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Kenrith Hate Bears *POST FLASH, Primer rev. inc!*

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Five Color Infinite Combo Stax

TabChomper


Maybeboard


The Kenrith Hatebears deck was built with the philosophy and intention of trying to play to Kenrith's strengths as a five colored commander with multiple creature centered abilities. For this reason, this build is not running consultation packages, nor classic hulk piles (Breakfast, Shuffle, Sigil, and Sacred respectively). Does this mean that Kenrith cannot run consultation and hulk piles well? Of course he can! I am not running these packages in this deck for a couple of reasons.

1.) Tymna the Weaver and Thrasios, Triton Hero run these packages better. I like Kenrith, but I am no fool. TnT come down cheap and have powerful draw engines built into them. Tymna has literally warped the format with her ability to draw cards and while "having a creature that can block Tymna," is said jokingly, it is also a very real consideration when building any deck. Thrasios is a win condition from the command zone who uses COLORLESS MANA to draw your deck and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I strongly recommend Into the North's "The Tymna and Thrasios Problem," for further information: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=into+the+north+podcast+cedh&view=detail∣=2A1B91B51141934711562A1B91B5114193471156&FORM=VIRE

2.) Kenrith can draw the entire table, so I do not see the need for consultation lines and conditions in this deck. I get it, consultation is great, it is super compact and efficient, and it is literally being crammed into everything as a result. I did not cram consultation lines into this deck and instead allow Kenrith to do his thing and draw out the table.

With all of this in mind, what is this deck looking to do?

1.) The primary goal of the deck is creating infinite mana using creature based strategies that take advantage of Kenrith's abilities.

2.) The deck achieves its goals by playing hatebears, stax pieces, and value engines to grind out the game, generate card advantage, and ultimately win. The deck is designed with a high density of tutors, draw engines, and synergies to help pilots navigate poisonous board states and respond to opponent's conditions. Additionally, many of the pieces of Kenrith's strategies are innocuous and serve multiple purposes all while having the ability to suddenly end the game.

3.) Kenrith's abilities all revolve around having colored mana and 3/5 of them bolster creatures. With this in mind, the deck is deliberately constructed to have as few artifacts and as many colored permanents as possible. For example, this is why Stony Silence is in the place of Null Rod. The artifacts that are in the deck are solely fast mana options to help the deck push through its first three turns. Colored permanents also allow cards like Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder to be even more valuable when they are paired with Freed from the Real or Vigean Graftmage.

Kenrith is an outlet commander in all five colors whose abilities are able to target yourself and your opponents. Three out of five of his abilities are largely creature based, providing you with the ability to haste, trample, add 1+/1+ tokens to any creature, and the ability to reanimate creatures back under their owner's control. Kenrith's ability to target all players and creatures affords his pilot with a host of options that are generally not available during typical game play. This means that Kenrith's pilot can play a really strong political game and influence outcomes on the table, especially when it comes to combat and responding to graveyard triggers.

Kenrith's non-creature based abilities are also very important and allow for a host of options. Kenrith can gain five life at instant speed. This ability facilitates deeper digs with cards like Necropotence, Ad Nauseam, and Plunge into Darkness as well as buying you time against aggressive decks that are chipping at your life total. Kenrith also affords his pilot the ability to draw additional cards at instant speed. Kenrith's draw ability can not only gain you advantage incrementally, but it can also force opponents into difficult situations, especially when they have drawn their decks, or binned their library into the graveyard.

Lastly, Kenrith's abilities all require colored mana, and his draw and reanimation abilities are expensive to activate. Hatebears runs two cost reducers in Training Grounds and Biomancer's Familiar to make playing Kenrith's abilities for value much easier. These two cards stack and can bring the cost of all of Kenrith's abilities down to the cost of one colored mana. Even having one of these cards in play with Kenrith allows the pilot greater flexibility to draw cards, reanimate targets, add 1+/1+ counters, and gain life.

RED OUTLET: "All creatures gain trample and haste until end of turn.

This means ALL creatures, gain haste and trample, not just yours. The haste portion of this ability is particularly powerful because you can politic with opponents about allowing them to use their creatures activated abilities as soon as they come in to play, or during other opponent's turns. Need your opponent's summoning sick Deathrite Shaman to rip something out of an opposing yard, negotiate and haste it! Kenrith's red outlet is the backbone for our infinite green strategies as it also provides trample to our creatures so they can deal lethal damage.

GREEN OUTLET: "Put a 1+/+1 on a target creature."

This ability is the bread and butter for all of the infinite green mana loops in the deck. Kenrith and two creatures on the table, coupled with one red source, allow you to run the table over with huge, hasted, trampling creatures. Even without the ability to go infinite, this ability when used at the end of your last opponent's turn becomes factor. You can protect dorks against Pyroclasmeffects, you can declare a block on Tymna before damage is dealt and tick up a dork to deal lethal to it and send it back to the command zone. You can politic with the table around this ability and that alone sometimes prevents Tymna's from swinging out at all. There is nothing worse than losing a Tymna, or an Oakhame Adversary, to a lousy Forbidden Orchard token that has been buffed by your Kenrith to hose the attacker.

WHITE OUTLET: "Target player gains 5 life."

Right off the top, while this deck can generate infinite white, the goal is never to gain an arbitrarily high amount of life. Large amounts of life in cEDH mean very little but they can do some things for you. While it is not a Hatebears strategy, gaining life incrementally allows players who slot in Necropotence, Plunge into Darkness, and Ad Nauseam to not only dig further, but better sustain being targeted by creature based attacks with the goal of lowering their life total. "Target the Ad-Naus player first," is a lot more difficult with Kenrith since he can net back a lot of life relatively quickly. In Hatebears, the white serves as a way to trade blows in combat without being too worried about your life total dipping low. The source also serves as a great way to force Kenrith on to the table. There are only so many times Kenrith can be countered before he finally resolves. If you net infinite white and infinite green, (which is pretty common) it is a great way to push your outlet onto the table for the win.

BLUE OUTLET: "Target player draws a card."

Kenrith’s blue outlet is the one that commonly causes him to be compared to Thrasios, Triton Hero. Kenrith is no Thrasios. Thrasios's draw ability costs colorless mana, scrys one, puts lands into play tapped, and draws cards. Despite not being Thrasios, Kenrith's draw ability is great in grindy games but it is just more restrictive. In the mid and long game, Kenrith will draw you a lot of cards, especially with a Training Grounds or Biomancer's Familiar or both in play. Kenrith's draw ability not only allows you to draw cards, it allows you to politic with the table to further your own ends. For example: An opponent plays Flash, and a counter war ensues, with the Flash player trying to push it through. Since no one wants to lose, you learn through table talk that another opponent has a Noxious Revival in their hand and they also have counter magic in their yard. You have your opponent play the Revival, grab the spell and put it on top of their library, then you have them draw the card and they play it through, saving you and the rest of the table from a potential loss. Kenrith's draw ability is a great answer to decks that want to mill out their libraries with Hermit Druid, or as a response to a Dread Return, or if someone goes really deep on a forbidden tutor like Tainted Pact or Demonic Consultation.

Kenrith's draw ability is also a primary win condition in the Hatebears strategy. With infinite blue mana you can draw out your deck, silence the table, remove potential barriers, then have all of your opponents draw their own decks out and lose the game.

BLACK OUTLET: "Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under its owner's control."

Kenrith’s last and most expensive ability is to return creatures to the battlefield under their owner's control. This is a great political and self-sustaining strategy that allows you to return beneficial stax and control creatures to the battlefield. Don't have your own Aven Mindcensor? Return your opponents in response to a tutor, or deck searching strategy being used by another opponent. Kenrith's black ability also allows the pilot to recur Dockside Extortionist with a sac outlet, such as Mayhem Devil to burn the table.

Reanimation is not a primary win condition in the Hatebears deck, and it is generally used for value, and/or to protect combo pieces that have been countered, or discarded.

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.

Diabolic Intent, Demonic Tutor, Imperial Seal, and Vampiric Tutor.

These are the best black tutors in the game and they all afford us the ability to find what we want and not reveal any of the information.

Eldritch Evolution, Chord of Calling, Finale of Devastation and Neoform

These are some of the best green tutors in the game and they either allow you to find a creature and put it directly into play, or the ability to sacrifice a creature and change it another one. Eldritch Evolution will change any of your one drop dorks into a Vigean Graftmage, Mayhem Devil, Anafenza, the Foremost, Faeburrow Elder, and Aven Mindcensor depending on the texture of the board state. Additionally, Evolution will change your two drop creatures into Linvala, Keeper of Silence or Seedborn Muse.

Neoform quickly allows for Incubation Druid and Bloom Tender to go be searched out and put online if Vigean Graftmage is in play, or Freed from the Real is in hand.

Chord of Calling works at instant speed to find combo pieces and put them directly into play. You can also use this to add necessary hate pieces to the table when needed. Basically, Chord gives all of your hate creatures the ability to be flashed into play.

Finale of Devastation is an absolutely phenomenal creature search that let's you go in your graveyard, or your library, and if you can dump 10 mana into it you can swing out Craterhoof Behemoth style, or just use the haste to activate a combo and win the game.

Enlightened Tutor

Enlightened grabs you all of your enchantment hate pieces, Freed from the Real, all your artifact fast mana, and all of your enchantment value engines. Common targets are Mystic Remora, Sylvan Library, Mana Crypt, Rest in Peace, Utopia Sprawl, and Rhythm of the Wild.

Lim-Dul's Vault

Vault lets you literally find anything you want and put it on top of your library. Kenrith allows you to draw additional cards so keep this in mind once you set up a pile.

Mystical Tutor

Mystical lets you find any instant, or sorcery you want. That simple. Use it to find countermagic, tutors, anything you need to progress your board state.

In Kenrith Hatebears the route to victory that you take when assembling combos matters, and you should always take the board state into consideration when looking for lines. The deck's combos share a number pieces that can be interchanged to help circumvent various hate pieces. Dealing with grave hate? Then stay away from Flash/Hulk and Mayhem/Extortionist based combos and go with Freed lines. Dealing with Artifact Hate? Stay away from Extortionist based combos and go after folks with Flash/Hulk and Freed combos. Dealing with Cursed Totem? You have a number of cards that can target it and remove it off the table...or, counter it and you do not have to deal with it at all.

Always remember cards like Neoform and Eldritch Evolution as they can turn dorks into stax pieces and win conditions on the spot! These cards can really help you alter the fabric of the board texture when used correctly. Finale of Devastation and Noxious Revival also afford you some flexibility from the yard to complete A+B combos if/when needed.

Regarding Flash/Hulk lines At the beginning of this primer I mentioned that I do not run any traditional Hulk packages. However, this does not mean I do not run Flash/Hulk. Flash/Hulk provides Kenrith additional leverage to win on the stack, to win early when the opportunity presents itself, and to set up value lines to complete combos that might already be partially assembled on the table and ready to go. TnT runs their own Hulk packages, Yarok runs its own Hulk packages, and Kenrith runs his own Hulk packages.

Regarding infinite green lines Sometimes folks look at these lines as not being as effective as their blue counterparts. The infinite green lines allow for Kenrith to win the game in combat, vs. drawing out the table. The ability to win through combat allows us to win through hate cards that hurt our ability to draw out ourselves and the table such as Notion Thief and Narset, Parter of Veils. For infinite green to work you need 2 creatures in play, a white source available to cast Kenrith, and a red source available for haste/trample. Generally, you we will not find this to be an issue given how many dorks are in the deck. You will then put an arbitrarily large amount of tokens on your creatures and Kenrith, haste/trample, enter combat and swing out.

Regarding infinite blue lines ALWAYS remove opposing draw hate such as Notion Thief first. Once the way is clear, ALWAYS draw yourself out first, and then ALWAYS cast Silence. You will have all of your counter magic in hand so use it to force Silence through. Once that happens, draw out the table and win the game.

ALL HULK LINES CAN BE MANUALLY ASSEMBLED! If a pilot is going to manually assemble lines due to combo pieces having been exiled, countered, etc... it is highly recommended that Vexing Shusher or Rhythm of the Wild be targeted and put into play to help protect and enable lines.

Flash Hulk Piles:(for infinite blue, or infinite five colors)

1.) Incubation Druid + Vigean Graftmage + Torch Courier, or Sylvan Safekeeper if Kenrith is in play to provide haste.

2.) Mayhem Devil + Dockside Extortionist + Sylvan Safekeeper with Kenrith, the Returned King in play.(Requires an extortionist trigger of at least 5 for Kenrith All values involving Kenrith fluctuate with Biomancer's Familiar or Training Grounds in play.

Infinite Blue Freed Lines

1.) Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl + Freed from the Real.

2.) Neoform or Kenrith, the Returned King + Incubation Druid + Freed from the Real

3.) Incubation Druid (using Neoform, or Kenrith to add a 1+/1+) + Freed from the Real

Infinite Green Freed Line

1.) Bloom Tender or Faeburrow Elder + Freed from the Real.

2.) Vigean Graftmage + Faeburrow Elder, or Bloom Tender with three colors. Faeburrow gives infinite white under this line, same with Tender with three sources.

1.) Corpse Dance OUT I love the Corpse Extortionist and Mayhem Extortionist lines. They do work and win games, but Corpse Dance outside of these combos is really limited. As testing continues I would not be surprised if it leaves the list to be replaced by Aura of Silence IN. Mayhem Extortionist still works without Corpse Dance through Kenrith.

2.) Root Maze IN I will be looking to return this card to the list sooner than later...it is just too good at gumming up the first 1-5 turns to not be included. Kenrith's Transformation is OUT. Transformation is a great card but I find the commanders I target with it (Frog in particular) dig out answers for it pretty quick. In a staxier deck Transformation is just not where we want to be right now.

3.) Intuition OUT Chord of Calling IN Chord is being experimented with in place of Intuition. I feel that Intuition has a number of upsides due to you getting one card off the tutor, and two in the yard that could be potentially brought back by Kenrith later in the game.

4.) Survival of the Fittest OUT Diabolic Intent IN I love Survival but it reveals a lot of information, and is stronger in a reanimation centered list. Intent gets what we want, when we want it, and we give away no information. Generally, we do not need to activate Survival multiple times and most of our tutors are single target and very deliberate to complete a combo, or find a specific hate piece.

5.) Tymna the Weaver in Llanowar Elves out. There are 44 mana sources in the deck without Carpet of Flowers. Given mob density, it only makes sense Tymna is included to generate card advantage and further carry Kenrith into the mid/late game.

Next, I do not have all the answers for Kenrith. Given how flexible Kenrith is, I will not be surprised to see multiple viable and powerful deck types being supported by him. So, if something does not make sense to you in this primer, or in this deck list, let me know. If there are better options for the deck, make suggestions for improvements. Magic is a complicated game, so I try to be as humble as possible when building anything...let alone making a primer for it.

Secondly: DO NEW THINGS! Break patterns in deck building and creation.

Kenrith Discord: https://discord.gg/9gnh9AV

We all build on the shoulders of giants. I want to personally thank everyone in the Kenrith Discord who continues to participate in conversations about multiple Kenrith archtypes. I want to thank everyone who provided feedback to me about this list, combos used in this list and about deck building in general including: Councilman Rick, BadNews, Higher, Braden, Shaper, Lerker, Sickrobot, BadDog, Flash Andretti, Clay, Ray and Cobblepot.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Detailed descriptions and primer updates are in the works. In the interim:

OUT:

Flash Good riddance. Protean Hulk, Sylvan Safekeeper, Torch Courier, Incubation Druid, Biomancer's Familiar, Chord of Calling, Rest in Peace, Anafenza, the Foremost, and Paradise Druid

IN:

Pemmin's Aura, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, Deafening Silence, Fire Covenant, Drannith Magistrate, Intuition, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Leyline of the Void, and Destiny Spinner

ON THE BUBBLE:

Vigean Graftmage (OUT), Arbor Elf (OUT), and Utopia Sprawl (OUT) Biomancer's Familiar (IN)

...but, wait! Where is your artifact hate, Tab? Simple answer, flex out the creature hate for artifact hate. Collector Ouphe, Stony Silence, and Null Rod (if you really need three these days) slot in pretty easily. Play to your own meta, it is a stax deck after all!

Like I said, more detailed descriptions to come with the primer update!

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Top Ranked
Date added 4 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

12 - 0 Mythic Rares

60 - 0 Rares

18 - 0 Uncommons

9 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.00
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders Saved, Saved Decks, Competitive, cEDH, Deck ideas
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