Klothys, God of Destiny

We’re done with the prerelease weekend for Theros: Beyond Death. The mono-coloured Gods have deck techs, but I can’t call it a complete pantheon until we’ve done a breakdown for the multicoloured Gods! Klothys takes the place of the Gruul God, but the focus is now on the graveyard and the results are ramp and burn. Though staples may appear similar, we don’t want this to just be red and green smashed together. It won’t be and we’ll show you what potential the God of Destiny has.

Overview

Klothys is a 3 mana red/green enchantment creature. Like other Gods, she is not a creature unless your devotion is 7 or more. The 4/5 body doesn’t bring great threat as it would be 6 hits to take a player out with Commander damage so the focus is to take advantage of the trigger at the beginning of the pre-combat main phase to hate on graveyards and gain value. We’re going to feed the ramp ability and burn our opponents out.

Synergies

While I did state Klothys is not a Commander damaged focused creature, it doesn’t make the Indestructible part any less threatening. To get enough devotion, Deus of Calamity alone can be enough. This old favourite is a big stompy 6/6 Trample with potential for land destruction that will help feed Klothys’ trigger.

On the opposite end of the devotion, there is Oblivion Sower. This 5/8 Eldrazi exiles an opponent’s top 4 cards and then you may put any number of lands from their exile onto the battlefield under your control… lands that perhaps you may have destroyed and exiled with Klothys.

To really synergize with the burn, Neheb, the Eternal is probably my favourite from the decklist. Trigger the burn on your pre-combat main phase and having Neheb on board, you will get at least 2 times the number of opponents you control in red mana just from that. This may be politically taxing in multiplayer because you’ll have to debate attacking an open opponent to ramp.

Devotion can come from hate and utility cards as well such as Rhythm of the Wild and Stranglehold which are great at stopping or disrupting an opponent. I want synergy that punishes them further so Price of Glory or subjecting them to a Crucible of Worlds + Strip Mine play is mean but effective.

Tectonic Reformation + Life from the Loam: This is a pretty straightforward way to use lands and turn them into fuel. Draw a card, replace the draw with dredge 3, cast Life from the Loam, cycle the 3 lands for 3 cards. This is repeatable by replacing one of the cycles to draw with dredge and can be used for either card advantage or to fill your graveyard for Klothys.

Combos

World Shaper + Obliterate: This combo is effectively a one-sided land destruction. This can be done in a smaller scale with Jokulhaups, Devastation, Wildfire and anything else that destroys World Shaper at the same time. I selected Obliterate because it also has that wonderful “can’t be countered” line of text. How it goes is cast Obliterate to destroy all artifacts, creatures, and land which includes World Shaper. Obliterate resolves and World Shaper’s trigger is put onto the stack recovering all your land while leaving your opponents with none. Land destruction will at the very least always fill up the graveyard for Klothys to use.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts: Infinite army of Zealous Conscripts and you can take a permanent for the turn. Not surprising how easy we can fit this combo in here as Kiki-Jiki is good for a few devotion and can copy some powerful enter the battlefield effect creatures.

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle + Scapeshift + Dryad of the Ilysian Grove: Valakut + Scapeshift isn’t anything new but Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is a fun addition. Unlike Prismatic Omen the Dryad’s Exploration effect makes it viably useful to add in this deck as well. This turns Valakut itself into a Mountain, and with Vesuva and Thespian Stage, it can deal huge amounts of damage. In a perfect set up, Valakut copied by Vesuva and Thespian Stage will turn every land into 9 damage, every fetch land into 18 damage, and a Shapeshift into lethal damage.

Planeswalkers

There are 3 Planeswalkers I’ve added to the list that are relevantly synergistic, and one that is just pure value. So let’s go through them in alphabetical order it was automatically sorted into.

Chandra, Flamecaller: 0 to pitch your hand and draw a new one plus an extra card; filling the graveyard and drawing a new hand is pretty good and I’ve had to use it several times as a small board wipe for -X. The +1 for two 3/1 elemental creatures with Haste has also been very relevant, not only for possibly 6 damage to the face but to kill other Planeswalkers like Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance: It doesn’t synergize but does similar effects. The +1 that ramps two red and the +1 that exiles the top card for 2 damage or lets you cast it. The -3 for a Flame Slash it good spot removal, keeping it alive at 1 loyalty. It’s really the emblem though; once you get that off, suddenly every spell is a 5 damage and if your opponents will regret letting you get to that point.

Nissa, Vital Force: The strongest and fastest emblem for any land-based deck, or really any deck with green and land in it. After only one turn, you could get a personal Horn of Greed emblem and “Landfall: draw a card” is probably exactly as much value as you think it is. I’ve rarely ever used the -3, but perhaps after getting the emblem, that recursion for permanents is a good option to have.

Wrenn and Six: One of the most efficient Planeswalkers out there, and the only effective Planeswalker at 2 mana (no arguments for Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded and Nissa, Steward of Elements). The land recursion is the most synergistic of the abilities here being able to recover lands after destroying them all. The 1 damage to any target is quite useful as it takes out mana dorks, small threats, or even other Planeswalkers. If you somehow manage to get the Retrace emblem then you have the options of ramp, recursion, and land destruction to choose from. There’s no reason not to fit Wrenn and Six into the deck.

Summary

Klothys is not Xenagos, or Ruric Thar, or Radha. She’s not Omnath, not Borborygmos, and certainly not Nikya. Klothys is a bit different than other Gruul decks who just rage forward and smash with big creatures or swarm. Not to say that you can’t, but to take advantage of the ramp, burn, and life gain, there are more options than just creatures-turn-sideways. If you’re looking for a Gruul Commander who can interact with the game and punish your opponents, then Klothys may be a good option to look into.