Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Polukranos, Unchained
Polukranos, Unchained
Legendary Creature — Zombie Hydra · {2}{B}{G} · Black/Green commander
Polukranos enters with six +1/+1 counters on it. It escapes with twelve +1/+1 counters on it instead.
If damage would be dealt to Polukranos while it has a +1/+1 counter on it, prevent that damage and remove that many +1/+1 counters from it.
{1}{B}{G}: Polukranos fights another target creature.
Escape—{4}{B}{G}, Exile six other cards from your graveyard.
Build a Polukranos, Unchained deck →
What Polukranos, Unchained 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{1}{B}{G}: Polukranos fights another target creature.
- Keyword · escapeescape
- AbilityPolukranos enters with six +1/+1 counters on it. It escapes with twelve +1/+1 counters on it instead.
- AbilityIf damage would be dealt to Polukranos while it has a +1/+1 counter on it, prevent that damage and remove that many +1/+1 counters from it.
- AbilityEscape—{4}{B}{G}, Exile six other cards from your graveyard.
What a Polukranos, Unchained deck needs
Plays as voltron. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- self-mill for escape
- counter producers for the commander
The Polukranos, Unchained deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 12× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 12× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 8× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Polukranos, Unchained
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 your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire0 mana
- Stitcher's Supplier1 mana
- Aftermath Analyst2 mana
- Ripples of Undeath2 mana
- Smuggler's Surprise1 mana
- Six3 mana
- Argoth, Sanctum of Nature0 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Branching Evolution3 mana
- Hardened Scales1 mana
- Ozolith, the Shattered Spire2 mana
- Winding Constrictor2 mana
- Kami of Whispered Hopes3 mana
- Benevolent Hydra2 mana
- Michelangelo, Weirdness to 112 mana
- The Earth Crystal4 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Assassin's Trophy2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Beast Within3 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Nature's Claim1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Entomb1 mana
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Vicious Rivalry4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Sylvan Library2 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- Beast Whisperer4 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Innkeeper's Talent2 mana
- Guardian Augmenter3 mana
- Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Asceticism5 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Golgari Signet2 mana
- Incubation Druid2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Ilysian Caryatid2 mana
- Heritage Druid1 mana
- Llanowar Tribe3 mana
Combos with Polukranos, Unchained
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Polukranos, Unchained is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Polukranos, Unchained + Vigor + Crystalline Crawler53 decks
- Polukranos, Unchained + Sage Of Hours + The Ozolith + Mimic Vat2 decks
- Polukranos, Unchained + Sage Of Hours + Altar Of Dementia + Resourceful Defense
- Polukranos, Unchained + Sage Of Hours + Altar Of Dementia + The Ozolith
- Polukranos, Unchained + Sage Of Hours + Altar Of Dementia + Reyhan, Last Of The Abzan
- Polukranos, Unchained + Sage Of Hours + Altar Of Dementia + Reluctant Role Model