Is King of the Pride good in Commander?

King of the Pride in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

King of the Pride turns every other Cat you control into a legitimate combat threat, tacking +1/+1 onto each of them for a three-mana 2/1 body. It's the most efficient lord in the Cat tribe, and Arahbo, the First Fang decks treat it as an auto-include precisely because the pump stacks directly on top of commander-granted bonuses.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Arahbo, the First Fang

86.7% of decks · synergy 0.85

Arahbo, the First Fang already pumps individual Cats through its own ability, and King of the Pride layers a static +1/+1 on top of that baseline — the result is a board where even your smallest Cats are threatening combat math. At 87% inclusion across nearly 3,000 decks, it's as close to mandatory as a non-land gets.

02

Arahbo, Roar of the World

78.0% of decks · synergy 0.74

Arahbo, Roar of the World pushes one Cat to outsized damage each turn, and King of the Pride ensures the rest of the board isn't irrelevant in the process. Running both means opponents can't ignore your wide board while they try to answer the pumped attacker.

03

Rin and Seri, Inseparable

73.3% of decks · synergy 0.68

Rin and Seri, Inseparable generates Cat tokens alongside Dog tokens, and King of the Pride pumps every Cat on that growing board each combat step. The token production means the lord's bonus scales up fast, turning a midgame board into a lethal swing.

04

Ajani, Nacatl Pariah

68.6% of decks · synergy 0.68

Ajani, Nacatl Pariah cares about Cat volume and rewards going wide, which is exactly the condition King of the Pride exploits. More Cats in play means more bodies receiving the anthem, and Ajani's flip side generates even more targets for the bonus.

05

Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist

38.5% of decks · synergy 0.34

Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist rewards attacking with Cats by taxing blockers, and King of the Pride makes each attacking Cat harder to profitably block. The combination pressures opponents into bad blocks or forced damage even on a modest board.

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

Commander is where King of the Pride belongs — Cat tribal is almost exclusively an EDH conversation, and the card's anthem effect scales with the wide boards those decks build. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no play; the formats move too fast and the card does nothing without a critical mass of Cats in play. Modern is the one constructed format where Cats have a foothold, though King of the Pride faces stiff competition from other lords and the tribe hasn't been a tier contender. For practical purposes, treat King of the Pride as a Commander card that happens to have a wider printing legality.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.45 bulk tier

At $0.45, King of the Pride is firmly bulk — a negligible pickup for any Cat deck that doesn't already own one. Bulk lords with an 87% inclusion rate in their primary archetype tend to stay cheap indefinitely, so there's no urgency beyond just grabbing it.