The Commander
Whenever another creature dies, you may put X +1/+1 counters on Kresh, where X is that creature's power.
Guide
Gameplan
Kresh starts as a 3/4 but balloons into a one-shot threat by feeding on creature deaths—your own and your opponents'. You sacrifice big creatures, trade in combat, and wrath the board to dump counters onto Kresh, then swing for lethal commander damage, ideally with trample or evasion. The deck plays as a Jund sacrifice/midrange beatdown engine that turns every death into fuel.
Strengths
- Snowballs absurdly fast off board wipes and sacrifice outlets, often becoming lethal in a single turn
- Jund colors give access to the best removal, ramp, and recursion in the format
- Punishes opponents' creature decks since their deaths also grow Kresh
- Resilient game plan—any death trigger refuels the commander after a reset
Weaknesses
- Heavy reliance on a single creature makes the deck fragile to exile, -X/-X, and edict effects
- Counters vanish if Kresh is removed, leading to brutal tempo loss
- Needs evasion or trample to actually convert size into damage
- Can be slow to assemble the sacrifice engine without good early ramp
Key Cards
- Goblin Bombardment — Free, repeatable sacrifice outlet that converts your board into counters and can fling for damage.
- Fling — Throws Kresh's enormous power at a player's face for an instant-speed kill that dodges combat removal.
- Rite of the Raging Storm — Generates 5/1 trample tokens that die to feed Kresh while also pressuring opponents.
- Blasphemous Act — A cheap one-sided-feeling wrath that triggers Kresh for every creature that dies.
- Greater Good — Sacrifices creatures for cards while stacking power counters onto Kresh.
- Rancor — Recurring trample turns Kresh's bloated body into reliable commander-damage kills.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and ramp (Sol Ring, Dockside Extortionist, Cultivate) to deploy Kresh and an engine ahead of curve. Prioritize free sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Phyrexian Altar) plus reliable evasion (Rogue's Passage, Whispersilk Cloak) and protection (Heroic Intervention, Lightning Greaves) so Kresh's counters actually convert. Lean into Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat drain and recursion like Meren or Victimize to make the deck win even through removal.
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
- ▸Commander damage from a trample/evasive, counter-stacked Kresh
- ▸Flinging or sacrificing Kresh for lethal direct damage
- ▸Repeated aristocrat drain via Blood Artist effects fueled by sacrifices
- ▸Board wipe followed by a single overwhelming Kresh swing
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice outlets turn creature deaths into Kresh counters and incidental drain damage.
- Voltron — Kresh naturally becomes a massive single threat that wants evasion and trample to one-shot players.
- Midrange Beatdown — Big creatures and removal trade efficiently while every death pumps the commander.
- Reanimator — Cheating in fatties to sacrifice and resurrect provides repeated huge counter dumps.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BGR), by popularity.
