Two Watermills and an Open Sluice by Jacob Van Ruisdael (1653).

Replendent Griffin by Sam Rowan.

With the release of Zendikar Rising we are seeing a bunch of new cards with the Kicker keyword. Kicker spells allow you to pay additional mana to get an added effect or benefit.

Zendikar Rising brought us a new legendary creature who cares about spells with kicker - Verazol, the Split Current. Today I'm going to focus on old friend Hallar, the Firefletcher, but it's worth a look at both kicker-focused legendaries.

Verazol benefits from getting +1/+1 counters based upon the amount of mana you're spending. This clever design lets Commander players benefit from multiple castings by turning an increasing commander tax into increased power and toughness.

There are three key differences between the two legendary creatures.

The first is that Verazol is more dependent upon the quality of your kicker spells to have success. He'll only let you copy a kicked spell. If you're looking at a hand full of kicker spells that don't actually do what you need to do at a certain point in the game, copying those spells won't do you a lot of good.

The second is that Hallar directly provides you with a way to damage your opponents. Sure, you have to jump through hoops to get extra +1/+1 counters on him, but if you can load him up he represents a clear and effective wincon. Your kicked spells might be effective and timely, but even if they aren't - he'll be happy to push out a little damage to everyone else at the table.

The last difference is that Hallar won't get smaller. You never have to remove +1/+1 counters from him, so your potential to put forth a legitimate commander damage threat will only get better as the game goes on.

An exhaustive review of the kicker spells available to Verazol is what would be needed to really get a good idea of how high the ceiling is on that legendary serpent. If you'd like me to do one, please comment below - I'm happy to do one. I might even tackle Verazol next week with no prodding whatsoever.

In my opinion, Hallar is still the heavyweight champion of Kicker Commanders and I'm really excited to see how much better he will be with the cards this new set has for him.

The Starting Point

My old Hallar, the Firefletcher deck was a pretty fun, but decidedly casual deck. Like a lot of casual decks, it relied a bit too heavily on its commander to win games. Permanently remove that key piece of the puzzle and it struggles. The other major challenge of my old Hallar deck was that kicker spells might not cost a lot of mana, but they generally do if you want to kick them.

In evaluating cards for my Hallar deck I originally looked at the minimum amount needed to cast any spell with the kicker ability and kick that spell at least once. A spell with "multikicker" can be kicked multiple times, but Hallar only cares whether the spell was kicked at least once.

The average "kicker CMC" of my old Hallar deck was 5.13.

That might not sound that high. The list has 23 cards with kicker, but a full 11 of them had a kicker CMC of 6 or higher. Grunn, the Lonely King weighs in at a mighty 9 mana. It should come as no surprise that I don't recall *ever* casting Grunn with Hallar on the field and kicking him. Even at his best, kicked so he has five +1/+1 counters on him, and if he's attacking alone so his power gets doubled, Grunn, the Lonely King can be chump-blocked by a 0/1 plant creature token. He's a big dude, but he wasn't how that deck would win games.

We need a lot of kicker spells in our Hallar deck, but we can do so much better than Grunn.

Zendikar Rising Kicker Spells

The average "kicker CMC" of the 16 Green and Red kicker spells in Zendikar Rising is 5.9.

The highest of those weighs in at 10 mana. Cragplate Baloth can't be countered, and has both hexproof and haste but no evasion. It's not a terrible creature for a casual EDH deck, but Hallar really, really doesn't care how much mana you spent on your kicker spell. You're not going to impress Hallar with your 10-mana beater and he's not going to do his little party trick with any more enthusiasm than if you spent half as much. Loading up on big kicker creatures could help you win a game here or there but it's not what Hallar really wants to do.

The process of replacing existing kicker spells with new kicker spells needs to make this deck leaner and meaner. I need to drop my average CMC and the average "kicker CMC" of all the spells in the deck that have kicker. If I can increase the number of spells I am running that have kicker, that's even better. None of this will make Hallar a competitive deck but it should get more efficient and more able to hold its own when playing in its natural environment - casual and semi-competitive EDH games.

There are some pretty spectacular new kicker spells in Zendikar Rising. I won't review them all, but it's worth going over some of the high points in the set.

8 mana might not seem like a good price for an Explosive Vegetation, but Vastwood Surge will put two +1/+1 counters on Hallar and each other creature you control. That's good because it means more damage to push out to your opponents, but it does mean those +1/+1 counters will be put on Hallar after his trigger has resolved. Vastwood Surge is a sorcery, so you'll need to wait until the next kicker spell to see those extra +1/+1 counters turn into damage.

Taunting Arbormage has a "lure" effect for its kicker. If this taunting Elf Wizard is kicked, you can force all of your opponents to block target creature, allowing Hallar to swing through for some commander damage. Commander damage kills aren't incredibly common with Hallar, but they can and do happen.

Murasa Sproutling is the kicker gift that keeps on giving. One of the bigger challenges when playing Hallar is timing your kicker spells and not running out of them. Murasa Sproutling will let you pull one of your earlier spells back out of the graveyard to hopefully set yourself up for another Hallar trigger.

If you like modal spells, Inscription of Abundance should make you happy. Kicking it will let you do not one mode but all of them. That means two +1/+1 counters on Hallar, a little lifegain and a fight trigger if you want it. Reclaim the Wastes will tutor two basic lands to your hand, helping you keep from missing your land drops. Cinderclasm's kicker will take it from doing 1 damage to each creature to a whopping 2 damage. That might not seem like much, but there are zombie armies out there just waiting to be kicked into the graveyard with a Cinderclasm.

The key to success with Hallar is putting counters on him and then getting as many kicked spells as you can. Getting those kicked casting costs as low as possible will give you a better chance of being able to have turns where you kick two or even three spells. That can mean the difference between winning and losing a game.

The cards I swapped out in this rework were creatures that had a kicked CMC of over 6 and which didn't directly help Hallar's game plan. Playing Verix Bladewing and getting Karox Bladewingf for an extra 3 mana might feel good, but they're not going to do much to increase the number of kicked spells you're able to cast during that turn. In a meta with a lot of flyers, they make sense, but if we want to see how efficient this deck can be, it makes more sense to swap them out.

Beyond Kicker

I may have increased the number of spells with the kicker keyword, but that doesn't mean I didn't also try to make other improvements during this rework. There were a handful of spells that were OK but not quite good enough. It's time some better cards get put into the mix.

I'm already running Elfhame Druid, a nifty little mana dork that will help me cast my kicker spells. Vine Gecko will drop the casting cost of my first kicker spell each turn. I'm unlikely to use this more than once each turn cycle, but it's still an important way to try to burn through more kicker spells.

This deck already runs Hardened Scales and Doubling Season, so Branching Evolution fits right in. If I ever got to magical Christmasland with this deck and had all three out, a single kicker spell could put 1 + 1 (from Hardened Scales) x 2 (Doubling Season) x 2 (Branching Evolution = a whopping 8 +1/+1 counters on Hallar. If I'm interested in doubling my +1/+1 counters Hydra's Growth will give him a +1/+1 counter and on my upkeep I'll see those counters get doubled.

I'm also running Kalonian Hydra, Forgotten Ancient and a number of less impressive ways to add +1/+1 counters like Forced Adaptation and Predatory Hunger. This deck is all about +1/+1 counters. I even added Increasing Savagery because there will be times when I'll be re-casting Hallar and will be happy to be able to flash back that spell and put 10 +1/+1 counters on our commander.

I'm also running a small assortment of equipment to help me out. Lifegain from Basilisk Collar or Loxodon Warhammer can really pile up with Hallar pushing out damage to all my opponents at once. Strionic Resonator will double Hallar's triggers. Grafted Exoskeleton will move my goalposts much closer by giving Hallar infect. Swiftfoot Boots will help protect Hallar but will still let me target him with auras and equipment.

The Decklist

I won't pretend that my old Hallar list was necessarily the best possible list, but I enjoyed playing it and it was definitely capable of winning games. Its shortcomings were an over-reliance on its commander but that's largely from building around the commander so heavily.

If you play this list and find you're just lacking interaction you could easily drop out a half dozen kicker spells, add in what you need more of - probably removal and draw spells - and you'll be fine. My comment earlier about dropping out Verix Bladewing also applies here. If you're in need of more big, dumb creatures they are available with the kicker keyword and will fit right in.

I Get Another Kick out of Hallar | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Hallar, the Firefletcher

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Deathforge Shaman
• 1 Elfhame Druid
• 1 Emblazoned Golem
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Ghitu Chronicler
• 1 Gnarlid Colony
• 1 Gnarlid Pack
• 1 Goblin Ruinblaster
• 1 Kalonian Hydra
• 1 Mold Shambler
• 1 Murasa Sproutling
• 1 Neheb, the Eternal
• 1 Oran-Rief Recluse
• 1 Scrounging Bandar
• 1 Skitter of Lizards
• 1 Taunting Arbormage
• 1 Vine Gecko
• 1 Wolfbriar Elemental

• Instants (7)
• 1 Cinderclasm
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Inscription of Abundance
• 1 Might of Murasa
• 1 Overload
• 1 Scorching Lava
• 1 Vines of Vastwood

• Sorceries (18)
• 1 Biogenic Upgrade
• 1 Blessings of Nature
• 1 Breath of Darigaaz
• 1 Broken Bond
• 1 Canopy Surge
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explore
• 1 Grow from the Ashes
• 1 Increasing Savagery
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Mana Geyser
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Reclaim the Wastes
• 1 Savage Offensive
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Soul's Majesty
• 1 Tempt with Discovery
• 1 Vastwood Surge

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Forced Adaptation
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Hydra's Growth
• 1 Predatory Hunger

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Branching Evolution
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1 Gruul Cluestone
• 1 Gruul Keyrune
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 Skyclave Relic
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 The Ozolith

• Lands (35)
• 13 Forest
• 13 Mountain
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Urza's Mine
• 1 Urza's Power Plant
• 1 Urza's Tower

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This rework has definitely improved the deck in terms of raw numbers. You can't really judge a deck by its average CMC but it's worth looking at whether my rework made much of a difference.

I went up from 23 kicker spells to 26 kicker spells.

The average CMC dropped from 3.05 to 2.72.

The average "kicker CMC" went from 5.13 to 4.46.

The reality is that Hallar will never be a high-power deck. It requires significant setup and it telegraphs its game plan. You make Hallar big and cast lots of kicker spells to kill the table. From my experience Hallar tends to fly under the radar because it just doesn't seem that scary. If your opponents underestimate your ability to push out damage, or if there are scarier decks at the table that need to be dealt with, you can have some fun and win some games with Hallar.

If your playgroup catches on and starts targeting Hallar in the right ways, you're going to wind up with some non-games until you retool the deck to handle their meddling ways. Hallar will eventually get Imprisoned in the Moon or hit with a Lignify, Darksteel Mutation of any of a number of spells and effects that can detail your game plan. If that happens often enough, or if you know ahead of time that your playgroup is already running lots of removal, you'll likely want to tweak this list a bit.

Final Thoughts

As I look over this list, I'm definitely aware that I'm lacking a lot of cards I've grown used to running in my better Green and Red decks. Low mana artifact and enchantment removal, Chaos Warp, Krosan Grip, Sylvan Library and Chandra's Ignition might all find a home in today's deck but my goal was really to see how it would play with an increase in the number and quality of kicker spells. The deck was already running nearly two dozen of them and kicker spells aren't generally the best spells you're going to find for what each of them does.

I'm actually excited to get my hands on these new cards and some of the old ones like Hydra's Growth that I hadn't yet added to my deck. I expect the deck will be fun for casual and mid-power tables and will mostly fail to keep up with high power tables. Semi-competitive and competitive players usually find it to be a trivial task to derail a deck like Hallar before it can kill a table.

The Hobbit by Rankin-Bass (1977).

I'm still debating whether or not to commission an alter for Hallar, the Firefletcher using the old Rankin-Bass animated film The Hobbit. If I get Hallar done up as Bard, I'll have to get a Smaug alter of Lathliss, Dragon Queen and quite possibly a Smeagol alter of Grumgully, the Generous. If you have a favorite alterist you'd point me towards, please comment below. I've been thinking about having these done for a few years now. Maybe this is the time to finally pull that trigger?

If you've got a new legendary card from Zendikar Rising you'd like me to cover for next week's column, please let me know. If I don't get any suggestions I might just tackle Verazol, the Split Current. I am awfully curious if there's much of a deck there. Maybe I'll change my mind and crown a new King of Kicker Spells in EDH.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!