My name is Ryan Addleman, I am 23 years old, and I live in Ohio about fourty five minutes south of Cleveland. I get together every Friday night with the same guys I've been playing Magic with since we started. We play mostly Commander but have just started getting into Standard as of late. I started playing Magic right when Seventh Edition came out in 2001 when I bought a Planeshift intro deck with my twin brother at a local card shop called B&B Sports Cards. For years we played kitchen table Magic with no sleeves at any kitchen table we could gather at mostly using our slightly modified intro packs since we hadn't bought much packs.
Then in 2003 my friend convinced us to go to a Junior Super Series tournament which was a Standard format tournament. Not knowing anything about it I modified my super awesome Elf deck that destroyed all my friends decks and went to the tournament with high hopes. That's when I got destroyed by Goblins and realized that I knew nothing about the game I thought I was so good at. After that I got into Standard for awhile and then played U/W Standstill in Legacy for a bit until I kind of put Magic on the back burner in 2006 right around the time Dissension was released. I didn't really get back into the game until 2008 right before Shards of Alara was released. Over the next two years I played mostly Legacy first building Merfolk than switching to 43 Lands and finally ending with ANT up until Mystical Tutor got banned.
So I sold what I could from ANT and dropped out of competitive Magic completely and my brother convinced me to try this new format he had been reading about which was called EDH. I was incredibly reluctant at first but eventually fell in love with the format and have been playing ever since. I've played way to many generals over the past two years but Kresh is the only one I keep going back to and is currently the longest running commander in our playgroup. It's completely different from what I would normally play in sixty card Magic since I tend to stick to blue and white there but I think that's what makes the format so fun is that I get to do something different from what I do in competitive Magic.
Why Should You Listen To Me?
I've been playing Kresh the Bloodbraided off and on for the past two years and have gone through many different variations with him. It started off originally as a dragon tribal deck but that didn't work out very well and Kresh wasn't being used to his full potential at the helm so I decided on a new direction. I decided to go for a voltron style deck which I'm pretty sure every person who picks up Kresh tries to do when they first build him. It was fun for a while but wasn't really consistent and getting my general tucked really hurt like it does in any voltron deck. I felt like Kresh was an inferior voltron general when compared to something like Rafiq and I looked for a new approach.
That's when I came up with the current version of the deck that you see above. My brother once compared it to the workings of a clock. Each card in the deck is like a gear and as the pieces start to assemble they work together to grind out the win. Each gear is interchangeable so if one is destroyed or removed you can simply replace it with something else. This makes for a consistent deck with many paths to victory and can sometimes make your opponents feel like there's no hope when they stop you from winning two turns in a row only for you to end it on the third. It has often been referred to as "Battle Cruiser Magic" but I feel like that doesn't properly convey it's complexity or consistency.
Now I don't claim to be an expert on Kresh the Bloodbraided nor Magic in general but I have put a tremendous amount of time in this list to make it as good as possible while still sticking with my ideals when it comes to Commander. I always push my decks to the limit but when it gets down to it this is supposed to be a casual format so there is some things I just won't do. The main one is that I won't run infinite combos in any of my lists. Sometimes infinite combos accidentally show up in the list but I promise you it is not intentional and I will never be using it to win a game. The second big one is I find tutors to be bland and can make a deck boring if used too excessively so I tend to limit the tutors I run to some of the more interesting ones like Birthing Pod or Survival of the Fittest while forgoing ones like Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor. You don't have to agree with my reviews but please respect them.
Why Play Kresh?
Kresh the Bloodbraided may be for you if;
-You like running a high amount of creatures
-You like being able to win out of nowhere and one shotting people
-You like having a general that is an important part of your deck but can function without it
-You like being able to control the flow of the game without having to run blue or white
-You like finding crazy new interactions every time you play
-You like the sound of "Battle Cruiser Magic"
Kresh the Bloodbraided may not be for you if;
-You like tutoring all the time
-You like being able to interact with the stack
-You like running infinte combos
-You like fast games and not slow grindy ones
-You like decks that are easy to play
-You like not being the target of the table
How Does The Deck Work?
General Strategy
The main focus of this deck is to make Kresh the Bloodbraided huge and then use him to kill all of your opponents in one of multiple ways. There are plenty of cards in the deck that can take advantage of a creature with a monumental size power or toughness. There are some that allow you to draw cards such as Greater Good or the new Disciple of Bolas which also gains you life same as Momentous Fall. There are also plenty of cards that can turn a giant Kresh into one or many opponents dying like the always reliable Fling or it's backups Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest. Of course with all these cards that take advantage of a huge Kresh there needs to be some sort of backup plan in case he gets tucked or otherwise incapacitated. In comes Lord of Extinction and Malignus to take his place as the sacrificial giant. Don't forget the new Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord that not only acts as a way to clear the table with a large Kresh but can also be a pretty decent size creature himself to use with your other tools. Along with this there are your normal ramp, draw, fatty, and removal spells to help you meet your goal and don't be afraid to get in the red zone and get some damage in it's not impossible for this deck to win through the red zone especially with cards like Kessig Wolf Run and the ever popular Avenger of Zendikar.
Early Game
This is where this deck is the weakest. The number one pointer here is to know when to mulligan. You need at least one way to ramp in your starting hand and you need to be able to hit all three colors with what you have in your opening seven. Spend your first few turns trying to ramp and establish a decent mana base and keep early threats off your back and try to stay under the radar. Try to keep your graveyard empty until you see that first piece of grave hate that always shows up. The graveyard isn't essential like some decks but due to cards like Living Death and Lord of Extinction it's a valuable asset late in the game and due to the low amount of recursion your graveyard doesn't tend to be a target.
Mid Game
This is where Kresh usually hits the table for the first time and you want to make sure there are a decent number of creatures on the field when he hits the field. Never cast Kresh when there are no other creatures in play. Never. Ever. Ever. If there are no creatures in play he can't get bigger plain and simple. You'll also need to realize something and that would be that Kresh eats removal all the time. When he dies it is usually not the best move to throw him back into the arena right away. Focus on regrouping and rebuilding resources and give it a turn or two before you go back on the offensive. With Kresh gone and having him back in the command zone people tend to let there guards down and that's when he can come down and take someone out.
Late Game
This is where the deck really excels if you can make it to this point of the game. At this point you should have tons of mana which makes cards like Kessig Wolf Run really shine. You should have a pretty large graveyard which makes Living Death and Lord of Extinction usually win on the spot. People should have ran out of answers so things like Volrath's Stronghold make for an impossible to deal with threat. Essentially the longer the game goes on the stronger this deck gets.
What no Vicious shadows ??? Add now list looks pretty fun shadows is a card that can beat my whole table and we don't play many creatures... And it looks badass here.
There is a 2B, Sorcery that reads "Target players loses life and you gain life equal to target creature you controls power"..Forgot the name...but its from the recent set.
Hamletback Goliath is also pretty amazing in Kresh
You need Soul's Fire and/or Essence Harvest up in here!
Also, aside from Withered Wretch / Scavenging Ooze, you should include other pieces of graveyard hate to maximize Living Death action for yourself! Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod's Crypt, and Necrogenesis are my favorite for Jund colors.
Soul's Majesty is another great card that fits the theme of this deck. You don't run Disciple of Griselbrand, either -- which is surprising.
I chose to go with Fling variants here instead of Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest for a couple reasons. The first being that Fling and it's friends sacrifice the creature as part of the cost meaning that the only thing that can stop it is a Counterspell where as with Soul's Fire just killing the creature will make the spell fizzle. Essence Harvest has the unique ability of not targeting the creature meaning that even if your biggest creature gets killed before it resolves you can use your second biggest creature. Unfortunately I only usually have one big creature out at a time meaning removal still makes this card a bust for me. Also it's not an instant which is a huge negative when compare to Fling. Also Fling is either used in response to removal or to take out the last player remaining in the game meaning the fact that Soul's Fire allows my creature to stick around almost irrelevant.
I chose to go with Fling variants here instead of Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest for a couple reasons. The first being that Fling and it's friends sacrifice the creature as part of the cost meaning that the only thing that can stop it is a Counterspell where as with Soul's Fire just killing the creature will make the spell fizzle. Essence Harvest has the unique ability of not targeting the creature meaning that even if your biggest creature gets killed before it resolves you can use your second biggest creature. Unfortunately I only usually have one big creature out at a time meaning removal still makes this card a bust for me. Also it's not an instant which is a huge negative when compare to Fling. Also Fling is either used in response to removal or to take out the last player remaining in the game meaning the fact that Soul's Fire allows my creature to stick around almost irrelevant.
However, Soul's Fire lets Kresh deal general damage the way it's worded, whereas Fling doesn't. TBH, they probably should both be ran for their respective strengths.
However, Soul's Fire lets Kresh deal general damage the way it's worded, whereas Fling doesn't. TBH, they probably should both be ran for their respective strengths.
Soul's Fire doesn't count as commander damage, only combat damage does.
For card draw you could use soul's majesty and/or garruk, primal hunter. 5 mana for a potentially huge sum of cards. The big upside for one more mana over momentous fall is that you get to keep your creature.
Dragon broodmother is a great card for a big table, and is it's own threat and engine all in itself. It even buffs kresh a bit form the devour.
For board wipes I went with starstorm and pestilence demon type cards, along with plague wind of course. These all have the nice potential to not kill kresh but kill other people's stuff. Vigor fits in quite well (only) because of these cards.
I see you have a lot of big creatures... a savage beating entwined is 4x damage. Overwhelming stampede is great if you ever find yourself leaning towards more tokens down the road.
Jund charm is actually somewhat useful in this deck with the 2 damage to all creatures (not killing kresh). I believe it is the the only card to be an instant speed spell that can remove someones grave yard from the game. This can really mess someone up, especially after say, a living death. They won't see it coming like a tormod's crypt.
And finally... evasion. Kresh really needs help getting through. Him being chump blocked sucks.Rancor is cheap and will keep coming back. Whispersilk cloak adds the advantage of shroud. Fallen ideal is great in a more sacrifice/token oriented kresh deck. It gives self recurring evasion and pumps a lot.
Kaalia's Army of AnnhilationRWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain MattersWB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator ToolboxBG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to DieRBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and TapGWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to BleedWBG
For card draw you could use soul's majesty and/or garruk, primal hunter. 5 mana for a potentially huge sum of cards. The big upside for one more mana over momentous fall is that you get to keep your creature.
The same argument I used for Soul's Fire applies to this, also they aren't instant speed.
For board wipes I went with starstorm and pestilence demon type cards, along with plague wind of course. These all have the nice potential to not kill kresh but kill other people's stuff. Vigor fits in quite well (only) because of these cards.
I see you have a lot of big creatures... a savage beating entwined is 4x damage. Overwhelming stampede is great if you ever find yourself leaning towards more tokens down the road.
Both of these cards would be included in a more token oriented deck, but not here.
Jund charm is actually somewhat useful in this deck with the 2 damage to all creatures (not killing kresh). I believe it is the the only card to be an instant speed spell that can remove someones grave yard from the game. This can really mess someone up, especially after say, a living death. They won't see it coming like a tormod's crypt.
I've already stated that I feel I have adequate graveyard hate and I don't plan on adding anymore, but if I did Jund Charm fits the bill nicely.
And finally... evasion. Kresh really needs help getting through. Him being chump blocked sucks.Rancor is cheap and will keep coming back. Whispersilk cloak adds the advantage of shroud. Fallen ideal is great in a more sacrifice/token oriented kresh deck. It gives self recurring evasion and pumps a lot.
Evasion for Kresh is actually something I've been contemplating recently. I've been trying to figure out what a good number of slots for it would be along with what kind of evasion I would use. I've already got the good evasion lands along with to a certain extent Nim Deathmantle although I'm not sure that's enough. I've been considering Brawn along with his friend Anger and also the new ring cycle from M13 since they're on theme with the +1/+1 counters.
What do you think about vicious shadows? Considering you have stalking vengeance it may be up your ally, and harder to remove. I love how these and mikaeus are great anti board wipes. How do you feel about spearbreaker behemoth so far? I ended up cutting him myself.
As for what you replied with, I can see your points except for a few. Dragon broodmother at a table of 4 can make an incredible amount of tokens, leading to a flying 8/8, 16/16, 32/32 token depending on how many turns you wait for the devour. Kresh also get's pumped by the devour, and the tokens don't stop coming. It either goes undetected or forces a board wipe. Keep this in mind if one of your large creatures isn't panning out how you'd like.
I'm not sold on how important the instant speed and sacrifice cost is for soul's fire and friends. Also, without something like a stalking vengeance out, the sacrifice from fling could really set you back. How has this worked out for you? Do people really wait to instant speed remove one of your creatures in response to these?
Savage beating fits without tokens imo. In fact I don't see how it really benefits tokens. This card makes a 6/6 kresh lethal, let alone what a 40/40 lord of extinction or other big cards could do. Granted this is more of a splashy fun card.
As for evasion, I went with cheap and recurrable like rancor because all of the big creatures are so expensive and I don't have reliable way to get brawn or filth into the gy without survival of the fittest. Kessig wolf run has just been mean in this deck too.
Kaalia's Army of AnnhilationRWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain MattersWB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator ToolboxBG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to DieRBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and TapGWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to BleedWBG
Well for now I took out a Forest and added in Starstorm. Still contemplating other changes that have been suggested.
I can understand where you're coming from on Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest and I'll test them out. Should I run them instead of Fling and Grab the Reins or in addition to? I feel like four of those type of cards would be pushing it but I could be wrong. If I up it to four maybe I should look on adding some more high power creatures such as Hamletback Goliath and Vulturous Zombie... thoughts?
My suggestion comes as such: Sac outlets are cool. Get more. Being able to control when and how you're going to buff your general is a big thing.
4.35 CMC could probably come down a bit
This would really depend on how good your mana base is but Attrition: An excellent sac outlet. You're going to steal all of my creatures? Great! I'll sac one and kill another. Grave Pact: Definitely black heavy, but if you lose a creature it makes everyone else lose one too. Either hurts them for hurting you, or if you sac a creature it makes yours bigger and they lose a threat. Reassembling Skeleton: The next three cards I can't imagine making a black creature deck without anymore. Them with skullclamp is just excellent, and even moreso when your general gets bigger every time they die. Even better with grave pact in play. Nether Traitor Bloodghast
Mostly unimpressed with Disciple of Bolas. Definitely strong, but as you're saying it's not instant speed. That is unless you're running Winding Canyons, which you should be. Also not super happy with Fauna Shaman. Yavimaya Elder is also super slow, I'd rather run a ton of other things. Otherwise, looks pretty good.
Personally, and in my experience against a variety of Kresh decks before I decided to build my own (after having last played the general 2 years or so ago?), I think Hamletback Goliath is an auto-include -- no matter what Kresh build you are going for. It's an engine upon itself that works with so many different things you want to do with the deck.
One card I want to test out, that you might be interested in, is Bloodfire Colossus. Not only does it serve as a wrath, but it pumps your Kresh before the wrath effect resolves, saving Kresh from dying to Bloodfire, while killing all of your opponent's creatures -- pumping Kresh EVEN MORE! Seems fun. I'm cutting Bloodshot Cyclops for the card, because Bloodshot is way too slow.
Lavalanche is another great card for the deck, but I'm quite sure if it's better than Plague Wind. I find myself constantly Lavalanche-ing for 6+ and that's the same cost as, or more than, Plague Wind.
My suggestion comes as such: Sac outlets are cool. Get more. Being able to control when and how you're going to buff your general is a big thing.
4.35 CMC could probably come down a bit
This would really depend on how good your mana base is but Attrition: An excellent sac outlet. You're going to steal all of my creatures? Great! I'll sac one and kill another. Grave Pact: Definitely black heavy, but if you lose a creature it makes everyone else lose one too. Either hurts them for hurting you, or if you sac a creature it makes yours bigger and they lose a threat. Reassembling Skeleton: The next three cards I can't imagine making a black creature deck without anymore. Them with skullclamp is just excellent, and even moreso when your general gets bigger every time they die. Even better with grave pact in play. Nether Traitor Bloodghast
I used to run a bunch more sac outlets and stuff like Grave Pact in an older version of the deck. It ended up being a little too combo oriented for my taste so I tried to make this version less about sacrifice and more about big fatties and stuff. I don't see any of these cards being good in a non sacrifice based deck unfortunately.
If I was going to go a more stax approach (which is a possibility I will have to think about) I would add these but I'm not sure if they're good without a dedicated theme.
Mostly unimpressed with Disciple of Bolas. Definitely strong, but as you're saying it's not instant speed. That is unless you're running Winding Canyons, which you should be. Also not super happy with Fauna Shaman. Yavimaya Elder is also super slow, I'd rather run a ton of other things. Otherwise, looks pretty good.
Disciple of Bolas hasn't been tested yet but she seems super fun to me. Winding Canyons was amazingly overlooked on my part and I will be getting a copy as soon as I possibly can probably replacing Temple of the False God. Fauna Shaman and Yavimaya Elder have both been superstars for me in more decks than just this one. Maybe my play group is a little more casual than yours but cards like Yavimaya Elder and Fauna Shaman don't constitute as slow in my group last time I checked.
Personally, and in my experience against a variety of Kresh decks before I decided to build my own (after having last played the general 2 years or so ago?), I think Hamletback Goliath is an auto-include -- no matter what Kresh build you are going for. It's an engine upon itself that works with so many different things you want to do with the deck.
I think enough people have suggested Hamletback Goliath that I need to at least test it out. I will be cutting Woodfall Primus for it since I've always felt it was overkill with Terastodon and I've recently learned Woodfall can go infinite with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed which is not something I want my deck to be capable of.
I will be considering all suggestions and will try to make an update tonight or tomorrow.
Agreed and if I have the money to get them I will but seeing as last time I checked they were fifty bucks each I'm going to have to wait on them.
Feast and Famine can be had for about fifteen bucks on eBay. Fire and Ice is a bit more expensive, at right under 30 or so. However, you can get the two for under fifty nowadays =] Also, if you have a trade thread I have a feast and famine available. Albeit it trades a little bit higher than it sells for on the bay.
Feast and Famine can be had for about fifteen bucks on eBay. Fire and Ice is a bit more expensive, at right under 30 or so. However, you can get the two for under fifty nowadays =] Also, if you have a trade thread I have a feast and famine available. Albeit it trades a little bit higher than it sells for on the bay.
Also curious if people would like to see me turn this into a primer since, even though Kresh is a rather popular general, this forum is lacking a proper Kresh primer as far as I know. I want to see if there is any interest in me making one before I go ahead and put the work in for it though.
How is grave pact working out for you? I used to think it was too narrow without a sac theme, but I've come to find it might be useful as a deterrent to kill my creatures, more possible fodder for kresh, and a good way to kill things with shroud and hexproof. My friend runs a good uril deck and I'm going to try grave pact.
Last night I also had a pestilence demon out against my friends goblin combo deck. It was brutal as he already spent his removal on some of my other guys already. Nothing like clearing the board and pumping kresh at the same time. It also straight kills people when they have low life and you have more than them. I'll be testing pestilence soon too. I take these over the red one because of cabal and urborg.
How do you feel about harvester of souls and soul of the harvest? They seem a bit expensive for what they offer. I'd assume harvester of souls is the safest bet as it still procs from a board wipe. Soul of the harvest seems like the weaker one to me as I think more things will die on the entire board than creatures will enter on just your side. You have a ton of card draw actually, maybe too much? If not, soul's majesty and garruk, primal hunter could replace soul of the harvest or bloodgift demon imo as they both seem like your weakest card draw (they cost a lot and are potentially slow when you could be spending 5 mana for an instant return of many cards).
How has stalking vengeance, butcher of malakir, and jarad been working? I haven't tried the first two due to their high price and seemingly low return. Stalking vengeance seems great, but it also seems win more because if you have the board state you need to do massive damage with him, AND the mana to cast him, there could of been better things going on in the last few turns. It seems win more and risky for a huge explosive play where your creatures need to die. Have you ever drawn him and wish you had a soul's fire instead? Jarad does combo nicely with him, but that would be even win more imo.
As for butcher, I felt like there were better options at the 7 spot like avenger of zendikar (I can't wait until there is a better bomb at this level). I wish butcher had much lower power and toughness and had a CMC of around 4 or 5. I'm just not sure if I want to spend 7 mana on a grave pact effect. That said, it's also hard to pass up the fact that butcher can be tutored for with green's many creature tutors.
As for possible additions to think about: Pandemonium. If soul of the harvest has actually been working well for you, then cards like this should too. I won off of my friends pandemonium tutoring for LoE and then saccing with mikaeus, the unhallowed out. Imagine that with jarad if you plan on keeping him too. Warstorm surge is the one sided equivalent to pandemonium, and possibly a safer alternative to stalking vengeance.
Kaalia's Army of AnnhilationRWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain MattersWB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator ToolboxBG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to DieRBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and TapGWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to BleedWBG
How is grave pact working out for you? I used to think it was too narrow without a sac theme, but I've come to find it might be useful as a deterrent to kill my creatures, more possible fodder for kresh, and a good way to kill things with shroud and hexproof. My friend runs a good uril deck and I'm going to try grave pact.
Grave Pact just wins me games plain and simple. Even though I don't run many sac outlets anymore, and the ones I do run are all finite, it still is an extremely powerful card. Usually all I need to do is sacrifice one or two creatures to not only make a lethal Kresh in conjunction with the Grave Pact triggers but I also usually create an opening for attack by getting rid of blockers. It's definitely not something I see myself cutting anytime soon and something I'd suggest to anyone playing Kresh.
Last night I also had a pestilence demon out against my friends goblin combo deck. It was brutal as he already spent his removal on some of my other guys already. Nothing like clearing the board and pumping kresh at the same time. It also straight kills people when they have low life and you have more than them. I'll be testing pestilence soon too. I take these over the red one because of cabal and urborg.
I knew I wanted something that could kill a whole bunch of creatures while keeping Kresh alive when I made this deck. I had considered Pestilence Demon and Pestilence at one point itself along with things like Lavalanche, Blasphemous Act, and even Disaster Radious. In the end I ended up going with Fault Line and Comet Storm and even though Fault Line can only hit creatures on the ground that has rarely been an issue. Being able to do it at instant speed while also being able to control the size of the damage were two big selling points for them and even though I don't run Cabal Coffers I've never been short on mana to be able to kill what I want.
How do you feel about harvester of souls and soul of the harvest? They seem a bit expensive for what they offer. I'd assume harvester of souls is the safest bet as it still procs from a board wipe. Soul of the harvest seems like the weaker one to me as I think more things will die on the entire board than creatures will enter on just your side. You have a ton of card draw actually, maybe too much? If not, soul's majesty and garruk, primal hunter could replace soul of the harvest or bloodgift demon imo as they both seem like your weakest card draw (they cost a lot and are potentially slow when you could be spending 5 mana for an instant return of many cards).
I see your point, I may have gone overboard on the card draw here a little bit. If I had to pick the two weakest draw engines I had they would probably be Harvester of Souls and Soul of the Harvest as you pointed out. I could definitely see myself cutting them but I'd like to keep my six drops up for Birthing Pod so what could I use in their place? Maybe Grave Titan and Inferno Titan? Thoughts?
How has stalking vengeance, butcher of malakir, and jarad been working? I haven't tried the first two due to their high price and seemingly low return. Stalking vengeance seems great, but it also seems win more because if you have the board state you need to do massive damage with him, AND the mana to cast him, there could of been better things going on in the last few turns. It seems win more and risky for a huge explosive play where your creatures need to die. Have you ever drawn him and wish you had a soul's fire instead? Jarad does combo nicely with him, but that would be even win more imo.
I have never seen Stalking Vengeance in a game and been dissapointed. He is by far one of the best cards in my list and has won me so many games I've lost count. If you haven't tried him so far he is definitely something you would want to test out and after playing him a few games you will understand why I won't cut him I'd imagine.
As for butcher, I felt like there were better options at the 7 spot like avenger of zendikar (I can't wait until there is a better bomb at this level). I wish butcher had much lower power and toughness and had a CMC of around 4 or 5. I'm just not sure if I want to spend 7 mana on a grave pact effect. That said, it's also hard to pass up the fact that butcher can be tutored for with green's many creature tutors.
I already run Avenger of Zendikar and I agree more bombs like him, while a bit scary, would be something I'd love to see. You made the point I was going to make myself but I'll reiterate. He's a Grave Pact on a creature which makes him easy to find, easy to cheat into play, and easy to recur. Grave Pact is such a strong effect in my deck that I'll honestly play pretty much any card they throw that ability on to.
As for possible additions to think about: Pandemonium. If soul of the harvest has actually been working well for you, then cards like this should too. I won off of my friends pandemonium tutoring for LoE and then saccing with mikaeus, the unhallowed out. Imagine that with jarad if you plan on keeping him too. Warstorm surge is the one sided equivalent to pandemonium, and possibly a safer alternative to stalking vengeance.
Pandemonium would be an absolute horrible card to run in my playgroup if but nothing more than the Mayeal player at our table. I just can't see myself taking advantage of that card as much as half the players at my table it's just too risky. You said it yourself this time as well, you won off of your friends Pandemonium and I don't want to see that happening to me. Warstorm Surge is something more along the lines I'd consider and will keep my on the games and see if there are any opportunity's I can see myself abusing it.
The only card you mentioned that I didn't touch was Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and that is simply because I don't actually own it yet and I don't run proxies so I haven't tested it yet. I will let you know once it's released and I have a chance to play it a few games but I'll tell you now I don't see it being anything but stellar in my list.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my list and respond it's much appreciated.
Grave Pact just wins me games plain and simple. Even though I don't run many sac outlets anymore, and the ones I do run are all finite, it still is an extremely powerful card. Usually all I need to do is sacrifice one or two creatures to not only make a lethal Kresh in conjunction with the Grave Pact triggers but I also usually create an opening for attack by getting rid of blockers. It's definitely not something I see myself cutting anytime soon and something I'd suggest to anyone playing Kresh.
Understood. I'm going to try it out as I have about 5 cards in my version that are set aside for fun and/or testing. The getting rid of blockers really sealed the deal.
I knew I wanted something that could kill a whole bunch of creatures while keeping Kresh alive when I made this deck. I had considered Pestilence Demon and Pestilence at one point itself along with things like Lavalanche, Blasphemous Act, and even Disaster Radious. In the end I ended up going with Fault Line and Comet Storm and even though Fault Line can only hit creatures on the ground that has rarely been an issue. Being able to do it at instant speed while also being able to control the size of the damage were two big selling points for them and even though I don't run Cabal Coffers I've never been short on mana to be able to kill what I want.
I have starstorm in too and actually just won a game with repercussion out. It's a really fun way to win, and repercussion is sudo trample, though it won't be general damage. As you talked about with butcher, I feel like pestilence demon is on the same boat. It's expensive yes, but it can be tutored and recurred in a deck that does both well. Thinking about it, butcher is probably better in most cases.
I see your point, I may have gone overboard on the card draw here a little bit. If I had to pick the two weakest draw engines I had they would probably be Harvester of Souls and Soul of the Harvest as you pointed out. I could definitely see myself cutting them but I'd like to keep my six drops up for Birthing Pod so what could I use in their place? Maybe Grave Titan and Inferno Titan? Thoughts?
Honestly I always grab primeval titan with the pod which I'm kind of getting sick of. Bringing out prime time grabbing cabal and urborg puts this deck into insane overdrive mode. The next swing I get kessig wolf run and just one shot someone if kresh is out. That said, I believe my only other 6 drop is dragon broodmother. I haven't actually like seeing it my hand for a while now, but grave pact may change that.
I have never seen Stalking Vengeance in a game and been dissapointed. He is by far one of the best cards in my list and has won me so many games I've lost count. If you haven't tried him so far he is definitely something you would want to test out and after playing him a few games you will understand why I won't cut him I'd imagine.
How exactly is he winning games? Are your opponents just low enough to be pinged by the point he comes out? Do you tutor for him if you have a LoE, or tutor for LoE if you have him?
I already run Avenger of Zendikar and I agree more bombs like him, while a bit scary, would be something I'd love to see. You made the point I was going to make myself but I'll reiterate. He's a Grave Pact on a creature which makes him easy to find, easy to cheat into play, and easy to recur. Grave Pact is such a strong effect in my deck that I'll honestly play pretty much any card they throw that ability on to.
With birthing pod in and me realizing how good it is, maybe I'll try him out after a few games with grave pact in. I just hate seeing such a high costing card like him and stalking vengeance sitting in my hand. Cards like avenger and sheoldred create big advantages right when you cast them where the other two rely on a bard that can take advantage of them.
Pandemonium would be an absolute horrible card to run in my playgroup if but nothing more than the Mayeal player at our table. I just can't see myself taking advantage of that card as much as half the players at my table it's just too risky. You said it yourself this time as well, you won off of your friends Pandemonium and I don't want to see that happening to me. Warstorm Surge is something more along the lines I'd consider and will keep my on the games and see if there are any opportunity's I can see myself abusing it.
Yeah, totally a meta call. I'm the only one running a deck with big creature cards like LoE in it right now. He was playing norin too. Talk about not worth it.
The only card you mentioned that I didn't touch was Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and that is simply because I don't actually own it yet and I don't run proxies so I haven't tested it yet. I will let you know once it's released and I have a chance to play it a few games but I'll tell you now I don't see it being anything but stellar in my list.
If stalking vengeance is really as good as you say it is, jarad should definitely do well.
Kaalia's Army of AnnhilationRWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain MattersWB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator ToolboxBG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to DieRBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and TapGWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to BleedWBG
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"Feed on the week until you are cut down by something stronger."
"Each of his twenty-two braids is bound with bone and leather from a foe."
"There is no gain without sacrifice." -Icatian proverb
1 Kresh the Bloodbraided
Artifact
1 Birthing Pod
1 Mimic Vat
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Skullclamp
Creature
1 Acidic Slime
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Duplicant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Fierce Empath
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Harvester of Souls
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Malignus
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Primeval Titan
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Terastodon
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Withered Wretch
1 Wood Elves
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Grave Pact
1 Greater Good
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
Instant
1 Beast Within
1 Chaos Warp
1 Chord of Calling
1 Fault Line
1 Fling
1 Momentous Fall
1 Putrefy
1 Soul's Fire
1 Starstorm
Sorcery
1 Damnation
1 Decree of Pain
1 Essence Harvest
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Living Death
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Recross the Paths
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Tooth and Nail
Land
1 Blood Crypt
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
7 Forest
1 Graven Cairns
1 High Market
1 Homeward Path
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
1 Stomping Ground
5 Swamp
1 Temple of the False God
1 Twilight Mire
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Winding Canyons
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Yavimaya Hollow
Then in 2003 my friend convinced us to go to a Junior Super Series tournament which was a Standard format tournament. Not knowing anything about it I modified my super awesome Elf deck that destroyed all my friends decks and went to the tournament with high hopes. That's when I got destroyed by Goblins and realized that I knew nothing about the game I thought I was so good at. After that I got into Standard for awhile and then played U/W Standstill in Legacy for a bit until I kind of put Magic on the back burner in 2006 right around the time Dissension was released. I didn't really get back into the game until 2008 right before Shards of Alara was released. Over the next two years I played mostly Legacy first building Merfolk than switching to 43 Lands and finally ending with ANT up until Mystical Tutor got banned.
So I sold what I could from ANT and dropped out of competitive Magic completely and my brother convinced me to try this new format he had been reading about which was called EDH. I was incredibly reluctant at first but eventually fell in love with the format and have been playing ever since. I've played way to many generals over the past two years but Kresh is the only one I keep going back to and is currently the longest running commander in our playgroup. It's completely different from what I would normally play in sixty card Magic since I tend to stick to blue and white there but I think that's what makes the format so fun is that I get to do something different from what I do in competitive Magic.
I've been playing Kresh the Bloodbraided off and on for the past two years and have gone through many different variations with him. It started off originally as a dragon tribal deck but that didn't work out very well and Kresh wasn't being used to his full potential at the helm so I decided on a new direction. I decided to go for a voltron style deck which I'm pretty sure every person who picks up Kresh tries to do when they first build him. It was fun for a while but wasn't really consistent and getting my general tucked really hurt like it does in any voltron deck. I felt like Kresh was an inferior voltron general when compared to something like Rafiq and I looked for a new approach.
That's when I came up with the current version of the deck that you see above. My brother once compared it to the workings of a clock. Each card in the deck is like a gear and as the pieces start to assemble they work together to grind out the win. Each gear is interchangeable so if one is destroyed or removed you can simply replace it with something else. This makes for a consistent deck with many paths to victory and can sometimes make your opponents feel like there's no hope when they stop you from winning two turns in a row only for you to end it on the third. It has often been referred to as "Battle Cruiser Magic" but I feel like that doesn't properly convey it's complexity or consistency.
Now I don't claim to be an expert on Kresh the Bloodbraided nor Magic in general but I have put a tremendous amount of time in this list to make it as good as possible while still sticking with my ideals when it comes to Commander. I always push my decks to the limit but when it gets down to it this is supposed to be a casual format so there is some things I just won't do. The main one is that I won't run infinite combos in any of my lists. Sometimes infinite combos accidentally show up in the list but I promise you it is not intentional and I will never be using it to win a game. The second big one is I find tutors to be bland and can make a deck boring if used too excessively so I tend to limit the tutors I run to some of the more interesting ones like Birthing Pod or Survival of the Fittest while forgoing ones like Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor. You don't have to agree with my reviews but please respect them.
Why Play Kresh?
-You like running a high amount of creatures
-You like being able to win out of nowhere and one shotting people
-You like having a general that is an important part of your deck but can function without it
-You like being able to control the flow of the game without having to run blue or white
-You like finding crazy new interactions every time you play
-You like the sound of "Battle Cruiser Magic"
Kresh the Bloodbraided may not be for you if;
-You like tutoring all the time
-You like being able to interact with the stack
-You like running infinte combos
-You like fast games and not slow grindy ones
-You like decks that are easy to play
-You like not being the target of the table
How Does The Deck Work?
The main focus of this deck is to make Kresh the Bloodbraided huge and then use him to kill all of your opponents in one of multiple ways. There are plenty of cards in the deck that can take advantage of a creature with a monumental size power or toughness. There are some that allow you to draw cards such as Greater Good or the new Disciple of Bolas which also gains you life same as Momentous Fall. There are also plenty of cards that can turn a giant Kresh into one or many opponents dying like the always reliable Fling or it's backups Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest. Of course with all these cards that take advantage of a huge Kresh there needs to be some sort of backup plan in case he gets tucked or otherwise incapacitated. In comes Lord of Extinction and Malignus to take his place as the sacrificial giant. Don't forget the new Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord that not only acts as a way to clear the table with a large Kresh but can also be a pretty decent size creature himself to use with your other tools. Along with this there are your normal ramp, draw, fatty, and removal spells to help you meet your goal and don't be afraid to get in the red zone and get some damage in it's not impossible for this deck to win through the red zone especially with cards like Kessig Wolf Run and the ever popular Avenger of Zendikar.
Early Game
This is where this deck is the weakest. The number one pointer here is to know when to mulligan. You need at least one way to ramp in your starting hand and you need to be able to hit all three colors with what you have in your opening seven. Spend your first few turns trying to ramp and establish a decent mana base and keep early threats off your back and try to stay under the radar. Try to keep your graveyard empty until you see that first piece of grave hate that always shows up. The graveyard isn't essential like some decks but due to cards like Living Death and Lord of Extinction it's a valuable asset late in the game and due to the low amount of recursion your graveyard doesn't tend to be a target.
Mid Game
This is where Kresh usually hits the table for the first time and you want to make sure there are a decent number of creatures on the field when he hits the field. Never cast Kresh when there are no other creatures in play. Never. Ever. Ever. If there are no creatures in play he can't get bigger plain and simple. You'll also need to realize something and that would be that Kresh eats removal all the time. When he dies it is usually not the best move to throw him back into the arena right away. Focus on regrouping and rebuilding resources and give it a turn or two before you go back on the offensive. With Kresh gone and having him back in the command zone people tend to let there guards down and that's when he can come down and take someone out.
Late Game
This is where the deck really excels if you can make it to this point of the game. At this point you should have tons of mana which makes cards like Kessig Wolf Run really shine. You should have a pretty large graveyard which makes Living Death and Lord of Extinction usually win on the spot. People should have ran out of answers so things like Volrath's Stronghold make for an impossible to deal with threat. Essentially the longer the game goes on the stronger this deck gets.
Why Do You Play This And Not This?
What Are The Decks Strengths And Weaknesses?
Where Are Some Additional Resources?
Experimental Kraj
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
Hamletback Goliath is also pretty amazing in Kresh
Also, aside from Withered Wretch / Scavenging Ooze, you should include other pieces of graveyard hate to maximize Living Death action for yourself! Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod's Crypt, and Necrogenesis are my favorite for Jund colors.
Soul's Majesty is another great card that fits the theme of this deck. You don't run Disciple of Griselbrand, either -- which is surprising.
Hamletback Goliath used to be in my list but with the printing of Malignus it has since been replaced.
Experimental Kraj
Except Seht's Tiger
GWR [EDH]Mayael the Anima GWR
GWB [EDH]Doran, the Siege Tower GWB
However, Soul's Fire lets Kresh deal general damage the way it's worded, whereas Fling doesn't. TBH, they probably should both be ran for their respective strengths.
stuff
Soul's Fire doesn't count as commander damage, only combat damage does.
RGBKresh the Bloodbraided
RBWKaalia of the Vast
Really? Damn, I've been doing that wrong then.
Whoops.
stuff
For card draw you could use soul's majesty and/or garruk, primal hunter. 5 mana for a potentially huge sum of cards. The big upside for one more mana over momentous fall is that you get to keep your creature.
Dragon broodmother is a great card for a big table, and is it's own threat and engine all in itself. It even buffs kresh a bit form the devour.
For board wipes I went with starstorm and pestilence demon type cards, along with plague wind of course. These all have the nice potential to not kill kresh but kill other people's stuff. Vigor fits in quite well (only) because of these cards.
I see you have a lot of big creatures... a savage beating entwined is 4x damage. Overwhelming stampede is great if you ever find yourself leaning towards more tokens down the road.
You have woodfall primus which infinites with mikaeus, the unhallowed. If you are looking for more power in your deck you can add triskelion for an inifinite win from a tooth and nail.
Jund charm is actually somewhat useful in this deck with the 2 damage to all creatures (not killing kresh). I believe it is the the only card to be an instant speed spell that can remove someones grave yard from the game. This can really mess someone up, especially after say, a living death. They won't see it coming like a tormod's crypt.
And finally... evasion. Kresh really needs help getting through. Him being chump blocked sucks.Rancor is cheap and will keep coming back. Whispersilk cloak adds the advantage of shroud. Fallen ideal is great in a more sacrifice/token oriented kresh deck. It gives self recurring evasion and pumps a lot.
Kaalia's Army of Annhilation RWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain Matters WB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator Toolbox BG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to Die RBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and Tap GWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to Bleed WBG
The same argument I used for Soul's Fire applies to this, also they aren't instant speed.
If I were to go a more token route this would be an auto include but I'll have to pass for now.
I actually like the idea of Starstorm and had already been considering adding it. I might cut Blasphemous Act or Green Sun's Zenith for it.
Both of these cards would be included in a more token oriented deck, but not here.
Any infinite combo in my deck is unintentional I promise you and I have no intention to add any more.
I've already stated that I feel I have adequate graveyard hate and I don't plan on adding anymore, but if I did Jund Charm fits the bill nicely.
Evasion for Kresh is actually something I've been contemplating recently. I've been trying to figure out what a good number of slots for it would be along with what kind of evasion I would use. I've already got the good evasion lands along with to a certain extent Nim Deathmantle although I'm not sure that's enough. I've been considering Brawn along with his friend Anger and also the new ring cycle from M13 since they're on theme with the +1/+1 counters.
Experimental Kraj
As for what you replied with, I can see your points except for a few. Dragon broodmother at a table of 4 can make an incredible amount of tokens, leading to a flying 8/8, 16/16, 32/32 token depending on how many turns you wait for the devour. Kresh also get's pumped by the devour, and the tokens don't stop coming. It either goes undetected or forces a board wipe. Keep this in mind if one of your large creatures isn't panning out how you'd like.
I'm not sold on how important the instant speed and sacrifice cost is for soul's fire and friends. Also, without something like a stalking vengeance out, the sacrifice from fling could really set you back. How has this worked out for you? Do people really wait to instant speed remove one of your creatures in response to these?
Savage beating fits without tokens imo. In fact I don't see how it really benefits tokens. This card makes a 6/6 kresh lethal, let alone what a 40/40 lord of extinction or other big cards could do. Granted this is more of a splashy fun card.
As for evasion, I went with cheap and recurrable like rancor because all of the big creatures are so expensive and I don't have reliable way to get brawn or filth into the gy without survival of the fittest. Kessig wolf run has just been mean in this deck too.
Kaalia's Army of Annhilation RWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain Matters WB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator Toolbox BG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to Die RBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and Tap GWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to Bleed WBG
I can understand where you're coming from on Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest and I'll test them out. Should I run them instead of Fling and Grab the Reins or in addition to? I feel like four of those type of cards would be pushing it but I could be wrong. If I up it to four maybe I should look on adding some more high power creatures such as Hamletback Goliath and Vulturous Zombie... thoughts?
Experimental Kraj
4.35 CMC could probably come down a bit
This would really depend on how good your mana base is but
Attrition: An excellent sac outlet. You're going to steal all of my creatures? Great! I'll sac one and kill another.
Grave Pact: Definitely black heavy, but if you lose a creature it makes everyone else lose one too. Either hurts them for hurting you, or if you sac a creature it makes yours bigger and they lose a threat.
Reassembling Skeleton: The next three cards I can't imagine making a black creature deck without anymore. Them with skullclamp is just excellent, and even moreso when your general gets bigger every time they die. Even better with grave pact in play.
Nether Traitor
Bloodghast
Braids, Cabal Minion: These two stax creatures again, help Kresh get bigger and help manage the opponents battlefield.
Magus of the Abyss
Indrik Stomphowler is nice
Sword of Fire and Ice + Sword of Feast and Famine: Both excellent advantage engines.
Tutors? Demonic? Stuff?
Mostly unimpressed with Disciple of Bolas. Definitely strong, but as you're saying it's not instant speed. That is unless you're running Winding Canyons, which you should be. Also not super happy with Fauna Shaman. Yavimaya Elder is also super slow, I'd rather run a ton of other things. Otherwise, looks pretty good.
EDH:
:symw::symw::symw:Darien:symw::symw::symw:
:symr::symr::symr:Lovisa:symr::symr::symr:
:symu::symw::symg:Rafiq:symu::symw::symg:
:symb::symr::symg:Karrthus:symb::symr::symg:
:symr::symw::symb:Kaalia:symr::symw::symb:
One card I want to test out, that you might be interested in, is Bloodfire Colossus. Not only does it serve as a wrath, but it pumps your Kresh before the wrath effect resolves, saving Kresh from dying to Bloodfire, while killing all of your opponent's creatures -- pumping Kresh EVEN MORE! Seems fun. I'm cutting Bloodshot Cyclops for the card, because Bloodshot is way too slow.
Lavalanche is another great card for the deck, but I'm quite sure if it's better than Plague Wind. I find myself constantly Lavalanche-ing for 6+ and that's the same cost as, or more than, Plague Wind.
I used to run a bunch more sac outlets and stuff like Grave Pact in an older version of the deck. It ended up being a little too combo oriented for my taste so I tried to make this version less about sacrifice and more about big fatties and stuff. I don't see any of these cards being good in a non sacrifice based deck unfortunately.
If I was going to go a more stax approach (which is a possibility I will have to think about) I would add these but I'm not sure if they're good without a dedicated theme.
I disagree completely here seeing as its outclassed by Acidic Slime, Terastodon, Woodfall Primus, and Krosan Grip in my list.
Agreed and if I have the money to get them I will but seeing as last time I checked they were fifty bucks each I'm going to have to wait on them.
I try not to run too many tutors in my decks, especially the generic ones like Demonic Tutor. Not saying it's not a good card just not my style.
Disciple of Bolas hasn't been tested yet but she seems super fun to me. Winding Canyons was amazingly overlooked on my part and I will be getting a copy as soon as I possibly can probably replacing Temple of the False God. Fauna Shaman and Yavimaya Elder have both been superstars for me in more decks than just this one. Maybe my play group is a little more casual than yours but cards like Yavimaya Elder and Fauna Shaman don't constitute as slow in my group last time I checked.
I think enough people have suggested Hamletback Goliath that I need to at least test it out. I will be cutting Woodfall Primus for it since I've always felt it was overkill with Terastodon and I've recently learned Woodfall can go infinite with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed which is not something I want my deck to be capable of.
I will be considering all suggestions and will try to make an update tonight or tomorrow.
Experimental Kraj
Feast and Famine can be had for about fifteen bucks on eBay. Fire and Ice is a bit more expensive, at right under 30 or so. However, you can get the two for under fifty nowadays =] Also, if you have a trade thread I have a feast and famine available. Albeit it trades a little bit higher than it sells for on the bay.
Well I guess I'll work on getting those then. For now I'm cutting Krosan Grip and Grab the Reins to try out Soul's Fire and Essence Harvest.
I'll be getting a few games in on Friday and after that I'll see how things play out and make some more changes as needed.
Experimental Kraj
Experimental Kraj
Also curious if people would like to see me turn this into a primer since, even though Kresh is a rather popular general, this forum is lacking a proper Kresh primer as far as I know. I want to see if there is any interest in me making one before I go ahead and put the work in for it though.
Experimental Kraj
Last night I also had a pestilence demon out against my friends goblin combo deck. It was brutal as he already spent his removal on some of my other guys already. Nothing like clearing the board and pumping kresh at the same time. It also straight kills people when they have low life and you have more than them. I'll be testing pestilence soon too. I take these over the red one because of cabal and urborg.
How do you feel about harvester of souls and soul of the harvest? They seem a bit expensive for what they offer. I'd assume harvester of souls is the safest bet as it still procs from a board wipe. Soul of the harvest seems like the weaker one to me as I think more things will die on the entire board than creatures will enter on just your side. You have a ton of card draw actually, maybe too much? If not, soul's majesty and garruk, primal hunter could replace soul of the harvest or bloodgift demon imo as they both seem like your weakest card draw (they cost a lot and are potentially slow when you could be spending 5 mana for an instant return of many cards).
How has stalking vengeance, butcher of malakir, and jarad been working? I haven't tried the first two due to their high price and seemingly low return. Stalking vengeance seems great, but it also seems win more because if you have the board state you need to do massive damage with him, AND the mana to cast him, there could of been better things going on in the last few turns. It seems win more and risky for a huge explosive play where your creatures need to die. Have you ever drawn him and wish you had a soul's fire instead? Jarad does combo nicely with him, but that would be even win more imo.
As for butcher, I felt like there were better options at the 7 spot like avenger of zendikar (I can't wait until there is a better bomb at this level). I wish butcher had much lower power and toughness and had a CMC of around 4 or 5. I'm just not sure if I want to spend 7 mana on a grave pact effect. That said, it's also hard to pass up the fact that butcher can be tutored for with green's many creature tutors.
As for possible additions to think about: Pandemonium. If soul of the harvest has actually been working well for you, then cards like this should too. I won off of my friends pandemonium tutoring for LoE and then saccing with mikaeus, the unhallowed out. Imagine that with jarad if you plan on keeping him too. Warstorm surge is the one sided equivalent to pandemonium, and possibly a safer alternative to stalking vengeance.
Kaalia's Army of Annhilation RWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain Matters WB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator Toolbox BG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to Die RBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and Tap GWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to Bleed WBG
Grave Pact just wins me games plain and simple. Even though I don't run many sac outlets anymore, and the ones I do run are all finite, it still is an extremely powerful card. Usually all I need to do is sacrifice one or two creatures to not only make a lethal Kresh in conjunction with the Grave Pact triggers but I also usually create an opening for attack by getting rid of blockers. It's definitely not something I see myself cutting anytime soon and something I'd suggest to anyone playing Kresh.
I knew I wanted something that could kill a whole bunch of creatures while keeping Kresh alive when I made this deck. I had considered Pestilence Demon and Pestilence at one point itself along with things like Lavalanche, Blasphemous Act, and even Disaster Radious. In the end I ended up going with Fault Line and Comet Storm and even though Fault Line can only hit creatures on the ground that has rarely been an issue. Being able to do it at instant speed while also being able to control the size of the damage were two big selling points for them and even though I don't run Cabal Coffers I've never been short on mana to be able to kill what I want.
I see your point, I may have gone overboard on the card draw here a little bit. If I had to pick the two weakest draw engines I had they would probably be Harvester of Souls and Soul of the Harvest as you pointed out. I could definitely see myself cutting them but I'd like to keep my six drops up for Birthing Pod so what could I use in their place? Maybe Grave Titan and Inferno Titan? Thoughts?
I have never seen Stalking Vengeance in a game and been dissapointed. He is by far one of the best cards in my list and has won me so many games I've lost count. If you haven't tried him so far he is definitely something you would want to test out and after playing him a few games you will understand why I won't cut him I'd imagine.
I already run Avenger of Zendikar and I agree more bombs like him, while a bit scary, would be something I'd love to see. You made the point I was going to make myself but I'll reiterate. He's a Grave Pact on a creature which makes him easy to find, easy to cheat into play, and easy to recur. Grave Pact is such a strong effect in my deck that I'll honestly play pretty much any card they throw that ability on to.
Pandemonium would be an absolute horrible card to run in my playgroup if but nothing more than the Mayeal player at our table. I just can't see myself taking advantage of that card as much as half the players at my table it's just too risky. You said it yourself this time as well, you won off of your friends Pandemonium and I don't want to see that happening to me. Warstorm Surge is something more along the lines I'd consider and will keep my on the games and see if there are any opportunity's I can see myself abusing it.
The only card you mentioned that I didn't touch was Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and that is simply because I don't actually own it yet and I don't run proxies so I haven't tested it yet. I will let you know once it's released and I have a chance to play it a few games but I'll tell you now I don't see it being anything but stellar in my list.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my list and respond it's much appreciated.
Experimental Kraj
Understood. I'm going to try it out as I have about 5 cards in my version that are set aside for fun and/or testing. The getting rid of blockers really sealed the deal.
I have starstorm in too and actually just won a game with repercussion out. It's a really fun way to win, and repercussion is sudo trample, though it won't be general damage. As you talked about with butcher, I feel like pestilence demon is on the same boat. It's expensive yes, but it can be tutored and recurred in a deck that does both well. Thinking about it, butcher is probably better in most cases.
Honestly I always grab primeval titan with the pod which I'm kind of getting sick of. Bringing out prime time grabbing cabal and urborg puts this deck into insane overdrive mode. The next swing I get kessig wolf run and just one shot someone if kresh is out. That said, I believe my only other 6 drop is dragon broodmother. I haven't actually like seeing it my hand for a while now, but grave pact may change that.
How exactly is he winning games? Are your opponents just low enough to be pinged by the point he comes out? Do you tutor for him if you have a LoE, or tutor for LoE if you have him?
With birthing pod in and me realizing how good it is, maybe I'll try him out after a few games with grave pact in. I just hate seeing such a high costing card like him and stalking vengeance sitting in my hand. Cards like avenger and sheoldred create big advantages right when you cast them where the other two rely on a bard that can take advantage of them.
Yeah, totally a meta call. I'm the only one running a deck with big creature cards like LoE in it right now. He was playing norin too. Talk about not worth it.
If stalking vengeance is really as good as you say it is, jarad should definitely do well.
Kaalia's Army of Annhilation RWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain Matters WB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator Toolbox BG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to Die RBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and Tap GWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to Bleed WBG