Kirol, History BuffKirol, History Buff | Art by Bryan Sola

Did you enjoy history class? If so, Lorehold may be the place for you. And, I may have just the commander for you. Today, we're focusing on a particularly buff history buff: Kirol! This Boros () commander has a repeatable spell attatched to it, allowing us to repeatedly access a potent effect turn after turn.

It's so cool to have easy access to a noncreature spell in the command zone! Let's see what Kirol, History BuffKirol, History Buff can do.

What Does Kirol, History BuffKirol, History Buff Do?

For , Kirol is a 2/3 Vampire Cleric. They also become prepared when one or more cards leave our graveyard, allowing us to cast a copy of their spell, Pack a Punch. If we spend an additional , this sorcery lets us mill a card, then put two +1/+1 counters on a creature and give it trample.

There are a few other commanders that care about cards leaving the graveyard (like Quintorius, Field HistorianQuintorius, Field Historian) or instants and sorceries (like Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed), but there's no commander that combines the two themes so cleanly.

There's also very few commanders that have spells attatched to them (see Kellan, the Fae-BloodedKellan, the Fae-Blooded), let alone repeatable spells.

Kirol also provides access to their spell for a pretty reasonable mana cost, letting us focus our mana on synergy pieces quite easily. We'll fill our 99 with ways to take advantage of all the cool stuff this two-drop does, and include a ton of new cards from Secrets of Strixhaven along the way.

If you wanna learn more about how the prepared mechanic works, check out Kurohitsuki's article here.

Key Cards for Kirol

Ways to Get Cards Into the Graveyard

Ark of HungerArk of Hunger is a new card, providing us with a bit of card advantage and letting a card leave our graveyard every turn. This artifact even drains our opponents' life totals a bit, which is a nice bonus! Hardened AcademicHardened Academic is another neat new card, acting as a great attacker with a built-in discard outlet. This Bird Cleric does, regrettably, occupy the same slot on the mana curve as our commander. But, the keywords and +1/+1 counters that the Academic provides make it a fantastic turn-two play regardless.

We've got another card from Secrets of Strixhaven here too: Rubble RouserRubble Rouser! This card lets us rummage when it entres, putting a card of our choice into the bin. Then, we get to move a card out of our graveyard (which prepares Kirol) to make a and ping our opponents. While a mana cost of is admittedly a bit high for a mana dork, this Dwarf Sorcerer has a lot of nice-to-have secondary abilities that make it worth playing in our 99.

We've seen a few mono- dorks recently, like Zookeeper MechanZookeeper Mechan and Sunset StrikemasterSunset Strikemaster. This is an awesome design trend, and I hope it continues. Mana dorks shouldn't just belong to !

With all the instants and sorceries we'll be casting (even if most of them are named Pack a Punch), Ashling, Flame DancerAshling, Flame Dancer will be a great way to fill up our 'yard. Her other abilities, which preserve our mana and wipe our opponents' boards, are gravy. I've also included the new planeswalker Quintorius, History ChaserQuintorius, History Chaser, who fills up our bin and provides us with some powerful tokens as a reward for doing so.

Finally, classics like Faithless LootingFaithless Looting, ShenanigansShenanigans, and the potent pair of GambleGamble and Reckless HandlingReckless Handling round out this group's highlights.

Ways To Get Cards Out of the Graveyard

Graveyard hate cards, like Ghost VacuumGhost Vacuum, Agatha's Soul CauldronAgatha's Soul Cauldron, and Unlicensed HearseUnlicensed Hearse, are fantastic in any Commander deck. As more and more Commander decks utilize the graveyard in one way or another, having the ability to disrupt an opponent's "second hand" is vital.

In a Kirol deck, though, these cards pull double duty. They can prepare our commander just by -ing themselves! Alongside consistent self-mill and discard, we'll always have fuel for these artifacts.

These three cards also pair well with Relic RetrieverRelic Retriever and Spirit of ResilienceSpirit of Resilience, which give us some extra credit for moving cards out of our graveyard.

Other Synergy Pieces

This deck dabbles in so many different themes. We're casting lots of instants and sorceries, dumping cards into the graveyard, removing cards from the graveyard, and putting +1/+1 counters on our creatures. To that end, there's a whole bunch of cards that I want to spotlight in this writeup.

Laelia, the Blade ReforgedLaelia, the Blade Reforged is a fantastic card on its own, but it can easily become suited up with tons of +1/+1 counters as we exile cards from our graveyard. For those of you who haven't seen this creature in action, don't just take my word for it. Go pick up a copy of this fantastic Spirit Warrior and never look back.

Venerable WarsingerVenerable Warsinger feels purpose-built for this list. First off, it's a great target for Pack a Punch because its ability scales directly with how much combat damage it's able to deal to an opponent. Then, it can take advantage of whatever cards we happen to dump into our graveyard with Kirol's spell and any other effects.

I also like that this creature has vigilance, which allows us to take full advantage of any +1/+1 counters that we place on it.

Finally, there's Uncivil UnrestUncivil Unrest. This enchantment is a nearly unconditional damage doubler for our purposes, as almost all of our creatures will have +1/+1 counters placed on them at some point (whether by our commander or by some Generous PupGenerous Pup-style effect). We'll often choose to give our nontoken creatures haste with the riot effect, as we can just give them counters down the line with ease.

This card has seen just one printing outside of Secret Lair, and I do hope that Wizards of the Coast throws it in a precon as a high-powered reprint sometime soon.

How Does This Kirol, History BuffKirol, History Buff Deck Win?

Pack a Punch, Kirol's prepared spell, is super useful for buffing our creatures up over time. We'll often target a creature like Illuminator VirtuosoIlluminator Virtuoso or Anim Pakal, Thousandth MoonAnim Pakal, Thousandth Moon to ensure that we're getting as much value as possible.

Importantly, red has effects that let us copy spells that target certain creatures. Frontline HeroismFrontline Heroism or Leyline of ResonanceLeyline of Resonance copying our spells once is a nice start, letting us spend for a total of two cards milled and four +1/+1 counters.

But we can do even better than that! With Feather, Radiant ArbiterFeather, Radiant Arbiter, Zada, Hedron GrinderZada, Hedron Grinder, and Mirrorwing DragonMirrorwing Dragon, we can copy Pack a Punch once for each creature we control. We've got 32 creatures in our 99, and a few extra ways to make creature tokens, so these spell copiers can lead us to victory with ease.

There's other great instants and sorceries that we can copy too, including a whole bunch of combat tricks that let us pump up our whole team with these copy effects on board. My favorite is Angelfire IgnitionAngelfire Ignition, but Bulk UpBulk Up and Siege SmashSiege Smash are fantastic picks too.

Kirol, History Buff Commander Deck List

To put this list together, I relied heavily on Scryfall's tagging system. I used tags like graveyard-fuel, self-mill, and heroic to fill out our 99.

Conclusion

Both of our visits to the plane of Arcavios have given us some unique takes on the enemy two-color pairs. I'd argue that Lorehold's rendition of is the most interesting of the bunch, lending some really fun ideas to a color combination that's normally all about aggression and Equipment.

We had to wait five years to return to Strixhaven, and I'm glad we're back. Kirol, and other unique commanders like The Dawning ArchaicThe Dawning Archaic, have left me satisfied with this set. But, I'd like to know your opinion! Which college do you think has the coolest card designs? Was Secrets of Strixhaven a well-executed set?

Let me know in the comments, and I'll be back next week for one final collegiate deck tech.