Kess Consultation/Pact Combo cEDH [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Midrange Primer UBR (Grixis)

Snoddy81

Instant (34)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Delay
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Opt
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Remand
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Unsubstantiate
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Underworld Breach

Land (30)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Watery Grave

Creature (5)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Thassa's Oracle

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils

Commander (1)

Artifact (13)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Grapeshot
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Toxic Deluge

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Maybeboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Annul
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Plunge into Darkness
• 1x Shadow of Doubt
• 1x Slaughter Pact

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Wheel of Fortune

Land (3)

• 1x Badlands
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Volcanic Island

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This is my spin on competitive Kess, Dissident Mage! Inspiration for the deck came from shadowmage's CEDH Kess list. Kess is one of my favorite Commander decks to play, especially in a competitive setting. This version of Kess is an adaptive build, designed to be a midrange deck in which we carefully assemble our combo while making sure our opponents don't pull off theirs. In this primer we'll break down the deck, its strengths, weaknesses, win conditions, and combos/synergies. Let's get into it!

Recent Changes - Updated October 5th, 2020

Cards Cut: Windfall, Trickbind
Cards Added: Dark Confidant, Narset, Parter of Veils

More recently I’ve been utilizing my commander’s strength in the mid game to help me set up my combo to go off for the win. Dark Confidant and Narset, Parter of Veils were just the pieces I was looking for to make that happen.

I’ve considered playing Dark Confidant for an extremely long time, but I always hesitated because it felt too slow. As the months went by and as I transitioned Kess from being a proactive (aggressive combo) build to an adaptive (midrange) build, I found that Bob was the perfect piece to add to this deck.

After a couple months of play testing, Narset has finally made it into the 99. While it might sound silly to take out the “synergy” piece that can make her so good (Windfall), I’ve found that she simply is better in this deck as a way of slowing my opponents down instead of me tutoring for a wheel to essentially try to lock them out. This might change if I end up purchasing a Wheel of Fortune in the coming months, but for now I feel good about the change.

So why Kess?

Playing tutors, cantrips, counter spells, and removal spells are all a part of what make competitive commander... competitive! Being able to reuse and recycle those same abilities make them so much more powerful and can create completely new combos and deck synergies. I first learned this from building my first competitive commander deck, which was Mizzix of the Izmagnus (deck list: Mizzix, Master of the Storm). So why not have the versatility of Mizzix but add the tutors, removal, and disruption of black?

Enter Kess, Dissident Mage. During each of our turns we get to cast (essentially) a free Snapcaster Mage to recycle through our cantrips and tutors. Having three colors in our commander gives us a very solid toolbox of cards to pull from to make sure we can consistently combo off.

Win-Cons

This version of Kess is referred to in the cEDH community as "Consultation Kess" or "Pact Kess", with both names coming from our two main win conditions, Demonic Consultation and Tainted Pact. Each of these spells exiles our entire library, allowing us to win through either Jace, Wielder of Mysteries or Thassa's Oracle. Because every card in this deck is different, when you cast Tainted Pact you exile your entire library, leaving only what you have in play and in your hand. The same works for Demonic Consultation. Simply name a card not in your deck. Demonic Consultation will attempt to find the card, but to no avail, leaving your library in exile. Alternatively, if Kess is on field you can cast Demonic Consultation and name Thassa's Oracle, finding your win-con, and then flashback Demonic Consultation using Kess' ability and win through Oracle.

This deck previously ran all three of the alternate win-cons (Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Laboratory Maniac, and Thassa's Oracle), however I ended up cutting Laboratory Maniac because he is the easiest of the three to interact with as he requires a cantrip and can be removed in response.

This deck also runs the typical Dramatic Reversal+Isochron Scepter package for infinite mana and infinite storm plus Blue Sun's Zenith to draw your deck or Grapeshot to shoot the table.

Key Cards and Synergies

Ad Nauseam has won me more games than any other card in the deck. It is without a doubt one of the most powerful cards in the CEDH format, allowing us to put (more often than not) 20+ cards in our hand, as the deck has an average CMC lower than 2. Lim-Dul's Vault is a cheaper Ad Nauseam type effect that let's us dig through our deck for the price of two mana and a little bit of life to find the combo we need to finish off the game.

Dockside Extortionist puts out a crazy amount of ramp for two mana, especially when you're able to re-cast him because of one of our own effects such as Chain of Vapor or Unsubstantiate.

Narset's Reversal and Unsubstantiate get around cards that can't be countered, which is becoming more and more relevant as my current meta is full of "uncounterable" effects like Dovin's Veto, Supreme Verdict, Veil of Summer, and even Boseiju, Who Shelters All. Defensively, Trickbind stops a myriad of important interactions and win-cons, most importantly Thassa's Oracle, which (even post Flash banning) is the number one win-con in cEDH at the moment.

Deck Strengths and Weaknesses: A cEDH Meta Discussion

Kess, like all competitive commander decks, has many strengths, but also has her weaknesses. For this deck list in particular, Kess' strengths stem from her solid can trips, bountiful amount of tutors, and strong counter spells. These allow for streamlined gameplay and a consistent combo-based finish. But like I mentioned before, Kess isn't perfect and struggles against certain cEDH decks.

Good match ups for Kess:
Kenrith, the Returned King
Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
The Gitrog Monster
Tymna the Weaver+Tana, the Bloodsower
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Bad match ups for Kess:
The First Sliver
Zur the Enchanter
Thrasios, Triton Hero+Vial Smasher the Fierce
Thrasios, Triton Hero+Tymna the Weaver

These match ups each have their pros and cons. One positive, very underrated way of dealing with these match ups is a special set of counter spells and removal. Like I mentioned earlier, Trickbind can stop multiple cEDH win-cons, either temporarily or just put them out of the game. In my current meta they stop Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain's triggered ability, Urza, Lord High Artificer's activated ability, Zur the Enchanter's attack trigger, Prime Speaker Vannifar's activated ability, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker's activated ability, and Thassa's Oracle's ETB effect. Shred Memory is a very versatile card as it removes any problematic graveyard pieces (specifically against The Gitrog Monster), or can be used as a tutor if needed.

Current Playtesting and Future Deck Updates

A few key cards that I'm currently playtesting in the Maybeboard:

• Shadow of Doubt is a one time "no tutoring" spell that can be game-ending when cast in response to things like Zur the Enchanter's attack trigger.
• Plunge into Darkness is another Ad Nauseam-type effect that allows you to dig for a counter spell or win-con at the payment of life, which is one of the most valuable resources in cEDH.
  

Thank you for all of your comments and views! Upvotes are always appreciated. Let me know your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions!

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	21 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.67
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Treasure
Folders	My Decks, Commander decks, EDH Ideas, cEDH List, Test, Kess CEDH, Potential kess, possible edh deck, Decks I want, Kess CEDH