Tarkir: Dragonstorm spoilers are still coming out of the woodworks, but we’ve already seen a number of exciting build-arounds. From an Omniscience for Dragons to a Collected Company for noncreature permanents, this set is jam-packed with sweet designs that have immense potential, so long as you put the work in.
Today, a unique black enchantment was revealed that certainly fits the bill. For most decks, the card is just bad. However, it opens the door for a handful of combos that can let you win out of nowhere. If you’re a fan of janky synergies, look no further.
The Sibsig Ceremony and The Dungeon
The enchantment we’re referencing is called The Sibsig Ceremony. The Sibsig Ceremony is a very weird design. For three black mana, you get a Heartless Summoning variant with a bit more going on. Your creatures all cost two less mana, but when you cast them, they immediately die, and you get a 2/2 Zombie Druid token instead.
As such, the creature discount doesn’t really help in any way unless you’re able to abuse it. Fortunately, there are a number of combos available, the first of which involves casting Acererak, the Archlich infinite times.
Acererak interacts extremely favorably with The Sibsig Ceremony. You start by casting it for one black mana. When Acererak enters, you’ll want to stack the triggers from Acererak and The Sibsig Ceremony so that Acererak return to your hand before it’s destroyed. With the way The Sibsig Ceremony is worded, you still get the 2/2 Zombie Druid token for your efforts. This transaction will have you flooding the board with Zombies in no time.
On top of that, though, if you add Relic of Legends into the mix, you can actually enter the Dungeon infinite times and make infinite Zombies! Simply tap Acererak for black before bouncing it back to your hand, then use that black mana to recast Acererak and go nuts. Using Lost Mines of Phandelver, going into the Dark Pool room infinite times will drain your opponent of all their life.
Myr Retriever Combo
Another cool combo involving The Sibsig Ceremony can be achieved when you pair the enchantment with two copies of Myr Retriever. Myr Retriever is a two-mana artifact that lets you return an artifact to your hand whenever it dies, such as another copy of Myr Retriever.
With this in mind, you’ll start by casting the first copy of Myr Retriever for free. It will die, netting you a 2/2 Zombie. Then, follow up by casting your second copy. The same result will happen, except this time, you can return the other copy of Myr Retriever from your graveyard to your hand.
By looping both copies of Myr Retriever, you end up with infinite tokens out of the deal.
Gravecrawler Combo
Interestingly, The Sibsig Ceremony’s ability that destroys your creatures only triggers if you cast the creature, but it doesn’t matter where you cast the creature from. If you cast a creature from your graveyard, you still get a 2/2, and that creature will go back to your graveyard.
This makes it possible to go infinite with Gravecrawler and a support card like Dazzling Theater. Once you get a single black Zombie in play, you can use that Zombie to Convoke out Gravecrawler. Gravecrawler will die, and you’ll get another 2/2.
That 2/2 can then Convoke out Gravecrawler once again, and so forth. The end result is infinite tokens once again. The only thing to note is that the tokens that were used for Convoke purposes will be tapped, so you won’t be able to block with them right away.
Cool Synergies
In addition to these infinite combos, there are some cool synergies that players may be able to make use of in a Commander setting. One idea that comes to mind is to pair The Sibsig Ceremony with indestructible creatures. Your creatures won’t die from The Sibsig Ceremony, but you’ll still make a 2/2 Zombie Druid.
Going a step further, pairing The Sibsig Ceremony with Eldrazi Monument and a slew of creatures can be scary to face down. Every creature you play will now come with a bonus 2/2, which you can always sacrifice to pay the upkeep cost of Eldrazi Monument.
Another group of cards to synergize with The Sibsgi Ceremony are those with potent death triggers. Even something small like casting Solemn Simularcum for two mana and getting a 2/2, fetching a land, and drawing a card at once is pretty sweet. Marketback Walker is another example of a card that works well with the discount The Sibsig Ceremony provides.
Both Solemn Simulacrum and Marketback Walker are Standard legal, though it still seems unlikely that The Sibsig Ceremony will make much noise there. Nonetheless, the enchantment is a cool card to construct a deck around, and it’ll be interesting to see what other degenerate ways players come up with to abuse it.