Kratos, Stoic Father
Legendary Creature — God Warrior
Whenever you attack with one or more Gods and whenever a God dies, you get an experience counter.
At the beginning of your end step, put a number of +1/+1 counters on target creature equal to the number of experience counters you have.
Partner—Father & son (You can have two commanders if both have this ability.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RW
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Secret Lair Drop
- Price
- $8.36
- EDHREC rank
- #16876
Kratos, Stoic Father puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, which feeds experience-counter commanders like Kelsien, the Plague and counter-doubling synergies like Sage of Hours without asking much in return. The cost is real — five mana for a 4/4 with no immediate board impact — but the passive engine it runs is worth it in the right shell.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kelsien, the Plague
Kelsien, the Plague gains experience counters whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, and Kratos, Stoic Father turns every one of those deaths into a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control — meaning both cards are cashing in on the same removal triggers and each kill event does double duty for your board state.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Kratos, Stoic Father is a Commander card through and through — the counter-accumulation payoff it offers is too slow for the formats where it's legal outside EDH, and it's locked out of Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper entirely. In Commander, the passive trigger scales naturally across a four-player game where opponent creatures die constantly, making it far more potent than it looks in a vacuum. Legacy and Vintage allow it, but a five-mana 4/4 with no immediate effect has no business in those formats. Oathbreaker is the one non-EDH home worth considering if your planeswalker pairs with a +1/+1 counter theme.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Inspiring Call and Hardened Scales don't replicate the death-trigger angle, but they do extract more value from the counters Kratos, Stoic Father helps generate, and both cost under a dollar. If you want a replacement that actually puts counters on creatures when opponents lose them, Fathom Mage or Hamza, Guardian of Arashin offer adjacent payoffs at a fraction of the price, though neither generates counters passively at the rate Kratos does.
Price Context
Current price
$8.36 mid tier
At $8.36, Kratos, Stoic Father sits in mid-tier territory — not a casual throw-in, but not a budget breaker either. It's a licensed crossover card with a narrow but dedicated audience, which tends to keep prices stable rather than climbing, so you're paying for the effect rather than speculation.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Sage of Hours
- Kelsien, the Plague
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.