Academy Manufactor + Krark-Clan Ironworks + Nuka-Cola Vending Machine

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Overview

With all three permanents under your control, activating Nuka-Cola Vending Machine to create a Food (with Academy Manufactor on the battlefield) will create a Clue, a Food, and a Treasure instead. Sacrificing that Food to Krark-Clan Ironworks (as the cost to activate Ironworks) produces , which causes Nuka-Cola’s triggered ability to trigger; when that trigger resolves, Academy Manufactor will again replace the creation of the Treasure with one of each token, returning a Food (and creating another Treasure and a Clue). Repeating this cycle yields net each loop plus extra Treasure and Clue tokens, producing an infinite combo. Rulings applied: Food is an artifact [2024-11-08]; Nuka-Cola’s last ability triggers whenever you sacrifice a Food [2024-03-08]; creating a Clue via Manufactor isn’t the same as investigating [2021-06-18].

The StackRules & CitationsDetails & Edge Cases

Step 1

Activate Nuka-Cola Vending Machine's , : Create a Food ability. That ability would create a Food token, but Academy Manufactor's replacement effect changes 'create a Food token' into 'create one Clue token, one Food token, and one Treasure token' (this replacement happens when the token creation event would occur). See Ruling [2021-06-18] about the Clue not counting as investigating.

Step 2

You now have at least one Food token (plus a Clue and a Treasure). Activate Krark-Clan Ironworks's ability by sacrificing an artifact; sacrifice the Food token as the cost to activate Ironworks and put its activated ability on the stack. The sacrifice happens as the activation cost; Ironworks' ability will add when it resolves.

Step 3

When the Food is sacrificed, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine's triggered ability ('Whenever you sacrifice a Food, create a tapped Treasure token') triggers and is put on the stack [2024-03-08].

Step 4

Resolve Krark-Clan Ironworks's activated ability (it was on the stack from step 2); it adds to your mana pool.

Step 5

Let Nuka-Cola's triggered ability resolve. It would create a tapped Treasure token, but Academy Manufactor's replacement effect applies to the creation of that Treasure: instead of creating only that Treasure, you create one Clue, one Food, and one Treasure (the replacement effect replaces the creation event). Because the original trigger specified 'tapped' for the Treasure, whether the replacement tokens enter tapped depends on other effects; see edge cases and [110.6].

Step 6

After the trigger resolves you now have a Food token again (plus another Treasure and a Clue). Sacrifice that Food to Ironworks again to get another ; this repeats the loop. Each cycle nets and creates an additional Treasure and Clue token, so the loop produces arbitrarily many tokens and arbitrarily much colorless mana.

Resolution

If you control Academy Manufactor, Krark-Clan Ironworks, and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine, you can generate an infinite loop that produces arbitrarily many (colorless) mana and arbitrarily many Treasure and Clue tokens: Activate Nuka-Cola’s ,: Create a Food — Academy Manufactor replaces that creation, making a Clue, a Food, and a Treasure. Sacrifice the Food to Krark-Clan Ironworks as the cost to activate Ironworks to add . Sacrificing the Food causes Nuka-Cola’s triggered ability to trigger (it triggers whenever you sacrifice a Food) [2024-03-08]; when that trigger resolves it would create a tapped Treasure but Academy Manufactor replaces “create a Treasure” with “create one of each,” so you end up creating a Clue, a Food, and a Treasure (the created Food can be sacrificed again), netting each cycle and producing more Treasure and Clue tokens. Note: the Clue created this way is not the same as investigating for triggers that care about investigating [2021-06-18], and Food is an artifact type [2024-11-08].