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 · fightfight
- Keyword · escapeescape
What a Polukranos, Unchained deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 17× A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- 8× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 16× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 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.
A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- Ulvenwald Tracker1 mana
- Voracious Hydra2 mana
- Ayula, Queen Among Bears2 mana
- Kraul Harpooner2 mana
- Cherished Hatchling2 mana
- Golden Guardian // Gold-Forge Garrison4 mana
- Atzocan Archer3 mana
- Apex Altisaur9 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire0 mana
- Stitcher's Supplier1 mana
- Aftermath Analyst2 mana
- Altar of Dementia2 mana
- Mindcrank2 mana
- Ripples of Undeath2 mana
- Codex Shredder1 mana
- Smuggler's Surprise1 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Karn's Bastion0 mana
- Bristly Bill, Spine Sower2 mana
- Cankerbloom2 mana
- Thirsting Roots1 mana
- Evolution Sage3 mana
- Mossborn Hydra3 mana
- Blightbelly Rat2 mana
- Contagion Clasp2 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
Answer a whole board at once
- Do or Die2 mana
- Force of Despair3 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Innocent Blood1 mana
- Coils of the Medusa2 mana
- Forced March3 mana
- Nature's Ruin3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Entomb1 mana
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Lively Dirge2 mana
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Insatiable Avarice1 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Orcish Bowmasters2 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
- Cryptothrall4 mana
- Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Asceticism5 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Amber0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mox Opal0 mana
- Birds of Paradise1 mana
- Crop Rotation1 mana
- Delighted Halfling1 mana