INTRODUCTION

This is my Kamahl, Fist of Krosa EDH deck. I hope it provides inspiration to all of you multiplayer EDH fellas, especially to the green lovers.

I chose him as a Commander for several reasons.

1) When I was twelve, I went to a store and bought some Onslaught boosters (it was 2002). Since I was young, I didn't know the value of some cards like fetchlands or Goblin Piledriver; hell, I don't even recall ever finding them. But the one thing I do remember is when I found Kamahl. "Hey, what's this rare? Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, a druid LEGEND??!! AWESOME!". It was my first legend ever. Love at first sight. Thus, when I had the chance to build an entire deck around a legendary creature, how could I not use him?

2) Perfect monocolored EDH deck are way easier to build than multicolored ones. That's because it takes you far less time to go through every single card of the commander's color identity, and going through all cards is the only way to be sure you chose the best cards that suit your legendary creature (and your playstyle as well).

3) It's very strong. Despite commanders like Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Titania, Protector of Argoth and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard being definitely more powerful, Kamahl is not a weak commander:

  • His second ability lets you win a lot of games (it also gives your mana dorks a reason to live past the first turns).

  • The first ability is far more useful than you'd think. If you have some untapped lands, it prevents opponents from casting a mass removal (since in that case you'll transform his/her lands into creatures, Armageddoning the son of a wurm who played the spell); furthermore, if you're sure nobody got Terminus or other instant-speed swipes stuck in their sleeves, transforming your land (and possibly buffing them with Kamahl) can be a sure way to victory.

  • Last, but not least, you could use it to animate your Gaea's Cradle/Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and then untap it with Quirion Ranger/Wirewood Symbiote, thus generating a tremendous quantity of mana per turn.

BRIEF STRATEGY

This deck is kinda of a "controlish" one, meaning that it doesn't go straight for an early turn kill: you must first stabilize your board while trying also to disrupt your opponents' lands/resources. I can assure you that there will be games where you'll draw tons of card, and thanks to that by turn 6 you should on average be ready to play a lethal Craterhoof Behemoth. Start with playing mana dorks and prepare the board for the advent of Kamahl. Be sure to play the commander only if you can leave some mana open in case any opponent has in mind to throw a board swipe. If he'll do it, make him feel the "Fisting of Krosa" (that's when you animate the lands of the party pooper who just Wrath of Godded your creatures). With Kamahl's protection, you should be able to play more creatures withouth fearing the majority of mass removals.

LANDS

Finding the right lands was pretty simple, since the choices are not so many after all. One note: I play Snow-Covered Forests because earlier I used to play Scrying Sheets; in addition to that, I wanna make the most out of Extraplanar Lens, so snow-covered forests are an auto-include. Feel free to use your unhinged foil forests instead if you do not like the lens.

I've been using fetchlands since I added Titania, Protector of Argoth, Sensei's Divining Top and Mirri's Guile. I don't think they're necessary otherwise. If you decide not to run fetches, I strongly suggest you include Scrying Sheets and more snow lands for additional card drawing and for having another mana sink source.

  • Deserted Temple, Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx are obviously there for ramping. What's the point in playing mono G if you can't produce tons and tons of mana?

  • I play Strip Mine because in multiplayer (and with this deck) land destruction cards are needed for a number of reasons, such as building tempo, removing dangerous utility lands (The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Maze of Ith and the like) and mana denial vs multi-colored decks.

  • Mouth of Ronom, while not as efficient as Swords to Plowshares, is one of the best removal we can use, due to the fact that it can be easily tutored in green.

  • Turntimber Symbiosis   is a forest at worst, but can turn itself in a good value engine if you are late in the game. No reason not to play it.

  • I've seen a few mono G decks that don't run Dryad Arbor. Let me say that it's a big mistake. The things you can do with that cards are endless. Here are some examples:

    • As Legacy elves players will know, you can block with Dryad Arbor and then bounce her in your hand using Quirion Ranger so that she won't die and the damage will be blocked (beware of creatures with trample, though). This tactic also prevent the opponent's Umezawa's Jitte, a really strong card against our mana dorks, from charging.
    • You can tutor her with Wood Elves and both land and creature tutors (if for some reason you'll need it).
    • If you play her, this card allows your Gaea's Cradle to produce at least one mana (in case your opponent destroyed all creatures with a swipe or something).
  • Homeward Path is a way to prevent people from stealing you commander or key creatures via means such as Bribery or Gilded Drake sometimes it is also useful in EDH politics, helping an opponent whose creature has been stolen to get their revenge (thus making an ally).

  • Cavern of Souls is an auto-include at least in every EDH deck that has a commander that can be countered, and I don't see why it shouldn't be include also in the "can't be countered" ones.

  • Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is a forest with an upside. It lets you do pretty good stuff with Quirion Ranger, too, like bouncing back in hand Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Gaea's Cradle to play them again in the same turn, doubling the mana they provide!

INSTANTS

It took me a long time to find the right instants for this deck. Since there are some cards that MUST be included in a mono G deck, the slots left for the other stuff were very few. I'd like to give an honorable mention to Tribute to the Wild: it almost made it to the deck, due to its potential of being an X-for-1 card.

  • Nature's Claim is one of the best spot removal we could run. Spot removals aren't usually great in multiplayer games, but this is so useful and so valuable that it seems to me wrong not to use it. The 1 cmc cost is the reason why it's so strong: you won't be needing to stay open with more than one green mana, while in the meantime you will be able to progress your board state.

  • Worldly Tutor, Chord of Calling, Summoner's Pact and Crop Rotation are our instant-speed tutor. I cannot stress enough how important tutors are in this format. Drawing a tutor gives you the certainity to have the card you need the moment you want it. Every EDH deck should run as many tutors as it can fit in.

P.S: be careful when you play Crop Rotation. Make sure nobody will counter it or you'll just lose a land.

PLANESWALKERS

Currently I'm not playing any PW in this deck. A lot of them are very good, but here's the reason why I don't use even the strongest among them:

  • Garruk, Primal Hunter was one of my favourites. Its second effect is very strong, but the fact that he'll die if you -3 him right away, and that the effect is too situational, made me cut it from the list.

  • Garruk, Caller of Beasts has always been considered great by me. However, I decided that it was better to take him out of the deck due to his high cost and because I found that it was pretty slow. You should use this card only if you have a big amount of fatties to Aether Vial with him or if you're able to keep him alive until the finisher is ready.

  • Garruk Wildspeaker is the best green PW currently available, hands down. It can let you ramp amazingly, its Overrun ability can be of paramaunt importance, and its CMC is only 4. I had to take it out of the 99s because slots are limited and I chose other powerful cards over it. But if you can find a place for it, I suggest you do it.

  • Nissa, Vastwood Seer   / Nissa, Sage Animist   is a very good PW in 1vs1 formats as well as multi, but it's not so good in this particular multiplayer strategy, when creating Ashaya usually won't be enough to protect her. If find her to be a strong card either as a commander or in the 99 of a deck that exploits creature reanimation/recursion.

  • Karn Liberated. Now that was a dilemma indeed. It is really really strong. I decided to cut it out just because with 7 mana usually there are times when I can just play much more stuff. It's more of a personal choice then an objective reason. If you feel lost without him, you should find a place in the list.

  • Nissa, Worldwaker is another great PW. She's a rampwalker, and has a good sinergy with Extraplanar Lens. At the moment she's out of the 99; however, in the future she might come back instead of some less performing card.

  • Nissa, Who Shakes the World is useful only for its static ability (it is a bad habit to evaluate a PW from its finisher, so I'm going to ignore it), which makes it a 5 mana ramp effect with lifepoint.

  • Vivien, Champion of the Wilds has a great static ability, but Yeva, Nature's Herald does it better: it's a creature, has a great body, and has flash itself. The -2 is also good but doesn't justify the inclusion in the 99s.

SORCERIES

The same consideration I made for instants can be also made for sorceries.

  • Green Sun's Zenith, Primal Command, Tooth and Nail, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Eldritch Evolution, Finale of Devastation and Natural Order are the sorcery-speed tutors of this deck. They compensate their slow speed by each having great upsides:

    • The first can be used over and over again (and if you get it in in your opening hand, you've just earned a Dryad Arbor).
    • Primal Command can slow an opponent's draw, make you recycle your bombs and gain life (when things are desperate).
    • Eldritch Evolution is one of the best tutor we could ever get. It's basically a worse version of Natural Order, as it tutors only CMC+2 creatures and, sadly, it will exile itself (design had to include this condition, otherwise this card would have been seriously broken). To see how effectively use it, check my deep analysis on Order, just below.
    • Here's my thorough analysis on the ways you could use Natural Order. They're endless, you understand? No more things to say.
  • Genesis Wave is a source of both board and card advantage; true, Wave requires a lot of mana, but once you have it, basically it give you so much board advantage that it'll be impossible for any opponent to keep up with you. I reccomend to cast it at least for X=8, to avoid loosing our 8 cmc creatures to it.

ENCHANTMENTS

These ones are the best of the best of the best enchantments you could ever get into a mono G EDH legal deck (sorry Fastbond, you're banned). IMO you should include all of these in your green deck, whoever the commander might be.

  • After having used a lot of ramp spells like Kodama's Reach, Cultivate and Nissa's Pilgrimage, I decided to switch to more extreme ramp methods. So I included in my list Carpet of Flowers. Useless to say that this little awesome card improved my ramp in a ridiculous way, even though opponents might not run a lot of islands.

  • Defense of the Heart is an incredibly strong tutoring effect. It makes your opponent worry about playing creatures, and can win you games without much of an effort. When you're playing against less aggro decks it may be harder to trigger it, but nonetheless it's insanely powerful.

  • Exploration gives you the chance to start the game extremely fast, and that's a huge advantage. Snow-Covered Forest, Exploration, Snow-Covered Forest, Llanowar Elves is a start that can let you play a turn 2 Natural Order. But that's just one of the marvellous thing you could be able to do with this enchantment in play.

  • Earthcraft is the card who took the place of my ramp spell: why ramping one when you can just have all of your creatures give you mana? It's also very useful since you can play Kamahl and, if the opponents try to use a mass removal, you'll always have the mana for turning lands into soon to be dead 1/1s.

P.S: I chose not to include the combo with Squirrel Nest since this deck can't have tutors for enchantments, and hoping to draw both is a little too optimistic. I tried it several times and it just doesn't work for me. However, if you'd love to overrun your opponent with squirrels, nobody will stop you from including this card.

  • Mirri's Guile works as a free Sensei's Divining Top each turn. If you have a fetchland on the ground during your upkeep then congrats: you just made a green Ponder!

  • Survival of the Fittest is maybe the best tutor in this deck. Here's a general rule I follow when building a commander for me or my friends: "If a card is banned in Legacy, it means it's OP and must be included". It seems to be usually true.

  • Sylvan Library is the strictly better version of the (in)famous Sensei's Divining Top. The more ways to ever draw the card you want, the better.

ARTIFACTS

I just included the ones that MUST be included in every EDH deck and the ones that have the strongest synergies with other cards.

  • Sol Ring is basically a must in every commander. Heck it is even restricted in Vintage! That should give you a hint of its power.

  • Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox are here to help raise the chances of explosive opening hands.

  • I added also Mana Crypt and Mana Vault since those cards are simply BOMBS. Try it if you don't believe me. I was skeptical at first, but there's a pretty good reason they're banned everywhere (and restricted in Vintage).

  • Birthing Pod is another tutor I decided to put in the deck. Be sure to use Pod only if you have a perfect or pretty efficient creature curve like the one in this deck: having just one 5-drop or 4-drop is very risky.

CREATURES

This deck has a mix of mana dorks, utility creatures and wincons. Some creatures are here for personal choices, others should be always included in a green deck (this is my personal opinion, but trust me, I tested each one of this cards a lot).

Hope you enjoyed this long and thorough deck analysis.

Vote this deck if you liked the Krosan way +1

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Updates Add

Hi Krosan Druids :)

Here are the most recent changes:

IN: Circle of Dreams Druid, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Tireless Provisioner

OUT: Elder Gargaroth, Nylea's Intervention, Traverse the Ulvenwald

Reason for the changes is that, with my meta shifting towards quicker casual strategies, I wanted to be able to have as many big mana accelerators as possible and to be able to drop Kamahl and start attacking or going big as soon as possible

I decided to take out 3 slower cards with the usual caveat that all of these are very, very powerful and if you decide to keep them in I for sure won't blame you.

Let's see if New Capenna will give us future toys for this deck :) In the meantime, long live Krosa!

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Top Ranked
Date added 9 years
Last updated 1 year
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Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

20 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

10 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.06
Tokens Elephant 3/3 G, Food, Plant 0/1 G, Treasure
Folders EDH, EDH decks, Idea, EDH References, Commander, EDH decks, Interesting , Deck Ideas, Interesting Commander Decks, Fun Decks
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