Woe Strider + Trapjaw Kelpie + Hardened Academic

Woe Strider

Trapjaw Kelpie

Hardened Academic

How it works

1. Activate Woe Strider by sacrificing Trapjaw Kelpie.
2. When Trapjaw Kelpie 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 Trapjaw Kelpie.
4. Resolve the Woe Strider ability.
5. Repeat.

This looping engine relies on the interplay between Trapjaw Kelpie's persist ability and Woe Strider's sacrifice outlet to constantly cycle the Kelpie in and out of the graveyard. Ordinarily, the resulting -1/-1 counter would permanently shut down persist, but Hardened Academic elegantly bypasses this limitation by placing a +1/+1 counter on Trapjaw Kelpie whenever cards leave your graveyard—which naturally happens when the Kelpie triggers its own return. Because +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters annihilate each other as a state-based action, the Kelpie enters with a clean slate each time, allowing Woe Strider to sacrifice it indefinitely while scry 1 triggers pile up.