Legendary Creature — EldraziKozilek, Butcher of Truth
The Commander
When you cast this spell, draw four cards.
Annihilator 4 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices four permanents of their choice.)
When Kozilek is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles their graveyard into their library.
Guide
Gameplan
Ramp aggressively with colorless mana rocks and big mana lands, then deploy Kozilek to refill your hand with four cards and start swinging with Annihilator 4 to dismantle opponents' boards. The graveyard-shuffle clause makes Kozilek nearly impossible to mill out of and recurs himself into your library. You grind value through massive ramp and oversized Eldrazi beaters until you can attack for lethal or assemble a big-mana combo.
Strengths
- Casting Kozilek draws four cards immediately, so he's never a dead draw even if removed in response
- Annihilator 4 wrecks board states and quickly cripples opponents' development
- Card-draw built into the commander partially offsets colorless's lack of card advantage
- Graveyard shuffle protects you from mill and reshuffles useful cards back into your library
- Color-neutral build slots into any pod and dodges color-specific hate
Weaknesses
- No access to the color pie means weak interaction—removal, counterspells, and instant-speed answers are scarce
- Extremely top-heavy curve; a slow start or ramp disruption leaves you doing nothing for many turns
- Vulnerable to Stax, mana denial, and artifact destruction since you lean on rocks and big-mana lands
- Kozilek is a huge investment that can be exiled, bounced, or tucked to deny the trigger payoff
- Lacks evasion and protection, so a single blocker or removal spell can stall your beatdown
Key Cards
- Eye of Ugin — Lands you tap for colossal colorless mana and discounts your Eldrazi, accelerating Kozilek out early.
- Eldrazi Temple — Adds extra colorless mana specifically for Eldrazi, shaving turns off your ramp clock.
- Ancient Tomb — Premier fast mana that fuels your colorless rocks and gets to ten mana ahead of schedule.
- Sol Ring — The single best colorless accelerant; near-mandatory to power out your high curve.
- All Is Dust — A colorless board wipe that clears blockers and threats while sparing your own colorless permanents.
- Kozilek's Channeler — Big mana-doubling bodies and Eldrazi support pieces help bridge from ramp to your titans.
Upgrade Path
Add the best fast mana and ramp—Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith, and the full suite of mana rocks—to consistently cheat Kozilek out turns ahead of schedule. Incorporate other Eldrazi titans (Ulamog, Emrakul) plus Eldrazi cost-reducers and Kozilek-friendly lands like Cloudpost/Glimmerpost or Tomb of the Spirit Dragon for explosive mana. To raise the ceiling, lean into colorless combo with Basalt Monolith plus Rings of Brighthearth or Mystic Forge engines, and protect your bombs with artifacts like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots.
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
- ▸Beating down with Kozilek and other Eldrazi while Annihilator strips opponents to nothing
- ▸Casting multiple oversized colorless threats opponents can't answer in time
- ▸Infinite mana into repeated Kozilek casts or a colorless damage/mill engine
- ▸Stax-locking the table then grinding out with inevitable big-mana value
Archetypes
- Big Mana Ramp — Kozilek rewards stacking colorless rocks and Eldrazi lands to cast a parade of expensive threats.
- Eldrazi Stompy/Aggro — Annihilator 4 turns combat into a board-eviscerating event that snowballs toward lethal.
- Colorless Combo — Infinite or near-infinite mana engines can recast Kozilek repeatedly or fuel game-ending payoffs.
- Stax/Prison — Colorless artifact lock pieces slow opponents while you assemble overwhelming mana.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.