GruulLegendary Creature — Human RangerHalana and Alena, Partners
Mana value4Rank#1,961
The Commander
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put X +1/+1 counters on another target creature you control, where X is Halana and Alena's power. That creature gains haste until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Halana and Alena snowball a single creature into a game-ending threat every combat by dumping +1/+1 counters equal to their power and granting haste. Play ramp, drop a fat or evasive creature, then turn it into a one-shot kill the next combat. As Halana and Alena grow (via counter doublers or their own counters), the payload only gets bigger.
Strengths
- Free, repeatable +1/+1 counter pile every turn with haste so freshly-cast creatures attack immediately
- Built-in evasion potential and counter synergies that scale into one-shot commander-damage kills
- Naturally aggressive GR shell that closes games fast and pressures the table
- Pairs explosively with trample, double strike, and counter doublers
Weaknesses
- Highly creature-dependent; sweepers and spot removal set you back hard
- The counter target is single and telegraphed, inviting removal in response to combat trigger
- Limited interaction in GR—weak to control, stax, and flyers you can't profitably block
- Removing or chump-blocking the buffed creature can blank a whole turn
Key Cards
- Hardened Scales — Adds extra counters to every Halana and Alena trigger, accelerating the snowball.
- Doubling Season — Doubles all the +1/+1 counters placed, instantly creating lethal threats.
- Ancient Brontodon — A cheap, huge-power beater that becomes a one-shot kill when buffed and given haste.
- Rampaging Baloths — Generates expendable beasts that are perfect haste-enabled counter recipients each turn.
- Branching Evolution — Multiplies counters added so each combat trigger lands far more damage.
- Tyvar's Stand — Protects your buffed attacker from removal at instant speed while granting evasion.
Upgrade Path
Add more counter multipliers (Doubling Season, Branching Evolution, Hardened Scales, The Ozolith) and evasion/trample enablers like Rancor, Garruk's Uprising, and Nylea, Keen-Eyed to convert counters into damage. Tighten the mana with fast ramp (Sol Ring, Rampant Growth, Cultivate) and protection (Heroic Intervention, Tyvar's Stand) so your threat survives. To push higher, lean into a focused Voltron one-shot plan with trample and double strike for reliable single-combat kills.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸One-shot a player with a trampling, double-striking counter-loaded creature
- ▸Grind the table down with repeated haste-enabled oversized attackers
- ▸Combo counter doublers (Doubling Season, Hardened Scales effects) for lethal swings
- ▸Overrun-style alpha strike after building a wide, buffed board
Archetypes
- +1/+1 Counters — Their combat trigger is a counter engine that scales with doublers and proliferate.
- Voltron — Stacking counters onto one creature with trample/evasion delivers commander-style one-shots.
- Big Creatures / Stompy — Haste plus mass counters turns expensive fatties into immediate threats.
- Tokens — Token producers give endless disposable bodies to receive counters and haste each combat.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GR), by popularity.
