Commander Deck Tech: Ketramose, the New Dawn

Some beloved Amonkheti Gods, like Oketra and Bontu, are gone. However, Aetherdrift brought us two new Gods from this very same plane.

One of them is Ketramose, a God that represents hope for Amonkhet natives and carries Oketra's bow. Ketramose stood out to us ever since he was first spoiled. In fact, if you'd like to see a Legacy deck with him, just click here.

In this article, we'll show you two Commander lists with Ketramose that are a lot of fun. The first one is full of removals that will completely disable your opponents, and the second is a budget-friendly version that interacts with blink.

Let's go!

Ketramose is a young Orzhov Amonkheti God. He was born from the fierce determination of the living Amonkheti to survive and the undead Amonkheti to protect the living. He is the god of the breaking dawn and the future that awaits tomorrow.

Ketramose's ability is incredibly popular with players, as it is a way to draw cards with your commander. However, to use this effect, one or more cards need to be put into exile on your turn.

Furthermore, his keywords are very welcome, as they give you life and, as such, make up for the HP you lost to draw cards.

Please note that this God can only attack or block if seven or more cards are in the exile, and his card draw effect doesn't state "you may". This means, if something was exiled, you'll draw and pay 1 life automatically.

As you must have noticed, this list plays many removals and interactions that exile your opponents' cards.

Luckily for us, Ketramose is a white commander, so we can play some of the many cards in this color that interact with the exile, like enchantments.

Enchantments

The most essential cards in this list, as well as the cheapest cards in terms of mana, are enchantments.

Some of them buff or give an advantage of sorts to Ketramose, which is your main attacker:

As he doesn't have vigilance, and you'll definitely want to attack with him whenever possible, we added Far Traveler and Conjurer's Closet. These two cards will blink Ketramose so you can attack and block with him whenever you want.

All That Glitters and Ethereal Armor are a must in a deck that plays so many enchantments and artifacts. Cover of Darkness gives more evasion to your commander, and Flaming Fist gives him double strike.

Despite all these buffs, our main goal is to exile and remove several permanents so Ketramose can attack and block as fast as possible. For instance:

Besides these, we also play two great enchantments:

Only those who have seen these cards on the enemy board know how scary they are.

The earlier you put Leyline of the Void or Rest in Peace in play, the faster you'll make your opponents rethink all their life choices. These enchantments are extremely powerful when you need to exile cards as fast as possible.

Early on, they'll be critical because they'll let you attack and/or block with Ketramose, and, later on, they'll draw cards for you and block your opponents' graveyards - which, as we all know, are often an extension of your hand.

Authority of the Consuls and Blind Obedience delay your opponents, as they force them to put their creatures in play tapped. If that doesn't work, you can play Ghostly Prison, which is an extra protection that "taxes" whoever decides to attack you.

Removals

Enchantments are fun, but we won't rely on them alone. Keep in mind that cards that exile something in your opponents' graveyards are critical removals for this deck.

The other removals we play are:

As you can see, this list plays a wide variety of removals that can target multiple cards. Not all of them interact with the exile, but, even if they just destroy a permanent, they're useful - after all, this list also plays Ashnod's Harvester and Dawnbringer Cleric, which specifically hit cards in your opponents' graveyards.

Protection

After you attack with your 4/4 menace, lifelink, indestructible commander for the first time, your opponents will look for removals to get him off the board.

Some protections we play in this deck are:

Besides protection, Skrelv, Defector Mite gives more evasion to your commander, as its effect will give him hexproof from a certain color. It essentially prevents creatures in that color from blocking the creature you use this card on.

Grand Abolisher prevents your opponents from casting or using activated abilities on your turn. This is great to deal with any surprises your opponents throw at you to disrupt your game plan.

You can deal damage to your opponents with Ketramose in multiple ways, and, as such, you'll easily be able to deal kill them with 21 commander damage.

As we said early on, our alternative list plays more blinks. So, you'll be able to control your commander's card draw ability a bit more, and trigger it whenever you want.

This list plays less removals than our first list, but don't be mistaken: Ravenous Chupacabra, Fiend Hunter, Angel of the Ruins, Noxious Gearhulk, and Massacre Wurm are still scary in blink decks.

Besides these, it also plays cards that trigger effects when exiled creatures return to your board, such as:

In blink or token decks, Altar of the Brood is practically a win condition. As for Corpse Knight, it drains your opponents' lives when other creatures enter your board.

Both cards can finish the game if you combine them with, for instance, Restoration Angel, Felidar Guardian, and similar cards. If you don't, they're still strong cards that will disrupt your opponents' game plans.

You don't need to play many matches with Ketramose to understand why he is so scary and popular.

Commander matches tend to last a bit more than usual, and, the longer the match, the bigger your chances of mowing down your opponents with Ketramose as you remove all of their critical pieces.

With Ketramose, you can build a control or stax deck, but you'll still have fun in combat phases, all while you crack your head to win. Yes, this commander is strong, but it is precisely because it is so strong that you'll face many challenges when you build lists for him: how do you balance protection and removal? What is the best strategy?

Ketramose should lead you to a bright future full of victories and surprising strategies. You just have to take your chances and build him.

What do you think of this list? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!