Ghostly Flicker + Mystic Sanctuary + Time Stretch + Eternal Witness

4-card combo · GU

Verdict

Yes — this 4-card loop generates infinite turns as long as Mystic Sanctuary keeps returning Time Stretch to the top of the library.

Cards required

Cheapest stack total

$6.37

Color identity

Popularity

26 decks

Format

Commander

Buy required cards on TCGplayer

Time Stretch costs 8 mana but only needs to resolve once; Ghostly Flicker blinks Eternal Witness and Mystic Sanctuary together, Eternal Witness retrieves Ghostly Flicker, and Mystic Sanctuary puts Time Stretch back on top before the draw step of each extra turn. The lock is soft — it skips draw steps during the loop — but infinite turns functionally ends the game on the spot. This belongs in any Simic or mono-blue control shell running four or more Islands, with commanders like Kydele and Silas Renn or Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait that naturally hit that Island count.

How it works

Prerequisites

You control at least four Islands.

Steps

Activate Mystic Sanctuary by tapping it, adding .
Cast Time Stretch by paying its mana cost, causing you to take two extra turns after this one.
Move to your first extra turn.
Activate Mystic Sanctuary by tapping it, adding .
Cast Ghostly Flicker by paying , blinking Mystic Sanctuary and Eternal Witness.
When Eternal Witness and Mystic Sanctuary enter the battlefield, they trigger.
Resolve the Eternal Witness trigger, returning Ghostly Flicker from your graveyard to your hand.
Resolve the Mystic Sanctuary trigger, putting Time Stretch from your graveyard onto the top of your library.
Move to your next turn, drawing Time Stretch during your draw step.
Repeat.

Result

Infinite turns; Skip your draw steps; Lock

Cheaper, tighter, alternate lines

Reclamation Sage or any other Eternal Witness analog that returns a card from the graveyard to hand can substitute in the recursion slot, but Eternal Witness is the cleanest piece. Strionic Resonator can copy the Mystic Sanctuary trigger to avoid dependency on drawing the top card cleanly. The combo is three-piece functional — Time Stretch, Ghostly Flicker, and Mystic Sanctuary do the heavy lifting; Eternal Witness is the glue, and replacing it requires another instant-speed recursion loop.

Ghostly Flicker + Mystic Sanctuary + Time Stretch + Eternal Witness

How it works

Cheaper, tighter, alternate lines

Other combos sharing these cards