Instant (30)
- 1x AEtherize
- 1x Boomerang
- 1x Brainstorm
- 1x Capsize
- 1x Commandeer
- 1x Cryptic Command
- 1x Cyclonic Rift
-
1x
Dig Through Time
- 1x Disallow
- 1x Domineering Will
- 1x Echoing Truth
- 1x Evacuation
- 1x Fact or Fiction
- 1x Force of Will
- 1x Frantic Search
- 1x Impulse
- 1x Insidious Will
- 1x Intuition
- 1x Long-Term Plans
- 1x Mana Drain
- 1x Misdirection
- 1x Muddle the Mixture
- 1x Mystic Confluence
- 1x Mystical Tutor
- 1x Pongify
- 1x Rapid Hybridization
- 1x Ray of Command
- 1x Reality Shift
- 1x Reins of Power
- 1x Twincast
Creature (13)
- 1x Aphetto Alchemist
- 1x Archaeomancer
- 1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
-
1x
Disciple of the Ring
- 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
- 1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip
- 1x Laboratory Maniac
- 1x Lunar Mystic
- 1x Snapcaster Mage
- 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner
- 1x Temporal Adept
- 1x Torrential Gearhulk
- 1x Venser, Shaper Savant
Artifact (9)
- 1x Gilded Lotus
- 1x Mana Crypt
- 1x Mindslaver
- 1x Mirari
- 1x Sensei's Divining Top
- 1x Sol Ring
- 1x Thran Dynamo
- 1x Vedalken Orrery
- 1x Worn Powerstone
Planeswalker (4)
- 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- 1x Karn Liberated
- 1x Teferi, Temporal Archmage
- 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Enchantment (3)
Commander (1)
Land (35)
- 1x Academy Ruins
- 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
- 1x Halimar Depths
- 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
- 26x Island
- 1x Maze of Ith
- 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 1x Remote Isle
- 1x Riptide Laboratory
Sorcery (5)
Introduction
Hello, and thank you for checking out my primer for Kaho, Minamo Historian! Kaho is a general that often gets overlooked and one that I would like to showcase for you all. The present deck focuses on rattlesnaking, toolboxing, and political interaction in order to close out a victory, but that is certainly not all that Kaho can do.
She is definitely not a "build-around-me" general, but does require that you have a robust assortment of instants at your disposal to truly make good use of her. However, this list is completely my own that is designed for my meta, and as a result you may want to build her differently than what I propose. Nevertheless I feel as though this general provides a very unique amount of utility and I would like to showcase what I have brewed. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
Kaho, Minamo Historian
As previously stated, I feel as though this general is very much underrepresented when it comes to EDH. Her unique ability opens several doors when it comes to gameplay, but she is far from perfect. Let's examine this creature:
: Okay, so she doesn't cost all that much to play. We are in mono-blue, however, so ramp may be tricky.
Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard: We can certainly take advantage of some of a Human or Wizard tribal subtheme here.
P/T - 2/2: Yikes. Kaho certainly isn't winning any awards when it comes to combat, that's for sure. But that's not why we're playing her.
When Kaho, Minamo Historian enters the battlefield, search your library for up to three instant cards and exile them. Then shuffle your library.: WOW! That is insane value, a tutor on a stick! There is a drawback, however: the spells are exiled when they are tutored. So if Kaho dies then we simply lose the spells. Plus, they are exiled face-up, so our opponents can see what we tutored for. I will discuss all of this in a bit.
: You may cast a card with converted mana cost X exiled with Kaho without paying its mana cost: Artifact mana and untapping effects would not be amiss here.
When people discuss Kaho, they note that the spells that are tutored are exiled face-up, allowing your opponents to see your answers. Further, blink effects are more or less useless as Kaho enters the battlefield as a new object, thus permanently exiling any spells you didn't cast from the previous trigger.
While these are valid points, I argue that this can be turned into a strength through political interaction. When playing politics, an entire table usually goes after the person with the strongest board state. Kaho can fly under the radar by tutoring up comparatively innocuous cards that subtly take away power from opponents. A well-timed bounce spell or redirect in the middle of a huge play is nothing to scoff at.
The Strategy
This deck is a light control deck that aims to make allegiances with other players in order to survive and eventually combo out. It has ways to defend itself (and Kaho helps with this by tutoring up answers) but it is designed to fly under the radar in most multiplayer games. Win conditions include Academy Ruins + Mindslaver and Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Laboratory Maniac .
Card-By-Card Breakdown
Boomerang / Capsize / Echoing Truth / Evacuation / Cyclonic Rift: Bounce, both single-target and mass. I like these spells a lot because they are cheap and hit nonland permanents, not just creatures. Very helpful if your opponent has a troublesome artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker.
Pongify / Rapid Hybridization / Pongify: The best spot removal in blue.
Brainstorm / Dig Through Time / Fact or Fiction / Frantic Search / Impulse: This is our card draw and filtering suite. While I don't normally like cards that put things in my graveyard, digging for answers is often more important. Plus, this can all be cast with Kaho instead of things like Blue Sun's Zenith or Stroke of Genius.
Long-Term Plans / Intuition / Mystical Tutor: These are our tutors. These all allow us to search for components of our win conditions.
Twincast: The utility this spell provides is amazing. If you're running a blue deck, please consider this card.
Misdirection: Helps protect Kaho and is more-or-less free. Very nice card in my book.
Commandeer: This is just a pet card of mine. It's a counterspell that lets you take other people's spells for essentially nothing. Not something I'd want to tutor up with Kaho but it is something I wouldn't mind as an answer in my hand.
Disallow: This is a fairly new counterspell but it has a lot of potential because it hits everything.
Mystic Confluence / Insidious Will: These are counterspells that I don't mind searching up with Kaho. They provide me with multiple uses, leaving my opponents guessing. Plus, seeing a potential counterspell might act as a good rattlesnake.
Muddle the Mixture: Wonderful counterspell due to the Transmute effect. This is essentially a tutor and a counterspell all in one.
Force of Will / Mana Drain / Cryptic Command: The usual suspects when it comes to counterspells. Feel free to replace these with your preferred assortment of counters.
Aphetto Alchemist : This creature untaps both Kaho and our mana rocks, making it very relevant for the deck.
Disciple of the Ring : Due to all of the spells we will be slinging, this creature provides a wealth of utility.
Lunar Mystic : 30% of our deck is instants. For just we can draw a card off of each of them. Wonderful value.
Glen Elendra Archmage: Essentially acts as another counterspell, but it survives boardwipes and I can bounce it back to my hand after Persist goes off.
Venser, Shaper Savant / Temporal Adept : More bounce and more utility. Solid creatures.
Talrand, Sky Summoner : This deck only runs 13 creatures, but Talrand is amazing value here. In fact, feel free to swap out Kaho for Talrand if you want to change it up a little, he would be perfectly viable.
Laboratory Maniac: He doesn't do much on his own but he's a win condition.
Azami, Lady of Scrolls: Azami is amazing here. Not only is she a win condition, but many of our creatures are wizards, so she provides some utility in a pinch.
Mindslaver: A wincon and a pet card of mine. This is another interchangeable part of the deck that is key only to my strategy.
Mirari: Since we're already spending mana to cast spells, why not double our value?
Sensei's Divining Top: Topdeck filtering is never bad, and here it lets us dig for answers.
Vedalken Orrery: Casting Kaho at instant speed is very important as it lets us tap her on the next turn.
Call to Mind : More spell recursion is never a bad thing.
Curse of the Swine: Exiling in blue is great, and the 2/2s are irrelevant for the removal we are getting here.
Merchant Scroll: Tutors any instant, which is great because instants are the majority of the deck.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage: More card draw and untapping for Kaho. Sweet utility package all around.
Karn Liberated: Hand hate and spot removal are two very relevant abilities.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: A dedicated board wipe that will affect us the least because of how few permanents we use.
Mind Over Matter: This card lets us use Kaho a lot and is also a win condition.
Rhystic Study: Solid card draw and tax. Not politically beneficial, but sometimes that's okay.
Win Conditions
As previously mentioned, this deck aims to win by sneaking out a Academy Ruins + Mindslaver lock on someone or through Laboratory Maniac utilizing Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind Over Matter .
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| Top Ranked |
|
| Date added | 7 years |
| Last updated | 6 years |
| Key combos | |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 13 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 3.60 |
| Tokens | Ape 3/3 G, Boar 2/2 G, Construct */* C, Copy Clone, Drake 2/2 U, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Emblem Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C |
| Folders | 5. Deck Building Resources / References, Favourites, EDH, trying them out |
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