The Commander
At the beginning of your end step, goad each creature your opponents control that's enchanted by an Aura you control. Put a +1/+1 counter on Kaima for each creature goaded this way. (Until your next turn, the goaded creatures attack each combat if able and attack a player other than you if able.)
Guide
Gameplan
Kaima is a Gruul "reverse Voltron" goad commander: you put Auras on your OPPONENTS' creatures, then your end step goads each enchanted creature and pumps Kaima with a +1/+1 counter per goad. You turn the table's biggest threats against each other while Kaima snowballs into a lethal trampling beater, closing games with commander damage amid the chaos.
Strengths
- Goading other people's creatures both neutralizes their boards and grows your commander for free every turn.
- Politically powerful—you decide which opponent gets attacked, making you the table's kingmaker.
- Auras like Frogify or Kenrith's Transformation double as removal AND goad fuel, doing two jobs at once.
- Kaima can become a one-shot commander-damage threat with trample, scaling automatically without combat tricks.
Weaknesses
- Heavily dependent on Kaima sticking; she's a 4-mana 3/3 that dies to any removal and resets your counters.
- Aura-on-opponent strategy is card-disadvantageous if the enchanted creature is removed in response.
- Goad doesn't help against control, combo, or low-creature decks—your engine just idles.
- Gruul lacks great card draw and interaction, so you can run out of gas after deploying your Auras.
Key Cards
- Kenrith's Transformation — Neutralizes an opponent's bomb into a vanilla 3/3, draws you a card, and stays attached to feed goad triggers.
- Frogify — Cheap shutdown Aura that strips abilities and keeps a goadable target on an opponent's board.
- Witness Protection — One-mana answer to commanders or threats that doubles as permanent goad fuel.
- Aggression — A red Aura built specifically to enchant an opponent's creature, granting must-attack and trample for extra mayhem.
- Rancor — Gives Kaima trample so her ballooning counters translate directly into commander damage, and returns when she's killed.
- Bear Umbra — Ramps you on attack and protects Kaima from a kill spell via totem armor, keeping your counters safe.
- Setessan Champion — Turns every Aura you cast into a card, fighting Gruul's draw problem while building your devotion of enchantments.
- Disrupt Decorum — Mass goads the whole table for a swingy political blowout that complements Kaima's targeted goading.
Upgrade Path
Lean into cheap, flexible Auras that enchant opponents' creatures (Witness Protection, Frogify, Kenrith's Transformation, Aggression) so you maximize end-step goads and counters. Add totem-armor and hexproof/indestructible protection (Bear Umbra, Snakeskin Veil, Heroic Intervention) to keep Kaima alive, plus enchantress draw (Setessan Champion, Sythis-style payoffs) and ramp to refill. Top end with trample enablers and an overrun finisher (Rancor, Eldrazi Conscription, Craterhoof Behemoth) to convert your growing board and commander into reliable 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
- ▸Lethal commander damage from a Kaima loaded with counters and trample.
- ▸Opponents killing each other under the weight of repeated goad-forced attacks.
- ▸Going wide with Aura-buffed beaters while the table is distracted by goaded combats.
- ▸An overrun-style alpha strike (Craterhoof, Pathbreaker Ibex) once Kaima and your board are huge.
Archetypes
- Goad / Politics — Kaima's whole identity is forcing opponents' creatures to swing at each other while you sit back and grow.
- Voltron — The +1/+1 counters plus trample-granting Auras make Kaima a fast commander-damage clock.
- Auras / Enchantress — You're constantly casting Auras, so enchantress payoffs and recursion fit naturally into the shell.
- Pillowfort / Control — By redirecting and goading attackers elsewhere, you can play a defensive game and let opponents grind each other down.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GR), by popularity.
