Hallar, the Rampant Kicker

Commander / EDH*

Zarakava

Creature (19)

• 1x Elfhame Druid
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Ghitu Chronicler
• 1x Goblin Bushwhacker
• 1x Goblin Ruinblaster
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Keldon Overseer
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mold Shambler
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Untamed Kavu
• 1x Verduran Emissary
• 1x Verix Bladewing
• 1x Wolfbriar Elemental

Instant (12)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Burst Lightning
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Naturalize
• 1x Overload
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Strength of the Tajuru
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Wild Onslaught

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Breath of Darigaaz
• 1x Canopy Surge
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Grow from the Ashes
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Increasing Savagery
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Molten Disaster
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Savage Offensive
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Soul's Might
• 1x Verdant Confluence

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Gratuitous Violence
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Primeval Bounty
• 1x Retreat to Kazandu
• 1x Rites of Flourishing
• 1x Triumph of Ferocity

Artifact (7)

• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Ring of Kalonia
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator

Commander (1)

Land (36)

• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 16x Forest
• 1x Game Trail
• 1x Gruul Guildgate
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 8x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Rugged Highlands
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

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Have you ever wanted to have a strong political position, but not appear to be super strong? Have you ever wanted to sneak in a ton of damage out of nowhere? Are you on a small budget (~$75, less if you have some format staples)?

If so - this deck has been stupidly fun to pilot, and has pulled out the W fairly often in MTGO. It's also pretty strong in 1v1.

As soon as I saw Hallar, I was crazy interested in building a deck around him. And it turned out a lot better than I could have thought.

Deck Strategy

Here is how I tend to pilot this deck. In multiplayer, you want to grab a starting hand with a good chunk of your ramp, and a bit of removal if possible. Focus on ramping up a lot early and staying in the back of the pack. As you ramp, you'll thin out your deck and probably draw into a few of your stronger spells. Get Hallar out and get a few counters on him, but don't go for broke yet.

As the game gets to mid/late, you have lots of sneaky ways to get a lot of counters on Hallar real fast. Increasing Savagery is one of the strongest cards in this deck, especially if you have Hardened Scales out. Verdant Confluence can pull a bunch of counters real fast as well.

In this state of the game, typically your foes will be at a bit lower life, so a few kicker spells and attacks should be able to knock them off. If not, try to eliminate someone who would be the biggest threat, or hold off a turn or two.

Weaknesses

Hallar is super weak to removal - there's a lot of ramp, but if he's bombed every time he gets out it's going to hurt. Vines of Vastwood is the star player here. It's two mana for a kicker, a buff, and a sneaky protection card.

Right now in my meta it seems like we've got a lot of edict stuff going around (From Slimefoot and Muldrotha) - so that's also particularly hard to deal with, but it isn't the worst.

Deck tweaks

I think the landbase works good, but could be a bit better. I rarely run into color issues, but it happens every once and a while. More protection for Hallar could be something I'm also looking at.

In any case - this has been probably the second most fun EDH deck I've ever built, and it's working so much better than I thought it was! Hope this peaks your interest in a really fun commander.

Top Ranked	Achieved #31 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 19 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 27 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.88
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Gold, Human 2/2 G, Karox Bladewing 4/4 R, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	EDH, Ideas, Interesting Decks, Hallar