Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Haktos the Unscarred!

Haktos is a four mana 6/1 that must attack each combat if able and as he enters you choose a number at random of 2, 3, or 4 and Haktos has protection from each mana value cost other than the chosen number.

As an interesting reference to Achilles from The Iliad, Haktos is protected from everything except for a mana value of one of three choices, which means that he is oddly perfect for a Voltron style deck, though the way we boost him is going to be different than most other Voltron decks.

The goal of the deck is going to be boosting Haktos and giving him buffs that will win us via Commander damage, all the while making sure we can deal with the spells that can deal with him.

The most ideal way for us to get Haktos to the appropriate power level without us being able to target him is through anthem effects.

Always Watching is great for this because not only does it give nontoken creatures we control +1/+1, but it also gives them vigilance, which helps deal with the slight downside of Haktos not being able to block because it must attack every turn.

In the Trenches is an anthem that can also exile a nonland permanent, Day of Destiny gives legendary creatures we control +2/+2, Kargan Warleader will give other Warriors we control +1/+1, and Commander’s Insignia will give creatures you control +1/+1 for each time you’ve cast your Commander this game.

If we want to focus in on some of the typal benefits, we can use Lovisa Coldeyes to give Barbarians, Warriors, and Berserkers get +2/+2 and haste, Rush of Battle can give creatures we control +2/+1 and gives Warriors we control lifelink until end of turn, and Herald of Dromoka to give all Warriors we control vigilance.

One of the most useful ways to give Haktos a benefit is through Raiyuu, Storm’s Edge, which untaps a Warrior or Samurai that attacked alone and if it was the first combat phase of the turn, you get an additional combat phase, which is really helpful in getting damage through.

While Haktos is plenty resilient against targeted removal and most creatures, he is not resistant to board wipes, which is what we need to consider.

Your Temple Is Under Attack is a modal spell that can prove very useful for either mode, either making all of our creatures indestructible or having us and a target opponent draw two cards, which we can use if we need some more cards in hand or as a political tool as necessary.

Make a Stand gives our creatures a +1/+0 and indestructible until end of turn, Dawn Charm could prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn, regenerate a creature, or counter a spell that targets us, or Taunt from the Rampart to goad all creatures our opponents controls and until our next turn they can’t block.

If we are really desperate, then we can use Perch Protection as a way to keep ourselves safe by not only giving ourselves four 1/1 Bird tokens with flying, but we can gift an extra turn to a player to phase out all of our permanents, our life total cannot change, and we gain protection from everything. If you have Teferi’s Protection then I would use it instead, but if you are on a budget then you can use Perch Protection at great cost.

We can also use the fact that Haktos has a high enough base power to our advantage with something like Furious Rise, which at the beginning of our end step if we control a creature with power 4 or greater, we exile the top card of our library and may play it until we exile another card with Furious Rise.

There is also Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest which when it enters or attacks we exile the top X cards of our library equal to the number of creatures we control with power 4 or greater and can play them until our next end step and if we don’t then Dragonhawk deals 2 damage to each opponent for each card we didn’t play, which also helps us get some more incidental damage in.

The way we win should be clear, Haktos going face and winning with Commander damage, so we should make it so that it goes quicker.

Gratuitous Violence is a card that gives our creatures double damage when ever they deal damage to a player or permanent, which turns Haktos from a four turn clock into a two turn clock against an opponent. We can also shorten this time even more with City on Fire and Fiery Emancipation, which triples the damage dealt done by sources we control.

To get an aggro win even quicker, there are also the many spells that give us extra combats. Great Train Heist is a modal spell that can give us an extra combat phase while untapping our creatures, gives them a +1/+0 boost and first strike, and can have us choose a player and if a creature we control deals combat damage to that player we make a Treasure token.

Karlach, Fury of Avernus gives us an additional combat phase whenever we attack, Aurelia, the Warleader gives us an additional combat phase whenever she attacks for the first time each turn, and we can exert Combat Celebrant as it attacks in order to give us an extra combat phase.

If we are worried about getting damage through, then there is Archetype of Aggression which gives our creatures trample while removing access to trample from our opponents, Goblin War Drums to give all of our creatures menace, and True Conviction to give creatures we control double strike and lifelink.

Haktos is a straightforward Commander in what he wants to do, win through combat while being hard to interact with. Now it isn’t impossible to interact with him, since there are plenty of spells in either of the three choices that can be used to deal with him as well as board wipes or mass bounce or mass exile spells, but he is much more difficult to deal with than many other Voltron Commanders, which makes him a little more viable than most in potentially winning games.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual