The Hermit King

Commander / EDH Bracket 5 Combo Counterspell Midrange Primer

Noxid05

Land (31)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Grove of the Burnwillows
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Ketria Triome
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Culling Ritual
• 1x Demonic Tutor *f-etch*GC
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Windfall

Instant (27)

• 1x Ad NauseamGC
• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Fierce GuardianshipGC
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of WillGC
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x March of Swirling Mist
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Reclaim
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Tale's End
• 1x Vampiric TutorGC
• 1x Worldly TutorGC

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x NecropotenceGC
• 1x Rhystic StudyGC
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Underworld BreachGC
• 1x Wild Growth

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Narset, Parter of VeilsGC

Commander (1)

Creature (15)

• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Cephalid Illusionist
• 1x Drannith MagistrateGC
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Narcomoeba
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Nomads en-Kor
• 1x Opposition AgentGC
• 1x Renegade Rallier
• 1x Thassa's OracleGC

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chrome MoxGC
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana VaultGC
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Curiosity
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Tormod's Crypt

---

Maybeboard

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Smothering TitheGC
• 1x Training Grounds
• 1x Whirlwind of Thought
• 1x Wilderness Reclamation

Creature (3)

• 1x Biomancer's Familiar
• 1x Riftsweeper
• 1x Seedborn MuseGC

Instant (1)

• 1x Negate

---

The Rundown

A Kenrith Deck that was built to be competitive bordering on a CEDH deck. The primary goal is to use empty our library and use Thassa's OracleGC to win the game.

Currently testing out cephalid breakfast combo, and Hermit Druid. This change is to have another line for victory after the dockside ban.

I would love to hear any feedback you have on this deck especially any potential substitutions you may have

Combos

Thassa's OracleGC + Demonic Consultation or Tainted Pact - Use either Demonic Consultation or Tainted Pact to exile your library while Thassa's OracleGC ETB is on the stack

Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter - As long as you can generate 3 or more mana off of dramatic reversal you will gain infinite mana by casting Dramatic Reversal from Isochron Scepter activation

Hermit druid line - Hermit Druid + Narcomoeba + Fatestitcher + Dread Return + Thassa's OracleGC - Activate Hermit Druid to mill our entire deck, use Kenrith, the Returned King to give haste rather than wait a turn cycle, but not necessary. Narcomoeba will go to the battlefield, unearth Fatestitcher, and then flashback Dread Return to get Thassa's OracleGC onto the battlefield. Activate Fatestitcher dread return to either tap down an opponents permanent or untap a permanent of yours like a land to make sure your have mana for a counterspell

Cephalid breakfast line - Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor + Narcomoeba + Fatestitcher + Dread Return + Thassa's OracleGC - Empty the library with Cephalid Illusionist and Nomads en-Kor and the follow the steps for the hermit druid line.

Notable Synergies

Narset, Parter of VeilsGC & Windfall - leaves each opponent with one card in hand and refills ours

Hermit Druid & Kenrith, the Returned King - Kenrith gives haste to be able to activate Hermit druid the same turn rather than defend for a full turn cycle

Hate Pieces

Narset, Parter of VeilsGC - Shutdown your opponents from drawing extra cards to find their win or combine with Windfall to reduce your opponents' hands down to one card

Drannith MagistrateGC - Stops commanders from being cast from the command zone. Very key against uncounterable commanders.

Tormod's Crypt - a staple graveyard hate card

Opposition AgentGC - Prevents opponents from searching for what they want

Grand Abolisher - Allows us to play our turn uninterrupted

Potential Upgrades

These are all primarily cards that do the same or similar effects for a lower CMC or are strictly an upgrade from the current cards in the deck

Shock lands => Dual lands

Reclaim => Noxious Revival

Preordain => Gitaxian Probe

Jace, Wielder of Mysteries => Thassa's OracleGC

Potential Adds

These are cards that I do not own, but would be great additions to the deck

Chrome MoxGC

Mox DiamondGC

Lion's Eye DiamondGC

Gemstone Caverns

City of Brass

The remaining fetchlands

Potential Removals

Fact or Fiction

The {U}{U} counterspells

Counterspell

Mana Drain

Narset's Reversal

The double blue counterspells are good but the casting cost of them can be an issue if our mana base is not our ally in a game

Most of these lands are in here because I do not have a better land that is not in use. Some of these were added when hermit druid was added in order to make sure that no basics were in the deck.

Flooded Grove

Grove of the Burnwillows

Ketria Triome

Shivan Reef

Silent Clearing

Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

Waterlogged Grove

Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

The Battlebond Lands

Luxury Suite

Spire Garden

Sea of Clouds

Card Changes

Eternal Witness => Reclaim - Eternal Witness is too expensive to just receive the card straight to hand. The other benefit of dodging a large share of the non-creature counterspells is not worth the sorcery speed and two extra mana.

Sunken Hollow => Verdant Catacombs - Verdant Catacombs can get an untapped land vs sunken hollow that has a low chance of coming in untapped

Farseek => Avacyn's Pilgrim - It can result in faster access to mana as it can be a T1 play

Wilderness Reclamation => Wild Growth- While Wilderness Reclamation does untap lands at the end of the turn mostly netting back our mana spent on it, it does limit our ability to make progress on the board state. Wild growth can be played turn one for extra mana on following turns, or can be cast with almost no setback turn two or later.

Dockside Extortionist => Grand Abolisher - Ban replacement

Cephalid Breakfast/Hermit druid update

Focused more on going for the win faster rather than accruing value with kenrith before going for a win

Snow-Covered Mountain, Snow-Covered Plains, Prismatic Vista, Fabled Passage => Sacred Foundry, Steam Vents, Scalding Tarn, Wooded Foothills - Starting to remove basic lands and basic land tutors in preparation of adding Hermit Druid

Heartstone, Biomancer's Familiar, Seedborn MuseGC, Smothering TitheGC, Riftsweeper, Viscera Seer, Whirlwind of Thought => Cephalid Illusionist, Nomads en-Kor, Dread Return, Narcomoeba, Fatestitcher, Renegade Rallier, Hermit Druid - adding the cephalid breakfast line. I have not found a thoracle yet, so renegade rallier used to bring in breech to cast jace from the graveyard.

Beast Within => Culling Ritual - Beast within is expensive removal at 3 mana for a single target

Generous Gift => An Offer You Can't Refuse - Pivoting into the Hermit Druid line, better to have cheap counterspells for protection, rather than expensive removal

Negate => Force of WillGC - I debated whether to cut Narset's Reversal or Counterspell over Negate because of their harder casting costs, but the advantages offered from copying an instant or sorcery, and the non restricted counter lead to the decision to cut Negate, but Narset's Reversal will likely be the next cut.

Jace, Wielder of Mysteries => Thassa's OracleGC - Thassa's OracleGC is a much better card than Jace, especially with the Hermit Druid line, allowing us to avoid the line of reanimating Renegade Rallier to get card:underworld breech and then get enough mana with Lotus Petal to cast Jace.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 59 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.94
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure