Kaervek, The Highlander

Commander / EDH

AnActualMoose

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Koth of the Hammer
• 1x Liliana Vess

Land (36)

• 1x Akoum Refuge
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Kher Keep
• 11x Mountain
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Phyrexia's Core
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Springjack Pasture
• 10x Swamp
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Death Pits of Rath
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Greed
• 1x Night Dealings
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Repercussion

Artifact (26)

• 1x Altar of Shadows
• 1x Argentum Armor
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Dreamstone Hedron
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Eternity Vessel
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Journeyer's Kite
• 1x Lux Cannon
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Portcullis
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Prototype Portal
• 1x Reito Lantern
• 1x Sculpting Steel
• 1x Skull of Orm
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Spine of Ish Sah
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Sword of Kaldra
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Ward of Bones

Instant (13)

• 1x Backlash
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Darkness
• 1x Delirium
• 1x False Cure
• 1x Fissure
• 1x Grab the Reins
• 1x Into the Core
• 1x Radiate
• 1x Reiterate
• 1x Silence the Believers
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Wrecking Ball

Sorcery (15)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Curse of the Cabal
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Gild
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Mogg Infestation
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Overwhelming Forces
• 1x Phthisis
• 1x Red Sun's Zenith
• 1x Sever the Bloodline
• 1x Twist Allegiance
• 1x Vandalblast

Commander (1)

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Update note: I have built this deck IRL and have updated the card list and description.

(The goal/theme of this deck is Highlander. Try to keep Kaervek as the only creature on the battlefield. Maybe even defeat your opponents with commander damage! )

People don't like Kaervek because his ability has the potential to punish for every spell your opponents cast. If used aggressively he will be killed often and may become uncastable as a result.

First let's address the theme of the deck: Highlander. Keeping one creature, Kaervek the Merciless , on the battlefield. Some of the cards that help us do that is Portcullis, Ward of Bone, No Mercy, Death Pits of Rath , many global or opponent targeted creature wipes, as well as Basilisk Collar and Sword of Kaldra.

(Play style notes: Keeping Kaervek as the only creature on the battlefield can be done, but will likely be seen as too aggressive. I've found that this deck plays best as a political manipulator trying to keep status quo. Everyone is your ally and you are, sort of, theirs in return.

You tend to play like this: When player A cast a spell, use Kaervek's trigger to kill something of player B, and Visa Versa. Try to keep your opponents at status quo with each other and attempt to spread around Kaervek's power equally. Doing this will help you be seen as peace keeping ally. People will also underestimate you because "You only have one creature.")

There are enough one shot spells to exile or otherwise remove creatures, land, or artifacts. Reiterate and Radiate are perfect for copying your own spells or an opponent's. Radiate combined with any exile spell, Gild in particular, is a very advantageous way to wipe the board.

Second, let's address the weaknesses we need to overcome. Red and Black have great difficulty removing enchantments, so we need cards like Chaos Warp, Lux Cannon, Spine of Ish Sah, and Nevinyrral's Disk. Argentum Armor is another mana costly way to destroy problem permanents.

Retrieving artifacts and enchantments from the Graveyard is important too. We don't have a lot of enchantments so Skull of Orm should work just fine. Artifacts are more difficult to get back, with Buried Ruin and Trading Post being the only real way to pull them from the Graveyard. Because Trading Post needs creatures to retrieve artifacts I included Kher Keep and Springjack Pasture to make it possible.

For retrieving any other card, your best bet is to use Elixir of Immortality or Reito Lantern (which can be used against your opponents too!), and search for them with Increasing Ambition or Night Dealings (which works awesome with Kaervek!).

For life gain we have Exsanguinate, Exquisite Blood, Basilisk Collar, and Eternity Vessel. With incidental life gain from Pristine Talisman, Elixir of Immortality, Trading Post , Staff of Domination and Claws of Gix. (The Claws are a way to defend against your stuff getting exiled but may not be needed.)

For card draw we have Greed, Mind's Eye, Staff of Nin, Trading Post , and a couple of creature wipes that give draws.

Kaervek may become costly to cast, so we have plenty of mana boosting artifacts, a Prototype Portal to combine them, or any other artifact with, Koth of the Hammer , Black Market, and Altar of Shadow. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and Cabal Coffers.

Typical win condition is to play your opponents against each other until there is only you and one other player left. Use Kaervek's power to burn them to death or go in swinging equipped with Argentum Armor.

Possible alternate win conditions are: Twist Allegiance if you are hopelessly outnumbered and have no board wipe. Repercussion + Blasphemous Act, or Radiate combined with Backlash or Delirium or Phthisis or Grab the Reins (with or without entwine), or mana ramping into a huge Exsanguinate can all potentially kill all your opponents at the same time.

Note: Overwhelming Forces can be had as a Judge Foil for much cheaper then from portal3K.

Date added	11 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.22
Tokens	Copy Clone, Emblem Koth of the Hammer, Goat 0/1 W, Goblin 1/1 R, Gold, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R