Kethis, the Hidden Hand - flash in the pan or worth building?

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Hey guys,

So I have a few bits and pieces of tech that I've been wanting to use for a little while that I've been waiting for a decent g/w/x commander to come along for. I like commanders that aren't immediately solved, so I'm not overly interested in Chulane, Teller of Tales.



Enter this chap a little while ago. I've been looking at him for a little while, wondering if any build with him would be anything more than just legends.dec or a dedicated combo or dredge deck.

I really like the look of him, but I'm hesitant to build something I'll tear apart in a couple of weeks. Ultimately I like a control/hatebear build, which he seems capable of, but a) I don't want to have to resort to combo as my primary way to win and b) I definitely can't afford to 100% optimise him, especially where the land base comes in. So with that in mind, there's going to be some goodstuff in there, and I'll mostly be leaning into his first ability without taking full advantage of his second. I think it'll make a reasonable control shell, and I think I can squeeze some decent win cons in, but I don't want to commit my staples and a ton of credit to a build I regret.

What do you guys think? Has anyone built a deck with him that could give some feedback? Is he versatile? Is he fun? Is he worth dropping some credit on or should I wait for commanders from another set?
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

I'd brewed a deck on MTGSalvation, but I never ended up putting it together because Commander 2019 rolled around soon after and I just lost interest in making it. So unfortunately I can't actually tell you if he is good or not.

The thing is that it's a million dollar deck to make because you really want to be playing a bunch of the legendary lands to make him work and these are not cheap.
I feel like as soon as you try and work around a budget with this guy it's probably going to fall flat. I could be wrong but that's my gut feel.
I mean the stipulation is a real thing you know, you got to go all in to make it a thing.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

darrenhabib wrote:
4 years ago
I'd brewed a deck on MTGSalvation, but I never ended up putting it together because Commander 2019 rolled around soon after and I just lost interest in making it. So unfortunately I can't actually tell you if he is good or not.

The thing is that it's a million dollar deck to make because you really want to be playing a bunch of the legendary lands to make him work and these are not cheap.
I feel like as soon as you try and work around a budget with this guy it's probably going to fall flat. I could be wrong but that's my gut feel.
I mean the stipulation is a real thing you know, you got to go all in to make it a thing.
Well yeah that was my concern tbh.

For my part I'm not overly interested in any of the commanders from C19, and this guy seemed interesting, but part of me wonders if, were I to not go 'all in' on the legendary thing, it would just be playing him for the colours. The legendary cost reduction is fine and doesn't require too much dedication to legendary lands, but I wonder if it's enough.
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

Zordrath
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Post by Zordrath » 4 years ago

Personally, I think if you don't go all-in there are better choices. For example, if you want control/hatebears, Anafenza is actually a hatebear against one of the most popular EDH strategies herself. And Karador reanimates everything, not just legendaries. I found Kethis rather underwhelming.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Zordrath wrote:
4 years ago
Personally, I think if you don't go all-in there are better choices. For example, if you want control/hatebears, Anafenza is actually a hatebear against one of the most popular EDH strategies herself. And Karador reanimates everything, not just legendaries. I found Kethis rather underwhelming.
Yeah, probably right here. If I'm asking myself the question it's probably a no. I just don't wanna build Karador, to be honest, it's been done and it's too close to other decks I run. Anafenza is ok, but she just doesn't excite me. I guess I'll just wait for upcoming releases to whet my brewing whistle.
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
What do you guys think?
Caveat: I haven't built it.

I think Kethis is just kind of bad at what he does. Exiling two legendaries and then having to pay costs for the remaining ones (even at -1) just kind of feels bad. A garden-variety reanimator deck seems like it might be better, and there is nothing stopping you from playing the legendary-matters cards like Urza's Ruinous Blast anyway.

Basically, I don't think Kethis does enough to support the strategy he's meant to support when you could just play it with a different/better general, and different/better cards.

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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

What kind of deck wants this? If you want recursion, Karador is better. If you want storm, this won't help. If you want Stax, Ghave or Karador or possibly Doran (using things like Ensnaring Bridge) is better. (And the real benefit to that 1 less is in storm and Stax.)

This does let you cast legendary sorceries from the graveyard without exiling them, though.
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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Yeah, I guess I kind of have 'brewer's itch' :P

I've decided to wait for something more robust. I've built Ghave before, Karador doesn't interest me, nor do the other Abzan options at present. I like a challenge and in it's own way Kethis represents that, but in another real way he is sort of solved by just cramming a ton of legendaries in the 99. So yeah, he's not what I'm after.
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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TheMagicWord
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Post by TheMagicWord » 4 years ago

I had an Arvad the Cursed deck from DOM full of legendary creatures, artifacts, and sorceries. Once this came out it was kind of a natural progression to get rid of some of the less good white and black legendaries to add cards like Reki, the history of kamigawa, journey to eternity, and Saffi Eriksdotter to supplement the deck. It was a very fun deck to mash the GY full of legendaries and then reanimate with Primevals' Glorious Rebirth and now that happens even faster with the inclusion of green.
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