Vampires Of The Sea: A Guide To Runo Stromkirk / Krothuss Commander Decks | Magic: The Gathering

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creativecommons...

[@StormDunakin]

Everyone: I want Vampire Commanders that boost vampires. We classy Lads: I want the Vampire Commander that turns into Cthulhu.

[@Pullituz]

He just summons, not turn.

[@StormDunakin]

@@Pullituz Turns the card over. Never said transforms.

[@matthew_thefallen]

YES.

[@firstandlast.1254]

@@StormDunakin the card never said 'transform'? The card that says 'transform' right on it? That card? Or do you mean that you never said 'transform'?

[@StormDunakin]

@@firstandlast.1254 I never said transform, was what I was getting at.

[@nik700]

Runo is certainly a puzzle, there's a lot to take into consideration. Seems like a fun deck building excercise

[@evanlightner]

The graveyard tech is the weird part

[@allenyates3469]

I've been play testing and re testing my Runo deck. It certainly is a quandary if you want it to be effective.

[@idkjustleavemebeplease]

I love running sirens in this deck. It may not be optimal, but I love the flavour of Runo and his coastal angels singing in a choir to bring out the big bois.

[@nightregret]

I'm thinking of building this into a Brineline & Ikra Shidiqi deck to add land ramp and Koma. This tech certainly showed me some pieces I didn't know existed. Thank you for all the great work!

[@TheReaperGriefer]

Dear professor, i've been a loyal viewer for about 8 years now and there's something i'd like to personally ask. Would you mind showing your audience all your amazing suits and clothes? They're so catchy and stunning i'd love to "steal" your look sometimes at conventions. Many MtG players ask the question, what does the professor's wardrobe look like?

[@leveticus5721]

I’m fascinated with the coat he’s wearing and would love to know where he got it!

[@GamesAreAHobby]

As someone who has played a whole lot of magic for it's vast and storied tales, It would be most interesting to see a Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage Historic deck focused around granting flash and spinning grand tales about the planes and history of magic the gathering for a whole table of players. Cards gain entirely NEW lines of play with Raff out on the battlefield. Sagas like Elspeth Conquers Death (depicting the planeswalker, Elspeth, breaking free of the Therosian underworld) or Legendary Sorceries like Urza's Ruinous Blast (depicting the activation of the devastating Golgothian Sylex) or even planeswalkers like Teferi, Master of Time and his Oath of Teferi (which gains all new utility with Flash, allowing it to blink cards at instant speed) are just a few examples. This isn't even mentioning that Artifacts also gain flash, allowing horrifying machines from Dominaria's past to come hurtling through time to assemble and End of turn win condition out of nowhere. I strongly encourage this themed deck to be looked at as I find it deals with the vorthos itch so many players wish they could scratch.

[@cosmicsoybean6419]

Thank you so much for doing this deck! I've made a sea monsters deck with octavia as the commander and this gave me some fantastic addition ideas!

[@andrewdenne5459]

Hey Prof. Keep up the good work. When i came back to magic in 2017 your deck techs helped me get a grasp of balanced EDH deck building. As EDH did not exist when I last played. It has since taken on a personality of its own but my Ephara deck is still one of my favorite decks, and started off as instructed by your channel. That being said alot has changed in just 5 years. I think a good idea for a deck tech would be to revisit older and forgotten classic commanders that could be givin a face lift or a whole new identity with the high powered cards that have come out in just the last year or two. Jori En, Ruin Diver is a commander I've built in the last year, that has been suprisingly strong with the addition of new mechanics like magecraft. And cards like 1000 Year Storm. I bet your Sygg deck has seen some upgrades! Just say'n! Love the channel!

[@DragonbornMike-ym2er]

Strionic Resonator will can copy a trigger abilty (such as you commanders attack trigger). Mirror Box and Mirror Gallery will nullify the "Legend Rule" for you or the table. Sakashima can do the same if you have the budget. All these options can dramatically increase your token generation.

[@zaclindemann9978]

honestly, I'd like to see a deck tech around the disturb mechanic, which will probably cause the deck to also be spirit tribal but still interested in how you'd build it prof

[@jacket2848]

Why? It's an absolutely awful mechanic, most of which simply transforming into an incredibly mediocre flying creature.

[@bloodfest8510]

In full honesty Youd definatly want cards that can lower the cost of cards in graveyard Ashnods altar as well to sacrifice the weak cards and use the mana to instantly disturb them

[@Sir_Francis]

Discussing your Opponent's Pongify Ape going against your Sea Monsters makes me think of the Simpsons episode where the kids watch a video in school about the food chain & one example has a Shark snatching a Gorilla out of a tree, hahaha

[@saqvobase4301]

Quest for Ula's temple can put a creature into play at the beginning of EACH end step. Holy moly

[@RatedRKO269]

I’m glad this is the first one you did for the new set. When he was previewed, I was excited to see a commander deck with him.

[@gagevonwyl5133]

This was the first Dimir legend I have been excited by in my 6 years of MTG. So excited to put it together

[@thelunchlady8276]

Lord Lazav would like a word with you...

[@jonathanbrown9913]

Your justification of merit lage reminded me of Voxy's reason for skittering surveyor from the episode of shuffle with Lexi and Amy. "It has legs"

[@gustavnorback]

Wow! Will certainly fit my tinkered reap the tides commander deck!

[@notimeleft1]

I would love to see a deck tech on the new Olivia crimson bride

[@spydre8]

Thanks Prof. Always looking for good deck building ideas. I know everyone does them, but I do like the precon upgrade videos. Maybe something that can help someone newer to the format get into decks that are still somewhat unique while giving a base to start out building from? Some of those older precons seem to have good value these days and may be ripe for building on.

[@Lexgamer]

Vampire Hexmage. Get's Marit Lage out, AND is a vampire, so also very on theme. :)

[@gundambanshii9735]

I’m building Thrasios & Ikra-Shidiqi Sea Monsters Tribal, and this creature along with Hullbreaker Horror will be insane. I also bought the Aesi Precon to mix in to this deck as well.

[@dmajor9982]

Oh man. This deck looks fun. On my Xmas wish list

[@Wojtek36762]

Ixidron is my sleeper bomb for this deck. It flips all non token creatures on ETB, but MDFCs can’t be turned face down per the rules, so you lock up all the other stuff in play but keep Klothus and whatever tokens you’ve made, which Klothus can happily continue copying.

[@stephennovak4108]

Thanks prof, I really liked that deck teck.

[@igorlemes1123]

really like the eldritch horror theme on this one

[@kurtofan]

Sea monsters are my favorite! I would love to see a deck tech for Toxrill the slimey slug!

[@fkylw]

So glad I snagged Quest for Ula's temple before this came out! lol

[@corpse666]

I'd love to see an Umbris decktech^^

[@michaeljweaver1]

An Osgir deck-tech would be awesome! I know he’s capable of being a powerhouse, I just can’t quite figure out how

[@arsenalfanrichi]

I am biased because I always liked playing the card in my merfolk decks on MTGA, but Tempest Caller is probably a decent fit for this deck.

[@serenitysilvermoon]

This is me just learning about Thespian Stage and Dark Depths as a combo (after not playing magic for many years and looking into commander again) made me realize the Vampire Hexmage can also get you that 20/20 token as early as turn 2 in black

[@darkraidisciple8717]

It would be turn 3 as dark depths doesn't generate any mana on its own. I'm thinking of going for the Marit Lage token with Abzan colours. Black has the Vampire Hexmage. White gets Solemnity, which makes Dark Depths enter with no counters and immediately gets the token. Green gives me access to Crop Rotation to tutor Dark Depths.

[@serenitysilvermoon]

@@darkraidisciple8717 Dark Depths turn 1, Swamp turn 2, Dark Ritual, Vampire Hexmage

[@darkraidisciple8717]

@@serenitysilvermoon Ah, yeah that'll do it.

[@TheJackjackification]

throw in a spawning kraken. Copy it, and if all 3 hit then get 9 9/9 kraken tokens which then also can trigger spawning kraken. it's also an all star in my Volo deck :D

[@norushoutcast]

The key with Runo is, you could get value even with non Leviathan Creatures. Copying Solemn Simulacrum or Baleful Strix is fun in its own way.

[@xEddyTheGr8x]

I mean... I'm probably taking my Arixmethes-Seamonster deck apart & build Runo from it, as the heavy hitters are pretty much here already.

[@humanwreckage4563]

Hey Prof there's actually a crackpot "aquatic ape" theory supposing that we came directly from the sea rather than the roundabout angle evolution took. Its fuckin hilarious that you made the Pongify joke if you weren't aware of that lmaoo

[@rteishe]

Runo is (imo) by far the most interesting new commander out of Crimson Vow. Very cool idea, and if the right balance can be found, I think there's a really fun & powerful deck there. Only reason I'm not building it is because I can't see it being any stronger than my Gyruda deck, which is already one of my favs. I am trying to figure out what to cut to fit him in that deck though, haha. Why couldn't they have given him an even CMC?!?!? 😫

[@timburleson8029]

Hey professor, do you think you could do a Kavu deck? I would really appreciate it if you could do a video about it. I built one when I started playing MTG. Over the years I've gotten better at building decks. I'd like to see how you would build one. Keep up the good work! 👍

[@end-er_1023]

Can you do a deck tech on the Jund Mana Burn Commander?

[@NekoSauce]

I run most of these in a aesi leviathan simic deck and let me tell you, fleet swallowed WILL PISS SOME PEOPLE OFF. And it's hilarious

[@TheArcSet]

Thanks for this video.

[@kieranfarrell1656]

do a olivia crimson bride deck tech

[@xicy133x]

I do want to specify that elder deep fiend is unfortunately not a blue creature even when emerged so will be bounced by inundate

[@LifeMindBlowns]

Do a Deck Tech on Toxrill

[@GoAstros123]

Kenrith alternate wincons or Rem Kalrous.

[@ogdeathdog7913]

This reminds me of my jase deck I made running at 42 played in torment and got kicked out for winning all my games , it was going be my first ever win but last person I was playing kicked off and got me removed for playing the 42 cards in 60 card torment ... still got the deck with different versions but only in 60 standard

[@xusername357]

I love my runo deck

[@halomax360]

I've got a question, if you put lighting greaves in a creature you want to duplicate with korthus does it not work because it gives your creature shroud?

[@barontk]

One of the more interesting cards in an otherwise underwhelming set imo

[@paulbennett3203]

Can you please do a fun video with the extra life secret lair card's and how to incorporate them into a commander deck. This is for my daughter who is autistic and plays commander for her calming needs in school thanks to me and a teacher who plays with her at school would love to build 2 deck's with the card's I bought

[@MicMacPattyWack]

I love this outfit!!!!

[@jul5184]

Orvar and Sakashima are also great pseudo-seamonsters, just saying...

[@TheCrimsonYoshi]

Yes. Octopodes is correct.

[@SaintAnix.]

Hey Prof, uhh... You good, man?

[@bigchungus842]

Grolnok! Not that cedh self mill nonsense! Give us the frogs, Professor! GIVE US THE FROOOOOGS

[@evanmiller3715]

If you're running a Runo deck, throw Sakashima in there. Krothuss and Sakashima are an infinite combo

[@TheVargaszm]

Everyone sleeps on brinelin, the moon kraken until their stuff is getting bounced

[@erosbronzo6518]

I love this

[@johndean2563]

Hey, Prof! How are you today?

[@firetarrasque4667]

*The Old Powers are Waking.*

[@theguidingstone]

Love the outfit 👌❤️

[@chrisnoble8677]

What absolute betrayal! There's no Gyruda, Doom of Depths! Bit of mill, bit of recursion, 6 cmc, AND completely on flavor! Shame the commander isn't even cost himself.

[@serazac25]

So with Nemesis of Reason, its ability only triggers when declared as attacker? I'm confused since the other two enter attacking.

[@MTGJosh]

I love when Legendary Creatures are made with hoops to jump through to get a pay off, it just makes piloting the deck that much more rewarding when you go off.

[@drewburke97]

I just ordered a lot of the singles for the deck, its a creature heavy deck with a slight re animator package as a fall back plan with draw and mill to take advantage of runos ability to put a creature on top from the yard

[@collinkrause9177]

I built mine in a similar way, focusing on milling and reanimating everyone's stuff, with Runo being a value engine. I also put in Maskwood Nexus and Arcane Adaptation to turn everything into a Kraken to clone.

[@animalheadskullx3362]

I did the same, all I'm waiting on is my commander. I might make some changes according if I find anything in cv to throw in it

[@anthonyfinnimore7394]

A budget reanimator card that has built in top deck manipulation is Haunted Crossroads. Feels very good in this deck

[@leemiller6977]

@@anthonyfinnimore7394 Thanks for the great idea!

[@cnelson1025]

I love runo! So happy to see you building a commander deck based on cthulu

[@casketbase7750]

No *Spawning Kraken?* It spawns Krakens. 9/9 Kraken tokens to be precise, and it does this whenever a Kraken/Serpent/Leviathan/Octopus deals damage. Exponential value in this deck. EDIT: It’s also a 6 cost to flip the Commander.

[@bloodfest8510]

Considering you get three spawning krakens that instantly can trigger their effects, i dont see why you wouldnt Especially considering after combat that youd have about 7 creatures on board

[@EmperorPylades]

Sweet Merciful Raptor Jesus...I'd like to say that's just "win more", but this is Commander. This deck is full of nothing but Fatties, and Commander is about excess and expression as much as anything else. And going wide with Fatties is exactly my kind of excess.

[@StuBBaDuBB92]

Absolutely! I've won a number of games with the spawning kraken and Krothuss! It gets out of control real fast

[@777CrimsonChaos]

I feel like Strionic Resonator could be a strong addition for this. Making two extra sea monsters is cool, but making four is a real party

[@firkinfright5168]

Spark double, helm of the host and sakashima... even more token fun

[@inajar7947]

@@firkinfright5168 if you do Helm of the Host, your commander can start making token copies of his token copies.

[@User5770]

Lithoform Engine could be spicy for the same reason

[@kristiandahl1310]

Why stop there, rite of replication

[@bloodfest8510]

@@kristiandahl1310 why stop there, phenax mill them

[@Veon97]

I love the fact that I can build a full Lovecraft themed deck with this commander. I'll totally go for it!

[@Zacharadus]

A few cards to consider: River Serpent and Striped Riverwinder are 6 cmc serpents with cycling that allow you to easily flip Runo on schedule and running Sakashima of a Thousand Faces can allow copies of Krothuss, exponentially creating more copies every subsequent combat. Ghostly Pilferer is also one of the all stars in my deck, giving a decent card to copy with Krothuss and handedly allowing you trigger Runo's transformation. If you wanted to go a different route with the deck, Arcane Adaptation and Conspiracy are great ways get double the tokens on creatures that aren't already one of those sea monsters. Since we already have snow lands, Frostwalk Bastion, Avalanche Caller and ESPECIALLY Faceless Haven are great ways of ramping into your big fish. Finally, try to avoid Legendary creatures, because they die to the legend rule, but cards such as Gyruda, Doom of Depths still get their ETB trigger off before they die to legend rule and are still totally worth it. And of course, Spawning Kraken should be mentioned, because duh. Hope this helps someone aspiring to build this deck!

[@inamecomeunico8935]

Mutavault too! I even run creeping Tar pit, copying lands it's fun

[@twarnold14]

Anowon from last year: Hey! I'm a vampire and I don't care about vampire tribal! Sygg: Yeah, you're just a different tribal commander... Anowon: ... shut up.

[@Eric_The_Cleric]

I mean in fairness the way this one was built was kinda the same.

[@zapzap7360]

Trying to build this one myself and it is definitely weird. Personal recommendations are: Sakashima of a Thousand Faces to be able to target those legendary seamonsters with Krothuss as well as getting an exponential amount of Krothusses on the field Manlands like Creeping Tar Pit and Faceless Haven because Krothuss can weirdly ramp with them when you don't have enough mana to cast your fatties and the silly synergy of Grozoth being able to Transmute into Conive // Concoct

[@kristiandahl1310]

That is synergy alright

[@friedpinnapple]

The fact that we can say “i have ramped two lands into play by attacking in dimir” is a trip

[@asaffin1]

Good call on the manlands!

[@Yellow_Magpie]

the manlands point made me think of the budget option of using man-dorks, like dimir keyrune and ebony fly to get a similar effect! I've always liked the look of dimir keyrune so it's nice to find an interesting use for it!

[@WazoobiumNitrate]

Oooh love the man lands idea. Mutavault would be nuts with this card.

[@robintarket6844]

Just as I was looking to build! Thanks Prof!

[@usauniversal22]

* ✊ 4 *secrets to massive success* 1) *know what you are doing* ✊💪2) *believe in what you are doing* 3) *love what you are doing* 4) *NEVER give up on what you are doing* 💪💪✊✊

[@RichJMoneyTV]

AFAIK, Octopus has a Greek etomology so technically it should be Octopedes or Octopuses rather than Octopi. But I think they are all colloquially accepted.

[@MikealBasile]

Yes! Octopuses for the Greek word. No latin plurals here. ;)

[@bluedog4248]

This is one of the most challenging decks I've built in a while due to the dimir combination Edit: also planning on making alters for the whole deck to really give it the horror of the deep vibe

[@JannikSohn]

Can you link them to me?

[@Iweleth]

I would love to see what could be done with Grolnok, the Omnivore from Crimson Vow.

[@Metalcursine]

Just found this dude in last night's promo pack at the end of the pre-release and thought, wow this is a real cool dude what kind of deck would you make with it. And there you are the next morning.

[@evanlightner]

Same.

[@spore4ever91]

Trust me, if you wanna see something funny; my table let me play runo for 1 more mana in a gyruda companion deck. It was really something when gyruda hit sakashima

[@starscreen85]

You might want to mention that if you make multiple copies of a legendary creature, all but one of them will have to die to the legend rule. You used a legendary creature in your example at 2:12.

[@jonathanrice6550]

I pulled this card in a VOW bundle and was consider making an EDH deck like this. I'm too poor for the $400 cost of this exact deck, but I love having this resource.

[@cosmicohms2101]

I want to see an out of the box werewolf deck! Oh wait, that's not really possible. Since WotC will only give players that like werewolves one commander that can only really be played one way. But vampire players get many different ways to do something different! Look at all these vampire commanders in this set!

[@TeamCardgaming]

The deck is pretty cool. If I ever gonna be building a blue deck in the future it's probably this deck.

[@onisemus777]

Got to have Stormsurge Kraken, it is only 5 so it doesn't flip Runo but with Runo out it is a 7/7 hexproof kraken that draws you two cards if it is blocked!

[@kyleblanchard6306]

Rules question: Bog serpent, sea serpent, sea monster, etc. Does the effect of the token copies entering the battlefield already attacking get around the need for the defending player to be one who controls an island/swamp? For example, could I attack an opponent who controls an island with sea serpent, but then have the copies enter the battlefield attacking a different opponent who does not control an island?

[@jamesevans6332]

I love Runo so much, though I do think Krothuss should've been a God given what we know about how Runo's veneration of sea monsters, just for the flavour

[@c.r.bledsoe9322]

While Runo definitely appreciates a sea creature shell, I feel like given that alot of the great ones mentioned are legendary, it's not valuable given additional tokens will just go away. If anything I feel like making one token but having that token having something useful like myriad is a stronger direction for the deck. But spawning kraken definitely deserves a spot here

[@CommanderMarcel]

I wish Fleet Swallower was one of the creature types that Runo/Krothuss cared about :(

[@ForeverLaxx]

Junk Winder is pronounced Winder, not Winder. English Teacher.

[@Lucat27]

I think a reanimated subtheme would be strong. Runo already likes things in your yard, and reanimation offers a good way to get around those mana values

[@flargis4]

I run reanimation in my runo deck, it is amazing, can confirm. It also makes it easier to get beefy boys into your yard to bounce to top with his cast trigger, guaranteeing krothuss transformation

[@tubasmitty2]

I absolutely love these kinds of decks, when I first started playing Magic, my first rare I opened from a pack was Stormtide Leviathan, and I've never loved anything more than my huge sea monsters! For your next deck tech, I don't know if you've done it already, but I'd love to see an Ooze deck, U/G, B/G, or even U/B/G depending on the commander, whatever you'd like as long as it oozes goodness!

[@usauniversal22]

All dreamers out there this is temporary situations it will pass don't lose hope just keep moving forward your success will come 💪 💪 ✊ ✊ 💪 💪

[@robertmartin5539]

Play this on I hate your deck plz

[@Spade6ix]

Definitely building my own version of this. Ive been wanting to make sea monsters for a while now and this is just the right amount of spicy change from the traditional simic route that ive been looking for

[@DarthSmirnoff]

It's Polar Kraken's time to shine!

[@chrisnengel7520]

Since we are on Innistrad, I think you could do a commander deck tech on my favorite Angel (please). I think there is not enough love for Archangel Avacyn//Avacyn the Purifier (SOI boros one) out there and although I made a deck around her, nobody else seems to know about her in the command zone. I beg thee to make a deck worthy of the beloved Angel of Innistrad and her tragic story!

[@larryalden79]

Awesome, I always like learning about cool combos since I've been away from the game on and off for past decade. Luckily my kids are into it, and got me back into playing

[@lostmarble540]

"octopi have been known to crawl" octopi have been known to do just about anything, including hiding in clam shells, opening jars, having gay sex, and escaping from their enclosures

[@pluit1434]

Wait a minute…. Opening JARS?!

[@lostmarble540]

they can open jars from the inside and from the outside!

[@LanaSavage]

Thing in the Ice is a pretty good fit in this deck too! Great video, Prof!

[@SimpleCoop]

We call our commander deck with that creature types: SKOL! Sounds Scandinavian. Coop ON! 💚

[@pap314]

thing in the ice can be nice in that deck

[@MikealBasile]

Octopuses. You can't used Octopi as that's a Latin plural form and that would be bad form on a Greek word. Also, it is technically octopuses. Thanks for the great video.