Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no escaping board wipes in Commander. For better or worse, these cards are equal parts iconic and necessary to maintain the format’s balance. That said, there are ways to play around these cards, such as counterspells and Phasing effects.
While each of these can get the job done, few MTG cards are as good at stopping board wipes as Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. So long as you don’t mind being a bit mean, this card is the ultimate nuclear deterrent against mass removal. On top of this, Kamahl is fairly strong as a Commander in his own right, making him a great build-around option.
MTG Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
If you hate board wipes as much as I do, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa’s first ability is your best friend. Since it doesn’t specify that you need to control the land you animate, all of your opponent’s lands are fair game. This can be done at instant speed, too, letting you react to a board wipe once cast.
While it can be mana-intensive, animating a bunch of your opponent’s lands before a board wipe resolves will be devastating. Whether you’re targeting the board wipe caster or politicking to take down the dominant player, losing lands is always punishing. With enough mana, setting your opponent back to square one really isn’t out of the question here.
The only trouble with this game plan is that green doesn’t have a ton of access to board wipes. Colorless options like Nevinyrral’s Disk do exist, but you’ll mostly be playing off your opponents. Realistically, though, you’ll only have to do that once, as with Kamahl, Fist of Krosa on the board, the risk of being blown out is too high.
If you don’t want to wait for your opponent’s board wipes, however, there are a few removal options you can exploit. Cards like Endbringer, Blasting Station, and Lesser Masticore let you remove lands you animate one by one. Thanks to this, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa can be a complete nightmare if left unchecked, but he’s hardly a one-trick pony.
A Solid Mono-Green Commander
While targeting your opponent’s lands with Kamahl, Fist of Krosa can cause tons of shenanigans, but that’s hardly its only use. Provided you watch out for removal, you can easily target your own lands to temporarily create extra bodies. Combined with a few anthems and Kamahl’s second ability, you can easily create an impressive army.
While he’s no Craterhoof Behemoth, giving your entire board +3/+3 and Trample isn’t to be scoffed at. Thanks to this, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa works wonders as an off-type choice for an Elf Typal deck. With tons of mana dorks providing plenty of ramp, you can easily turn an otherwise unassuming board into a game-ending threat.
Alternatively, it’s easy enough to build Kamahl, Fist of Krosa as a Landfall-themed Commander or even as generic mono-green goodstuff. Whichever approach you go for, removing the risk of mass removal that plagues green decks sets you up for success. To top it off, there are even a few infinite combs that you can exploit, using Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.
Infinite Mana, Sacrifice, and Mill
If you want to close the game out quickly, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa easily goes infinite with Yedora, Grave Gardener. Originally released in Commander 2021, this Treefolk essentially lets you sacrifice any animated Forest infinitely. Since you can tap the returned face-down Forest Land to animate it with Kamahl, going infinite is trivially easy.
All you need to complete this loop is a sacrifice effect of your choosing. If you want mana, Phyrexian or Ashnod’s Altar have got you covered, while Altar of Dementia covers Mill. You can even get infinite lifegain using Zuran Orb. Notably, since these combos give you infinite enters and leaves the battlefield triggers, tons of wincons are on the table.
To add a bit more redundancy, there are also a couple of infinite combos possible using Earthcraft. Since you can use one animated land to untap another, you can easily break tap/untap effects. Alongside Darksteel Garrison, for instance, you can make an infinitely large land. Alternatively, Mesmeric Orb gives you infinite Self-Mill if you want to create a wincon out of that.
A Brilliant Budget Bomb
Following its reprint in Dominaria Remastered in 2023, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is a fantastic budget Commander option. Selling for just $0.45 on average right now, this card is incredibly compelling for its price. Beyond offering a solid budget base for a Mono-Green deck, this card is likely to catch many by surprise, too.
As a Commander, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa only helms 567 MTG decks, according to EDHREC right now. While it is more popular in the 99, with 12,600 decks using it, it’s by no means a format staple. This should let you ruin an opponent’s board wipe without too much trouble, as many won’t see it coming.
All in all, even if Kamahl, Fist of Krosa won’t win you any friends, this card can definitely win games. So long as you don’t mind the color restriction, this card is well worth building around. Just don’t be surprised if you end up becoming the main target around the table rather quickly.
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