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Jimmy's) King of Kjeldor Mk3

Commander / EDH Group Slug Lifegain Mono-White Soldiers Tokens

JamesRaynor

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Creature (25)

Enchantment (11)

Land (35)

Instant (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: Darien, King of Kjeldor

Artifact (18)

Sorcery (2)

Planeswalker (1)

Sideboard

Creature (1)

Maybeboard

Creature (17)

Sorcery (2)

Artifact (13)

Instant (3)

Enchantment (9)

Land (5)

Planeswalker (2)

This deck is a group slug designed for casual Commander settings, where cEDH is not welcome but the competition can sometimes be a bit more powerful than expected. It’s built to maintain the appearance of a "weaker" deck, all while being capable of withstanding stronger decks without rolling over. The idea is to survive long enough to force your opponents into uncomfortable positions without eliminating them too quickly, ensuring everyone has a chance. This deck is resilient to elimination and excels at forcing its win conditions.

The primary strategy revolves around keeping Darien, King of Kjeldor on the field at all times, supported by ETB (enter the battlefield) triggered permanents such as Soul Warden, Auriok Champion, or even enchantments like Case of the Uneaten. With these ETB triggers, Darien creates a defensive loop that discourages opponents from attacking. For example, if an opponent attacks with a 3/3 creature, letting it through while Darien, King of Kjeldor is in play will create 1/1 Soldier creature tokens equal to the damage dealt. If Soul Warden is also out, we regain all the life lost. This discourages all but the most desperate players from attacking unless they can remove our board state through control. we play a little bit of 'Protect the President' with Mithril Coat and Lightning Greaves to stop the commander from going away. The former, Mithril Coat, is especially good because it is able to be cast a response to something that would be fatal.

The second half of the deck is a group slug strategy, forcing opponents to deal with us or risk being overwhelmed. Unconventional combos, like Karma, punish enemies each time they tap Swamps, dealing massive damage. The fun part? Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth turns all lands into Swamps, which amplifies the effects of Karma, causing opponents to take damage based on the number of lands they have. While we, too, take damage, Darien, King of Kjeldor and our ETB life-gaining creatures allow us to recover, forcing our opponents to either gain life, deal with us quickly, or buckle under the pressure.

Cards like Ankh of Mishra, Dingus Staff, and Angel's Trumpet continue to add pressure, especially against creature-heavy decks that might be more vulnerable than cEDH-style interaction-heavy decks. Our land base is also tailored to support Darien’s strategy. Ancient Tomb and Tarnished Citadel deal damage to us every time we tap them for mana. Mana Vault helps accelerate Darien, King of Kjeldor’s casting. While Mana Crypt is no longer in the deck due to the rule changes in 2024, the damage and ramp it offered will be missed. The deck still runs smoothly with 36 functional lands, some of which are double-faced cards that can be cast as spells if we flood out.

What can beat this deck? Commander damage is often the greatest threat, as 21 points of commander damage is difficult to recover from, even with a high life total, to say nothing of infinite combos that mill or deal too much damage to us at once because damage is no longer on the stack like days of old. Additionally, having our board state dismantled is a real concern. However, we have ways to survive these scenarios, such as Teferi's Protection and Clever Concealment. The latter is especially useful when we appear vulnerable and out of mana but can still use our creatures to withstand board wipes. Eldrazi Monument is an essential inclusion to protect us from board wipes that rely on damage or destruction, but we remain vulnerable to spells like Cyclonic Rift or Farewell, which return our permanents to hand or exile them. Mass-sacrifice effects, like Living Death, are also problematic, but we have ways to even the odds.

Martyr's Bond is a strategic inclusion, acting as a mono-white version of Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos, discouraging opponents from targeting our creatures or other permanents. We often have more creatures than decks without infinite combos, giving us an advantage in the late game. To bolster this, we include Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Elspeth, Sun's Champion as pseudo-wrath effects. Avacyn, Angel of Hope was previously in the deck, but due to her high mana cost, we've opted for Eldrazi Monument instead. Catapult Master was once in the deck, but it proved too creature-intensive. For one less mana, Wrath of God or Elspeth, Sun's Champion with her token-making ability can achieve the same result more efficiently.

There are other forms of interaction, like Swords to Plowshares, but the real strength of this deck comes from its search engines. Expedition Map can fetch Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to enhance Karma or find Urza's Saga. Ranger of Eos helps us search for key ETB creatures like Soul Warden, and fetch lands like Marsh Flats help optimize our draws by thinning out lands, which reduces the chance of dead draws later in the game. Urza's Saga is also fantastic for finding Skullclamp, one of the best cards for turning our massive army of creatures into card draw.

Finally, Aetherflux Reservoir and Blasting Station can be cut if necessary, but they provide potential win conditions through life gain or by creating absurd amounts of creatures. Mondrak, Glory Dominus and Anointed Procession further help ramp up our creature count and enable combos to close the game when it’s time to finish things off.

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98% Casual

Competitive