The official Sultai Arisen Commander preconstructed deck from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm expansion plunges deep into the ruthless, manipulative underbelly of the newly reinvented Sultai clan. While the out-of-the-box build prominently features Teval, the Balanced Scale at the helm to play a grinding, graveyard-centric strategy, swapping your leader to the backup legendary creature Kotis, the Fangkeeper completely flips the deck on its head.
Kotis is a terrifying 4-mana Black, Green, and Blue engine with built-in Indestructible. He commands a completely unique tactical niche: whenever Kotis deals combat damage to a player, you exile the top X cards of their library, where X is the damage dealt. You may then cast any number of spells with a mana value of X or less from among them without paying their mana costs.
In this PreconForge Guide, we will show you how to strip away the slow graveyard tokens of the default build, weaponize Kotis’s indestructible frame into a lethal combat powerhouse, and turn your opponents‘ finest cards against them.
The Strategy: „Voltron-Theft“ Synergy
Because the default Sultai Arisen precon relies heavily on self-mill, graveyard loop elements, and Zombie tokens, it splits its resources heavily. When Kotis, the Fangkeeper takes the command zone, our primary focus shifts from our own graveyard to our opponents‘ libraries.
The math behind Kotis is simple but explosive: More Power = More Damage = Higher Mana-Value Spells Stolen for Free.
To fully break this engine, we must adapt a two-pronged strategy:
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Power Buffs & Evasion: At a baseline of 2 power, Kotis can only steal cheap 0, 1, or 2-mana spells. We need to run high-efficiency Equipment and Auras that boost his power so he can hit for 5, 6, or more, letting us cast game-warping bombs for free.
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Combat Connection: Indestructible keeps Kotis safe from board wipes and block damage, but it doesn’t stop him from being infinitely chump-blocked by a 1/1 token. We need to grant him Trample, Flying, or outright unblockability to ensure he hits home every turn.
Top 5 Cards to Cut from the Precon
To make room for an aggressive, combat-driven theft strategy, you need to pull out these slow, self-mill, or zombie-centric pieces from the default list:
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Colossal Grave-Reaver: While a solid body for a graveyard deck, it does nothing to advance Kotis’s aggressive combat timeline.
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Crawling Sensation: An enchantment built purely around milling lands to create tiny Insect blockers. This is dead weight when your commander wants to actively strike the opponent.
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Phyrexian Reclamation: Since Kotis rarely stays in the graveyard thanks to his indestructible keyword and the Commander tax rule, spending mana to return creatures to your hand is counterintuitive to this strategy.
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Stitcher’s Supplier: A premium staple for self-mill decks, but it serves zero purpose in a build centered around hitting opponents and stealing their assets.
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Teval’s Judgment: Thematic removal tailored heavily around the default commander’s mechanics. It can easily be upgraded for more versatile single-target removal or protection pieces.
Budget Upgrades (Under $3 per card)
These affordable additions will ensure Kotis gets across the red zone safely, increases his power threshold, and maximizes the theft value.
Weaponizing the Commander
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Rancor: A phenomenal aura that costs a single green mana. It provides a steady +2/+0 boost and crucial Trample. Best of all, if Kotis is somehow targeted by exile removal, Rancor simply returns straight to your hand.
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Favor of the Overbeing: Since Kotis shares Blue and Green in his identity, this aura grants him +2/+2, Vigilance, and Flying. The evasion guarantees you connect through the air to steal spells seamlessly.
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Loxodon Warhammer: Pushes Kotis up to a 5/1 with Trample and Lifelink. Connecting with this means you immediately exile the top 5 cards of an opponent’s library and can play any spells costing 5 mana or less completely free.
Theft Synergies
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Gonti, Night Minister: An incredible thematic anchor for this archetype. Gonti rewards you with a Treasure token whenever anyone plays a spell they don’t control, feeding you extra resources whenever Kotis successfully triggers.
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Villainous Wealth: The ultimate signature spell for the Sultai clan. It mirrors Kotis’s combat ability in sorcery form, allowing you to completely exile a target opponent’s library for X and play everything for free.
Premium Upgrades (The Forge Elite Relics)
If you are looking to spend extra resources at the forge to make your Kotis build truly unstoppable, look out for these high-impact cards:
The Sword Cycle & Heavy Combat Value
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Sword of Feast and Famine: Gives Kotis +2/+2, protection from two highly relevant colors (Black and Green), forces a discard, and untaps all of your lands. This lets you use your untapped mana during your second main phase to cast the spells Kotis didn’t let you cast for free!
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Felix Five-Boots: A mandatory include for high-end combat builds. Felix doubles all combat damage triggers from your creatures. With Felix on the board, one single unblocked attack from Kotis triggers his theft ability twice, letting you dig through two separate piles of cards simultaneously.
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Blackblade Reforged: Because you are playing Green ramp spells, you will naturally amass a massive number of lands on the field. Blackblade Reforged scales Kotis’s power instantly based on your land count, making him an absolute juggernaut capable of exiling and casting 10+ mana spells for free.
PreconForge Verdict: Is it worth it?
Transitioning the Sultai Arisen precon to focus entirely on Kotis, the Fangkeeper takes a standard, slow graveyard list and turns it into an aggressive, highly interactive multiplayer menace. By prioritizing power buffs, evasion, and theft value, you ensure that every game feels completely fresh, as your win conditions are dictated entirely by what’s inside your opponents‘ decks.
Stoke the fires of the forge, sharpen your blades, and let us know in the comments below what the craziest spell you managed to steal with Kotis was!
Do you prefer piloting Kotis as an aggressive theft commander, or do you prefer the classic graveyard recursion style of Teval, the Balanced Scale? Share your custom lists and strategies in the comments below!
