It’s no secret that preconstructed Commander decks offer a fantastic entry point into the format. For new and old players alike, the shuffle up and play experience is unmatched in convenience and accessibility. That being said, precons do have some problems, as they’re not exactly the strongest Commander decks around.
Infinite combos, for instance, are a common Commander win condition that are typically missing from Wizards preconstructed decks. This makes the Jeskai Striker precon a lot more enticing than the vast majority of decks. Recently, players have discovered that this preconstructed deck contains an infinite combo out of the box.
While this combo does require some setup, it nonetheless provides the opportunity to win the game from nowhere. It might not be on the level of a custom-built combo-based Commander deck, but Jeskai Strikers has serious promise nonetheless.
Adaptive Training Post
The infinite combo in question involves the new Jeskai Striker precon card Adaptive Training Post. Our review of this card was less than stellar, and even with this infinite combo in the deck, our evaluation doesn’t change. Outside of a dedicated spellslinger deck, Adaptive Training Post is difficult to justify. You need to cast three instants or sorceries with this in play to even get any payoff. You’ll also need to cast another card to get that payoff. Ultimately, it’s a lot of work that can be better done by other options.
Regardless, copying spells can easily lead to infinites, and the Jeskai Striker precon is no exception. This card combos with Expansion/Explosion, a split card that appears in the precon. The combo essentially creates an effect that infinitely copies spells.
Expanding Infinitely
While both halves of this split card are useful in the Jeskai Striker precon, this particular combo utilizes Expansion. For two mana, Expansion allows you to copy an instant or sorcery with mana value four or less. This type of spell routinely creates infinites with other copy effects, including Adaptive Training Post. Expansion can target another instance of itself, which will, in turn, create an infinite number of Expansions.
Here’s how to set up the infinite in Jeskai Striker:
- Have Adaptive Training Post at three charge counters. Activate the card’s ability, removing them before casting Expansion.
- Cast Expansion targeting a legal target. This will trigger Adaptive Training Post, making a copy of Expansion.
- Use your second Expansion copy to target your first Expansion copy. This will create a new Expansion spell. Use that to target your first Expansion, which should still be on the stack. Rinse and repeat.
So this infinite combo lets you copy infinite spells, which is all well and good. On its own, however, this copy engine lacks a proper payoff to win the game. Fortunately, there is a payoff for this combo within the Jeskai Stricker precon.
Combo Payoffs
The easiest way to find a payoff for creating infinite copies of a spell involves Magecraft from Strixhaven. Lots of MTG cards trigger in response to casting an instant or sorcery, but very few trigger as a result of copying one. Magecraft is the exception.
There are two Magecraft cards in Jeskai Striker. If you have both in play while doing this infinite combo, you’ll win on the spot. Archmage Emeritus draws a card whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery. This, combined with the Expansion combo, draws your entire deck.
The other Magecraft creature in this deck is Storm-Kiln Artist. This card creates a Treasure Token whenever you cast or copy an Instant or Sorcery spell. Thanks to this, Storm-Kiln Artist will generate infinite mana with the Expansion combo.
Combining both of these cards together will allow you to draw your entire deck and create as many Treasure Tokens as you can in the process. You can even use a card like Abrade to kill your Archmage Emeritus mid-combo so you won’t deck out if you want to keep creating Treasures.
From there, you can cast your entire library, which should easily be able to win the game. You can even use Lier, Disciple of the Drowned to Flashback your Expansion once your Training Post is back to three counters to establish the infinite a second time. If you can pull off this combo with both Magecraft creatures in play, winning becomes trivial.
Infinite Combo Commander Precon
Assembling this infinite combo is far from easy, but it does give your Jeskai Striker precon an instant win button. Creating the Expansion combo isn’t terribly difficult, but doing so with a payoff in play is very tough. Not only that, but just having one payoff generally won’t get you far. Archmage Emeritus will draw your deck, but you won’t be able to cast your cards. Similarly, Storm-Kiln Artist can create infinite mana, but you might not be able to use it for much without more support.
If you have to pick only one payoff to have, Archmage Emeritus is better. Notably, there is a Reliquary Tower in the Jeskai Striker decklist, which will prevent you from discarding to hand size if you plan properly.
One bizarre implication about this infinite is that it interacts strangely with the Commander Bracket System. Technically, you need three cards for this infinite combo to do anything, which allows this to be entered into the Commander precon bracket, but the combo itself only involves two cards.
This was the least impressive-looking preconstructed deck, in my opinion, but this infinite combo gives the Jeskai Striker deck a more interesting angle. Assembling the combo won’t be easy, but if players spend more time trying to take one another out, you may be able to sneak away with a victory.