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I started wondering when the first time an infinite combo was possible in Magic: The Gathering. I went through Alpha and, as far as I could tell, there wasn't an infinite combo available among the cards there, although there were a couple pieces to well known infinite combos.

The first two cards that I noticed from Alpha were Basalt Monolith and Time Vault but I didn't notice any way to go infinite with them using just Alpha.

Looking into their famous combos, the first one that I could come up with was the Basalt Monolith / Power Artifact combo that existed as far back as Antiquities, the fifth set to be released by Wizards.

Are there any infinite combos that existed before this two card combo? Specifically, I'm looking for infinite combos that are legal to execute by tournament standards. So for example, using Basalt Monolith to tap and untap itself repeatedly wouldn't count as it doesn't advance the board state.

DenisS
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    Not an infinite combo, but the insta-win combo of choice then was channel -> fireball – John Jan 25 '20 at 00:01
  • Rocket launcher, ornithopter, and [I can't remember]. – Mazura Jan 25 '20 at 19:24
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    Basalt Monolith all on its own is an infinite combo. It's kind of boring, but hey. – Showsni Jan 25 '20 at 21:38
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    @Showsni I thought that too, that's why I added in the last paragraph. I was looking for an infinite that advanced the board. I'm pretty sure if you tried to do that in a tournament you'd get yelled at for slow play. – DenisS Jan 26 '20 at 01:42

4 Answers4

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According to this Reddit post, the first infinite combo was Animate Artifact, Time Vault and Instill Energy.

By animating and untapping Time Vault and then tapping it would gain the player infinite turns.

This is the first infinite combo in Magic.

Aulis Ronkainen
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    Since all of those cards were printed in Alpha, it is definitely at least tied for being the first infinite combo. – murgatroid99 Jan 24 '20 at 21:58
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    The pedant in me says that you need a way to reshuffle the graveyard into the library otherwise you deck out. Fortunately, Timetwister is also an Alpha card, so even if you buy that argument it doesn't change the answer. – Arcanist Lupus Jan 25 '20 at 00:24
  • @ArcanistLupus I slightly disagree. Normally there are enough cards in a player's library for them to win even though they don't have Timetwister in their deck. Though this is not always the case and it is dependent on what format is played. – Aulis Ronkainen Jan 25 '20 at 14:57
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    @AulisRonkainen Ah, but we're not trying to win, here. We're trying to "go infinite". But you're not wrong either. – Arcanist Lupus Jan 25 '20 at 15:46
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    @ArcanistLupus Good point. I guess I was looking this through my Spike glasses :) – Aulis Ronkainen Jan 25 '20 at 15:55
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    This is definitely the answer, can't get much earlier than the first set. – DenisS Jan 25 '20 at 22:00
  • @ArcanistLupus - I just realized that sometimes, to keep the infinite combo alive, you must not only not run out of cards, but your oppenent must not run out of life. What a kill-joy. – quetzalcoatl Jan 27 '20 at 20:28
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These cards are all available in Alpha:

Animate Artifact + Time Vault + Instill Energy

  1. Time Vault
  2. Enchant Time Vault With Animate Artifact
  3. Enchant Time Vault with Instill Energy
  4. Instill Energy - {0}: Untap enchanted Time Vault
  5. Time Vault - {T}: Take an Extra Turn
  6. Repeat for potentially infinite turns (the deck must support this)
Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla
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While the loop that Aulis and Ayatollah describe is undoubtedly the best infinite combo in Alpha, it is not the only infinite combo in Alpha.

Step 1:
Play your entire deck, until there are only 9 cards combined in your graveyard, hand, and library.
Step 2:
Play Time Walk
Step 3:
Play Timetwister, shuffle your graveyard and hand into your library, and draw 7 cards, including a Regrowth.
Step 4:
Start your next turn, draw your eighth card. Play Regrowth, getting back Timetwister. You now have Time Walk and Timetwister in hand. Step 5:
See Step 1

I'm guessing that this one didn't see much play.

Arcanist Lupus
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    Most games end before either player is down to 9 cards in their library – murgatroid99 Jan 25 '20 at 07:33
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    The Weissman Deck sometimes went infinite. Although it used Ice Age cards, I'm pretty sure a functioning version could have been made with Alpha only. Of course, no one knew MtG well enough to make such a deck. – JollyJoker Jan 25 '20 at 11:31
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    @murgatroid99 I did say it wasn't a very good combo, didn't I? It's massively impractical, but it does work. – Arcanist Lupus Jan 25 '20 at 15:50
  • The Weissman thought stuck in my head. Alpha had Control Magic to replace the Moats. City of Brass is no issue since opponents have neither Blood Moon nor Strip Mine; all duals is fine. Losing Mana Drain is regrettable, but Counterspell plus Power Drain is fine. Amnesia over Mind Twist was questionable anyway, Ivory Tower, Balance and Wrath of God can probably fit in. I'm pretty sure this would have beaten the shit out of the field back in those days. – JollyJoker Jan 25 '20 at 21:21
  • AFAIK, This combo was never "legal by tournament standards" because Timetwister was in the initial list of cards that were restricted for tournament use (i.e., one copy only). – RBarryYoung Jan 26 '20 at 19:51
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    @RBarryYoung Replaced the second Timetwister with Regrowth – Arcanist Lupus Jan 26 '20 at 22:36
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A variation on anarchist lupus’s combo allows for infinite mana and infinite castings of any instant or sorcery.

1 enchant an island with four wild growths

2 get your hand, graveyard and Library down to 8 cards with time twister in graveyard. In your hand you have one ley druid, one instill energy, one twiddle, one regrowth (or time twister), unsummon and two open card slots for whatever you want to cast infinitely

3 tap your enchanted island for 1 blue and 4 green ,play the ley druid and put instill energy on it. untap/tap the island 2 more times with the ley druid and use the twiddle to untap/tap it again

4 unsummon the ley druid

5 regrowth your time twister, cast it and start again at step 3, after the first cycle the island starts taped so the net gain per cycle is 5 mana

You can make infinite mana of any color by including a land that makes that color and alternating taps from the ley druid

Mr Purple
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    This appears to use cards that are released over a decade after the game was released and the first infinite combo was in the initial release. – Joe W Apr 01 '21 at 22:40
  • Check your facts Joe W, these cards are all in alpha. – Mr Purple Apr 02 '21 at 17:54
  • When I was doing a search yesterday I was showing a card that was not listed as an alpha release and today it is, I must have done something wrong with my initial search. – Joe W Apr 02 '21 at 18:00
  • Also while this is an infinite combo the setup needed is a bit insane and will very rarely happen. – Joe W Apr 02 '21 at 18:04
  • I agree that it’s not a practical deck but the post asks for the first infinite combo in magic and this is it for mana and among only a small number even today that can infinitely cast any Instant or sorcery. – Mr Purple Apr 02 '21 at 21:15
  • You can also tack in infinite turns with time walk and Island sanctuary but if you can’t win once you have the combo more turns probably won’t help you. – Mr Purple Apr 02 '21 at 21:18
  • Honestly this combo isn't any different than another answer that uses timetwister and regrowth that was posted over a year ago. Sure the finer details are different but it really isn't different than an existing answer and the requirement to have only 8 cards in your hand/library/graveyard make it very hard to pull off and the deck needs to be made for it as well. – Joe W Apr 02 '21 at 22:12
  • The post is not about making a good deck, it’s just about how you make infinite mana in alpha, if you can make infinite mana in alpha a better way I’d love to see it. It’s similarity to the post from anarchist lupus is why I call it a variation on that post right at the start – Mr Purple Apr 03 '21 at 06:49