Magic: The Gathering – Kellan, The Kid Commander Deck Guide

Win your next Commander shootout with Kellan, the Kid.

They called him Kellan, the Kid in Magic: The Gathering's Outlaws of Thunder Junction. The half-human, half-faerie outlaw joined his father's gang to discover what sort of man he wanted to be. As it turned out, honor among thieves wasn't held in too high regard in Thunder Junction, but if you play your cards right, you can wind up with some loyal friends.

Playing your cards right by Kellan means playing them anywhere other than your hand. Do that and Kellan will reward you with either a free permanent spell or an extra land. That kind of value can make Kellan a real mean hombre.

The Commander: Kellan, The Kid

Kellan, the Kid has a lot of qualities for a great Commander. He's efficient at just three mana, gives you access to all three Bant colors (green, blue, and white), and has evasion and life gain built-in. But what really makes Kellan stand out is the block of text that takes up most of the card.

Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, you get to play a card from your hand of equal or lesser mana value. If you don't want to, then you can play an extra land. Either you get value, or you get ramp. It's a win-win.

The key to a good Kellan, the Kid deck is getting a lot of cards that aren't necessarily played from your hand. Fortunately, Magic has a lot of ways to do this. Besides cards that explicitly state they can be played from the graveyard or from exile, there's the flashback, jump-start, suspend, cascade, foretell, discover, rebound, escape, battles, and adventure keywords that all instruct you to cast a spell from somewhere other than your hand.

So, every time you activate any of those keywords, Kellan triggers, and you either get a free spell cast or a free land played.

Since Kellan will be playing a lot of cards from your hand for free , additional card draw effects will be necessary to keep your hand full of cards for Kellan to sneak into play.

Building Your Kellan, The Kid Commander Deck

Bant is already one of my favorite color combinations, as it comes with many staple blue, green, and white cards. A solid base of card draw, ramp, and instant-speed removal just needs to be built out with Kellan-friendly cards.

Foretell, Plot, Adventures, And More

A lot of those cards are going to be adventures. These dual-purpose cards generally offer a cheap effect early on and then a more splashy effect when played from exile later on. This provides incredible flexibility in the early game with cards like Giant Killer and Stormkeld Vanguard offering removal and becoming threats in the late game while simultaneously triggering Kellan's ability.

Another keyword we'll lean into is foretell and plot. These abilities are functionally similar, allowing you to 'play' cards now in order to cast them from exile on a later turn. This can potentially create some explosive turns if you manage to stack a few plot/foretell cards (like Surge of Brilliance, Green Slime, and Battle Mammoth) to trigger Kellan multiple times.

Of course, mere value doesn't win games. For that, we turn to cards like Apex Devastator. Already a giant bomb in Commander, Apex Devastator is the perfect monster for Kellan as the cascade keyword triggers his ability. Throwing down a 10/10 and then immediately following that up with eight more cards of equal or lesser mana value (four from the cascades and four more from Kellan) is sure to swing games in your favor.

Even lands get in on this action. Hidden Nursery , Hidden Cataract , and Hidden Courtyard 's discover keyword can trigger Kellan too!

Card Draw

With Kellan constantly emptying your hard, you're going to need a lot ways to refill it. Vega, the Watcher, Vizier of the Menagerie, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, Inspiring Refrain, Deep Analysis, Extraordinary Journey, and more will keep refilling your hand even as they also trigger Kellan to keep playing more and more cards.

Board Sweepers

Simply playing more spells than your opponents can often win games, but so can a well-timed board wipe. Illithid Harvester, Realm-Cloaked Giant, and Doomskar can all trigger Kellan while removing a board of threats, while Final Showdown can protect Kellan as you or an opponent blow up the board.

While it's better to stick with creatures to improve your board presence, there are a ton of enchantments and artifacts that help trigger Kellan. The appropriately-named Kellan Joins Up combines with Extraordinary Journey, Virtue of Loyalty, and Mind's Dilation, while on the artifact side, The Key to the Vault and Chimil, the Inner Sun keep churning cards off your library while triggering Kellan again and again.

Ramp

Getting your high mana value cards out or simply recasting Kellan for the fifth time is going to take a lot of mana. Kellan himself will help out a lot there, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of green's ramp spells. Farseek, Cultivate, and Birds of Paradise are joined by newcomer Tower Winder, which helps fetch your best land while also killing anyone foolish enough to attack you.

Growth Spiral joins from the green/blue Simic faction, as does Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius. And don't forget the usual Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Fellwar Stone. Sol Talisman also joins thanks to its Suspend ability allowing it to trigger Kellan while providing a big mana boost in the late game.

Kellan, The Kid Commander Deck List

Here's a sample decklist for a Kellan, the Kid Commander deck.

Budget Substitutions

One of the best things about Kellan, the Kid is that he's a powerful commander who won't break your bank. Throwing out hundreds of dollars for cards like Boseiju, Apex Devastator, and the shock lands can be a little too painful to Magic newcomers. Thankfully, you can absolutely make Kellan on a budget by considering these substitutions.

Tips For Playing Kellan, The Kid In Commander

• Try to set up explosive turns using foretell and plot that cause Kellan to trigger multiple times in a row. This can catch opponents off-guard if they don't have an immediate answer.
• Chulane, Teller of Tales can bounce a lot of your creatures with adventure back into your hand to let you cast their adventure ability over and over again.
• Chulane and Woodland Acolyte can repeatedly return cards from your graveyard to your hand if you have enough mana. Chulane and Railway Brawler can repeatedly cast creatures to double another creature's power.
• Realm-Cloaked Giant's adventure won't kill Stormkeld Vanguard.
• Keeping Kellan alive can be a problem. Be sure to keep Saw it Coming and Final Showdown in reserve to keep Kellan alive wherever possible, but expect to cast Kellan more than a few times per game.