Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War | Art by Magali Villeneuve

Ruthless aggression. If you've ever played any of the God of War games, then you'd know that is what Kratos is all about. He isn't called the God of War for nothing; it's an earned title.

When it comes to Magic, there's a slightly different vibe. Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War, one of the new cards from the PlayStation Secret Lair Drop, mixes aggression with PacifismPacifism. To me, there're two distinct ways that this deck could be built. The first way is to look at Kratos and see a 2/3 that gives everything haste with double strike.

That alone would be a fine card to build around. However, a large chunk of text fills the rest of the text box. Kratos has a strange anti-war part, allowing him to deal damage to all the creatures that weren't able to attack from your opponents. This is what I decided to focus on when deckbuilding. So let's take a look.

Stax

Spoken only in whispers and with trusted confidants, the word "Stax" can turn a table against you faster than almost anything in the game. Like it or not, there's an art to building a Stax deck in Commander. A delicate mix of punishing the table without punishing yourself, or at least not as much.

Mono-red is a great color when it comes to Stax. It starts with the enchantments.

Most players have been hit by someone across the table playing a Blood MoonBlood Moon when their board has no basic lands. When it comes to red, Blood MoonBlood Moon, and the creature version Magus of the MoonMagus of the Moon, are the best Stax pieces you can have in your arsenal. Often, it catches the opposition unprepared and allows the controller to snowball the game to a victory.

After these cards, the next best pieces tend to be artifacts, but we'll get to those later.

A favorite of mine, SmokeSmoke is an old card, but a cheap one to cast. Coming down early can punish players for tapping mana dorks or getting in early chip damage. Paired with Uphill BattleUphill Battle, a player casting a multitude of creatures will have decisions build up quickly.

All of this allows our deck to stack damage with Kratos ' end-step trigger.

On the even more niche side, running cards like MudslideMudslide and Caverns of DespairCaverns of Despair build up redundancy in our Stax pieces and attack the table at a variety of angles.

The Art of Stax

Some of the best Stax pieces are the colorless ones, for two main reasons: They can go in any deck, and most are old and from the days when Magic was more about not letting your opponent play the game than playing the game at all.

This deck isn't running some of the saltier options, such as Static OrbStatic Orb and Winter OrbWinter Orb. However, some punishing cards are still included.

A less salty Orb, but a powerfully underrated one, Torpor OrbTorpor Orb will shut off more cards than anyone will realize over the course of a game. More importantly, a big centerpiece of the deck involves artifacts and enchantments sticking around, and there are many creatures, specifically in and , that love to destroy those when entering the battlefield.

CrawlspaceCrawlspace and Ensnaring BridgeEnsnaring Bridge both focus on maximizing our ability to get Kratos to trigger. Limiting the number of creatures that can attack us means more damage back at our opponents.

CrawlspaceCrawlspace is the easier of the two since it doesn't care how many cards we're holding onto.

One way that we can limit the number of cards in our hand while providing some sneaky protection is Null BroochNull Brooch.

Sticking with the lesser-known artifacts, two other cards used to help trigger Kratos are Storage MatrixStorage Matrix and False FloorFalse Floor.

The downside to both of these cards is that they also affect our board. Kratos didn't become the God of War without some sacrifice, so it's fitting.

Gotta Go Fast

Like his video game compatriot Sonic the HedgehogSonic the Hedgehog, Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War is a card we want to get out as quickly as we can. Taking a page out of Modern and Legacy playbooks, one of the best ways to do this is with Simian Spirit GuideSimian Spirit Guide, a mana positive card hidden in the hand until we need it.

But they're not alone.

Rituals are the name of the game when it comes to going fast in red. However, playing all the rituals will often lead to hands that don't do much if your board is already set up. Rite of FlameRite of Flame and Pyretic RitualPyretic Ritual can result in an early Kratos or Blood MoonBlood Moon effect. They're nice to have, but not a requirement.

Extraplanar LensExtraplanar Lens is a card from the past, reappearing once more. The trick with this artifact is using snow lands. With Snow-Covered MountainSnow-Covered Mountain underneath, the odds that any opponent benefits from mana doubling, even if they're playing red, are almost nonexistent.

Unreliable Narrator

The opponents having enough creatures isn't something that can be counted on; sometimes they need a bit of help from us. Our deck is more than happy to oblige.

Varchild, Betrayer of KjeldorVarchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor may rely on dealing damage, unlike their War-Riders, but thanks to haste from Kratos and our Stax effects, that shouldn't be too difficult. Akroan Horse and the aforementioned Varchild's War-Riders, thankfully, do what they do best as long as they stay on the field.

Assuming we haven't messed with any mana production, Forbidden OrchardForbidden Orchard can slowly increase the creature count as well.

Blades of Chaos

Players of the franchise are familiar with the Blades of Chaos wielded by Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War. So, even if the main plan is not to slam with Kratos, there's no reason it can't be a good backup.

With an average mana value of just 2.1, if Kratos can connect while wielding the Buster SwordBuster Sword, it should result in a free spell being cast. Thanks to double strike, a great card to drop down would be Mjölnir, Storm HammerMjölnir, Storm Hammer. Unfortunately, since the attack has already been made, we don't get to stun a creature. But if the Hammer comes down first, then Kratos is one happy god slayer.

Super StateSuper State and, to a lesser extent, Kediss, Emberclaw FamiliarKediss, Emberclaw Familiar provide a way to slug the entire table when we need to. Sadly, neither will benefit from the end step trigger Kratos has, but other things will.

Hotness

Remember, Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War is dealing the damage at the end step. So taking advantage of that when possible is a neat trick. The easiest way to do that is with cards like Torbran, Thane of Red FellTorbran, Thane of Red Fell or Dictate of the Twin GodsDictate of the Twin Gods.

Giving lifelink off of Loxodon WarhammerLoxodon Warhammer and ShadowspearShadowspear can keep you alive in a game where players will be trying to take you out.

Possibly the nastiest thing that can be done is outfitting Kratos with a Grafted ExoskeletonGrafted Exoskeleton and winning the game thanks to infect.

Wrap Up

I do really like Kratos, God of WarKratos, God of War, both the game series and the card. For a mono-red card, it does feel a bit disjointed, to be honest. Giving all creatures haste and being a cheap double strike creature makes sense for the character and the color pie. Preventing creatures from attacking in order to deal damage messes with my mind.

I'm not sure if it makes more sense to ignore the bottom half of this card and slap on as many pieces of Equipment and Auras as possible to Kratos. There's a surprisingly high amount of options for this card, and I'm excited to see what direction players take.

Either way, as always, this has been Tech The Deck, and I have been Nick. Let me know your favorite blade Kratos obtains in the God of War series over on Bluesky, and keep an eye out for all the other great content surrounding the upcoming cards from the recently revealed Secret Lairs.

Kratos, God of War Commander Deck List

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