At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Kotis, the Fangkeeper
- Colors: Black / Blue / Green (BUG)
- Archetype: Sultai control-theft (budget)
- Power tier: competitive
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Play a lean Sultai control game: ramp into a wall of cheap removal, counters, and card draw, answer every early threat, and refill until the board stalls. Kotis is the win condition here, an indestructible 2/1 you slip through with Aqueous Form, an evasive attacker, or the Secret Tunnel unblockable line, exiling a chunk of their library and free-casting whatever’s cheap on each connection. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse punishes their draws and refuels yours, while Massacre Wurm, Consuming Aberration, Overlord of the Balemurk, and the two Kaitos close games the commander can’t. You grind on interaction and inevitability rather than the full theft package, winning by attrition once they run out of answers.
Upgrade path
Playable-now build: exactly one crafted rare/mythic nonland (Sheoldred, the Apocalypse) plus the commander Kotis; everything else is already owned or a common/uncommon craft. Owned rares/mythics reused: Tishana’s Tidebinder, Consuming Aberration, Massacre Wurm, Preacher of the Schism, Kiora the Rising Tide, Overlord of the Balemurk, both Kaitos, Black Sun’s Twilight. Substitutions vs the ideal: Villainous Wealth, Gonti, Ashiok, Opposition Agent, Thief of Sanity, Hostage Taker, Vraska, Bloodletter and the premium duals are cut for owned or common/uncommon in-role staples (Ravenous Chupacabra, Power Word Kill, Cast Down, Chemister’s Insight, Mulldrifter, Sea Gate Oracle, Sinister Sabotage, Neutralize, etc.). The full theft/finisher package is the ideal upgrade path once wildcards are available.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Kotis, the Fangkeeper
Deck
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Paradise Druid
1 Ilysian Caryatid
1 Gyre Engineer
1 Growth Spiral
1 Farseek
1 Cultivate
1 Mind Stone
1 Fatal Push
1 Cut Down
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Go for the Throat
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Sheoldred's Edict
1 Cast Down
1 Power Word Kill
1 Heartless Act
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Black Sun's Twilight
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Grasp of Darkness
1 Moment of Craving
1 Murder
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Make Disappear
1 Saw It Coming
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Counterspell
1 Sinister Sabotage
1 Neutralize
1 Night's Whisper
1 Read the Bones
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Behold the Multiverse
1 Chart a Course
1 Deep Analysis
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Mulldrifter
1 Fell Stinger
1 Chemister's Insight
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Frantic Search
1 Duress
1 Aqueous Form
1 Snakeskin Veil
1 Slip Out the Back
1 Merfolk Windrobber
1 Fog Bank
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Filigree Familiar
1 Nyx Weaver
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
1 Command Tower
1 Secret Tunnel
1 Karn's Bastion
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Wastewood Verge
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
1 Breeding Pool
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Yavimaya Coast
12 Swamp
11 Island
3 Forest
Ideal build (upgrade target)
The full Sultai control-theft package — Villainous Wealth, Dream Harvest, both Gontis, Opposition Agent, Ashiok, and a premium removal/ramp/counter shell. The 27-rare dream; the budget list plays a leaner Sultai-value Kotis deck you can field today.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 33 (5 mythic, 27 rare, 1 uncommon)
- Mythic: Ashiok, Nightmare Muse, Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, Opposition Agent, Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting
- Rare: Abrupt Decay, Assassin’s Trophy, Baleful Mastery, Birds of Paradise, Blackblade Reforged, Boseiju, Who Endures, Dream Harvest, Glissa Sunslayer, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Hostage Taker, Incubation Druid, Insatiable Avarice, Krang & Shredder, Maralen, Fae Ascendant, Memory Deluge, Nashi, Moon’s Legacy, Otawara, Soaring City, Painful Truths, Siphon Insight, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, The Cruelty of Gix, Thief of Sanity, Thought-String Analyst, Three Steps Ahead, Toxic Deluge, Villainous Wealth, Zagoth Triome
- Uncommon: Rogue’s Passage
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Kotis, the Fangkeeper
Deck
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Paradise Druid
1 Incubation Druid
1 Growth Spiral
1 Farseek
1 Cultivate
1 Go for the Throat
1 Cut Down
1 Fatal Push
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Sheoldred's Edict
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Baleful Mastery
1 Counterspell
1 Make Disappear
1 Three Steps Ahead
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Saw It Coming
1 Night's Whisper
1 Read the Bones
1 Painful Truths
1 The Cruelty of Gix
1 Behold the Multiverse
1 Memory Deluge
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Villainous Wealth
1 Dream Harvest
1 Maralen, Fae Ascendant
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Gonti, Canny Acquisitor
1 Opposition Agent
1 Thief of Sanity
1 Thought-String Analyst
1 Krang & Shredder
1 Hostage Taker
1 Siphon Insight
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Vraska, Betrayal's Sting
1 Aqueous Form
1 Slip Out the Back
1 Snakeskin Veil
1 Blackblade Reforged
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
1 Nashi, Moon's Legacy
1 Glissa Sunslayer
1 Fell Stinger
1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
1 Insatiable Avarice
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
1 Command Tower
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Wastewood Verge
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
1 Breeding Pool
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Zagoth Triome
12 Swamp
7 Island
4 Forest
Card images & data via Scryfall.