Top MTG Combos with Honden of Infinite Rage for EDH

Revisiting the Red Shrine Engine: EDH Combos with Honden of Infinite Rage

Honden of Infinite Rage is a spicy little spark in any EDH deck that enjoys the thrill of a long game and a well-timed burn. This legendary enchantment from Eternal Masters is a Shrine that directly rewards you for controlling a growing shrine army: at the beginning of your upkeep, it deals damage to any target equal to the number of Shrines you control. That’s not just flavor; it’s a momentum engine. When your board starts stacking Shrines, the damage starts stacking too—potentially turning your upkeep into a sudden, dramatic swing. 🧙‍♂️🔥💎

The card sits in red’s wheelhouse: aggressive, punishing, and a tad theatrical. The artwork by John Avon captures the fury and restraint of a constructed shrine that once throbbed with a more general priesthood but now mouths a singular, brutal intention. The flavor text—“To the sorrow of all, its rage became focused on those who once stoked it.”—again hints at a history of builders and custodians who learned the hard way that power, once awakened, does not forget its debts. In EDH, that debt is often paid in life totals and political covenants broken at the worst possible moment. 🎨⚔️

In practice, the ramp to maximum efficiency is about gathering Shrines, stabilizing the board, and leveraging damage amplifiers. Honden’s trigger scales with every Shrine you own, so the early game is about “finding the first few shrines” and the mid-to-late game is about riding a rising tide of red mana and assertive control. The set is Eternal Masters (EMA), rarity is uncommon, but the ceiling is big enough that it doesn’t feel like a gimmick: it’s a real, game-altering engine in the right build. And yes, it’s still legal in Commander and other multiplayer formats that love a long, interactive grind. 🧙‍♂️🎲

Core strategies to maximize Honden’s impact

• Stack Shrines, then accelerate: The central idea is simple—own more Shrines. Use ramp, mana rocks, or enchantment tutors to bring at least a handful onto the battlefield. With a couple of Shrines, you’re already threatening a useful amount of damage every upkeep. Grow to a critical mass where your next upkeep swing becomes a real live threat. 🔥
• Doubling and redirection: Pair Honden with damage-doublers to amplify your upkeep ping. Enchantments like Furnace of Rath (and similar global-doublers) can turn a modest Shrine count into a devastating blow to any target. If you want a grimmer edge, cover your bases with a copy-paste of the Twin Gods effect—Dictate of the Twin Gods or other red-damage-doubling effects—so every Shrine pulse hits twice. ⚔️
• Control the battlefield, then pivot to finishers: With the upkeep damage scaling, controlling combat and permanents becomes crucial. Don’t let opponents wedge in answers; instead, press with telic removal or disruption early, then unleash the board-state pressure as shrines accumulate. Your damage doesn’t have to be lethal the moment it appears—it can be the threat that forces commitments, taps, and political deals. 🧙‍♂️
• Protection and recursion: Because EDH is a long game, you’ll want ways to protect Honden from removal and to reclaim Shrines if they’re snatched away. A few protective spells or redundancy in Shrine count helps keep the engine running when you’re under pressure. The more Shrines you own, the more options you have on each upkeep: you’re not just burning—you're baking a cake of inevitability. 🎂

Three practical lines you can test at your table

• Assume you have four Shrines on board. At your upkeep, Honden deals damage equal to that count. If you’ve got a global damage-doubling effect on the field, that damage doubles. You can direct that damage at a stubborn blocker to clear the way, or at a hard-to-hit player to pressure life totals. Add a few “tutor for Shrines” effects and a couple of draw engines, and you’ve created a self-sustaining engine that scales with time. 🧭
• Draw into a second Shrine, then a third, and so on, while keeping Honden protected. With a couple of Shrines and a doubling effect, your next upkeep can be a decisive finisher or force a critical decision from the table. The core payoff remains the same: more Shrines, more damage, more pressure. The horror, of course, is watching it all unfold while you sip your beverage and grin at the card’s poetry. 😈
• Line 3 — The Political Burn: Use Honden as a bargaining chip—your upkeep damage is a looming threat, but you can also aim it at a problematic opponent or their planeswalker. The interpersonal layer makes the engine feel alive: the table responds to the threat, and you find yourself negotiating for lifetotal insurance and board state stability while quietly stacking Shrines for the eventual payoff. A well-timed ping can swing a vote or a skirmish in your favor. 🧙‍♀️