Kenrith Wheels and Bears [Primer]

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Control Primer Stax

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Creature (31)

• 1x Alms Collector
• 1x Anafenza, the Foremost
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Destiny Spinner
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Faeburrow Elder
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Incubation Druid
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mayhem Devil
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Oakhame Adversary
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Vizier of Remedies

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Winds of Change

Land (31)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forest
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Artifact (3)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Oko, Thief of Crowns

Commander (1)

Instant (16)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Cindervines
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Utopia Sprawl

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Maybeboard

Creature (8)

• 1x Archon of Valor's Reach
• 1x Auriok Salvagers
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
• 1x Sanctum Prelate
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Leyline of the Void
• 1x One with the Stars
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Underworld Breach

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Neoform
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Artifact (3)

• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Torpor Orb

Instant (3)

• 1x Intuition
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Narset's Reversal

Land (1)

• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

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Control-stax deck with wheels payoffs and compact infinite-mana combo kill.

Introduction Show

Why Kenrith Control?

Kenrith is a formidable mana dump, although not considered Tier S like Tymna + Thrasios, he allows to build with RED and is a living toolbox!

• Draw? Check
• Pump and trample? Check
• Reanimation? Check
• Life for corner cases? Check

If you like to put a cage around your opponents while understanding what to stop and what not, Kenrith is a powerful commander to work with. Since Kenrith is slower than his competitive counterparts the list uses hard stax pieces and permission elements to keep the game at our pace. To see more cards and to ruin fast combo we run wheel effects. "Draw 7 Go" and watch your opponents' faces when they realise they draw only 1 or none at all.

The current list requires Kenrith available to win in the combo turn, as a Control deck you should be in the position to build your board and have Kenrith on it. Initially there was another mana dump in the 99 but it got cut for more control options. There was also a plan B: to overrun with a huge Finale of Devastation , but there are so many Grafdigger Cages around that it's just not happening.

DISCLAIMER: I'm now creating the version with the best possible cards, not only the ones I own, it's necessary to create a complete primer

Gameplan

The general plan is to slow down opponents while Kenrith refills our hand with his ability and with wheel effects, which disrupt crafted hands and bolster our position thanks to: Narset, Parter of Veils , Notion Thief , Alms Collector and Smothering Tithe *. Finally there are compact infinite mana combos to use with Kenrith. In the combo section there is an overview of the possible packages.

A starting hand should have, in order of priority:

1. mana and mana acceleration
2. a piece of stax or a sure way to get it and put it on the board soon (like T2/T3)
3. a wheel effect
4. a wheel payoff
5. counterspell effects

Other cards: spot removal, mass removal, combo cards should be mulliganed away. If you don't have the wheel or the stax you should also mulligan, an exception would be a super mana-explosive hand which would allow you to play kenrith extra early.

*: depending on the meta you may want to play more Null Rod and Stony Silence , if so, smothering tithe loses appeal. Tune the deck accordingly.

Origins and Anecdotes

While tinkering with the list Rain fo Castamere came up in the playlist and it was oddly matching the feeling for the deck. House Lannister is known to rule and impose taxes while resorting to dark magic in various occasions like the Cersei's zombified bodyguard which goes along with Kenrith's reanimation ability.

The list was born to play along with mono red burn in a 2HG tourney. Turns out this "support deck" did actually plenty of killing while testing, so it's presented here in the two versions: solo and 2HG. The partner's deck was sporting Wheel of Fortune which was inspiration to run the wheels+payoffs package.

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Control and Stax Show

"You want to rule? This is what ruling is; lying on a bed of weeds, ripping them out by the root, one by one, before they strangle you in your sleep!" - Cersei Lannister

Stop your opponents from creating board-states and block their abilities upfront. The deck has a toolbox theme to search for the right response to do the job.

Artifacts & Enchantments

Prevent opponents to use mana rocks or game breaking artifacts

Currently in to follow the anti-fish hushbringer meta:

• Caustic Caterpillar , Cindervines
• Vandalblast , Kataki, War's Wage . Kataki works almost ok with our treasures, that is why we run it in place of the Ouphe

Currently in flex slots but can be relevant in your meta:

• Null Rod , Collector Ouphe to prevent activations, pay attention to your smothering tithe and other artifacts though
• Reclamation Sage , hughsbringer switches down also our ETBs
• Cleansing Nova , very meta dependant

Creatures

Kill pesky critters or mana dorks, creature pressure shouldn't be a thing so this suite is at a minimum

• Swords to Plowshares ,
• Fire Covenant ,

• Linvala, Keeper of Silence

• sidelined but still powerful in the right meta: Cleansing Nova and Dismember

Draw and Search

Discourage opponents from searching or abusing draws

• Narset, Parter of Veils , Smothering Tithe
• Ashiok, Dream Render , Aven Mindcensor

Graveyard

Stop shenanigans with graveyards

• Leyline of the Void chosen because asymmetric or if you are in a heavy GY meta, you can as well Rest in Peace
• Ashiok, Dream Render , Deathrite Shaman , Anafenza, the Foremost

Permission

Interact with the stack

• Force of Will , Pyroblast , Mana Drain
• Dovin's Veto , Dispel , Flusterstorm , Swan Song
• Glen Elendra Archmage + Vizier of Remedies
• Teferi, Time Raveler *, Silence

*depending on your meta this stops some interactions, in particular consultation lines with Thassa, if you don't need it, Oko is a solid alternative

• Archon of Valor's Reach on instant and Sanctum Prelate are two new addition to the maybe board, Archon is ok-ish if you want to test it. It can win on it's own and it's difficult to remove. The Prelate on the other hand would need a larger refactoring of the deck since you want to be sure to have few 2 cmc non creature spells.

• Counterspell , Muddle the Mixture , Narset's Reversal are all strong cards but they use and I've removed them for ease on the manabase. The Mana Drain is the most powerful one and reamins, thanks to abeltda in the comments who reminded me about it! (I mean.. yea, silly me)

Catch-all

For whatever slips through

• Assassin's Trophy
• Oko, Thief of Crowns

Also tried Vraska Golgari Queen or the Unseen, but they felt quite slow. Abrupt Decay could be a thing but it's difficult to find a cut.

Storm

Deal with decks that try to combo off by casting a huge number of spells in a turn

• Flusterstorm
• Damping Sphere / Cindervines

In the 2HG format Cindervines is probably superior because of the shared life points, besides my partner is running some odd cards boosting his land production.

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Combo Show

"Any man who must say ‘I am the King’ is no true King." - Tywin Lannister

Make sure they know they can't let you go unchecked. Show an early combo piece to keep them on the defensive or botching answers.

Graftmage Untap

Vigean Graftmage / Freed from the Real interacts with Bloom Tender , Incubation Druid and Faeburrow Elder , it would be possible to add also the Flash-Hulk-Torch Courier package, but those are 3 slots that this list prefer to run as stax or counterspells.

Vizier of Remedies

We run both the Glen Elendra Archmage and the Devoted Druid -1-1 engines, the first one provides tons of countermagic power, the second one a ton of green mana.

Theor gave us One with the Stars which acts like a strange removal for certain commanders (the ones which operate "when they attack") and also speeds up the Devoted Combo. When the Druid becomes an articat, it loses summoning sickness.

Dockside Mayhem

When opponents have 5 artifacts or enchantments in play Dockside Extortionist creates enough treasures so that they can pay for Kenrith reanimate option. Mayhem Devil will ping the dockside for 2 and your opponents for 3, starting the loop, just be sure to leave everyone at 1 before the killing blow. This is because when you kill a player before the others, your dockside maybe won't pump out enough treasures!

*so many graveyard anti flash hulk cards playing around, that this route is quite difficult to put off.

2HG Explosion Kill

As a side note I really like Expansion / Explosion in 2HG because it kills both opponents right away and looks solid in many scenarios. It's a diversive manoeuvre in case of someone Pithing Needle our Kenrith. It requires an infinite mana engine, notice that it cannot work with the Bomberman unless you can get it back from the graveyard somehow (Noxious revival/Underworld Breach?)

Necrotic Pile (not maindeck)

Devoted Druid + Channeler Initiate , haste can be given by the King himself, no need to run Torch Courier . This is also the reason why I prefer the Necrotic Ooze + Buried Alive w.r.t. Flash + Hulk. The creatures we use are just mana creatures useful also outside of the combo. The dead slots are really bound to the bare minimum.

Bomberman (not main deck)

Lion's Eye Diamond + Auriok Salvagers , with Kenrith we don't really mind to empty our hand as it remains empty for not very long afterwards. Besides Echo of Eons synergises really well with the Lion's Eye and also helps our partner to draw 7 in 2HG. The salvagers though are quite bad on their own, so this combo is on the sidelines for now.

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Taxes Show

"A Lannister always pays his debts" - Tyrion Lannister

There are a couple of draw and acceleration engines based on tax effects, which are usually a good target for tutors in the early turns.

• Mystic Remora
• Rhystic Study
• Smothering Tithe
• Damping Sphere / Cindervines

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2HG and Budget versions Show

2HG

These are the most obvious substitutions to play along in a 2HG match. There are other optimisations listed in the flex slot, which you can use or swap out for whatever is your favorite taste.

2HG cards:

• Scheming Symmetry , when you have a team member this card is super strong!
• Expansion / Explosion , kill 2 players instant speed? yes please

Solo cards:

• Diabolic Intent , while playing alone scheming symmetry falls out of flavour
• Glen Elendra Archmage , a solid choice for the Vizier package

Flex slots:

• Cleansing Nova , maybe a better board wipe or additional permission
• Echo of Eons , our team member needed to draw cards so this card was insane for that. If you have the Lion's Eye it's still very powerful
• Non-creature counterspells, the list runs quite a lot of them, you can switch them out for other permission or stax pieces
• Damping Sphere / Cindervines , could very well be Trinisphere

Budget

Keep in mind this is a 5 color deck, so the most expensive part will always be the manabase. In budget the core of the deck is still available: plenty of hatebears, wheels and payoffs. The main difference is the manabase stability and the tutoring power.

• 300-400: Budget Kenrith Wheels and Bears
• 1500-2000: deck:Kenrith Wheels and Bears my paper list

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And who are you, the proud lord said,

that I must bow so low?

Only a cat of a different coat,

that's all the truth I know.

In a coat of gold or a coat of red,

a lion still has claws,

And mine are long and sharp, my lord,

as long and sharp as yours.

And so he spoke, and so he spoke,

that lord of Castamere,

And now the rains weep o'er his hall,

with no one there to hear.

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Top Ranked	Achieved #17 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #10 position in Commander / EDH 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Control 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Five Color 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Splash colors	R
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 61 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.10
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Elk 3/3 G, Food, Treasure
Folders	cEDH, EDH, CEDH Kenrith, edh, 5 color
Based on	Breya, Doomsday Breach! Sc1enc3 EDH