Kess, Spell Queen

Commander / EDH*

ChaosNinjaX

Lands (38)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Crypt of the Eternals
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 10x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Jwar Isle Refuge
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Wandering Fumarole

Draw Spells (7)

• 1x Anticipate
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Pilfered Plans
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Telling Time
• 1x Thought Scour

Nicol Bolas (3)

• 1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
• 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
• 1x Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver

Wizard Army (15)

• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• 1x Docent of Perfection  ^Flip
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Magus of the Mind
• 1x Mairsil, the Pretender
• 1x Marchesa, the Black Rose
• 1x Mercurial Chemister
• 1x Nivix Guildmage
• 1x Portal Mage
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Serendib Sorcerer
• 1x Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 1x Uyo, Silent Prophet

Combo (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Bloodline Necromancer
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
• 1x Ophidian Eye
• 1x Spell Crumple
• 1x Tunnel Vision

Mana Ramp (7)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Kolaghan Monument
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Other (1)

• 1x Sire of Stagnation

Commander (1)

Spellforce (14)

• 1x Baral's Expertise
• 1x Bituminous Blast
• 1x Blessed Reincarnation *f-pre*
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Consuming Vapors
• 1x Crosis's Charm
• 1x Dark Intimations
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Into the Roil
• 1x Memory Plunder
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Reign of the Pit
• 1x Terminate

Advantages In Spellcasting (6)

• 1x Guttersnipe
• 1x Jori En, Ruin Diver *f-pre*
• 1x Lunar Mystic
• 1x Metallurgic Summonings
• 1x Secrets of the Dead
• 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner

---

Grixis Spellslinging;

Why Kess?Do you like casting spells? Do you like casting them more than once, and abusing the ability to cast them more than once? Kess is great for reusing the cards you cast and essentially making your deck a 'reanimator' for instants and sorceries.

The Play
So, the deal is simple. Cast spells, and recast them. Simple, right? Cantrips like Telling Time, Serum Visions, and Ponder enable you to dig further into your deck for cards you need. Other cards work well in different ways; Bituminous Blast cascades into another card. Casting Bituminous Blast from both your hand and grave essentially gets you 4 spells. Baral's Expertise works similarly, casting a spell for free from your hand. Being able to cast Baral's Expertise from the grave gets you even more.

Spells with Rebound work uniquely with Kess as well; Blessed Reincarnation or Consuming Vapors rebound when cast from your hand, going into exile. On your next turn, it's cast for free, going into the grave. Kess, Dissident Mage allows you to cast it for a third time from the grave.

Benefits to casting more spells

Being able to recast instants and sorceries from your grave means special benefits from other spells and interactions. Cards like Talrand, Sky Summoner and Guttersnipe makes casting spells twice more effective. Lunar Mystic, Secrets of the Dead, and Jori En, Ruin Diver draw you cards when you play cards. Essentially, draws you cards for playing your deck!

The Win

Besides amassing an army with Talrand, Sky Summoner, Docent of Perfection  , stealing your opponents spells and creatures with Puppeteer Clique, Havengul Lich, Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah or Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and even spells with Memory Plunder, the deck has several infinite combos to win.

Counter a spell with Spell Crumple, memorizing the countered spell, and then using Tunnel Vision to mill an opponent down to nothing. Because of Kess, you can use this combo twice.

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is good for making copies of Wizards (Which the deck has plenty of!) but she also goes infinite with two more cards; Bloodline Necromancer, and Ashnod's Altar. When Bloodline Necromancer enters the battlefield, you can pay 1 mana to make a copy of it with Inalla, Archmage Ritualist . You sacrifice the real Necromancer to Ashnod's Altar for 2 mana, in response to activating Inalla, Archmage Ritualist's ability. The token enters, and reanimates the real Bloodline Necromancer. When the Necromancer enters, use the floating mana from the Altar to make another copy of the Necromancer. Repeat this as many times as needed, netting mana and haste Bloodline Necromancer tokens. You can either attack with all the tokens, or use Inalla, Archmage Ritualist's ability to tap them and win.

Lastly, there's the Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind with Curiosity or Ophidian Eye. I shouldn't have to explain how that combo works.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 24 - 0 Rares 28 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.73
Tokens	Construct */* C, Copy Clone, Demon */* B, Drake 2/2 U, Human Wizard 1/1 U, Manifest 2/2 C