[cEDH primer] Kinnan, Combo Prodigy

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive GU (Simic) Infinite Combo Multiplayer Ramp

Fuzzbox

Advantage (13)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Oakhame Adversary
• 1x Prophet of Distortion
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Runic Armasaur
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Thrasios, Triton Hero
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Verity Circle
• 1x Windfall

Combo (4)

• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Incubation Druid
• 1x Pemmin's Aura
• 1x Vigean Graftmage

Interaction (25)

• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Veil of Summer

Land (28)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 3x Snow-Covered Forest
• 4x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Ramp (16)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Manaweft Sliver
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Paradise Druid
• 1x Paradise Mantle
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid

Support (4)

• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Riftsweeper

Tutor (9)

• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Neoform
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

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Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy cEDH brew in progress. (Currently testing a non scepter reversal build allowing us to run Rod and Ouphe).

Why Kinnan?

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy offers an infinite mana outlet in the command zone, whilst coming bundled with an onboard enabler in the form of his static ability. This lends the strategy to hyper-efficient combo lines, whilst turbocharging the ramp suite outside of a win-push. The combination of these two abilities enables combo lines with minimal setup, and, more crucially, empowers Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy to play excellently from behind. These reasons, coupled with the comprehensive interactive suite available in UG, make a compelling argument for the rationale behind running Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy.

Immediate comparisons will be drawn against Thrasios, Triton Hero the other UG combo outlet that we all know and love. To begin, let's discuss the advantages Kinnan has over Thrasios, of which there are three.

1 - Kinnan's static ability enables ramp acceleration, offering significant boosts to the capabilities of all non-land mana producers in the deck. This is aggressively superior to the pseudo ramp effect of Thrasios' ability.

2 - Kinnan's activated ability allows us to further abuse the ramp generated by his static. The combination of self enabling, then not having to pay the mana cost to cast a creature we find off the activation is incredible value when considered together.

3 - Kinnan can pivot away from Null Rod stax effects with greater ease, and can even be built in such a way to make use of those stax effects as a way to proactively disrupt other fast combo decks.

Now let's consider some disadvantages vs Thrasios.

1 - Thrasios, Triton Hero brings a friend. The other UG scepter combo deck runs both Thrasios, Triton Hero and Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix which synergizes well with Thrasios' ability in a vacuum.

2 - Thrasios can activate with generic mana, which opens up a great deal of flexibility and choice when optimizing a build. It is a freedom that Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy does not enjoy, whilst also helps make better use of the powerful cost-reducing effects of Training Grounds and Biomancer's Familiar.

3 - Thrasios can generate card advantage to your hand, in a grind, this can be the difference between GG and the W.

The hypothesis is that Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy will offer more explosive starts, and helps enable his own combo lines, whilst Thrasios, Triton Hero has a more stable outlet with higher grind potential in the specific context of stack interaction.

Combo lines and win conditions.

Plan A is to accelerate into an infinite colored mana combo. With our commander in play this becomes an easier endeavor.

The main combos to reach for would depend on the resources in hand, and the board state but include:

Birds of Paradise//Bloom Tender with Freed from the Real//Pemmin's Aura.

Incubation Druid+Vigean Graftmage (All creature combo, super easy for us to assemble).

To win the game we assemble a combo, generate infinite colored mana and resolve a draw outlet via Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy activations, draw into a Finale of Devastation (or recursion for it) and swing for the win.

Deck weaknesses.

Cursed Totem. Enough said really. Totem shuts down most of our game plan, and the deck should be built with the ability to deal with this stax piece as a priority. Yet another reason to include leveler, which helps us play around this card.

Grafdigger's Cage and similar effects like Containment Priest.

Card discussions (notable includes).

Vigean Graftmage becomes our primary combo in this variant of the deck. The all creature combo is easy to assemble and eradicates the need to run the blue IsoRev support package.

Riftsweeper Grabs finale incase of exile.

Card discussions (notable exclusions).

Training Grounds // Biomancer's Familiar - Our commander's static ability quite literally turns all our dorks into pseudo cost reducers, so in this context, I decided to cut these cards.

Grim Monolith - This card goes neutral with our commander, doesn't make the cut alongside all the other explosive ramp we can offer.

Basalt Monolith - Whist this card does go infinite with our commander, we still need a way to convert this mana to win the game, rendering it nothing more than either part of a 2 card + commander combo, or a mana rock, which at 3cmc is above the rate we are willing to pay.

Isochron Scepter+Dramatic Reversal - By avoiding any reliance on artifact combos we are free to play Null Rod and Collector Ouphe without much concern.

Top Ranked	Achieved #36 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #21 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH GU (Simic) 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Ramp 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.85
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U
Folders	Kinnan's Decks, Simic, Decks, Revamp, cEDH with good primers