What can Will Kenrith do?
What can Rowan Kenrith do?
Alternative Commanders
Why play the Kenriths?
Deck
Playing the Deck
Stages of the Game
Rowan Kenrith Interactions
Will Kenrith Interactions
Cloudstone Curio
Winning the Game
Card Choices
Planeswalkers
Planeswalker Support/Combo
Planeswalker Protection
Instant and Sorcery
Artifacts
Enchantments
Lands
Change Log
There are a lot of different concepts and approaches on how to utilize these commanders.
Here are some key approaches that I've identified:
- Planeswalkers matter.
- Casting lots of instant and sorcery in a turn (storm).
- Forcing opponents' creatures to make bad attacks or deal lots of damage on others (hopefully).
- Activated abilities matter.
- Mana denial - stax/prison, land destruction.
Reducing the toughness to 3 and removing protection abilities like indestructible means that you can play spells which will make it easy to kill any creature.
With Will Kenrith ability to reduce the cost of planewalkers we can use particular planeswalkers who also produce mana in various forms to pay for each other, chaining off casting many spells in a single turn:
- Teferi, Temporal Archmage - Untap up to four target permanents.
- Tezzeret the Seeker - Untap up to two target artifacts -OR- search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost or less and put it onto the battlefield.
- Ral Zarek - Tap target permanent, then untap another target permanent.
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Add to your mana pool.
- Ugin, the Ineffable - Colorless spells you cast cost less to cast.
This will allow you to copy each planewalker ability every time you use one. Note the copy will not reduce or add more loyalty counters.
We can use Will Kenrith -2 cost reduction ability in conjunction with Rowan Kenrith emblem to use mana producing planewalkers to setup chaining off casting multiple spells each turn.
Let's say we use Will Kenrith cost reduction ability.
Then for example we cast Chandra, Torch of Defiance at reduction so only costs . Then we can use her +1 add . Note that loyalty abilities are not considered mana abilities so the ability is copied and you'll get netting you mana and getting a planeswalker into play.
We have a number of infinite's in the deck with her emblem as well. If you are aware of some of the things you can do with Rings of Brighthearth this is similar except it has no mana cost to copy the activation's.
I have a full run down in the section "Playing the Deck" explaining all the various interactions with her emblem and it makes for incredible advantages and a lot of win conditions.
Because you can get the emblem within 3 x turns naturally you have a real chance at getting it. Also there are some cards the accelerate the loyalty counter process so this can speed things up.
Between the fact that they are planeswalkers and partners there really is nothing to truly compare these twins to in commander.
I can select some commanders who have potentially similar roles of each ability individually but certainly nothing that can provide the combined abilities of both Will and Rowan.
- Teferi, Temporal Archmage is about the closest you can get to Will Kenrith as it's a planeswalker you can play as your commander, he has card draw and provides additional mana with his -1 so a similar role as cost reduction. However Teferi does not have in built protection.
- Saheeli, the Gifted is an Izzet planeswalker who can provide cost reduction.
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV can provide cost reduction to both planeswalkers and instant and sorcery.
- Mizzix of the Izmagnus, Baral, Chief of Compliance, God-Eternal Kefnet are commanders who can provide cost reduction to instants and sorcery. God-Eternal Kefnet can also copy an instant and sorcery (with top of library stipulation) which Will -8 emblems does.
- Melek, Izzet Paragon is also able to copy instant and sorcery spells (with top of library stipulation) like Will emblem.
- Narset, Enlightened Master has an attacking stipulation clause, but she does have an ability to cast planeswalkers (or any non-creature spell) for free so inherently "cost reduction". Puts you into Izzet (and white) and often planeswalkers feature in builds around her because of their power.
- Fumiko the Lowblood, Thantis, the Warweaver, Basandra, Battle Seraph all force your opponents creatures to attack like Rowan +2 ability.
- Ashling the Pilgrim, Archangel Avacyn, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, Ryusei, the Falling Star, Tibor and Lumia can deal damage to each creature like Rowan -2 ability.
- Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice, Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient can copy activated abilities of artifacts which is a portion of Rowan -8emblem. Obviously not the same as Rowan emblem is more than just artifacts and Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice can only do one activation unless you have untappers.
You can see by the "alternative commander" options that there really isn't anything that comes close to the amount of options you have with these siblings. It feels as if you have more like three commanders in your command zone rather than the one most people have.
- You like playing planeswalkers as your commander.
- You like having a toolbox of abilities from your commanders.
- You like the idea of Superfriends in Izzet color-pie.
- You like highly competitive decks but also like them to be unique.
- You don't like protecting planeswalkers in multiplayer.
- You don't like playing combo or storm decks.
- There are expensive to purchase cards that are key to the deck.
- Maybe blonds are just not your type?
- Although planeswalker are able to be attacked by creatures there are also far less spells that specifically target or remove them. Against decks that have heavy creature removal this is actually a boon for a Superfriends build. Some in fact are purely built to control creatures.
- With cost reduction and plenty of alternative mana sources in planeswalkers and artifact mana you will be setup up against potential opposing mana denial strategies including stax and land destruction.
- With two different commanders and six abilities to select from your command zone your options to react to the game at a given time are quite unparalleled with commander versatility.
- There is a lot of recursive card advantage so your ability to draw into cards you need at specific states of the game is usually very high.
- If you are unable to protect your planeswalkers for whatever reason then you'll find it hard to get recursive value out of them.
- As a mostly creatureless deck you can find yourself being attacked by opponents' creatures on your life total if you choose not to play out your planeswalkers. If you become the archenemy among creature heavy decks then you'll constantly be the target of attacks.
At the heart of it, this is a "Superfriends" deck. The plan is to try and stick planewalkers and get the various advantages of them to eventually out resource your opponents or simply go infinite. This might be by getting emblems, using their ultimate's or by using their abilities enough times that you pull ahead in card advantage. However getting planewalkers to survive opponents turns in multiplayer is one of the hardest things you can try in commander.
I will make it very clear that the main plan to aim for is getting a Rowan emblem and then this has a snow ball effect of getting multiple Rowan emblems.
With this in mind many of your decisions should be about how to achieve this.
With quite a lot of cheap artifact mana you really hoping for one or two mana rocks as Will & Rowan do cost six mana each so you can't afford to be to patient or get involved with your game plan to late into the game.
However if you have at least one mass creature removal in your starting hand then you can be confident that you have a more patient plan of waiting for opponents to commit creatures to the board and then you can wipe them pre-casting your planeswalkers maybe in the mid-game.
Heart of Kiran is a really solid way to protect your planeswalkers early as well and is an excellent incentive to keep a starting hand.
You don't want to many similar cards, except artifact mana in your starting hand. You don't want to many mass creature removal spells as they require some period of time between casting them to be good.
Similar you don't want too many planeswalkers in your opening hand as you normally need a setup period and if your opponents have quick creature starts you might find yourself with no opportunity to cast them onto the board without recursive value. But you are fine to keep a hand that has a couple of them especially if they line up nicely with mana plans.
Having extra turn cards in your starting hand can be a liability for the early stages, but you can be patient with them so consider starting hands worth keeping if you do have multiples even if they will take you into the mid game before they are playable for true value.
Even though there are some combo cards in Cloudstone Curio, Rings of Brighthearth, The Chain Veil they really are not good until the later stages of the game so definitely don't keep starting hands based on having any of these, just be more happy to draw into them later.
Mostly you are looking for artifact mana to help you speed up your game plan during the early stages. You do have planeswalkers that you can cast early on three or four mana so it is possible to just play these into a relatively open board and just get incremental value, helping with casting further cards as a lot of them have in built mana abilities.
During the first few turns can really set the tempo for your game plan. Either opponents are not playing out creatures and this sets you up nicely to cast your three and four drop planeswalkers to get recursive value. Otherwise opponents' boards start developing with creatures and you know you have to hold off and be patient with a well timed mass creature removal.
Your best plan during the early stages is just develop additional mana in any way you can and remember that a lot of the planeswalkers do provide on-going mana. Even if there might be some creatures onboard to pressure on them, if you feel you can keep them in play for a few turns then you can aggressively cast them. But just be calculated and careful, don't just run them out because you don't have any other play.
Protecting your planeswalkers
You might be able play some early walkers into a relatively creatureless board, but honestly this is going to be more the rare case. Assume that you have to really find a strategic time to play out your walkers to not get them killed to creature attacks.
Your main goal is to get a Rowan emblem(s). Once you get an emblem there is a cascading effect that you are then able to set up multiples of the same emblem. The second time you ultimate her you'll get two more emblems as her -8 is itself an activated ability. Then the next one you'll get triple the triggers and so you'll get four more emblems for a net of seven emblems. This may sound fantastical but I actually do this all the time. It's essentially the same as going infinite in terms of winning you the game.
Unfortunately Rowan's +2 ability doesn't help you in a meaningful way. Therefore just casting her as your first plan of action without support and expecting to get to the -8 isn't really the best approach.
Step 1: Casting Will Kenrith
I almost always cast out Will Kenrith first as his +2 actually has a way of protecting your walkers going forward.
Normally you are casting him out on a six mana curve if it looks like he can survive. This means that you probably won't have spare mana to use the -2 cost reduction for any actual spells. Even though it's tempting to get the draw most of the time you are better off just using the +2 until your next turn when you have all your mana available. That way you won't be using his -2 two turns in a row which would send him back to the commander zone. Even if there are no creatures to target with the +2 that first time you play him don't be tempted by the -2.
Step 2: Casting Rowan Kenrith
This set's you up nicely to use Will -2 on the following turn to then cast out Rowan Kenrith for less mana meaning that you might also be able to cast another spell to protect the siblings.
Mass creature removal
There are a number of mass creature removal cards. You are trying to find the opportunity to be able to successfully play out your planeswalkers without them being killed by creatures on opponents' turns.
Often you are in a position where you have to choose between casting removal -or- casting out a planeswalker, but often you don't get to do both in a turn during the mid game.
If you are casting a mass removal spell then it is possible that opponents fill the board with creatures on the following turns. Meaning that you are back to where you started as far as finding an opportunity to cast the walkers.
That's why instant speed removal has been prioritized in the deck as it allows you to be patient and cast just before your turn so that you can play a planeswalker(s) to get traction with them more easily. Evacuation, Mystic Confluence and Starstorm can do this.
Rowan Kenrith ability "-2 Deals 3 damage to each tapped creature target player controls." can help to make cards like Mizzium Mortars, Starstorm more effective. Chain Reaction, Blasphemous Act to a lesser extent as these are probably normally killing everything anyway. However you are really not looking to use the -2 if you can help it, building her up to the emblem is a much better state to be in.
Will Kenrith, ability, "+2 Until your next turn, up to two target creatures each have base power and toughness 0/3 and lose all abilities." means that you can reduce the larger creatures so that your damage spells are able to kill them as well. Good against making indestructible creatures, persist, etc, vulnerable to your creature removal.
Extra turns
There are a number of extra turn cards because using planewalker abilities as many times as you can is amazing and even working up loyalty counters to some of the more powerful ultimate and emblem is one of the main ways of winning the game. I've chosen extra turn cards that do not exile themselves specifically to get additional use out of Mystic Sanctuary to put them back on top of your library.
Savor the Moment is a great low cost extra turn card because even though you don't untap you get to use your Superfriends and even a bunch of these have mana producing abilities so can even potentially still cast additional spells in your turn.
You should really hold onto your extra turn cards until you are sure you can get great value out of them.
Try and not just use them as "cyclers", meaning just casting them without a way of gaining additional value other than drawing another card and maybe getting an extra land into play.
This means that often I'll be holding onto them for an amount of time even if I could have simply cast them out.
Remember that we really want to get a Rowan emblem and often extra turn cards are the best way of achieving that.
They are really precious to the game plan so you might be wondering why the deck simply doesn't have more?
Well the rest do start getting more mana intensive and you don't want to flood out with too many of them during the early part of the game. You could definitely put more into the deck and be pretty happy about it but for keeping variety in game play a bit more unpredictable means that you'll enjoy different angles and even challenges over time.
If you haven't managed to stick your planeswalkers for whatever reason then you should have lots of mana to be able to cast multiple spells in a turn later on into the game. Meaning you probably can play out a planeswalker or two and have mana up for casting further protection.
But often you're going to be setup with multiple planeswalkers and a Rowan emblem(s) as you get further into the game.
The following sections on "Rowan Interactions", "Kenrith Interactions" and Cloudstone Curio are mostly to do with late game interactions, that is turns 6 onward.
But there are a lot of other bonuses and interactions with copying activated abilities.
Her emblem allows you to get infinite colorless mana with Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith.
With Voltaic Key and an artifact that produces two or more mana, you can get infinite mana. You can use one activation to untap itself and the other to untap the mana artifact. Gilded Lotus will get you infinite colored mana. Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith will get you infinite colorless.
Note that Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, Arcane Signet, Izzet Signet, Talisman of Creativity can be used with Voltaic Key as a means of filtering to get colored mana if you have the infinite colorless with a Rowan emblem.
Activated abilities of lands
There are a number of lands in the deck that have utility effects when you activate them.
You can get infinite with Izzet Boilerworks and Deserted Temple. To a lesser extent you can use Ancient Tomb for colorless mana for as much life as you are willing to lose.
All the lands that search for lands (fetchlands) will get you double value allowing you to get two lands instead.
An Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin activation will be more like casting a Dig Through Time as you get to do it twice.
Then for the coup de grace untap with either Minamo, School at Water's Edge or Deserted Temple for further activation's.
You can get infinite turns with Magosi, the Waterveil and Deserted Temple with Rowan's emblem and setting up for a secondary Rowan emblem, so this does require very specific setups which are explained in the Card Choices section.
You can see that her emblem can turn your land base into win conditions which is very powerful.
If you activate the The Chain Veil with her emblem in play then you'll be able to activate planewalker abilities twice each and each will be copied. This net's you four of the abilities per planeswalker. It doesn't get better than that for a Superfriends deck!
Her emblem also applies to creating copies of other emblems via your planeswalkers. When you go for your second Rowan emblem you'll actually end up copying it so will net 3 x emblems. This will of course double each time you go to get another emblem.
The same with Will's emblem you will get two emblems for each Rowan emblem you have which is going to put games away pretty quickly with advantages.
Sensei's Divining Top can be used to draw a card for as many times as you want to recast it for as it will activate the draw twice it'll go back on top of library and then because you're drawing two cards you'll draw it again.
With Ugin, the Ineffable cost reduction this will be infinite draw.
The deck is not configured to use her "+2 During target player's next turn, each creature that player controls attacks if able." in a meaningful manner other than to build up her loyalty.
Also her "-2 Rowan Kenrith deals 3 damage to each tapped creature target player controls." ability I almost never use. The reason is that you really want to be building up for the emblem, so unless it's truly a very proactive way of protecting your planeswalkers don't look for this ability to be something that you are actively planning for.
One thing that clicked to me is that Will Kenrith -2 ability will keep paying the commander tax for both Will and Rowan in that same turn used if they keep returning to the commander zone.
With this in mind one combo is The Chain Veil with Will Kenrith -2 ability.
You activate the The Chain Veil allowing your planewalkers to use their abilities twice in the turn.
We activate Will Kenrith -2 ability twice reducing the cost of planewalkers by a further and draw 4 cards.
Given that his starting loyalty is 4 this will cause Will to "die" and return back to the commander zone. The cost reduction will always cover the commander tax portion during that particular turn. With this each can be "Draw 4 cards, reduce the cost of instant, sorcery and planeswalkers by ".
You can use Heart of Kiran to remove loyalty counters from Will or Rowan to purposefully send them back to the command zone. This way you don't need The Chain Veil for the double activation.
Will Kenrith ability, "+2 Until your next turn, up to two target creatures each have base power and toughness 0/3 and lose all abilities." is actually amazing at potentially locking down two of your opponents commanders which can often be their whole deck strategy. If you can keep doing this through the game you will find that some opponents simply don't get to do what their deck was designed for, especially if they are looking to do effects in their own turns mainly.
With Cloudstone Curio in play and Will Kenrith -2 cost reduction you can cast planewalkers then bounce others that you have already used an ability for the turn. The intention is to keep recasting the planewalkers with the main idea to keep netting mana (infinite) so that you can then just use the other abilities that gain advantages as many times as you want.
Let's say that you really want to reduce the cost of planewalkers by at least for the turn.
With Cloudstone Curio in play you can use Will Kenrith -2 cost reduction ability then cast another planewalkers bouncing Will back to hand. Realistically you probably want it to be a walker that produces mana so that you can recast Will easily. Use his ability again and now they are reduced by .
Teferi, Temporal Archmage can untap 4 land and/or artifacts. If we have cost reduction by for the turn then you can always get the colored mana costs for walkers which will be , or .
This means that you will have enough to cast any of the other planewalkers, use one of their abilities for advantage, then recast Teferi, Temporal Archmage, bouncing that planewalker to hand. You can keep repeating this process.
Some of the artifact mana can be used with Tezzeret the Seeker or Ral Zarek or Saheeli Rai to gain the mana needed to keep recasting everything.
You can combine these planewalkers in a number of ways but ultimately you want to be netting mana each time you keep doing the cycle. If you're gaining mana then you can break the cycle at any time to use an ability for advantages instead which is normally draw of some kind. Once you draw enough of your deck you can kill opponents with walker abilities with counterspell backup.
With Cloudstone Curio and Mystic Sanctuary you can keep putting an instant or sorcery on top of your deck. You can get alternative extra turns with the extra turn cards that don't get exiled.
The thing is that all of the planeswalkers actually have a way to kill opponents if necessary. Keep in mind that you can have infinite planeswalkers activation's with various combos in the deck.
You can get infinite turns with Magosi, the Waterveil+Deserted Temple or Cloudstone Curio+Mystic Sanctuary.
You can draw your deck and just use Nexus of Fate to get infinite turns.
In these instances you can just beat people to death with creatures after you bounce/kill all opponents creatures, so a Heart of Kiran is more than enough with infinite turns, but using Tezzeret the Seeker -5 to make your artifacts creature beat downs is bonus style points.
I go through planeswalker abilities in the card choices section but here is a quick run down of ways to kill your opponents with numerous planeswalker activation's.
Rowan, Scholar of Sparks deals 1 or 3 damage to each opponent.
Dack Fayden can mill opponents out by targeting them with draw.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance will reduce opponents life totals to zero with +1 and the emblem. Once you combo then you can just get numerous Chandra emblems to cast a single spell to deal the required damage to all opponents.
Ral Zarek can reduce opponents life totals to zero.
Tezzeret the Seeker artifact creature beats. Style points only rather than efficiency.
Ugin, the Ineffable can amass an army of Spirit tokens.
Will Kenrith can mill opponents out by targeting them with draw.
I've literally never been without options on how to kill opponents once I have exacted the deck plans. It's always just a case of picking something for efficiency, style points or trying something new.
Casting this on Turn 3 (or less) and then being able to get the emblem is a very real goal and almost certain to set you up for the rest of the game.
Alternatively you could target your own stuff to create an army of Elementals' to subsequently protect your walkers, however there are not a lot of throw away permanents in the deck. Your best bet is treasure tokens off Dockside.
But with over 70 planeswalkers in Izzet there is an incredible selection that you can chose from.
I will point out some planeswalkers that I think are very playable for a Superfriends theme given some adjusts to the potential rest of your 99 to give them more synergy.
I personally encourage mixing and matching over time to get different experiences.
However I played with it for many months and the fact that the rest of the abilities are not relevant to the rest of the deck meant that I cut it.
His 0 Brainstorm ability has some amazing synergy with the new God-Eternal Kefnet and extra turn cards. If you keep putting an extra turn card on top of your library then you'll get infinite turns with Kefnet. The ultimate is a lot harder to achieve and only defeats one player so not the best in multiplayer.
Her -3 ability to cast a 3 or less converted instant or sorcery was another reason to try her, but I've ended up cutting cantrips like Ponder and Preordain and so just like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy the access to using the ability just became a little too inconsistent.
If you are running a threshold of artifacts, then there are some other planeswalkers that can benefit. I already have Saheeli Rai in the deck, which has some artifact synergy. There are about 1:5 artifact ratio in the deck which does lead into being enough to support minimal artifact matters planeswalkers.
The colorless planeswalkers have the advantage that with Will Kenrith -2 cost reduction you don't need to find colored mana sources to cast them and there are a lot more additional colorless sources in the deck like Sol Ring, Mana Vault, etc.
Also if you manage to stack cost reduction then this makes it even better. The ultimate you can do is with Cloudstone Curio and enough cost reduction to reduce the casting of two colorless planeswalkers you can infinitely bounce them.
Having a catch all removal can be important if opponents play something that specifically stops your game plans. His -14 can be game winning if you have exiled even just a few cards as you just get to have a completely one sided start.
A lot of the Izzet planeswalkers have abilities that put cards into your graveyard. There are also some that use your graveyard for advantages as well. You can look to combine these in some manner to make your graveyard a substantial additional source of resources for the deck.
The -7 is instants and sorceries as well so with Will Kenrith -2 cost reduction you'd want to have a decent number of these types.
If you built the deck a certain way then the win condition of no cards in library would certainly be relevant.
Note that Spark Double does not benefit from Will Kenrith -2 ability so you won't be able to use Cloudstone Curio bounce combo with the discount.
There are a number of ways to return permanents to hand in the deck so even if you cast it you can potentially look to get use out of it later on in the game if it remains on the battlefield.
Rings does get you infinite colorless mana with Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith.
Rings of Brighthearth can often be used with "fair" means in mind. Copying a planeswalker ability for just can be worthwhile.
You might copy Will Kenrith +2 to nullify 4 creatures for example.
The downside is that you have to sacrifice them at end of turn, but we are looking to use it in a more combo like manner.
If you combine this with any of the walkers that can produce at least (between them) then you can go infinite with Cloudstone Curio.
Any of the Chandras' can do this on their own and you can just bounce Will Kenrith for infinite activation's to draw your deck.
You can use the cost reduction to setup emblem/ultimate of walkers with Deepglow Skate much more easily.
You can use the cost reduction to put Tezzeret the Seeker into play then use Tezzeret -3 to get Cloudstone Curio. With another planeswalker in hand you can go infinite if you can produce between Tezzeret and the other walker.
If you have Will Kenrith and another planeswalker that can produce at least then you can look to go infinite with Planebound Accomplice and Words of Wind.
You can use Will Kenrith -2 draw and use the replacement effect to return both Will and the mana producing planeswalker. This in turn will eventually return all your opponents' permanents.
Walkers that can do this are; Koth of the Hammer, Teferi, Temporal Archmage and Tezzeret the Seeker.
Now even if you have Chandras' that produce in Chandra, Novice Pyromancer, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Chandra, Bold Pyromancer you can still do this loop at the cost of mana each time. That will mean returning X opponents' permanents for as much mana as you have spare. The neat thing is that because you are using Will Kenrith -2 ability you can just cast the Chandras' for their normal cost (only the last time) so won't lose them to Planebound Accomplice sacrifice.
Saheeli Rai and Ral Zarek can do similar things with Gilded Lotus meaning you can spend an additional to loop this, returning opponents' permanents for each you invest.
Of course the math is changed if you have The Chain Veil with an activation. It's going to be easy to go infinite with any of the mana producing planeswalkers with Will Kenrith and Planebound Accomplice and Words of Wind in play.
Also if you have a Rowan emblem then you can easily go infinite as you only need to activate Planebound Accomplice and it will trigger twice, allowing you to put 2 planeswalkers into play. Then you only need to activate Words of Wind once and it'll trigger twice. This means that you can loop for just returning Will Kenrith and a mana producing planeswalkers then opponents will eventually have to return all their permanents.
For interactions with Will Kenrith -2 cost reduction and commander tax click here.
You can cycle it when you feel comfortable that you've already managed to control the board.
Returning creatures to hand is another way of getting them off the board.
Other protection
But it can be used to remove a problematic opponents permanent and then you can counterspell it when they go to cast it again.
It also potentially gives you time to draw into your other mass removal effects if opponents have been playing out their creatures under it which means that even if it gets removed all the creatures come into play then you can use mass creature removal which ends up being a big resource advantage.
As long as you have a counterspell for any removal then it just means that you don't have to worry about opponents casting creatures at all which is a huge boon.
A very powerful card once it hits the table locking down a lot of opponents' ability to further any game plans until it's dealt with.
Other spells you can cast in combat for benefits are Cryptic Command, Illusionist's Gambit, Disrupt Decorum, Aetherize, Aetherspouts, Domineering Will.
Comet Storm, Jaya's Immolating Inferno, Fault Line are some good options.
Other cards that can remove a number of creatures and lands are Wildfire, Burning of Xinye, Devastation, Destructive Force, .
With planeswalkers that provide mana and Will -2 cost reduction you should be able to operate much better than opponents'.
Therefore it is inconsistent at stopping creatures attacking given the makeup of the rest of the deck.
Extra Turns
Draw
You can use shuffle effects like fetch-lands to shuffle unwanted card that you might put back on top from your hand.
If you cast this with Narset, Parter of Veils in play then opponents will discard their hand and only draw a single card.
Coming into play tapped is a downside to playing a card like this as part of your land base, but a card like this can really make sure you don't flood out with lands.
It can also be used as a way of fueling your graveyard for Underworld Breach.
Another way to draw more cards to get to your combos just at the cost of replacing an Island.
Counterspells
If you don't have the budget for this then Counterspell or Delay are fine replacements.
Tutor
A nice play is to put Temporal Mastery on top before your turn to cast it for it's miracle cost of .
Artifact mana
They can be important parts of gaining mana with a number of the untap planeswalker abilities like Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Tezzeret the Seeker, Ral Zarek, Saheeli Rai.
They can be important parts of gaining mana with a number of the untap planeswalker abilities like Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Tezzeret the Seeker, Ral Zarek, Saheeli Rai.
For interactions with Rowan emblem click here
Utility or Combo
For interactions with Rowan emblem click here.
For interactions with Rowan emblem click here.
For interactions with Rowan emblem click here.
But to summarize, you can use Frantic Search and/or Fact or Fiction to keep putting cards into your graveyard. With Will -2 cost reduction these will only cost or respectively.
Not only will Frantic Search put cards into your graveyard to give you cards for Underworld Breach escape 3, but you'll also be gaining mana as you untap 3 lands.
The way the split works with Fact or Fiction you'll also be able to decently put cards into your graveyard to keep using the escape a solid amount of times.
Release to the Wind can be used to keep recasting a planeswalker that get you blue mana. For example Tezzeret the Seeker untapping artifacts that produce more than one mana as Release to the Wind will only cost with Will -2.
With the ability to keep filling your graveyard with Frantic Search/Fact or Fiction and ways keep generating mana you can keep churning through your deck until you get to win-conditions. So these are very much an indefinite combo interaction within the deck.
Underworld Breach is also just a nice way to get key cards back from your graveyard in the face of removal, discard, mill or whatever.
Certainly the extra turns cards are the most appealing, but it might be that you need mass removal as well.
You can even look to use it multiple times with Cloustone Curio or Words of Wind ability to return lands to hand.
You could easily look to get infinite turns. With Cloustone Curio you can return the Mystic Sanctuary to hand every alternative turn, but let's say you are using Will Kenrith -2 ability to draw more cards there is a high chance of drawing into further extra turn cards.
With Words of Wind if you have a way to keep drawing another card for the turn (besides normal draw step) then you can use a replacement draw to return the Mystic Sanctuary to replay it, putting an extra turn card back on top. This will give you infinite turns.
1.) You already have a Rowan emblem.
2.) You are able to use Rowan -8 in the turn you want to go infinite.
3.) Before you activate Rowan -8 to get the emblem, you first activate activate Magosi, the Waterveil to skip a turn. It's now tapped.
4.) Because you have a Rowan emblem already, the Magosi, the Waterveil skip turn trigger will happen twice. So you've got two turns skipped stacked up.
5.) Once this is done, then you can ultimate Rowan -8 to get two more emblems. You will now have 3 Rowan emblems.
6.) Use Deserted Temple to untap Magosi, the Waterveil.
7.) Now you activate Magosi, the Waterveil to get an extra turn (it returns to hand immediately), but because of the 3 Rowan emblems you'll get 3 additional triggers, which means that you get four extra turns stacked up. But you've already got two turns skipped so that means you'll only get two extra turns.
But this can still be infinite as during this and those additional turns you can cast out Rowan again and build her up to more ultimate emblems.
You repeat the pattern of going back to step one, but you'll be stacking up multiples of skip turns as long as you do that before you get more Rowan emblems to get more extra turns. It'll always mean you have more extra turns than skipped turns.
If you don't have a Rowan emblem(s) already then you'll only get one additional turn, meaning you'll need to fade a turn round to try and get Rowan to ultimate again.
You can actually setup Magosi, the Waterveil with the eon counter earlier in the game if you don't have Deserted Temple and then use this to get two extra turns on your first activation meaning you can setup for multiple Rowan emblems by casting her out and building up loyalty to 8 again during those extra turns.
You can also get infinite turns with Magosi, the Waterveil and Deserted Temple and Rings of Brighthearth without Rowan's emblem. You can choose to copy just the extra turns ability which means that you skip one turn and get two extra turns, meaning you will net an extra turn each time.
With at least 2 x Rowan emblems, you can get infinite with Minamo, School at Water's Edge by targeting itself with one of the activation's.
If you have at least 2 x Rowan emblems then you can use the additional triggers to untap multiple lands.
If you have at least one land that can produce two or more mana then you can get infinite mana with just one Rowan emblem. Izzet Boilerworks and Ancient Tomb can do this, although you can obviously only use the Ancient Tomb for as much life as you are willing to lose.
There are also ways to combo with other lands like Deserted Temple and Magosi, the Waterveil especially when you have Rowan emblem(s).
I've already outlined a complicated way to get infinite turns with basically setting up multiple Rowan emblems, but there is a way to use Nesting Grounds, Magosi, the Waterveil and Deserted Temple and a Rowan emblem to get infinite turns.
1.) Activate Magosi, the Waterveil with a Rowan emblem to put 2 x eon counters. You will have 2 x skipped turns at this stage.
2.) Use Deserted Temple to untap Magosi, the Waterveil and Deserted Temple (with the Rowan emblem).
3.) Use Nesting Grounds to move an eon counter to any permanent (doesn't really matter).
4.) Use Magosi, the Waterveil to take an extra turn and Rowan emblem will give you 2 x extra turns.
With the skipped turns and extra turns you are now left no additional turns. However you now have an Eon counter on another permanent.
5.) Play Magosi, the Waterveil as your land drop for the turn tapped.
6.) Use Deserted Temple to untap Magosi, the Waterveil and Nesting Grounds.
7.) Use Nesting Grounds to move an Eon counter to Magosi, the Waterveil.
8.) Activate Magosi, the Waterveil to get 2 x extra turns and this is infinite turns.
You'll need to activate the Deserted Temple, Nesting Grounds and Magosi, the Waterveil and obviously the lands themselves can't be used as they are being used for the combo so it does suggest that you have access to a reasonable amount of mana.
Of course if you have one of the double mana lands in Izzet Boilerworks or Ancient Tomb then you can get infinite mana anyway with the Rowan emblem and Deserted Temple.
Equipment that gives protection can often be a problem for the deck like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots and this land can help to get around those.
For interactions with Rowan emblem click here.
Can be used to get you indefinite colorless mana with a Rowen emblem and Deserted Temple for us much life as you are willing to lose.
For interactions with Rowan emblem click here
Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Misty Rainforest can get Islands.
Arid Mesa, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills can get Mountains.
With only being a two color deck, color-fixing your mana base to cast your spells means that you can have quite a few basics in the deck. This in turn protects you against any non-basic land hate that opponents might have in their deck.
These are great for their ability to become dual purpose depending on what stage of the game you might be.
+ Voltaic Key
+ Minamo, School at Water's Edge
+ Magosi, the Waterveil
+ Teferi's Isle
+ Deserted Temple
+ Tolaria West
+ Izzet Boilerworks
+ Field of Ruin
+ Maze of Ith
+ Thaumatic Compass
+ Expedition Map
Removed
- Mizzix's Mastery
- Rhystic Study
- Dig Through Time
- Ancient Tomb
- 6 x Island
- Mountain
+ Chandra, Bold Pyromancer
+ Rings of Brighthearth
Removed
- Karn, Scion of Urza
- Voltaic Key
+ Chrome Mox
+ Coalition Relic
+ Ensnaring Bridge
+ Nexus of Fate
+ Island
Removed
- Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- Past in Flames
- Inexorable Tide
- Meishin, the Mind Cage
- Teferi's Isle
+ Forge of Heroes
+ Coveted Jewel
+ Darksteel Ingot
Removed
- Field of Ruin
- Pyramid of the Pantheon
- Ensnaring Bridge
+ Vandalblast
+ Fiery Confluence
+ Arcane Lighthouse
+ Sensei's Divining Top
Removed
- Jokulhaups
- Obliterate
- Forge of Heroes
- Leyline of Anticipation