Kraven the HunterKraven the Hunter | Art by Greg Staples

Ready to embrace villainy and foil every opponent's plans? Kraven the HunterKraven the Hunter offers an enticing deal: Supply the removal, and he'll do everything else. Drawing cards whenever we can get rid of an opponent's biggest creature will let us chain removal spells, and he can quickly grow to one-shot size to start hunting opponents themselves.

Plus, he comes with trample. So by the time he gets to attacking he won't care about any of the smaller blockers our opponents may have left.

Kraven is reminiscent of Chevill, Bane of MonstersChevill, Bane of Monsters in that he rewards us for picking off specific creatures, but whereas Chevill can only place a bounty counter once per turn, Kraven can draw us multiple cards in a turn as long as we keep killing creatures in order of largest to smallest.

This deck will look to kill any threat our opponents deploy and stay ahead using Kraven's draw ability, then close out the game with either Kraven himself or another creature that benefits from this strategy.

Because of Kraven's ability to draw multiple cards every turn, this deck will focus on efficient threats and answers in order to overwhelm opponents who'll be spending more mana on each of their cards than we will to remove them. One of Kraven's strengths as a green and black commander is that he takes advantage of cards we want to be playing anyways, like Assassin's TrophyAssassin's Trophy and Snuff OutSnuff Out.

Key Cards for Kraven the HunterKraven the Hunter

First of all, we'll need to load this deck up with removal. Cheap targeted removal such as Doom BladeDoom Blade, Go for the ThroatGo for the Throat, and Ghastly DemiseGhastly Demise can almost always take out what we need to get rid of, and will also draw a card with Kraven out.

Malicious AfflictionMalicious Affliction will be able to kill two creatures at once most of the time, since morbid is an easy hurdle in this deck. And Lethal SchemeLethal Scheme can be a free kill spell that also gives us card selection as long as we have a few creatures.

It's worth noting some great removal spells that don't work in this strategy (which has not stopped some early brewers from including them). Cards like Tragic SlipTragic Slip and Tragic TrajectoryTragic Trajectory are very efficient, but reduce a creature's power as well as its toughness, meaning that when it dies it will usually have a power of zero or less and will be unlikely to trigger Kraven.

Removal that exiles, such as Deadly RollickDeadly Rollick, will also not trigger Kraven, though it might be better in most other decks.

There are also a handful of cards that can nearly guarantee us a Kraven trigger for each opponent. Szat's WillSzat's Will, Will of the AbzanWill of the Abzan, Gix's CommandGix's Command, and Extract a ConfessionExtract a Confession all get rid of each opponent's creature with the greatest power, so they'll come with an Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall tacked on with our commander out.

Make an ExampleMake an Example can also guarantee to hit everyone's biggest creature, since we can always choose their pile with the biggest creature in it.

And finally, while mana value and power don't always align perfectly, Soul ShatterSoul Shatter and Flare of MaliceFlare of Malice have a pretty good chance of triggering our commander at least once.

To provide redundancy for our commander, we can include some more draw engines that pop off when lots of creatures die. Morbid OpportunistMorbid Opportunist and Deathreap RitualDeathreap Ritual can draw us a card on every player's turn if we keep the death train rolling, and Freestrider LookoutFreestrider Lookout can provide card advantage in the form of lands as a reward for our crimes.

But this party still relies to some extent on our opponents playing along. They'll realize pretty quickly that we're going to remove any creature-based threat they advance, and that our whole game plan falls apart on an empty board. Luckily, we have some ways to provide our own fodder for destruction.

Forbidden OrchardForbidden Orchard finally finds another use beyond Vintage Oath of DruidsOath of Druids decks, as a way to give opponents a creature to get swept up in our removal net. Slaughter SpecialistSlaughter Specialist, Grismold, the DreadsowerGrismold, the Dreadsower, and Hungry LynxHungry Lynx all create expendable bodies while also benefiting from those tokens' demise.

Even Beast WithinBeast Within, a staple on its own merits, leaves behind a body to trigger our commander again.

Most of the highlighted cards so far have been defensive, interactive spells, and one of the strengths of this deck is its ability to interact with many angles of attack and control the pace of the game. But in a format as diverse as Commander, playing against three opponents at once, including some proactive measures is necessary in order to turn a momentary advantage into a win.

Vincent ValentineVincent Valentine from the recent Final Fantasy set grows even faster than Kraven, and can transform on attack if we need to deal a hunk of damage and gain life in the process. Malakir CullbladeMalakir Cullblade, Cordial VampireCordial Vampire, and HaruspexHaruspex also grow with every creature that dies, with the latter being able to convert those stat boosts into mana to enable a big turn.

Because this style of growing threat is so good in our strategy, we're including three ways to gift that ability to any creature in Blade of the BloodchiefBlade of the Bloodchief, Tarrian's SoulcleaverTarrian's Soulcleaver, and Sadistic GleeSadistic Glee. All of these threats can grow passively until they're seriously scary, and let us spread our eggs into multiple equally potent baskets.

Winning the Game With Kraven the HunterKraven the Hunter

Kraven the HunterKraven the Hunter is more than capable of growing to a sufficient size to start eating opponents in one or two bites through commander damage. That's our primary game plan, and to support it we're running plenty of protection for Kraven.

Alongside the ubiquitous Lightning GreavesLightning Greaves and Swiftfoot BootsSwiftfoot Boots, we're running Whispersilk CloakWhispersilk Cloak as a way to sneak in damage, as well as Revitalizing RepastRevitalizing Repast as a flexible slot.

To speed this plan up, we have a couple more tricks up our sleeves. Tainted StrikeTainted Strike can turn a large trampling creature into lethal damage with ease. BerserkBerserk is an absolute classic, turning decent attacks into straight up one-shots. Sure, Kraven will die, but that's a fine price to pay for eliminating a whole player. Plus, we can use BerserkBerserk on opposing creatures when they attack players other than us, which will almost always give us an additional Kraven trigger.

This deck also sees a ton of cards by turning removal spells into cantrips, making combos a realistic way of ending some games. We're already running effectively three copies of Blade of the BloodchiefBlade of the Bloodchief, so why not sleeve up a combo that has proven good enough for Modern and too strong for Pauper? Basking BroodscaleBasking Broodscale creates an Eldrazi SpawnEldrazi Spawn every time it gets a +1/+1 counter, so if we can equip or enchant it with one of our Sadistic GleeSadistic Glee effects, we can repeatedly sacrifice those tokens to re-trigger Basking BroodscaleBasking Broodscale and create more tokens.

This loop results in us generating infinite colorless mana and giving Basking BroodscaleBasking Broodscale infinite power.

Kraven the Hunter Commander Deck List

Kraven the HunterKraven the Hunter is just as fun to play as he is frustrating to play against. In most brackets, Commander games are fundamentally decided by large creatures and combat, and Kraven preys on those creatures for value. The fact that we're packing so much removal means that we can often play the politics game and strongarm our way into friendships, and our creatures can quickly become the biggest on the board as we get rid of all of their competition.

Go-wide token decks are Kraven's natural predator, but even against them we have game. Those decks rely heavily on chump blockers for defense, and so Kraven's trample gives us the ability to race at the very least. Plus, if we can ever make it so those strategies are left with nothing but tokens with all the same power, then we can churn through them without fear of running out of targets for our removal.

Kraven lets us celebrate all of the coolest kill spells in the game, from the iconic Doom BladeDoom Blade, to the sleek modern FellFell, to the supremely flexible Gix's CommandGix's Command. He truly feels like the anti-hero he is, and he opens up the villainous role in Commander.

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