MTG Salvation

Link to deck @ TappedOut.net

Kresh the Bloodbraided is a deck that is very dear to me and has been my go to deck for years.

However for a long time the deck was not competitive and I have in the last year have worked on a small budget to make this as good as I can make it. Consider this my disclaimer for missing fetch lands and original dual lands.

So when I went to look online for ideas I would cringe with horror! It seemed like no one was making the deck competitive, almost all lists were made before Prossh, Skyraider of Kher became the go to Jund commander. Kresh seems to have built a unfortunate reputation of being only second best, I sought to prove that Kresh can operate on the same level.

So after long talks with my play group and with some modern and legacy Jund players I started to get a grip on what the deck wants to do going for a persistent creature based toolbox deck with plenty of reanimation.

Jund is proactive, you are the problem on the board, you are the player who demands answers for your problems and Kresh the Bloodbraided is the best example of a commander who escalates into absurdity. The deck follows this pattern.

So not including the Commander I will list the top 5 cards in the deck and their role in the strategy.

1: Sheoldred, the Whispering One She is your best creature and both abilities do exactly what Kresh wants making him bigger and pulling snacks out of your graveyard. Sheoldred dose not need much explaining as to why shes good but I've found she works best with Slum Reaper, Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner, and Magus of the Abyss to halt any kind of defense marshaled against you, sacrifice these creatures to their own abilities to keep the sacrifice triggers coming. Kresh will become huge at an alarming rate and more often than not have nothing in his way when your ready to get your murder on.

2: Survival of the Fittest Fixing what creatures are in your hand at any given time is a godsend since the build runs a tonne of dudes. What creatures you use are going to be tailored to your playgroup but I suggest trying to make the best toolbox you can. In any case, Survival is an amazing card. To make best use of this card make sure the creatures you do sent to your graveyard either want to be there in the first place or are easily brought back. Survival is most potent when paired with Sheoldred ensuring that the creatures discarded will almost always be brought back at the beginning of the next turn. Meren of Clan Nel Toth fills a similar role but in some cases can be the better creature to pair with this enchantment in the early game and should be tutored for first. Meren will ensure you have creatures to discard to survival's ability and the recursion is faster than Sheoldred's since it triggers at the end of the turn. This brings me to the worst possible scenario which is why Survival is number two on the list, running out of creatures in your hand is a huge issue and while we try to prevent this by running 31 dudes total it still happens. I recommend choosing what creatures to pick from your deck carefully and try to plan long term with this card or you will run out of gas very fast.

3: Sneak Attack This card plays dudes out your hand for one red, gives them haste and then kills them. Ideally you want Kresh in play while you are doing this to gain too many +1/+1 counters for your dice bag to handle. Sneak works best with the other enchantments and creatures in the deck that will take the dead creatures out of the yard and back into play/hand otherwise in a similar fashion to Survival of the Fittest you will simply run out of creatures to play and not have much of a board state to show for your trouble. Sheoldred, the Whispering One, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Phyrexian Reclamation, Birthing Pod, and Volrath's Stronghold are the best cards to use to maintain a solid presence in the game and keep your opponents under your thumb.

4: Birthing Pod I can only recommend using this card if your curve will be able to support it and more importantly you know your creature base front to back. That being said the card was banned in modern for a reason. Being able to throw away your one use creatures like Acidic Slime for more powerful options will very quickly put you ahead of the game and like with the other cards on this list enable your side of the board to remain thick with threats and Kresh big and scary.

5: Meren of Clan Nel Toth Meren is a commander that had most players putting her at the head of their decks and for good reason, putting your opponents in a lock with Fleshbag Marauder or one of the other two variants mentioned previously can be brutal. But Meren gains quite a bit by interacting with red. Recurring Bloodbraid Elf multiple times is explosive and she has an interesting amount of synergy with Falkenrath Aristocrat. The fact that most of the time the creature goes to your hand can be the best part of having Meren in play, she keep the gas lit under Survival of the Fittest and Sneak Attack early on and will quickly switch gears to being a mini Sheoldred that works miracles with Birthing Pod as you pod to the bigger creatures on your curve. Meren is a recent addition to the build but in that short time has made a huge impact and I can't recommend her enough.

So the deck is simple, find your minions, play them, throw them into combat and at some point get Kresh into play so he can drink the flesh smoothies.

Now the fun part! Winning the game. This happens one of two ways, Infinite combat steps and commander damage.

The combat step combo is triggered by using Aggravated Assault with Bear Umbra, Nature's Will or Sword of Feast and Famine. Just keep swinging away till they stop moving.

Commander damage is more complex than it seems. Ideally you want to end it in one hit but if you want Kresh avoid being killed as he grows bigger and more threatening you need to attack while he is smaller and buff him at instant speed with the following spells: Berserk, Fatal Frenzy, Hatred, Temur Battle Rage and Tainted Strike. A similar effect can be gained from using Xenagos, God of Revels but unless your variant of this build can flash in it's creatures, your opponents will see it coming. This dose not always mean they can stop you but surprising your opponent is the best way to seal in a win. Kresh is more than capable of becoming large enough to swing in for a win without these spells but you run the risk of him being turned against you and your worst nightmare is someone using Clone on Kresh or having Kresh get stolen from you by Control Magic. There are too many cards to list here that can do this type of effect so taking out blue players you suspect will run these cards becomes a priority. Trying to play your deck with Kresh on the order side of the board is stifling, it will prevent most of your deck from being played properly at risk of enabling your opponent's victory. If your playgroup is one that will take Kresh away from you, run Homeward Path, and against the clone player simply leave Kresh as an available blocker, you will either match the clone's power an toughness or be bigger than the copy, it will make you tap the breaks but is not the worst thing in the world.

So there you have it, Kresh at his finest, he is big, strong and incredibly fun to play. As always I appreciate any feedback and would love to see your variant on the deck.

P.S. Currently the only card on the decklist I do not own is Berserk as it has been very troublesome to acquire. I usually play with a proxy during casual games so I count it as a part of the finished whole. Holding its place currently is a Wurmcoil Engine but I am not entirely sure if the Wurm will be the card I take out one Berserk is obtained legitimately.

Just posting a quick update, Rune-Scarred Demon and Beast Within got cut from the build and replaced by Wurmcoil Engine and Inferno Titan. More details are in the Tapped out post.

Alright, my computer and I have reached a tentative truce at the moment so I was able add a link here to the primer. Thanks for sharing.