(Kilo, Apogee MindKilo, Apogee Mind | Art By: Tuan Duong Chu)

To Infinity and not Universes Beyond. Hello everyone, and welcome to another addition of Tech The Deck, this time with a card from the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Edge of Eternities. Who, or better yet, what might be the card I am speaking of? Well, it is none other than Kilo, Apogee MindKilo, Apogee Mind.

I'm incredibly excited about this upcoming set and jumped at the chance to do a deck tech for this card. And Kilo, respectfully... I'd tap that. With all that out of the way, let's dive into how I decided to take this card and build a Bracket 4 deck to maximize Kilo's insane tap ability.

Tap, Tap, No Concede

This deck has one primary plan: turn a specific creature sideways over and over. The combat step is irrelevant; all we care about is the number of times we can untap and tap Kilo, Apogee MindKilo, Apogee Mind.

Thanks to some cards from the format's past and cards much older than the average player remembers, we have plenty of ways at our disposal.

Aura You Glad I Untapped?

Two Auras in blue allow this deck to go off.

These two cards might not have seen the inside of a sleeve, let alone a Commander pod, in some time, but thanks to Kilo, they're coming back with a vengeance. Each one has some slight benefits/drawbacks over the other, but both are an absolute must-run in this deck.

While Pemmin's AuraPemmin's Aura has more abilities granted to the creature it's enchanting, in this deck, two of the four options are irrelevant. Freed from the RealFreed from the Real only taps and untaps, but it has a more forgiving mana cost.

These two are the main highlights in the deck. Card draw and tutors like GambleGamble and Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor will help us find these early and often.

The eagle-eyed among you have probably noticed that neither of these Auras has a free activation cost. While our commander's proliferation effect is strong, it alone does not make mana. So what are we to do?

Making Mana

Some of my favorite mana rocks make an appearance in this deck list.

I would bet almost every Magic player knows Everflowing ChaliceEverflowing Chalice well. And the charge counters found on it are perfect for our commander to proliferate. But I have an even better mana rock at my disposal. Feast your eyes on the Astral CornucopiaAstral Cornucopia.

The Cornucopia goes bananas in this or any deck that can proliferate the counters. Most times mana rocks such as Sol RingSol Ring are only kept slightly in check because they add colorless mana. But with Astral Cornucopia and our deck running on all cylinders, we can pump out or with ease.

The tricks don't stop there.

I have a slew of artifacts that allow for tapping of Kilo both for mana and for value.

I even come packing creatures that tap for all sorts of options: Crystalline CrawlerCrystalline Crawler to give us whatever color of mana we need; Red Death, ShipwreckerRed Death, Shipwrecker to lock out an entire table if we can use the ability multiple times in a turn; And Magda, Brazen OutlawMagda, Brazen Outlaw to make mana and tutor out any artifact we could want straight from the deck.

And artifacts are another central piece that allows us to win the game with this deck.

The Artifacts

Some combos in the game are complicated to explain. They're long and drawn out, and if you mess up even one step, the entire thing falls apart. Other combos are so devilishly simple, and that is what makes them great. I've found a way to pack both into this deck.

First up is the devilishly simple one, and the best one in the deck: the classic combination of Isochron ScepterIsochron Scepter and Dramatic ReversalDramatic Reversal.

Beautiful. This is the main combo that we want to assemble in this deck. Two open mana and the listed cards above, and then finding a way to win becomes trivial. Now onto the excitingly complicated one.

Combining the powers of Kilo, Apogee MindKilo, Apogee Mind, Magosi, the WaterveilMagosi, the Waterveil, and Resourceful DefenseResourceful Defense to give us infinite turns.

I don't think that without Commander Spellbook, I would be able to explain the above combo with any form of confidence. Either way, it's one of many combos in this deck, and that's one reason that Kilo is a "busted" commander.

I'd go so far as to say that Kilo is the epitome of a combotastic commander. With 34 combos inside and another 298 possible combos that would only need a single card addition, I'm living in the fast lane with this deck.

Never fear, though, Kilo does have plenty of cool lines that can be taken if you want a bit more spice when it comes to winning the game.

Spice, Spice, Baby

They say variety is the spice of life, and this deck has a fair bit of spice jammed inside the 99.

This is a proliferation deck after all, and one of the best proliferate cards comes courtesy of Universes Beyond: Fallout. RadstormRadstorm benefits significantly from the infinite storm count generated thanks to our Dramatic Scepter combo. And with Prologue to PhyresisPrologue to Phyresis and a few other spells, I can kill a table thanks to poison counters if I so choose.

And since Radstorm is an instant, I can use it to speed up a clock on the Darksteel ReactorDarksteel Reactor living in the deck.

One final combo I want to mention in the deck involves an overlooked card from Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, There and Back AgainThere and Back Again. Now I did lie to you at the start of the article by saying "The combat step is irrelevant." It's just close enough to irrelevant for this deck that using this combo would be akin to a bank robber going to plan E when executing a heist.

Infinity is the name of the game when it comes to Kilo.

PSA

Now, I like Kilo. I like Kilo quite a bit. This is a very cool card, and one that I'm glad they showed off early. But I do think that it needs to come with a warning label. I built this deck as a Bracket 4 deck that's all in and fairly labeled as a "glass cannon." I don't think this is the only way that you can build Kilo, but I don't believe that anyone you play with will believe you when you tell them you have no combos in your Kilo deck.

A commander that's this easy to combo with is going to catch some strays, so I built this deck without going full cEDH, but I wanted to go as close as I could. That's why I run cards like Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat and Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship for protection, fast mana, such as Mana VaultMana Vault, and some truly hated cards like Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe and The One RingThe One Ring. Punches for this deck were not going to be pulled.

But that's not the only thing that can be done with Kilo. While players might not believe you at the start when you tell them you're using Kilo for a Jeskai Planeswalker deck, trust that they'll come around the first time Kilo is tapped to add a counter to Jace BelerenJace Beleren.

On the Edge

I'm more excited than I have been all year for the release of Edge of Eternities. I might not end up building a deck with Kilo, Apogee MindKilo, Apogee Mind, and it's too early to tell if I want to put it into my personal Jeskai Superfriends list. But I will be looking to see what everyone does with this once players can get their hands on it.

What will you be doing once Edge of Eternities is released? Are you excited for Kilo in Commander? I'd like to know, so please share with me on Bluesky at nicnax96. Keep an eye out for all the upcoming content for the last "real Magic" set of the year. And if I ever run into you and Kilo at a commander table, tell me the number of combos in your deck.

Kilo, Apogee Mind Commander Deck List