At this point, Chthonian Nightmare has become a household name in Constructed. Some Energy players in Modern choose to splash black and utilize the powerful Enchantment. Even outside of Energy shells, the card has shown up in archetypes like Zombie combo in Modern and Legacy as an engine to recur your combo pieces.
As cool as Chthonian Nightmare is in Constructed, though, it also lends itself to some neat infinite combos in Commander. There are a multitude of different ways to generate infinite mana if you have the right creatures to pair with Chthonian Nightmare. Let’s go over a couple of the most intriguing synergies out there.
Chthonian Nightmare and Dockside Extortionist
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Rare
- MTG Set: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: When Chthonian Nightmare enters the battlefield, you get three energy counters. Pay X energy, Sacrifice a creature, Return Chthonian Nightmare to its owner’s hand: Return target creature card with mana value X from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.
The first combo involves pairing Chthonian Nightmare with Dockside Extortionist. Dockside Extortionist is infamously one of Commander’s strongest cards by itself. With Chthonian Nightmare, though, it’s easy to generate infinite mana under the right circumstances. In order to net infinite mana, you need Dockside Extortionist in your graveyard, a random creature with mana value four or less under your control, and your opponents must have at least five artifacts and/or enchantments under their control. From there, you can execute the following steps:
- Cast Chthonian Nightmare, netting three Energy counters
- Pay two Energy and sacrifice your other creature to Chthonian Nightmare, returning Dockside Extortionist to play and Chthonian Nightmare to your hand. This will net you at least five Treasures
- Use two Treasures to recast Chthonian Nightmare, netting three more Energy
- Use your Energy to sacrifice Dockside Extortionist to Chthonian Nightmare, returning your other creature to play and Chthonian Nightmare to your hand
- Use two more Treasures to cast Chthonian Nightmare once again, netting three Energy. You should have at least one Treasure remaining
- Repeat these steps over and over
By looping Dockside Extortionist between your graveyard and the battlefield, you can generate infinite Treasures. From there, the world is your oyster.
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Chthonian Nightmare, Cathodion, and Priest of Gix
- Mana Value: 3
- Rarity: Common
- Stats: 3/3
- MTG Sets: Urza’s Saga, Mirrodin, Commander 2014, Modern Masters 2015, Commander Anthology Volume II, Ultimate Masters, Double Masters
- Card Text: When Cathodion dies, add three colorless mana.
In a similar vein, you can also generate infinite mana with Cathodion and Priest of Gix. Cathodion nets you three mana when it dies, and Priest of Gix rewards you with three black mana when it enters the battlefield. As such, you can perform a similar loop to the one described above to get infinite mana. You just need Cathodion in play, Priest of Gix in your graveyard, and Chthonian Nightmare in hand. Then you can execute the procedure below:
- Cast Chthonian Nightmare, netting three Energy counters
- Pay three Energy, sacrifice Cathodion and return Chthonian Nightmare to your hand, adding three colorless mana to your mana pool. Return Priest of Gix to play, adding three black mana to your mana pool
- Recast Chthonian Nightmare using one colorless and one black mana, netting three Energy. You have two black and two colorless mana still floating
- Pay three Energy, sacrifice Priest of Gix and return Chthonian Nightmare to hand. Return Cathodion to play
- Cast Chthonian Nightmare once more using one colorless and one black mana, netting three Energy. You have one colorless and one black mana floating.
- Repeat these steps over and over
This does often take a bit more setup to accomplish. However, this combo works even if you don’t have access to the color red in your Commander deck. Chthonian Nightmare is an awesome card, especially if you have other Energy enablers at your disposal. Make sure to keep these combos in mind when you’re building your next Commander deck.
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