There were several suggestions while I was away; here are my responses to them:
Cutting Mycosynth Wellspring, Tower of Fortunes, Diaochan, Artful Beauty, Rimescale Dragon: The Wellspring has been really good to me; I actually prefer it to a mana rock because my basics are affected by mana doublers, even if it's slower. It's a great piece of the recursion package as well. Tower of Fortunes is one of my favorite draw cards, especially in red and white. It does cost a lot of mana, but I think it's worth it. I love paying for it with Braid of Fire. Diaochan has actually been excellent removal for me, especially since I look for Lightning Greaves and Darksteel Plate anyways. I could see maybe taking her out for Aftershock or Duplicant though. I did eventually cut Rimescale; he was cool, but not good enough.
Adding Æther Flash, Wild Ricochet, Arcbound Reclaimer, Wheel of Fortune/Reforge the Soul, Aftershock, Duplicant, Memory Jar, Mind Stone, Relic of Progenitus, Sensei's Divining Top, Trading Post: Post and Mind Stone made it in; they're both very good cards here. Aether Flash is cool, but I don't think it does enough. I can take out token swarms with Blasphemous Act or Chain Reaction, and if I don't have the mana to finish the creature off that turn, it does nothing. It can also prevent me from playing a couple of my smaller utility creatures. I love Wild Ricochet, and when I get a hold of one it will definitely go in. Reclaimer is good recursion, but a little slow. Plus I have no way of giving him more +1/+1 counters, so to get more use out of him I'd have to use another recursion engine on him. The wheeleffects, including Memory Jar, are nice card draw, but I find that a lot of the time they can refill an opponent's hand rather than disrupting it, or dump things into opposing graveyards that I don't want there. Aftershock is awesome; I didn't even know that card existed, but I'll look for a copy. Duplicant is very nice removal as well, and I could see him replacing Diaochan as I said above. You're right in that I lack actual graveyard hate, but Relic would hose my own recursion as well. I could definitely play something like Tormod's Crypt, however. As for Top, I don't own a copy, but if I did it would end up in my Melek, Izzet Paragon deck. It's always nice to have though.
Adding Gratuitous Violence, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Staff of Nin, Quietus Spike, Neko-Te, and Mana Vault, and swapping Planar Portal for Ring of Three Wishes: I cut Planar Portal entirely; otherwise, that last suggestion would have been an easy decision. I used to run Gratuitous Violence and Neko-Te (both in a version before I posted the deck here), and they were good but not great. Violence cost a little too much mana and didn't double my burn spells, but it might find its way back in at some point. (I did add Dictate, after all, and that costs five, but it's a much better card IMO.) As for Neko-Te, usually if I was pinging something with Kumano I was killing it, so the tapping wasn't relevant, and dealing one extra damage to players didn't do much because most of my damage to players comes from beats, even with Kumano. I ended up cutting it for Loxodon Warhammer. Staff of Nin is good, but again I feel that I have better effects. It might be a possible replacement for Tower of Fortunes though. I really like Quietus Spike; halving someone's life total keeps burn effective against pesky lifegain decks (lookin' at you, Oloro), and another source of deathtouch is great. Mana Vault is a great early accelerator, but I feel it's best in decks that can untap it some other way than its ability (or that reduce that ability's cost). The closest I can come is sacrificing it and bringing it back.
Adding Goblin Sharpshooter, Gorgon's Head, Mogg Maniac, Squee, Rummaging Goblin, and Goblin Matron: Sharpshooter would be a good backup to Kumano. I cut Shivan Hellkite because it was expensive mana-wise, but Sharpshooter only costs three. The thing I don't like about Sharpshooter is that it's a lot more limited in what it can do. It doesn't do a whole lot of damage to players, and doesn't work with the exile-touch on Sword of Kaldra the way Kumano does. If I added another deathtouch source it might be better. If I ever have a spot that needs filling I could see trying him out. Deathtouch is nice, but I don't think Gorgon's Head does enough if it's equipped to anyone but Kumano. Mogg Maniac is pretty narrow, I think; he might deter some attackers, but he can be evaded, and putting him in just to combo with my wraths seems like a waste. I've already got Repercussion for that, and that also synergizes much better with Kumano. Without Rummaging Goblin, all Squee does is block ground-pounders. The Rummager itself is decent, especially with the potential to discard recursion targets, but I think I have enough draw already. Matron currently only finds Goblin Welder, which is admittedly one of my key cards, but if I draw him first she's dead. With some of your other inclusions she'd get better, but I don't have space to put in three cards I don't need so that a fourth one will be better.
Inexorable tide is discusting here as well as all is dust shure you lose your commander but it would hurt your opponent's far more if you wanted to avoid that issue you can run a few flicker instants
I like give//take here you can only cast take but it's still one of the better draw spells here
The main issue with this guy is that your tapping you beaters for manager balancing manager is perhaps more important that the individual cards
All Is Dust is great when all your creatures are colorless, but as with Planar Cleansing you want to be careful because it will kill a lot of your enablers, like Terra Eternal etcetera.
You bring up a very good point about managing your mana; if you want to attack in this deck it limits your ability to cast spells, and especially to respond on opponents' turns. That makes Sword of Feast and Famine just stupid in this deck; lets you beat in and still cast spells.
As for Give//Take, it's unfortunately illegal in this deck since Give contains a green mana symbol.
A few people have mentioned Master of Waves, and he's certainly an option since Noyan Dar turns your lands into Elemental creatures, but personally I'd rather have another instant/sorcery over him. The way I'd play the deck is to make one or two lands really huge to minimize my losses to removal and also so I don't lose too much mana by attacking.
Ajani Goldmane can buff all your creatures and give them vigilance so mana is less of an issue.
I'm surprised no one's brought up Part the Waterveil yet; yes the Awaken cost is expensive, but it buffs a land by 6 and this deck will get and play a ton of lands anyway, so you might even have an attacker or two to beat in with after casting it.
Another card that should get mentioned here is Halimar Tidecaller; he gives evasion to all your manlands, plus gets you back the aforementioned Part the Waterveil or Planar Outburst.
Allay is a hidden gem from Exodus; repeatable enchantment removal that can get lots of Noyan triggers.
Last but not least, Endless Horizons deserves a mention; gets you another land every turn and thins your deck so you draw more gas.
EDIT: Forgot to bring up Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise; two cards that are absolutely nuts in any deck like this that casts a lot of spells.
With that in mind, I've made the following changes to the deck:
-1 Thran Dynamo, +1 Gilded Lotus: Changing colorless mana into colored is worth the slightly higher mana cost.
-1 Journeyer's Kite, +1 Mycosynth Wellspring: The Wellspring allows more Goblin Welder shananigans, and doesn't require 3 mana every turn to search out lands. That's mana I can use on other things, like pinging with Kumano.
-1 Junk Diver, +1 Ichor Wellspring: Junk Diver was just kind of redundant with Myr Retriever, but the Retriever costs less. Another source of card draw never hurt, either.
-1 Shivan Hellkite, +1 Hellkite Tyrant: Shivan Hellkite was there in case Kumano gets tucked or too expensive, but really it just usually ends up being a big creature I never want to play because I have Kumano. I'll see how the Tyrant works out in its place.
-1 Mirrorworks, +1 Sword of Feast and Famine: The Sword will provide a bunch of extra mana for everything the deck does that wants mana. Mirrorworks ends up being a target and not doing much before someone gets rid of it; hopefully I'll have better luck with the Sword.
Still would definitely love to add Coldsteel Heart and Chandra's Spitfire, but I haven't gotten my hands on them just yet. I'll need to sort through my collection at some point; I'm sure they're there.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far! I've updated the main post to reflect these changes.
Word of Seizing is definitely a good card, but I'm pretty happy with Zealous Conscripts in my list. I haven't run into any situations yet where the split second would have been relevant, and I like getting the 3/3 hasty body along with stealing something.
I like the idea of adding theWellsprings; they give me more stuff to do with the Welder besides recur Sadbot or change around equipments. I hadn't thought of using them in here but it's definitely something I'll check out. Blood Moon actually draws a huge amount of hate in my playgroup; there are a ton of three or more colored decks and people hate it when their fixing gets shut off.
I feel like Goblin Charbelcher is just too inefficient compared to most of the repeatable removal the deck can already do. Plus I run a high number of lands, so there's no guarantee it'll even do enough damage.
I've looked at Hellkite Tyrant a lot, and he'd probably be pretty great in the deck. I just haven't found a spot for him yet. Heartless Hidetsugu is another consideration. He definitely shortens games, but I feel like without Basilisk Collar I wouldn't want to use him.
As for Goblin Sharpshooter, he might be more efficient when equipped with the Collar, but he can't hit players very well and I can't do much else with him. Between him and Kumano I'd rather have Kumano wear the Collar. Chandra's Spitfire, however, I hadn't though of. That definitely seems like a cool combo I could do!
I like your list, it's got a lot more concentration on artifacts than mine does, and is more well-rounded too. I agree with TheDrB's comment above, especially on the point of Chandra's Spitfire. It only takes Kumano and a stack of mana to horribly abuse that card. Also, if you went more in on the artifact theme, Vandalblast and your other artifact hate gets pretty broken with Mycosynth Lattice.
I'm also thinking of adding Coldsteel Heart and Gilded Lotus over Worn Powerstone and Thran Dynamo, respectively. The Heart gives me less mana and still enters tapped, but it's colored mana, SNOW mana, and Scrying Sheets can draw it; it also costs one less than the Powerstone. The Lotus costs one more than Dynamo, but gives me colored mana. Thoughts?
Sword of Feast and Famine seems great with Kumano. Swing at a clear board, untap all your lands for more pinging. The pro-red swords also might be decent to keep Kumano safe from some of your board wipes, among other useful abilities.
Staff of Nin is more card draw, and pinging redundancy, I guess.
Also, any particular reason you aren't running Vandalblast?
I actually had Gratuitous Violence in the deck at one point, and it may make a reappearance. I just think it costs a little too much.
I like Trading Post a lot, but I'm not sure what I'd take out for it.
Staff of Nin is an interesting suggestion, but I find that I don't really have trouble drawing enough cards most of the time, and I'd rather have Kumano do my pinging, even if I get one free from the Staff. It does cost six, however.
And as for Vandalblast, I considered removing Shattering Pulse for it when RTR came out, but I usually don't find myself needing to deal with groups of artifacts, just one or two at a time, and the Pulse is reusable. I could certainly see including it, though.
This looks like a really cool deck! I definitely like to see the bounce version of an ETB deck over a blink deck, just because they're so much less common. That in mind, I'd say Azorius Æthermage is great for your deck. I'd also suggest Cloud Cover if it wasn't already in your wishlist; that card is sweet tech
You like having lots of mana and lots of things to do with lots of mana
Reasons Not to Play Kumano
You prefer a different similar commander (more below)
You like lower-costed commanders
You dislike having your options limited to one color, especially one that can't answer everything
You think the idea of mana ramp outside green is unnatural
You don't like to shoot things
Similar Commanders: Why Not ____?
This used to be a big list of commanders who do ramp and/or burn, but really if you want to play a similar deck to this one, there are three other decent options:
Ashling the Pilgrim: Probably the best choice besides Kumano himself for this deck. I don't run her because she takes 6 open mana to go off and she can't hit individual targets, but I've seen Ashling decks that work similarly to my own and are completely devastating. She appeals to the part of me that wants a cheaper commander. I'd build mostly the same deck, but probably with more of a voltron-style focus to take advantage of the fact that she buffs herself.
Heartless Hidetsugu: Ah, Hidetsugu. The Tiemaker. He certainly does burn, probably better than anyone else. He doesn't hit creatures, however, and doesn't really need ramp to back him up (probably a plus, actually, but I wanted to ramp in red). It's also very easy for someone else to make him backfire on you.
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage: Another excellent alternate commander for this deck. Her last ability is most likely what we would focus the deck on, which would require some pro-red or indestructible effects (more than what we already have). Plus, she can only activate once a turn, and has to ditch a card to do it. I'd rather play my cards than spellshape them.
Deck History: Where Did it Come From, Where Is it Going?
Inception: Fall 2011
When I first decided to build Kumano, I had built several other Commander decks, but they were all multicolored. I decided I wanted to build a monocolor deck, and went with mono-red because it seemed like the biggest challenge. Red is fast and efficient, but can't deal with enchantments or big creatures, has no card draw, and tends to putter out in the mid-to-late game, where most of the action takes place in Commander. I also wanted to use a commander I hadn't seen before, which eliminated a few of the similar options (Jaya, Ashling). The third and final consideration that swayed my decision was that many of the decks in my meta at the time focused on recurring/reusing creatures with enters-the-battlefield triggers, and Kumano provided an easy way to deal with them which I would (theoretically) always have access to.
After I decided on Kumano, the deck naturally took itself in a ramp/"Big Red" direction, since having a mana sink as a commander means you can never have too much mana. Kumano's ability itself, plus the need to include colorless answers to things red has trouble dealing with, lent themselves to a control style of play, though it's much more about controlling the board than the stack. I included several mana rocks, mana doublers, and even other sinks. I also put in equipment that are bonkers with Kumano; giving him deathtouch, lifelink, and the "exile-touch" on Sword of Kaldra is really good. All these artifacts meant I could put in some artifact recursion/support. Then I added a few cards to enhance damage output and a few burn spells.
Changes Over Time
The main core and function of the deck has changed very little since I first built it, actually, as it's been pretty consistently effective in what I want it to do. The main changes have been replacing cards with better versions (usually adding something expensive that I couldn't get my hands on right away when I first built the deck, like Karn or Gauntlet of Might). The only major change the deck has gone through was its conversion to snow basics after I lost a game to someone else's benefit off my Extraplanar Lens. This also allowed me to add all the other snow-matters cards in the deck, which have been great for me.
Current State of the Deck
Right now, Kumano is one of my oldest remaining Commander decks, having lasted over four years. That's because the deck is still pretty unique among my collection, and is almost always a blast to play. One of my favorite things about the deck is its potential to go from a durdly slow deck to the biggest threat on the board in the span of one main phase. It also does a variety of different things that somehow come together to form a coherent strategy.
Recently, it's moved a little farther into an artifact recursion subtheme, especially after the release of Commander 2014.
3/31/14:
-1 Thran Dynamo, +1 Gilded Lotus: Changing colorless mana into colored is worth the slightly higher mana cost.
-1 Journeyer's Kite, +1 Mycosynth Wellspring: The Wellspring allows more Goblin Welder shananigans, and doesn't require 3 mana every turn to search out lands. That's mana I can use on other things, like pinging with Kumano.
-1 Junk Diver, +1 Ichor Wellspring: Junk Diver was just kind of redundant with Myr Retriever, but the Retriever costs less. Another source of card draw never hurt, either.
-1 Shivan Hellkite, +1 Hellkite Tyrant: Shivan Hellkite was there in case Kumano gets tucked or too expensive, but really it just usually ends up being a big creature I never want to play because I have Kumano. I'll see how the Tyrant works out in its place.
-1 Mirrorworks, +1 Sword of Feast and Famine: The Sword will provide a bunch of extra mana for everything the deck does that wants mana. Mirrorworks ends up being a target and not doing much before someone gets rid of it; hopefully I'll have better luck with the Sword.
10/26/2015: I haven't updated the thread in over a year, but here are the changes I've made since the last update:
-1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, +1 Flamekin Village: I never had enough devotion to make Nykthos worth it, and the haste on Village is great to have.
-1 Scrying Sheets, +1 Arcane Lighthouse: Sheets whiffed most of the time, so using it became a waste on mana. Lighthouse, on the other hand, deals with the two abilities that shut this deck down.
-1 Snow-Covered Mountain, +1 Myriad Landscape: I'll trade one basic for a land that finds me two.
-1 Furnace of Rath, +1 Dictate of the Twin Gods: The main problem with Furnace was its sorcery speed. Now I can take full advantage of the effect by timing it well.
-1 Rimescale Dragon, +1 Trading Post: The dragon was cool, but I'd usually rather spend the mana on Kumano's ability, which if I'm doing things right will outright kill and exile the creature instead of tapping it. By comparison, Trading Post is extremely synergistic with the rest of the deck.
-1 Elixir of Immortality, +1 Chandra's Spitfire: Elixir doesn't actually do a whole lot except in response to a Bojuka Bog effect. Spitfire is another creature, which the deck is low on, and gets absolutely enormous with Kumano's ability.
-1 Worn Powerstone, +1 Mind Stone: Powerstone comes in tapped, which I dislike in a mana rock. Mind Stone is cheaper, even if it makes less mana, and can draw me a card once I don't need it any more. Plus it can be recurred.
-1 Planar Portal, +1 Feldon of the Third Path: Portal just costs so much mana; I never found myself using it. Feldon, however, is absurd. With Goblin Welder, he's so much card advantage it's not even funny.
-1 Zealous Conscripts, +1 Wurmcoil Engine: I really liked Conscripts, but he didn't really end up answering anything. He'd just let me borrow someone's threat for a turn, and I'd rather just play my own threat, especially when it's as synergistic as Wurmcoil.
-1 Trash for Treasure, +1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: A one-shot Goblin Welder is nice, but I felt it just didn't do enough. Sarkhan is a beater, removal, and draw engine all in one, because Planeswalkers are ridiculous.
-1 Insurrection, +1 Akoum Hellkite: Insurrection will win the occasional game, but I find that Kumano usually keeps the board fairly clear of opposing dudes. Another Valakut effect is pretty awesome though, especially when attached to a big flying beater.
Wishlist/Possible Inclusions Sword of the Animist seems pretty good for the deck. My only concern is having a creature to attach it to that actually wants to swing in. Wild Ricochet is a great way to save my stuff while getting extra value at the same time. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a consideration. He's a lot of mana, however, and he can't deal with big things the way All is Dust can. Aftershock: Seems like staple red removal. Duplicant: Exile effects are always nice, and this one comes with a creature attached. Gratuitous Violence: Used to be in the deck, but I have Dictate of the Twin Gods currently. I could possibly find a spot for a second damage doubler; they are pretty good. Quietus Spike: Halving life totals is great in a burn deck, and another source of deathtouch couldn't hurt. Goblin Sharpshooter: The current best candidate for backup to Kumano.
Card Options: What Does That Do?
Here I'll list the cards by function and explain what they all do in the deck's larger strategy.
Mana Sol Ring: One of the best mana rocks in the game. Essential to propelling us to the late game quickly. Wayfarer's Bauble: Colorless Rampant Growth. Puts a basic right into play from your deck. Armillary Sphere: Finds more lands, ensuring you can keep playing them as the game goes on. Mind Stone: Mana rock that turns into another draw later. Mycosynth Wellspring: Again, finds lands. Goes nuts with Goblin Welder. Extraplanar Lens: The cheapest mana doubler available. Inspired the change to snow lands after it was used against me. Gauntlet of Might: Doubles our mana and also serves as an anthem. Expensive $$-wise, but worth it. Gilded Lotus: One of the better mana rocks. Provides colored mana, and can be used right after playing it, which is key. Gauntlet of Power: Like Guantlet of Might, but for any color. Caged Sun: Finally, a mana doubler only we profit off of! Also doubles our nonbasics, which is great. Braid of Fire: Drop this on turn 2, and it'll be more devastating than most opponents realize. Goes great with all the instant-speed activated abilities in the deck. Solemn Simulacrum: Ramps and draws when he dies. Goes great with Goblin Welder. Koth of the Hammer: More mana, possible beats, and his emblem is even more efficient than Kumano. Myriad Landscape: We know from Thawing Glaciers that lands that find more lands are really good. Terrain Generator: You'd be surprised how useful this is in mono-red. The deck can find many lands quickly, and this helps dump them onto the field just as fast. Thawing Glaciers: Slow, slow ramp, but it comes on a land itself, which means it's pretty good, actually.
Card Draw/Tutors Tower of Fortunes: The ability is expensive, but you only need to use it every two or three turns to keep your hand chock full of goodies. Plus, red doesn't draw worth crap, so we'll take what we can get. Mind's Eye: A great source of cheap card draw. Just watch out for Consecrated Sphinx. Ichor Wellspring: More draws, and again likes to see Goblin Welder hit the field. Gamble: Mono-red's best tutor. For when you absolutely need a certain card. Godo, Bandit Warlord: Basically the only reason I'm playing theKaldraequipments (besides the Sword, anyway). Usually finds protection for Kumano, though. Reliquary Tower: If we've played Tower of Fortunes already, how else are we going to keep our massive hand?
Commander Synergy Basilisk Collar: Turns Kumano into a sweeper all by himself. Lifelink is an added bonus. Sword of Kaldra: Even better than deathtouch. Also, +5/+5 means Kumano beats hard. Loxodon Warhammer: Lifelink on a repeatable pinger is pretty good, actually. Also helps with the beats. Sword of Feast and Famine: Helps with commander beats, protects from two colors, and, most importantly, gives me twice as much mana every turn I swing in. Twice as much mana = twice as many burns with Kumano. Repercussion: An all-star in the deck. If I hit someone's creature with Kumano, suddenly I'm also hitting their face. Two for the price of one! Also goes really well with red damage wrath effects. Heartstone: Makes Kumano's ability super-efficient: One mana, one damage! Also helps out Steel Hellkite, Shivan Hellkite, Feldon of the Third Path, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, and Viashino Heretic. Spinerock Knoll: Dishing out 7 damage is ridiculously easy, and now it nets me a free card!
Answers Oblivion Stone: Wipes the board, with the potential to save some of my things. The only downside is that realistically, you need 8 mana to play it, not 3. Nevinyrral's Disk: Slightly slower O-Stone, but costs less. Doesn't his planeswalkers, unfortunately. Spine of Ish Sah: High mana cost, but dealing with any permanent (including those pesky enchantments) is worth it. Also comes back if destroyed, say with Hoard-Smelter Dragon. Skred: One of the best removal spells out there... if you're running snow lands. Which I am! Stranglehold: Shuts down combo players. Can draw some hate, though. Shattering Pulse: One thing red does well: repeatable artifact destruction. Viashino Heretic: See Shattering Pulse. Adds some damage for extra fun. Chaos Warp: Risky, but hits things we normally have trouble dealing with. Reiterate: The quintessential "me too!" card. You're tutoring? Me too! You're ramping? Me too! You want to counter a spell? Me too! Into the Core: For pesky Darksteel things. Comet Storm: Can be a wrath if needed, but usually just kills everyone after a well-timed Dictate of the Twin Gods. Chain reaction: Kills all the creatures (usually). Token decks' worst enemy. All Is Dust: Again, deals with things we normally have a hard time with. Also can leave us with a significant advantage due to our large number of artifacts. Blasphemous Act: Repercussion's best friend. The situation where you need to cast it are the ones where it costs the least, which is great. Red Sun's Zenith: Kills something (or someone) annoying, and makes sure it doesn't come back, like Kumano himself. Can be drawn again later. Karn Liberated: Another answer-anything card. Usually functions as a Spine of Ish Sah that exiles instead of destroying, and then eats some damage when the next player gets rid of him. If he sticks, though, he's a formidable advantage. Diaochan, Artful Beauty: Goes well with Lightning Greaves and Darksteel Plate (but not Swiftfoot Boots, since you control the effect). Gets rid of creatures fast. Hoard-Smelter Dragon: Again with the repeatable artifact destruction. Buffing itself is nice, too, allowing for big beats. Becomes terrifying in conjunction with Darksteel Forge, because then it's four mana for +9/+0, over and over. Also helps to reuse Spine of Ish Sah. Steel Hellkite: Another beater who can answer problems like enchantments. Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: Kills creatures, with the added bonus of also being a beater and maybe a draw engine.
Protection/Recursion Lightning Greaves: Shroud and haste. Shroud is the more relevant of the two, however. No more spot removal! Swiftfoot Boots: Greaves with a higher equip cost, but that allow me to target the creature afterwards (usually with more equipment). Darksteel Plate: Is hard to deal with, and makes a creature equally so. Shield of Kaldra: Another Plate that also protects the sword and helm. Darksteel Forge: Protects all my artifacts. Man, indestructible is irritating! Best friends with Nevinyrral's Disk and Hoard-Smelter Dragon. Buried Ruin: Gets back something important. Phyrexia's Core: Saves things from being exiled. Goblin Welder: Gets back important things, and loves to play with Sadbot. Myr Retriever: Again, rescues something important. Or just lets me reuse Armillary Sphere or something. Feldon of the Third Path: Brings back a copy of any creature in my 'yard as an artifact. Reuses some of my biggest threats and has incredible synergy with Goblin Welder and Wurmcoil Engine. Trading Post: Such an all-star. Drops recursion targets into the 'yard, makes emergency chump blockers, protects creatures and artifacts from being exiled, recurs artifacts, and draws cards. All that for only four mana.
Finishers: Burn and Beats Avatar of Fury: Just a cheap beater who likes having Braid of Fire around. Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle: Pretty much an auto-include in a red ramp deck. An advantage machine. Akoum Hellkite: A second Valakut seems good. Helm of Kaldra: Doesn't really provide protection or anything, but I'm already running the Sword and Shield, so I might as well include this. The Kaldra pieces are difficult to assemble, but awesome if you do. Hellkite Tyrant: Provides an alternate win-con that's not out of reach with the artifact subtheme I've got. Also can deal with problematic artifacts... by giving them to me! 6 mana for a 6-power flying beater is nice, too. Shivan Gorge: A land that helps me burn people out. Dictate of the Twin Gods: Usually ends the game. Flash is the best part of this card. Chandra's Spitfire: A cheap flying beater who goes nuts with Kumano, Valakut, Akoum Hellkite, Viashino Heretic, etc. Wurmcoil Engine: A six-mana 6/6 with two great abilities that replaces itself when it dies. Loves to be recurred.
Strategy: Putting it All Together
So that's why I chose the commander I did, how the deck has evolved, and what's actually in it (and why). But how does one actually play the deck?
Step Zero: The Opener
Everyone knows that without a decent opening hand, your game is going nowhere. In my Kumano deck, what I usually look for is three or four lands (or some way to get lands, like Thawing Glaciers or Mycosynth Wellsping), a mana rock, and either some early removal (Skred, Shattering Pulse, etc.) or support (equipment, Repercussion, Goblin Welder, etc.). Barring that, a hand with lots of lands generally turns out nicely since even if you get flooded, you can always just play Kumano and start dishing out damage.
Step One: The Early Game
The early game is spent building up your mana base, playing some rocks and especially Braid of Fire if you draw it early. Don't be afraid to get rid of someone else's early threats if you can, or to lay down an early Greaves or other protective equipment for when you play Kumano later. Mostly, this is the stage where you want to look as durdly and nonthreatening as possible. If you've got amanadoubler, however, definitely play it to push into the later stages of your game plan.
Step Two: The Midgame
This is where you want to play Kumano. I tend to rush him out as fast as possible, because even in play he doesn't seem like much of a threat (except to recursion decks) so people usually let him stick around, as long as you spread out the damage from his ability. Another tactic is to wait until you have some form of protective equipment ready, then play him and immediately attach it. This is more helpful if you'd rather go after one particular person. Also by this point, you should have the mana for some of your more versatile pieces of removal, so continue to use them as necessary.
Step Three: The Late Game
Now you've got plenty of mana, you want to lay down big threats: beaters like Avatar of Fury or Steel Hellkite, huge burn spells a la Comet Storm and Red Sun's Zenith, or a punishing Dictate of the Twin Gods. If you can assemble it, Blasphemous Act + Repercussion is a good way to finish off games, getting even more hilarious if the Dictate is out, since the damage is QUADRUPLED: 13 damage to each creature becomes 26, and then Repercussion's 26 to each player for each creature they control becomes 52. That means if everyone has even one creature in play, you just won.
Alternate Routes to Victory
Of course, there are a few other things you can do as well, depending on what you draw. You can go for an artifact recursion game: One of my favorite first few turns ever in the deck went like this:
Turn 1: Draw. Discard Darksteel Forge.
Turn 2: Play Mountain, cast Goblin Welder.
Turn 3: Play Mountain, cast Swiftfoot Boots, use the Welder to turn them into the Forge.
If you get Nevi's Disk or O-Stone, you can keep the board clean indefinitely.
You can also go for a commander damage win if you draw enough of the right equipment. Sword of Kaldra is a huge help here, as it boosts Kumano up to 9 power and makes it easy to eliminate potential blockers. Loxodon Warhammer is another enabler of this strategy.
And then there's Hellkite Tyrant. I recently added him to the deck, and it seems like this alternate win condition wouldn't be too hard to pull off with my high artifact count. Haven't had a chance to test him yet, but I've got high hopes.
Personal Bio
I started playing Magic around the time that Mirrodin was released, though my first cards were the 7th Edition starter pack with the two decks in it and the foil Thorn Elemental. I originally learned a slightly modified version of the real rules (the people that taught me told me to draw a new seven-card hand if I had no cards in hand at the draw step), and it wasn't until years later than I learned that wasn't how you were supposed to play. When I went off to college, I discovered my school had an entire club for Magic, and this is where I was introduced to Commander, which has since become my favorite format. I currently have six Commander decks built, and am working on a seventh. My play style is somewhat casual; I try to build "strong but fair" decks, though recently I've been upping their power level across the board. I also really really enjoy interacting with the graveyard (one of my favorite strategies in general is mill).
But anyway, enough about me. Hopefully you found this deck to be cool, or at least interesting. Please, leave me some comments, suggestions, or what have you! I'd love to discuss it.
As another longtime Kumano player (I'll be putting my list up shortly but figured I'd check out what's already here), there is one glaring omission your deck has in my eyes: Repercussion. That card is simply nuts, letting you burn people by killing their creatures, and making combat more awkward for everyone. It also combos nicely with red wraths like Chain Reaction/Blasphemous Act, as well as your Starstorm, Red Sun's Zenith, Devil's Play, and Comet Storm (if you ever target creatures with that). Other than that, I like your list; it seems to do pretty much everything mine does, heh. I also give you points for including Stuffy Doll; I hadn't thought of that.
Hi Justin. Your list looks decent, but allow me to make a couple suggestions. First of all, if you want flying defenders over Fire-Field Ogre and Hellhole Flailer, then I would suggest Fog Bank and Guard Gomazoa. Both fly and block all day long, as well as being unkillable by damage-based removal.
Secondly, in terms of your deck overall, it seems you're split between wanting to mill people out and wanting to kill them with damage. I would focus on one or the other to formulate a more focused strategy (and honestly, if you pick the mill route, you can probably just cut red completely, which will help the $$ cost of your manabase, since that color doesn't have much to offer outside maybe Shocker or his barbed cousin). If you want to do a mill-and-then-reanimate-all-the-creatures strategy, which seems like mostly what you're going for here, you still don't really need red to do it. Third, even in casual games, how often are you going to get to enough mana to cast things like Cruel Ultimatum, Sepulchral Primordial, or especially Rise of the Dark Realms? Yes, they're awesome cards, but you can't rely on getting to 7+ mana every game. I would add in a couple more Grimoire of the Dead or maybe even just single-target reanimate spells like Reanimate, Animate Dead, or even Rise From the Grave.
Most important to note, however, is these are just my suggestions, and you don't have to follow any of them. Ultimately it's still your deck, so build and play it in the way that's the most fun for you. Anyway, I hope some of that at least was helpful!
So I guess this is really where I ought to be posting first, eh?
So hi, I'm RepressedDepression (call me RD for short if ya like). I've lurked around this site for a while, mainly looking at the Commander Decklist Database. Been playing Magic since Mirrodin, but only seriously since ROtE. My favorite format is EDH/Commander, which I am constantly wanting to build new decks for. Currently my deckbox is in a state of flux; I just retired several EDH decks and am looking to build some replacements. I am also working on a cube, so I'll probably be hanging around that subforum as well.
-1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, +1 Flamekin Village
-1 Scrying Sheets, +1 Arcane Lighthouse
-1 Snow-Covered Mountain, +1 Myriad Landscape
-1 Furnace of Rath, +1 Dictate of the Twin Gods
-1 Rimescale Dragon, +1 Trading Post
-1 Elixir of Immortality, +1 Chandra's Spitfire
-1 Worn Powerstone, +1 Mind Stone
-1 Planar Portal, +1 Feldon of the Third Path
-1 Zealous Conscripts, +1 Wurmcoil Engine
-1 Trash for Treasure, +1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
-1 Insurrection, +1 Akoum Hellkite
There were several suggestions while I was away; here are my responses to them:
Cutting Mycosynth Wellspring, Tower of Fortunes, Diaochan, Artful Beauty, Rimescale Dragon: The Wellspring has been really good to me; I actually prefer it to a mana rock because my basics are affected by mana doublers, even if it's slower. It's a great piece of the recursion package as well. Tower of Fortunes is one of my favorite draw cards, especially in red and white. It does cost a lot of mana, but I think it's worth it. I love paying for it with Braid of Fire. Diaochan has actually been excellent removal for me, especially since I look for Lightning Greaves and Darksteel Plate anyways. I could see maybe taking her out for Aftershock or Duplicant though. I did eventually cut Rimescale; he was cool, but not good enough.
Adding Æther Flash, Wild Ricochet, Arcbound Reclaimer, Wheel of Fortune/Reforge the Soul, Aftershock, Duplicant, Memory Jar, Mind Stone, Relic of Progenitus, Sensei's Divining Top, Trading Post: Post and Mind Stone made it in; they're both very good cards here. Aether Flash is cool, but I don't think it does enough. I can take out token swarms with Blasphemous Act or Chain Reaction, and if I don't have the mana to finish the creature off that turn, it does nothing. It can also prevent me from playing a couple of my smaller utility creatures. I love Wild Ricochet, and when I get a hold of one it will definitely go in. Reclaimer is good recursion, but a little slow. Plus I have no way of giving him more +1/+1 counters, so to get more use out of him I'd have to use another recursion engine on him. The wheel effects, including Memory Jar, are nice card draw, but I find that a lot of the time they can refill an opponent's hand rather than disrupting it, or dump things into opposing graveyards that I don't want there. Aftershock is awesome; I didn't even know that card existed, but I'll look for a copy. Duplicant is very nice removal as well, and I could see him replacing Diaochan as I said above. You're right in that I lack actual graveyard hate, but Relic would hose my own recursion as well. I could definitely play something like Tormod's Crypt, however. As for Top, I don't own a copy, but if I did it would end up in my Melek, Izzet Paragon deck. It's always nice to have though.
Adding Gratuitous Violence, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Staff of Nin, Quietus Spike, Neko-Te, and Mana Vault, and swapping Planar Portal for Ring of Three Wishes: I cut Planar Portal entirely; otherwise, that last suggestion would have been an easy decision. I used to run Gratuitous Violence and Neko-Te (both in a version before I posted the deck here), and they were good but not great. Violence cost a little too much mana and didn't double my burn spells, but it might find its way back in at some point. (I did add Dictate, after all, and that costs five, but it's a much better card IMO.) As for Neko-Te, usually if I was pinging something with Kumano I was killing it, so the tapping wasn't relevant, and dealing one extra damage to players didn't do much because most of my damage to players comes from beats, even with Kumano. I ended up cutting it for Loxodon Warhammer. Staff of Nin is good, but again I feel that I have better effects. It might be a possible replacement for Tower of Fortunes though. I really like Quietus Spike; halving someone's life total keeps burn effective against pesky lifegain decks (lookin' at you, Oloro), and another source of deathtouch is great. Mana Vault is a great early accelerator, but I feel it's best in decks that can untap it some other way than its ability (or that reduce that ability's cost). The closest I can come is sacrificing it and bringing it back.
Adding Goblin Sharpshooter, Gorgon's Head, Mogg Maniac, Squee, Rummaging Goblin, and Goblin Matron: Sharpshooter would be a good backup to Kumano. I cut Shivan Hellkite because it was expensive mana-wise, but Sharpshooter only costs three. The thing I don't like about Sharpshooter is that it's a lot more limited in what it can do. It doesn't do a whole lot of damage to players, and doesn't work with the exile-touch on Sword of Kaldra the way Kumano does. If I added another deathtouch source it might be better. If I ever have a spot that needs filling I could see trying him out. Deathtouch is nice, but I don't think Gorgon's Head does enough if it's equipped to anyone but Kumano. Mogg Maniac is pretty narrow, I think; he might deter some attackers, but he can be evaded, and putting him in just to combo with my wraths seems like a waste. I've already got Repercussion for that, and that also synergizes much better with Kumano. Without Rummaging Goblin, all Squee does is block ground-pounders. The Rummager itself is decent, especially with the potential to discard recursion targets, but I think I have enough draw already. Matron currently only finds Goblin Welder, which is admittedly one of my key cards, but if I draw him first she's dead. With some of your other inclusions she'd get better, but I don't have space to put in three cards I don't need so that a fourth one will be better.
On adding Vandalblast: It's a great card, certainly, but most of the artifact destruction I already have is repeatable (Shattering Pulse, Viashino Heretic, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, etc.), so I don't think I need it.
A very belated thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions!
All Is Dust is great when all your creatures are colorless, but as with Planar Cleansing you want to be careful because it will kill a lot of your enablers, like Terra Eternal etcetera.
You bring up a very good point about managing your mana; if you want to attack in this deck it limits your ability to cast spells, and especially to respond on opponents' turns. That makes Sword of Feast and Famine just stupid in this deck; lets you beat in and still cast spells.
As for Give//Take, it's unfortunately illegal in this deck since Give contains a green mana symbol.
A few people have mentioned Master of Waves, and he's certainly an option since Noyan Dar turns your lands into Elemental creatures, but personally I'd rather have another instant/sorcery over him. The way I'd play the deck is to make one or two lands really huge to minimize my losses to removal and also so I don't lose too much mana by attacking.
Sword of the Animist is really good in most decks, but it's just silly here.
Ajani Goldmane can buff all your creatures and give them vigilance so mana is less of an issue.
I'm surprised no one's brought up Part the Waterveil yet; yes the Awaken cost is expensive, but it buffs a land by 6 and this deck will get and play a ton of lands anyway, so you might even have an attacker or two to beat in with after casting it.
Another card that should get mentioned here is Halimar Tidecaller; he gives evasion to all your manlands, plus gets you back the aforementioned Part the Waterveil or Planar Outburst.
Allay is a hidden gem from Exodus; repeatable enchantment removal that can get lots of Noyan triggers.
Last but not least, Endless Horizons deserves a mention; gets you another land every turn and thins your deck so you draw more gas.
EDIT: Forgot to bring up Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise; two cards that are absolutely nuts in any deck like this that casts a lot of spells.
With that in mind, I've made the following changes to the deck:
-1 Thran Dynamo, +1 Gilded Lotus: Changing colorless mana into colored is worth the slightly higher mana cost.
-1 Journeyer's Kite, +1 Mycosynth Wellspring: The Wellspring allows more Goblin Welder shananigans, and doesn't require 3 mana every turn to search out lands. That's mana I can use on other things, like pinging with Kumano.
-1 Junk Diver, +1 Ichor Wellspring: Junk Diver was just kind of redundant with Myr Retriever, but the Retriever costs less. Another source of card draw never hurt, either.
-1 Shivan Hellkite, +1 Hellkite Tyrant: Shivan Hellkite was there in case Kumano gets tucked or too expensive, but really it just usually ends up being a big creature I never want to play because I have Kumano. I'll see how the Tyrant works out in its place.
-1 Mirrorworks, +1 Sword of Feast and Famine: The Sword will provide a bunch of extra mana for everything the deck does that wants mana. Mirrorworks ends up being a target and not doing much before someone gets rid of it; hopefully I'll have better luck with the Sword.
Still would definitely love to add Coldsteel Heart and Chandra's Spitfire, but I haven't gotten my hands on them just yet. I'll need to sort through my collection at some point; I'm sure they're there.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far! I've updated the main post to reflect these changes.
Word of Seizing is definitely a good card, but I'm pretty happy with Zealous Conscripts in my list. I haven't run into any situations yet where the split second would have been relevant, and I like getting the 3/3 hasty body along with stealing something.
I like the idea of adding the Wellsprings; they give me more stuff to do with the Welder besides recur Sadbot or change around equipments. I hadn't thought of using them in here but it's definitely something I'll check out.
Blood Moon actually draws a huge amount of hate in my playgroup; there are a ton of three or more colored decks and people hate it when their fixing gets shut off.
I feel like Goblin Charbelcher is just too inefficient compared to most of the repeatable removal the deck can already do. Plus I run a high number of lands, so there's no guarantee it'll even do enough damage.
I've looked at Hellkite Tyrant a lot, and he'd probably be pretty great in the deck. I just haven't found a spot for him yet.
Heartless Hidetsugu is another consideration. He definitely shortens games, but I feel like without Basilisk Collar I wouldn't want to use him.
As for Goblin Sharpshooter, he might be more efficient when equipped with the Collar, but he can't hit players very well and I can't do much else with him. Between him and Kumano I'd rather have Kumano wear the Collar.
Chandra's Spitfire, however, I hadn't though of. That definitely seems like a cool combo I could do!
I don't know if I want to use Mycosynth Lattice just to make my artifact removal better. Maybe with Hellkite Tyrant, however...
I'm also thinking of adding Coldsteel Heart and Gilded Lotus over Worn Powerstone and Thran Dynamo, respectively. The Heart gives me less mana and still enters tapped, but it's colored mana, SNOW mana, and Scrying Sheets can draw it; it also costs one less than the Powerstone. The Lotus costs one more than Dynamo, but gives me colored mana. Thoughts?
I actually had Gratuitous Violence in the deck at one point, and it may make a reappearance. I just think it costs a little too much.
I like Trading Post a lot, but I'm not sure what I'd take out for it.
I've been meaning to add a Sword of Feast and Famine, I just haven't gotten my hands on one yet.
Staff of Nin is an interesting suggestion, but I find that I don't really have trouble drawing enough cards most of the time, and I'd rather have Kumano do my pinging, even if I get one free from the Staff. It does cost six, however.
And as for Vandalblast, I considered removing Shattering Pulse for it when RTR came out, but I usually don't find myself needing to deal with groups of artifacts, just one or two at a time, and the Pulse is reusable. I could certainly see including it, though.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Introduction: Why Play Kumano?
- You like using lesser-known commanders
- You want to play mono-red
- You like shooting things. ALL the things.
- You like having lots of mana and lots of things to do with lots of mana
Reasons Not to Play Kumano- You prefer a different similar commander (more below)
- You like lower-costed commanders
- You dislike having your options limited to one color, especially one that can't answer everything
- You think the idea of mana ramp outside green is unnatural
- You don't like to shoot things
Similar Commanders: Why Not ____?Inception: Fall 2011
When I first decided to build Kumano, I had built several other Commander decks, but they were all multicolored. I decided I wanted to build a monocolor deck, and went with mono-red because it seemed like the biggest challenge. Red is fast and efficient, but can't deal with enchantments or big creatures, has no card draw, and tends to putter out in the mid-to-late game, where most of the action takes place in Commander. I also wanted to use a commander I hadn't seen before, which eliminated a few of the similar options (Jaya, Ashling). The third and final consideration that swayed my decision was that many of the decks in my meta at the time focused on recurring/reusing creatures with enters-the-battlefield triggers, and Kumano provided an easy way to deal with them which I would (theoretically) always have access to.
After I decided on Kumano, the deck naturally took itself in a ramp/"Big Red" direction, since having a mana sink as a commander means you can never have too much mana. Kumano's ability itself, plus the need to include colorless answers to things red has trouble dealing with, lent themselves to a control style of play, though it's much more about controlling the board than the stack. I included several mana rocks, mana doublers, and even other sinks. I also put in equipment that are bonkers with Kumano; giving him deathtouch, lifelink, and the "exile-touch" on Sword of Kaldra is really good. All these artifacts meant I could put in some artifact recursion/support. Then I added a few cards to enhance damage output and a few burn spells.
Changes Over Time
The main core and function of the deck has changed very little since I first built it, actually, as it's been pretty consistently effective in what I want it to do. The main changes have been replacing cards with better versions (usually adding something expensive that I couldn't get my hands on right away when I first built the deck, like Karn or Gauntlet of Might). The only major change the deck has gone through was its conversion to snow basics after I lost a game to someone else's benefit off my Extraplanar Lens. This also allowed me to add all the other snow-matters cards in the deck, which have been great for me.
Current State of the Deck
Right now, Kumano is one of my oldest remaining Commander decks, having lasted over four years. That's because the deck is still pretty unique among my collection, and is almost always a blast to play. One of my favorite things about the deck is its potential to go from a durdly slow deck to the biggest threat on the board in the span of one main phase. It also does a variety of different things that somehow come together to form a coherent strategy.
Recently, it's moved a little farther into an artifact recursion subtheme, especially after the release of Commander 2014.
Organized by card type:
5 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
Artifacts (29)
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Armillary Sphere
2 Ichor Wellspring
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Mind Stone
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Darksteel Plate
3 Extraplanar Lens
3 Heartstone
3 Helm of Kaldra
3 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Gauntlet of Might
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Shield of Kaldra
4 Sword of Kaldra
4 Tower of Fortunes
4 Trading Post
4 Vedalken Orrery
5 Gauntlet of Power
5 Gilded Lotus
5 Mind's Eye
6 Caged Sun
7 Spine of Ish Sah
9 Darksteel Forge
2 Braid of Fire
3 Repercussion
4 Stranglehold
5 Dictate of the Twin Gods
Instants (6)
1 Skred
2 Shattering Pulse
3 Chaos Warp
3 Reiterate
4 Into the Core
2 Comet Storm
Sorceries (5)
1 Gamble
4 Chain Reaction
7 All Is Dust
9 Blasphemous Act
1 Red Sun's Zenith
Planeswalkers (3)
4 Koth of the Hammer
5 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
7 Karn Liberated
Creatures (14)
1 Goblin Welder
2 Myr Retriever
3 Chandra's Spitfire
3 Feldon of the Third Path
3 Viashino Heretic
4 Diaochan, Artful Beauty
4 Solemn Simulacrum
6 Akoum Hellkite
6 Godo, Bandit Warlord
6 Hellkite Tyrant
6 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Wurmcoil Engine
8 Avatar of Fury
0 Arcane Lighthouse
0 Buried Ruin
0 Flamekin Village
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Phyrexia's Core
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Shivan Gorge
0 Spinerock Knoll
0 Terrain Generator
0 Thawing Glaciers
0 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
0 Snow-Covered Mountain (x27)
Average mana cost: 3.82
-1 Thran Dynamo, +1 Gilded Lotus: Changing colorless mana into colored is worth the slightly higher mana cost.
-1 Journeyer's Kite, +1 Mycosynth Wellspring: The Wellspring allows more Goblin Welder shananigans, and doesn't require 3 mana every turn to search out lands. That's mana I can use on other things, like pinging with Kumano.
-1 Junk Diver, +1 Ichor Wellspring: Junk Diver was just kind of redundant with Myr Retriever, but the Retriever costs less. Another source of card draw never hurt, either.
-1 Shivan Hellkite, +1 Hellkite Tyrant: Shivan Hellkite was there in case Kumano gets tucked or too expensive, but really it just usually ends up being a big creature I never want to play because I have Kumano. I'll see how the Tyrant works out in its place.
-1 Mirrorworks, +1 Sword of Feast and Famine: The Sword will provide a bunch of extra mana for everything the deck does that wants mana. Mirrorworks ends up being a target and not doing much before someone gets rid of it; hopefully I'll have better luck with the Sword.
10/26/2015: I haven't updated the thread in over a year, but here are the changes I've made since the last update:
-1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, +1 Flamekin Village: I never had enough devotion to make Nykthos worth it, and the haste on Village is great to have.
-1 Scrying Sheets, +1 Arcane Lighthouse: Sheets whiffed most of the time, so using it became a waste on mana. Lighthouse, on the other hand, deals with the two abilities that shut this deck down.
-1 Snow-Covered Mountain, +1 Myriad Landscape: I'll trade one basic for a land that finds me two.
-1 Furnace of Rath, +1 Dictate of the Twin Gods: The main problem with Furnace was its sorcery speed. Now I can take full advantage of the effect by timing it well.
-1 Rimescale Dragon, +1 Trading Post: The dragon was cool, but I'd usually rather spend the mana on Kumano's ability, which if I'm doing things right will outright kill and exile the creature instead of tapping it. By comparison, Trading Post is extremely synergistic with the rest of the deck.
-1 Elixir of Immortality, +1 Chandra's Spitfire: Elixir doesn't actually do a whole lot except in response to a Bojuka Bog effect. Spitfire is another creature, which the deck is low on, and gets absolutely enormous with Kumano's ability.
-1 Worn Powerstone, +1 Mind Stone: Powerstone comes in tapped, which I dislike in a mana rock. Mind Stone is cheaper, even if it makes less mana, and can draw me a card once I don't need it any more. Plus it can be recurred.
-1 Planar Portal, +1 Feldon of the Third Path: Portal just costs so much mana; I never found myself using it. Feldon, however, is absurd. With Goblin Welder, he's so much card advantage it's not even funny.
-1 Zealous Conscripts, +1 Wurmcoil Engine: I really liked Conscripts, but he didn't really end up answering anything. He'd just let me borrow someone's threat for a turn, and I'd rather just play my own threat, especially when it's as synergistic as Wurmcoil.
-1 Trash for Treasure, +1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: A one-shot Goblin Welder is nice, but I felt it just didn't do enough. Sarkhan is a beater, removal, and draw engine all in one, because Planeswalkers are ridiculous.
-1 Insurrection, +1 Akoum Hellkite: Insurrection will win the occasional game, but I find that Kumano usually keeps the board fairly clear of opposing dudes. Another Valakut effect is pretty awesome though, especially when attached to a big flying beater.
Wishlist/Possible Inclusions
Sword of the Animist seems pretty good for the deck. My only concern is having a creature to attach it to that actually wants to swing in.
Wild Ricochet is a great way to save my stuff while getting extra value at the same time.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a consideration. He's a lot of mana, however, and he can't deal with big things the way All is Dust can.
Aftershock: Seems like staple red removal.
Duplicant: Exile effects are always nice, and this one comes with a creature attached.
Gratuitous Violence: Used to be in the deck, but I have Dictate of the Twin Gods currently. I could possibly find a spot for a second damage doubler; they are pretty good.
Quietus Spike: Halving life totals is great in a burn deck, and another source of deathtouch couldn't hurt.
Goblin Sharpshooter: The current best candidate for backup to Kumano.
Here I'll list the cards by function and explain what they all do in the deck's larger strategy.
Sol Ring: One of the best mana rocks in the game. Essential to propelling us to the late game quickly.
Wayfarer's Bauble: Colorless Rampant Growth. Puts a basic right into play from your deck.
Armillary Sphere: Finds more lands, ensuring you can keep playing them as the game goes on.
Mind Stone: Mana rock that turns into another draw later.
Mycosynth Wellspring: Again, finds lands. Goes nuts with Goblin Welder.
Extraplanar Lens: The cheapest mana doubler available. Inspired the change to snow lands after it was used against me.
Gauntlet of Might: Doubles our mana and also serves as an anthem. Expensive $$-wise, but worth it.
Gilded Lotus: One of the better mana rocks. Provides colored mana, and can be used right after playing it, which is key.
Gauntlet of Power: Like Guantlet of Might, but for any color.
Caged Sun: Finally, a mana doubler only we profit off of! Also doubles our nonbasics, which is great.
Braid of Fire: Drop this on turn 2, and it'll be more devastating than most opponents realize. Goes great with all the instant-speed activated abilities in the deck.
Solemn Simulacrum: Ramps and draws when he dies. Goes great with Goblin Welder.
Koth of the Hammer: More mana, possible beats, and his emblem is even more efficient than Kumano.
Myriad Landscape: We know from Thawing Glaciers that lands that find more lands are really good.
Terrain Generator: You'd be surprised how useful this is in mono-red. The deck can find many lands quickly, and this helps dump them onto the field just as fast.
Thawing Glaciers: Slow, slow ramp, but it comes on a land itself, which means it's pretty good, actually.
Card Draw/Tutors
Tower of Fortunes: The ability is expensive, but you only need to use it every two or three turns to keep your hand chock full of goodies. Plus, red doesn't draw worth crap, so we'll take what we can get.
Mind's Eye: A great source of cheap card draw. Just watch out for Consecrated Sphinx.
Ichor Wellspring: More draws, and again likes to see Goblin Welder hit the field.
Gamble: Mono-red's best tutor. For when you absolutely need a certain card.
Godo, Bandit Warlord: Basically the only reason I'm playing the Kaldra equipments (besides the Sword, anyway). Usually finds protection for Kumano, though.
Reliquary Tower: If we've played Tower of Fortunes already, how else are we going to keep our massive hand?
Commander Synergy
Basilisk Collar: Turns Kumano into a sweeper all by himself. Lifelink is an added bonus.
Sword of Kaldra: Even better than deathtouch. Also, +5/+5 means Kumano beats hard.
Loxodon Warhammer: Lifelink on a repeatable pinger is pretty good, actually. Also helps with the beats.
Sword of Feast and Famine: Helps with commander beats, protects from two colors, and, most importantly, gives me twice as much mana every turn I swing in. Twice as much mana = twice as many burns with Kumano.
Repercussion: An all-star in the deck. If I hit someone's creature with Kumano, suddenly I'm also hitting their face. Two for the price of one! Also goes really well with red damage wrath effects.
Heartstone: Makes Kumano's ability super-efficient: One mana, one damage! Also helps out Steel Hellkite, Shivan Hellkite, Feldon of the Third Path, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, and Viashino Heretic.
Spinerock Knoll: Dishing out 7 damage is ridiculously easy, and now it nets me a free card!
Answers
Oblivion Stone: Wipes the board, with the potential to save some of my things. The only downside is that realistically, you need 8 mana to play it, not 3.
Nevinyrral's Disk: Slightly slower O-Stone, but costs less. Doesn't his planeswalkers, unfortunately.
Spine of Ish Sah: High mana cost, but dealing with any permanent (including those pesky enchantments) is worth it. Also comes back if destroyed, say with Hoard-Smelter Dragon.
Skred: One of the best removal spells out there... if you're running snow lands. Which I am!
Stranglehold: Shuts down combo players. Can draw some hate, though.
Shattering Pulse: One thing red does well: repeatable artifact destruction.
Viashino Heretic: See Shattering Pulse. Adds some damage for extra fun.
Chaos Warp: Risky, but hits things we normally have trouble dealing with.
Reiterate: The quintessential "me too!" card. You're tutoring? Me too! You're ramping? Me too! You want to counter a spell? Me too!
Into the Core: For pesky Darksteel things.
Comet Storm: Can be a wrath if needed, but usually just kills everyone after a well-timed Dictate of the Twin Gods.
Chain reaction: Kills all the creatures (usually). Token decks' worst enemy.
All Is Dust: Again, deals with things we normally have a hard time with. Also can leave us with a significant advantage due to our large number of artifacts.
Blasphemous Act: Repercussion's best friend. The situation where you need to cast it are the ones where it costs the least, which is great.
Red Sun's Zenith: Kills something (or someone) annoying, and makes sure it doesn't come back, like Kumano himself. Can be drawn again later.
Karn Liberated: Another answer-anything card. Usually functions as a Spine of Ish Sah that exiles instead of destroying, and then eats some damage when the next player gets rid of him. If he sticks, though, he's a formidable advantage.
Diaochan, Artful Beauty: Goes well with Lightning Greaves and Darksteel Plate (but not Swiftfoot Boots, since you control the effect). Gets rid of creatures fast.
Hoard-Smelter Dragon: Again with the repeatable artifact destruction. Buffing itself is nice, too, allowing for big beats. Becomes terrifying in conjunction with Darksteel Forge, because then it's four mana for +9/+0, over and over. Also helps to reuse Spine of Ish Sah.
Steel Hellkite: Another beater who can answer problems like enchantments.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: Kills creatures, with the added bonus of also being a beater and maybe a draw engine.
Protection/Recursion
Lightning Greaves: Shroud and haste. Shroud is the more relevant of the two, however. No more spot removal!
Swiftfoot Boots: Greaves with a higher equip cost, but that allow me to target the creature afterwards (usually with more equipment).
Darksteel Plate: Is hard to deal with, and makes a creature equally so.
Shield of Kaldra: Another Plate that also protects the sword and helm.
Darksteel Forge: Protects all my artifacts. Man, indestructible is irritating! Best friends with Nevinyrral's Disk and Hoard-Smelter Dragon.
Buried Ruin: Gets back something important.
Phyrexia's Core: Saves things from being exiled.
Goblin Welder: Gets back important things, and loves to play with Sadbot.
Myr Retriever: Again, rescues something important. Or just lets me reuse Armillary Sphere or something.
Feldon of the Third Path: Brings back a copy of any creature in my 'yard as an artifact. Reuses some of my biggest threats and has incredible synergy with Goblin Welder and Wurmcoil Engine.
Trading Post: Such an all-star. Drops recursion targets into the 'yard, makes emergency chump blockers, protects creatures and artifacts from being exiled, recurs artifacts, and draws cards. All that for only four mana.
Finishers: Burn and Beats
Avatar of Fury: Just a cheap beater who likes having Braid of Fire around.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle: Pretty much an auto-include in a red ramp deck. An advantage machine.
Akoum Hellkite: A second Valakut seems good.
Helm of Kaldra: Doesn't really provide protection or anything, but I'm already running the Sword and Shield, so I might as well include this. The Kaldra pieces are difficult to assemble, but awesome if you do.
Hellkite Tyrant: Provides an alternate win-con that's not out of reach with the artifact subtheme I've got. Also can deal with problematic artifacts... by giving them to me! 6 mana for a 6-power flying beater is nice, too.
Shivan Gorge: A land that helps me burn people out.
Dictate of the Twin Gods: Usually ends the game. Flash is the best part of this card.
Chandra's Spitfire: A cheap flying beater who goes nuts with Kumano, Valakut, Akoum Hellkite, Viashino Heretic, etc.
Wurmcoil Engine: A six-mana 6/6 with two great abilities that replaces itself when it dies. Loves to be recurred.
So that's why I chose the commander I did, how the deck has evolved, and what's actually in it (and why). But how does one actually play the deck?
Step Zero: The Opener
Everyone knows that without a decent opening hand, your game is going nowhere. In my Kumano deck, what I usually look for is three or four lands (or some way to get lands, like Thawing Glaciers or Mycosynth Wellsping), a mana rock, and either some early removal (Skred, Shattering Pulse, etc.) or support (equipment, Repercussion, Goblin Welder, etc.). Barring that, a hand with lots of lands generally turns out nicely since even if you get flooded, you can always just play Kumano and start dishing out damage.
Step One: The Early Game
The early game is spent building up your mana base, playing some rocks and especially Braid of Fire if you draw it early. Don't be afraid to get rid of someone else's early threats if you can, or to lay down an early Greaves or other protective equipment for when you play Kumano later. Mostly, this is the stage where you want to look as durdly and nonthreatening as possible. If you've got a mana doubler, however, definitely play it to push into the later stages of your game plan.
Step Two: The Midgame
This is where you want to play Kumano. I tend to rush him out as fast as possible, because even in play he doesn't seem like much of a threat (except to recursion decks) so people usually let him stick around, as long as you spread out the damage from his ability. Another tactic is to wait until you have some form of protective equipment ready, then play him and immediately attach it. This is more helpful if you'd rather go after one particular person. Also by this point, you should have the mana for some of your more versatile pieces of removal, so continue to use them as necessary.
Step Three: The Late Game
Now you've got plenty of mana, you want to lay down big threats: beaters like Avatar of Fury or Steel Hellkite, huge burn spells a la Comet Storm and Red Sun's Zenith, or a punishing Dictate of the Twin Gods. If you can assemble it, Blasphemous Act + Repercussion is a good way to finish off games, getting even more hilarious if the Dictate is out, since the damage is QUADRUPLED: 13 damage to each creature becomes 26, and then Repercussion's 26 to each player for each creature they control becomes 52. That means if everyone has even one creature in play, you just won.
Alternate Routes to Victory
Of course, there are a few other things you can do as well, depending on what you draw. You can go for an artifact recursion game: One of my favorite first few turns ever in the deck went like this:
Turn 1: Draw. Discard Darksteel Forge.
Turn 2: Play Mountain, cast Goblin Welder.
Turn 3: Play Mountain, cast Swiftfoot Boots, use the Welder to turn them into the Forge.
If you get Nevi's Disk or O-Stone, you can keep the board clean indefinitely.
You can also go for a commander damage win if you draw enough of the right equipment. Sword of Kaldra is a huge help here, as it boosts Kumano up to 9 power and makes it easy to eliminate potential blockers. Loxodon Warhammer is another enabler of this strategy.
And then there's Hellkite Tyrant. I recently added him to the deck, and it seems like this alternate win condition wouldn't be too hard to pull off with my high artifact count. Haven't had a chance to test him yet, but I've got high hopes.
But anyway, enough about me. Hopefully you found this deck to be cool, or at least interesting. Please, leave me some comments, suggestions, or what have you! I'd love to discuss it.
Secondly, in terms of your deck overall, it seems you're split between wanting to mill people out and wanting to kill them with damage. I would focus on one or the other to formulate a more focused strategy (and honestly, if you pick the mill route, you can probably just cut red completely, which will help the $$ cost of your manabase, since that color doesn't have much to offer outside maybe Shocker or his barbed cousin). If you want to do a mill-and-then-reanimate-all-the-creatures strategy, which seems like mostly what you're going for here, you still don't really need red to do it. Third, even in casual games, how often are you going to get to enough mana to cast things like Cruel Ultimatum, Sepulchral Primordial, or especially Rise of the Dark Realms? Yes, they're awesome cards, but you can't rely on getting to 7+ mana every game. I would add in a couple more Grimoire of the Dead or maybe even just single-target reanimate spells like Reanimate, Animate Dead, or even Rise From the Grave.
Most important to note, however, is these are just my suggestions, and you don't have to follow any of them. Ultimately it's still your deck, so build and play it in the way that's the most fun for you. Anyway, I hope some of that at least was helpful!
So hi, I'm RepressedDepression (call me RD for short if ya like). I've lurked around this site for a while, mainly looking at the Commander Decklist Database. Been playing Magic since Mirrodin, but only seriously since ROtE. My favorite format is EDH/Commander, which I am constantly wanting to build new decks for. Currently my deckbox is in a state of flux; I just retired several EDH decks and am looking to build some replacements. I am also working on a cube, so I'll probably be hanging around that subforum as well.