Kresh, Prince of Blood Hair

Commander / EDH Battlecruiser BRG (Jund) Multiplayer Sacrifice

SupremeAlliesCommander

Creature (39)

• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Cankerbloom
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1x Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar
• 1x Orcish Settlers
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Thunderscape Familiar
• 1x Viridian Emissary
• 1x Winding Constrictor
• 1x Demon's Disciple
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Feldon of the Third Path
• 1x Fell Stinger
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Fulminator Mage
• 1x Gravelighter
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Reyhan, Last of the Abzan
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Avalanche Riders
• 1x Chain Devil
• 1x Corpsejack Menace
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Slum Reaper
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
• 1x Silverback Elder
• 1x Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip
• 1x Protean Hulk

Land (37)

• 1x Blightstep Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Cragcrown Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Darkbore Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Fire-Lit Thicket
• 7x Forest
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x High Market
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Greater Good

Commander (1)

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Mire in Misery
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Brotherhood's End
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Virtus's Maneuver
• 1x Mandate of Abaddon
• 1x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
• 1x Tooth and Nail

Instant (6)

• 1x Liliana's Triumph
• 1x Sheoldred's Edict
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Soul Shatter
• 1x Vona's Hunger
• 1x Momentous Fall

Artifact (3)

• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern

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Maybeboard

Creature (8)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Primeval Herald
• 1x Drivnod, Carnage Dominus
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Oath of Liliana
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Tribute to the World Tree
• 1x Abundance
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x The Eldest Reborn

Artifact (1)

• 1x Ozolith, the Shattered Spire

Instant (4)

• 1x Village Rites
• 1x Evolution Charm
• 1x Deathsprout
• 1x Volcanic Offering

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Deadly Brew
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Essence Harvest
• 1x Frenzied Tilling

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• Kresh - a-ah - saviour of the universe
• Kresh - a-ah - he'll save everyone of us
• Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
• Kresh - a-ah - he's a miracle
• Kresh - a-ah - king of the impossible

This is my first EDH/Commander deck. It used to be the only one, but I recently started working wth Karametra. The goal is simple: make Kresh big and stomp all over things. Any clever infinite combos in this deck are an accident, pure and simple. While I'm always looking to improve it (i.e. WIN) this is, at heart, a deck built for casual play. The list is for multi-player action, though I have played my share of 1v1 matches.

Why Play Kresh?

• You like to play a "battle cruiser" style deck
• You have a bunch of Jund colored cards, and too much time on your hands
• You're not into those look-at-me-I'm-so-smart combo wins
• You like creatures; especially when they are dead
• All the good commanders were taken
• You enjoy long walks through your own personal graveyard
• You read this primer and thought, "I wanna be like this Allies guy!"

Truth be told, Kresh the Bloodbraided is a tier 3 commander, at best. However, he is the sort of guy you can bring to any table, not get hated, and still have plenty of fun. The Jund colors offer enough power to be competitive, even though Kresh himself is rather simplistic.

How Does it Win?

Frequently. Or, at least that's the plan. In a typical list, there are two options: turn big creatures sideways, and fling a giant Kresh at your opponents. I have played both versions of the deck as it has evolved over the years. Currently, the list favors killing by combat and using Kresh to deliver that blow. Cards like Malignus, Grave Titan, Sheoldred, Whispering One, and Lord of Extinction have all passed through the decklist at one point or another. So have Fling and Soul's Fire. However, they've all been removed one by one in favor of spells that support Kresh. I still have a few beatsticks, but these are no longer primary wincons. Instead, I use edict effects (currently 16 of them) forcing my opponents to sac their creatures to make Kresh beefy, and simultaneously eliminating any blockers.

How Does it Play?

Like Rocky. Play southpaw for as long as possible, then start throwing body blows when your opponents are running out of spells.

The Early Game

The early game will be dominated by ramp, draw, and playing defense. By turn 4, you should have 5 or 6 lands, and it's time to disrupt your opponents. Either blow up a few lands, or destroy some mana rocks. Volcanic Offering is a nice turn 4 play. You can eliminate the worst creature-based threats and mess with an opponent's mana base. If you must burn a spell like Deadly Brew or Merciless Executioner, that's okay. The deck has plenty more.

The Mid Game

Just Survive. My list does not include a great deal of life-gain, so protecting your life total is fairly important. Evaluating threats is key. Play the deck like a control player. You're aiming for an aggro beatdown, but you want it to come when your opponents have already taken a chunk out of each other.

This list does not try to protect its general. Kresh can be wiped away at any moment. That is why there are something like 20 spells that either ramp or fetch lands. Keep ramping and casting him even if the tax gets exorbitant. Kill spells like Fleshbag Marauder, Liliana's Triumph, Virtus's Maneuver, etc. will buff Kresh very quickly, as well as remove blockers so you can swing with impunity. There is a small recursion suite built into the deck that makes it possible to cast edict effects more than once.

The End Game

Grind and hope nobody combos.

What I mean by "grind" is blow stuff up. If you make it to the late game, this list can destroy board states with relative ease. Complete board wipes are bad. Near board wipes are good. So, I'm referring to bouncing cards like Acidic Slime, Fleshbag Marauder, and Eternal Witness. Kresh himself can force opponents to turn their favorite creatures into chump blockers. This list rarely wins by a quick sneaky kill. Instead, it removes most every resource from the table. It's a battle of attrition.

How is it Weak?

Lack of instants. I like the big effects, and flexible spells. Those tend to be permanents and sorceries.

This list can control the board fairly well, but it cannot disrupt combos. In the past, I have run a copy of Red Elemental Blast just for that purpose. It's much too conditional, though. More of a sideboard card.

Fast, super-focused decks will beat this deck before it gets going.

Lastly, this list is short on air defense. A squadron of flyers or other evasive creatures can overwhelm my removal suite.

Are you a friend of mine looking to destroy this deck? Play Sigarda, Host of Herons as your general/commander. The deck relies heavily on sac effects in order to get around hexproof and indestructible. Take that away, and it's time to scoop.

What's Up With the Land Destruction?

Yeah, about that...

LD is one of, if not THE most hated tactic in MTG. It can be a bit of a third rail for some players and therefore you must choose your targets wisely. I have found that a little spot removal doesn't upset players, but if you keep pounding away at the same player, you will draw hate from the entire pod.

That said, spot LD can slow opponents early in the game, and hinder them later. By repeatedly hitting lands of a specific color, you can limit an opponent's options. It applies to all colors, but blue {U} seems to be most weakened by this. Try casting Counterspell with 7 plains and one island.

I cannot stress this enough. So many decks are running skinny land counts. They have 34 lands and maybe 10 ramp spells or mana rocks. They hope to get to 5 lands and be able to cast 90% of their deck. All that is required to crush their tempo and their mana base is blow up two lands. That's it. Two lands gone and many opponents need to spend a turn tutoring up Crucible of Worlds and another turn casting it.

Multiple LD triggers can be accomplished with a number of synergistic shenanigans like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Woodfall Primus, Acidic Slime, Sheoldred, Whispering One, High Market, and others. Essentially, you want to bounce, copy, persist, and recur creatures that destroy things. There are often better targets than lands. However, targeting a frail mana base is never a bad idea.

Where is My Copy of __?

There are a bunch of cards I would love to add to this deck. Several of them are in my Maybeboard. Some are too expensive, too rare, or I'm having a hard time making room. Beyond that, there are a few staples I am not interesting in playing. Those include:

Sol Ring - Yeah, I'm nuts. I hate when it shows up in an opponent's opening hand. He or she gets an unreal head start. I'd rather not be that guy.

Terastodon - I already have a plethora of non-creature removal. Getting rid of utility lands is nice, but so conditional. Giving my opponents elephants supplies them with chump blockers and things to sac when I drop Plaguecrafter or the half dozen cards like him. Trading my own lands for elephants works nicely when I'm mana flooded. That doesn't feel like a mainboard strategy, though. Woodfall Primus on the other hand...

Darksteel Plate - If I cast it before getting Kresh on the table, Kresh becomes an instant target. He gets removed before I can equip him. If Kresh is already on the table, there are far more important spells I want to be casting.

Lightning Greaves / Whispersilk Cloak - Again, I've almost given up on protecting Kresh. Besides, shroud is a hindrance. There are times when I need to target my creatures.

Sensei's Divining Top - Like Sol Ring, I hate playing against it. So, I'd rather not play with it.

Fling - Yup. I'm running a Kresh deck without Fling - I have nothing against Fling and if I can find room, it will make its way back into the list. I do prefer Soul's Fire and it could work its way back into the list.

Sneak Attack - Too expensive. Some day I'll splurge for it.

Card Synergies

Abundance - This card makes other cards better. The classic combination is to pair it with Sylvan Library and eliminate the 'pay four life' drawback. However, Abundance can replace any draw effect. So, it makes Solemn Simulacrum, and Greater Good that much better. Drawing what I want - lands, or not lands - is important as this deck does not feature anything to increase my hand size. Drawing 8 cards and having to discard half of them isn't kosher. Abundance also has some nice synergies with library manipulation. Oracle of Mul Daya helps me to choose between land and non land.

Kresh the Bloodbraided + High Market + any beefy creature - High Market creates blocking troubles. Sac a creature after blockers are declared and Kresh deals the damage for the dearly departed. Simple combat trick that many players don't see coming because it's a land.

Defense of the Heart - DotH is really just a poor man's Tooth and Nail. It forces token decks to play nice. One of my favorite tutor targets is Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. The goblin plays well with any ETB creature, but Woodfall Primus and Acidic Slime are frequent companions in Kiki's bounce house.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - In combination with Woodfall Primus can change the field quite a bit. Combine those two with Greater Good and Kiki can turn the whole game in my favor. Kiki's tokens are sacrificed, not exiled. So, anything he copies will eventually give Kresh the Bloodbraided counters. Just not until the end of the turn. Cheap and easy sac effects like High Market are handy ways to snag the counters before the attack phase.

Tergrid, God of Fright   I believe I am running every single variant of Fleshbag Marauder. So, Tergrid, God of Fright   seems like an auto-include.

”Kresh, Prince of Blood Hair”?

Um, yeah, that's sort of a pun. A play on The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.

Cards I'm not sure about

There are always cards in the deck that do great big things only some of the time. These are the cards that I like having, but sometimes have difficulty justifying.

Deathsprout - Instant-speed creature removal with a land fetch built in. This is not a bad thing. Four mana for the spell, though. That's pricey. Hard to leave four untapped lands sitting there without announcing to everyone that you have an instant waiting.

Defense of the Heart - So good against token decks. Good against hatebears. Will it survive long enough to trigger?

Dictate of Erebos - Leaving five mana open to flash it is tough. While the effect is wonderful in tandem with Fleshbag Marauder or his cousins, the resources required to get it going are tricky.

Evolution Charm - It's in the deck primarily for returning creatures from the grave. The land fetch and flying abilities are merely insurance. Often sits in my hand for a few turns.

Volcanic Offering - A great card in multiplayer. Kinda lackluster if the game comes down to me and one other player. The opponent can just choose the same cards that I'm picking.

Date added	12 years
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.21
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Currently Playing, Possible decks, Commander, Crash decks, EDH, Decks