Magic: The Gathering has no shortage of interesting cards in Commander. With so many new sets and Commander decks, MTG players are spoiled for choice every single year. If anything, the real struggle is choosing which one of the over 2,800 possible Commanders you want to play.
Unfortunately, while there are tons of exciting options already, some of the most interesting MTG Commander cards aren’t technically playable. Heroes of the Realm cards, for instance, offer some of the most unique abilities in MTG, but they’re only usable by select Wizards employees. Despite this, these cards can be played when using Rule Zero to make them legal.
Kharis & The Beholder, for instance, is well worth the Rule Zero conversations before a game starts. Offering a unique dice rolling strategy that either buffs or copies your creatures. At worst, Kharis can accumulate tons of value throughout a game, but at best, it can go infinite with wild copy shenanigans.
MTG Kharis & The Beholder
On its own, Kharis & The Beholder is not a very strong MTG card. With no other creatures on the board, you’d have a fifty-fifty chance of getting a single +1/+1 counter. Realistically, though, it’s incredibly rare to drop your Commander into an entirely empty board with no support, and it doesn’t take much to get Kharis going.
If you can get ten creatures into play, Kharis & The Beholder is guaranteed to put a +1/+1 counter on every creature you control. Since Kharis does this on entry, attack, and during your upkeep, your board can quickly go out of control. Throw in some counter doublers like Branching Evolution or Doubling Season, and you’re really off to the races.
Sadly, no matter how many creatures you have in play, you’ll only ever have a one in twenty chance of hitting Kharis’ copy ability. Unfortunately, there’s not really a viable way to improve your odds, as the only Commander legal option is Squid Fire Knight. Since Sticker sheets are semi-random at the start of each game, there’s no guarantee you’ll even get this card, too.
Realistically, your best bet is to use Rule Zero to also allow Krark’s Other Thumb to be playable. Much like the Squid Fire Knight sticker, this essentially gives you advantage on every roll, significantly improving your odds. Even without this, however, it is possible to exploit Kharis using Helm of the Host.
With this equipment strapped to Kharis & The Beholder, you can get at least two dice rolls every turn with little consequence. While this is already a great way to buff your board, importantly, these copies of Kharis aren’t legendary. That means, if you do get lucky with a natural 20, they’ll be copied too, allowing you to seriously spiral.
Copy the Copies
Despite the absolutely insane potential Kharis & The Beholder has when hitting the natural 20, going infinite is surprisingly difficult. There definitely are combos available; however, they’re win-more combos that could end the game without Kharis help. Even with this in mind, it’s hard to ignore just how silly things can get with the right setup.
Alongside a regular flicker effect, like Restoration Angel, and a multi-target option like Lumbering Battlement, you can flicker Kharis endlessly. This lets you brute force your way through the random nature of dice rolling to create infinite, infinitely large creature tokens. Throw in a Haste enabler like Concordant Crossroads, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a flashy win condition.
Unfortunately, due to its dependence on dice rolling, Kharis & The Beholder can’t quite go infinite outside of existing combos. That being said, it can create an avalanche of value with just a few activations, especially if you get lucky early. To do this, you’ll want to load up your Kharis deck with Flicker effects and use them on Kharis itself in pursuit of that natural 20.
Since the vast majority of creatures with flicker effects aren’t legendary, Kharis can copy them and then copy the copies. The more flicker creatures you have in play, the better odds you have of doing this, and it doesn’t take much to decent odds. At worst, even if you can’t create a near-infinite copy chain, you’ll still have a wide and well-buffed board, which isn’t bad at all.
Funny But Flawed
Realistically, popping off with Kharis & The Beholder is far more complex than you’d ever need. While you might need five or more flicker creatures to have decent odds of winning with Kharis, other decks just need two. With two flicker cards like Felidar Guardian and Icewind Stalwart in play, you can create an infinite flicker loop that wins with Altar of the Brood.
Technically, this does defeat the point of Kharis & The Beholder’s neat trick, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Commander is a casual format, after all, and Kharis offers a ton of somewhat unique fun for players. Creating a near-infinite flicker combo is just the tip of the iceberg, too. As a great all-around Selesnya Commander, Kharis works wonders helming any go-wide or enters effect-based deck.
One Big Problem
Ultimately, given it’s not Commander legal by default, Kharis & The Beholder is unlikely to be Rule-Zeroed in beyond Bracket Three. If anything, this is a blessing in disguise, since it means its somewhat dubious power is a non-issue. What is an issue for MTG players, however, is the availability and price of Kharis & The Beholder.
As a Heroes of the Realm card, Kharis was only given to a handful of Wizards employees. Not only does this make the card incredibly rare, but since they’re treasured momentos, they’re very rarely sold. When these cards do get sold, it’s often for obscene sums, often tens of thousands of dollars.
Unfortunately, even if you do acquire one of these cards, it’s still illegal unless your name is on it. Thanks to this, you’re probably better off proxying Kharis & The Beholder, if you do want to play it. Considering the shenanigans that it can cause, doing so definitely seems like a good time to us.
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