What have you done with Kenrith?

[ZenN]

Kenrith, the Returned King has interested me since he was first spoiled. So many abilities, so many colours, so many possibilities.

I keep coming back to him, and thinking about different things I could do with him, and I can never settle on a plan for him. Aside from trying to win with infinite mana, he doesn't just go to one plan.

So, I'm curious, what have you all done with him? Or what are some cool decks you've seen with him at the helm?

[Outcryqq]

One of my buddies made a janky deck of chair tribal with Kenrith at the helm. Due to the strength of Kenrith himself, the deck wasn't half bad.

[Sanity_Eclipse]

What have I done with Kenrith? Titania and I turned him into an elk. Because I think I'm clever :B

On a more serious note, the only way I could build him was if I essentially limited him to tri- or dual-color in the deck. Maybe have a few things like Command Tower and C. Signet, but basically pick three of the abilities you like the most and make him tricolor. Could try something like that to limit the choices.

[Airi]

I run him at the head of Legendary tribal. I don't usually rely on him, but having the option for recursion in the command zone has been pretty helpful in lobger games.

A friend of mine uses him for a Guild Mages/activated abilities deck as well, and works out as a neat type of control deck.

[if4ko]

Thinking of rebuilding my odd matters deck around him. Originally, I ran Yennett, but I've always wanted to build Kenrith reanimator and the release of Obosh inspired me. Plus I could run stuff like Seedborn Muse and Drakuseth.

[ZenN]

Reanimator has been the main thing that keeps jumping out at me. Maybe I'll make that happen sometime in the near future.

[Vessiliana]

I built him as the five-color gods deck I kept trying to find a general for. It is an excuse for running all my favorite lands, and Kenrith plugs any holes a given hand of gods might have.

[ZenN]

I built him as the five-color gods deck I kept trying to find a general for. It is an excuse for running all my favorite lands, and Kenrith plugs any holes a given hand of gods might have.

A buddy of mine did this a while back with Karona, False God. It was amusing, but not great. Kenrith is definitely a stronger general.

[bobthefunny]

Kenrith is very powerful for Battlecruiser oriented groups. If you play in a lower powered meta, the resilience he adds to any game plan can carry the deck alone. If you play in a lower meta, you may want to build him around a theme or restriction. If you're in a more tuned Battlecruiser meta, go for it.

• While at CommandFest DC, I encountered a player running him at the helm of a Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail themed deck. Quite possibly one of the more awesome things I've seen in terms of flavor, though a number of the cards were... less than optimal.
• My brother has a Sliver Queen deck built around efficient creatures with good abilities, and Kenrith is one of the 99. For a while, SQ went on vacation and Kenrith took the helm, and he was quite a force to be reckoned with.
• I run him at the helm of a 5 color stairwell deck. The deck can actually power through a few things, primarily due to him being at the helm.
• I actually want to run him at the helm of a mono-white aggro deck, using commander/anycolor/ and maybe dual lands to hit his abilities. Giving creatures like Hero of Bladehold haste and trample would be quite potent, and he can help patch up some extra draw and recursion for white, while also using the +1 counters to help bolster the creatures.
• I've heard tell of False Cure style decks with him at the helm, in order to be able to repeatedly Lava Axe people.
• He can also work well as a political commander, though it can be tricky. I've heard someone make the argument that Skullwinder is actually a better copy of Eternal Witness, rather than a poor cheap copy: you don't use it when you need something back, you use it when you want an opponent to get something back - If someone has a problematic artifact, you use the skullwinder to let someone else get back their removal spell and deal with it - this way the artifact gets removed, and someone else paid for it. You'd have to work on the build and play in order to not bleed over into group hug. Give too many gifts and people will realize they need to kill you before they can kill anyone else.

[ZenN]

I've heard tell of False Cure style decks with him at the helm, in order to be able to repeatedly Lava Axe people.

I was actually just tonight thinking that if I do build him, that's one of the ways I want to be able to win.

The two main ways I've been thinking about building him are either as 5c Enchantments, or 5c Reanimator. Currently leaning more toward the enchantments, because I don't have an enchantments deck, but many of my other decks to graveyard shenanigans.

[gilrad]

I was thinking it would be interesting to make an all-flash and instant tribal deck with him at the helm.

[KMA_Again]

I've heard tell of False Cure style decks with him at the helm, in order to be able to repeatedly Lava Axe people.

I was actually just tonight thinking that if I do build him, that's one of the ways I want to be able to win.

The two main ways I've been thinking about building him are either as 5c Enchantments, or 5c Reanimator. Currently leaning more toward the enchantments, because I don't have an enchantments deck, but many of my other decks to graveyard shenanigans.

You would definitely want Tainted Remedy in the list, as it is a permanent False Cure rather than a one time use.

[pokken]

Last night I made a kenrith zirda deck with 50 lands 30 ramp spells and 20 counterapells and single counters target removal spells. Roughly.

It was utterly dominant. At the end of one turn I activated sakura tribe elder 4 times and drew 3 cards.

I killed someone by enticing them to single block kenrith then making him trample, removing the blocker and pumping him 9 times.,

Don't think I'll keep playing it but it was fairly fun once. I did reanimate zirda once but also pumped her to 7 to defeat a fight attempt too.

[ZenN]

You would definitely want Tainted Remedy in the list, as it is a permanent False Cure rather than a one time use.

Absolutely.

I think Kenrith as a 5c Enchantments general could be a lot of fun. And I've recently adopted Collective Restraint as a new pet card, so that'd be going in there, too.

Could actually work in a bit of reanimation subtheme, with good enchantments like Animate Dead and Necromancy, and some big creatures that help the plan, like Avacyn, Angel of Hope to protect a board of enchantments.

[ZenN]

Last night I made a kenrith zirda deck with 50 lands 30 ramp spells and 20 counterapells and single counters target removal spells. Roughly.

It was utterly dominant. At the end of one turn I activated sakura tribe elder 4 times and drew 3 cards.

I killed someone by enticing them to single block kenrith then making him trample, removing the blocker and pumping him 9 times.,

Don't think I'll keep playing it but it was fairly fun once. I did reanimate zirda once but also pumped her to 7 to defeat a fight attempt too.

Companions were a mistake.

Sounds like it was amusing, though.

[ZenN]

I posted a first draft Kenrith Enchantments list.

You can check it out here, if you're interested.

[Dragoon]

I tried to build it politically but getting the balance right between the "forced" political cards (where you have to help an opponent) and the battlebond-style cards was tricky.
Next time, I'll probably try a full activated abilities deck with Zirda, the Dawnwaker, Training Grounds, Heartstone, Braid of Fire and Fires of Invention. The new Cryptic Trilobite might also make an appearance.

[Outcryqq]

I just made a list that focuses on legendary and activated abilities, I'm hoping the theme keeps the deck at a lower power level.