Much Abrew: Moritte Saga Infinite Mill (Historic)
Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. Ever since Kaldheim was released, people have been asking me about the infinite combo involving Harald Unites the Elves and Moritte of the Frost. After featuring a viewer-submitted Historic version of the combo on last week's Fish Tank, I figured we should probably give the archetype a try. I made some updates to the deck, but the primary plan is the same: get two copies of Moritte of the Frost in the graveyard, play a Harald Unites the Elves, reanimate Moritte (which is technically an Elf) copying Harald Unites the Elves, and reanimate another Moritte with the new Harald Unites the Elves copying the saga again, which legend-rules the first Moritte Harald Unites the Elves so we have another Moritte in the graveyard to reanimate. We can do this an infinite number of times (milling our entire deck in the process) and then (hopefully) win either because we have a Iceberg Cancrix to mill our opponent's deck too (allowing us to pass the turn and make our opponent lose to drawing a card with an empty library on their draw step) or with Thassa's Oracle. Simple, right? Can the super-janky plan work in Historic? Let's get to the video and find out and then we'll talk more about the deck!
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Much Abrew: Moritte Saga Infinite Mill
Discussion
- Technically, we went 2-3 with the deck, counting a very salty roping from our opponent once we killed their Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, although I can tell you that I played a ton of matches with the deck while testing and tuning, and it wasn't very competitive. While the combo is sweet and can catch people by surprise, and we did a pretty good job of winning at least one game each match with the combo even in our losses (and we had one match where we might have won if we had taken a different line), it's not especially consistent.
- So, what do we need to combo off? Step one is two copies of Moritte of the Frost in the graveyard. Second, we need a Harald Unites the Elves in hand. Third, we need some way to win the game with the infinite-saga mill, which generally means a Iceberg Cancrix on the battlefield or a Thassa's Oracle in hand (or a God-Pharaoh's Gift on the battlefield and one of these cards in our graveyard).
- The actual mechanics of the combo are sort of weird. We're basically abusing the fact that Moritte of the Frost makes a legendary copy of the permanent it clones. This means we can play our first Harald Unites the Elves, reanimate Moritte to copy Harald Unites the Elves, and use the new Harald Unites the Elves to reanimate the second Moritte of the Frost, which legend-rules the first copy so we have a Moritte of the Frost in the graveyard to reanimate with the new Harald Unites the Elves. We then can do this an infinite number of times, which by itself just mills our deck, but can win us the game with one extra combo piece.
- So, how do we turn infinite self-mill into a victory? We do have one Thassa's Oracle, although its drawback is that we need to cast it after we combo to actually win with it, which can be a bit clunky since we'll technically need six mana to combo, rather than four. The other option is Iceberg Cancrix. Because Moritte of the Frost is a snow permanent, no matter what it copies, the Harald Unites the Elves loop will trigger Iceberg Cancrix an infinite number of times, allowing us to mill out our opponent. Even though our library will also be empty, we can pass the turn, so our opponent will be the first player to draw a card (on their draw step), and then we'll win.
- The biggest additions to the deck compared to the viewer-submitted version are God-Pharaoh's Gift and Gate to the Afterlife to find it. Because we're already overloaded on self-mill creatures like Stitcher's Supplier and Merfolk Secretkeeper to support our Moritte Saga Combo, it's pretty easy to slot the additions into the deck, and they do two important things. First, God-Pharaoh's Gift gives us a somewhat legitimate backup plan. If we can't pull off the Moritte Saga Combo, we can try to win by reanimating janky creatures as 4/4s. Second, it actually helps support the combo. One thing I realized while working on the deck is that getting two Moritte of the Frost into the graveyard and finding a Harald Unites the Elves isn't usually that hard. The part that makes the deck inconsistent is that we also need a Thassa's Oracle in hand or a Iceberg Cancrix on the battlefield. However, if we have a God-Pharaoh's Gift, we can use it to reanimate either for free, which can be a big deal and helps to increase our consistency.
- Right now, Moritte Mill Combo is fun but certainly feels like an Against the Odds deck more than it does a truly competitive option. We just need too many combo pieces to make the plan work consistently enough to be a truly competitive option. That said, it is hilarious, and, as we saw in the video, it can win games and occasionally even matches. While I wouldn't recommend running out and spending a ton of wildcards to build the deck, if you have the pieces laying around, it is a funny option to mess around with on the ladder or in casual games.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
