Commander Challenge – Predators’ Hour

Good lord there’s been a lot of cool cards in the last few months. It’s so obscenely easy to accidentally miss an exciting one because there’s just so many of them.

Don’t worry too much though, because we’re here to help you out by gifting you with knowledge. It’s not forbidden knowledge, we’re not that kind of site, but it’s all pretty cool. Anyway, insert your own favorite pun about being a predator here or the clicky noise from the films, and let’s get into our article.

What is Predators’ Hour?

Predators’ Hour Predators’ Hour Until end of turn, creatures you control gain menace and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell." is a two-mana black sorcery that reads, “Until end of turn, creatures you control gain menace and “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player’s library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell.””

In essence, it allows you to take your opponents’ cards and then play them as your own. However, you need to be able to actually hit them with creatures first. The way we see it, this has to main uses. Either you’re putting it in a deck where casting things from exile is a good thing, or you’re putting it in a deck that’s all about stealing the best cards that everyone else has.

The good news is, that we’ve chosen one commander for each of those ideas, and we’re about to introduce them to you. Lucky you!

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Prosper Hour

First is our exile theme. Prosper, Tome-Bound Prosper, Tome-Bound Deathtouch
Mystic Arcanum — At the beginning of your end step, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
Pact Boon — Whenever you play a card from exile, create a Treasure token. is a four-mana black and red 1/4 with deathtouch. It also has two abilities. The first is Mystic Arcanum, which reads, “At the beginning of your end step, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.” Yay, card draw. The second ability creates a treasure token whenever you cast a spell from exile, which is what we’re going for here.

We can bolster this whole thing by including other cards that really go hard on the whole exile thing. Florian, Voldaren Scion Florian, Voldaren Scion First strike
At the beginning of each of your postcombat main phases, look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the total amount of life your opponents lost this turn. Exile one of those cards and put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You may play the exiled card this turn. allows you to exile cards from your own library to play them. You’ve then also got Curse of Hospitality Curse of Hospitality Enchant player
Creatures attacking enchanted player have trample.
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to enchanted player, that player exiles the top card of their library. Until end of turn, that creature's controller may play that card and they may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell. , which does a good job of effectively doubling the effect of Predators’ Hour Predators’ Hour Until end of turn, creatures you control gain menace and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell." . Etali, Primal Storm Etali, Primal Storm Whenever Etali attacks, exile the top card of each player's library, then you may cast any number of spells from among those cards without paying their mana costs. is a big old Dinosaur that lets you exile cards from everyone’s decks and then pay them for free.

You’ve also got Dream Devourer Dream Devourer Each nonland card in your hand without foretell has foretell. Its foretell cost is equal to its mana cost reduced by {2}. (During your turn, you may pay {2} and exile it from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
Whenever you foretell a card, this creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. , which allows you to foretell all of your cards, which means you can then cast them from exile no matter what. Our final pick is Laelia, the Blade Reforged Laelia, the Blade Reforged Haste
Whenever Laelia attacks, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn.
Whenever one or more cards are put into exile from your library and/or your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Laelia. , who gets stronger when you exile your own stuff, and also allows you to exile cards when they attack too.

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The Predator Triplets

Our other option, and this is the one where you’re going to annoy everyone, is Sen Triplets Sen Triplets At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. This turn, that player can't cast spells or activate abilities and plays with their hand revealed. You may play lands and cast spells from that player's hand this turn. . This is a five-mana 3/3 in white, blue, and black, that reads, “At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. This turn, that player can’t cast spells or activate abilities and plays with their hand revealed. You may play lands and cast spells from that player’s hand this turn.” We are about to steal everything, and Predators’ Hour is merely one card among many that’ll allow us to do this.

First of all, we still like Dream Devourer Dream Devourer Each nonland card in your hand without foretell has foretell. Its foretell cost is equal to its mana cost reduced by {2}. (During your turn, you may pay {2} and exile it from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
Whenever you foretell a card, this creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. here too, so use that. In terms of other cards that allow us to steal things, and we’re just gonna reel these off, we’ve got Siphon Insight Siphon Insight Look at the top two cards of target opponent's library. Exile one of them face down and put the other on the bottom of that library. You may play the exiled card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell.
Flashback {1}{U}{B} , Xanathar, Guild Kingpin Xanathar, Guild Kingpin At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. Until end of turn, that player can't cast spells, you may look at the top card of their library any time, you may play the top card of their library, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast spells this way. , Thief of Sanity Thief of Sanity Flying
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, look at the top three cards of that player's library, exile one of them face down, then put the rest into their graveyard. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell. , Praetor’s Grasp Praetor’s Grasp Search target opponent's library for a card and exile it face down. Then that player shuffles. You may play that card for as long as it remains exiled. , Gonti, Lord of Luxury Gonti, Lord of Luxury Deathtouch
When Gonti enters, look at the top four cards of target opponent's library, exile one of them face down, then put the rest on the bottom of that library in a random order. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell. , Mind’s Dilation Mind’s Dilation Whenever an opponent casts their first spell each turn, that player exiles the top card of their library. If it's a nonland card, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. , and Nightveil Specter Nightveil Specter Flying
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of their library.
You may play lands and cast spells from among cards exiled with this creature. . All of these are good at taking what’s not yours, so you want them in the deck.

You can also bolster Sen Triplets Sen Triplets At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. This turn, that player can't cast spells or activate abilities and plays with their hand revealed. You may play lands and cast spells from that player's hand this turn. by including Telepathy Telepathy Your opponents play with their hands revealed. , which let’s you see the cards in everyone’s hands, and also Paradox Haze Paradox Haze Enchant player
At the beginning of enchanted player's first upkeep each turn, that player gets an additional upkeep step after this step. , which allows you to get an extra upkeep, and therefore choose an extra player. You could even go a step further and use Mirrormade Mirrormade You may have this enchantment enter as a copy of any artifact or enchantment on the battlefield. to copy Paradox Haze Paradox Haze Enchant player
At the beginning of enchanted player's first upkeep each turn, that player gets an additional upkeep step after this step. and then get three upkeep steps and choose everyone. This deck is evil, but we like it.

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