Good lord there’s been a lot of cool cards in the last few months. It’s so obscenely easy to accidentally miss an exciting one because there’s just so many of them.
Don’t worry too much though, because we’re here to help you out by gifting you with knowledge. It’s not forbidden knowledge, we’re not that kind of site, but it’s all pretty cool. Anyway, insert your own favorite pun about being a predator here or the clicky noise from the films, and let’s get into our article.
What is Predators’ Hour?
Predators’ Hour is a two-mana black sorcery that reads, “Until end of turn, creatures you control gain menace and “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player’s library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell.””
In essence, it allows you to take your opponents’ cards and then play them as your own. However, you need to be able to actually hit them with creatures first. The way we see it, this has to main uses. Either you’re putting it in a deck where casting things from exile is a good thing, or you’re putting it in a deck that’s all about stealing the best cards that everyone else has.
The good news is, that we’ve chosen one commander for each of those ideas, and we’re about to introduce them to you. Lucky you!
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Prosper Hour
First is our exile theme. Prosper, Tome-Bound is a four-mana black and red 1/4 with deathtouch. It also has two abilities. The first is Mystic Arcanum, which reads, “At the beginning of your end step, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.” Yay, card draw. The second ability creates a treasure token whenever you cast a spell from exile, which is what we’re going for here.
We can bolster this whole thing by including other cards that really go hard on the whole exile thing. Florian, Voldaren Scion allows you to exile cards from your own library to play them. You’ve then also got Curse of Hospitality, which does a good job of effectively doubling the effect of Predators’ Hour. Etali, Primal Storm is a big old Dinosaur that lets you exile cards from everyone’s decks and then pay them for free.
You’ve also got Dream Devourer, which allows you to foretell all of your cards, which means you can then cast them from exile no matter what. Our final pick is Laelia, the Blade Reforged, who gets stronger when you exile your own stuff, and also allows you to exile cards when they attack too.
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The Predator Triplets
Our other option, and this is the one where you’re going to annoy everyone, is Sen Triplets. This is a five-mana 3/3 in white, blue, and black, that reads, “At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. This turn, that player can’t cast spells or activate abilities and plays with their hand revealed. You may play lands and cast spells from that player’s hand this turn.” We are about to steal everything, and Predators’ Hour is merely one card among many that’ll allow us to do this.
First of all, we still like Dream Devourer here too, so use that. In terms of other cards that allow us to steal things, and we’re just gonna reel these off, we’ve got Siphon Insight, Xanathar, Guild Kingpin, Thief of Sanity, Praetor’s Grasp, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Mind’s Dilation, and Nightveil Specter. All of these are good at taking what’s not yours, so you want them in the deck.
You can also bolster Sen Triplets by including Telepathy, which let’s you see the cards in everyone’s hands, and also Paradox Haze, which allows you to get an extra upkeep, and therefore choose an extra player. You could even go a step further and use Mirrormade to copy Paradox Haze and then get three upkeep steps and choose everyone. This deck is evil, but we like it.
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