Legendary Creature — Human Berserker

Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos

Mana value4EDHREC#1,264

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The Commander

Trample

Alexios attacks each combat if able, can't be sacrificed, and can't attack its owner.

At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player gains control of Alexios, untaps it, and puts a +1/+1 counter on it. It gains haste until end of turn.

Guide

Gameplan

Alexios is a shared, ever-growing trample threat that visits each player's upkeep, gets bigger, and must attack someone other than its current owner. You play a mono-red aggro/politics shell that exploits the turns you control him—buffing him with equipment, double strike, and extra combats to swing for huge trample damage—while letting the snowballing counters punish the rest of the table on everyone else's turns.

Strengths

Inevitable, board-state-independent threat that grows a +1/+1 counter every single upkeep around the table
Nearly impossible to remove cleanly: can't be sacrificed, and he keeps moving to new controllers
Naturally political—on opponents' turns he attacks each other, spreading damage and aggression away from you on those turns
Cheap to deploy at 4 mana and immediately relevant with built-in trample and rolling haste

Weaknesses

He leaves you every upkeep, so opponents get to swing the growing monster at YOU (he just can't hit his current owner)
All-in on combat: removal of equipment/buffs or a single Fog-style effect can blank your big turn
Mono-red lacks reliable counter-doubling and card advantage, so you rely on raw damage
Forced-attack clause can be exploited by opponents who block or redirect him profitably

Key Cards

Embercleave — Cheap to cast off a wide turn and gives Alexios double strike plus +1/+1, turning his trample into a one-shot threat on your combat.
Berserkers' Onslaught — Permanent double strike for your attacking Alexios doubles his already-large trample damage.
Fiery Emancipation — Triples all the damage you deal, making a counter-laden Alexios lethal in a single swing.
Aggravated Assault — Untap-for-extra-combats lets you attack repeatedly with Alexios on your turn before he passes away.
Quietus Spike — Halving an opponent's life on combat damage scales perfectly with a trampling threat you can't easily be blocked out of.
Hammer of Nazahn — Indestructible plus auto-attach gives Alexios resilience and a free buff during your control window.

Upgrade Path

Lean into damage amplification—Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Furnace of Rath, and Fiery Emancipation make every attack catastrophic. Add extra-combat enablers (Aggravated Assault, Combat Celebrant, World at War) and reliable double strike so you finish during your control window before he passes on. Round out with treasure/ritual ramp (Jeska's Will, Dockside Extortionist) to deploy Alexios early and immediately equip him.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸One-shotting opponents with a buffed, double-striking, trampling Alexios
▸Letting the snowballing counters grind the whole table down over successive upkeeps
▸Extra-combat chains plus damage doublers for a single lethal turn
▸Quietus Spike / damage-multiplier effects that punish even chip trample damage

Archetypes

Voltron — On your turns you suit up the growing Alexios with equipment and double strike to deal commander-damage-style kills.
Group Slug / Politics — His forced attacks send escalating damage at opponents on their own upkeeps, shaping the table to your benefit.
Counters Aggro — He accrues a +1/+1 counter every upkeep, enabling counter-payoff and damage-amplification strategies.
Combat Damage Matters — Extra-combat and trigger-on-attack effects turn his guaranteed attacks into repeated value and reach.