2x Eternal Witness + Altar of Dementia + Aluren = Entire deck milled in one turn. The above + Leyline of the Void = Entire deck milled from the game - no chance to recover. First turn: Forest, Sol Ring, Altar Second turn: Forest, Aluren, WIN Of course, this is an optimal hand - but I have seen this happen before more than once. :)

  -- By Rageling from New York on August 06, 2010

This card is really good. You can get a lot of different combos going with this card one of my favorites being: 1st turn dark rit buried alive. Search for three nether shadows and throw them in your graveyard second turn dark rit and throw out a nether shadow and your altar of dementia. Third turn yields complete decking. What Astyanax doesnt realize with the nether shadows is that once you sacrifice one during your upkeep it goes to your graveyard and you have 4 in there again. The last one in the line shuffles into play and you repeat process until your opponents deck is no more. Another card I like to put in is Phyrexian Plaguelord for creature control. With him you get to sacrifice a creature and target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Repeat process until all your opponents creatures are 0/0s.

  -- By Victor from Alaska on July 14, 2010

Squirrel Nest + Earthcraft + Altar of Dementia = Insta-win

  -- By Paul from nh on March 14, 2010

Drop a Traumatize, Lord of Extinction and then this. If you manage to keep it in play long enough to actually use, lean back and laugh.

  -- By Anonymous from yo on February 15, 2010

Very powerful card, 0 mana cost to mill. One of my favorite parts of my relentless rats deck. Get 20 rats out (using thrumming stone), then mill the player with 1 or 2 rats. Great in any monocreature deck with Coat of Arms in play as well. Or you can use it in any deck with good graveyard recall to get things into the graveyard quickly. Many uses.

  -- By hiimjered from IL on December 30, 2009

Jeremy, the combo looks good! Seems to me like it would work exactly the way you described.

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on September 01, 2009

Yeah this card looks very good , I was wondering if you could use this card with Reins of Power , attack my opponent with his creatures, then after they dealt there damage, sacrifice them all to grind them? ? It sounds like it would work, but I am rusty at MTG right now, so if anyone knows i would appreciate it.

  -- By Jeremy from Cincinnati, OH USA on August 26, 2009

Here is another fun combo: This, Aluren, Myr Retrievers. Sac a Retriever to the Altar, forcing your opponent to discard. Then sac another, which will allow you to bring the first back to your hand. With Aluren, you can play the one from your hand for 0, sac it, forcing your opponent to discard, and bringing back the other, and so on until your opponent's library is gone.

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on August 18, 2009

arcbounds + altar of dementia

  -- By Anonymous from TX USA on July 09, 2009

Altar + Kitchen Finks (or any persist creature) + Juniper Order Ranger. Or, Altar + Saffi Eriksdotter + Reveillark. Sac Saffi targetting Reveillark. Sac Rev to the altar. Mills for 4, comes back into play, pulls back Saffi from the grave.

  -- By Kyle W. from Maine, USA on May 24, 2009

You don't have to have an infinite combo to win with this card. Cranial Plating, Ornithopter/Shield Sphere/Kobolds, and Alter of Dementia. Creature=0, Alter=2 mana, Cranial=2mana+1 per equip. By the second/third turn, you should be able to get cranial plating to around +6/7. With enough creatures/drawing, you can mill around 7 per turn or even 10 or more later on. Combine this with Glimpse the Unthinkable and mill stones and you can probably mill your opponent turn 5-6 or even sooner. Everyone always talks about crazy combos which require 3-4 cards, ussually most of them 4 or 5 mana each. Put practical uses to the cards and they can really be broken.

  -- By Rob from Rhode Island on February 21, 2008

You cannot achieve an infinite loop with 4 nether shadows, or any creature and the nether shadow ability for that matter. It triggers once. You would be limited to being able to play one from your graveyard at the end of your upkeep everyturn.

  -- By Astyanax from NJ,USA on October 23, 2007

yall need way to much junk for yalls combos my god all you really need is altar of dementia, academy reasearchers, and Fools demise. instant unlimited combo

  -- By Broken Penny from Orange Texas on June 17, 2007

Altar in play, Doomsday and three swamps in hand/play (or any way to get three black mana two turns in a row)... cast Doomsday... grab 4x Nether Shadow and Necropotence. After you cast Necropotence, pull the Nether Shadows into your hand. Cast, sacrifice... you know the rest. Last upkeep goes like this... "Oh, I have three creatures above my bottom-most Shadow. Return to play. Sacrifice to Altar... it goes to my graveyard." Repeat...

  -- By AtriumXP from Pawtucket, RI on May 21, 2007

Use Palinchron and corpse dance and its all over on turn 5

  -- By Rad from England on January 22, 2005

You could use it another way by using it on yourself to get threshold when you need it too.

  -- By Anonymous from Korea on January 24, 2004

This card can be as good just as it can be bad. Sacrificing a creature to make your opponent deck out can go both ways. You lose a creature but your opponent might lose some game turning cards. On the other hand you get him/her a faster threshold.

  -- By Mario from Brownsville, TX USA on December 15, 2003

The best combo I think is : Altar of Dementia + Iridescent Drake + False Demise or Abduction and Goodbye Librairy :P lololol

  -- By Krovax from Quebec, Canada on March 02, 2003

Ummmmm..... The avatar gets shuffled back into your library and doesn't wait until the end of your turn for life line to take effect. still good card though.

  -- By Anonymous from anonymity on August 08, 2002

Combo->serra avatar->angelic chorus->eratic portal->altar of dementia->lifeline=bye-bye library.

  -- By Ben Buhler from Lethbridge, AB Canada on March 02, 2002