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Kenrith Wheels and Bears [Primer]

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Control Primer Stax

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Maybeboard


Control-stax deck with wheels payoffs and compact infinite-mana combo kill.

Introduction Show


Control and Stax Show


Combo Show


Taxes Show


2HG and Budget versions Show


And who are you, the proud lord said,

that I must bow so low?

Only a cat of a different coat,

that's all the truth I know.

In a coat of gold or a coat of red,

a lion still has claws,

And mine are long and sharp, my lord,

as long and sharp as yours.

And so he spoke, and so he spoke,

that lord of Castamere,

And now the rains weep o'er his hall,

with no one there to hear.


Suggestions

Updates Add

So, zendikar rising didn't bring much to the table for this deck, but I'm considering Archon of Emeria and Thieving Skydiver.

Anyway I have higher hopes for commander legends and therefore made a list of the cutest cards which may go:

  • Glen elendra Archamge
  • Devoted Druid
  • vizier of remedies

Glen elendra is very grindy and with the vizier is basically a super strong lock, but in the grand scheme of things these three slots are "cute" and I'm not convinced they are winning games that would otherwise be lost. The archon looks really good in a pure hate bears list, but with the wheels and payoff we run it may not make a lot of sense. On the other hand Thieving Skydiver can make it into the deck in the right meta, so far Vandalblast serves me best, but I can see that changing too.

In particular I'm eyeing:

Comments

tdccarpenter that is hot indeed!! I didn't review all the new cards yet for this deck, but the magistrate is coming in and Lavinia out (she never performed that well, she was strong against free spell so now that the format has 2 more free counterspells she may be ok-ish, but it's a bit early to say)

April 18, 2020 7:46 a.m.

My current build: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/omg-they-killed-kenny-iii/?cb=1587337800

Outside of budget constraints, I'm running pemmin's aura for redundancy and double down on blue hate with red elemental blast and carpet of flowers, but these are ultimately meta calls. I need to do more work on my mana base.

How is the devoted druid / vizier of remedies / glen elendra archmage line working for you? Considering adding that line to my build.

April 19, 2020 7:42 p.m.

Hi Selene,

Looking at your list again I am not sure about Rest In Peace. Leyline in my opinion is just better because you can use your yard. Kenrith has won me countless games recurring win cons from the yard. Also not sure about Drannith and Mental Misstep. Mental is better against 1v1 EDH but in group I have yet to see good results. Yawgmoth and Neoform are a must in my build.

April 27, 2020 5:32 p.m.

Not sure what Selene is, but hey, I'll take the feedback anyway!

Mental Misstep is free interaction, never seen a game where it was not relevant, truth be told, now that flash is gone countering the early consultation is a little less relevant. So it's definitely a good idea to look around for new cards to play. I'll give neoform and/or yawgmoth another run in the meanwhile.

Drannith instead is going to be banned imo, so he'll stay in as long as possible, it basically reads: your opponents can't play their commanders.

In my paper list I actually run the Leyline:)! This list though is the most powerful bunch of cards for the strategy I can put together to battle on cockatrice or anyway on the cedh discords. Leyline is a swing and a miss more often than not: 2BB is a huge mana investment if you don't have it in the opener and it doesn't even get rid of existing graveyards.

April 28, 2020 6:30 a.m.

Sweet looking Stax deck! I personally hate playing against Stax, but this deck looks good and original!

June 18, 2020 4:14 p.m.

Hey Science,

Time to revisit the deck with MH2 out. I’m thinking about including Damn but do not know what to cut. Also thinking about removing Alms Collector for Hullbreacher. Everything else seems solid.

June 14, 2021 6:49 p.m.

Hello abeltda

Yea, it's time for a remastered edition! I need to look for inspiration, what other suggestions would you have?

Hullbreacher for Alms collector seems solid indeed, not so sure about Damn, it makes sense in a very creature heavy meta I guess.

June 16, 2021 10:39 a.m.

so possible changes.

  • Hullbreacher for Alms Collector
  • Opposition Agent for Aven Mindscensor
  • Ignoble Heirarch for Deepwood elf

Not a fan of imperial seal because it pits the card on top of deck at sorcery speed. I am huge fan of Finale of Devastation because it looks in both graveyard and deck for missing combo peace and can also be used for a dump in infinite mana combo. I am also okay with Grim Tutor but in my build I will be using finale.

I also use Teferi instead of Timetwister becauzd I like having cards in the yard and want to protect my turn when i can combo off. I also like additional pieces for bloom tender and The elder for more mana production. Hence why hullbreacher snd opposition agent are included. Majority of the deck is green white so having other color permanents is not bad.

My toss up is between Leyline and Rest in Peace. I like to affect only opponets yards but if i need to remove yards on the spot Leyline is useless.

June 24, 2021 4:09 a.m.

Reinsert Alms Collector since Hullbreacher is banned. I really like Emiel he has to go in this build. Not many yard dependent cedh out there, id sacrifice either anafenza or rest in peace. Probably rip.

July 28, 2021 12:49 p.m.

@abeltda yea you are right, this needs an update. I could also remove some of the wierdest mana combo (like vizier of remedies) and add some new cards.. yea this needs a review indeed!

July 29, 2021 5:13 a.m. Edited.

Why not use Mana Drain instead of Counter Spell ?

February 26, 2020 3:52 a.m.

abeltda thanks! Coloreless mana is always welcome, I wanted to remove the UU counterspells, but if I leave one, Mana Drain is indeed the one! That was a bit goofy indeed of me..

February 26, 2020 6:30 a.m.

Hey Tolarian, any reason Noble hierarch was taken out over Elvish Mystic ?

February 27, 2020 12:31 a.m.

abeltda nope, I'm just dumb again:)

February 27, 2020 5:43 a.m.

So this is a great list! I see bloom tender in some of the combo/deck intro txt box but not in the main list anymore? Great inf enabler right? You like that one inf mana dump Expns/Explosion card to whack 2 players at once also I see. But should King Kenny be shut down, stolen or turned into some elk thingy, you can instant speed kill all 3 opponents with Auriela’s Fury. If you keep the underworld breach in (or a GY recycle card in hand) you can just shoot say 3 players for 1 damage each, which is 5 total mana. It’s just a more expensive silence because now they can’t play interactive spells. Then recycle the Fury and do it again for the ultimate win.... Or just shoot who has interaction cards or blue counters in deck and go off with another win line, since they can not cast anymore interaction for the turn. Also, I know the double blue is a mana curve hit, but pemmin’s aura is a redundant win line I like to have with the inf mana critters this deck can find quick. I love the King and in a mirror match or an Oracle match up Trickbind, Tale’s End, Interdict and Stifle are huge whammies to shut down the party!! Interdict being the only one to not work against oracle, it does stop isochron/dramarev or LED cycles on Salvagers for the turn and cantrip 1 for ya!

Cheers and best wishes!

March 6, 2020 9:47 p.m.

johneybzifejbz thanks! Oops, Bloom Tender slipped out in one of the revision, by error for sure, what to cut now? hm.. the weakest card spot belongs probably to: Vizier of Remedies or One with the stars.

Aurelia's Fury is really cute! On the other hand the reason why expansion is playable is that it has alternative use cases: copy target spell or just kill something and draw. Whereas the fury only helps you in the kill turn.

One Trickbind effect is really powerful to have, but then the cuts would imply to remove also devoted druid, I'll think about it: add more redundancy on one infinite mana combo and cut the other. (Glenelendra works well just with the king +1+1 counters, on the other hand it just dies under Hushbringer, so Glenelendra would probably be the card to remove for Trickbind. The archmage has been just so powerful though..)

March 7, 2020 7:45 a.m.

i would replace the mox diamond or the mana crypt with a mana vault. (PS i hate mana crypt :P)

March 8, 2020 3:10 p.m.

Lmao this primer cracked me up haha, sure Thassa's Oracle is Drogon here. Nice work!

March 23, 2020 9:50 a.m.

Milkspy haha oh yea we hate that guy. Couldn't find a good quote matching the chapter for Jaime

March 23, 2020 10:44 a.m.

Drannith Magistrate?

April 17, 2020 10:30 p.m.

Interesting deck! What's your Intuition pile?

November 10, 2019 1:42 p.m.

@cPute: thanks, this is the 2HG version but also in solo mode the "control+wheels payoffs" is quite strong in my testing, I'll have a tourney next Saturday and use it, let's see how it goes! So far I really like it runs very few slots dedicated to the kill.

The Intuition targets most of the time are chosen like a pseudo-tutor, because it's first a control deck, but if you miss one part of the combo:

if you miss 2 pieces of the combo, with Kenrith out to reanimate:

I've been tempted by Dread Return to make more powerful piles.. when missing 2 pieces you could go:

regardless of their choice with other 2 creatures out you can have the Ooze in play (notice that we use Kenrith for haste, no Torch Courier or Thornling ). But it's basically an expensive Animate Dead outside of Intuition .

What do you think? Do you have suggestions?

November 10, 2019 3:20 p.m.

I am a big fan of Intuition but I have been thinking about Kenrith just for last few days (right now my future deck seems like Noble King - it is a rough sketch, the lands need to be changed, etc.).

Then I discovered your deck and I love the idea to use king's reanimator powers ... :-) This commander has unbelievable quantity of possible builds, so I need to figure out which will suit best to my meta.

Right now I have no better idea what to do with intuition, but I will definitely think it through.

November 10, 2019 5 p.m.

Hello! Thanks to upvote my Alexander The Great King! Your deck is one of my inspiration...

January 22, 2020 5:31 a.m.

tiagompm wheels are much fun and the hatebears help slow down the crazy combos out there, so it makes sense! Kenrith is a such a flexible commander, great to build

January 22, 2020 5:57 a.m.

Hey, thanks for the upvote on "Teller of All the Tales"!

I really like the deck idea you have going here, I do. However, I feel like you are missing out on some powerful hatebears and things that can do nothing but add to your strategy.

Firstly, Spirit of the Labyrinth is probably going to be one of your best hatebears, adding redundancy to Narset. Grand Abolisher feels good too, disallowing your opponents from doing things on your turn.

Smothering Tithe and Mystic Remora are must includes.

Biomancer's Familiar and Training Grounds reduces the amount of mana that you need to spend into Kenrith's abilities, which feels good too.

Also, can you explain your wincon? I see a lot of stax, but not much endgame. Is it just creature beats, Twister loops, or am I missing something? Adding in Isorev for infinite mana into a labman/labjace/oracle win feels best, or Flash Hulk, as it does work around your staxy hatebears (minus hushbringer)

February 24, 2020 6:55 p.m.

edhCommander thanks for the feedback! Chulane is a bomb, I'm also slowly building him:) I'll use some of the interactions from your list!

Spirit of the Labyrinth also stops me from drawing, so it's powerful but I fear it will also blank my wheels, Kenrith ability and draw engines! I'll test it later this evening on cockatrice though, let's see how it goes.

Remora is in there for sure! Smothering Tithe is on the sideline because the list has artifact hate bears, if they are not relevant in the given meta, the tithe with wheels is absolutely ridiculous.

I've played with both Familiar and Training Grounds and I'm not a fan of either of the two cards, after the stax is in place the next step is to assemble infinite mana, so it was rarely useful for more than 1 or 2 activations.

Which brings us to the next point about infinite mana, it's the old Incubation Druid/Faeburrow Elder + Vigean Graftmage/Freed from the Real. The other inifinite G is Vizier of Remedies and Devoted Druid, G mana with Kenrith is good, I won many games just giving trample to 4/5 bears huge bears. I Knerith is offline the backup is finale of devastation. Vizier is a very iffy card, I like to play with Glen Elendra, so that more of a personal twist than optimal slots.

February 25, 2020 5:50 a.m.

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Created with Highcharts 9.3.3CreatureCreaturePlaneswalkerPlaneswalkerLandLandEnchantmentEnchantmentArtifactArtifactInstantInstantSorcerySorcery
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Converted mana costMana-curve4.3%4.3%7.2%7.2%1.4%1.4%4.3%4.3%1.4%1.4%8.7%8.7%2.9%2.9%8.7%8.7%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.4%2.9%2.9%4.3%4.3%1.4%1.4%4.3%4.3%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.4%11.6%11.6%7.2%7.2%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.4%1.4%5.8%5.8%7.2%7.2%1.4%1.4%2.9%2.9%1.4%1.4%012345051015202530

Casual

98% Competitive

Revision 8 See all

(3 years ago)

-1 Hullbreacher main