in: its triggered ability notices the counters being placed for the first time that turn and counters the penalty by placing a +1/+1 counter on Heartmender instead, which naturally annihilates both counters via state-based actions. This leaves Heartmender entirely pristine and ready to be sacrificed all over again, generating an endless cascade of artifacts, entries, and deaths across legal formats from Commander to Vintage.