My Top 3 Golgari Combos for Your Next Commander Game

The Golgari Swarm (black/green) has always had a special place in my heart in Commander because its entire philosophy is built around the graveyard being a resource. For players like me, a destroyed creature is just on break.

And while I love grinding out a long game with value engines, sometimes you just need to win.

But in a casual, social format like Commander, winning can be a tricky subject. I’m not here to talk about hyper-efficient, turn-three competitive wins that make the table groan.

I’m here to talk about the splashy stuff. The fun, clever, Rube Goldberg-esque machines you can build that leave the table saying, “Okay, that was awesome.”  

These are my top three favorite Golgari combos that are powerful, educational, and just plain fun to pull off.

Chatterfang and Pitiless Plunderer

This is, without a doubt, my favorite oops, I win combo in the color pair. It all centers on Chatterfang, Squirrel General, a commander who already looks like a blast to play. The combo pieces are Chatterfang, Pitiless Plunderer, and a single Squirrel token to get the engine started.  

Here’s the loop:

1. Pay one black mana and sacrifice your Squirrel to Chatterfang’s ability.  
2. The Squirrel dying triggers Pitiless Plunderer, which creates one Treasure token.  
3. Chatterfang’s ability sees you create a token and gives you a 1/1 green Squirrel token.  
4. You are now back exactly where you started with one Treasure in hand and one Squirrel on the board. You can activate the Treasure for one black mana and repeat this process infinitely.  

The best part? This infinite loop is a win condition all by itself. Every time you cycle the loop, you are resolving Chatterfang’s ability, which gives a target creature +1/-1. You can do this an infinite number of times to wipe all creatures your opponent’s control from the board.

Here’s a tip if you want to take this strategy a little more seriously. If you start this combo with two Squirrels instead of one, the whole thing becomes infinitely mana-positive.

Sacrificing two Squirrels gets you two Plunderer triggers, which Chatterfang turns into two Treasures and two new Squirrels. This gives you infinite mana of any color to cast every spell in your deck.  

Exquisite Blood and Dina, Soul Steeper

This one is a high-power casual staple for a reason. It’s a clean, two-card A+B combo that ends the game on the spot. Its pieces are also fantastic on their own in any lifegain or aristocrat’s deck.

The combo is simple. You just need Exquisite Blood on the battlefield with a card like Dina, Soul Steeper.

Here’s what the cards do:

• Exquisite Blood: Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life. 
• Dina, Soul Steeper: Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses 1 life.

The moment you start the engine by gaining any life or making an opponent lose any life, a powerful loop begins.

An opponent loses 1 life, which triggers Exquisite Blood, making you gain 1 life. This triggers Dina, making an opponent lose 1 life, which triggers Exquisite Blood again. This A-triggers-B-triggers-A loop repeats until the entire table is drained to zero.  

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion

This is an old-school combo, and I love it because it’s such a clever puzzle. Affectionately known as Mike and Trike, this two-card creature combo wins the game on the spot with no other resources needed

.  Here’s how the combo works:

1. You have Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion on the battlefield.
2. Mikaeus gives your non-Human creatures +1/+1 and Undying. Undying means If a creature dies with no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter. 
3. Triskelion (a 1/1) enters with three +1/+1 counters. Thanks to Mikaeus’s buff, it’s a 2/2 base, making it a 5/5 with three counters.

The Loop:

• Remove a counter from Triskelion to ping an opponent for 1 damage. It’s now a 4/4 with two counters left.  
• Remove a second counter, but this time, you ping Triskelion itself for 1 damage. It’s a 3/3 with one counter left, and 1 damage marked.  
• Remove the third and final counter, pinging Triskelion itself again.

How the combo works continued:

4. Triskelion is now a 2/2 (its base stats with no counters) with 2 lethal damage marked on it. It dies and goes to the graveyard.
5. Undying triggers. Because Triskelion died with zero +1/+1 counters on it, Mikaeus brings it right back.  
6. Triskelion re-enters the battlefield. It gets its usual three counters, plus the one counter from Undying. It is now a 6/6 with four counters.  

Now you have a sustainable loop. You can use two counters to ping Triskelion to kill it, and bring it back with four counters, and use the other two profit counters to ping your opponents. Repeat this process for infinite damage.  

What are your favorite Golgari combos? Let me know!