Duskana Bears. Little Bears. Big swings.
Build a forest full of Bears. Then send the whole team into battle.
At the table
Pod notes →- Keep
- Look for two or three lands, green mana, and an early way to make more mana. A hand that can cast Kudo, Ayula or Wilson gives you a good start. Send back a hand full of expensive finishers with no early plays.
- Develop
- Play lands and build your mana. Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic and Werebear help cast your bigger spells. Studious First-Year brings a Rampant Growth spell to cast later. Get Kudo, Ayula or Wilson onto the battlefield.
- Finish
- Make more Bears and attack when the path is clear. Craterhoof Behemoth, Jetmir, Shared Animosity and Akroma’s Will can turn a wide board into a huge attack. Return of the Wildspeaker, Forth Eorlingas! and Kindred Summons give you more ways to finish.
- Watch out
- Flawless Maneuver is free only while you control a commander on the battlefield. Akroma’s Will can do both modes if you control a commander as you cast it. Usually that means Duskana; the command zone does not count.
Make lots of Bears, then attack together. Duskana gives each attacking creature with base power and toughness 2/2 +3/+3 for the turn. A little 2/2 Bear hits like a 5/5! Kudo is your key card: he makes every other creature on the battlefield a base 2/2 Bear, on both sides of the table. Kudo is already a 2/2 Bear himself.
The plan
Little Bears. Big swings. Make lots of Bears, then attack together. Duskana gives each attacking creature with base power and toughness 2/2 +3/+3 for the turn. A little 2/2 Bear hits like a 5/5! Kudo is your key card: he makes every other creature on the battlefield a base 2/2 Bear, on both sides of the table. Kudo is already a 2/2 Bear himself.
Opening hands
Turn by turn
Play lands and build your mana. Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic and Werebear help cast your bigger spells. Studious First-Year brings a Rampant Growth spell to cast later. Get Kudo, Ayula or Wilson onto the battlefield.
Cast Duskana when you have creatures to draw from. With Kudo out, she counts every creature you control, including herself. Add Beorn when you can: your other Bears get +2/+2, and his beginning-of-combat ability draws two cards if you have at least three Bears when it resolves.
Make more Bears and attack when the path is clear. Craterhoof Behemoth, Jetmir, Shared Animosity and Akroma’s Will can turn a wide board into a huge attack. Return of the Wildspeaker, Forth Eorlingas! and Kindred Summons give you more ways to finish.
Team-ups to remember
Kudo + Duskana
Your creatures have base power and toughness 2/2, so every one that attacks gets Duskana’s +3/+3. Counters and other bonuses stay on top.
Kudo + Ayula
Each other creature or creature token you bring in enters as a Bear. Ayula lets a Bear fight an opposing creature or puts two +1/+1 counters on a target Bear.
Roaming Throne: name Bear
Triggered abilities of your other Bears trigger one extra time. Duskana gives each qualifying attacker a total of +6/+6. Choose modes and targets separately for each Ayula trigger.
Bear Umbra on Wilson
Wilson attacks without tapping. His attack trigger untaps all your lands. You can spend that mana after combat and still have Wilson ready to block.
Bring Duskana back
Ephemerate blinks Duskana and draws again, with another chance next upkeep through rebound. Flock Impostor can return her to your hand; cast her again from there without commander tax.
Radagast’s surprise
On each player’s turn, your first creature spell costs up to two generic mana less and can be cast as though it had flash. Try Duskana at the end of the last opponent’s turn: draw, untap, then attack! If you already cast a creature that turn, the trick has to wait.
Watch out for
Keep your commander in play. Flawless Maneuver is free only while you control a commander on the battlefield. Akroma’s Will can do both modes if you control a commander as you cast it. Usually that means Duskana; the command zone does not count.
Kudo changes both teams. Kudo makes your big creatures base 2/2 too. Beorn, Craterhoof and Jetmir keep their abilities, and Duskana can boost them when they attack. Counters and bonuses still matter, so an opposing creature may be bigger than 2/2.
Changelings are Humans too. Return of the Wildspeaker skips all your changelings, Werebear, The Earth King and the Human Knights from Forth Eorlingas! Making them Bears does not remove Human.
Save a shield. Against a destroy-based board wipe, save Heroic Intervention, Flawless Maneuver, Boros Charm, Selfless Safewright or Akroma’s Will. Indestructible does not stop exile or a creature’s toughness falling to zero. Teferi’s Protection phases your permanents out. Eladamri’s Call can find Safewright while a wipe is on the stack, if you can still pay for or convoke it.
After a board wipe
If your creatures get wiped out, rebuild your mana and make a few Bears before casting Duskana again. Guardian Project can keep drawing through creature wipes. Save extra lands for Ayula’s Influence when you already have enough mana.
Deep Dive
For the grown-ups at the table, and anyone who wants to know why the tricks work.
Comprehensive Rules effective September 25, 2026.
What Kudo changes
Kudo sets other creatures’ base power and toughness to 2/2 in layer 7b and adds Bear in layer 4. Existing abilities, other creature types, counters and bonuses remain. Later effects that set power and toughness can override his setting. A crewed Vehicle becomes 2/2 because crew itself does not set power and toughness.
CR 613.4b · CR 613.1d
Counters do not turn off Duskana
Base-power-and-toughness checks include characteristic-defining abilities and effects that set power and toughness. They ignore counters and effects that only modify those values. A base 2/2 Bear with +1/+1 counters still qualifies for Duskana.
CR 208.4b
Ayula sees creatures arrive as Bears
Continuous effects apply as soon as a permanent is on the battlefield. With Kudo present, each other creature entering under your control is already a Bear, so it triggers Ayula. Ayula does not trigger for herself.
CR 603.6b
Roaming Throne adds triggers
Name Bear. Triggered abilities of your other Bear creatures trigger an additional time; this is not copying a spell. Each Duskana attack trigger gives +3/+3, for +6/+6 total. Her entry trigger happens twice too. Choose each Ayula trigger’s mode and targets separately. Throne does not double enchantment abilities such as Shared Animosity.
CR 603.2d
Changeling works everywhere
Changeling gives every creature type in every zone. Changelings count as Bear creature cards for Herald’s Horn, Realmwalker and Kindred Summons. They are also Humans, so Return of the Wildspeaker excludes them. Kudo only changes creatures on the battlefield; it does not make creature cards in your library Bears.
CR 702.73a
Controlling a commander
A commander must be a permanent on the battlefield under your control. A card in the command zone does not qualify. Akroma’s Will checks when you cast it; removing Duskana afterward does not undo your choice of both modes.
CR 903.3d
Radagast and commander tax
Add commander tax and other cost increases before applying cost reductions. If Duskana is your first creature spell that turn, Radagast reduces her first cast to {R}{G}{W} and takes {2} off later casts too. He only reduces generic mana. The ability looks back over the whole turn: casting Radagast means a later creature is no longer your first creature spell that turn.
CR 903.8 · CR 601.2f
The Earth King counts before Duskana’s boost
The Earth King counts attackers with power 4 or greater when his ability triggers. Duskana’s attack bonuses have not resolved yet. Beorn’s ongoing +2/+2 bonus can make other base 2/2 Bears large enough before they attack.
Safewright needs creatures and colors
Eladamri’s Call can find Selfless Safewright while a wipe is on the stack. You still need enough mana or untapped creatures for its cost. Convoke can pay generic mana with any creature; each green symbol needs green mana or a green creature. Naming Bear protects your other Bears, not Safewright itself. With Kudo present, that covers every other creature you control.
CR 702.51a
Protection has limits
Indestructible stops destruction and lethal damage. It does not stop exile, sacrifice or a creature being put into the graveyard for having zero or less toughness. Choose your response to the actual wipe. Teferi’s Protection phases your permanents out until they phase back in before your next untap.
CR 702.12b · CR 704.5f
Read the verified Comprehensive Rules snapshot.
Inside the deck
100 cards · 35 lands · 3 Game Changers. Average mana value 3.03, excluding lands and the commander.
Mana curve
| Card type | Count |
|---|---|
| Commander | 1 |
| Creatures | 26 |
| Artifacts | 6 |
| Enchantments | 8 |
| Instants | 17 |
| Sorceries | 7 |
| Lands | 35 |