Stormsurge Kraken
Creature — Kraken
Hexproof
Lieutenant — As long as you control your commander, this creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature becomes blocked, you may draw two cards."
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2014
- Price
- $2.67
- EDHREC rank
- #5720
Stormsurge Kraken lands as a 6/6 hexproof that draws two cards when it attacks under a monarch or initiative effect — the threat and the gas arrive together. Six mana is steep, but Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep puts it into play for free off a Kraken trigger, which changes the math entirely.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep cheats Stormsurge Kraken into play whenever another Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent enters the battlefield under your control, making the six-mana cost irrelevant and turning each free deployment into a hexproof 6/6 that fuels your next draw step.
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa can put Stormsurge Kraken directly onto the battlefield from the top of your library, bypassing six mana entirely and immediately stacking a massive hexproof body that the opponent can't answer with targeted removal.
Runo Stromkirk
Runo Stromkirk's flip condition requires a creature with power six or greater, and Stormsurge Kraken meets that threshold on its own while being immune to the spot removal that would otherwise blank your setup.
Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle builds a sea-monster tribal shell where Stormsurge Kraken earns its slot as a hexproof top-end threat that stabilizes the board and refills your hand when the beatdown plan is already online.
The Watcher in the Water
The Watcher in the Water rewards going wide with tentacle tokens, and Stormsurge Kraken contributes a resilient, hard-to-answer body that keeps generating card advantage alongside the token swarm.
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 |
Stormsurge Kraken is a Commander card through and through — six mana for a 6/6 hexproof with a conditional draw trigger is too slow and too conditional for Legacy or Vintage, where it's technically legal but will never see a competitive sleeve. In Commander, hexproof at six power matters: targeted removal is everywhere and a threat that dodges it while drawing cards when you're ahead is exactly what Kraken tribal and sea-monster shells want at the top of their curve. Oathbreaker can support it in the right shell, but the singleton format and smaller starting life total mean you rarely have the luxury of building around the draw trigger.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.67 cheap tier
At $2.67, Stormsurge Kraken sits in the cheap tier — easy to pick up without budget concern. It's a niche tribal piece with a narrow demand ceiling, so don't expect the price to move meaningfully in either direction.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.