Never Been Kess'd

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Control Counterspell Discard Doomsday Pile Flash Multiplayer Split second UBR (Grixis)

Azdranax

Land (33)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit *f-pre*
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Copy Artifact

Instant (29)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Delay
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Extirpate
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Stifle
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Tolarian Winds
• 1x Trickbind
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Creature (9)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Hullbreacher
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Thieving Skydiver
• 1x Vedalken Aethermage

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Extract
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Unearth
• 1x Wheel of Misfortune
• 1x Windfall

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Ivory Tower
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Thought Vessel

---

Her consultation leads to a pact that ensures doomsday for her opponents.

After dabbling with a wizard-tribal build for a few years to fun but mixed results, it was finally time to unleash Kess, Dissident Mage in her most potent form. With the addition of Thassa's Oracle, the lines to victory between Demonic Consultation, Tainted Pact and Doomsday, paired with the fish lady, Laboratory Maniac and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries are both consistent and redundant. Paired with a control-shell and the ability to recast any needed instant or sorcery spell from the graveyard with Kess in play, the deck is quick and resilient.

The creatures included each serve a necessary purpose to consistently advance one of the winning lines, often times slowing the opposition as well. I've broken them down by color and intended purpose for a little more flavor:

RED - Dockside Extortionist for treasure ramping.

BLUE - Baral, Chief of Compliance for spell cost reduction and card draw; Thieving Skydiver for artifact theft; Hullbreacher for treasure ramp and opponent draw prevention; Spellseeker for spell tutoring; Thassa's Oracle for the primary win trigger; Vedalken AEthermage for a nearly unstoppable Thassa tutor; and Laboratory Maniac for another win condition via card draw, if needed.

BLACK - Opposition Agent for opponent tutor denial and theft.

Because most of the creatures in the deck with game-winning potential are wizards, Cavern of Souls helps to ensure they hit the board when needed, especially the Oracle and Lab Man. Regardless of creatures, the primary goal is to setup the ability to thin your library and win, while also denying and exiling your opponents' combo pieces with the likes of counter magic and Extirpate, Extract and Praetor's Grasp. If you like it or if you think I missed an obvious option to include, feel free to leave me some feedback. Thanks for taking a look and happy brewing.

Top Ranked	Achieved #24 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WG
Splash colors	R
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 62 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.00
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Treasure
Folders	Interesting Commander Decks