Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Queen Kayla bin-Kroog!

Kayla is a three mana 2/3 that for four mana and tap, you discard all cards in you hand, then draw that many cards, you may choose an artifact or creature card with mana value one you discarded this way, then do the same for artifact or creature cards with mana values 2 and 3 and return those cards to the battlefield, activate only as a sorcery.

This is an interesting way to build a reanimator style deck, in that we need cheap low mana artifacts and creatures to have access to while also having cards that we want to have in our graveyard that can be cast from the graveyard.

The plan for the deck is pretty simple, we pack the deck with a bunch of cheap utility creatures and artifacts that Kayla can bring back, have cards in our graveyard that we can cast and ways that make use of us discarding our cards, and have ways we can make use of Kayla’s ability multiple times while also making sure we don’t deck ourselves out.

The first thing that we need are cheap creatures and artifacts that provide some sort of value.

Mentor of the Meek is perfect for this because they have it so that whenever another creature we control with power 2 or less enters we can pay one mana to draw a card, which not only helps us dig a bit more for what we need, but can also set up our hand for Kayla to bring something back, especially since a lot of our creatures are going to have low power.

We can also help make activating Kayla a bit easier by using Zirda, the Dawnmaker, who won’t be our Companion because that limits what the deck can do a bit, but we can gladly make use of it’s ability to reduce the mana cost of activated abilities to make Kayla’s ability only cost two mana.

Mother of Runes can protect Kayla, Loran of the Third Path can destroy an artifact or enchantment when it enters and have us and one opponent draw a card, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben can make noncreature spells cost one more to cast which doesn’t affect us because we aren’t casting anything, and Eidolon of Rhetoric to make it so each player can’t cast more than one spell each turn, which again, doesn’t affect us.

As far as the mana that we need to pay for Kayla’s ability, we have a slew of mana rocks that are in all three categories that we can make use of. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Talisman of Conviction, and Boros Signet all immediately come to mind that can fulfill the one or two mana artifacts we can reanimate or even something like Curse Mirror which can tap for red, but when it enters it can enter as a copy of a creature for turn with haste, which can be useful in the later game.

Hourglass of the Lost can also be a really solid include because it can tap to add a white mana and a time counter on it and we can also tap it, remove X time counters from it and exile it in order to bring back each nonland permanent with mana value X from the graveyard to the battlefield as a sorcery to get the things we couldn’t get back for one reason or another.

The next thing we need are ways we can make use of discard effects as well cards that have utility in the graveyard.

Magmakin Artillerist is perfect for this since whenever we discard one or more cards, then it deals that much damage to each opponent, and since we are planning to be wheeling often with Kayla, we can get some damage through to help us get into an advantageous position.

Another card that works perfectly with us discarding a lot of cards is Monument to Endurance, which has it so whenever we discard a card we pick one that hasn’t been picked yet between drawing a card, making a Treasure token, or having each opponent lose 3 life, and since our goal is to wheel often we are getting to trigger the Monument often.

Marauding Mako has it so whenever we discard one or more cards we put that many +1/+1 counters on it, Flameblade Adept gets a +1/+0 until end of turn whenever we discard a card, and Hobgoblin, Mantled Marauder gets +2/+0 whenever we discard a card while also having flying and haste.

Since we are wheeling cards consistently, we are going to be having cards in our graveyard that won’t be artifacts or creatures, so having ways to cast them from the graveyard will definitely be needed. Sevinne’s Reclamation is a perfect example as a way to make use of returning a permanent with mana value three or less from our graveyard to the battlefield, and if it was cast from the graveyard we copy it, choosing a new target for the copy.

Crucible of Worlds is a way for us to get to play lands from our graveyard, and is three mana so we can get to put it into play from Kayla, though it can be a bit pricey to buy, so if there is a budget, we need to a bit more creative with getting lands into play from our graveyard.

Planar Birth let’s everyone get basics from their graveyard and puts them on the battlefield tapped, and we can use something like Recoup to give an instant or sorcery Flashback equal to its mana cost while also having Flashback to get it again if we have more lands in our graveyard that we want in play.

The last thing that we need are ways to get multiple uses out of Kayla’s ability, while also making sure we don’t deck ourselves out.

Marvin, Murderous Mimic has all activated abilities of creatures we control that don’t have the same name as Marvin, which gives us an additional instance of Kayla’s ability and can be reanimated from that ability as well.

Illusionist’s Bracers is an Equipment that has it so that if an activated ability of the equipped creature is activated that isn’t a mana ability, then we can copy that ability, being able to choose new targets for the copy.

Similarly, Battlemage’s Bracers has a similar effect in that if the equipped creatures ability would be activated, and it isn’t a mana ability, then we can pay one mana to get an additional copy of that ability that can also choose new targets for that ability, but also has the upside of giving the equipped creature haste so we can activate it immediately.

In making sure that we don’t deck ourselves out, we have access to something like Elixir of Immortality which let’s us pay two mana and tap it to gain 5 life and shuffle it and our graveyard into our library, Feldon’s Cane that taps and exiles itself to shuffle our graveyard into our library, and Campfire which can gain us 2 life or put all Commanders from our Command Zone and graveyard to our hand and shuffle our graveyard into our library.

As far as how we win, we can use cards like Brallin, Skyshark Rider to have it so whenever we discard a card we put a +1/+1 counter on them and they deal 1 damage to each opponent to make use of us discarding our hand often, Molten Gatekeeper to have it so whenever another creature we control enters it deals 1 damage to each opponent, or Arbaaz Mir which whenever they or another nontoken historic permanent we control enters they deal 1 damage to each opponent and we gain 1 life.

If we want to go big, and we happen to have a lot of noncreature artifacts, then we can use Depthshaker Titan, which when it enters we can choose any number of noncreature artifacts we control and make them 3/3 creatures that are sacrificed at the beginning of the next end step, but all artifact creatures we control gain melee, trample, and haste which can help us close out a game.

Kayla is a fun spin on a reanimate Commander in that she forces us to discard our hand and have very specific mana values of cards be discarded so that we can put them on to the battlefield, which avoids counter spells and helps us cheat in some mana rocks and value creatures that put us ahead.

Some issues we may have involve us losing access to our graveyard. While Kayla can still get her ability off if the cards we discard are put into exile, we may lose access to cards that can help us deal with problems that can be cast from our graveyard.

Board wipes can be troubling as well, especially if they happen to get rid of creatures and artifacts, and the ways we can bring them back, of which there are quite a few, can only be cast at sorcery speed for cards that can bring multiple things back or can only bring back one or two things maximum.

Once we fall behind we can fall way behind, which is why we need to play a bit more on the aggressive side to have a chance at winning, unless we go more on the value engine side to get an infinite combo with Basalt Monolith and Zirda to make infinite colorless and cast a big X spell that wins us the game, but that’s kind of boring.

Kayla can bring a lot of value to the table, and we have several avenues we can take advantage of to win without the use of an infinite combo, and it just takes a bit of creative thinking.

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

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual