Sideboard


Maybeboard


Welcome to my No Combo Kiki-Jiki list!

Kiki-Jiki is a very fun commander, and the point of this deck is to maximize use of his ability without outright winning off infinites. There are a ton of cards that go infinite with Kiki-Jiki, even with the mono red limitation (namely Zealous Conscripts, Port Razer, Coercive Recruiter, and Combat Celebrant) and we will not being using any of them. Some concessions have been made in deck building to cut accidental infinites where they appear, such as Underworld Breach, which went semi-infinite with Wheel of Fortune and Jeska's Will.

So, in general, what is our gameplan? Set up early and ramp if we can. Cards like Solemn Simulacrum, Alpine Guide, and Burnished Hart are very important to get ASAP, Solemn being the best of these and there being multiple tutors to get pieces such as Imperial Recruiter, Gamble, and Reckless Handling. Mana rocks on the first few turns can be nice, but without drawing hand smoothing such as Faithless Looting we really have to make do with whatever we get. Ideally we get lots of lands into play, because that ties into our main win condition, which is Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. While this deck has tons of haymakers to copy that can win the game on their own with the commander and some support, Valakut has proven both consistent and difficult to interact with. Copying Valakut with Vesuva and/or Thespian's stage with the possible addition of damage doublers that can ALSO be copied with Kiki-Jiki means one land drop can deal as much as 30+ damage. I have held tables hostage with a single Wayfarer's Bauble before.

Many combinations, while not infinite, can win the game on the spot. Myr Battlespere + Purphoros for example, is 10 damage per Kiki activation, with the addition of damage doublers and/or way to activate Kiki multiple times usually spelling death for the table. Myr Battlesphere then attacking can finish anyone off who can live through 20-40 direct Purproros damage.

There are several cards that put in crazy amounts work in this deck I feel like need a special explanation. Goblin Bombardment is always nice to have. It can pick off small creatures with very little investment, give us a back up plan if our board is wiped or stolen, and do chip damage or outright kill people when life totals start getting low. Sundial of the Infinite is sneakily the best card in the deck, because with Kiki-Jiki's delayed trigger causing us to sacrifice the tokens, we can end the turn when the trigger goes on the stack on end-step and keep the copies. Also works with Sneak Attack and Determined Iteration. Speaking of which, Sneak Attack has both a lot of utility being able to be used on opponent's turns, but with the dies and enters abilities in this deck being so strong plus the addition of Kiki-Jiki, the mana saved is totally worth it, even if we lose the creature, not that even happens every time when we have cards like Sundial and Goblin Welder. Also worthy of note is Rings of Brighthearth; it's obviously in here mainly to copy Kiki-Jiki's ability, but it also has a lot of sneaky synergy with other cards, such as planeswalkers (I have a dream to someday copy Koth, Fire of Resistance's emblem) The One Ring, Feldon, Burnished Hart etc. A few updates ago I cut all the mana doubling cards (Caged Sun, etc.) from the deck and now run Mana Geyser, and that card is usually enough to pull into a dominant position right away, especially when coupled with card advantage like Wheel of Fortune or Jeska's Will. Tibalt's Trickery is in here mainly to protect against boardwipes and timely removal of the commander, but it can also be useful to stop a potentially game winning spell like Craterhoof.

The deck being mono-red unfortunately makes it wildly inconsistent. Sometimes the deck doesn't have anything up and running until turn 6 or 7, sometimes we have Kiki-Jiki AND something to copy by turn 3 or 4, and sometimes we can dump 40+ damage and kill someone out of nowhere on turn 5.

Some notable wins in the last year include someone milling my whole deck by repeatedly wheeling only for the last hand I drew into to be godly and killing him with Sneak Attack by doing over 120 damage(exile my own graveyard off Canoptek, plus Purphoros and Terror of the Peaks, with the addition of Tibalt's Trickery counter back up), and in another game finishing someone off who had drawn 40 cards with Hunter's Insight by copying Magus of the wheel 8 times even though they had protection from everything.

While the deck wins with damage primarily, deciding what to copy for the most impact when we have multiple options can be a bit tricky. Direct damage is usually the best way to go, but if attacking is an option we'll take it. While the deck could lean harder into getting Valakut and ramping lands, I find the flexibility is actually more effective. Card avantage is very difficult to come by in this color, but we make do. With all the looting, as well as cards like Combustible Gearhulk, the deck is surprisingly good at filling it's grave, and even has a few payoffs(Crucible, Feldon, Goblin Welder, Canoptek). All in all, while the limitations hold it back some, it's still an extremely solid deck through years of tuning and some game-changers.

Suggestions

Updates Add

IN: Devastating Onslaught, Great Furnace, Valakut Exploration, Sunspine Lynx

OUT: Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Petrified Field, Endless Atlas, Hoarding Dragon

These changes were made on a whim. Might change them back if they prove ineffective.

Ugin is very good but not on game plan. Devastating Onslaught is on game plan. I want to try it.

Hoarding Dragon has been on the chopping block for a while. The Lynx seems like a very useful silver bullet for some of the decks worst matchups.

Petrified Field has never mattered. The fact that the deck didn't have Furnace to get off Reckless Handling really mattered one game. This change seems pretty obvious.

Endless Atlas isn't horrible but it isn't great either. Valakut Exploration is a card I want to try. Seems better suited to the deck.

Comments

Revision 56 See all

(4 weeks ago)

+1 Conjurer's Closet side