Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite, the series that looks at some of the strongest commanders around the format, their strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately, how to beat them. Today we're looking at a commander near and dear to my heart: Brago, King Eternal. If you believe in signature commanders, this might be mine. I've been playing Brago for years, and instead of the average Brago deck, I'll be looking at my own. But before we get into that, let's look at the commander itself--Brago, King Eternal.

The Commander

Brago was originally printed in an auxiliary set, Conspiracy, alongside Marchesa, the Black Rose and Dack Fayden. A weapon for blink decks, when Brago connects for combat damage, Brago can blink any nonland permanent--not just creatures. This ability is incredibly versatile and can be used to retrigger ETB effects, reset mana rocks, and planeswalkers. It's a deck that has a lot of different methods to exploit, and I have used several different builds over the years.

The current build that I have is titled "Azor's Revenge" and is built for Bracket 4. This particular build wants to use Strionic Resonator or a variety of combos to close out the win. Instead of using stax pieces like typical Brago builds at the brighter brackets, this particular deck uses a higher level of tempo/removal alongside card advantage and ramp to bury opponents in value and card advantage. This deck can both race out to the lead and flood the track behind it. Once it gets rolling, it's very hard to stop. I'll post the full list here.

Brago, King Eternal | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Brago, King Eternal

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Aether Channeler
• 1 Agent of Treachery
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Cloud of Faeries
• 1 Displacer Kitten
• 1 Felidar Guardian
• 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1 Preston, the Vanisher
• 1 Recruiter of the Guard
• 1 Riptide Gearhulk
• 1 Sea Gate Oracle
• 1 Skyclave Apparition
• 1 Solitude
• 1 Soulherder
• 1 Tribute Mage
• 1 Urza, Lord High Artificer
• 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Whirler Rogue
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
• 1 Plagon, Lord of the Beach
• 1 Thassa's Oracle
• 1 Witch Enchanter

• Instants (10)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Ephemerate
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Muddle the Mixture
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Permission Denied
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Borne Upon a Wind
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Farewell
• 1 Lórien Revealed
• 1 Sink into Stupor
• 1 Temporal Manipulation

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Mystic Remora
• 1 Omen of the Sea
• 1 Rhystic Study

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 1 Tezzeret the Seeker

• Artifacts (21)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Energy Refractor
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Grim Monolith
• 1 Hierophant's Chalice
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Liquimetal Torque
• 1 Lithoform Engine
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Mox Opal
• 1 Scroll of Fate
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 The Mightstone and Weakstone
• 1 The One Ring
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (32)
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Ancient Tomb
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Floodfarm Verge
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Hengegate Pathway
• 6 Island
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 6 Plains
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Seachrome Coast
• 1 Skycloud Expanse
• 1 Tundra
• 1 Windswept Heath

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Cards to Look Out For

1. Riptide Gearhulk - A newer addition to this deck, this card can be repeated to the point where each opponent will be drawing the same card over and over for the rest of the game unless handled. The double strike and prowess are also very relevant.
2. Glen Elendra Archmage - Typically, this will counter two commander spells before being gone forever. With Brago constantly blinking it, this deck will be able to counter spells over and over again, making it very difficult to get anything going.
3. Preston, the Vanisher - Acting like a Panharmonicon as well as a combo piece with Felidar Guardian, this card is also very good at making 0/1 blockers that can prevent a lot of combat damage.
4. The One Ring - This deck is capable of putting this card back into hand to have perpetual protection, which can make it impossible to damage Brago in combat.
5. Scroll of Fate - This one typically goes under the radar. When a player blinks a facedown card, it comes back in on its front. So, this gives Brago a pipeline to get extra lands or nasty blink effects into play without giving opponents an opportunity to counter them.

Strengths

This deck is a rare instance of having a deck that is more than capable of blitzing to an early win as well as grinding for a prolonged victory through attrition. The earliest this deck has secured a win has been turn 4, but it is possible to get an earlier win with the perfect hand. Being that this deck contains White and Blue, Brago is capable of both removing anything that hits the board while also having counterspell Magic to attack the stack and remove spells before they can resolve. Blink is also home to a lot of combo options that can function independently of each other, such as Displacer Kitten and Teferi, Time Raveler, Strionic Resonator with a Sol Ring, and Preston, the Vanisher with Felidar Guardian. Each of these combos works independently, but all the cards also function toward the primary goal of the deck and can be played as spells instead of combo pieces. The deck also has a diverse selection of blink targets from planeswalkers and creatures to enchantments.

Weaknesses

Blink targets are great to get the triggered effect immediately rather than having to attack or connect for damage, but most of these cards don't have a lot of additional value outside of chump blocking if they cannot be repeated. This particular list is lighter on one-time blink effects since Brago is so efficient with these effects. Blink decks tend to be on the lighter side for combat-focused creatures or strong blockers, so a well-protected stompy deck is a really bad matchup for Brago.

How to Blink Out Brago

The first rule of fighting Brago is to not allow Brago to stick around for attacks. There are combos that don't involve Brago, but getting to untap mana rocks and reuse removal pieces will absolutely bury everyone. Brago is not great at blocking massing waves of combat damage. Take advantage of that by chipping in early and often. Finally, bring a buddy with you to go after the Brago deck. If Brago can focus 100% of their removal on one deck, that deck is going to be shut down quickly. If you can swing in and keep Brago off the field, this deck is very beatable.

Commander Kryptonite

If you are still having trouble dealing with Brago, consider adding these cards to your 99.

1. Containment Priest - This won't affect artifacts or planeswalkers, but this puts an aggressive stop to any of the creatures. Unlike a typical hatebear, flashing in Containment Priest will not only stop the effects but exile the creatures as well.
2. Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines - This is a card that this deck doesn't run due to the risk of it being stolen or copied. This card doubles its controller's ETB triggers while blanking everyone else's, making Brago mostly useless.
3. Privileged Position - This deck loves to build tempo or control by single-target bouncing things or straight-up removing them. By canceling out those targets, Brago will have a lot of dead cards for the game unless they are being used against your other opponents, which is a bit of a win-win situation.

And there you have it! This is how to beat Brago. Of course, my list is on the Bracket 4 side and isn't playing stax pieces like you might expect, but most of what we went over today can cover most Brago builds in some capacity. If you have a commander you would like to see on Commander Kryptonite, send me an email at thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com. Until next time, happy gaming!