SHOCKINGG!! - A Keranos Deck Tour
I spent something like a week and a half trying to figure out what i could write about for my first J+ News post. What I eventually decided was that I wanted to make a post showcasing my All-Time Favorite commander deck. I'm gonna show off some of the coolest cards I've opened from packs, some of my favorite art treatments, and some of the cool choices I've made to keep my deck thematically consistent. But before we get to all that, let me give you a quick and dirty history of my Keranos deck.
Thousand Year Storm is one of my favorite cards, and one of the things that made me so interested in building a blue/red deck for my first commander. The art is so evocative and it sounds like such a powerful effect, getting you multiple copies of the spells you cast. The problem is, it costs 6 mana in red/blue, colors that aren't very good at getting ahead on mana. If you cast this 6 mana enchantment on curve, you'll be lucky to still have it by your next turn.
After getting back into magic in 2022, I decided to revamp my Melek deck, including a switch to a new commander. Veyran was similar to Melek in that both commanders interact with spell copying in some way. The dream was to have an explosive turn where I cast tons of spells that all get copied and damage all my opponents directly to their life totals. In practice, you'll never have enough mana to really have that explosive turn. The issue with the Veyran deck is that it was trying to do too many different things, without enough focus on any one strategy. This is a common pitfall with the first iterations of my decks.
What I learned while I was playing Veyran was which parts of the deck I was enjoying, and which ones I'd hone in on. I was also becoming frustrated with having a commander that was such a magnet for enemy removal spells. Going forward, I wanted to change the deck to focus on sources of effects that doubled damage, dealt damage to opponents when I cast spells, and enough control spells to buy me the time to develop to a point where I can have a pretty big turn.
The otter wizard (and similar effects) are the main source of damage to my opponents at the table. Propoganda is a life-saver in any game, putting the brakes on aggressive enemies. It's probably my favorite control piece in the deck. Torbran is my favorite amplify effect, turning my Keranos trigger into a 5 damage bolt, boosting all of my spell pingers, and greatly boosting my presence at the table.
To solve the problem of the quickly killed commander, I changed the head of my deck to Keranos, God of Storms. I love the designs of the gods from the Theros setting, so making one my commander was a good solution.
I put the God of Storms at the head of my deck around the same time that Thousand Year Storm came out of my deck. Spell copying is fun, but not very efficient or as flexible as one might think. I streamlined a lot about the deck, improving card draw, cutting back on expensive spells, and including cards more central to my strategy. Although the Thousand Year Storm no longer exists in the decklist, I decided to maintain at least a loose theme to the spells in the deck, choosing to include cards with lightning in the art. This worked out nicely, as I have a few special art treatments that really stand out.
This art treatment is from the Mystical Archives, a bonus sheet of special treatments packaged with both sets on Strixhaven. In addition to the beautiful and richly colored art, I particularly enjoy the flavor text at the bottom of these cards.
My decklist for Keranos has evolved in the 2-ish years since he was made the commander. In addition to common sense adjustments to create a smoother gameplan, I've been fortunate enough to pull some rather valuable cards over the years that have been a great boon to this deck's power. Sometimes you need to spend a chunk of change for a few specific cards to fix your deck, which always makes the cards you pull from packs to include feel much more special. Here are some of my strongest and most exciting pulls:
Typical 15-card packs usually cost $6-$10. Sometimes, you're fortunate enough to make your money back. As of May 13th 2026, Hexing Squelcher is $22, Twinflame Tyrant is $38, the extended art Rhystic Study is $85, and the Ral and Crackle with power are both around $10.
In addition to the exciting and impactful high-value pulls, I got to recently make a 6 card swap/upgrade to Keranos thank to the recent Secrets of Strixhaven set, which came out in April. Shown in the earlier image set, the Mystical Archive returned, and I was able to take 3 cards which were already in the deck and include prettier art versions (Pongify, Expressive Iteration, and Abrade). Of the new cards added from secrets of Strixhaven, these are the ones I'm most excited about:
Thunderdrum is a little more on theme than the lord of the rings card that had it's spot in the deck previously. Plus, it's a creature that can defend and it has a chance to hit extra damage. Both the Abstract Paintmage and Resonating Lute are just more interesting ways to generate mana than previously existed in the deck, at less of a risk to self.
Other than some of these stand out cards, much of the deck is fairly similar effects. Counterspells, card draw, damage on casting, and direct damage instants to manage dangerous creatures. In the best Keranos games, I'm casting multiple spells a turn. Removing threats, drawing cards, generating damage, and creating tokens each and every time I do it. Over the course of a game, I whittle down my opponents, until I can drum up the mana for a flashy finish with something like Crackle with Power, or Fireball. When the deck pops off, it truly is electrifying. I've put a lot of though into the way I've constructed the deck, and it has grown and changed with me over the years.
I could probably say even more about it, but I think I'll leave it there for now. Let me know if this article was interesting at all to those who don't play magic! I can always expand on this page, or even do a writeup on another deck of mine.
