Polukranos enters with six +1/+1 counters on it. It escapes with twelve +1/+1 counters on it instead.
If damage would be dealt to Polukranos while it has a +1/+1 counter on it, prevent that damage and remove that many +1/+1 counters from it.
: Polukranos fights another target creature.
Escape—, Exile six other cards from your graveyard.
Polukranos is a recursive beater and removal engine: a 6/6 for four that fights creatures repeatedly while shrugging off combat and burn by shedding counters instead of dying. You grind value by feeding the graveyard, fighting down the board, and escaping Polukranos as a 12/12 when he eventually dies. Refuel his counters with +1/+1 synergies and proliferate, then close with oversized trample swings or counter-fueled combos.
Repeatable fight is built-in removal that clears creatures and triggers fight/counter payoffs.
Damage prevention via counter removal makes him extremely hard to kill in combat or with burn.
Escape gives strong recursion, returning as a 12/12 that dodges most removal short of exile/sacrifice.
Mono-bodied threat in colors loaded with ramp, recursion, and self-mill enablers.
Self-fight can backfire: losing counters strips his damage prevention and can shrink him to nothing.
Vulnerable to exile, -X/-X, edicts, and sacrifice effects that ignore counters.
Escape competes hard for graveyard fuel needed by the rest of the deck.
No evasion or protection on his own—gets chump-blocked or removed before connecting.
Legendary Creature — Zombie Hydra
