This is a small article for the reddit magic deckbuilding community.

After talking to someone today who was new to magic, i realised that some people do not understand how infinite loops work in Magic.

First thing to know is that there are 2 kinds of infinite loops: The good kind (ones you can control without any extra cards) and the bad kind (ones which require extra input, without which the game comes to a draw)

The good kind can be demonstrated with:

Having a Leonin Relic-warder and a Suture Priest out on the field, then playing a Fiend Hunter, exiling the kitty. After that resolves, if we Oblivion Ring the Hunter, that causes the kitty to enter the battlefield again. When the kitty enters the battlefield, if we exile the o-ring with it, the hunter comes back. Repeat the process until you have enough life (you can state a arbitrary number, like 54756489), then use either the oblivion ring or the hunter to exile the priest, thus breaking the loop. Your opponent should get the idea.

The bad kind can be shown with something as simple as 3 oblivion rings exiling each other and no way to stop it.

I had to edit this post due to a rules discrepancy, so the old “bad” example is no more.

These are not the only loops in the game, so go out and look for them!

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