Will & Rowan Kenrith - Sparks of Ice and Fire (Superfriends)

[Kuratudu]

@darrenhabib In wich turn you recommend casting Will?
Usually I do it as soon as possible and I start with Rowan, sometimes I can get her ult but I feel I'm not doing the best plays, also I struggle with the win condition, do you usually wins with infinite triggers or there is other condition?

[darrenhabib]

@darrenhabib In wich turn you recommend casting Will?
Usually I do it as soon as possible and I start with Rowan, sometimes I can get her ult but I feel I'm not doing the best plays, also I struggle with the win condition, do you usually wins with infinite triggers or there is other condition?

If you could read the "Stages of the Game" and especially the "Mid Game" section I go over explaining the sequencing of when to cast Will and Rowan. This is very important to success.

As far as winning the game, if you achieve a Rowan emblem then I invariable always win. Maybe the best way to describe it is that you should concentrate just as much of your game plan to achieving another Rowan ultimate after the first. Then it really doesn't matter what you are doing, once you are getting 3x more value out of your activated triggers then you are simply outvaluing your opponents. I explain infinites, but you don't actually need the infinites.

Anyway I think the best thing to do is to reread the primer section "Stages of the Game". I completely understand that it's hard to remember sequences when it actually comes to sitting down at the table, I've created the deck and it's complicated for me to remember exact sequences
But yeah there are important steps.

[Kuratudu]

It's just me or the new Vronos +1 looks very good in protecting my PWs?

Is he worth it?

[darrenhabib]

It's just me or the new Vronos +1 looks very good in protecting my PWs?

Is he worth it?

I think so. If you cast Will out on six mana and then next turn have 7 mana you'll be able to cast Vronos, Masked Inquisitor and Rowan with Will cost reduction. That way he can protect both of them for a turn round.
However this leaves himself exposed, so you got to ask the question if it would just be better to have some creature removal? For example you could cast Rolling Earthquake for x=4 in that same scenario probably killing most creatures at that point in the game.
You can use the [-2] to return biggest threats as protection, so there is that. There is the potential for really nice tempo play if you catch opponents without many creatures, because you can cast a turn before Will, and then use ability again same turn you cast Will and between his 0/3 and returning a permanent you'll have a good chance at keeping your walkers attack free.
My biggest problem with this card is that the [-7] ultimate is a stinker in this deck.

Advantages however is that if copied with Spark Double you can phase out each Vronos and say Will & Rowan, which is like the ultimate protection.
Luxior, Giada's Gift goes nice if put on Vronos because then you can phase out Will & Rowan (or others) and great way to protect more than just Rowan for example.

I'll give it a go for sure, but not sure how it will perform.

[Kuratudu]

I was thinking using Vronos to prevent any spell on my PWs (and of course damage from creatures)

[Kuratudu]

Fresh stuff 😮

[darrenhabib]

Fresh stuff 😮

The Vantress Visions is really good with fetchlands as it represents ramp, but you need the 2 mana first, i.e. you can't do it on Turn 2 with just normal land drops and no additional artifact mana.
It's a bit of shame that you don't get the cost reduction first if copying Will Kenrith [-2] as it's still on the stack. But still a legitimate play is to cast Vantress Visions in response to Will Kenrith [-2] ability so that you get 4 cards and get the 4 cost reduction.
That way you can still cast Rowan (or anything else) the same turn.
If this card was literally just Vantress Visions even without the Virtue of Knowledge it would be worth considering.

Now unfortunately the Virtue of Knowledge almost does nothing in this deck. I think the only cards it effects are Dockside Extortionist, Deepglow Skate, Cloudstone Curio, Mystic Sanctuary.
Usually doubling of Deepglow Skate is enough and Cloudstone Curio doesn't benefit from another trigger.
I tried to think of good cards for the deck that have "entering the battlefield" triggers, but I just can't seem to find any that go with everything else that is going on.

When I added Ichormoon Gauntlet and Storm of Saruman I did want more cheap spells for the deck, and Vantress Visions does fit that.
I could see playing it over Ponder just for testing.
I still haven't got to play Storm of Saruman yet, but I'd say this is my test/flexible slot in my list. So depending on how Storm of Saruman performs, I could see Virtue of Knowledge // Vantress Visions taking that slot.

Eldraine is Will & Rowan home plane, and I knew they were going to lose their spark, but I was still hoping for some cards around them to fit into the deck. But all we got lore wise was Rowan, Scion of War and Will, Scion of Peace. I'm extremely disappointed.

[darrenhabib]

This card is intriguing in a number of ways. It costs 8u to Craft, but can tap to provide 2 of that, so it sort of costs 6u which is doable.
Once its transformed into Locus of Enlightenment then you get the benefit of "Whenever you activate an ability that isn't a mana ability, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy." which is Rowan Kenrith emblem!

You can exile planeswalker(s) that may have gone to graveyard so that Locus of Enlightenment can use a planeswalker ability. The rules for Magic however state that you can only use one loyalty ability for a permanent each turn, so even if you exile multiple planeswalkers, you can only use one of the many loyalty ability each turn.
A bonus is that Locus of Enlightenment can't be attacked as its not a planeswalker.
If I have The Enigma Jewel then I'm far more likely to put planeswalker into play as there is a backup plan to get abilities back and brings you closer to that 4 card Craft threshold.

Discarding cards potentially becomes better, as well as your permanents being removed from play as The Enigma Jewel can get the benefits from them from graveyard.
Now I guess its not impossible that you exile cards that you've put onto the battlefield either in order to Craft, but obviously you really want to get the advantage of cards that have gone to graveyard instead.

Other cards you can exile for benefit include artifact mana, so that's nice to get a mana straight back if you do Craft it.
It makes Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond better in the deck, as they can be discarded if you are low on resources to make them work.
Lotus Petal and Jeweled Lotus are nice as things that can be sacrificed to get to the 4 card Craft threshold.

The cards that the "{T}: Add {C}{C}. Spend this mana only to activate abilities." can be used are Izzet Signet, Grim Monolith, Basalt Monolith, Rings of Brighthearth, Voltaic Key, Sensei's Divining Top, Luxior, Giada's Gift, The Chain Veil.

Technically to make this card better, some more sacrifice cards with benefits and/or discard/mill outlets would help.
Mishra's Bauble, Urza's Bauble, Wayfarer's Bauble come to mind.
Even Lion's Eye Diamond could be a super powerful play. With the The Enigma Jewel and LED giving you 5 mana, you'd only need 4 other mana to Craft, as well as needing to discard 4 nonland cards that have activated abilities.
But remember you get the equivalent of a Rowan Emblem so you could likely go infinite with the right card combinations.
There is the restriction of "You may activate each of those abilities only once each turn." which will mean that you can't look to go infinite with some of the cards that you normally could if you Craft them.
For example if you exile Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith then you can only use the untap once each turn, rather than going infinite. Same with Voltaic Key and The Chain Veil.
Also as Locus of Enlightenment won't have any loyalty counters to begin with, you can only use plus abilities to start off with.

Another card that interests me is The Everflowing Well. Now its not immediately obvious how any deck will truly benefit from the copy permanent effect.
Enter the battlefield cards don't work and you only get it until end of turn, so you really need things that have triggers or abilities that you can use in your turn. Often that will be attack triggers or activated ability.
Also casting legendary spells in general won't be good to copy as you lose out to the legend rule.
So you'll actually find in general that its far more limited or specific than you might initially think.
One idea I did come up with is to target an existing planeswalker with lots of loyalty counters, so that you can get an emblem. For example say if you get Teferi, Master of Time to 8 loyalty then you can cast Rowan or Will and ultimate straight away. However you will get the legend rule, so whatever you do cast will be destroyed.
You can get additional mana for the turn with say casting artifact mana, and you can target even a planeswalker (making sure you've already use loyalty ability that turn) to tap.

The Descend 8 is pretty difficult to get unless you design around it more. However fetchlands would go a long way to getting you there.
Just the same as The Enigma Jewel you'd be better with sacrifice cards with benefits like the baubles (Mishra's Bauble, etc).

I would like to make this card work, as it is card draw and land ramp. Literally one of my favorite cards in Magic is
Search for Azcanta, so I have a soft-spot for transform land cards which we are seeing in Ixalan.
A minus is that it doesn't get cost reduced by Will [-2] ability so has to be cast for the full amount.

Anyway I'll wait for full spoilers from Ixalan before deciding what card changes I'd make, but I can see combinations of changes to make the entire deck sync with these additions.

[darrenhabib]

I've added The Enigma Jewel as per explanation of above thread, but at this stage I think The Everflowing Well might be a bit to gimmicky to get good value out of.

In the above thread I mention artifacts that The Enigma Jewel can pay for activations, but there are also lands that benefit; Fiery Islet, Deserted Temple, Otawara, Soaring City, Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance, Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin.

I have added 4 more sources of activated abilities in order to make The Enigma Jewel transform more consistently. These is Fellwar Stone, Mishra's Bauble, Urza's Bauble, Wayfarer's Bauble.
The Baubles help to make Ichormoon Gauntlet a bit better with lower cost spells.
There is a cost to Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble in that top decking does mean you are a turn behind drawing into your deck.

So one of the original hallmark cards of the deck, Cloudstone Curio I've decided is no longer really beneficial.
I used to sculpt the planeswalkers and other cards around it more, but as new cards have found slots in the deck, Curio usefulness has gotten less.

I never got to test Storm of Saruman in a game, but because of mana cost, I'd much prefer to get The Enigma Jewel going as an effective card.

Add

• The Enigma Jewel
• Fellwar Stone
• Mishra's Bauble
• Urza's Bauble
• Wayfarer's Bauble

Remove

• Ponder
• Swan Song
• Storm of Saruman
• Heart of Kiran
• Cloudstone Curio

[Blaze]

Why did you add Lotus Petal ? Just curious what it does for the deck?

[darrenhabib]

Why did you add Lotus Petal ? Just curious what it does for the deck?

I want to make The Enigma Jewel and Ichormoon Gauntlet better and it is a mana boost, maybe putting you a turn earlier on your Rowan or Will play.

[Blaze]

I used this guide to build a similar deck years ago, but I went with more focus on the proliferation. I hadn't updated the deck in about 2 years and decided to look at what you were up to with it. I'm not going to use The Enigma Jewel // Locus of Enlightenment I'm going to sue Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus instead. But I rarely played the original deck because everyone else just quit when I played it, then I took 2-3 years off Magic and the power level seems to have gone up, so I'm going to raise the power level here. I'll post my new list when I get it done.

[Blaze]

It seems like you have a lot of fetch lands that target mountains for how few mountains you are running.

[darrenhabib]

It seems like you have a lot of fetch lands that target mountains for how few mountains you are running.

I was trying out Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance and I've never used it once, so that can easily be replaced by a basic Mountain.

Have you managed to play your deck yet?

I just completely missed Ripples of Potential from Ixalan Commander. This card is perfect for this deck!

I've been struggling a bit with starting hands that I want to keep with making sure I have enough lands. So I'm going to up land count by one so that mulligans are more flexible.

Add

• Ripples of Potential
• Deflecting Swat
• Mana Confluence
• Mountain

Remove

• Mishra's Bauble
• Urza's Bauble
• Wheel of Fortune
• Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance

[Blaze]

It seems like you have a lot of fetch lands that target mountains for how few mountains you are running.

I was trying out Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance and I've never used it once, so that can easily be replaced by a basic Mountain.

Have you managed to play your deck yet?

I just completely missed Ripples of Potential from Ixalan Commander. This card is perfect for this deck!

I've been struggling a bit with starting hands that I want to keep with making sure I have enough lands. So I'm going to up land count by one so that mulligans are more flexible.

Add

• Ripples of Potential
• Deflecting Swat
• Mana Confluence
• Mountain

Remove

• Mishra's Bauble
• Urza's Bauble
• Wheel of Fortune
• Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance

I have Ripples of Potential in my deck, because I'm more populate focused. I have not played my updated version yet though, I will do plan on playing it soon.

[darrenhabib]

Radstorm was spoiled many months ago, so I knew I was going to add it to the deck. I've moved away from a couple of enablers like Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble but still have lots of cheap spells.
A reasonable normal sequence would be on turn after Will Kenrith use [-2] to cast Rowan Kenrith and then Radstorm putting 2 loyalty counters on each. That means you can potentially Rowan an emblem the following turn.

Add

• Radstorm

Remove

• An Offer You Can't Refuse

[darrenhabib]

Nothing in Thunder Junction stood out to me for this deck. Jace Reawakened doesn't seem to fit in, you are more often than not casting Will (or Rowen) on turn 4. The plot is cost isn't reduced by Wills ability in anyway.

A card that I had really took notice of is Staff of Compleation. I've noticed that this card hasn't been talked about at all across Nexus.
But this card does everything. Mana, Draw, Proliferate. The life loss isn't really a factor in Commander. Yeah I'm not sure why I didn't raise my attention at the time?

Add

• Staff of Compleation

Remove

• Search for Azcanta