$0.40 MTG Sea Monster Commander Unlocks Funky Infinite Turn Combos

So far, Magic’s type batching mechanic has been used fairly sparingly, with only Outlaws and Historic cards established so far. One batch that players have been calling out for years, however, is ‘Sea Monsters,’ roping in Krakens, Leviathans, Octopuses, and the like. Though this isn’t an official MTG batch yet, it has some support, with one notable advocate being the powerful Dimir Commander Runo Stromkirk.

Runo Stromkirk MTG

On its front side, Runo Stromkirk offers a very simple creature recursion effect on entry. This is a solid value play in most situations, but it gets even better when you run early self-mill like Stitcher’s Supplier Stitcher’s Supplier When this creature enters or dies, mill three cards. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.) to stock the bin. It’s also a nice way to turn graveyard tutor effects, like Entomb Entomb Search your library for a card, put that card into your graveyard, then shuffle. and Buried Alive Buried Alive Search your library for up to three creature cards, put them into your graveyard, then shuffle. , into actual tutors.

Runo’s enters effect is also ideal for setting up a pricey creature on top of your deck to trigger its transformation into Krothuss, Lord of the Deep. Big Sea Monsters like Hullbreaker Horror Hullbreaker Horror Flash
This spell can't be countered.
Whenever you cast a spell, choose up to one —
• Return target spell you don't control to its owner's hand.
• Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. and Stormtide Leviathan Stormtide Leviathan Islandwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls an Island.)
All lands are Islands in addition to their other types.
Creatures without flying or islandwalk can't attack. are great candidates here, offering high costs and synergy later. To ensure a smooth mana curve, however, expensive creatures with alternative costs like Deceit Deceit When this creature enters, if {U}{U} was spent to cast it, return up to one other target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
When this creature enters, if {B}{B} was spent to cast it, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke {U/B}{U/B} and Elder Deep-Fiend Elder Deep-Fiend Flash
Emerge {5}{U}{U} (You may cast this spell by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by that creature's mana value.)
When you cast this spell, tap up to four target permanents. also work well.

Though Runo can often set up its own transformation, running other topdeck manipulation effects will greatly help the deck’s consistency. Cards like Sensei’s Divining Top Sensei’s Divining Top {1}: Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
{T}: Draw a card, then put this artifact on top of its owner's library. and Scroll Rack Scroll Rack {1}, {T}: Exile any number of cards from your hand face down. Put that many cards from the top of your library into your hand. Then look at the exiled cards and put them on top of your library in any order. let you do this on demand, and at instant speed, too, to avoid opponents meddling with your setup. You can also use repeatable Scry and Surveil effects, like Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong {1}, {T}: Scry 2.
Whenever you scry or surveil, look at the top card of your library. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Do this only once each turn. (Look at the card after you scry or surveil.) and Doom Whisperer Doom Whisperer Flying, trample
Pay 2 life: Surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.) , to get a big creature on top as well.

Once Runo flips into Krothuss, this Commander really gets cooking. Copying any attacking creature is a fantastic ability, letting you get double value from bangers like Solemn Simulacrum Solemn Simulacrum When this creature enters, you may search your library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
When this creature dies, you may draw a card. and Quantum Riddler Quantum Riddler Flying
When this creature enters, draw a card.
As long as you have one or fewer cards in hand, if you would draw one or more cards, you draw that many cards plus one instead.
Warp {1}{U} . With Sea Monsters, this increases to triple value, meaning heavy hitters like Gyruda, Doom of Depths Gyruda, Doom of Depths Companion — Your starting deck contains only cards with even mana values. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
When Gyruda enters, each player mills four cards. Put a creature card with an even mana value from among the milled cards onto the battlefield under your control. and Spawning Kraken Spawning Kraken Whenever a Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent you control deals combat damage to a player, create a 9/9 blue Kraken creature token. can generate game-winning swings on their own.

While you’ll want to be running a lot of Sea Monsters to get the most out of this ability, you can expand it to encompass all your creatures with some key additions. Type-changing cards, like Conspiracy Conspiracy As this enchantment enters, choose a creature type.
Creatures you control are the chosen type. The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield. and Arcane Adaptation Arcane Adaptation As this enchantment enters, choose a creature type.
Creatures you control are the chosen type in addition to their other types. The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield. , can name one of the Sea Monster types to ensure you get two copies of everything with Krothuss. Add in something like Mirror Box Mirror Box The "legend rule" doesn't apply to permanents you control.
Each legendary creature you control gets +1/+1.
Each nontoken creature you control gets +1/+1 for each other creature you control with the same name as that creature. to turn off the legend rule, and there’s no limit to the army Krothuss can build for you.

Krothuss is dangerous enough on its own, but it becomes downright disgusting when paired with trigger doublers like Strionic Resonator Strionic Resonator {2}, {T}: Copy target triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A triggered ability uses the words "when," "whenever," or "at.") for extra tokens. You can take this even further with cards like Starfield Vocalist Starfield Vocalist If a permanent entering the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Warp {1}{U} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.) to double all the enters triggers on your generated hordes. With Haste granters like Lightning Greaves Lightning Greaves Equipped creature has haste and shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {0} , and evasive options like Whispersilk Cloak Whispersilk Cloak Equipped creature can't be blocked and has shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {2} , this becomes a very consistent strategy, too.

To support this core gam eplan, it’s a good idea to include a Reanimator sub-theme in your Runo Stromkirk deck. This helps tie both sides of the card together, since Runo wants cards in your graveyard to recur anyway, and Krothuss wants big creatures to copy for value. To make this happen, setup cards like Unmarked Grave Unmarked Grave Search your library for a nonlegendary card, put that card into your graveyard, then shuffle. will get your big creatures in your graveyard, while spells like Reanimate Reanimate Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. You lose life equal to that card's mana value. and Animate Dead Animate Dead Enchant creature card in a graveyard
When this Aura enters, if it's on the battlefield, it loses "enchant creature card in a graveyard" and gains "enchant creature put onto the battlefield with this Aura." Return enchanted creature card to the battlefield under your control and attach this Aura to it. When this Aura leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.
Enchanted creature gets -1/-0. will get them out again.

Time and Tide

While Runo Stromkirk, and its flip side Krothuss, can definitely win a value game, it also has some sneaky combo potential to boot. When paired with Rune-Scarred Demon Rune-Scarred Demon Flying
When this creature enters, search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. , and either Nexus of Fate Nexus of Fate Take an extra turn after this one.
If Nexus of Fate would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Nexus of Fate and shuffle it into its owner's library instead. or Beacon of Tomorrows Beacon of Tomorrows Target player takes an extra turn after this one. Shuffle Beacon of Tomorrows into its owner's library. , in fact, Krothuss lets you take infinite turns.

To pull this combo off, attack with both Krothuss and the Demon, using the former’s trigger to make a copy of the latter. This will let you search for your extra turn spell, which you can then cast post-combat. The spell will then shuffle itself back into your deck, ready to be tutored up next turn to keep the cycle going.

Notably, while this combo can be effective, it’s also extremely expensive to pull off, demanding seven or eight mana each turn just to keep it going. Dimir’s lack of good ramp options makes this a tough hurdle to overcome, but the recent Glamdring, Foe-Hammer Glamdring, Foe-Hammer Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost {X} less to cast, where X is equipped creature's power.
Equip {2} from The Hobbit helps to some extent. When equipped to Rune-Scarred Demon Rune-Scarred Demon Flying
When this creature enters, search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. , this makes your extra-turn spells just two mana apiece, and the self-mill is relevant for Runo, to boot.

A Cheap Seaside Getaway

Despite its power level, both in fair and unfair brews, Runo Stromkirk doesn’t see as much play as you’d expect in MTG Commander. According to EDHREC data, in fact, just 5,866 players run this legend in the command zone. It fares slightly better in the 99, appearing in around 6,830 lists, but that still feels low for a card with so much potential for shenanigans.

On the bright side, Runo’s low play rate makes it a cheap card to pick up if you want to give it a go yourself. Near-mint base copies are $0.25 on TCGplayer right now, and its three Showcase variants are in the $0.30-$0.68 range as well. At these prices, Runo Stromkirk is a brilliant pick for your next budget Commander brew, especially if you’re a Sea Monsters advocate in Magic.

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