Woe Strider + Furystoke Giant + Hardened Academic

Woe Strider

Furystoke Giant

Hardened Academic

How it works

1. Activate Woe Strider by sacrificing Furystoke Giant.
2. When Furystoke Giant dies, its persist ability triggers, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
3. Hardened Academic triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on Furystoke Giant.
4. Resolve the Woe Strider ability.
5. Repeat.

This elegant loop turns Woe Strider into an engine of endless sacrifices, leveraging its ability to feed itself with its own Goat token or recycled friends. When you sacrifice Furystoke Giant to fuel that altar, its persist ability naturally brings it back with a -1/-1 counter, but Hardened Academic steps in to gracefully cancel out that drawback by dropping a +1/+1 counter whenever cards leave your graveyard. This continuous resurrection scheme also means Furystoke Giant's enter-the-battlefield trigger from its initial arrival keeps your entire board armed with its tap ability to rain down damage.