Anafenza, the Foremost
Anafenza does a lot of things right in this deck. She provides asymmetrical graveyard hate vs. creatures, she helps facilitate more robust activations of Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder and she has synergy with both Incubation Druid and Vigean Graftmage. Anafenza’s 4/4 body for 3 is also nothing to sneeze at and she should be swinging whenever possible to add 1+\1+ counters and pressure opponent life totals.
Arbor Elf
Arbor Elf serves multiple purposes in Hatebears as a mana doubler, chump blocker for 1+\1+ tokens to be placed on, and as a kill condition by either creating infinite green and blue mana with Utopia Sprawl and Freed from the Real and acting as a target for infinite green loops to add 1+\1+ Tokens for combat wins. Arbor Elf often just sits on the table and as you develop your board state you will fall into the ability to loop. You will be surprised how often Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl are allowed to exist on the table. This allows you to pick and choose the best time to force out Freed and win the game.
Aven Mindcensor
Aven provides asymmetrical tutor hate, evasion, and it can be flashed in at instant speed. When used right, Aven is a huge turd in your opponent’s punch bowl. Aven also provides white to Bloom Tender activations, which is no small thing. Aven also enjoys 1+\1+ counters to deal with the Kraum, Ludevic's Opus, Loyal Apprentice and opposing Aven’s.
Rhythm of the Wild
Rhythm is another card that does a lot of things right in the Hatebears deck. Rhythm provides obvious anti-blue tech for creature casts and provides red for Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder activations.
However, the second line of text is particularly interesting and it provides Riot to all of your creatures entering the battlefield. Riot is the ability to choose putting a 1+/1 on a creature entering the battlefield, or to give it haste. Riot is a replacement effect that does not care how the creature was put onto the battlefield, just that it was. This means if Rhythm is in play your Hulk pile will be hasted and you can slot Sylvan Safekeeper over Torch Courier. Additionally, Kenrith’s black ability to resurrect places creatures “on to the battlefield,” which also procs Riot and lets you either haste, or put a 1+\1+ token on the creature as it enters.
The 1+\1+ portion of Rhythm allows for Vigean Graftmage to come into play with additional 1+\1+ counters for more options to distribute counters to creatures that can go infinite, or immediately allow Incubation Druid to tap for 3 mana upon entering the game.
Great card in this deck with a lot of upside! Hasted, uncounterable dorks are never a bad thing!
Biomancer's Familiar
Familiar provides utility in Hatebears in a number of ways. Familiar is a blue source for Tender and Elder, it can is a great target for Neoform to bring out a Graftmage, or an Elder to complete combos, and he provides value to Kenrith by reducing his activations by 2 colorless mana. This brings 3 of his activations to one colored mana and makes card draws one blue and one colorless! Reanimation loops with Dockside Extortionist also become much more viable, allowing you to burn the table down with Devil by generating just three mana off of extortionist. Familiar can be stacked with Training Grounds for even more value, and this will effectively knock all of Kenrith’s abilities down to one colored mana!
Bloom Tender
For two mana you get a dork that can potentially tap for up to five mana. Tender generally goes infinite with just Freed from the Reel, but if additional colors are on the table things can get interesting. Anafenza will net you infinite black, white, and green, for huge creatures, reanimation loops with Dockside Extortionist, and the ability to gain a lot of life. Tender can also help complete Hulk piles if you have Vigean Graftmage in play and the ability to create three mana with it. Best thing is, Tender is a dork that sees play in a lot of decks. While it is targeted for removal by folks, there are also times where it will just sit on the table due to bigger threats being dealt with. This often allows us to pair Tender with Freed, or Graftmage, and go for a win.
Collector Ouphe and Stony Silence
Simply put, these are stax pieces to hose artifact fast mana and artifact advantage engines like Dockside Extortionist or Smothering Tithe. We are not locked into Extortionist so if the opportunity comes early in the game to drop one of these pieces it is often wise to do so. As was mentioned earlier in the primer Stony Silence is taking the place of Null Rod as it allows for additional colored permanent strength for Bloom Tender. Collector can be Neoformed into Vigean Graftmage if you have the other half of a combo already sitting on the table and ready to go.
Dark Confidant
Card advantage engine, black permanent for Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder, and it can be Neoformed into a Vigean Graftmage. Great card, cEDH staple, and he really helps make up for Kenrith not being Tymna, or Thrasios.
Deathrite Shaman
Shaman is a utility card that loves to hate graveyards. Shaman is one of those cards that just does far too much for costing either one black, or one green. Shaman also provides our deck another black permanent source for Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder. Shaman is best used aggressively so always be aware of what is in opposing graveyards and use Shaman to deal with it.
Dockside Extortionist
Dockside is a two mana ritual that preys on the current meta's use of artifact fast mana and enchantment based value engines. Hatebears went through a number of changes and much of them had to do with how to best use Extortionist. Earlier variants of the deck had Temur Sabertooth and Corpse Dance in the 99 to try and make the most out of Extortionist's ability to make mana. After lots of testing it was quickly learned that Sabertooth does almost nothing but enable a combo win, and it never felt good to draw into or to have in your opening hand. Additionally, cards that I would Neoform into Sabertooth with were already better on their own and 1/2 of an infinite mana combo. Due to this, Sabertooth was cut. Corpse Dance took some more time to cut due to it having some utility outside of looping Extortionist. However, as time went on, the uses for Corpse Dance in a largely non-reanimation list made less and less sense. In the end, Corpse Dance was cut due to it just not doing enough. Kenrith can loop Extortionist like Corpse Dance, with Mayhem Devil to kill the table. This has proven to be enough in this deck and allowed for other cards to be slotted into the deck.
Once Extortionist has been used he is a great target for Neoform, which puts him in the yard and possibly back into play when Kenrith hits the table.
Lastly, Extortionist also gives us red for Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder activations.
Avacyn's Pilgrim, Elvish Mystic, Birds of Paradise, Elves of Deep Shadow, Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, and Noble Hierarch
All of these are one drop dorks and mana fixers. All of these cards can be Neoformed and Eldritch Evolutioned into Incubation Druid, Bloom Tender, Dockside Extortionist, or even Biomancer's Familiar. All dorks serve a dual purpose of moving you closer to completing one of the many A+B infinite mana combos in the deck. As has been stated earlier, all of these cards generally sit on the table and are usually looked at at face value, vs. combo enabling targets.
Faeburrow Elder
Elder is another card that does a lot of work in this deck. For three mana you get a green/white permanent that generates infinite green and white mana with Freed from the Real. You also get a really powerful beater with vigilance who really benefits from a couple of 1+/1+ tokens being put on him, because he can turn into a real menace that chews into opponent life totals. Elder is a great target when you cast Neoform and generally he is the better of the two options between him and Bloom Tender as a Freed target since he gives you the mana to force through Kenrith, and activate him for a combat win using the green provided by the loop.
Gilded Drake
One of the best blue control spells in the game. The ability to deal with high priority cards like Najeela, the Blade-Blossom, The Gitrog Monster, Kraum, Ludevic's Opus, opposing Kenrith's, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, etc... it is pretty much an auto include. There is nothing better than activating a mana loop and then putting your infinite mana through an opponent's Thrasios, Triton Hero to draw your deck out.
Incubation Druid
Druid does a lot of work in the Hatebears deck. Druid alone taps for mana, and if we Neoform him in, use Kenrith's green ability to add a 1+/1+ to him, if Rhythm of the Wild is in play you can cast him with a 1+/1+, and of course you can add a 1+/1+ with Vigean Graftmage. Druid taps for three mana of one color you could produce once he has a 1+/1+ on him. When targeting lands in general in the deck, always look to get either Tropical Island or Breeding Pool into play as soon as possible. These two lands play nice with Utopia Sprawl and Freed from the Real but they also set up Druid. Druid also works off of all your rainbow lands, so if you don't have access to Trop and Pool, a Command Tower will do just fine.
Incubation Druid goes infinite with a 1+/1+ and Graftmage, or Freed from the Reel.
Incubation Druid is part of a Hulk Pile with Graftmage and Torch Courier, or Sylvan Safekeeper depending on board states.
I forgot to mention that the two combos above provide arbitrarily large amounts of all five colors of mana. To get all five colors you need to first generate a ton of blue, then use some of the blue to activate Graftmage, or Freed, and tap Druid for another color...so on, and so forth.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Speaking of turds in the punchbowl, Linvala shares this distinction with Aven Mindcensor as an asymmetrical Cursed Totem, with evasion, with a 3/4 body, and she acts as a white permanent for Bloom Tender. Linvala ruins so many strategies that she is pretty much an auto-include. Depending on the texture of the game she is a great target for Neoform and Eldritch Evolution if you need to buy time to develop your own board state, or you see a potential opponent win on the horizon. Linvala also loves 1+/1+ tokens from Kenrith, and even with one 1+/1+ token she can trade and kill Kraum, Ludevic's Opus.
Mayhem Devil
Devil does a lot of work in this deck and it is one of those cards that you need to pay a lot of attention to if you want to make the most of it. Devil does one damage to any target whenever ANYONE sacrifices a permanent. Devil absolutely punishes tempo during the game. Every time a fetch is cracked an opposing dork, or value creature should die. Every time a treasure is used for mana from Dockside Extortionist or Smothering Tithe then Devil becomes almost like a Pyroclasm and can literally clear a board of creatures. Have an opponent that is hanging on for dear life after a deep Ad Nauseam? Use some of your own treasures from your Extortionist to send them packing.
Devil is part of a loop involving Dockside Extortionist and Kenrith. If you can generate 5 mana off of Dockside, you can use the treasures that Dockside creates to have Devil kill Dockside, and pay for Kenrith returning Dockside to the table. If you have Training Grounds or Biomancer's Familiar in play it makes preforming this loop even easier, since Dockside will have to produce less mana to be recurred by Kenrith.
Devil is also a black/red creature for Faeburrow Elder and Bloom Tender who has a 3/3 body. A couple of 1+/1+s from Kenrith make him a potent beater that can chew into opponent life totals.
Devil can also be Hulk piled with Dockside Extortionist and Sylvan Safekeeper if Extortionist can generate enough mana for Kenrith to recur him.
Notion Thief
Easily one of the best hate pieces in the game and we can run it thanks to Kenrith's identity. With Thief in hand we always say YES!!! to opposing wheel effects and flash him in. Dealing with a lot of opponents with value engines in play? Thief loves to grind and loves to generate advantage at the cost of opponents losing value and tempo. Great card!
Thief adds Blue and Black to Faeburrow Elder and Bloom Tender activations.
Oakhame Adversary
GROB! So, green Dark Confidant is in this deck as a draw engine and he will almost always come down for two mana. Adversary has a 2/3 body with death touch, so generally opponents are not going to want to trade hits with him, which nets you cards. Adversary becomes a huge problem for the table when he is given a couple of 1+/1+ tokens from Kenrith and he is allowed to continue swinging out. Adversary does a lot of great things in Hatebears and if you have the chance to drop him early, do it! He does a lot of work!
Protean Hulk
Hulk is in this deck as merely another avenue to get one of our infinite mana loops online, through the use of Flash. As stated earlier in the primer, we are not running any of the "standard," Hulk packages and the only additional card in the pile is Torch Courier which can also help in other ways in the deck. Hulk gives Hatebears the ability to sandbag wins on the stack when another opponent is going for a win and the table expends a large amount of resources to try and not lose. We can hard cast Hulk, but given that the deck does not have any true sac outlets outside of Flash, I would not recommend this.
Hulk can assemble the Incubation Druid, Vigean Graftmage, Torch Courier or Sylvan Safekeeper piles.
Hulk can assemble the Dockside Extortionist, Mayhem Devil, Sylvan Safekeeper pile if Kenrith is in play.
Hulk can also assemble various other piles if one half of a combo is in play. If Graftmage is out, grab Incubation Druid, Safekeeper, and Courier. Additionally, depending on board texture, Hulk can also grab stax pieces like Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Collector Ouphe, or Gilded Drake. While these piles are not the norm, they should also not be disregarded since sometimes the game could call for them.
IF HULK IS EXILED IT DOES NOT MATTER!! All of the combos in this deck can be manually assembled in a number of ways so while losing Hulk sucks, it is not the end of the world.
Seedborn Muse
Muse is in this deck as a value engine who is synergistic with Kenrith, Training Grounds, and Biomancer's Familiar. Muse really makes Root Maze a lot less detrimental for you, and she allows for you to have mana up to interact (or bluff interaction) with the table. Muse is a great midgame / late game drop when things get grindy and resources start to dry up.
Sylvan Safekeeper
Safekeeper plays multiple roles in the deck, outside of protecting Hulk piles. Safekeeper also allows us to protect Kenrith, and other cards that opponents will want to remove like Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Collector Ouphe, Dark Confidant, etc... The protection Safekeeper gives comes at the price of sacrificing a land so if you have Mayhem Devil in play remember your trigger.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Thalia offers a lot to the Hatebears strategy in that she adds white to Bloom Tender activations, she taxes all non-creature spells, and she is a 2/1 with First Strike. Thalia is another great target to put 1+/1+ tokens on as her First Strike ability generally spells instant death for any would-be blockers...which means she will generally be allowed to direct damage to opponents and chew up their life totals.
Torch Courier
I struggled with Courier for a long time because I felt he was generally a dead card outside of a Hulk pile. Boy, was I wrong. Yes, Courier is awesome in a Hulk pile but he also enables other things to take place on the table. Courier instantly activates any combos with Freed from the Real or Vigean Graftmage by giving the target haste. Courier is also a sacrifice so if Mayhem Devil is in play, remember your trigger!
Courier adds red to all Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder activations.
Vexing Shusher
Shusher is some of the best anti-blue tech available in the format. Shusher also allows you to cast ANYTHING and make it uncounterable for an additional red, or green mana. Shusher's second ability TARGETS ANY SPELL including your opponents. Shusher is a great political card and when used well you can help your opponents further your game plans by making certain casts that they make uncounterable. Shusher comes down as a 2/2 for 2, which is really solid and with a couple of 1+/1+ tokens he becomes a solid attacker to chip at opposing life totals.
Shusher adds red to all Bloom Tender activations.
Vigean Graftmage
Graftmage is a creature version of freed of the real who allows other creatures to take advantage of its untapping ability by either adding a 1+\1+ token to them, or it allows access through Kenrith’s ability to add tokens, Anafenza, the Foremost ability, Neoform, etc.. Graftmage comes with a hefty drawback in that it costs 2 mana to untap with it, vs. one. With this in mind Incubation Druid and Faeburrow Elder are easily first target considerations for Graftmage due to their abilities to easily generate 3 mana. Druid allows for infinite mana of all colors if you have a rainbow land in play.
Graftmage does not need Haste to start immediately allowing you to use its ability to start tapping and untapping your creatures.
Graftmage is a great target for Eldritch Evolution or Chord of Calling on a one drop mana dork like Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, etc.. With 1/2 of a combo out, the game can end quickly with a well timed evolution.