Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Alena, Kessig Trapper
Alena, Kessig Trapper
Legendary Creature — Human Scout · {4}{R} · Red commander
First strike
{T}: Add an amount of {R} equal to the greatest power among creatures you control that entered this turn.
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)
Build an Alena, Kessig Trapper deck →
What Alena, Kessig Trapper actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Activated ability{T}: Add an amount of {R} equal to the greatest power among creatures you control that entered this turn.
- Keyword · first strikefirst strike
- Keyword · partnerpartner
What an Alena, Kessig Trapper deck needs
Plays as big creatures. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- big creatures (it adds red equal to the greatest power that entered this turn)
The Alena, Kessig Trapper deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 4× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 6× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 9× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 12× Refill your hand
- 5× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
- 22× A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific
Best cards for Alena, Kessig Trapper
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Rising of the Day3 mana
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- The Fire Crystal4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Urabrask the Hidden5 mana
- Fervor3 mana
- Hammer of Purphoros3 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Aggravated Assault3 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Genji Glove5 mana
- Éomer, Marshal of Rohan4 mana
- Honor-Worn Shaku3 mana
- Lightning Runner5 mana
- Sword of the Paruns4 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Crush1 mana
- Umezawa's Jitte2 mana
- Titan's Presence3 mana
- Abrade2 mana
- Untimely Malfunction2 mana
- Chaos Warp3 mana
- Kozilek's Command2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Imperial Recruiter3 mana
- Shield-Wall Sentinel4 mana
- Skyship Weatherlight4 mana
- Moonsilver Key2 mana
- Pattern Matcher4 mana
- Gamble1 mana
- Hoarding Dragon5 mana
- Shrine Steward5 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Selective Obliteration5 mana
- Mizzium Mortars2 mana
- Delete2 mana
- Earthquake1 mana
- Apocalypse5 mana
Refill your hand
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Sticky Fingers1 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty3 mana
- Adaptive Omnitool2 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana
A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific
- Crashing Drawbridge2 mana
- Bontu's Monument3 mana
- Oketra's Monument3 mana
- Artist's Talent2 mana
- Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei2 mana
- Roiling Vortex2 mana
- Hazoret's Monument3 mana
- Rhonas's Monument3 mana
Combos with Alena, Kessig Trapper
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Alena, Kessig Trapper is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Alena, Kessig Trapper + Aggravated Assault1,531 decks
- Alena, Kessig Trapper + Staff Of Domination710 decks
- Alena, Kessig Trapper + Umbral Mantle493 decks
- Alena, Kessig Trapper + Sword Of The Paruns304 decks
- Alena, Kessig Trapper + Feldon Of The Third Path + Illusionist's Bracers + Coercive Recruiter31 decks
- Alena, Kessig Trapper + Feldon Of The Third Path + Illusionist's Bracers + Zealous Conscripts29 decks