Deep-Sea Kraken
Creature — Kraken
This creature can't be blocked.
Suspend 9—
(Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may pay and exile it with nine time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if this card is suspended, remove a time counter from it.
- CMC
- 10
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might
- Price
- $1.68
- EDHREC rank
- #5088
Deep-Sea Kraken hits the table as an 6/6 Shroud threat that suspends itself for free whenever opponents cast spells — the cost is a nine-mana suspend entry that makes it a turn-one play only in dedicated shells. Outside of Runo Stromkirk and similar sea-creature decks, that setup cost is too steep to justify over cheaper finishers.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Runo Stromkirk
Runo Stromkirk's flip condition requires showing a creature with mana value six or greater at upkeep, and Deep-Sea Kraken qualifies at six — making it both a reliable trigger and a clock that the commander's copy ability can double.
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep cheats Krakens and Leviathans directly into play, turning Deep-Sea Kraken's nine-mana sticker price into a non-issue and putting a shrouded 6/6 on the board for free.
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa taps to put the top creature of its library into play if it's a Serpent, Leviathan, Kraken, or Octopus — Deep-Sea Kraken is a Kraken, so Kenessos can bypass the suspend entirely and drop it straight onto the battlefield.
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Jhoira of the Ghitu suspends any nonland card for two mana, which turns Deep-Sea Kraken into a two-mana four-turn clock that opponents must answer — and every spell they cast to answer it accelerates the removal counters.
Kellan, the Kid
Kellan, the Kid rewards running high-mana-value permanents, and Deep-Sea Kraken's base cost of nine satisfies that threshold while providing a standalone threat that doesn't need the commander to function.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Deep-Sea Kraken is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it's effectively a Commander card. In Legacy and Vintage the suspend mechanic is too slow against combo and countermagic-dense fields; better nine-drops exist, and the card sees no competitive play there. In Modern it's theoretically castable but a nine-mana suspend entering after four opponent spell triggers is a liability in a format where games end before it matters. Commander is where Deep-Sea Kraken earns its slot — specifically in sea-creature tribal builds where the shroud protects a long-running threat and commanders like Runo Stromkirk make the mana cost irrelevant.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.68 cheap tier
At $1.68, Deep-Sea Kraken sits firmly in budget territory — you're paying almost nothing for a card that pulls meaningful weight in the tribal decks that want it. The price is stable; it's not a speculative pick, just a cheap piece of a specific puzzle.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.