Kenrith, the Returned King cEDH (Primer Included)

Commander / EDH*

Zyasha

Land (29)

• 1x Badlands
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Gemstone Mine
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Undiscovered Paradise
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Artifact (6)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring

Instant (27)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Drown in the Loch
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Flash
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Memory's Journey
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Silence
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Sylvan Tutor
• 1x Wheel of Fortune

Commander (1)

Creature (21)

• 1x Auriok Salvagers
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Cephalid Illusionist
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Hapless Researcher
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Narcomoeba
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Nomads en-Kor
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Renegade Rallier
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Wild Cantor
• 1x Worldgorger Dragon

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Sylvan Library

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Introduction

This primer will be a full description of the deck and a good tutorial for piloting it and playing in a more competitive manner overall. If you are new to cEDH I do not recommend this deck or its correlating Primer, as it requires a good sense of the format and a fairly high level of skill to pilot. If you want to lean more, consider other amazing content creators on their respective platforms. For those of you who are still here, lets jump into Kenrith, the Returned King for cEDH!

Why Kenrith?

I've spent over three years piloting cEDH decks of all sorts and variety, and the past year-and-a-half has been WUBRG generals specifically. Originally starting with Ramos, Dragon Engine , then Scion of the Ur-Dragon , and finally landing on the Returned King himself. I've tested all forms of play styles and unsurprisingly enough, I've found the best to be more combo-centric. Scion of the Ur-Dragon was by far the best general for a combo-based deck from all my play-testing, utilizing the entire color pie to unleash the strongest combos in the format. Historically, Scion has always been an icon for the format, from fun and grindy tribal midrange, to the old days of Hermit Druid combo decks. But when Kenrith was printed, I knew we had something groundbreaking. Kenrith does everything Scion does, but with less cards utilized, making room for more interaction, combo density, and filtering. These things are all very important in a format where every single draw, priority pass, and ability could mean glorious victory, or an early demise. Kenrith, the Returned King offers a new perspective on this exciting format, and I'm just as excited to share my take on quite a powerful deck.

The Basics

This deck revolves around several combos to achieve victory. Here, I will provide a basic description of these combos to start to understand the deep intricacies of this deck. There are five main combos the deck utilizes, and several links between them tying it all together. The main combos are as listed:

1. Bomberman
   This tried and true combo uses two cards to achieve infinite mana of all colors. It uses Auriok Salvagers and Lion's Eye Diamond . To enable this combo, two conditions must be met:
   • Auriok Salvagers needs to be on the Battlefield
   • Lion's Eye Diamond must be in your hand, graveyard, or on the Battlefield.
   First, discard your hand to sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond for . Then activate Auriok Salvagers ability paying targeting Lion's Eye Diamond in your graveyard and returning it to your hand, leaving in your mana pool. Then cast Lion's Eye Diamond for . Continue to sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond floating one each time. Then create an arbitrary amount of mana, then use that mana to pay for Auriok Salvagers activated ability, and create different colors every time you sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond until you have an arbitrary amount of mana for each color you need.
   
2. Worldgorger Combo
   This very fast combo utilizes two cards to achieve infinite mana of all colors. It uses Worldgorger Dragon and Animate Dead . To enable this combo, a few conditions must be met:
   • Worldgorger Dragon needs to be in your graveyard
   • Animate Dead needs to be in your hand
   • You need (a) land(s) in play that taps for the colors you need without dealing you damage, and that enters the Battlefield untapped without dealing you damage or requiring an additional cost to use
   • Another creature card in any players graveyard to end the combo safely
   First, cast Animate Dead, targeting Worldgorger Dragon from your graveyard upon entering the Battlefield. This will return Worldgorger Dragon to the Battlefield, putting its enter the Battlefield ability on the stack, exiling all other permanents you control. Before its ability resolves, tap all available mana sources and add that mana to your mana pool. Worldgorger Dragon's enter the Battlefield ability will resolve, exiling all permanents you control including Animate Dead. This will cause you to forcibly sacrifice Worldgorger Dragon due to Animate Dead's text. Doing so will cause Worldgorger Dragon's leave the Battlefield ability to trigger, returning all permanents exiled by it to the Battlefield, including your lands, and Animate Dead. Let Animate Dead target Worldgorger Dragon in your graveyard again, returning it to the Battlefield. With Worldgorger Dragon's enter the Battlefield ability on the stack, once more tap your lands for mana and add it to your mana pool. Repeat this loop until you've generated an arbitrary amount of mana in all applicable colors. To end this loop, allow Worldgorger Dragon's leave the Battlefield ability resolve, and when Animate Dead enters the Battlefield, target any other creature besides Worldgorger Dragon.
   
3. Breakfast Combo
   This two card combo is used to put every card from your Library into your graveyard. It utilizes Nomads en-Kor and Cephalid Illusionist . To enable this combo, only one condition must be met:
   • Nomads en-Kor and Cephalid illusionist need to be on the Battlefield
   To start this combo, activate Nomads en-Kor's activated ability to redirect the next one damage that would be dealt to Nomads en-Kor to a creature you control, targeting Cephalid Illusionist. This will put Cephalid Illusionist's triggered ability on the stack, making you put the top three cards of your Library into your graveyard. Continue activating Nomads en-Kor targeting Cephalid Illusionist until you have zero cards left in your Library.
   
4. Hermit Druid
   This age old combo is used to put every card from your Library into your graveyard. It used only its namesake card Hermit Druid . To enable this combo, only one condition must be met:
   • Hermit Druid needs to be on the Battlefield
   To use this combo, simply activate Hermit Druid's activated ability by paying and tapping Hermit Druid. You will reveal cards from the top of your Library until you reveal a basic land card, then put that card into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Since this deck has zero basic lands, you will reveal your entire Library and then put every card into your graveyard.
   
5. Oracle Pact/Maniac Pact

These combos both aim to win the game by using conditional win contingencies. One uses Laboratory Maniac , Tainted Pact , and any card draw instance. The other uses Thassa's Oracle and Tainted Pact . To enable these combos,a few conditions must be met:

• Thassa's Oracle's enter the Battlefield ability needs to be on the stack, with priority held (Oracle Pact)
• Laboratory Maniac needs to be on the Battlefield (Maniac Pact)
• Tainted Pact needs to be in hand (Oracle Pact/Maniac Pact)

To utilize the Oracle Pact combo, you need to hold priority on Thassa's Oracle's enter the Battlefield ability, looking at the top cards of your Library and putting one of them on the top of your Library, and the rest on the bottom of your Library in a random order, were equals your devotion to Blue. With priority held, cast Tainted Pact for . You will exile cards from the top of your Library until you choose to stop, or until you exile two cards with the same name. Since no two cards have the same name in this deck, you may exile every card in your Library. Once Tainted Pact has resolved, you should have zero cards in your Library. Then let Thasa's Oracle's enter the Battlefield trigger resolve. The second part of this ability will check the number of cards in your Library, then check your devotion to Blue. With zero cards in your Library, your devotion to Blue will be higher than the number of cards in your Library, causing you to win the game.
To utilize the Maniac Pact combo, cast Tainted Pact for . You will exile cards from the top of your Library until you choose to stop, or until you exile two cards with the same name. Since no two cards have the same name in this deck, you may exile every card in your Library. Once Tainted Pact has resolved, you should have zero cards in your Library. Then utilize any "draw a card" effect possible. Laboratory Maniac's replacement effect will check upon drawing a card if there are any cards in your Library, seeing zero cards, the replacement effect will cause you to win the game.

Resource Breakdown

Building and piloting a five color cEDH deck certainly present some challenges. In this panel, I will break the deck down into its core elements, or "groups". Each group will contain all cards relevant to that group and a brief description on each card's inclusion. These groups include: Card Advantage, Mana Acceleration, Tutors, Interaction, Combo Pieces, and the Land Basis.

Card Advantage

This group includes all cards in the list dedicated to drawing cards. Cards that draw a card as an additional effect may not be listed here as they are being utilized for a separate and/or more relevant ability. This group contains twelve cards.

1. Faithless Looting
   For only a single , Faithless Looting provides excellent early game filtering and mid game flexibility with its Flashback ability for . This card works well with the Animate Dead + Worldgorger Dragon combo, as it allows you to discard Worldgorger Dragon and potentially another creature card to set it up perfectly. Discarding a card can be surprisingly helpful in this deck, not only with the Worldgorger combo, but with a bit of synergy involving Memory's Journey to cheapen its casting cost to a single with Flashback. It also can potentially work in tandem with Renegade Rallier , putting a target into the graveyard for its Revolt trigger to return to the Battlefield.
2. Careful Study
   Similar to Faithless Looting , Careful Study does a great job filtering and churning through the deck as early as turn one. Although unlike Faithless Looting, Careful Study lacks an alternate casting ability, but I believe this is outweighed by Careful Study only costing a single . Blue mana is much easier and more applicable to tutor for with a fetch land then any other color, as it's the main color of this deck. Having redundancy in a "draw two for one" type of card makes Careful Study a solid inclusion in my book.
3. Hapless Researcher
   Continuing on the turn one filtering and discarding, Hapless Researcher comes in as an absolute all-star of a creature. Unlike its one mana counterparts ( Faithless Looting and Careful Study ), Hapless Researcher only draws one card and discards one card. But this is enormously outweighed because if its card type. Since Hapless Researcher is a creature, many more of our tutors can grab it, especially Protean Hulk in combination with Flash . Being a key component in the Laboratory Maniac Protean Hulk pile, Hapless Researcher has more than earned a dedicated slot in this deck.
4. Brainstorm
   This card is the cornerstone of Blue cantrips. Paying a single to draw three cards has been possibly the most powerful Blue effect in all of Magic, hence why Ancestral Recall is power-nine level good. But since we can't have Ancestral Recall, Brainstorm will have to do for now. But even having to put two of our cards back on top of our Library isn't necessarily a bad thing or even a drawback for that matter. In this deck we have but a few cards we absolutely do not want in or hand. Mainly Worldgorger Dragon and Dread Return . Even if they aren't the cards we draw into with Brainstorm, it allows us to put those cards back into our Library, giving us a chance to use any form of tutor to shuffle them away. It is also worth mentioning that Brainstorm is indeed an instant, allowing us to cast it at any moment, in any situation.
5. Mystic Remora
   Nothing feels better than slamming this classic enchantment onto the table on turn one, and hearing the other players sign out of sheer annoyance. Mystic Remora is by far the best enchantment this deck has, and for a single , it normally causes snap-keeps in opening hands. This format is crawling with juicy turn one/two non-creature spells, meaning you'll either be drawing plenty of cards, or it turns into a sort of one mana Narset Transcendent emblem. The only draw back to this card is of course its cumulative upkeep cost of . I've seen plenty of players pay upwards of four to seven mana to "feed the fish" and draw zero cards over several turns. But if played correctly, Mystic Remora is potentially the best source of card advantage this deck can muster.
6. Ad Nauseam
   This powerful Black instant has more than enough potential to just outright win the game if it resolves. The average converted mana cost of this deck is low enough that if Ad Nauseam resolves and you have between 30-40 life, you'll draw on average 15-25 cards. The payoff of Ad Nauseam is astoundingly high, which of course is "balanced" by costing to cast. This high casting cost (compared to the rest of our castable spells) means it takes proper preparation to cast, such as retaining a high life total to maximize the number of draws, properly tutoring out two sources of mana, and having a little protection for it on the stack. Greed personified, Ad Nauseam is a fitting card for this draw-hungry deck.
7. Dark Confidant
   Good enough for a slot, but definitely the worst source of card advantage in this deck. Dark Confidant is drastically better the earlier in the game it resolves. It doesn't provide immediate value, and it doesn't provide a lot of value when it does. But drawing an extra card every one of your turns isn't anything to be overlooked. Mid to late game it almost feels like a dead draw, but getting a turn one or two Dark Confidant can provide just enough card advantage to keep you ahead of the competition. The loss of life typically isn't too harsh due to this decks low average converted mana cost, as previously stated in the Ad Nauseam bullet. For now, Dark Confidant is just fine, until something better is inevitably printed.
8. Preordain
   Not many Blue cantrips do as much as Preordain for a single . Playing this on turn one always feels great; setting up your next draws, bottoming non-useful cards, and replacing itself all in one go. Preordain is a staple for any deck capable of producing mana.
9. Ponder
   Similarly to Preordain , Ponder is phenomenal filtering and deck manipulation. Being able to have a Sensei's Divining Top activation on top of an optional shuffle plus replacing itself all for one is just too good to not include.
10. Wheel of Fortune
    Red is, as Red does. Nothing personifies this colors identity more than the iconic, Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Fortune is a play of risk and reward. Forcing each player to discard their hand and draw seven new cards could spell immediate victory for the caster, or any of the other players at the table. Playing this spell before any opponents have a chance to cast a spell usually will put you at a major advantage. With the London mulligan, and a free mulligan in this multiplayer format, players usually always keep relatively decent hands. Forcing them to take a new one whether they like it or not could mean they are totally prevented from playing, or are slowed down enough for you to pull ahead in resources which likely means winning the game. This spell also is quite good at setting up the combo of Animate Dead + Worldgorger Dragon by letting you discard Worldgorger Dragon. Wheel of Fortune has the potential to do so much, for a fairly low cost of . This makes it an automatic include for this deck. I wonder if Richard Garfield and Pat Sajak were friends...
11. Sylvan Library
    The green version of Dark Confidant , except a strict upgrade. Similar to Dark Confidant however, playing this enchantment as early as possible means you'll get more out of it. Sylvan Library doesn't provide immediate vaue, but absolutely pays off the longer it stays in play. Being able to practically activate a Sensei's Divining Top every draw phase for free is already quite powerful, but being able to draw those extra cards as well, now that's scary good.
12. Gitaxian Probe
    Being able to draw a card for only two life seems too good to be true, enter Gitaxian Probe. Honestly, cards like Gitaxian Probe are an unrealized double-edged sword. At first glance you're in a non-practical way bringing the deck size down a card, but you're also losing a potential counter-spell, combo piece, removal card, etc., etc. The reasoning for running Gitaxian Probe then falls to its ability to spy on another player. Bring able to see another player's hand can be invaluable in many situations. Being able to see what they cast Demonic Tutor to grab, seeing if they have any counter magic, it all becomes priceless knowledge purchasable for two life. Although Street Wraith is faster, the lack of tactility versus Gitaxian Probe could mean life or death. Street Wraith also feels pretty bad to hit with an Ad Nauseam . All in all, spy movies are cool, and Gitaxian Probe is cool too.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Animate Dead + Worldgorger Dragon
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 59 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.70
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders	4) Commander