Kess High tide Storm

Commander / EDH Competitive Multiplayer Primer Storm UBR (Grixis)

LandG0

Instant (28)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Delay
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Paradoxical Outcome
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Snap
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Creature (4)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Notion Thief

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Dack Fayden

Land (28)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 8x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Artifact (17)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Commander (1)

Sorcery (20)

• 1x Bonus Round
• 1x By Force
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Mind's Desire
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Rite of Flame
• 1x Rolling Earthquake
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Unearth
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Mystic Remora

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Maybeboard

Instant (8)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Gush
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Unsubstantiate

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Pyroclasm
• 1x Rite of Flame

Artifact (2)

• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Voltaic Key

Creature (1)

• 1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip

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This list is aiming to be as optimal as possible without budget restrictions. It has slightly more counter spells than the average storm list as I'm quite often seen as one of the bigger threats at the table. The early game play is to cast Ad Nauseam on the end step before my turn and then storm for the win with Aetherflux Reservoir , alternatively Doomsday is a great way to win at any point in the game with as little as for doomsday and 4 islands in pay and it can be done on very low life.

Doomsday

Rather than explain this in detail I'll point you to this very detailed Doomsday primer here

Storm

To be able to win from Aetherflux Reservoir you need to bring your life total up to over 150 so you can 'Laser Beam' each opponent for 50 damage, I'll highlight some of the key cards for this to work

Ramp

Mana positive ramp

All of these cards leave you with more mana than you had before casting them

• Dark Ritual More mana and great to be able to use twice with Kess or Yawgmoth's Will
• Cabal Ritual See above
• Sol Ring A staple of every deck
• Mana Crypt Even better than Sol Ring in a fast deck
• Mana Vault Better than Sol Ring on the storm turn
• Grim Monolith Slightly worse Mana Vault
• Chrome Mox Free mana with a full Ad Nauseum hand
• Mox Diamond See above
• Mox Opal With all the artifacts in here this is normally P9 level good
• Lotus Petal One use but it can make all the difference
• Lion's Eye Diamond Can be sacrificed in response to a draw spell

More Ramp

With Helm of Awakening out these will produce as much as they cost so they can add to the storm count for free

• Fellwar Stone Generally taps for all the colours i need
• Talisman of Dominance The talismans are better than signets as they don't require to tap them
• Talisman of Indulgence See above
• Dimir Signet is the most important colour so I run both of those signets
• Izzet Signet See above

Cost Reduction

These aid in netting positive mana with ramp, Helm of Awakening will make all the 2 cmc rocks effectively free as they will cost one and tap for one

• Helm of Awakening This pays for itself very fast and can hugely increase the storm count
• Baral, Chief of Compliance Almost a Helm 2.0

High Tide Package

With 12 Islands in this deck (8 basics and 4 duals) High Tide is very strong

• High Tide With Kess, Dissident Mage or Jace, Vryn's Prodigy   on the field this can be cast twice so your islands tap for

Island untappers

• Candelabra of Tawnos can be used multiple times with Voltaic Key or any of the bounce spells
• Frantic Search The draw can be good for finding a wincon or used in a DD pile, but the island untap with high tide is the main power of this card

• Snap Can be used to bounce stax creatures like Eidolon of Rhetoric , but the main reason again is island untaps

Bumping up the Storm count

Chain of Vapor Can be used to bounce my mana rocks to create more mana as well

Hurkyl's Recall Resets all my rocks - need to be more carefull with this as Aetherflux can be hard to recast at 4 cmc

Paradoxical Outcome Great extra draw and selective mana rocks bounce

Mind's Desire Playing this with a reasonable storm count and Aetherflux Reservoir on the field should end the game

Dramatic Scepter combos

Isochron Scepter & Dramatic Reversal when paired with mana rocks that tap for 2 can create an infinite storm count, with mana rocks that tap for 3+ you will create infinite mana. There are 3 cards that combo with this:

• Aetherflux Reservoir This will gain infinite life to kill the table
• Mind's Desire Cast this to play your deck for free
• Sensei's Divining Top Tap the Top to draw a card, in response activate Scepter to untap Top and then repeat the process enough times before the first draw resolves to draw your entire deck

Set up

Control

Even though this deck is fast, it quite often isn't the fastest deck at the table. Therefore having a good mix of removal is important. The same goes for counter spells, they are here to disrupt the faster decks and protect me when going for the win.

Counters

• Force of Will Free is best
• Pact of Negation Hopefully this will be used on your last turn and you won't have to pay
• Mental Misstep Free counter, and there are a lot of 1 cmc cards in cEDH
• Flusterstorm Insane on the storm turn, is very hard to counter this unless an opponent has one too
• Swan Song Counters most things I need it to for
• Pyroblast Counters a counter and its amazing how many times i have used it to destroy a permanent, one of the best ways to deal with Back to Basics in this deck
• Red Elemental Blast See above
• Mana Drain Providing free mana on the next turn can make all the difference
• Arcane Denial I prefer this over Counterspell as its less colour intensive
• Delay Chances are 3 time counters means your opponent will never get to cast the spell

Removal

• Toxic Deluge Best boardwipe IMO, and with 4 toughness Kess will quite often survive
• Rolling Earthquake Another controlled wipe, and only hits me for one when drawing off Ad Nauseum
• Snap Mainly here for High Tide, but good for stax creatures
• By Force Great targeted artifact removal
• Chain of Vapor Perfect for removing stax pieces
• Cyclonic Rift Good for , insane for if you get to that point

Finding what you need

Draw/Card Selection

• Mystic Remora Potentially the best draw in cEDH
• Brainstorm Instant speed and gets a lot better with shuffle effects
• Ponder Great filtering
• Preordain See above
• Impulse See above
• Frantic Search Filtering, High Tide, DD piles
• Dack Fayden Great filtering and stealing artifact ramp can be great too
• Jace, Vryn's Prodigy   Great filtering and recursion
• Night's Whisper good draw and helps DD
• Gush Here for DD piles
• Gitaxian Probe Great to check for a potential counter, and great in DD pile
• Sensei's Divining Top Good top deck selection and gets better with shuffle effects
• Wheel of Fortune Best wheel in the deck as Kess can still use what you ditch
• Windfall Wheel of Fortune 2.0
• Timetwister Wheel of Fortune 3.0 in this deck as i don't use infinite loops here
• Notion Thief A brutal card in response to a wheel
• Yawgmoth's Will This doesn't draw but it turns your GY into a second hand for a turn, one of the best cards in the deck

Tutors

• Demonic Tutor The best tutor
• Dark Petition A second demonic tutor most of the time
• Vampiric Tutor Any card instant speed to top of deck for , its great
• Imperial Seal Sorcery speed Vampiric Tutor
• Gamble Finds anything, great with Kess, Dissident Mage
• Intuition Amazing with Kess, Dissident Mage
• Mystical Tutor Finds most relevant cards
• Merchant Scroll Pretty much here for high tide

Budget Options

I've aimed to make this deck as optimal as possible, however some of these cards are very pricey. It's never going to be a cheap deck, but here are some options for the highest value cards that i have used in the past.

ABUR Dual Lands

If you don't have these then you probably don't have candelabra so the high island count is less relevant

• Badlands -> Luxury Suite ideally, or Sulfurous Springs / Dragonskull Summit
• Underground Sea -> Morphic Pool ideally, or Underground River / Drowned Catacomb
• Volcanic Island -> Shivan Reef / Sulfur Falls

Other Cards

• Candelabra of Tawnos -> Reality Spasm is the closest effect, but you're probably just better off with more interaction or Rite of Flame
• Timetwister -> Whispering Madness
• Mana Drain -> Counterspell
• Force of Will -> Dispell

Notable exclusions

• Dispel A great card that should possibly be in here, but its just been too narrow for me
• Spell Pierce This one is a meta call for me as I commonly play against Selvala brostorm, so this never seemed to work
• Counterspell Just not needed and the cost can be quite color intensive
• Dark Confidant As much as I love this card early game, it's always a dead draw on a storm turn so I would prefer to just have another draw card
• Necropotence Love it, and it can even set up an easy Doomsday line, but I just found it unnecessary
• Rakdos Signet Is the main color in this deck, so this signet just isn't worth it

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.92
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Dack Fayden
Folders	edh, cEDH, Kess, Dissident Mage, Primer