Kyler, Sigardian Emissary Humans

Commander Overview

Kyler is one of the best human-focused commanders in the format. Their ability synergizes so well with a creature type that can produce a crazy amount of creatures. Dropping a card like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is such a strong card with Kyler and can easily allow us to end the game. Kyler is tough to kill with damage-based removal or through combat, and accelerates our game plan so quickly. Kyler is truly the real deal for humans and a powerful commander. Kyler allows us to play a deck that combines high creature production with the synergies present with humans.

How to Play the Deck

We are fully a Kyler focused deck, Kyler is the main aspect of our deck and a card we try to drop early, Kyler is the best asset we have in the deck, turning our plentiful humans that have a lot of small power to huge hulking creatures that can be strong against any deck in combat and allow us to close out games very easily. This deck is perfect for a player of any skill level, as long as they understand the basics of the game and are good at remembering their triggers and turning creatures sideways. This deck is extremely straightforward to play.

Synergy’s in the deck

Since we are a creature-type focused deck, our deck is truly the epitome of synergy. Pretty much everything in our deck likes when any other humans enter, for example, Champion of Lambholt with all of our creatures, and Kyler allows us to have a huge, almost completely unblockable board. Another big synergy with Kyler is our token production with cards like Horn of Gondor, changing our combat step from some damage to a kill shot if Kyler is out. Our deck synergizes very well, and oftentimes you will have tons of triggers when stuff comes out.

Phases of the Game

Early-Game: Besides rushing to get Kyler out which is the primary goal of our early game we typically try to establish some strong support pieces like Somberwald Sage which is a such a strong way to accelerate getting Kyler out, I also really like Wyrm’s Crossing Patrol which is a very nice card to get some early damage and your opponents wont get that mad since everyone is getting attacked by one. Kyler is still the primary aspect of the early game for our game plan. Please note that while we would prefer to have Kyler on the field if they aren’t, it doesn’t mean we should wait to cast all of our humans; establishing support cards and a board presence is still very much important.

Mid-Game: Once we have Kyler on the board that is when the game truly starts for us, that is when we start becoming a real threat in combat, even if we only have three creatures on the field and Kyler only has a couple counters that can take our board from weak to strong very quickly and when we combine Kyler’s immense power with cards like Sigardian Zealot or Wild Beastmaster we can get out of hand very quickly.

Late-Game: Since we are so strong in combat, we typically don’t want to have to wait till the late-game. Still, it is something we can totally do. The late-game is where stuff starts getting pretty crazy for us, being able to finish off the game with cards like Overwhelming Stampede or Craterhoof Behemoth. Both of these are such effective ways to the end game and can easily one-shot the whole table, depending on opponents’ life totals. Kyler truly makes a menace in combat.

Card Breakdowns

Ramp

Cultivate and Kodama’s Reach are something I try to include in nearly all of my two-color decks, being able to get cheap mana fixing/ramp is strong for our deck. It allows us to accelerate the game plan, and since the primary aspect of our game plan is to drop Kyler as quickly as we can, being able to accelerate that is key. Another ramp piece I love is Sol Ring. I know a truly bold take that Sol Ring is good! But all jokes aside, Sol Ring is especially good with Kyler, since we can drop him on turn three, which speeds up the game plan a lot.

Card Draw/Card Advantage

We are not amazing at drawing cards. We are so focused on our combat and humans game plan that drawing cards is pretty secondary, but we do have Sylvan Library, which is card selection and card draw. Paying four or eight life is absolutely worth it if we need the cards. We also have Laid to Rest, which is passive card draw and interacts very well with cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. Drawing cards is perfect for the deck, and while we don’t have a ton of it, what we do have is very effective.

Removal

We are very good at removal through combat, because Kyler’s and the humans he buffs up can be huge, and even a mono-green deck or other stompy strategies can’t compete with the size of our creatures. We are great in combat, but outside of combat, we do have some options that help us take care of problematic permanents like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile. The minor benefits that our opponents get are totally worth us killing their creature. Removal is not something our deck is super keen on.

Protection

Kyler naturally is a huge removal magnet, and honestly, I can’t blame our opponents anytime I am across from a Kyler, I want them to go away as well. Still, because of that, we are packing both Tamiyo’s Safekeeping and Snakeskin Veil, which are cheap and easy ways to protect our creatures and, more importantly, Kyler. Unbreakable Formation is another very cool piece of protection that can also be used offensively. Whether we use it for combat or for the extra counters is truly situation-dependent, but both are very effective.

Utility / Support

Our token producers are the best utility for our deck, cards like Increasing Devotion can increase the power of our entire board for only five mana, such a strong card, and flashing it back is even better! Call the Coppercoats is another insane token producer for the deck and another card that makes Kyler just insane. Token producers are truly amazing for the deck; dropping any of these can end the game very easily, and if it doesn’t end the game, it gets us very close.

Mana Base

My favorite aspect of our mana base is how we can establish both of our colors easily. With Temple Garden and Bountiful Promenade, we get access to our Selesnya colors effortlessly, which is key for the deck. Another land I want to highlight is Path of Ancestry. In a deck that doesn’t draw a ton of cards, scrying is quite powerful; card selection is always good. In testing, I had no trouble with our mana base.

Win Conditions

Our only win condition is combat, we don’t have any combos or anything else.

Strengths of the Deck

Kyler is one of the biggest strengths of our deck, a full-on, scalable anthem effect for our whole deck.

We are very hard to kill with damage-based stuff; cards like Blasphemous Act or Toxic Deluge are quite hard to use against us.

Weaknesses of the Deck

We are very focused on our commander, without Kyler we are quite unimpressive.

Control decks or decks that directly disrupt combat can be very rough for us.

Deck Testing/Matchups

I tested this deck against three different decks

Game 1: Vs Moira, Urborg Haunt. Matchup Record: 4-0

I had no trouble in this matchup. Moira is very focused on reanimating big cards like Razaketh the Foulblooded, and since a lot of their power comes from one single creature, and we go wide very well, we can typically just boat race them.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Cathars’ Crusade, Overwhelming Stampede and Craterhoof Behemoth

Game 2: Vs Lathril, Blade of the Elves. Matchup Record: 1-3

In this matchup, speed is critical, and if we stumble at all or don’t have a perfect starting hand, this matchup is very tough for us. Removing Lathril is key as well; if they can stay on the board, we will struggle a ton.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Path to Exile, Champion of the Parish and Thalia’s Lieutenant

Game 3: Vs Isshin, Two Heavens as One. Matchup Record: 3-1

I thought this matchup went very well for us. Being able to outpace them is pretty easy in this deck, and once we get Kyler out, it can be very tough for them to match us in combat. I found this matchup to be great for our deck.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Somberwald Sage, Sigardian Zealot and Visions of Glory

Conclusion

Thanks so much for reading to the end! Kyler is one of my favorite commanders all time, Humans and Selesnya are an entertaining mix, and Kyler is the perfect general for a deck like this. This is a great deck for new and experienced players alike and can serve as a strong introduction to more complex mechanics. Buff ’em up and swing hard!