I Said It Was Impossible. I Was Wrong.
During spoiler season, I said that Reflection of Kiki-Jiki was like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker but without the ability to combo. It turns out I was wrong. Here's how you can go infinite with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki in Standard!
Discussion
Back during spoiler season for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, I said that Reflection of Kiki-Jiki—the back side of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker—was like a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker but without the combo potential. It turns out that I was wrong. While it takes a lot more effort to go infinite with Reflections that it does with OG Kiki-Jiki, it is very possible, even in Standard!
When Wizards printed their homage to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, they added a huge safety valve to limit its combo potential: unlike the original, it would cost a mana to make a copy of a creature with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki. Thankfully, the new version of Kiki has a huge upside: it's not legendary, which is an essential aspect of the combo we're trying to pull off today.
We need a few things to go infinite with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki in Standard. First and foremost, we need two copies of Reflection of Kiki-Jiki. We can get them either by drawing and flipping two copies of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or by drawing and flipping one and then copying it with Jaxis, the Troublemaker. Even without extra help, having two Reflection of Kiki-Jikis is pretty powerful: we can use one to copy the other and make a bunch of copies. But since each Kiki-Jiki activation requires a mana, this is far from infinite because after we make a few Reflection of Kiki-Jikis, we'll run out of mana and fizzle.
For the combo to go fully infinite, we need a way around Reflection of Kiki-Jiki's mana cost. For this, we turn to Magda, Brazen Outlaw, which makes a Treasure token every time a Dwarf becomes tapped. Unfortunately, Reflection of Kiki-Jiki is a Goblin Shaman rather than a Dwarf, so we need one more piece to finish the combo: Maskwood Nexus, to turn Reflection of Kiki-Jiki into a Dwarf. We can either draw Maskwood Nexus naturally, or—with the help of some extra Treasure production (like Prosperous Innkeeper, which also gains us infinite life if it happens to be on the battlefield when we combo)—we can use Magda, Brazen Outlaw to sacrifice five Treasures and tutor it directly onto the battlefield.
Once we get everything set—two Reflection of Kiki-Jikis, a Magda, Brazen Outlaw, and a Maskwood Nexus—we wait until our opponent's end step to start the combo. We use one Kiki-Jiki to copy the other, which will make us a Treasure with Magda, Brazen Outlaw. By using the Treasure for mana, we can repeat this process as many times as we want and make an infinite number of Reflection of Kiki-Jikis. The reason we need to do this on our opponent's end step is that all but one of the Reflection of Kiki-Jikis will be tapped, which means they aren't especially useful (outside of potentially gaining us infinite life with Prosperous Innkeeper). If we make the tokens on our opponent's end step, they'll stick around through our turn, which means we can make a few (or few hundred) copies of Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, untap, and attack with them all for infinite (or, in the creature-limited world of Magic Arena, about 500) damage to finish the game!
While the combo is hilarious when it goes off, and it does clearly show I was wrong to say that Reflection of Kiki-Jiki didn't have any combo potential, it's also worth pointing out that it does take four pieces to work, which means it isn't especially likely to happen in any given game. The good news is that Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Magda, Brazen Outlaw are both solid cards even outside the combo, so it's not like we need to overload our deck with a bunch of unplayable cards to support the combo (outside of Maskwood Nexus, which is pretty janky but can do some powerful things, especially in conjunction with Magda). Either way, with enough careful brewing and work, it's possible to turn Reflection of Kiki-Jiki into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and go infinite, even in Standard!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today! Can you think of any other ways to go infinite with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for watching, and as always, you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
