The Magic: The Gathering card Mikaeus the Unhallowed has risen in value over the last couple of weeks, going from an average of about $10 to as much as $27, according to MTG Goldfish's price tracker.
This zombie cleric has some interesting effects, like the retired keyword Intimidate and an ability to remove humans that deal damage to you. But that's just trivia, the really important part is its anthem effect. Mikaeus gives all non-human creatures an extra power and toughness and Undying, which means if they die and don't have a +1/+1 counter on them, they come back with a counter.
This makes it the perfect leader for an aristocrats deck, abusing free sacrifice outlets and Blood Artist-type effects to repeatedly resurrect creatures and drain your opponents out. It's also a really good fit with a number of recent Lorwyn cards.
For one thing, Mikaeus is a good addition to the Blight Curse deck. This MTG precon's face commander, Auntie Ool, wants you to place -1/-1 counters on your own creatures so you can draw cards, and the deck comes packed with plenty of ways to do this.
Creatures that enter with -1/-1 counters on them become effectively immortal when you have Mikaeus on the field, so all you need then is a sacrifice outlet like Phyrexian Altar and you form a loop that lets you draw infinite cards and create infinite mana (until you deck yourself).
Mikaeus is great with The Reaper, King No More as well. Again, all you need is a free sac source. Then when The Reaper enters you place one -1/-1 counter on him, one on an opposing creature. Now, you can steal every creature on the board by repeatedly sacrificing The Reaper, putting counters on enemy creatures until they're all dead, and always targeting itself when it reenters to remove the +1/+1 counter Mikaeus bestows.
Looking outside of the precon, there's one more Lorwyn card that combos well with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. That is Isilu, Carrier of Twilight. Isilu gives everything Persist, which means dying creatures come back with -1/-1 counters if they don't already have one. If everything on your board has Persist and Undying, they'll enter with no counters and you can sacrifice and bring them back ad infinitum.
Have you spotted any fun infinite combos or other shenanigans you can pull off with Mikaeus? Let us know over on the Wargamer Discord. Or sign up for our newsletter, for a weekly roundup of the best hot goss in tabletop gaming.