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Magic Commander Deep Dive: Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain

Modified creature fans, rejoice! Bennie Smith explores Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain from Modern Horizons 3 for your Commander MTG games.

Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain
Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain, illustrated by Cristi Balanescu

Of the most popular new commanders from Modern Horizons 3 on EDHREC, Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain comes in a pretty distant fourth place as of this writing. I think it’s quietly one of the coolest of the new legends for Commander!

Arna Kennerud, Skycaptain

The thematic breakdown of the decks on EDHREC show 208 Equipment decks, 104 Aura decks, twelve Knight decks, and seven +1/+1 counter decks. To my mind, there are better commander choices for an Equipment deck, an Aura deck, or a Knight deck.  For Arna, instead of focusing hard on any one of those, I just want to lean into its trigger for modified creatures, which is quite good!

Mod Squad

First off, you can get the triggers right away when you cast Arna, provided you have at least one modified creature that can attack. Second, you get the trigger for each modified creature you have attacking, so it behooves you to cast some aggressive creatures early. Third, it happens on attacking rather than combat damage to an opponent, so the effect can help ensure your creatures can successfully attack. Last, the effect is actually wild. Not only do you get to double the number of each kind of counter on the modified attacker, you then get to copy each nontoken permanent that’s attached to it!

Now, most counters outside of +1/+1 counters don’t really do much if you double them—such as a flying counter, or a lifelink counter, and such. I would just focus on having a fair number of creatures that will be modified with +1/+1 counters. And I’d likely look for both Equipment cards and Aura cards that have nice abilities that trigger when they enter the battlefield, so when you make the copy, you’ll get the added effect. Equipment are particularly great for this, since you can later re-equip the copy to a different creature after combat.

Let’s dig in and see where we end up!

Modular Creatures

Arcbound Ravager Scrapyard Recombiner Arcbound Crusher Arcbound Reclaimer Arcbound Worker Arcbound Stinger Arcbound Mouser Arcbound Javelineer Arcbound Prototype Arcbound Condor

I’d be strongly tempted to run a bunch of the modular creatures since they are all naturally considered to be modified, and whenever one dies, it can transfer the counters to another artifact creature. You’d likely want to round out the list with more artifact creatures that can accept the modular counters, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

Other Creatures with +1/+1 Counters

Chasm Skulker Walking Ballista Spark Double Sunscorch Regent Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker Kappa Cannoneer Toothy, Imaginary Friend Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender Mindless Automaton Iron Apprentice Shabraz, the Skyshark Ingenious Prodigy Patchwork Automaton Krav, the Unredeemed

Outside of the modular creatures, a bunch of other creatures in the Esper color combination either enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters or add counters pretty easily. Kappa Cannoneer is awesome in a heavy artifact deck, and as an artifact creature, it’s fantastic to have alongside the modular creatures. Its improvise ability is incredible with Equipment cards, since it doesn’t matter if they are tapped or not, and if you are attacking with Arna on the battlefield, copying the Equipment will give it a +1/+1 counter and make it unblockable until the end of turn. Thankfully, the card has had reprints in Murders at Karlov Manor Commander and in Modern Horizons 3, so it’s much, much more affordable these days. Snag one if you need it!

Creatures That Add +1/+1 Counters

Steel Overseer Elenda, the Dusk Rose Mikaeus, the Lunarch Drana, Liberator of Malakir Luminarch Aspirant Filigree Vector

Again, if you’re heavy on the artifact creatures, Steel Overseer will be huge for growing your team and then doubling the counters with Arna. Luminarch Aspirant is an awesome way to add a counter to any creature on your turn. Filigree Vector is a nifty card that I completely missed from March of the Machine Commander, and it seems perfect here: when it enters, you get to add a +1/+1 counter to any number of target creatures, and then it provides a sacrifice outlet – which is nice with the modular creatures and Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender.

Outlast

Abzan Falconer Abzan Battle Priest Ainok Bond-Kin Mer-Ek Nightblade Herald of Anafenza

Some of the outlast creatures from Khans of Tarkir are strong candidates to round out the deck. Not only can they tap to add counters to themselves, many of them give all of your creatures with +1/+1 counters a relevant ability. Abzan Falconer gives them flying, and Abzan Battle Priest gives them lifelink. Ainok Bond-Kin and Mer-Ek Nightblade give your creatures with +1/+1 counters on them the powerful one-two punch of first strike and deathtouch.  Herald of Anafenza doesn’t give your team anything special, but it could be nice to churn out extra token creatures.

Equipment With Enters Triggers

Cryptic Coat Assimilation Aegis Barbed Spike Thieves' Tools Gold Pan Gilded Pinions Citizen's Crowbar Trailblazer's Torch Ancestral Blade Pre-War Formalwear

There are many awesome Equipment cards that you might want to play that would be awesome to copy, but for this list, I was looking specifically for ones that have a trigger when they enter. Cryptic Coat struck me as a nifty inclusion. When it enters, you cloak the top card of your library and attach Cryptic Coat to it; when it attacks, it can’t be blocked, and if Arna copies it, you’ll cloak another creature, but I think the Cryptic Coat copy will end up attached to the original cloaked creature. But then you can return the original Cryptic Coat to your hand and recast it.

Making a copy of Trailblazer’s Torch lets you take back initiative if you’ve lost it and makes the equipped creature really difficult to profitably block. Pre-War Formalwear has an incredible enters trigger that you definitely want to copy turn after turn, especially after a battlefield sweeper has trimmed away your attacking force.

Auras With Enters Triggers

Nerd Rage Mantle of the Ancients Unquestioned Authority Sage's Reverie Chains of Custody Rune of Sustenance Rune of Mortality Rune of Flight Faith Unbroken Cartouche of Knowledge Traveler's Cloak Grisly Transformation Squire's Devotion

Nerd Rage is obviously fantastic in an Enchantress deck where you can draw a ton of cards, but I’d like to give it a whirl here too! Copying it each turn can help keep your hand stocked with action, and you can certainly unlock the big boost by playing cards like Sphinx’s Revelation to draw a bunch more cards. Mantle of the Ancients is an incredible way to recover from a battlefield sweeper, and Sage’s Reverie can end up being a sweet card draw engine. Chains of Custody and Faith Unbroken provide some nice removal options that you can copy each turn.

Modified Matters

Towashi Guide-Bot Envoy of the Ancestors Walking Skyscraper Unforgiving One Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor Guardian of the Forgotten Ondu Knotmaster

A handful of cards care about modified creatures, so I’d play a good number of them in this deck, starting with Towashi Guide-Bot, since it’s an artifact creature that can benefit from the modular creatures, and can turn into a nice draw engine once you’ve got a fair number of modified creatures. Walking Skyscraper is another artifact creature, it’s huge and can get a solid discount to its mana value in the mid-game, and since it has hexproof, it will make a great target for your Auras before you attack. I really like Guardian of the Forgotten since it provides some insurance against a battlefield sweeper, and Unforgiving One can bring back creatures from your graveyard.

Lifegain Matters

Archangel of Thune Ajani's Pridemate Sanguine Bond Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose Will, Scion of Peace Well of Lost Dreams Dawn of Hope Markov Purifier Heliod, Sun-Crowned Sorin of House Markov Ocelot Pride Cleric Class Witch of the Moors Karlov of the Ghost Council Amalia Benavides Aguirre Celestine, the Living Saint

Arna has flying, lifelink, and a pretty good ward ability. I think we can reliably count on gaining four life each attack step, so playing some number of cards that take advantage of that might be a solid consideration. Archangel of Thune is fantastic, since it adds a +1/+1 counter to your team each time you gain life and makes them all modified. Heliod, Sun-Crowned works a touch more slowly, but as an indestructible enchantment, it’s a little less vulnerable to sweepers.

Sanguine Bond and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose turn each lifegain trigger into a life drain for target opponent. Well of Lost Dreams and Dawn of Hope turn lifegain into card draw.

If you play in a higher-power pod, you’ll want Witch of the Moors, since that sacrifice ability will be brutal each turn.

Power Boost for Arna

Cranial Plating Bloodforged Battle-Axe Skullclamp Sword of Hearth and Home Sword of Vengeance Thran Power Suit Hero's Blade All That Glitters

To supplement our flying, lifelinking commander, I’d want ways to increase its power. Cranial Plating seems great for that, especially since making an extra copy each attack will be excellent. Then there’s Bloodforged Battle-Axe, which will also make copies on its own, assuming equipped creature deals combat damage. I don’t know that I’ve played Thran Power Suit in a Commander deck yet, but this seems like an excellent choice, since making copies of it really increases its power. And then of course there’s All That Glitters, that can end up boosting enchanted creature into a massive threat.

What other awesome cards would you consider adding to your Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain deck? What other legendary creatures from Modern Horizons 3 have caught your eye?

Talk to Me

Do me a solid and follow me on Twitter!  I run polls and start conversations about Commander all the time, so get in on the fun!  You can also find my LinkTree on my profile page there with links to all my content.

I’d also love it if you followed my Twitch channel TheCompleteCommander, where I do Commander, Brawl, and sometimes other Magic-related streams when I can.  If you can’t join me live, the videos are available on demand for a few weeks on Twitch, but I also upload them to my YouTube channel.  You can also find the lists for my paper decks over on Archidekt if you want to dig into how I put together my own decks and brews. 

And lastly, I just want to say: let us love each other and stay healthy and happy. 

Visit my Decklist Database to see my decklists and the articles where they appeared!

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