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Kaervek the Merciless

Kaervek the Merciless

Legendary Creature — Human Shaman · {5}{B}{R} · Black/Red commander

Whenever an opponent casts a spell, Kaervek deals damage equal to that spell's mana value to any target.
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What Kaervek the Merciless actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

What a Kaervek the Merciless deck needs

Plays as punisher. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

The Kaervek the Merciless deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

Best cards for Kaervek the Merciless

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.

Punishes the opponents' own actions — casting, drawing, searching, attacking cost them

  1. Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
  2. Bloodchief Ascension1 mana
  3. Curse of Opulence1 mana
  4. Mindcrank2 mana
  5. The Meathook Massacre2 mana
  6. Kederekt Parasite1 mana
  7. Vexing Bauble1 mana
  8. Scrawling Crawler3 mana

A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break

  1. Grafdigger's Cage1 mana
  2. Opposition Agent3 mana
  3. Cursed Totem2 mana
  4. Defense Grid2 mana
  5. Roiling Vortex2 mana
  6. Winter Moon2 mana
  7. Archetype of Aggression3 mana
  8. Crawlspace3 mana

Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it

  1. Wild Magic Surge2 mana
  2. Defile1 mana
  3. Tragic Slip1 mana
  4. Infernal Grasp2 mana
  5. Terminate2 mana
  6. Fatal Push1 mana
  7. Bitter Triumph2 mana
  8. Black Sun's Twilight1 mana

Find the exact card the plan needs

  1. Demonic Tutor2 mana
  2. Diabolic Intent2 mana
  3. Vampiric Tutor1 mana
  4. Imperial Seal1 mana
  5. Demonic Consultation1 mana
  6. Grim Tutor3 mana
  7. Tainted Pact2 mana
  8. Scheming Symmetry1 mana

Answer a whole board at once

  1. Toxic Deluge3 mana
  2. Damnation4 mana
  3. Blasphemous Act9 mana
  4. Chain Reaction4 mana
  5. Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
  6. Street Spasm1 mana
  7. Sickening Dreams2 mana
  8. Crypt Rats3 mana

Refill your hand

  1. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
  2. Skullclamp1 mana
  3. Black Market Connections3 mana
  4. Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
  5. Morbid Opportunist3 mana
  6. Phyrexian Arena3 mana
  7. Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
  8. The One Ring4 mana

Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

  1. Hexing Squelcher2 mana
  2. Lightning Greaves2 mana
  3. Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
  4. Eldrazi Monument5 mana
  5. Commander's Plate1 mana
  6. Mithril Coat3 mana
  7. Akroma's Memorial7 mana
  8. The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana

Get ahead on mana

  1. Sol Ring1 mana
  2. Rakdos Signet2 mana
  3. Palladium Myr3 mana
  4. Worn Powerstone3 mana
  5. Chrome Mox0 mana
  6. Everflowing Chalice0 mana
  7. Mox Diamond0 mana
  8. Mana Vault1 mana

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing