As many MTG Commander players are painfully aware, Partners is one of the best mechanics in the entire format. By giving players two different Commanders to use, you’re essentially starting the game with an extra card over your opponents. Given that many of the best Partners also provide strong, generic value, the versatility these cards offer is unrivaled.
Even in the world of Partners, however, some cards are much stronger than the rest. Thanks to this, many MTG Partner Commanders end up going forgotten, despite their strong potential. Halana, Kessig Ranger, for example, can pull off some truly unique and powerful strategies.
Picking a Partner
Halana, Kessig Ranger offers a pretty simple ability, turning your new creatures into removal pieces. Whether you use undercosted creatures with big power, like Lupine Prototype, or Deathtouch creatures like Tower Winder, Halana can make it really difficult for your opponents to keep creatures in play. This sets a strong foundation for a Halana Commander deck, while your Partner can help round out your direction.
For Halana, two Partner choices seem far above the rest. Alena, Kessig Trapper is the intended Partner choice for Halana, offering a ton of mana as a payoff for playing big creatures. This helps offset Halana’s ability cost when Biting opposing creatures, and can set up some infinite mana combos. too.
Despite this, however, Tymna, the Weaver is the most popular and best Partner with Halana. With access to Abzan, powerful Deathtouch creatures like Acidic Slime, and Defacing Duskmage turn into two-for-ones thanks to Halana’s ability. Combine these with payoffs Black Widow, Deadly Hunter and Viridian Longbow, and you have a strong, self-contained strategy.
In addition to Tymna drawing cards off an empty board, you can run other powerful combat damage engines to pull ahead. Toski, Bearer of Secrets and Ohran Frostfang and Unstoppable Slasher all quickly take advantage of empty boards. You can also use Halana’s ability to kill off your own creatures, setting up powerful combo opportunities with Protean Hulk and Pattern of Rebirth.
A Unique Take on a Popular Archetype
Between doubling the value of Deathtouch creatures and offering a potential combo finish, Halana, Kessig Rider can create some novel EDH brews. Despite this powerful gameplan, however, Halana, Kessig Ranger and Tymna, the Weaver don’t see much play together. Despite being the most popular Partner pairing for Halana, there are only 529 decks available for them, according to EDHREC.
Thanks to being so unpopular, Halana, Kessig Ranger is also quite a cheap pickup, available for $0.35. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Tymna, worth $25 thanks to its popularity with other Partners. Still, if you’re looking for something offbeat to try, Halana, Kessig Ranger can be a worthwhile choice.
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