Surrak, the Hunt Caller is a prominent commander in Magic: The Gathering’s Foundation set. Initially introduced in the 2015 Dragons of Tarkir set, this mono-green commander has made a comeback with Foundations. Given that this set caters mainly to newcomers, Surrak, the Hunt Caller serves as an excellent choice for those just starting in Commander play.
With Surrak, you’ll be focusing on playing a large number of creatures, a strategy often referred to as “Stompy.” This approach is usually associated with mono-green decks that prioritize ramping into massive creatures with impressive abilities and stats as quickly as possible.
Decklist
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Commander: Surrak, the Hunt Caller |
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Aggressive Mammoth |
Apex Devastator |
Artisan of Kozilek |
Beast Whisperer |
Conduit of Ruin |
Craterhoof Behemoth |
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Defiler of Vigor |
Elder Gargaroth |
Elvish Mystic |
Enduring Vitality |
Fanatic of Rhonas |
Fierce Empath |
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Fyndhorn Elves |
Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant |
Gigantosaurus |
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma |
Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea |
Hulking Raptor |
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It That Betrays |
Karametra’s Acolyte |
Kogla, the Titan Ape |
Llanowar Elves |
Llanowar Tribe |
Quilled Greatwurm |
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Railway Brawler |
Regal Force |
Runadi, Behemoth Caller |
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds |
Silverback Elder |
Surrak and Goreclaw |
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Terastodon |
Thunderfoot Baloth |
Tyvar, the Pummeler |
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger |
Ulamog, the Defiler |
Woodland Bellower |
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Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig |
Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus |
Cultivate |
Kodama’s Reach |
Last March of the Ents |
Nature’s Lore |
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Overwhelming Stampede |
Rampant Growth |
Triumph of the Hordes |
Beast Within |
Ram Through |
Return of the Wildspeaker |
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Smuggler’s Surprise |
Arcane Signet |
Caged Sun |
Emerald Medallion |
Mind Stone |
Monster Manual |
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Rhonas’s Monument |
Sol Ring |
The Skullspore Nexus |
Thought Vessel |
Garruk’s Uprising |
Monstrous Vortex |
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Paradox Zone |
Tribute to the World Tree |
Unnatural Growth |
Up the Beanstalk |
Utopia Sprawl |
Castle Garenbrig |
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x30 Forest |
Mosswort Bridge |
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood |
War Room |
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The deck includes 38 creatures, seven sorceries, four instants, nine artifacts, seven enchantments, and 34 lands. The emphasis is on creatures, taking up the bulk of the deck while the rest serve to ramp or enhance your combat effectiveness for increased damage.
Key Cards
Surrak, The Hunt Caller
Surrak, the Hunt Caller serves as the deck’s commander and enhances your combat potential. It grants a creature haste as long as the combined power of your creatures is eight or more. With Surrak contributing five power, you only need an additional three power for Surrak to be consistently active.
This combat-focused deck makes the haste granted by Surrak essential for achieving quick bursts of damage. Another strategic use of Surrak is giving a mana dork (creatures able to tap themselves for mana) haste, enabling you to ramp out larger creatures faster if you aren’t able to attack right away.
Unnatural Growth
When playing with a Surrak, the Hunt Caller commander deck, you’ll likely find yourself attacking nearly every turn. This is where Unnatural Growth shines. It doubles the power and toughness of your creatures at the start of every combat, turning them into formidable threats capable of dealing significant damage.
Notably, Unnatural Growth doubles the stats of your creatures during every combat phase, not just your own. This empowers your creatures, turning them into effective blockers during your opponents’ turns and helping to keep your life total secure amid the combat you’re initiating on your turn.
Defiler Of Vigor
Defiler of Vigor is a creature that you want to get onto the battlefield as soon as possible. It allows you to play large creatures faster by choosing to pay two life instead of the green mana cost when casting a creature. With a starting life total of 40, this life cost is minimal and quite worthwhile.
You can only opt to pay two life once and cannot do this multiple times with Defiler of Vigor. This means you can only use it to replace a single green mana. For example, if a spell costs three green mana, you can pay two green and two life to cast it, but that’s as far as it goes.
Whenever you cast a green permanent, every creature you control gets a +1/+1 counter. Since creatures are considered permanent cards, this means every creature you cast will continue to enhance all other creatures you control. The casting cost doesn’t matter, and this effect can happen multiple times per turn, so casting several creatures can lead to multiple +1/+1 counters for your team.
Surrak And Goreclaw
Surrak has had several iterations over the years, and Surrak and Goreclaw is an excellent addition to the Surrak, the Hunt Caller deck. It provides all your creatures with trample and haste and grants a +1/+1 counter to a creature when it enters the battlefield. This card acts as a second commander, forcing your opponents to consider two different haste enablers instead of just one.
However, Surrak and Goreclaw’s effect only applies to nontoken creatures, meaning tokens generated from cards like Paradox Zone and Elder Gargaroth won’t receive haste or a +1/+1 counter. That said, they will still get trample since only the triggered ability affects nontoken creatures.
Surrak and Goreclaw has impressive stats as well, especially when it receives +1/+1 counters. Given the nature of the deck, you want to deal damage consistently. That’s why the ability that grants trample to all your creatures is vital—it ensures you’re able to deal damage every turn.
How To Play The Deck
A Surrak, the Hunt Caller commander deck is all about combat. You should always be attacking with your creatures to reduce your opponents’ life totals as fast as you can. This strategy relies on a collection of large creatures, many of which have high stats, trample, or other capabilities that help you finish games quickly.
It’s essential to bring cards that enhance your creatures’ stats (be it permanently or temporarily) onto the battlefield quickly. Cards like Unnatural Growth and Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus double the power and toughness of your creatures at the start of each combat, while Defiler of Vigor, Quilled Greatwurm, and Railway Brawler all put +1/+1 counters on your creatures.
Both Unnatural Growth and Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus share the same effect, allowing you to stack them if both are on the battlefield. This means your creatures’ stats could potentially quadruple since one doubles the effect of the other.
The primary strategy for winning this deck relies on natural combat. With the ease of giving your creatures substantial stats and trample, you can quickly deplete an opponent’s life total, all while using your large creatures for protection.
Alternatively, you can secure a win with Triumph of the Hordes, which gives all your creatures +1/+1 and infect. Infect means that instead of losing life, your opponents will gain poison counters, allowing you to eliminate someone from the game after just ten damage instead of 40.
The biggest drawback of this deck is its heavy dependence on creatures. A board wipe can be disastrous, potentially removing you from the game for several turns while you rebuild your board state.
Moreover, the impactful cards often require a lot of mana. In the early game, your battlefield may feel ineffective. However, once you set up with reliable creatures, it becomes straightforward to gain momentum—especially with Surrak’s ability to grant haste.
