Kresh is the heroic leader of the defiant human-elf alliance on the plane of Jund. He and his people are the last bastion against the plane’s rulers – the voracious and malevolent Dragons.
Birth and Death go hand in hand on Jund. When youths are born to the mortal clans of Jund, a life of long years is a dream that dissolves quickly in their mouths. By the time they are grown, not even the faintest savor remains. The prospects of a short life are confronted only with vain, unthinking courage in service of their clan. Nature allows the mortal no time for the polishing of expertise. Instead, those who prove themselves for combat against the hordes of unthinking beasts must pass an ancient rite of passage – single combat with a yearling dragon. Those who survive stain their braids in the blood of the vanquished wyrm. As they advance to the field of battle against their forebears, the armies of these bloodbraided stand scarcely long enough for the blood of the young to dry in their scalps.
At a young age, Kresh was a prodigy of ferocity. To be orphaned on Jund was common, the rule rather than the exception. That the weak were born only to die was an accepted way of life. But the death of his parents ignited the rage of young Kresh. In a whirlwind of anger, he exacted his revenge upon the pack of Goblin Hackblades that had murdered them. When time came for Kresh’s rite of passage, he was altogether familiar with the brutality of struggle. He fastened the skull of the slain dragon to his shield, and to this day, the memories of those slain fuel his rage against the tyrant overlord dragons of his plane.
Kresh is a great champion for Jund colors. If you’re interested in playing Jund, or in playing board-control style decks, you will probably consider Kresh as one of the very best options.
The Strengths of Kresh
Colors – Jund is a color combination that has access to both death from Black, and killing from Red. In Jund you’re able to tailor the kind of creature destruction precisely for how your deck functions. In the case of Kresh, you’ll be clearing the board and making him big at the same time. Jund has arguably the best non-creature destruction as well in its mix of Red and Green. Both the cheapest and the most comprehensive artifact hate is playable in these colors. In a permanent-based game, no deck handles permanents better than a Jund deck.
Getting into the red zone - Kresh’s ability is very powerful to begin with, and it only gets more powerful in a multiplayer setting. Even unintentionally at times, Kresh is going to get huge. Players are very judicious with their removal while Kresh is on the board, and they can be punished for using it incorrectly with a lethal amount of commander damage. He also encourages you to play creatures that are threateningly large themselves. Having played a lot of different decks, even aggressive decks, if I had a short list of those commanders that most often killed with commander damage, Kresh would be on it. And he doesn’t need any equipments or other enhancements to do it. He just rewards you for killing things.
Traditional, incremental games – The colors and Kresh’s style of play lead to games that happen on the board, rather than on the stack. You can run a lot of cards that have great topdeck power, but you’re not going to take games as Jund just because you drew a 3-card combo. You kill stuff, and you attack. You’re one of the best decks at doing this.
Deceptive threat level – Because you’re not winning games out of nowhere or shutting things down, table politics are favorable to you. You have plenty of tools to make sure that what you’re doing isn’t easily controlled, that’s for sure, but when you roll into a game as Jund people aren’t pointing as many guns at you as they probably should. You’re good at playing the art of second place. No one suspects you for anything, and then you just win.
Appropriate use of Graveyard – Board control decks often use recursion, but this can leave them vulnerable to hate. Crypt effects aren’t dead cards against this deck, certainly. But because of the quickness of Kresh and the options for controlling resources that Red has, you can take a Crypt effect and still not run out of gas at all by the time you need to win. This is a big advantage that Kresh and Jund have against other rock decks like Karador.
Weaknesses of Kresh
You’re a fair deck – While not having combos and stack control has its own benefits when it comes to table politics, this is the flip side of a much larger coin. You’re slower than a lot of other decks. Your only option against these decks is to run a high density of artifact removal and a few isolated hate cards, and you’re still probably not fast enough most of the time. A rock-style deck is just very difficult to tweak to a combo meta without becoming something else. You’re going to need to rely on other decks at the table now and then.
You have expensive business spells – The biggest weakness to Red and Green Sorcery is Blue Counterspell, and the bigger they are the harder they fall. Fortunately here, you have options to prevent other decks from reacting to yours in this way. Still, control players who are familiar with your deck are going to counter spells that would have been a win for you.
You have a few dependent pieces – Though your external kill spells have lots of options as Jund, the best ones rely on certain board states to work. The same thing with ramp. And Kresh himself takes some kind of creature death to be more than a 3/3 for 5. You will have a game out of every dozen or so were the pieces don’t come together, and one or more of your cards are dead. Every deck in a singleton format has consistency issues, and this deck is far from the worst offender, but it’s not one of those Black decks with maximum tutor density that just gets what it wants by turn 5.
Other Options in Jund Colors
Sek’Kuar Deathkeeper – Sek is a rarity in Jund colors in that he lends more to a combo build. The Ashnod’s Altar-Nim Deathmantle shenanigans can be fun. I was never a fan, however, because the combo just seems like a worse version of the Sharuum combos, and those are better colors to tutor and protect the combo also. So, it’s an annoying deck without a real home. You don’t have to build Sek that way though. One other way would be to cast a spell like Obliterate on top of him and a full board, then wipe up the game. But this isn’t that deck.
Adun Oakenshield – Adun is probably #2 behind Kresh in terms of power level. You basically get a Genesis every game. That said, decks in most groups will find him a bit mana-intensive. Lots of strategies use recursion though, and so he’ll get a good look in more value grindy decks.
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund – He’s a 3 turn evasive clock, with a tribal-restricted Homeward Path attached. He’s not altogether that overcosted at 7cmc either. He can lend to a rock strategy, a Dragon tribal beatdown, or even a reanimator build. He’s not terrible at the helm of any straightforward Jund deck. But Kresh is cheaper, can get bigger, and he has more potential to build around. Karrthus is also still vulnerable to clone effects just as if the old legend rule were in effect.
Xira Arien – Essentially the same as Adun, only you get a random card off the top of your library instead of a chosen creature from the grave. That’s much worse, and there’s no build-around-me potential in it. Only the slowest, most creature-averse Stax decks will want her instead of Adun. Not worthless, but almost unplayable.
Darigaaz, the Igniter – A very bad card in the first place, and it translates poorly into Commander on top of that. Karrthus is even a better Dragon for flavor. A possible pick on snarkiness only.
Vaevictis Asmadi / Bartel Runeaxe – Play these only if you like playing 100-singleton against Commander decks.
Preferred Strategies for Kresh
I’ve taken this deck in one admittedly obvious direction, but there are other ways to play Kresh:
Vultron – You can use creature removal instead of equips, after all. He doesn’t like dying, and he’s at a real lack for evasion, but Kresh makes sense as the primary finisher of an aggressive build.
Tribal – Kresh is probably one of the best Warrior tribal commanders. The color combination is perfect. Some warriors like Hamletback Goliath and Butcher of Malakir are really good with Kresh.
Stax – Jund’s recursion, Black tutors, Red artifact hate, and a few multicolor land sacrificing cards make Jund a solid, if not popular, color combination for Stax. Kresh gains a lot of benefit from tokens dying, and he can add some nice finishing power.
Board-control – Aka midrange, or the rock. You blow stuff up and then you recur the stuff of yours that gets blown up. The most traditional value-based strategy, meaning that it relies on persistence rather than speed or non-disruptability. Kresh is good here, but rock decks can typically lack the synergy to make any one card truly amazing.
I’m old enough that a lengthy personal bio would bore you. Enough to say that I have owned Magic cards since 1995, have been playing actively since 2002, and before EDH my formats were Standard, Limited and Legacy. I have been playing EDH for about 2 years since the format got support on Magic Online. I actually got my start in EDH on MODO playing with a group of real life friends. I really liked EDH, and during these 2 years I’ve played in a few leagues on MODO, which have ranged from no-holds-barred to house banlists of over 100 cards. I also play casually, and sometimes not so casually, in paper with a local group.
I consider myself a pretty good deck builder, but maybe as a result of having started in EDH on Magic Online, I spent the first few months of the game getting destroyed. The decks I would make had enough power to finish one player at most before mana and card draw would get so out of hand that the board didn’t matter. It seemed like the more passive a strategy was, the better it performed. As effective as that style was against me, I didn’t like how it played, and I was confident that things could be changed in my favor. Two years later and I have a lot of experience playing Aggro, Vultron, and Stax builds, and I have built and experimented with dozens of decks. Today, even my most controlling decks have a little spice of beatdown in them.
Somewhere during this, I made my journey to the dark side. A speedball, uninteractive combo deck was never something that interested me, but I also learned that decks don’t need to nearly be that efficient to create the same problem. Somewhere, I inadvertently crossed the line into territory that the average online Commander player didn’t want to deal with. Doing so, I gained an appreciation of who the real enemies were in the format. Also, certain cards revealed themselves as entirely too powerful for the way I wanted games in the format to play out. For that reason, you’ll see certain obviously powerful cards left out here. But in return, I have a deck that interacts across the table and competes well without being oppressive.
Deck History
This deck’s origins actually go back to one of the first EDH decks that I built. It was a Jund beatdown deck. I thought that cards like Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Ashenmoor Liege were pretty boss. My biggest fear playing beatdown were wipes, so I picked up a lot of recursion and I preferred Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper as a Commander. Having comparatively little to fear from wipes, it was natural that I would eventually find my own. That’s when this deck was born.
I won’t claim to be the first person to recognize that Wildfire is a good card. In fact, both Wildfire and its bigger, younger brother Destructive Force were each played to fair results in their respective Standard formats, despite being 6+ cc Sorceries. Those decks, and this deck, sort of build themselves. The idea is to ramp up on lands, then use effects that destroy a flat number of lands. If you can take out creatures at the same time, good. Because in a similar way you can do a flat amount of damage to each creature with these cards, and then only run what’s bigger.
The Wildfire strategy is particularly effective in multiplayer for two reasons. First, these effects naturally hit all players at the table instead of just one. Second, it leads to great advantages in material over other players rather than just what’s enough to win. A lot of the time playing beatdown, you take wins when merely one more turn would’ve given the opponent a way out. This is awkward in multiplayer, of course, because there are other players left to kill. An aggro deck needs a really great position to be able to keep on the offensive for long enough to kill 3 opponents.
This deck list has been arrived at through playing it in areas that vary widely in competitiveness. It won’t be the constant alpha in any area, really, but I wouldn’t still be playing it if I felt it was outclassed anywhere I wanted to play. Most importantly, the deck is fun to play without ruining the fun of anyone else at the table. If you are still interested, read on.
Perhaps Commander’s defining mantra is this: different strokes for different folks. Games will play differently in different groups. Specifically on the issue of game length, some groups will have games that drag out for 20 turns, while games in other groups may finish in under 10. In a group with decks well-tuned against one another and packing a lot of removal cards, game length might even vary drastically one game to the next.
Still, finishing power remains a good measure of a deck’s abstract power. The quickest decks that break all the rules might be able to finish on Turn 5, and while this isn’t that deck, it’s also safe to say that a deck frequently floundering for the next beatstick off the top on around Turn 10 is a deck that doesn’t run smoothly. This isn’t that deck, either. This deck has specific things that it wants to do, and it makes them happen at roughly the same time each game. Below is a turn specific outline of how this deck achieves victory.
Your Mana Base and You
The very first thing you’ll do with this deck, obviously, is play lands. After your play your first, you’ll want to play more. Now, the following might be obvious or it might not be. Getting your lands from your library and getting them into play are two different things. A lot of the popular ramp like Farseek does both. It gets a land for you and it allows you to put that land into play. People tend to like those two effects attached together. But consider how ramp would work if it took both effects as separate.
A card like Exploration gets you an extra drop each turn, but it doesn’t get you any lands from your deck. This can be a great card if you’re flooded, but it can also be dead if you are low on gas. Meanwhile, other cards like Seek the Horizon that put land into your hand and not into play typically get more land, and of course draw cards let you draw off the top of your deck, land included. A high density of these cards can lead to the problem of not being able to play everything out. But the best scenario is when these effects both run smoothly. An Exploration and a Phyrexian Arena is an Explore every turn, which is a very powerful thing. That’s the kind of mana base that this deck runs.
Now, there’s a reason why this doesn’t work in every deck. A great amount of the time those two elements won’t link up, and you’ll either be flooded or low on mana. The reason this deck works with this mana base is because it has a low mana-curve while also wanting a lot of land. It can make a land drop every turn in most games, but when it’s no more than that, it has a lot of action. Also when the deck gives you a card like Exploration late, you can make use of it with cards like Life from the Loam as you draw out after a Wildfire effect. And in the ideal case where you have both, the Red Sorceries hit early with a lot of impact.
So, how do you play this? As built, the cards off the top play themselves. It’s good to use Realms Uncharted for the set of Karoo lands, unless you have Life from the Loam and a specific utility land you want. But most of all, it’s important to understand why the is how it is now in the event modifications are desired.
Early Game
With ample land count and a low curve, the deck mulligans well. As explained, hands with Exploration or Burgeoning with some good draw like Sylvan Library are ideal, and you shouldn’t be against throwing one back for a shot at a hand like that. Otherwise, common sense dictates. You’ll want some action and some gas, with at least a couple lands.
You’ll probably notice a lot of artifact removal in here. There are a lot of reasons you’ll want some in an opener. A lot of decks of all kinds, particularly non-Green control and combo decks, will have a ton of artifact ramp. It’s important to blast a Sol Ring or two to slow these decks down, and to pave the way for a Wildfire to have maximum effect on their mana base. Other than those decks, the aggro decks that are faster than you also rely on a lot of artifacts. A Rafiq deck, for example, has equipments that give protection from Red and pump like Jitte, and those put him out of reach of a couple of your wipes. But without any of this equipment, a Wildfire can do a ton of damage. Artifact removal is just very useful against a lot of decks, and the decks it blanks against can mostly be dealt with by other things later in the game.
Middle Game Goals
You have three goals in the middle game: to establish some kind of draw engine, to stick one or two must-answer threats, and to play out Kresh.
The highest volume draw engines in the deck are Greater Good and Skullclamp. Between the two, Greater Good just gets you deeper. It grows Kresh, and it draws enough cards to ensure that you’ll want for nothing for the rest of the game. The best is to draw into one of these naturally, but in a pinch you can tutor to Clamp with Godo, and hitting either Rune-Scarred Demon or Pattern of Rebirth into the Demon lets you tutor for what you want. With those two cards, you should grab Greater Good a strong majority of the time you don’t have other draw going, even though you will probably want a Wildfire later. It gives you enough draw power that you can just draw into one. Early enough and you have time, late enough and you’ll want multiple Wildfires over the course of the rest of the game, and Greater Good will get them for you.
The other goal is to stick big threats. Lord of Extinction, Wilderness Elemental or Dragon Broodmother only need a few orbits to kill a player, and you should be able to stick one by turn 5. The goal, however, isn’t to kill right away, just to draw out answers. If you get set up with Sadistic Hypnotist or Mind Slash around turn 4-5 you might be able to go for it right away, but otherwise your goal is to target the players who might be holding answer cards or wipes. This is contrary to what the typical aggro deck would do, but the reason you do it is because you want to clear the way for Kresh and because small answer cards are the biggest things to fear after a Wildfire effect hits.
The last thing you want to accomplish is playing out Kresh. The mana curve of the deck is designed slim enough to make him the ideal play most of the time at 5 mana. If you have a big creature in hand, you’ll want to play that first, but a field with a couple of small bodies is good enough for Kresh to come out. You will want to play him before you play a Sword, definitely. It’s important at this point to be able to predict board wipes. Most players will wipe the field if enough creatures are on board while they have none, and so a couple orbits will tell you that they don’t have one. But some opponents have to be pressured a little bit before they make a move. When it’s safe, Kresh is going to make a big impact in the middle game. If you have a creature like Torch Fiend with an activated ability and a target you are debating, it’s a particularly good time to play Kresh with enough mana left over to pop something off. The best case is to get Kresh big enough to survive a Wildfire effect.
Finishing the Game
Now, the fun part. If you’ve got Wildfire or Destructive Force in hand, you should be able to land it for great effect. Rite of Ruin and Death Cloud are also great substitutes. It’s rarely a bad play for this deck to run those out, but the most ideal scenario has you at a high land count, typically above 9 or so, and your opponents with about the same or less and no mana artifacts. Look for this to happen around Turn 6-7 on a good ramp draw, but it’s still effective without ramp no matter how late the game goes. In the most ideal circumstance, you’ve got Kresh or some other creature on big enough to survive the wipe, tons of little stuff dies, and you can finish in short order.
The decks that can weather your wipes the best are typically other ramp decks on solid draws. But these wipes are still deceptively good against those players because they typically have mana requirements that are much greater than those of an aggressive deck. Decks with a lot of cheap recursion are the ones most resilient. Those players are the ones you want to attack to death first, and if problem game states persist Eternal Witness along with any of the creature recursion sources the deck runs can be used to recur Wildfire wipes until Kresh can finish.
Handling Unfavorable Matchups
To preface this section, nothing can prepare you better to pilot any deck than knowing the decks you’re playing against. There is a difference between a matchup being bad because the strategy is a natural counter to yours and a matchup being bad because the opposing decks are just more efficient at winning. You need to know which is which, determine for yourself the strategies that you’re willing and not willing to play, and then pick your battles against decks of the same power level as yours. That said, there are a few things to watch for:
Reanimator:
Decks with a lot of recursion can be substantially slowed by hitting their mana-rocks and lands, but dedicated reanimator decks can put things in the grave and bring them back very quickly with little mana needed. If you see one of these decks, the package of Withered Wretch, Nezumi Graverobber, Scavenging Ooze, and Loaming Shaman fit seamlessly into this deck in exchange for a few of the artifact-killing creatures. Crypt effects are also worth thinking about. But if you are looking to add only one card here, Loaming Shaman is the best value for the slot because Green Sun’s Zenith hits it and you can also use it to get another crack at any spent sorceries in your grave.
Counterspell Control:
Counterspells are one thing to watch out for when tapping out for a huge sorcery. If you are in a spot where you’re facing lethal damage from another deck and are relying on a Wildfire or Death Cloud for a wipe, you might want to consider spot removal like Fleshbag instead in order to be safe. Players will always counter the high-impact wipes when able. On this, it really helps to know your opponents’ decks because of counters that can be used while tapped out. Otherwise if a passive Blue player is representing a counter, they will probably take the bait on a variety of high-impact plays, like the commander. But against the most astute players you might have to dig to your discard. If things continue to be a problem, Cavern of Souls and Boseiju, Who Shelters All are great lands, and you can run Reap and Sow or Sylvan Scrying for maximum consistency. Creatures like Vexing Shusher work and are fetchable with Green Sun’s Zenith, but they don’t go everywhere because most of the control decks have creature wipes.
Artifact Stax:
These decks are pretty brutal, tutor packed, and they will beat you on speed a lot of the time. Arguably, they are in the category of being a poor matchup because their power-level is higher than yours. The decklist above is actually positioned about as well as it can be against fast artifact mana and early mana disruption. The artifact removal attached to creatures is the very thing these decks don’t want to see. If these decks continue to be a problem, you can put in Pernicious Deed or Vandalblast. To the extreme, you can substitute out some of the equipment, replace it with Rancor and other premium auras, then run Null Rod , Creeping Corrosion, and Shatterstorm. There’s enough there to police them all but out of your area, even if it does sacrifice some of your threat density.
Exile and Tuck:
These can hurt any creature-heavy deck with a low curve, and overextending or not overextending isn’t always fair to expect depending on the hand. These hurt this deck a lot less than other similar decks though because Kresh decks are not as reliant on the commander, and they are less reliant on recursion. I mention it here because wipes can cause damage with certain opening hands, and it’s important to remember that most hands with this deck aren’t set too far back by wipes.
Theft and Clone:
The usual response to these is to play more sacrifice outlets. A lot of the sacrifice outlets already in this deck are not instant speed, which can be a bit of a problem, but generally the deck is not as weak to this as others. People will not generally be putting this in to metagame against this deck. Remember that the artifact removal hits one of the most popular clones – Phyrexian Metamorph.
Problem Creatures:
This deck is a lot lighter on cheap creature removal than it could be. This is intentional because most of the decks I play against are not very creature-forward, and most of what’s left of the aggressive decks rely on equipments that this deck can blow up. But there are a few decks like Edric, Thada, Zur, Sisay and Arcum that have must-kill utility commanders. These decks pose the problem of not being able to kill them, and also the problem of suffering collateral damage from the tutored wipes they tend to force from other decks. The two cards you want to consider for this problem are Slaughter Pact and Dismember. The reason is because you want to give other decks at the table the maximum timing window to resolve these creatures themselves when you’re in position against them, and these removal cards have slim mana requirements so that you can continue to play on pace with an otherwise Sorcery-speed deck.
The following is analysis of each card I’m currently running. It’s the most likely section for me to recommend an alternative for a card. Most importantly when making modifications to the deck, the mana curve should be considered. This is intended to be an aggressive, creature-forward deck, and certain plays need to follow others for best effect. Putting in Yavimaya Dryad for Dawntreader Elk is one thing, but putting in Sylvan Primordial instead is the kind of substitution that can lead to you not being able to play your equipments on time. Same thing with cards like Viridian Zealot versus Woodfall Primus. If something expensive is put in, nothing cheap should be taken out.
Land
On the land-base, I’ll discuss generally. Color requirements are the main concern, and it’s important for this deck to make both Red and Green by Turn 2, and then a couple cards need you to make triple Black by turn 6 or 7. So for example, Grave Pact is a card that this deck would think about, but I wouldn’t recommend it because of color restrictions. Also, some 3-color decks can run a lot of basics instead of the fetch-dual base, but because of the low curve and a few utility lands, this deck needs to run even the RG check land, speed land, and filter land. The following are the utility lands I recommend:
Vesuva – A land that’s handy to have around sometimes. The main reason it’s in here is so that Realms Uncharted can fetch two double-color Karoos without being denied.
Phyrexian Tower – The best sacrifice outlet in these colors. It especially helps this deck as it’s often short on multiple Black.
Bojuka Bog – Another format staple. I can be loathe to run other graveyard exile, but I’m definitely running this. Karoo lands make it better.
Kher Keep – The mana can be a lot to spare for this deck, but it’s got plenty of situations where it want might some fodder to sacrifice.
Spinerock Knoll – A really superb land in Kresh and in EDH generally. It’s good with Karoos, and sometimes you can use Sylvan Library to help stack it as well.
Dryad Arbor – It can show up unwanted and be really annoying, but when you’ve got multiple land drops and you’re stacked, fetching it to tote a Sword or get sacrificed to something can be a great play. It will also be really welcome in the deck when you have a hand with Green Sun’s Zenith and 3-drops.
Other Mana
Exploration/Burgeoning – Discussed in the strategy section, they are the route to your most explosive draws.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking – What should be a format staple. When you hit a land engine, you’ll really love this card.
Life from the Loam – A must-include in a deck that wants all the lands it can get and destroys a few of its own here and there.
Realms Uncharted – A good card that I don’t see very much. It’s well worth the mana paid by itself, better in the hands where you have LftL, and it’s about the best card to have with an Exploration/Burgeoning in your hand because you can grab 2 Karoos.
Sol Ring – Format staple, Vintage restricted, must-run card.
Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach – Very widely played cards already, this deck likes them particularly because Exploration effects want land in hand.
Dawntreader Elk – Not a card you see everywhere, I like it particularly in this deck because it’s no worse for Skullclamp than any alternatives, it beats down, loves Mask of Memory, fits well in the Birthing Pod chain to get E-Wit, and it can wait for Kresh to sacrifice itself on demand. This deck isn’t particularly needy for 4-drops either.
Sakura-Tribe Elder – Format staple, and a great card to tote certain equipments like Jitte and Mask of Memory. It’s not just a Rampant Growth here, and you’ll often find yourself cracking it a lot later in Kresh than normal.
Yavimaya Elder – A widely played card that puts lots of lands into hand, can tote equipment for a while, and likes Kresh.
Seedguide Ash – This guy helps you out a lot to get to those Wildfire effects, and he dies to them himself if necessary. Very good to hit in a Birthing Pod chain.
Non-Creature Removal
Torch Fiend – This guy’s the champ when it comes to artifact removal. Mana rocks are quickly gone, and anyone wanting to play equipments is in jail to it for a very cheap activation cost. Kresh loves it, of course, and it’s great with Nim Deathmantle.
Viridian Zealot – Same as Torch Fiend, only for harder mana-requirements and a steeper activation cost, you get the option to kill enchantments as well.
Tin Street Hooligan – You’ll often prefer it to the others when you’re facing a Sol Ring or Signet draw, since he eats it right away and sticks around to tote a Sword. And against mana artifacts specifically, the discount over other options like Manic Vandal is worth losing out on some synergy with the recursion.
Sylvok Replica – Same as Viridian Zealot, more expensive, but it hooks up with Cauldron of Souls. Redundancy is the theme here.
Vithian Renegades – Extra power that sticks around is pretty nice, and it persists, but overall, not quite as good as the others. Of the set, it’s probably the first on the cut-list.
Wickerbough Elder – Synergy with Cauldron of Souls is what makes this card worth the higher cost, and better here than Acidic Slime or Indrik Stomphowler, which are a little expensive for this deck anyway. Cut it for something like Fulminator Mage if you cut Cauldron.
Ingot Chewer – Evoke makes it one of the better creatures in the set, and he’s the absolute best against a Sol Ring or Mana Crypt. Three counters on Kresh for 1 mana is good as well, and he also interacts best with all the recursion – Deathmantle, Genesis, Oversold Cemetery, and Cauldron.
Creature Removal
Fleshbag Marauder – The old reliable. I don’t think any Kresh deck would be complete without him. One of your few outs to utility Commanders, so I would be very hesitant to cut him.
Magus of the Abyss – Like Fleshbag #2, at least most of the time, with the option to maybe get rid of some tokens or an ETB dude instead for more effect.
Butcher of Malakir – Grave Pact on a stick. You shouldn’t have any problems with creatures when he’s on the field, and he gives Wildfire a real kick against opposing creature it wouldn’t otherwise kill.
Discard
Mind Slash – Probably the best sacrifice mechanism the deck has. It’s excellent to ensure a Wildfire won’t be countered, or to peek to see if a wipe is coming. One of the things that validates the artifact removal in those rare events that it does blank. I would run four of these if I could.
Sadistic Hypnotist – Likewise, this can lead to some really oppressive plays in the right board state. Hooking up with Nim Deathmantle or a Dragon Broodmother empties hands effectively for the rest of the game. A really great thing to hit with Pod.
Big Creatures
Wilderness Elemental – This is one of a set of creatures I run for their size to mana cost only, both to feed Kresh and to just pressure on their own. This guy particularly can be a little hit and miss, and when he’s bad he’s horrid. Still, when he’s good he’s a 6/3 on Turn 3, and he gets much bigger.
Adamaro, First to Desire – The reverse of Wilderness Elemental, he starts off size 6 or 7 and may get smaller as the game progresses. Very good with Disciple of Bolas and Greater Good coming out on Turn 4.
Pattern of Rebirth – One half of a Tooth and Nail, at much less than half the cost. I most often grab Rune-Scarred Demon to get the game plan going, but it’s obvious when it’s correct to grab something else.
Lord of Extinction – The big guy himself. He’s probably the biggest creature in the format. An otherwise naked Kresh is one-shotting if he dies.
Malignus – Usually just as big or bigger than Lord of Extinction at the turn 5-6 mark.
Necropolis Regent – She is in here to validate the small, early creature plays in a format with such deep life totals. She’s particularly good with Adamaro or when there is an equipment involved. She also synergizes terrifically with Cauldron of Souls and all the power-matters effects like Greater Good and Disciple of Bolas.
Godo, Bandit Warlord – A fairly obvious card in a deck with so many equipments. It’s particularly good to grab him with Pattern of Rebirth or Birthing Pod, fetch Nim Deathmantle, then sacrifice him for another trigger.
Geth, Lord of the Vault – With all the artifact removal, Geth is a great creature for both utility and mana. On the first he can be replaced, but I keep him around particularly for the second. The deck can always use more mana for after a Wildfire effect.
Dragon Broodmother – She’s really good at pumping Kresh, flying blockers are useful at the stage of the game she comes out, she pays a lot of sacrifice costs, and both Death Cloud and Rite of Ruin often need sacrifice fodder.
Rune-Scarred Demon – A logical tutor for a Wildfire card, and it’s fetchable by a few other tutor mechanisms in the deck.
Green Sun’s Zenith – Format staple, it gets you what you want when you need it.
Creature Enhancement
Umezawa’s Jitte – Generally playable with this kind of creature composition, this deck particularly can often use the power-enhancement to Greater Good more cards or pump Kresh with counters.
Nim Deathmantle – This card isn’t great everywhere, but it is here. Even expensive recursion becomes powerful with a low curve and lots of mana. At certain times also, Kresh needs intimidate to get in for a hit.
Sword of Feast and Famine – More mana is a great thing to have on an expensive equipment. This is one of the least essential equipments for the deck, but it’s always very good in a straightforward way.
Sword of Light and Shadow – The recursion is never dead with a creature density this high, and they are great creatures to reuse.
Sword of War and Peace – Probably the most necessary equipment. It validates the use of small creatures more than any other card here. It also gives protection from Red against your own wipes.
Recursion
Oversold Cemetery – This will be active around Turn 6 in the majority of games, and when it’s active it’s great.
Eternal Witness – Format staple. Lots of Sorceries and Artifacts here will make you love and need this card.
Genesis – Ordinarily pretty mana intensive, but you have lots of mana. A great stop along the Birthing Pod chain to Godo.
Cauldron of Souls – It’s in here if only because Kresh is very easy to keep going with it down. I wish that it synergized better with the likes of Viridian Zealot and Torch Fiend, but a couple missed out of the lot isn’t bad.
Destruction
Thoughts of Ruin - Probably the most efficient and brutal of the land destruction. The only challenge is to keep enough cards in hand.
Wildfire – The token centerpiece of the deck. And it just gets better…
Destructive Force – Five is actually quite a bit bigger than 4 for this effect, since a lot of these decks with artifact mana you’ll find struggling at 6 or so lands.
Rite of Ruin – It looks weaker than Wildfire, but in a lot of situations where decks are relying on artifact mana, it’s better. Naming 3 land, 2 artifact makes it easier for you to get around also, and naming more creatures lets you kill a lot of stuff that Wildfire wouldn’t. The only drawback is losing the occasional Sword, Pod, or Cauldron.
Death Cloud – The most devastating of the bunch. It’s powerful enough to hurt even your own board quite a lot, but leaving nothing in hand makes it nearly impossible for opponents to recover. In certain cases, you might need to find a Genesis, Oversold Cemetry, or Cauldron of Souls, but just having a Seedguide Ash or Life from the Loam is usually enough.
Card Draw
Skullclamp – A guilty pleasure for this deck. Obvious include if you’re willing to run it, and I waffle back and forth on that issue myself.
Faithless Looting – Because you really want to make Exploration or Burgeoning Turn 1, and Turn 2 is just as good, this kind of early draw is welcome.
Mask of Memory – It can get in for some really great volume over the course of the game. It can also blank, so cut it for something else if your area is creature heavy.
Night’s Whisper – More of an offensive line than a quarterback. It gets you good volume on the cheap so that early draws are less hit and miss.
Sylvan Library – A staple in these colors. Getting double land drops early is pretty easy with this.
Fecundity – I’m not sold on this one myself, but it just never backfires in the area I play. And in public games, the token decks that abuse it more than you are easy to deal with. Still, I can easily see something else here.
Wheel of Fortune – Obvious staple. Huge volume for a deck with a low curve.
Greater Good – You’ll essentially never run out of cards with this on the table. This deck particularly can have Adamaro or Wilderness Elemental down before you even make the mana for this, and hooking it up just once with a Lord of Extinction makes the rest of your game. One of the best cards in the deck.
Disciple of Bolas – A Greater Good effect plus 3 on a recurrable stick. See above.
Birthing Pod – A quick look at the creature curve will tell you how good this card is in here. My advice is to start high so that you can hit Rune Scarred for a heavy-hitting wipe.
Graveborn Muse – A very playable card for gas, and it’s in an otherwise fairly empty spot in the Birthing Pod chain. All in all though, it’s safe to sub this one out if you like something else better.
Reforge the Soul – A more expensive Wheel, this deck minds the expense a lot less than others.
Cards I Don’t Play
There are a few cards that may or may not be obvious in here, but I’ve decided not to run them either because they make the game too easy or too boring. I’m not going to go into detail on each one, because reading the list should make it obvious how they can make the game undesirable. That isn’t to say that all of them would be an automatic improvement, but I haven’t tested them and don’t plan on it. If others don’t have these objections, they are an obvious place to look.
These are cards that I’ve tested in some form or another, but I’ve ultimately decided to leave them out. At least for now. This section’s a good place to start for modifications.
Hibernation’s End – It seems like another Birthing Pod, but I’ve found it makes you pay mana at awkward times, particularly when you want a wipe like Wildfire, and then you lose it when you don’t pay.
Pandemonium/Warstorm Surge – They are good a lot of the time, but the deck doesn’t need them particularly. I don’t like when they’re essentially dead.
Anger – I’ve found that the deck can do without haste generally, because making Kresh big often takes a turn. The deck’s more focused on Wildfire wipes to buy time rather than speed it up.
Fulminator Mage/Avalanche Riders – These can be good against Green decks that aren’t hurt as badly by Wildfires, and some of the artifact hate can be taken out for a few of them while keeping the theme of the deck. I just see a lot more artifact-ramp than land-ramp, myself.
Deathrender – I was running it for a while, but it was really conditional. Still, it’s possible I haven’t given it a fair shake.
Grafted Wargear - It's decent as a sacrifice outlet for some of these creatures, and Kresh likes a power boost on the cheap. But it just wasn't doing anything else.
Syphon Mind/Harmonize/Ambition’s Cost – Just simple draw that I’ve decided against in favor of Night’s Whisper and Faithless Looting. Certain hands will regret it, though, naturally.
Sarkhan Vol – When Primeval Titan was legal in the format, this and more Threaten effect were in here for value with sacrifice costs. They can easily go back in if you see a lot of decks like Aurelia, Rafiq or similar.
Greater Gargadon – It was in the deck for a time when Obliterate was in here. That version of the deck was oppressive for a while, then it was just not good because it couldn’t run enough to synergize with Obliterate and interact across the board on the early turns at the same time.
Vulturous Zombie/Multani, Maro-Sorcerer – These were in here for a while as straight beef, but didn’t survive after I trimmed some of it. If Wilderness Elemental is not good often enough, one of these makes a good substitute.
Hellkite Tyrant – It begs the question with so much artifact removal in here why not to run this guy. First, it’s not as effective to take Sol Ring and other rocks after their owners have gotten 10 or more mana out of them. A deck with that much mana can deal with a 6-drop. Otherwise for use in addition to the small artifact removal, it has a way of not stealing very much, making just as good generally as another artifact hate-bear or recursion for a hate bear.
Victimize – More recursion definitely doesn’t hurt this deck, and it’s great with Eternal Witness. But it can be without targets, and the low mana cost on the creatures led me to favor the repeatable to-hand recursion.
Wow, very comprehensive and explanatory list, props!
Compared to my build, your curve is very low, but I see that you use a lot of MLD, whereas I prefer to ramp myself as much as possible because the big creatures are the core to my deck.
Seems like you have a lot of artifact/enchant removal but not as much creature removal. Personally I run the opposite; I'd rather pick off the important/problem artifacts/enchants when needed and let them use the rest. Do you ever feel like you can't keep up with all the artifacts+enchants they are always spitting out? Seems like you would go 1-for-1 while the rest of your opponents just benefit. It's almost like you're playing police for the other 2 players at the table, but eventually I would think that trying to police 3 players is going to have you run out of cards.
You run a lot of fatties but I don't really understand your win-conditions. You have MLD that also serves as creature wipes, but I don't see how that is a win-con in itself. Seems like your build is just resource denial that hurts you just as much. Do you win with damage from Kresh or..?? Seems a bit unclear.
Seems like you are going for a controllish/stax build whereas I play Kresh as an aggro+combo commander. I'm glad that there are a lot of different ways to play the same commander though, makes for more interesting games!
Yeah, on creature removal v. arty-enchant removal, my target competition may be different on both ends of that - low creature and high artifacts.
Even the creature-forward decks I'm thinking of run maybe 12-15 creatures, and mostly stuff like Stoneforge, Weathered Wayfarer, Lotus Cobra, Fleshbag, etc, that's really something else with the creature card-type. And then on the other hand, creature-light control or combo runs a lot artifacts in the form of mana rocks and the aggro decks run lots of equipments. Overall, I'd say the artifact count within this field of decks is probably more than the creature count, just generally, not counting the Commander of course.
Decks that have low-permanent counts are also a big, historical problem for Rock-style decks. They can do something like go infinite with Palinchron to machine-gun Capsize or Reiterate, or just Dark Ritual into Ad Nauseum. Board-control is typically weak against that, but what permanents these decks run are mostly mana artifacts like Mana Crypt and Glided Lotus. Typically with these types of decks, policing the one with the best draw is actually what the other players at the table hope you do. They know that you can't stop the stack-oriented, instant-speed combo if it's drawn, but what you can do is prolong that by attacking their mana-base so that any control decks can catch up. On some occasions as well, you'll be able to stop that one enabler card like Caged Sun that's letting a Palinchron go infinite, even if you can do nothing about Palinchron itself. Or you kill a problem draw source like a Future Sight, Scroll Rack or Necropotence that limits what they can play against you to topdecks only.
So in sum, it's not about policing the game generally of any artifacts/enchants, just picking off the right ones to make sure that no one has a faster draw than you. Then you try to maximize impact by getting off the board any game-breakers that happen to be permanents. Someone can have their Phyrexian Arena or even their Gilded Lotus, if it's turn 8.
On win conditions, I have actually won with something as simple as a Wickerbough Elder or Vithian Renegades equipped with a Sword of War and Peace or Jitte. Kresh can be the body that gets there, but he doesn't have to be. The thing is that by destroying 3 or 4 lands from each player, there is a huge gain in tempo. You could even say that the tempo gain is roughly 3 or 4 turns due to that many lands being gone. So a lot of things start to gain finishing potential that when against a control deck on 8 mana, they wouldn't ever be enough.
The reason I don't include combos is because I find it's nearly impossible for me to include a combo in a deck, then optimize it without the deck becoming just about the combo. If I win whenever I cast Tooth and Nail for example, my tendency is to just run more things that get Tooth and Nail. I don't really like that result in terms of how games play out. And if it's between running a combo and not optimizing and optimizing with no combo, I would take whatever strategy route I can get behind and optimize.
On the sweeps, I don't know if they qualify the deck as Stax or not, really. The deck is about strategic resource disruption, but it's for reasons of tempo rather than gaining a lockout board-state where no one can play lands. If this deck wins through concession, it's because someone got bored and not because they couldn't play cards anymore. I'd be lying though if I said that no one in a public game has ever gotten upset at a Wildfire.
So, I'll take a look at your list and we can try to share information a bit. I do think that a lot of my cards are good in most Kresh builds. Rite of Ruin is one that's pretty great, even just as a straight sweep. It could be compared to the Barter in Blood that I see a few Kresh decks running, more expensive, but grabbing 2-3 lands along with the 2-3 creatures. The reaction to the sweeps hurting you in kind is pretty natural, but because the decks can be so much more efficient and aggressive with little mana, it's a really good deal.
On win conditions, I have actually won with something as simple as a Wickerbough Elder or Vithian Renegades equipped with a Sword of War and Peace or Jitte. Kresh can be the body that gets there, but he doesn't have to be. The thing is that by destroying 3 or 4 lands from each player, there is a huge gain in tempo. You could even say that the tempo gain is roughly 3 or 4 turns due to that many lands being gone. So a lot of things start to gain finishing potential that when against a control deck on 8 mana, they wouldn't ever be enough.
Ah ok. I suppose that is a win-con, I personally would choose something more reliable than hoping a creature can get in with the beats with a Sword, but as you said later in the post, that does make for linear games that are often all about finding the same thing over and over.
The reason I don't include combos is because I find it's nearly impossible for me to include a combo in a deck, then optimize it without the deck becoming just about the combo. If I win whenever I cast Tooth and Nail for example, my tendency is to just run more things that get Tooth and Nail. I don't really like that result in terms of how games play out. And if it's between running a combo and not optimizing and optimizing with no combo, I would take whatever strategy route I can get behind and optimize.
I completely understand that. It really does break down the deck and make it into a race to find Card A and Card B to win with. I like to vary up my win cons so that I have a number to choose from and it's not the same EVERY game, but still the win-cons are always going to be from the same pool of say 5-6 spells/creatures and interactions.
On the sweeps, I don't know if they qualify the deck as Stax or not, really. The deck is about strategic resource disruption, but it's for reasons of tempo rather than gaining a lockout board-state where no one can play lands. If this deck wins through concession, it's because someone got bored and not because they couldn't play cards anymore. I'd be lying though if I said that no one in a public game has ever gotten upset at a Wildfire.
I think my issue with them is that they are so symmetrical. You are sacrificing the same amount of lands as they are. The big question is how do you make these effects that affect everyone the same way work in your favor? You probably have cards in there that help you bounce back faster than your opponents, but in the end sacrificing 5 lands all around the table is a pretty symmetrical effect, regardless of your position, and isn't really ever going to be so much better for you that it becomes a win-con(Besides things like Avacyn and what not). But I could be wrong, I never play effects like that because I dislike sacrificing my progress to hurt others, but that's just play-style difference.
So, I'll take a look at your list and we can try to share information a bit. I do think that a lot of my cards are good in most Kresh builds. Rite of Ruin is one that's pretty great, even just as a straight sweep. It could be compared to the Barter in Blood that I see a few Kresh decks running, more expensive, but grabbing 2-3 lands along with the 2-3 creatures. The reaction to the sweeps hurting you in kind is pretty natural, but because the decks can be so much more efficient and aggressive with little mana, it's a really good deal.
I agree. I discovered a lot of cards that I pretty much overlooked when making my deck as well as alternatives just from reading your thread. Now of course they are on my watch-list because cuts are hard and my list is pretty optimized for myself for the time being, but there are always improvements to be made. If you do check out my list I think you will find that I use a lot of trite staples because in the end, power is power, and you may dislike that approach; I take no offense. But there's always something to be learned!
Ah ok. I suppose that is a win-con, I personally would choose something more reliable than hoping a creature can get in with the beats with a Sword, but as you said later in the post, that does make for linear games that are often all about finding the same thing over and over.
It's also about the right win-con for the right strategy.
If the strategy is tempo rather than material advantage, the win-con is tempo. To illustrate, someone kills a Wurmcoil, and you lose some material but get a lot back. Someone kills a Wickerbough Elder with the counter off, that costs some material as well, but what you've gotten in return is a card across the table rather than your own material back. You've slowed the opponent down rather than speeding yourself up. So that's more on the tempo spectrum, though it still looks fine materially as well. Sliding further down that spectrum, someone kills a Wickerbough when you have a sac outlet and recursion like Oversold Cemetery active, and really tempo is the only thing you've lost there at all. If the deck is constructed to gain you tempo in a lot of other areas, then your tempo-oriented plays do start to clock wins. People can start killing your stuff, so it's not the most reliable thing materially, but then they get the turn back and can't do anything with it because they're so low on tempo.
Combos, material returns and so forth are the way to go for high volume strategies like ramp into draw, certainly. That's because they're just faster at winning with unlimited resources in a game where resources aren't checked. So given the correct win cons for the corresponding strategy, the question is how a player wants to take a certain general or color combo. And I just find it's really hard as Jund to outpace and out-volume equal-level Blue decks with combo and draw material.
I think my issue with them is that they are so symmetrical. You are sacrificing the same amount of lands as they are. The big question is how do you make these effects that affect everyone the same way work in your favor? You probably have cards in there that help you bounce back faster than your opponents, but in the end sacrificing 5 lands all around the table is a pretty symmetrical effect, regardless of your position, and isn't really ever going to be so much better for you that it becomes a win-con(Besides things like Avacyn and what not). But I could be wrong, I never play effects like that because I dislike sacrificing my progress to hurt others, but that's just play-style difference.
That sort of leads into why even symmetrical tempo effects can be good. Making symmetrical cards asymmetrical in effect is really what multiplayer resource denial is all about. Take the following example scenarios, most ideal to least:
1) Play order is Exploration > Sylvan Library > Anything > Wildfire T4. Everyone else has 4 lands, 0 mana artifacts, and all creatures under 4 toughness. You have 4 lands after Wildfire, everyone else has nothing. You then draw a small creature and a small equipment. You win because you were just fast that game.
2) Play order is Sakura Triber Elder > Vithian Renegades > Jitte > Necropolis Regent > Wildfire T6. What's left over for each player is 2-3 lands each while you've got 20'ish power on the board. Maybe the Opponent was going to Terminus, but now they have to wait for 6 mana again, and instead they die in that time. You win because you got on the board first and outpaced answers.
3) Play order is Tin Street Hooligan on Sol Ring > Cultivate > Sylvok Replica on Coalition Relic > Wildfire T5. You're 2 turns ahead on mana, then you draw a land and Adamaro, who does a ton of damage. You win because you killed the opponent's ramp, and he didn't kill any of yours.
4) You have no ramp, no early plays, everyone makes 6 mana at the same time. You Wheel into an Exploration, a Life from the Loam and Wildfire. You win because you've reset the game with a hand that you can recover much better with.
5) You have no ramp, no draw, no nothing, and you play Wildfire Turn 7. No creatures survive, you've got 2 mana while everyone else has 3-4, but no one is making land drops. But then you topdeck things like cheap draw, cheap creatures, removal for mana artifacts, and cheap equipment instead of Recurring Insight, Sun Titan, etc. You win because your deck was better able to make relevant plays in the admittedly starved board state that you created.
Anything worse than that, and you consider just not playing Wildfire. You can politick with the rest of the table to handle whoever is the alpha at the time, then reassess. But the principle is that the deck running destruction wins with it because it's designed to be able to suffer from it and still win.
My Kreshlemagne deck is more or less a standard battlecruiser build. But I'm really digging this strategy. I run both Reap and Sow and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss as a means for denial and acceleration. But those are most useful for keeping the board state even - playing sheriff. The Wildfire strategy takes it to a whole new level.
I'm a little surprised there's no Crucible of Worlds in the list. Seems like the perfect card to follow a wipe.
Oooo, Crucible. For some reason I was thinking it was between Life from the Loam and Crucible, when probably I could run both. LftL works better with Burgeoning was the logic. Especially with the 9 fetch lands, Crucible hooks up early game for a cardless land drop each turn. I will probably take a look at it instead of one of these other draw cards.
I've had 2 games recently where I saw Geth, Lord of the Vault, and he got maybe one mana artifact. The one or two games I got him where he was really good had him hooking up with an Eternal Witness anyway, so I'm thinking of Charnelhoard Wurm in that slot instead. The Wurm would probably be a great target for Pattern of Rebirth (or Natural Order). But I guess the thing about 7cmc is that there's probably tons of stuff that would be hot to trot.
I'm also thinking about Deus of Calamity in for maybe Malignus or something else. I wanted to get some land disruption in there against mainly the Green decks that don't use many mana rocks, and this guy is probably better than Fulminator Mage for the stage of the game I'd be using him. Wondering if he's too hard to cast.
Holy wall of text batman. Nice guide not gonna lie I didn't read all of it yet but like most your post seems very comprehensive and well edited. I would agree on crucible of worlds IMO it should have a slot period. Also I have been loving lotus cobra as of late you ever give it a shot here? Clampable mans dork that "taps" for mana as long as your making land drops taps double of fetchlands or more with exploration crucible/loam engine online I have been loving it.
You should apply for primer status on this if you haven't already. Not just a good guide but a good demonstration on how to break down a deck's plays based on the play environment.
My Kresh deck is wurm reanimator so it uses about half your list of oppressive cards to make up for silly creatures. But I still got a lot out of reading your explanations. I especially appreciate the breakdown in a commenting how Worldfire is almost always good in this deck.
I feel I owe a card suggestion. Magus over Braids makes sense in a game where you want to make sure your opponents choose creatures. But if you're already hitting artifacts and lands with your deck it seems doubtful an opponent would choose one of those to sac and then when they're out of creatures they can't stick a land. And in many cases you'll have extra lands to sac even post wipe.
Still thinking about this list. It's one of the more creative Kresh strategies I've seen.
Anyway, how would you feel about some token generation? Token creatures would help with Rite of Ruin and Death Cloud. (Doesn't hurt with Mind Slash, either.) Primarily, I'm thinking Night Soil or Necrogenesis. They're a good source of grave hate and the token won't make you a target. (Note the errata on Night Soil making the grave hate part of the cost.) If nothing else, a token can carry a sword.
She's a little slow, but Rakka Mar would also work. You'd need RRR to cast and activate her the same turn, but she is cheap enough to fit the curve. The tokens die easily and pump Kresh. Good with Skullclamp. With a power of 3, they're sac'able to Greater Good and fit the tempo-aggro strategy.
One other thing... I'm guessing you wrote this in another editor then pasted it into the post. The card-linking feature doesn't like your apostrophes. A tiny blight on an otherwise fantastic primer.
And, while I was looking at my own deck I realized I have Urabrask. I know you decline the need of a haste outlet, but in a deck that wants to swing for damage, he's dual purpose. Don't know what I'd take out for him though.
A 'janky' card that's in my build (of course I go for the Obliterate/Jokulhaups option rather than Wildfire, which I admit is more elegant) is Snake Umbra. Card draw is good, the clause that made me include him was the additional Totem Armor. Quite nice on Kresh for a creature wipe.
You should apply for primer status on this if you haven't already. Not just a good guide but a good demonstration on how to break down a deck's plays based on the play environment.
My Kresh deck is wurm reanimator so it uses about half your list of oppressive cards to make up for silly creatures. But I still got a lot out of reading your explanations. I especially appreciate the breakdown in a commenting how Worldfire is almost always good in this deck.
I feel I owe a card suggestion. Magus over Braids makes sense in a game where you want to make sure your opponents choose creatures. But if you're already hitting artifacts and lands with your deck it seems doubtful an opponent would choose one of those to sac and then when they're out of creatures they can't stick a land. And in many cases you'll have extra lands to sac even post wipe.
Yeah, Magus hasn't been performing very solidly for me anyway in pubs. It's been better than Slum Reaper in maybe one game I can remember using it. I'm not sure that Braids competes for the same slot though. She's good post-wipe, but I'm not short on cards that are good post-wipe to begin with really, and she doesn't survive the wipe. I'm thinking more and more that I need targeted removal in here so that I can single out 6 toughness beats that survive the red wipes. What I have now are good outs to utility commanders, but they don't perform the role of eating fat and it's giving me problems at times.
On Snake Umbra, I am thinking more and more that I want Sword of Fire and Ice, not only because of the draw power but also because of the above removal problem. Some 6/6 like Rune-Scarred can eat a trigger, then be in range for a Wildfire. It also helps with utility commanders, I expect. I don't know if I want to cut Mask, but maybe I can do away with Fecundity. That's really not an appropriate card for pub games, I think, since it's at best a 4-5 card proposition with way more than that being given to the 3 other players.
Still thinking about this list. It's one of the more creative Kresh strategies I've seen.
Anyway, how would you feel about some token generation? Token creatures would help with Rite of Ruin and Death Cloud. (Doesn't hurt with Mind Slash, either.) Primarily, I'm thinking Night Soil or Necrogenesis. They're a good source of grave hate and the token won't make you a target. (Note the errata on Night Soil making the grave hate part of the cost.) If nothing else, a token can carry a sword.
She's a little slow, but Rakka Mar would also work. You'd need RRR to cast and activate her the same turn, but she is cheap enough to fit the curve. The tokens die easily and pump Kresh. Good with Skullclamp. With a power of 3, they're sac'able to Greater Good and fit the tempo-aggro strategy.
One other thing... I'm guessing you wrote this in another editor then pasted it into the post. The card-linking feature doesn't like your apostrophes. A tiny blight on an otherwise fantastic primer.
I actually have been craving some token action lately. I used to have more, but I gradually kept cutting it until Dragon Broodmother and Kher Keep were the only ones left. Squee was the last "token" style creature to go, since it was getting me some CA with multiple Greater Good activations and Faithless Looting. I may run the new Commune with the Gods from Theros that digs 5 for enchantments/creatures, and if so Squee might go back in.
And in pub games, Grave hate beyond the token Bog is kind of an on the fence call. If I were to get some more come to think of it, Necrogenesis is probably better than Ooze here actually. And as it is, Artifact Mutation can probably go in for one of the artifact hate-bears straight across, as long as there's high enough creature density of it otherwise to be able to recur something when needed.
On Reap and Sow, I think I'll try to fit it in whether in addition to or along with the two Cultivates, since at worst an unentwined version for a Karoo is basically a Cultivate. Of course, it would also serve well for Bog, Kher Keep or Vesuva, one more option to approach those issues. The kicker would be a pretty decent bonus in some situations.
Kresh is the heroic leader of the defiant human-elf alliance on the plane of Jund. He and his people are the last bastion against the plane’s rulers – the voracious and malevolent Dragons.
Birth and Death go hand in hand on Jund. When youths are born to the mortal clans of Jund, a life of long years is a dream that dissolves quickly in their mouths. By the time they are grown, not even the faintest savor remains. The prospects of a short life are confronted only with vain, unthinking courage in service of their clan. Nature allows the mortal no time for the polishing of expertise. Instead, those who prove themselves for combat against the hordes of unthinking beasts must pass an ancient rite of passage – single combat with a yearling dragon. Those who survive stain their braids in the blood of the vanquished wyrm. As they advance to the field of battle against their forebears, the armies of these bloodbraided stand scarcely long enough for the blood of the young to dry in their scalps.
At a young age, Kresh was a prodigy of ferocity. To be orphaned on Jund was common, the rule rather than the exception. That the weak were born only to die was an accepted way of life. But the death of his parents ignited the rage of young Kresh. In a whirlwind of anger, he exacted his revenge upon the pack of Goblin Hackblades that had murdered them. When time came for Kresh’s rite of passage, he was altogether familiar with the brutality of struggle. He fastened the skull of the slain dragon to his shield, and to this day, the memories of those slain fuel his rage against the tyrant overlord dragons of his plane.
Table of Contents
The Strengths of Kresh
Weaknesses of Kresh
Other Options in Jund Colors
Preferred Strategies for Kresh
5 Kresh the Bloodbraided
Land (38)
0 Command Tower
0 Reflecting Pool
0 Savage Lands
0 Bayou
0 Badlands
0 Taiga
0 Overgrown Tomb
0 Blood Crypt
0 Stomping Ground
0 Arid Mesa
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Polluted Delta
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Fire-Lit Thicket
0 Woodland Cemetery
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Golgari Rot Farm
0 Gruul Turm
0 Rakdos Carnarium
0 Vesuva
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Kher Keep
0 Spinerock Knoll
0 Dryad Arbor
4x Forest
3x Mountain
3x Swamp
1 Exploration
1 Burgeoning
1 Sol Ring
2 Dawntreader Elk
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Life from the Loam
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama’s Reach
3 Realms Uncharted
3 Yavimaya Elder
5 Seedguide Ash
Non-Creature Removal
2 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Torch Fiend
2 Viridian Zealot
3 Sylvok Replica
3 Vithian Renegades
4 Wickerbough Elder
5 Ingot Chewer
Creature Removal
3 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Magus of the Abyss
7 Butcher of Malakir
Other Disruption
3 Mind Slash
5 Sadistic Hypnotist
Big Creatures
3 Wilderness Elemental
3 Adamaro, First to Desire
4 Pattern of Rebirth
5 Lord of Extinction
5 Malignus
6 Necropolis Regent
6 Godo, Bandit Warlord
6 Geth, Lord of the Vault
6 Dragon Broodmother
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Nim Deathmantle
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Sword of Light and Shadow
3 Sword of War and Peace
4 Birthing Pod
5 Cauldron of Souls
Recursion
2 Oversold Cemetery
3 Eternal Witness
5 Genesis
Destruction
4 Thoughts of Ruin
6 Wildfire
7 Rite of Ruin
7 Destructive Force
Card Draw
1 Skullclamp
1 Faithless Looting
2 Mask of Memory
2 Night’s Whisper
2 Sylvan Library
3 Fecundity
3 Wheel of Fortune
4 Disciple of Bolas
4 Graveborn Muse
4 Greater Good
5 Reforge the Soul
1 Kresh the Bloodbraided
Land - 38
0 Command Tower
0 Reflecting Pool
0 Savage Lands
0 Bayou
0 Badlands
0 Taiga
0 Overgrown Tomb
0 Blood Crypt
0 Stomping Ground
0 Arid Mesa
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Polluted Delta
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Fire-Lit Thicket
0 Woodland Cemetery
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Golgari Rot Farm
0 Gruul Turm
0 Rakdos Carnarium
0 Vesuva
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Kher Keep
0 Spinerock Knoll
0 Dryad Arbor
4x Forest
3x Mountain
3x Swamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Skullclamp
2 Mask of Memory
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Nim Deathmantle
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Sword of Light and Shadow
3 Sword of War and Peace
4 Birthing Pod
5 Cauldron of Souls
Creature
2 Dawntreader Elk
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Torch Fiend
2 Viridian Zealot
3 Sylvok Replica
3 Vithian Renegades
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
3 Yavimaya Elder
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Wilderness Elemental
3 Adamaro, First to Desire
3 Eternal Witness
4 Magus of the Abyss
4 Wickerbough Elder
4 Disciple of Bolas
4 Graveborn Muse
5 Ingot Chewer
5 Seedguide Ash
5 Sadistic Hypnotist
5 Lord of Extinction
5 Malignus
5 Genesis
6 Necropolis Regent
6 Godo, Bandit Warlord
6 Geth, Lord of the Vault
6 Dragon Broodmother
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
7 Butcher of Malakir
1 Exploration
1 Burgeoning
2 Oversold Cemetery
2 Sylvan Library
3 Mind Slash
3 Fecundity
4 Pattern of Rebirth
4 Greater Good
Instant
3 Realms Uncharted
Sorcery
1 Faithless Looting
2 Night’s Whisper
2 Life from the Loam
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama’s Reach
3 Wheel of Fortune
4 Thoughts of Ruin
5 Reforge the Soul
6 Wildfire
7 Rite of Ruin
7 Destructive Force
Your Mana Base and You
Early Game
Middle Game Goals
Finishing the Game
Reanimator:
Counterspell Control:
Artifact Stax:
Exile and Tuck:
Theft and Clone:
Problem Creatures:
Land
Other Mana
Non-Creature Removal
Creature Removal
Discard
Big Creatures
Creature Enhancement
Recursion
Destruction
Card Draw
Cards I Don’t Play
Cards I’ve Tried
Compared to my build, your curve is very low, but I see that you use a lot of MLD, whereas I prefer to ramp myself as much as possible because the big creatures are the core to my deck.
Seems like you have a lot of artifact/enchant removal but not as much creature removal. Personally I run the opposite; I'd rather pick off the important/problem artifacts/enchants when needed and let them use the rest. Do you ever feel like you can't keep up with all the artifacts+enchants they are always spitting out? Seems like you would go 1-for-1 while the rest of your opponents just benefit. It's almost like you're playing police for the other 2 players at the table, but eventually I would think that trying to police 3 players is going to have you run out of cards.
You run a lot of fatties but I don't really understand your win-conditions. You have MLD that also serves as creature wipes, but I don't see how that is a win-con in itself. Seems like your build is just resource denial that hurts you just as much. Do you win with damage from Kresh or..?? Seems a bit unclear.
Seems like you are going for a controllish/stax build whereas I play Kresh as an aggro+combo commander. I'm glad that there are a lot of different ways to play the same commander though, makes for more interesting games!
Username: Cabz
Even the creature-forward decks I'm thinking of run maybe 12-15 creatures, and mostly stuff like Stoneforge, Weathered Wayfarer, Lotus Cobra, Fleshbag, etc, that's really something else with the creature card-type. And then on the other hand, creature-light control or combo runs a lot artifacts in the form of mana rocks and the aggro decks run lots of equipments. Overall, I'd say the artifact count within this field of decks is probably more than the creature count, just generally, not counting the Commander of course.
Decks that have low-permanent counts are also a big, historical problem for Rock-style decks. They can do something like go infinite with Palinchron to machine-gun Capsize or Reiterate, or just Dark Ritual into Ad Nauseum. Board-control is typically weak against that, but what permanents these decks run are mostly mana artifacts like Mana Crypt and Glided Lotus. Typically with these types of decks, policing the one with the best draw is actually what the other players at the table hope you do. They know that you can't stop the stack-oriented, instant-speed combo if it's drawn, but what you can do is prolong that by attacking their mana-base so that any control decks can catch up. On some occasions as well, you'll be able to stop that one enabler card like Caged Sun that's letting a Palinchron go infinite, even if you can do nothing about Palinchron itself. Or you kill a problem draw source like a Future Sight, Scroll Rack or Necropotence that limits what they can play against you to topdecks only.
So in sum, it's not about policing the game generally of any artifacts/enchants, just picking off the right ones to make sure that no one has a faster draw than you. Then you try to maximize impact by getting off the board any game-breakers that happen to be permanents. Someone can have their Phyrexian Arena or even their Gilded Lotus, if it's turn 8.
On win conditions, I have actually won with something as simple as a Wickerbough Elder or Vithian Renegades equipped with a Sword of War and Peace or Jitte. Kresh can be the body that gets there, but he doesn't have to be. The thing is that by destroying 3 or 4 lands from each player, there is a huge gain in tempo. You could even say that the tempo gain is roughly 3 or 4 turns due to that many lands being gone. So a lot of things start to gain finishing potential that when against a control deck on 8 mana, they wouldn't ever be enough.
The reason I don't include combos is because I find it's nearly impossible for me to include a combo in a deck, then optimize it without the deck becoming just about the combo. If I win whenever I cast Tooth and Nail for example, my tendency is to just run more things that get Tooth and Nail. I don't really like that result in terms of how games play out. And if it's between running a combo and not optimizing and optimizing with no combo, I would take whatever strategy route I can get behind and optimize.
On the sweeps, I don't know if they qualify the deck as Stax or not, really. The deck is about strategic resource disruption, but it's for reasons of tempo rather than gaining a lockout board-state where no one can play lands. If this deck wins through concession, it's because someone got bored and not because they couldn't play cards anymore. I'd be lying though if I said that no one in a public game has ever gotten upset at a Wildfire.
So, I'll take a look at your list and we can try to share information a bit. I do think that a lot of my cards are good in most Kresh builds. Rite of Ruin is one that's pretty great, even just as a straight sweep. It could be compared to the Barter in Blood that I see a few Kresh decks running, more expensive, but grabbing 2-3 lands along with the 2-3 creatures. The reaction to the sweeps hurting you in kind is pretty natural, but because the decks can be so much more efficient and aggressive with little mana, it's a really good deal.
Ah ok. I suppose that is a win-con, I personally would choose something more reliable than hoping a creature can get in with the beats with a Sword, but as you said later in the post, that does make for linear games that are often all about finding the same thing over and over.
I completely understand that. It really does break down the deck and make it into a race to find Card A and Card B to win with. I like to vary up my win cons so that I have a number to choose from and it's not the same EVERY game, but still the win-cons are always going to be from the same pool of say 5-6 spells/creatures and interactions.
I think my issue with them is that they are so symmetrical. You are sacrificing the same amount of lands as they are. The big question is how do you make these effects that affect everyone the same way work in your favor? You probably have cards in there that help you bounce back faster than your opponents, but in the end sacrificing 5 lands all around the table is a pretty symmetrical effect, regardless of your position, and isn't really ever going to be so much better for you that it becomes a win-con(Besides things like Avacyn and what not). But I could be wrong, I never play effects like that because I dislike sacrificing my progress to hurt others, but that's just play-style difference.
I agree. I discovered a lot of cards that I pretty much overlooked when making my deck as well as alternatives just from reading your thread. Now of course they are on my watch-list because cuts are hard and my list is pretty optimized for myself for the time being, but there are always improvements to be made. If you do check out my list I think you will find that I use a lot of trite staples because in the end, power is power, and you may dislike that approach; I take no offense. But there's always something to be learned!
Username: Cabz
It's also about the right win-con for the right strategy.
If the strategy is tempo rather than material advantage, the win-con is tempo. To illustrate, someone kills a Wurmcoil, and you lose some material but get a lot back. Someone kills a Wickerbough Elder with the counter off, that costs some material as well, but what you've gotten in return is a card across the table rather than your own material back. You've slowed the opponent down rather than speeding yourself up. So that's more on the tempo spectrum, though it still looks fine materially as well. Sliding further down that spectrum, someone kills a Wickerbough when you have a sac outlet and recursion like Oversold Cemetery active, and really tempo is the only thing you've lost there at all. If the deck is constructed to gain you tempo in a lot of other areas, then your tempo-oriented plays do start to clock wins. People can start killing your stuff, so it's not the most reliable thing materially, but then they get the turn back and can't do anything with it because they're so low on tempo.
Combos, material returns and so forth are the way to go for high volume strategies like ramp into draw, certainly. That's because they're just faster at winning with unlimited resources in a game where resources aren't checked. So given the correct win cons for the corresponding strategy, the question is how a player wants to take a certain general or color combo. And I just find it's really hard as Jund to outpace and out-volume equal-level Blue decks with combo and draw material.
That sort of leads into why even symmetrical tempo effects can be good. Making symmetrical cards asymmetrical in effect is really what multiplayer resource denial is all about. Take the following example scenarios, most ideal to least:
1) Play order is Exploration > Sylvan Library > Anything > Wildfire T4. Everyone else has 4 lands, 0 mana artifacts, and all creatures under 4 toughness. You have 4 lands after Wildfire, everyone else has nothing. You then draw a small creature and a small equipment. You win because you were just fast that game.
2) Play order is Sakura Triber Elder > Vithian Renegades > Jitte > Necropolis Regent > Wildfire T6. What's left over for each player is 2-3 lands each while you've got 20'ish power on the board. Maybe the Opponent was going to Terminus, but now they have to wait for 6 mana again, and instead they die in that time. You win because you got on the board first and outpaced answers.
3) Play order is Tin Street Hooligan on Sol Ring > Cultivate > Sylvok Replica on Coalition Relic > Wildfire T5. You're 2 turns ahead on mana, then you draw a land and Adamaro, who does a ton of damage. You win because you killed the opponent's ramp, and he didn't kill any of yours.
4) You have no ramp, no early plays, everyone makes 6 mana at the same time. You Wheel into an Exploration, a Life from the Loam and Wildfire. You win because you've reset the game with a hand that you can recover much better with.
5) You have no ramp, no draw, no nothing, and you play Wildfire Turn 7. No creatures survive, you've got 2 mana while everyone else has 3-4, but no one is making land drops. But then you topdeck things like cheap draw, cheap creatures, removal for mana artifacts, and cheap equipment instead of Recurring Insight, Sun Titan, etc. You win because your deck was better able to make relevant plays in the admittedly starved board state that you created.
Anything worse than that, and you consider just not playing Wildfire. You can politick with the rest of the table to handle whoever is the alpha at the time, then reassess. But the principle is that the deck running destruction wins with it because it's designed to be able to suffer from it and still win.
I'm a little surprised there's no Crucible of Worlds in the list. Seems like the perfect card to follow a wipe.
BR Sleeper Ascension - Casual
I've had 2 games recently where I saw Geth, Lord of the Vault, and he got maybe one mana artifact. The one or two games I got him where he was really good had him hooking up with an Eternal Witness anyway, so I'm thinking of Charnelhoard Wurm in that slot instead. The Wurm would probably be a great target for Pattern of Rebirth (or Natural Order). But I guess the thing about 7cmc is that there's probably tons of stuff that would be hot to trot.
I'm also thinking about Deus of Calamity in for maybe Malignus or something else. I wanted to get some land disruption in there against mainly the Green decks that don't use many mana rocks, and this guy is probably better than Fulminator Mage for the stage of the game I'd be using him. Wondering if he's too hard to cast.
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
My Kresh deck is wurm reanimator so it uses about half your list of oppressive cards to make up for silly creatures. But I still got a lot out of reading your explanations. I especially appreciate the breakdown in a commenting how Worldfire is almost always good in this deck.
I feel I owe a card suggestion. Magus over Braids makes sense in a game where you want to make sure your opponents choose creatures. But if you're already hitting artifacts and lands with your deck it seems doubtful an opponent would choose one of those to sac and then when they're out of creatures they can't stick a land. And in many cases you'll have extra lands to sac even post wipe.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Anyway, how would you feel about some token generation? Token creatures would help with Rite of Ruin and Death Cloud. (Doesn't hurt with Mind Slash, either.) Primarily, I'm thinking Night Soil or Necrogenesis. They're a good source of grave hate and the token won't make you a target. (Note the errata on Night Soil making the grave hate part of the cost.) If nothing else, a token can carry a sword.
She's a little slow, but Rakka Mar would also work. You'd need RRR to cast and activate her the same turn, but she is cheap enough to fit the curve. The tokens die easily and pump Kresh. Good with Skullclamp. With a power of 3, they're sac'able to Greater Good and fit the tempo-aggro strategy.
One other thing... I'm guessing you wrote this in another editor then pasted it into the post. The card-linking feature doesn't like your apostrophes. A tiny blight on an otherwise fantastic primer.
BR Sleeper Ascension - Casual
A 'janky' card that's in my build (of course I go for the Obliterate/Jokulhaups option rather than Wildfire, which I admit is more elegant) is Snake Umbra. Card draw is good, the clause that made me include him was the additional Totem Armor. Quite nice on Kresh for a creature wipe.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Yeah, Magus hasn't been performing very solidly for me anyway in pubs. It's been better than Slum Reaper in maybe one game I can remember using it. I'm not sure that Braids competes for the same slot though. She's good post-wipe, but I'm not short on cards that are good post-wipe to begin with really, and she doesn't survive the wipe. I'm thinking more and more that I need targeted removal in here so that I can single out 6 toughness beats that survive the red wipes. What I have now are good outs to utility commanders, but they don't perform the role of eating fat and it's giving me problems at times.
On Snake Umbra, I am thinking more and more that I want Sword of Fire and Ice, not only because of the draw power but also because of the above removal problem. Some 6/6 like Rune-Scarred can eat a trigger, then be in range for a Wildfire. It also helps with utility commanders, I expect. I don't know if I want to cut Mask, but maybe I can do away with Fecundity. That's really not an appropriate card for pub games, I think, since it's at best a 4-5 card proposition with way more than that being given to the 3 other players.
I actually have been craving some token action lately. I used to have more, but I gradually kept cutting it until Dragon Broodmother and Kher Keep were the only ones left. Squee was the last "token" style creature to go, since it was getting me some CA with multiple Greater Good activations and Faithless Looting. I may run the new Commune with the Gods from Theros that digs 5 for enchantments/creatures, and if so Squee might go back in.
And in pub games, Grave hate beyond the token Bog is kind of an on the fence call. If I were to get some more come to think of it, Necrogenesis is probably better than Ooze here actually. And as it is, Artifact Mutation can probably go in for one of the artifact hate-bears straight across, as long as there's high enough creature density of it otherwise to be able to recur something when needed.
On Reap and Sow, I think I'll try to fit it in whether in addition to or along with the two Cultivates, since at worst an unentwined version for a Karoo is basically a Cultivate. Of course, it would also serve well for Bog, Kher Keep or Vesuva, one more option to approach those issues. The kicker would be a pretty decent bonus in some situations.