How to build MTG’s best Modified Commander 

Modern Horizons 3 is one of the most impactful sets to hit Magic: The Gathering for quite some time. It’s not only introduced many new powerhouse cards to the Modern Format, but it also brought devastating new Commanders to decks. 

While Modern Horizons 3 came packing a large number of Commanders, including 4 pre-con options, no card from the set had a bigger, more visible impact on the game than Nadu, Winged Wisdom. 

With Nadu on the Modern ban list chopping block, the widely-feared bird has finally been brought low in MTG’s tournament scene. Unfortunately, Nadu did not join the ranks of those rare few cards banned in the Commander format.

Still, with its era of dominance being mostly brought to a close, we thought it would be worth taking a look at some of Modern Horizons 3’s other Commanders who have been overshadowed by Nadu’s time at the head of the pack. 

Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain 

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Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain is an Esper Commander from Modern Horizons 3 that many players may have overlooked at the time.  

While Arna can easily become an absolute powerhouse, with a wide variety of possible builds available, this Commander has not seen the same amount of fan attention as Nadu or other MH3 favorites like The Necrobloom and Ulalek, Fused Atrocity. 

We’ll walk you through how to put a powerful Arna Kennerüd deck together, including options for focusing on Equipment, Enchantments, or +1/+1 counters. This guide won’t contain exact specs for a 100-card deck but will contain several suggestions for you to look into alongside Arna.

Making the most of your Commander’s abilities

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Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain is a 4/4 Esper flier with a mana value of 5. This Commander comes with 4/4 stats and Flying, making her an excellent Voltron-style centerpiece of the deck, being an active threat. as well as packing an incredible passive ability.

While this Commander may take a while to hit the field due to her higher-than-average mana value, her Lifelink can enable you to quickly recover from an early loss of life or tempo.

Crucially, Arna’s token-generating ability does not require her to be attacking in order to trigger. As a result, it’s beneficial to build up your board before casting her with a starting point of tokens, Equipment, and/or Auras, in order for Arna to start gaining you value as soon as she hits the field,

Wherever possible it’s best to avoid Legendary Equipment, even staples like Sword of the Animist, as they cannot benefit from Arna’s token generation. 

Creatures 

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You’ll want to split your Creature choices into two halves, those that help streamline your Modified strategy through cost reduction, tutoring, and other means, and evasive beaters that can be loaded up to aim directly at your opponents’ life totals. 

A select few Creatures serve as both support and evasive attackers, like the Flying and Equipment-drawing Armored Skyhunter, and these should be prioritized for inclusion if they fit your intended build. 

There are also Equipment cards that hit the field and create a token Creature through the Living Weapon, Bestow, and For Mirrodin! Abilities. These can be used to create additional board presence every turn.

Bestow in particular requires some careful consideration here, as while the initial version of a Bestowed Creature will become an Aura, any token copies created by Arna will be unable to be cast for their Bestow cost, hitting the field as Token Creatures instead.

Support 

• Codsworth, Handy Helper 
• Puresteel Paladin 
• Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist 
• Stoneforge Mystic 
• Halvar, God of Battle 
• Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor  
• Envoy of the Ancestors
• Loyal Inventor
• Stonehewer Giant

Attackers

• Alela, Artful Provocateur 
• Balan, Wandering Knight
• Kappa Cannoneer 

Support/attacker hybrids 

• Armored Skyhunter 
• Basim Ibn Ashaq 
• Baleful Strix
• Ledger Shredder
• Raffine, Scheming Seer 
• Starnheim Courser 
• Danitha Capashen, Paragon 
• Danitha, Benalia’s Hope 
• Zur the Enchanter

Equippable Creatures 

• Batterskull 
• Cloudsteel Kirin
• Razorfield Ripper 
• Nettlecyst 
• Glyph Elemental 
• Eidolon of Countless Battles

Power Boosts 

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Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain thrives by powering up your Creatures, turning them into high-damage, well-protected, hard-to-block threats by creating additional copies of Equipment, Auras, and +1/+1 counters.

It’s possible to create a streamlined Arna deck by focusing solely on one of these three areas, or a less consistent but more varied deck by balancing any combination of the three.

When running any of the following power boosts attached to your Creatures, your deck will be able to deal lethal damage within a surprisingly small number of turns.

Equipment  

• Inquisitor’s Flail 
• Golem-Skin Gauntlets 
• Sword of Truth and Justice
• Bloodforged Battle-Axe
• Sword of War and Peace
• Colossus Hammer
• Sword of Light and Shadow
• Cranial Plating 
• Argentum Armor
• Empyrial Plate
• Thran Power Suit
• Kemba’s Banner

Auras 

• Ethereal Armor 
• All That Glitters 
• Nerd Rage
• Sage’s Reverie
• Eldrazi Conscription
• Idolized
• Mantle of the Ancients
• Auramancer’s Guise
• Righteous Authority

Equipment cost-reduction

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If you do choose to go the Equipment route with Arna, cutting down on the Equip cost is key to out-pacing your opponents. While several of the support Creatures included above can help with this, these non-Creature cards are integral in getting your attackers loaded up with gear as quickly as possible:

• Sigarda’s Aid
• Forge Anew
• Hammer of Nazahn
• Battlefield Improvisation

Removal 

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Playing in Esper colors gives Arna Kennerüd access to a good variety of spot removal and board wipes. Alongside the regular suite of Instants and Sorceries, Equipment with removal effects attached works particularly well as Arna can get repeated use out of them.

Phantom Blade and Assimilation Aegis are the standouts here, providing repeatable removal that can take out your opponents’ biggest threats each turn, and can be easily searched for by the deck’s variety of Equipment tutors. 

• Phantom Blade 
• Assimilation Aegis
• Chains of Custody
• Anguished Unmaking 
• Void Rend 
• Counterspell 
• Dovin’s Veto 
• Winds of Rath 
• Toxic Deluge 

Protection

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This deck can be very difficult to stop once it has gained momentum, and your opponents will be looking to slow you down and pick off your best cards wherever possible.

While Arna can go wide when making token Creatures, you’ll often be restricted to a small number of Creatures in the game’s early stages, making it imperative to get some protection up so that you aren’t left wide open by spot removal.

• Shielded by Faith
• Unquestioned Authority
• Lavaspur Boosts
• Teferi’s Protection
• Flawless Maneuver
• Flare of Fortitude
• Unbreakable Formation
• Contractual Safeguard
• Conquerer’s Flail

Mana Production 

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Mana rocks are as good as ever in this deck, but if you want to get truly explosive, there are several pieces of power-boosting Equipment here that double as ramp options.

Sword of Forge and Frontier is incredible for speeding up your land drops, giving you enough mana to cast and equip your best tools with ease. Dowsing Dagger is another staple, with Arna’s inherent flying making the blockers that it generates for your opponents negligible.

• Dowsing Dagger 
• Goldvein Pick 
• Gold Pan
• Prying Blade 
• Sword of Forge and Frontier 
• Sword of Hearth and Home
• Sword of Wealth and Power
• Sword of Feast and Famine
• Pip-Boy 3000

Card Draw 

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Single-use card draw Instants and Sorceries can be safely ignored, as several Auras and Equipment cards provide increasing amounts of draw every turn thanks to Arna’s token creation.  

Through this, it’s entirely possible to streamline your options further, focusing on card draw options that also provide a specific bonus in combat, from power boosts to evasion.  

For example, Curiosity is a simple, incredibly cheap, and aggressive draw option, but pales in comparison here to Combat Research, which functions similarly while also providing protection and a power increase for Arna and the deck’s other Legendary Creatures. 

• Sram, Senior Edificer 
• Sword of Fire and Ice 
• Combat Research 
• Mask of Riddles 
• Cartouche of Knowledge
• Mask of Memory 
• Glimmer Lens 
• Feather of Flight
• Staggering Insight

Double up on power 

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By virtue of their incredible strength, these token doublers are among the most expensive cards you can put together for Arna.  

While these cards will no doubt give the deck a tremendous boost, giving you even more value every time Arna creates tokens, it’s more than okay to leave them out of a budget build as this Commander can quickly speed toward a win regardless.

• Anointed Procession 
• Roaming Throne
• Mondrak, Glory Dominus 
• Ocelot Pride 

That covers our run-through of the options for putting an Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain deck together. This Commander is both exceptionally powerful and fun to play, and Modern Horizons 3 comes with many more incredible commanders besides, including reprints and a whole host of pre-cons.