When Magic: The Gathering Star Trek officially becomes legal in Standard on Friday, November 13, an uncommon red Saga from the set will immediately enable a three card infinite token combo alongside two existing format staples.
First spotted and broken down by user u/PresidentArk on r/magicTCG on November 7, the interaction combines The Naked Time with Wilds of Eldraine’s Agatha’s Soul Cauldron (surprise, surprise), and Foundations reprint Krenko, Mob Boss. Because every newly created Goblin token enters with both haste and a +1/+1 counter on the combo turn, each token immediately inherits Krenko’s tap ability and can activate it on the spot to multiply the board infinitely.
The Three Combo Pieces and Exact Card Text
- The Naked Time ({1}{R} Enchantment Saga, Star Trek #159): Chapter I searches your library for a basic Mountain card, puts it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffles. Chapter II reads: “Whenever a creature you control enters this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it gains haste until end of turn.” Chapter III forces you to sacrifice a land.
- Agatha’s Soul Cauldron ({2} Legendary Artifact): Lets you spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control, grants all creatures you control with +1/+1 counters all activated abilities of creature cards exiled with it, and taps to exile a target card from a graveyard (putting a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control when a creature card is exiled this way).
- Krenko, Mob Boss ({2}{R}{R} Legendary Creature Goblin Warrior): Has the activated ability “{T}: Create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens, where X is the number of Goblins you control.”
How the Infinite Loop Works Step by Step
To execute the kill without ever paying Krenko’s four-mana casting cost, you first get Krenko, Mob Boss into your graveyard via red discard, looting, or self-mill effects and exile it using Agatha’s Soul Cauldron.
Once The Naked Time ticks up to Chapter II after your draw step, its delayed triggered ability applies for the rest of the turn. At that point, you only need a single Goblin on the battlefield that has a +1/+1 counter and is free to tap (either a creature that received the counter from Agatha’s Soul Cauldron’s exile ability, or any fresh Goblin cast during your main phase after Chapter II resolves).
- Because that initial Goblin has a +1/+1 counter on it, Agatha’s Soul Cauldron grants it Krenko’s tap ability.
- Tap that Goblin to create 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens equal to the number of Goblins you currently control.
- As those new Goblin tokens enter the battlefield, The Naked Time’s Chapter II trigger puts a +1/+1 counter on each of them and grants them haste until end of turn.
- Because the newly created tokens now have both +1/+1 counters and haste, they also possess Krenko’s activated ability and can tap immediately to double your Goblin count again.
Repeating the loop generates an arbitrarily large swarm of 2/2 hasty Goblins that can attack for lethal damage on the exact same turn, punching through any finite life total or wall of blockers.
Format Viability and Maindeck Counterplay
In the original r/magicTCG discussion, u/PresidentArk and commenters pointed out that The Naked Time functions as a two-mana enchantment upgrade to Strixhaven’s First Day of Class for Pioneer and Commander brewers, while ramping a basic Mountain on Chapter I before setting up the combo turn on Chapter II.
In Standard, the shell slots naturally alongside low-curve Goblin enablers like Searslicer Goblin, Howlsquad Heavy, and rummaging discard outlets that bin Krenko early while threatening a fair aggro beatdown if the combo is disrupted.
The biggest roadblock in Best-of-One and Best-of-Three Standard is Authority of the Consuls. Because the one-mana white enchantment forces opposing creatures to enter the battlefield tapped, it shuts down the immediate same-turn tap chain even when the Goblin tokens enter with haste. Commenters in the thread noted that pairing the engine with The Great Goblin or Bolg’s Company under Agatha’s Soul Cauldron offers ways to generate lethal damage or draw through the deck without relying solely on an untapped token chain.
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