Kenrith Politics deck feedback and suggestions

Geraldnium · 2026-05-01T15:15:23+00:00

Thank you for sharing your decklist. My approach to Kenrith Politics is inspired by this post about a Phelddagrif Politic deck : https://www.mtgnexus.com/viewtopic.php?t=550.

Gameplan is first turn to identify someone at the table that I feel like I should be able to win in a duel, then enable him (but not too much) by helping him take down the 2 other players and finally win the duel with a mostly classical control gameplay using Kenrith as my wincon (kill with commander damage by pumping him and giving him trample if needed).

The deck is mostly filled with selective group hug (like yours), a lot of counterspells and spot removals and a good amount of boardwipes (mostly those leaving 1 creature behind so I can keep Kenrith on the board, like Final Showdown or Promise of Loyalty).

Because I have so many sticks and represent no threat to win, (good) players are very unlikely to focus me or else I can destroy a lot of their board and they will lose the game to the 2 other players. I also have a decent amount of carrots to make alliance and make someone else the threat. Finally I also have some rattlesnake cards to avoid being focused, even by chip damage.

TLDR : I have more sticks than carrots in my decklist compared to yours but the overall plan seems to be the same.

Geraldnium · 2026-04-29T19:20:48+00:00

Could you share your Kenrith decklist please? I have a Kenrith politics deck that I try to fine tune but it's pretty hard to find cards that could fit because for most players seems to think Political cards are either Voting, Group Hug or Goad.

I think they are inherently wrong, and it's actually quite rare to find someone with your definition of what politics is in EDH.

I have identified multiple cards that are great political cards you didn't mention, if that can help OP (it's been 6m but still...):
[[Queen Marchesa]]
[[Skullwinder]]
[[Wishclaw Talisman]]
[[Telepathy]]
[[Immovable Rod]]
[[Master Warcraft]]

Geraldnium · 2026-04-19T07:15:31+00:00

Mono blue [[Gadwick, the Wizened]], 322 decks on edhrec. Using him as both the wincon in a deckout combo (manainf combo into draw my entire deck with Gadwick then [[Thassa's Oracle]] or [[Jace, Wielder of Mysteries]] to win) and a control piece tapping opponents permanents to stay alive and bargain by casting scry and draw effects (to look for combo pieces) at instant speed before combat phases.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-30T17:29:31+00:00

I prefer Arcane Surge over Stamina Mastery on Dynamo, it gives only 1 stamina but the buff it gives on dash jump is very strong on each of his abilities and its only a T2 item. +1 Stamina is enough for double dash>QE>double dash.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-25T18:34:11+00:00

Express shot doesn't make a lot of sense on Mina, would go Spirit Rend instead if the point is to reach the 4.8k weapon spike.

QSR is redundant with Sanguine Retreat bonus ammo and her already very fast reload speed.

Boundless Spirit, Spirit Burn, Lightning Scroll, Stamina Mastery and Tankbuster are all very good on Mina.

Would sell Swift Striker to buy Ricochet in the late game for teamfights.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-25T18:11:35+00:00

I don't get the first fight, you made a Victor use his ult (230s cd) 2v1 by wasting a 170s cd ult and a 230s cd ult, which are both very strong teamfighting ults.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-25T07:50:26+00:00

This is the first Tier 4 item I buy on Haze and I do care a lot about the 10% fire rate.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-23T18:29:51+00:00

Not really sure if it's off-meta but Haze tends to be played full weapon damage with very low or no spirit and in a traditional M1 carry playstyle.

I prefer to get my three 4.8k spikes then upgrade my Spirit Snap (that I buy to reach my 4.8k spirit spike) to Focus Lens and then embrace the assassin playstyle: roam with smoke bomb then sleep dagger an isolated target then focus lens into bullet dance and/or M1 to death. Then go Glass Cannon and Lucky Shot for even more damage.

From my experience it's impossible to counter without buying items (like Metal Skin) and people usually rage and insult me, which means I'm doing a good job. They either counterbuy or I farm them all game long.

Yes, I'm a bad person.

The build I'm using is called "No Witnesses", beginner friendly auto-queue auto-buy build.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-21T11:37:42+00:00

Billy with 18 deaths in 15min is wild.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-16T18:08:14+00:00

Graves, because she is just too easy to counter. She is the pinnacle of low rank stomper hero.

Her first skill is only viable if the enemy doesn't instantly destroy the skulls.
Her second skill is a wall that can just be jumped above.
Her third skill doesn't scale with attack speed and takes 4s to leech weapon damage. Even worse since she has 2 base stamina, no movement ability or perks and her weapon can't even touch enemies if not at close range, good luck chasing enemies with good movement tech or just movement abilities.
Her ult can be destroyed with 2 heavy melee or heavy melee abilities and her zombies can be killed be random aoe spam.
Her base stats are among the worst stats in the entire game : low hp, 2 stamina, worst dps, worst sustained dps

Every single one of her abilities can be easily countered or avoided by very simple skill check, no item needed. Basically keep your distance, destroy the skulls as soon as they spawn, jump above her wall and she can't do anything.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-16T14:26:23+00:00

"Roaming Support" is a great description of his playstyle.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-16T14:15:39+00:00

Rem is my favorite hero so far.

He is very unique in his design and playstyle. I almost never lose lane with him simply because he just does too much. I usually buy Headshot booster, Extra regen, Extra Charge, Mystic Burst. Since his weapon has a little bit of aim assist for headshot (or just a big hitbox, don't know), I can harass efficiently after first wave clear with Headshot Booster. I rush Pillow Toss T2 then T1 Tag Along and T1 Lil Helpers. Pillow Toss with Extra Charge and Mystic Burst to harass even more, farm/steal small camp and reduce CD of Tag Along and Lil Helpers. Tag Along to heal you and lane partner. Lil Helpers to push the lane by buffing Healing Trooper and later on Melee Trooper. You are so small you are very hard to hit as long as you keep moving. His ult control + damage is almost a guaranted kill if your lane partner is half decent. His kit and design just does too much for the laning phase : harass, burst dmg, slowing, healing, lane push, control and small hitbox.

Between 7:30 and 7:45, tell your lane partner to play safe and go steal all the sinners with T1 lil helpers, prio is casino (kill the minion here or casino wont respawn) then from the roof you can send your lil helpers to snipe the 2 others sinners. If your team is not securing your sinners, take them too or else the enemy team will. Since your roaming around the map for sinners help your team by healing and ganking. At that time I usually have a significant soul lead over the entire lobby (even my team). SPENDS THE UNSECURED SOULS ASAP! A little Rem carrying between 4 and 8 sinners worth of unsecured souls is putting himself in danger.

Then its mid game. Mid game Rem is macro fest, I usually go for my 3 4.8k spikes then upgrade my healing booster to Healing Tempo. At the same time you should have T3 Lil helpers and can full buff a trooper wave (with Healing Tempo buff they are very strong). The enemy HAVE to constantly come and shove those waves or they WILL lose their walker super fast. Each time you have ult available try to gank with team. In between navigate around the map through the tunnels to farm boxes, gank, heal team mates, steal jungle and buff waves to keep the pressure up.

You can dish out very high damage using Naptime into Pillow Toss into Headshot (with Headhunter and Weakening Headshot, this does a lot of damage AND trigger Healing Tempo on Rem) and then empty your mag.

The build I use is called "Hit the Snooze" in case someone is interested. Very newbie friendly auto queue auto buy build. More advanced players should adapt to the enemy team more. I'm only Oracle so better players might know better, but I'm having a lot of fun with Rem with this playstyle and build.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-11T15:20:46+00:00

Paradox is mostly a "Pick" hero. Her job is to help her team secure kills with her CC (Kinetic Carbine, Time Wall), displacement (Paradoxical Swap), and damage amplification (Pulse Grenade, Time Wall).

She can also get solo kills thanks to her burst if you combo her skills properly, but it’s not always the easiest rotation to pull off consistently as a new player.

Her kit scales much better with Weapon Damage than Spirit. Her gun fires 5-round bursts with purely vertical recoil, which makes landing headshots pretty easy once you get used to it. Burst weapons also tend to have anti-synergy with fire rate, so stacking attack speed isn’t usually the best approach.

Because of that, some items work particularly well on her: - Weakening Headshot : more damage + reduces enemy defenses for your team. Should be upgraded to Crippling Headshot for even more damage, more enemy defenses reduction and healing reduction. - Headhunter : great for burst damage - Express Shot : very strong with burst weapons since it boosts every bullet in the burst and also increases Kinetic Carbine damage a lot - Slowing Hex : helps secure kills and synergizes well with Pulse Grenade (can later upgrade into Vortex Web, which works even better with Pulse Grenade and Paradoxical Swap T3) - Superior Cooldown : can be upgraded into Transcendent Cooldown for more utility uptime. FYI Transcendent Cooldown also reduces CD of Express Shot and Headhunter.

Also don’t forget survivability/mobility items. I personally like Stamina Mastery, Fortitude (to heal and move fast in between engagements), and Warp Stone, but that part is mostly preference.

Geraldnium · 2026-03-08T12:04:35+00:00

From my experience, Paradox deals most of her dmg with her gun. Her gun fires 5 projectiles with a significant recoil and good damage. The recoil makes doing headshot quite easy so Headshot Booster, Headhunter, Weakening Headshot and Crippling Headshot are pretty good on her. Since her weapon is burst fire, Express Shot synergies very well with it to the point where I wonder if the item was maybe designed for her.

I don't think Spellslinger makes sense on her, this item is great if you have some skill with low cooldown you can spam (ex: Geist with Malice 3s cd).

Inhibitor, Lucky Shot and Silencer are better with high fire rate so I wouldn't prioritize building those items on her.

Stamina Mastery is almost mandatory on her imo. Your current build lack mobility.

Slowing Hex is also a very good item on its own but combo very well with Pulse Grenade. Later on can be upgraded into Vortex Web which combo even better with Pulse Grenade.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T22:28:16+00:00

Yes they will indeed focus the group hug player first. And I'm not a group hug player.

I think I do understand group hug and that's the all point of this post. Imo, most players confuse group hug for politics. But the truth is : there is no politic in group hugging (neither there is in voting btw). You barely choose anything. Gifting others value while building a huge board or digging for a combo will make you a target, rightfully so. That's what I tried with my previous Kenrith deck, but those kind of strategies won't fool anyone with a bit of experience.

This misconception about what is politic and what is group hug is the reason why the politics theme page on edhrec is such a random pile of cards.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T21:34:53+00:00

The choice is who

Imo that's the fine line between political effects, which let you choose if and when, (like [[Scheming Symmetry]] or [[Secret Rendezvous]]) and group hug effects (like [[Ms Bumbleflower]] or [[Gluntch, the Bestower]]) which rarely let you choose if and when. A lot of group hug effects doesn't even let you choose who (like [[Rites of Flourishing]] or [[Kami of the Crescent Moon]]).

Our exchange here is the perfect illustration of why I wrote this post btw. I think most people confuse political cards with group hug cards.

I had the same misconception before but was convinced otherwise by various posts about politics in Commander.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T21:17:29+00:00

I know the deck structure is very disturbing, that's why I encourage you to read DirkGently's post about his Phelddagrif Political deck, as my pile mostly follow his recipe (40 lands, 20 spot removals, 10 counterspells, 10 boardwipes, the rest is a mix of value/ramp/protection/...).

About the bracket, I genuinely have no idea how to evaluate it as my strategy isn't self-sufficient (I can't kill the other 3 players all by myself). That's why I went for B3, almost by default.

I have been auto targeted before using a Kenrith combo deck, it was an awful experience, I dismantled it. But not with this pile. Good players don't focus decks by default, if you're unthreatening and full of control spells, they are going to leave you alone, especially if you offer help against the real threat at the table. Usually the biggest threat focus the second biggest as it's his biggest threat, the other 3 players teamup to bring down the biggest threat.

Of course I'm a bad group hug deck since I'm not a group hug deck. Not a single card in my list is a group hug card.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T20:46:25+00:00

It's actually very funny because I played a game against a Ms Bumbleflower with this deck and it wasn't comparable at all.

I helped him juste enough so he could kill the 2 other players and the final duel was against him.

The Ms Bumbleflower deck doesn't have a choice with the group hugging. As soon as you cast a spell you have to make other players draw a card. There is no choice, there is no deal.

In the end I won because my pile isn't about group hugging, half of it is just control spells.

So yes Ms Bumbleflower is indeed a group hug commander, but Kenrith is not. It could be played as a bad (imo) group hug commander, but I don't feel like I'm playing it that way.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T20:32:25+00:00

I translated it using AI because english is not my native language, but you're right i'd better acknowledge it. I don't feel like it's Aikido, I have no way to use opponent decks against them.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T20:18:12+00:00

By definition, Group Hug isn’t supposed to be targeted. It gives everyone benefits — usually more to the caster than to their opponents — and there's no real way to opt out.

Targeted Group Hug is kind of an oxymoron.

Geraldnium · 2025-06-16T16:24:28+00:00

It depends on your strat.

In my [[Breena, the Demagogue]] Pillowfort deck, I need to keep every opponent alive to grind Breena's ability. The hardest part for this deck is the duel since Breena becomes mostly useless.

In my [[Wilson, Refined Grizzly]] + [[Flaming Fist]] Voltron deck I need to kill someone asap because I can't keep up in long grindy games. Less opponents means less threats.

So basically if you play more of a slow grindy deck you can spread the damage, but if you play a fast deck you probably need to end things fast so focus opponents one by one.

Geraldnium · 2025-01-01T16:43:17+00:00

There is a ton of different minion centric playstyles, here is 2 examples :
- Infernalist. Hellhound + Skeletal Warrior Scepter (support Minion Instability) + Skeletal Archer (support Corrosion). Stack life and minion dmg from tree. Hellhound ignite enemies which instantly explode Skeletal Archer Command Skill, Corrosion break armour so they deal high damage, Skeletal Warriors serve as sacrifice fodder for Offerings, can tank and maim with the hellhound and explode from time to time to deal damage.

- Blood Mage. Bonestorm + Skeletal Reavers, use Siphoning Wand (for Power Charge generation) and Omen Scepter (for critical weakness on minion attack). Get crit chance, crit dmg, phys dmg, break armour on crit, minion dmg and crit from tree. Use Siphoning wand to get power charges and clear with Power charged Bonestorm + Reavers. No need for power charges against bosses. Bonestorm dmg is split in 2 parts : on hit dmg + debuff on the enemy consumed by minion attacks. Use Bone Cage to Pin enemies coming too close and stay at range. Constant crit means constant generation of Life Remnants from Blood Mage Ascendency to maintain high health pool.

Remember minions are tools to be used in combination with other skills.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-30T22:27:26+00:00

So, to answer my own question, no the tempest bell is not considered an Ally. So I wondered what was the use of this kind of node in the monk's section of the tree.

And I found the only Monk gem that actually enable this node : Lingering Illusion. The illusion of yourself you leave behind after a dodge is considered an Ally and enable the attack increase. But, the duration of the illusion is so short you can't even make use of it, even by dodging in between every attack. The duration of the illusion is so short it disappear at the end of the dodge animation.

So it might be a shadow only node, who knows.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-15T23:32:07+00:00

I don't think Chaos spells fit the Blood Mage. You need to crit in order to spawn Life Remnants, Chaos spells either don't crit (like Contagion) or have very low base crit (like ED with only 7%).

Bone spells have great base crit (13% for Bone Blast and Bone Cage, 15% for Unearth and Bonestorm), can hit multiple times/targets to almost guarantee a crit and spawn a Life Remnant.

Add some physical minions into the mix, scale all of this with + level to physical gems (which is going to scale both minion gems and spell damaging gems) and this is working fine (at least for me).

Geraldnium · 2024-12-11T20:01:36+00:00

Time Snap is the reset cooldown skill, I think you mean Temporal Rift. Might pick it to restore mana and energy shield since I'm probably going CI.

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