New Strixhaven Frog Druid is a Top Tier Combo Commander

Last updated on April 2, 2026

Berta, Wise Extrapolator | Illustration by Tuan Duong Chu

Secrets of Strixhaven spoiler season wasted no time previewing incredible cards, from busted elder dragon commanders to sick new mechanics. The debut stream also spoiled a powerful combo commander: Berta, Wise Extrapolator, which enables a nasty infinite combo.

The Infinite Combo

A new commander breaking Intruder Alarm is roughly as original as Disney’s 10th live action remake, but here were are. The combo requires only Intruder Alarm and Berta, Wise Extrapolator, and Berta must be able to tap and activate its ability.

Activate Berta's ability by tapping it and paying 0 mana. This creates a 0/0 Fractal token that dies immediately, but Intruder Alarm still sees it enter and untaps Berta. Now you can tap Berta to make infinite Fractals that enter and die but untap Bertha. Now, that's a lot of game actions being taken, but you need to mix in a third card to turn it into a win rather than an annoyance.

Breaking the Combo

Altar of the Brood | Illustration by Erica Yang

While you can combo off on your turn or, even better, on the end step before your turn to sidestep summoning sickness, it’s worth considering ways to turn the infinite Fractals into an immediate win condition.

Firstly, let’s consider mana dorks. Any mana dork that taps for mana produces infinite mana with the combo engine humming; just tap them for mana before Intruder Alarm untaps them. If you have dorks that tap for two or more mana, like Bloom Tender or Fanatic of Rhonas, you can even invest one of the mana into Berta to make infinite Fractal tokens that stay in play. Investing mana this way also gives you an out to prevent an opposing Blood Artist from killing you as the Fractals die.

Infinite Fractals comes with infinite permanents entering the battlefield, so you could whip up a mill win with Altar of the Brood or Sage's Row Denizen. This makes your opponents lose in their draw step, plus it provides an alternative win condition that board wipes, Teferi's Protection, and other effects can’t stop. I would recommend adding other combos that use these as win conditions before adding them, though; you don't want to get caught with a card that doesn't advance your game plan.

Expanding The Deck

Hullbreaker Horror | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Another point in Berta’s favor as a combo commander lies in how versatile the other combo pieces are. The easiest way to build a bad combo deck is to include cards that are useless without the other combo piece. There are two ways to navigate this (assuming your combo isn’t meta-warpingly broken): Either make the card work outside the combo or make it work within other combos so you’re more likely to draw into a combo. Mana dorks fill the former role beautifully, and Intruder Alarm was practically designed for the latter:

Toss in a Deadeye Navigator, Hullbreaker Horror, or Venser, Shaper Savant, and you have the path to infinite combos that rely on some number of mana dorks to produce infinite mana. All three of those creatures are also strong plays independent of Intruder Alarm, plus Deadeye Navigator and Hullbreaker Horror enable additional combos. Building out a network of combos makes the deck more consistent and stronger for a true combo machine.