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MTG Foundations’ most broken infinite combo was no coincidence

Posted on by Pranco
MTG Foundations’ most broken infinite combo was no coincidence

Ethan Dean

Magic: The Gathering Foundations has a contender for the strongest infinite combo of the set, and according to one of the game’s Senior Designers, it’s planned to be there.

We’re in the middle of one of the best times to have a Magic: the meeting fan and a newcomer to the hobby. MTG Foundations has arrived the early stages of launch and this latest set is a back-to-basics set that is also suitable for old Planeswalkers are taking their first tentative steps in historical TCM.

A big reason why Foundations is so good at finding this balance is due to its simple mechanics, but there’s another factor. Foundations contains reprints of classic cards from the TCG’s 30-year lifespan and some brand new entries to synergize with them.

This approach has led to the most feared infinite combo of the set, facilitated by Bloodthirsty Conquerer and Marauding Blight-Priest. This vampiric one-two punch is legal by default and is about to become the bane of MTG starters and veterans alike.

MTG Foundations Bloodthirsty Conqueror Infinite ComboWizards of the coast

For some context, Marauding Blight-Priest was first introduced in MTG’s Zendikar Rising in 2020 and received a reprint in Foundations. Bloodthirsty Conquerer is a brand new card from the recently released set.

The infinite combination between these two cards is achieved thanks to their synergistic cantrips. The bloodthirsty conqueror’s innate ability reads: “Every time an opponent loses a life, you gain that much life.” Marauding Blight-Priest’s ability is a sort of inversion of this and reads: “Every time you gain a life, each opponent loses 1 life”.

So to win a match instantly, all you have to do is put both cards on the board and find a way to remove a certain amount of life from your opponent. The two cards’ abilities are then activated repeatedly in a loop until your opponent runs out of life and you have an abundance of it.
The wording Marauding Blight-Priest, which states that “each opponent loses 1 life”, also means that this combo can be used in multiplayer formats such as Commander. The sheer power of this infinite combination caused some players to wonder if including these two cards in the same set was an accident.

MTG Senior designer Carmen Klomparens agreed with X to reveal that this infinite combination was 100% intentional. They also took the time to explain why it was included.

“When we were working on Foundations, the team really wanted to make sure we made the best “Core Set” ever,” Klomparens explains in the thread. “The goal of Foundations was something along the lines of ‘Closing the gap between ‘someone who is a new Magic player’ and ‘a Magic player’.”

For this reason, Klomparens revealed that the team wanted to ensure that it did not “infantilize new players”. Overwhelming combos are an essential part of the MTG experience, and the ability to discover them on your own, or after falling victim to them, is something the Wizards of the Coast design team wanted to give new players with Foundations.

“Maybe this turns out to be too strong, but it felt like the kind of format that was a reasonable bet to give players a taste of cool things that can happen in Magic,” Klomparens continued. “I’m not saying a player will never call bulls**t on an infinite combo in their 5th game, but there’s a chance someone in their 50th game will say, ‘Wow! Can you do that? Sick!’ has this in the area where we feel the juice is worth it.

Whether you’re just starting your journey with MTG Foundations, or it’s the next in a long list of sets you’re collecting, you’ll want to get your hands on Bloodthirsty Conquerer and Marauding Blight-Priest. Luckily, Marauding Blight-Priest can be found in the MTG Foundations Starter Collection. For Bloodthirsty Conquerer you have to try your luck with boosters.