Kotis is the engine. It is a 2/1 indestructible attacker, and whenever it deals combat damage to a player it exiles that many cards from the top of their library and casts any with mana value up to that damage for free. So the deck pumps Kotis with +1/+1 counters, counter doublers and double strike, makes it unblockable or gives it trample, and protects it, so each hit turns into a bigger free-spell haul from opponents' decks. A secondary layer of combat-damage triggers, theft effects and free-cast payoffs turns every connection into card and tempo advantage. How it wins: A huge, evasive, often double-striking Kotis wins through commander damage and through the cascade of opponents' free spells each hit, backed by stolen threats and other combat-damage pieces. Key roles: - Counter growth and doubling: Pile +1/+1 counters onto Kotis and multiply them, so its power, and with it how deep and how expensive its free casts go, scales fast. Counters landing also draw cards. (Innkeeper's Talent, The Earth Crystal, Kami of Whispered Hopes) - Evasion and double damage: Get Kotis through blockers with unblockability or trample, and double its strikes so the trigger fires twice. Double strike also hands Kotis two exile-and-cast rounds per combat. (Herald of Secret Streams, Leyline Axe, Fireshrieker) - Combat-damage trigger amplification: Make each connection trigger extra times, or add more triggers on top. Ninjutsu and other on-hit creatures stack card advantage alongside Kotis. (Felix Five-Boots, Strionic Resonator, Fallen Shinobi) - Playing opponents' cards: Steal creatures and permanents and cast exiled cards. Cheaper casting of spells the player doesn't own, and payoffs for casting from outside the hand, make each free spell grow the board further. (Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, The Thirteenth Doctor, Villainous Wealth) - Copying the threat: Spells that target a single creature, including the deck's many pump spells, can make non-legendary token copies of a pumped attacker. (Vesuvan Duplimancy, Irenicus's Vile Duplication) - Protection and interaction: Hexproof tricks and counterspells keep the indestructible Kotis from being exiled, bounced or answered while it stacks counters. (Snakeskin Veil, Asceticism, Repulsive Mutation)

Kotis in November decklist

• Elrond, Moon-Reader
• Aetherize
• Arcane Signet
• Asceticism
• Astarion's Thirst
• Beast Within
• Beorn's Hospitality
• Bitter Triumph
• Bribery
• Counterspell
• Crux of Fate
• Dimir Signet
• Eidolon of Blossoms
• Elvish Archivist
• Evolution Sage
• Explore
• Fallen Shinobi
• Farseek
• Fblthp, Impossibly Lost
• Felix Five-Boots
• Fellwar Stone
• Fireshrieker
• Forgotten Ancient
• Garruk's Uprising
• Gonti, Canny Acquisitor
• Growth Curve
• Herald of Secret Streams
• Hollowmurk Siege
• Hostage Taker
• Innkeeper's Talent
• Irenicus's Vile Duplication
• Jhoira, Weatherlight Corsair
• Kami of Whispered Hopes
• Krosan Grip
• Leyline Axe
• Lotus Cobra
• Manifold Key
• Negate
• Octopus Form
• Ooze Spill
• Power Fist
• Quandrix Charm
• Rampant Growth
• Repulsive Mutation
• Ruinous Intrusion
• Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
• Snakeskin Veil
• Sol Ring
• Strionic Resonator
• Swan Song
• Talisman of Dominance
• The Earth Crystal
• The Ooze
• The Thirteenth Doctor
• Thickest in the Thicket
• Three Tree Rootweaver
• Vesuvan Duplimancy
• Villainous Wealth
• Warg Tactics
• Will of the Sultai
• Zegana, Utopian Speaker
• Command Tower
• Darkwater Catacombs
• Deathcap Glade
• Dreamroot Cascade
• Drowned Catacomb
• Escape Tunnel
• Exotic Orchard
• Fetid Pools
• Golgari Rot Farm
• Haunted Mire
• Hinterland Harbor
• Llanowar Wastes
• Myriad Landscape
• Opulent Palace
• Room of Refuge
• Starting Town
• Sunken Hollow
• Temple of Malady
• Underground River
• Woodland Cemetery
• 11× Forest
• 5× Island
• Swamp