Commander Overview
Finally! One of the coolest creature types in the game gets some love. Kithkin has been an enjoyable creature type even back in OG Lorywn, and I was so excited to return to Lorwyn again, and being able to play with cards like Thoughtweft Lieutenant makes me so happy. This is a great commander. While Kithkin aren’t always super big, the consistent +1/+1 and trample are very good and can allow us to hit our opponents hard. This isn’t one of those decks where we one-shot opponents, but we whittle them down with a thousand cuts, and Thoughtweft Lieutenant is a huge part of that. This deck is some good old Kithkin fun!
How to Play the Deck
Like almost all Pauper EDH decks, this is a great deck for players of any skill. This deck is very straightforward. We have a very cheap commander, and a majority of our Kithkin are pretty cheap. The buff and trample aren’t huge, but they are very consistent and allow us to whittle down our opponents by a thousand cuts. Playing this deck is straightforward: drop our commander and then fill the board with Kithkin!
Synergy’s in the deck
Since we are a Kithkin deck through and through, we have a bunch of cards that synergize with each other, with one of my favorites being Ballyrush Banneret. This reduces the cost of a majority of our deck and overall makes our gameplan a lot smoother. In the late game, when we have a decent amount of mana, we can get a ton of usage out of Ballynock Trapper since we can cast multiple Kithkin in one turn. Since we are so focused on Kithkin, our deck synergizes very well with itself.
Phases of the Game
Early-Game: Since we have a low-cost commander and a lot of cheap Kithkin, we can actually have a decent showing in the early-game, while we certainly don’t have as big a board presence as an aggressive deck, we can have some early creatures established, we can also get some early-damage from our commander allowing us to be a little aggressive.
Mid-Game: In the mid-game, we typically have a much bigger board presence, but other than that, not a ton changes for us. We play out our Kithkin, once we get big enough, buff them up with cards like Inspiring Roar and use our commander’s ability to attack!
Late-Game: The only real thing that changes in the late game is that we are bigger and have a better board. Opponents are typically at a lot less life, but even in the late game, we still stick to our core gameplan: using our commander’s ability and attacking!
Card Breakdowns
Ramp
Ramp is an interesting topic in our deck, not only do we have a low overall cost, but we do have a couple of ramp effects in Cultivate and Kodama’s Reach. These are both cheap and easy ways to get our colors established and start getting out more and more Kithkin. These are great to have, but certainly not necessary for the gameplan.
Card Draw/Card Advantage
Card draw can be a little tough in Selesnya. We do have some good sources, like one of my favorites in Spare Supplies. This is a fantastic card for decks like this that don’t have a lot of options for card draw, are cheap, and provide a couple of cards for us. Since our commander gives a creature trample pretty much every turn, we can get a lot of usage out of Snake Umbra, and it is by far the best piece of card draw that we have in the deck. Another piece of card draw that I love is Shoulder to Shoulder, being able to buff up some Kithkin and draw a card for only three is excellent for the deck. We don’t have a ton of card draw in the deck, but have more than enough to get by!
Removal
Selesnya in Pauper EDH isn’t amazing at removal; luckily, we are pretty good in combat, and outside of stompy strategies or huge stuff, we are pretty good at holding our own in combat. Still, we do have some strong removal spells like Generous Gift which is a great way for us to take out a permanent an opponent controls, being able to hit a permanent is a crucial distinction for the deck since we can hit anything that gives us a lot of flexibility in how we can stop an opponent, that flexibility is compelling. Crib Swap is another great piece of removal for the deck, exiling is the important distinction here, and allows us to ruin opponents’ combos or take out an opponent’s best creature. We round out our removal package with Heritage Reclamation and Destroy Evil, finally allowing us to hit artifacts and enchantments. With the abundance of both in the format, it is a strong asset for our deck. We may not have a ton of removal, but we do have a lot of cheap and efficient removal.
Protection
Our commander is often targeted and with good reason, they are a great card for the deck that allows us to trample over our opponents quite a bit, we are prepared for this situation with some very cheap options to protect our commander / best creatures with Stave Off, Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood, Pauper EDH is a very removal heavy format especially against black or blue decks so having protection for our commander or a buffed up creature is key to surviving and being able to execute our gameplan. We also have a card that is strong both offensively and defensively in Crystal Carapace, giving a Kithkin a buff and ward two allows us to fight through removal, especially in the early game, and works very well with our commander. We don’t have a ton of protection in the deck, but we can fight through our opponents’ removal, which is quite important.
Utility / Support
We have so many awesome support pieces in the deck like Armadillo Cloak, you really can’t play a Selesnya deck without the cloak, a buff, forever trample and lifelink is just simply insane for three mana, it doesn’t matter who you put this on it is very strong and makes you formidable in both attacking and blocking. Predatory Hunger is another card that can take a relatively weak Kithkin and make them get crazy big! Creature decks are prevalent in the format, so Predatory Hunger can trigger a lot. Lastly, I want to showcase Greatsword of Tyr and Armory of Iroas, allowing our Kithkin to grow as we attack and, when combined with our commander, deal a lot of damage.
We are a deck that is focused entirely on Kithkin, so you better believe we have a ton of great Kithkin, and I wanted to showcase some of my favorites! We start with Kithkin that are pretty hard to block, like Amrou Kithkin, Amrou Seekers, and Goldmeadow Dodger. These are all great targets for our buffs and our commander’s ability; they can be tough for a lot of decks to block! I also love Cenn’s Heir, which is another great target for our commanders’ ability. When we swing out this card goes crazy, and adding trample to the mix can allow us to do a ridiculous amount of damage. Kithkin Zephyrnaut is another super cool Kithkin for the deck, its kinship ability is very easy for us trigger, and having an evasive flying Kithkin is always strong. We have so many amazing Kithkin in the deck, and they all trigger our commander!
Mana Base
We start off our manabase with Path of Ancestry, a card that we can trigger nearly every turn in this deck. The scry may not seem that important, but being able to set up the top of our deck for our kinship abilities or scry away dead cards is an extremely valuable ability. Since we are in Selesnya and card drawing doesn’t come that easily for us, we have quite a few sources of additional card draw like The Hunter Maze and The Fair Basilica as well as the on-color cycling lands! Since we have a low overall cost throughout the deck, it is quite easy for us to sac these lands in the mid-late game.
Win Conditions
Our only win condition in this deck is combat, use our commander and some of our other buffs and swing hard!
Strengths of the Deck
One of our biggest strengths is how we can consistently put pressure on our creatures, making us tough to block consistently.
Even though we are in Selesnya, there are a decent number of Kithkin that fly, because of that, we can actually have decent matchups against decks with more evasive creatures. This is something that not all Selesnya decks can do!
Weaknesses of the Deck
We are weak to big mass damage spells since we have pretty small creatures overall.
Voltron decks can be tough matchups for us since we have a lot of small creatures and one-big creature can pose problems for us.
Deck Testing/Matchups
I tested this deck against three different decks
Game 1: Vs Conclave Mentor. Matchup Record: 1-3
This was a bit of a tough matchup for us. Conclave Mentor is great at putting counters on their creatures, and our Kithkin can get outpaced even with our commander. This was a very tough matchup. I did have some success with a very aggressive hand, but that is not consistent.
Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Crib Swap, Destroy Evil and Kinsbaile Balloonist.
Game 2: Vs Edgewalker. Matchup Record: 3-0
Edgewalker is a strong card, but Kithkin are just better than Cleric’s in a lot of ways, they don’t have a ton of great creatures to threaten us, I had no trouble in this matchup and found it to be great for our deck, stick to the core gameplan and swing hard!
Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Game 3: Vs Cloudgoat Ranger. Matchup Record: 2-2
A Kithkin mirror match! This was a very even matchup for us. We both have ways to make our Kithkin big. This matchup really comes down to who can establish their board faster and who can keep their commander. Since we are in Selesnya and they are in mono-white, we do have more protection/removal, so we do have a bit of an easier time!
Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Snakeskin Veil, Stave Off and Might of the Masses
Conclusion
Thanks so much for reading to the end. I hope you all enjoyed this fun deck. While this deck is certainly more thematic than effective, it is a blast to play and can still hold its own against a lot of the decks in the format. Kithkin are so much fun, and this deck really did feel like I was back in the OG Lorwyn days. While this deck certainly won’t change the world, it is a lot of fun to play.