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

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@Veon97]

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

[@cnelson1025]

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

[@coltonmason8290]

I used this as inspiration for a build about a year ago, changing a lot of ideas from yours. It's still one of my best and favorite decks to play and this video laid out such a good starter for an extremely playable sea monster themed deck that I just love.

[@coltonmason8290]

To be fair, I never added all the cards in this deck list, so this decklist may be better than mine. So to say I improved on it may be a far shot. But twinning staff and helm of the host certainly belong on this list.

[@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!

[@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!

[@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

[@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

[@robintarket6844]

Just as I was looking to build! Thanks Prof!

[@KasaiChanOuO]

As someone who bought Runo recently, this was extremely helpful and informative!

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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!

[@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.

[@LanaSavage]

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

[@dailynator]

Thanks for the Commander video, Prof! Always love to see the quick turn around that you produce these once the card is spoiled.

[@ytsejam58]

YES! sea monsters was one of my first decks ever! I've been looking for a good cammander for all the water critters I have.

[@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.

[@reactorplayer]

Hey Prof! The quality of your animation in the videos have increased greatly. It's also very easy to understand a line of text when you get a picture of how it looks when you do it, and at what step in your turn. Very good for explaining and learning in an easy way! I would love if you keep this animation and explanation style in the future.

[@anthonymarantino8762]

Just tried the deck proxied and loved it. Literally have nothing to improve with it. Great job Prof!

[@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?

[@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...

[@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!

[@TeamCardgaming]

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

[@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

[@ryanperkins1142]

My playgroup actually was talking about doing a pirate/ocean themed gamenight. We've got a pirate deck, Norfolk are always good and now this. Beautiful. Just need one more.

[@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.

[@Jonnyguitar1877]

Man, I was already making a simic replication deck and now this just came out and it’s perfect. 🤩

[@StuBBaDuBB92]

So I recently built a runo deck, and despite all the things I've heard it's actually been working extremely well! I've got a lot of creatures with ETB's and decided to look at adding some cheap flicker spells to get more use out of them. Also for protection as well.

[@saqvobase4301]

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

[@ickeyshufflin1288]

I really appreciate these graphics Prof! Very easy to follow and overall very informative- thanks you!!

[@ronaldmccomb8301]

I love the animation. Great to help explain how the card actually functions.

[@Ominous39061]

This is the card that caught my attention during preview season. Thank you for making this video.

[@joefanno9180]

One of the most interesting dimir commanders I’ve seen in a while, looks like a really fun deck!

[@Iweleth]

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

[@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.

[@RollieB89]

I was excited when I first saw Runo Stormkirk because Krothuss kind of reminds me Cthulhu and I can't wait to run him as my commander

[@Hermit_Trash]

Building this deck at my lgs tomorrow hopefully they have a lot of the pieces, I love this commander thank you for showing me more pieces I didn't know about.

[@alexbrock2382]

I am 100% convinced the professor started with the splash pun and worked from there

[@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

[@Thickolas]

Did the production value just jump up a notch? Very slick

[@Phenest76]

Your Death and Taxes video is one of my all time favorites. I wish you would do a legacy or a modern deck tech.

[@zmann9978-u7z]

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

[@foffingCh.]

I’ve wanted to do sea monsters for so long, this seems like a great way to do it

[@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

[@michael-luce]

I started building a semi-budget Runo deck as soon as it was revealed, but I decided to to more the route of self mill and reanimation. It's cool to see the difference in approach (and there are certainly some good ideas here that I might steal)!

[@RYsingLegend]

Next I would definitely love to see a video like this on Olivia Crimson Bride, so glad you made this video because I've had my eye on Runo Stromkirk since the moment he was revealed

[@nathanielb5659]

i love the card border treatment that he has. if they were to update the backgrounds again i would definitely not be opposed to this as a choice

[@thatguydennis2]

Yes! I have been looking for a sea monster commander! Wish I was able to incorporate with Aesi but oh well this works

[@gustavnorback]

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

[@MrBe56]

I have a Wrexial deck, and I have been trying for years to get it to work as Kraken tribal. Runo will make this so much easier.

[@jbeck1985]

For those that not aware you can only copy the lengendaries to stack abilities as legend rule still applies to tokens. So you could have 2 triggers but those tokens resolve and are finished (after you decide what creature you keeping etc. You would need Sakashima.

[@pmf98]

Prof saying “Apes aren’t robust swimmers.” Makes me think immediately to the monkey swimming in the ocean to the “life could be a dream “ song, lmao.

[@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"

[@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.

[@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.

[@rasat6876]

thank you prof for the video, i was thinking on building this guy the moment i saw it

[@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

[@jonahsmith2113]

I would love a throwback Commander for your next decktech

[@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!

[@bladetb3934]

I would love for you to cover hogaak as an evil commander. I use stuff like berserk, overwhelming stampede, duelweapon fighting, and the goat that does overwhelming stampede for you when he attacks. So that hogaak is a 2 hit kill, and some times a 1 hit if you pair up the right stuff. You can make hogaak a flying demon who two shots the whole table one at a time with demonic embrace, which also comes back just like hogaak. He is essentially free and keeps coming back after board wipes and grave removal, and targeted removal. As long as you play a mix of token producers and grave filler you can cast hogaak constantly. Cards like gisa ghoulcaller, and the golgari guildmage making 8 tokens for sacing hogaak just let's you keep growing a board and keeping the huge threat on the board. Then when you get draw cards like momentus fall, life's legacy, and rishkars expertise, you never run out of gas in hand. Them with mana dorks you are way out ahead of everyone else. And your dorks kinda have haste since your gonna convoke with them. And if they die you can just eat them with hogaak to fuel him for later. The deck is busted and no one seems to know about it or care. Not sure which one. You can build it cheap or throw silly reserved list cards like hermit druid in. It can kill a player by turn 3, and easily by turn 5. Later on it can wipe the whole table with a big overwhelming stampede into jarad sacing the 16 or 32 power hogaak for a big drain. A lot the deck can do. And so far to me it's the perfect golgari deck.

[@ytsejam58]

I pulled this during pre release and while I don't have all the cards I did already have a handful of the ones you mentioned. And I was able to fill in the gaps with other synergistic cards

[@raiserofchickens]

I've been holding on to a playset of Quest for Ula's Temple since Worldwake. Now that I have a Runo Stromkirk it's time to make that sea creature tribal deck. Bring on the Whelping Wave!

[@xaviesposito2485]

Great video Prof! I been thinking about a Sea creatures deck lately. Thanks!

[@DarthSmirnoff]

It's Polar Kraken's time to shine!

[@allenyates3469]

Mutavault becomes a self ramping land with Krothus. All man lands can work as a target for Krothus. If you run Serpent Assault you can use cards like Spawning Pool to make 3 5/5 regenerating attackers/blockers. Serpent Assault is a banger in this deck.

[@villhiem2554]

A re-visit to a strong zombie deck sounds cool, or at least a list of common zombie deck idea seeing that there are so many different ways to run zombies now

[@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.

[@Thraximundar268]

The credits at the end made e remember the time I spent watching kit, Xena and baywatch

[@darkzero3]

I wouldn’t mind seeing a Eruth, Tormented Prophet deck tech. She seems super good.

[@dmajor9982]

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

[@notimeleft1]

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

[@Danny.._]

this looks super fun. definitely gonna try this out.

[@ArbitraryVoice]

I'd overlooked this card, I'm actually pretty hyped for it now - I may well build a budget version of this now. I get to play so many of the terrible cards I own, do weird things with the graveyard, and my commander transforms into not-Cthulhu? Sign me up!

[@SimpleCoop]

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

[@alexfos4212]

I’d absolutely love to see a Chatterfang video. I’m sure the lack of blue doesn’t thrill you, but it still has green so it’s ok :)

[@Tarotreading1122]

* ✊ 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* 💪💪✊✊

[@origaminosferatu3357]

I've had a lot of big leviathans sitting in my collection for a while. Wrexial being one of my faves. Time to take them out for a spin!! Also...SLUGS. Slugs is the next deck tech you should do. It also looks super fun.

[@SASORI55555]

Hey professor great deck! It’d be awesome to see Toxrill get a deck tech in the future

[@dan_el2]

Monsters of the deep. Probably my favourite tribe 💙

[@slowmo56]

I love the flavor of this card, but thought it would be too hard to build effectively. This might have given me the confidence to do it. 👍

[@creamskye]

Great deck profile. A minor nitpick/improvement I have is that you should run coldsteel heart instead of charcoal diamond. It has the same effect except strictly better. It lets you pick a color and counts as a snow permanent for icebreaker kraken :)

[@hiddenleaf414]

Deck seems very fun but also very hard to balance. You want sea creatures at 6cmc+ to make 2 copies of yet you’re in Black/Blue so you don’t have the best ramp. Adding some recursion/graveyard cards like Animate Dead/Reanimate and Entomb/Buried Alive will help a lot. Also Dark Ritual seems like a big boost in this deck, either helping to get Runo out after he’s died or just hard casting a big fatty. Also just going smaller utility creatures or clones is always an option.

[@jonathancaronpat]

Nice one prof! love those sea monster :)

[@thisiskindabadass212]

I think Jacob Hauken has great potential and I'd love to see a take on him that might not be all eldrazi, extra turns, and aminatus augury

[@hehedgehohog]

I would like to "sea" new Odrik deck tech. I feel it can be a deck about artifact sinergy with all these blood tokens, sacrificing and taping them for something.

[@kurtofan]

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

[@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.

[@Tgaxgriffen]

I love this card so much and I'm going to splash blue just to put him in my vampire agro deck

[@Lexgamer]

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

[@firefang92]

Runo is perhaps my favorite EDH deck outside of more competetive level ones. As such I want to drop a quick PSA: run sakashima, because nothing is more fun than an exponentially growing pile of Kraken gods.

[@BozzLightyr]

Cool deck, professor! I always wanted to build a sea monster deck maybe another lifetime