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[[Primer]] Kinnan's Summoning Ritual

Commander / EDH Combo Eldrazi GU (Simic) Primer Ramp Stompy

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Introduction

It all began when I first got my hands on All Is Dust. The art, the power level, the flavour, everything just resonated with me. At that moment, I knew I had to make an eldrazi deck. At first, it was mostly about generating value from artifacts and using the eldrazi titans as a finisher. As my playgroup upgraded their decks, it was clear that I needed to redesign the deck. Ashley's colourless deck appearance on Game Knight's episode #24 really motivated me to shift the focus of the deck from artifacts shenanigans to ramp and combos, which resulted in my now retired Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth deck, Cthulhu's Scrapyard.

While colourless was fun, it certainly wasn't going to compete in a competitive environment. Not too surprisingly, colourless has all the disadvantages of the other mono coloured decks combined with none of the advantages. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy does absolutely everything a colourless deck wish it could do. He's by far the best ramp commander there is. He's simic. He's easy to cast, coming down on turn 2. He's got a way to cheat in the eldrazi titans or an infinite mana outlet built in. This little druid might not have planned to unleash the eldrazis onto Ikoria with his summoning ritual, but oh boy did he succeed.

This deck is extremely fast, explosive and can be quite difficult to slow down once it gets going. The speed at which it can ramp backed up by #TheTentacleGang alone is usually enough to come out on top, but if that's not enough to convince you, there's also a multitude of ways to generate infinite mana and dump it all in Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy's activated ability. This very much is an all-in deck, although one where the commander is not essential but rather, like a beautiful rug, ties the whole deck together.

More specifically, though, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy makes all of our non-land permanent generates one additional mana, which allows us to ramp faster than any other deck I've ever played. That ability alone would be a good reason to pick this commander for an eldrazi shell, but for some reason he also has another ability: by paying , you can look at the top five cards of your library and put a non-Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield. This ability allows us to dump the extra mana we have for some value should we ever run out of gas or even put every creature in our deck on the battlefield.

You might like this deck if:

  • You like to ramp, and do it fast.
  • You like to play big, dumb creatures.
  • You like having the options for a combo win without it being the only path to victory.
  • You like the simplicity of a two-colour mana base.

You might not like this deck if:

  • You prefer an attrition/recursion game plan.
  • You prefer small but resilient creatures.
  • You prefer a deck optimized with combo in mind.
  • You prefer the options provided by playing more than two colours.

How do we win

The main goal is to cast Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy as early as possible, following up with mana dorks and mana rocks. We're in simic, meaning card advantage and ramp shouldn't be an issue. The main win condition is combat damage via gigantic, annihilating creatures.

Swinging with huge eldrazis is a win condition in and of itself, but having a backup is a good idea. There is a multitude of ways to achieve infinite mana (which I've listed in the "Combos" section of this primer) which can then put all creatures from our deck directly into play.

This particular deck was not designed with cEDH in mind, and as such does not focus on Thrasios, Triton Hero/Thassa's Oracle or any other similar win con.


Weaknesses

This deck wants to be fast, which means it isn’t very disruptive; we only run a few counters & removal and no hate.

Fog effects can stop us from winning for a turn, which can potentially give our opponents enough time to answer our board.

Our average CMC is very high, meaning that we are very reliant on our early ramp paying off. Thankfully, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is very easy to recast if needs be which alleviate this problem.


Mulligan

Priority #1: As stated earlier, we are looking to be the aggressor. Casting Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy on turn 2 (or turn 1 if you have Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond) is of the utmost importance, which means you'll want at the very least one source of #Ramp and a way to generate both of your colours by turn 2.

I would recommend you mulligan for 2-3 #Ramp sources, 2-3 #Lands (dorks/rocks beat lands) and 1-2 #CardAdvantage. 2 lands, 2 dorks and Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy on turn 3 represents 6-7 mana, which is plenty to get our card advantage and or value engine going.

e.g. (Forest+Island+Llanowar Elves+4) or (Forest+Birds of Paradise+5)

Priority #2: You'll be able to generate a lot of mana quickly, so getting your #CardAdvantage engine going will be necessary to keep the deck going.

Priority #3: If casting our commander important to our game plan, then protecting him once he hits the field definitely is just as important, which make cards in the #Protection and #Interaction categories somewhat high on the priority list.

Priority #4: As with any deck, #Tutor and #Utility (mainly combo pieces) cards are nice to have in your opening hand and this deck is no different. That being said, you'll get them eventually and you should focus on actually being able to cast them.

Priority #5: Depending on your meta, you might want to keep #Removal on hand, but generally speaking, it shouldn't be a priority. #TheTentacleGang are definitely not needed at the beginning of the game either.

Don't be afraid to mulligan bad hands. This is a proactive deck and waiting on a bad keep to pay off is a luxury we can't afford.


Early game

Coming soon

Mid game

Coming soon

Late game

Coming soon

Cards marked with "~" are cards I'm considering for cut and/or upgrade.

TheTentacleGang

Artisan of Kozilek: Huge beater with Annihilator 2 that can also get us a creature from our graveyard.

~Conduit of Ruin: Acts both as a cost reducer and a tutor. We'll inevitably have to hardcast #TheTentacleGang every once in a while, so the cost reduction can definitely come in handy. The tutoring aspect also lets us choose what Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy will cheat into play next, assuming we don't draw a card before we can activate him.

Emrakul, the Promised End: Huge, flying beater that can't be countered or targeted by instants. Can also screw over an opponent of our choice.

It That Betrays: Huge beater that makes Annihilator (which it conveniently has) much more potent.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion: Huge, hard to block beater that draws us cards. Does not have Annihilator, but potentially allow us to counter problematic spells.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: Yet another huge beater that draws us cards. This one boasts Annihilator 4 and is also one of our only tools against mill decks.

Pathrazer of Ulamog: Huge, hard to block beater with Annihilator 3.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger: Huge, indestructible beater that exiles on cast. Does not have Annihilator, but mills our opponent for a considerable amount every time we attack with it.

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Yet another huge, indestructible beater. This one destroys a permanent on cast and boasts Annihilator 4. This also is one of our only tools against mill decks.

Void Winnower: Huge beater that not only taxes our opponents while leaving us unaffected, but also makes it hard for them to block effectively.


Ramp

Arcane Signet/Simic Signet/Talisman of Curiosity: Good ramp for the CMC and taps for both of our colours.

Basalt Monolith: Part of an infinite mana combo and also pairs well with Kiora's Follower.

Birds of Paradise: Great ramp for the CMC and taps for both of our colours.

Elvish Mystic/Fyndhorn Elves/Llanowar Elves: Great ramp for the CMC.

Fellwar Stone: Good ramp for the CMC that almost always taps for at least one of our colours, if not both.

Growing Rites of Itlimoc  : Turns out even the poor man's version of Gaea's Cradle is insane.

Gyre Engineer: Great ramp for the CMC and taps for both of our colours.

Ilysian Caryatid/Incubation Druid: Good to great ramp for the CMC and taps for both of our colours.

Maraleaf Pixie/Quirion Elves: Good ramp for the CMC and taps for both of our colours.

Paradise Druid/Sylvan Caryatid: Good ramp for the CMC and taps for both of our colours with built-in protection.

Sol Ring: Amazing ramp for the CMC.

Springleaf Drum: Amazing ramp for the CMC and allows us to get a use out of our utility creatures.

Thought Vessel: Good ramp for the CMC. No maximum hand size will prove useful every other game.


CardAdvantage

~Abundance: While not technically card advantage, this becomes really useful in the mid game to make sure we never hit lands when we don't want to, and vice versa.

Arcanis the Omnipotent: Especially good with haste and gets ridiculous if left unchecked. Pairs extremely well with Seedborn Muse.

~Guardian Project: This deck includes a high percentage of creatures, which obviously goes hand in hand with this card. Creatures that ETB via Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy's ability will also trigger this.

Mystic Remora: Aggressively costed, this can be played in the early game to draw us a ton of cards while people are trying to ramp and set up their game plan. Even in the late game, the 4-mana tax means you'll almost always draw some cards or at least deter your opponents from playing non-creature spells.

Nezahal, Primal Tide: Unconditional version of Mystic Remora, without the cumulative cost and on a BigBoi body that's hard to get rid of. It also can't be countered and removes your maximum hand size. Yeah, this is pretty sweet.

Prime Speaker Zegana: With almost any of #TheTentacleGang on the battlefield, this will draw you a lot of cards and leave you with a BigBoi to boot!

Prophet of Distortion: Allows us to draw our entire deck if we achieve infinite colorless mana.

Rhystic Study: The non-cumulative upkeep version of Mystic Remora. This triggers on all spells and not just non-creature, but the 1-mana tax is much easier to pay.

Teferi's Ageless Insight: This is basically the good part of Alhammarret's Archive for 1 less mana. Doubling our draw is just ridiculous when paired with literally any other cards in this category.

Tishana, Voice of Thunder: Considering the number of mana dorks we can have on the board, this draws us a lot of cards. The no maximum hand size and BigBoi body is just a bonus.


Tutor

Drift of Phantasms: Transmute lets us tutor for Freed from the Real, Pemmin's Aura & Basalt Monolith, 3/5 combo pieces. Can also get us Growing Rites of Itlimoc   or Rhystic Study.

~Fauna Shaman: Allows us to discard unneeded creatures (mostly mana dorks) for better ones depending on the state of the game.

Muddle the Mixture: Transmute lets us tutor for Kiora's Follower & Crashing Drawbridge, 2/5 combo pieces. It can also be used to tutor Fauna Shaman if we need a specific creature as well as Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Cyclonic Rift & Heroic Intervention and even, God forbid, act as a counter spell if we're in a pickle.


Protection

Asceticism: Gives all of our creatures Hexproof and allows us to regenerate them if needs be.

Heroic Intervention: Kind of like a much cheaper one-time use Asceticism at instant speed.

Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots: Shroud/Hexproof protects #TheTentacleGang quite effectively, but giving them haste is the reason why we are running these. Can also give haste to Crashing Drawbridge which makes it a one-sided Concordant Crossroads.


Interaction

Counterspell: The good ol' "counter any spells" by which all other counter effectiveness is measured.

Narset's Reversal: Someone tries to counter you? Bounce your spell back to your hand and not only make their counter fizzle but also cast your spell anyway; you can even recast it next turn! Someone plays an overloaded Cyclonic Rift? Not this turn they aren't; you are! Maybe you just want to copy your own spell over 2 turns; well, now you can!

Flusterstorm/Swan Song: Very low CMC, albeit narrow-ish. However, instants and sorceries are generally what we want to counter anyway.


Removal

Beast Within: Can target any permanent. The 3/3 is inconsequential.

Chain of Vapor: You can either use this to bounce a problematic permanent or to save your own from targeted removal. If used on your own permanent, you can sacrifice a land and bounce one of your opponents' permanent as well, making this a 2-for-1. Can also be used to bounce multiple threats by targeting the second scariest thing on the board, forcing its owner to sacrifice one of his lands to take care of the number 1 threat.

Cyclonic Rift: The only way to reset the board while leaving us unaffected. I don't think I need to explain why this is good.

Nature's Claim: Very low CMC, the 4 life is inconsequential.

Pongify/Rapid Hybridization: Very low CMC. The 3/3 is inconsequential.


Utility

Biomancer's Familiar: This reduces the activation cost of Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, allowing us to activate him more easily/often. It's especially good with Seedborn Muse.

Crashing Drawbridge: Gives mass haste to our board. Mainly used to close out the game when cheating a bunch of creatures with Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy but can also be used to chain mana dorks.

Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura: Allows us to generate infinite when cast on a mana dork that can produce . Can also be used on Kiora's Follower if we have a mana rock that can tap for . Pemmin's Aura also doubles as protection since it can give Shroud to the enchanted creature.

Kiora's Follower: Allows for some infinite mana combos and general ramp as well as general value by untapping utility creatures such as Fauna Shaman or Arcanis the Omnipotent.

Leyline of Anticipation: Allows us to play everything at instant speed. If we're lucky, we may not even have to cast it. Obviously pairs extremely well with Seedborn Muse.

Seedborn Muse: This card makes it very easy to keep mana open for interactions and lets us activate Kinnan a whole lot. As stated above, this becomes extremely powerful if we have either Leyline of Anticipation or Alchemist's Refuge on the battlefield.


Lands

Alchemist's Refuge: Allows us to play everything at instant speed. Pairs extremely well with Seedborn Muse.

Reliquary Tower: You'll draw a lot of cards and this will prevent you from discarding to 7.

Simic Growth Chamber: I generally avoid bounce lands, but this lets us go infinite with Kiora's Follower + Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura.

Tolaria West: Allows us to tutor for any of our lands. Also tutors for 0-CMC mana rocks if you have the budget for them. I don't count this towards the land total.

*You may think this is a lot of lands considering the amount of ramp we're packing, and it kinda is. However, while mana dorks/rocks are fast, they aren't all that resilient. This deck is also extremely coloured mana hungry.


Notable Exclusions

Land ramp (e.g. Cultivate) → I would only ever add these if you are in an extremely creature removal heavy meta since they are considerably slower thank dorks and rocks, albeit more resilient. To be honest, though, I would simply choose another commander if that were the case.

Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle → While a 12/12 is thematically fitting in this deck, it might be too slow to include considering Kinnan will not increase its mana production ability until we can deplete the 5 counters.

Nyxbloom Ancient/The Great Henge → These might be worth it in a slower meta, but I found the greater amount of mana produced does not matter at the point in the game these would come out.

Thrasios, Triton Hero/Thassa's Oracle/Walking Ballista → Extremely efficient and compact win conditions that can end the game on the spot if you achieve infinite mana. As already stated in the introduction, my intention was never to create a cutthroat combo deck, which is why these cards aren't included.

Combo #1: Infinite /

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy + Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura + Mana Dork

While Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is on the battlefield:

  1. Cast Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura onto any mana dork that can produce .
  2. Tap the mana dork to add to your mana pool.
  3. Use to pay for Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura's ability to untap the dork, which leaves you with a floating .
  4. Repeat ad infinitum to produce ∞.
  5. Tap the mana dork for , using one of your ∞ to pay for Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura's ability.

You now have ∞.


Combo #2: Infinite /

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy + Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura + Kiora's Follower + Mana Rock

While Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is on the battlefield:

  1. Cast Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura onto Kiora's Follower.
  2. Tap any mana rock that can produce to add to your mana pool.
  3. Use Kiora's Follower's ability to untap the rock.
  4. Use to pay for Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura's ability to untap the Kiora's Follower, which leaves you with a floating .
  5. Repeat ad infinitum to produce ∞.
  6. Tap the mana rock for , using your ∞ to pay for Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura's ability.

You now have ∞.


Combo #3: Infinite

Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura + Kiora's Follower + Simic Growth Chamber/Gyre Engineer

  1. Cast Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura onto Kiora's Follower.
  2. Tap Simic Growth Chamber/Gyre Engineer to add to your mana pool.
  3. Use Kiora's Follower's ability to untap Simic Growth Chamber/Gyre Engineer, using to pay for Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura's ability to untap the Kiora's Follower, which leaves you with a floating .
  4. Repeat ad infinitum to produce ∞.

While obviously weaker than combo #1 & #2, this one doesn't require Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy to be on the battlefield. If adapted, Incubation Druid could be used instead of Simic Growth Chamber/Gyre Engineer, resulting in ∞.


Combo #4: Infinite

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy + Basalt Monolith

While Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is on the battlefield:

  1. Tap Basalt Monolith for .
  2. Use to untap Basalt Monolith using its ability which leaves you with a floating .
  3. Repeat ad infinitum to produce ∞.

This is the weakest infinite mana combo we have since it only produces colourless mana, but it's also the easiest to assemble. However, this combo becomes much stronger if we have Prophet of Distortion in hand or in play, as it will allow us to draw our entire deck (and get the cast trigger on all of our eldrazi since we'll cast them instead of cheating them with Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy's ability)


Synergy #1: Hasty annihilation

+ Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy + Crashing Drawbridge/Concordant Crossroads/Finale of Devastation

allows us to activate Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy as many times as we want, cheating into play every creature remaining in our deck. Concordant Crossroads, Finale of Devastation (also pumps all of our creatures) and Crashing Drawbridge (if not affected by summoning sickness) can all be used to give mass haste.

Alternatively, if you happen to cheat Crashing Drawbridge into play and have Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots on the battlefield, you can equip it with either and still give haste to every creature you control.

Upgrades

Maraleaf Pixie/Quirion Elves/Basic → Not sure yet. (Thought-Knot Seer/Bane of Bala Ged/World Breaker/Ulamog's Crusher)

Beast WithinOko, Thief of Crowns, which is narrower but repeatable. The +2 will ever so rarely be used, but the -5 could be useful.

Gyre EngineerBloom Tender, which serves the same purpose for 1 less mana.

Prophet of DistortionThrasios, Triton Hero, which serves the same purpose but can be activated with any mana and can ramp.

Guardian ProjectConsecrated Sphinx, absurd card draw on a creature, exactly what we want.

AbundanceSylvan Library, free repeatable card selection and draw, which can draw all 3 cards if needed for a measly 8 life.

ForestDryad Arbor, which can be "cheated" into play with Kinnan if we fail to find better creatures and can also be tutored by Fauna Shaman/Finale of Devastation. Pretty vulnerable to removal/sweepers, though.

Forest/IslandRejuvenating Springs/Misty Rainforest, which would make our mana base more reliable.


Possible additions

Tutors, which I purposely chose not to add too many of because I dislike them. If you want the deck to be stronger/more reliable, definitely add more.

Sea Gate Restoration  /Turntimber Symbiosis  , both spells are what we want to be doing and the 3 life is inconsequential if we have to play them as land.


Replacements

Meta dependent.

Fauna ShamanFinale of Devastation, which is not only a powerful tutor that can also recur creatures from our graveyard, but is also one of the few ways to mass haste our creatures in our colours (can also be tutored with Muddle the Mixture). However, Fauna Shaman is a repeatable effect, while Finale of Devastation is not.

Weaker dorks/rocks ↔ Carpet of Flowers, which can ramp like crazy but is rather game/meta specific; I'd rather not dedicate a slot to a card that can be literally useless, but your meta may be different.


If you hate money

These are not at all necessary for the deck to function properly.

Tropical Island, the only ABUR land we can run.

Gaea's Cradle, busted in any creature heavy deck.

Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond, which lets us cast our commander on turn 1.

Mana Crypt, basically Sol Ring on steroids.

Mana Vault, quite good with Kiora's Follower.

Gilded Drake, solid removal which lets us take control of the threat instead of disposing of it. Enables jank plays with Chain of Vapor.

Survival of the Fittest, a faster and more resilient version of Fauna Shaman that can be used more than once per turn.

Mana Drain, which is strictly better than Counterspell.

Pact of Negation/Fierce Guardianship/Force of Will, because free counterspells are always good.

This primer, as is the case with all of them, is a constant work in progress. I do not currently have the budget to buy some of the more expensive cards, which is why they aren't included in the deck and are instead in the maybeboard.

Suggestions

Updates Add

I've been a bit careless with my grammar in the first version of this primer, so I took it upon myself to try and fix as much of my errors as I could. I hope it's better now! As for the deck itself, I've decided to cut what I considered to be good stuff and/or unfocused cards. The deck is now a lot smoother and more reliable:

Out Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, In Arcanis the Omnipotent

Out Nissa, Steward of Elements, In Teferi's Ageless Insight

Out Eldrazi Temple, In Alchemist's Refuge

Out Eye of Ugin, In Tolaria West

Out Rogue's Passage, In Flooded Grove

Out Krosan Grip, In Nature's Claim

Out Ground Seal, In Seedborn Muse

Out Kruphix, God of Horizons, In Leyline of Anticipation

Out Leafkin Druid, In Springleaf Drum

I've also decided to cut some tutors, not because they aren't good, but rather because I don't like to play with them. The combo pieces stay in the deck for now, though:

Out Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, In Chain of Vaporfoil

Out Long-Term Plans, In Narset's Reversal

*There are still some upgrades I want to do but I don't have the budget for them at the moment. I'll update the deck once I do.

Comments

Casual

90% Competitive

Top Ranked
Date added 4 years
Last updated 4 years
Exclude colors WBR
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

9 - 0 Mythic Rares

29 - 0 Rares

25 - 0 Uncommons

13 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.65
Tokens Ape 3/3 G, Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Frog Lizard 3/3 G
Folders simic, Kinnan's Decks, General Decks of other People, Sweet dex, Simic, Cockatrice, Decks in Progress, Retired
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