With thousands of legendary creatures in MTG, Commander offers tons of different themes to build around, and some Commanders that mesh two popular ones together. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, for instance, perfectly combines Counters and Tokens themes to take over games on the cheap. With tons of infinite combo potential at its disposal, this legend is quite a powerful Commander option.
MTG Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
Most of Hapatra’s value comes from its second ability, which rewards you for putting -1/-1 counters on creatures by generating Snake tokens, and connecting in combat can get things started. Luckily, evasion-granting equipment like Whispersilk Cloak
Whispersilk CloakEquipped creature can't be blocked and has shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {2} and My Precious make this trivial.
Given that there’s no cap on how many times Hapatra’s second ability can trigger, though, you’re incentivized to fill your deck to the brim with -1/-1 counter support. Synergizing with Hapatra, Persistent Constrictor and Sinister Gnarlbark
Sinister GnarlbarkAt the beginning of your end step, draw a card and blight 1. (Put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control.) provide value every turn cycle, making them strong inclusions. Alternatively, effects that put -1/-1 counters on all creatures at once, like Soul Snuffers and Black Sun’s Zenith, can create instant board states with Hapatra.
After getting some -1/-1 counters on board, any Proliferate staple from Evolution Sage to Plaguemaw Beast can keep the Snake-generation train rolling. With the help of Nest of Scarabs and any token doubler like Parallel Lives
Parallel LivesIf an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead., it won’t take long before you amass a huge army. From there, Mirkwood Bats and various typal payoffs like Coat of Arms and Seshiro the Anointed help press your advantage.
Notably, because all of your Snakes have Deathtouch, you even have the luxury of abusing Deathtouch payoffs like Fynn, the Fangbearer and Hooded Blightfang. These cards add tons of pressure on your opponents to block with their beefy threats just to stay alive.
Then, as your opponents’ creatures start biting the dust, Necroskitter and Dread Tiller start pulling you further ahead. Any Blood Artist effects start popping off in the process, and with the help of a sacrifice outlet like Ashnod’s Altar, ending games should be trivial.
Infinite Life Drain, Tokens, and Mana
While Hapatra is fully capable of spiraling out of control without going infinite, there are plenty of combos that end the game on the spot. By pairing Hapatra with Blowfly Infestation and any Blood Artist effect, for example, you can infinitely drain your opponents of all their life. You just need two one-toughness creatures in play to start, but this should be a trivial task for Hapatra.
To start, simply put a -1/-1 counter on one of your one-toughness creatures with any effect. This causes Hapatra and Blowfly Infestation to trigger, netting you a 1/1 token and letting you put a -1/-1 counter on another one-toughness creature you control. Thanks to the continuous token production, you’re free to repeat this process until all opponents are dead. Notably, Host of the Hereafter fills the same role as Infestation, adding some nice combo redundancy.
If infinite life drain weren’t enough, you can also generate infinite tokens and mana by utilizing Devoted Druid and Ivy Lane Denizen. You’ll want to start by tapping Druid for G, then untapping it by putting a -1/-1 counter on it. This triggers Hapatra, netting you a token that triggers Ivy Lane Denizen in the process. Now, you can put a +1/+1 counter back on Devoted Druid, letting you reactivate it again and again.
Digging even deeper, if you manage to land Hapatra alongside Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and a Blood Artist effect, you can successfully kill all opposing creatures at once. While this technically isn’t an infinite combo, executing this synergy will typically enable you to draw a ton of cards and drain your opponents a bunch.
Super Cheap and Super Powerful
Ultimately, between its impact as a value engine and combo piece, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is an extremely strong Commander option. Opposing creature decks risk getting their boards completely demolished, too, especially those relying on small tokens.
With this upside in mind, it’s a bit surprising that there are under 6,000 Commander decks to Hapatra’s name, according to EDHREC. The good news, however, is that copies can be picked up for a measly $0.25. This makes the legend a low-risk, high-reward pickup that’s certainly worth giving a shot.
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