Posted in: Card Games, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: Brawl, card games, commander, deck tech, EDH, magic, Magic: The Gathering, MTG, Tabletop, wizards of the coast

"Kefnet the Mindful" Deck Tech – "Magic: The Gathering"

Hello friends! It's time again for another set of two Magic: The Gathering Commander deck techs. Sometimes, I find it's best to step away from the battlefield when writing up techs for my readers and take a moment to be mindful of things like burnout, writer's block, and other similar worries. But then I think to myself, "Nah, let's go and make more content for them!" Those moments are good to write about – it's a decent way to reflect.

As such, today's deck techs will reflect on the two cards centered around Amonkhet's former God of Wisdom, Kefnet the Mindful (and his eternalized counterpoint, God-Eternal Kefnet).

Like my last set of two deck techs (centered around Oketra the True and God-Eternal Oketra), I want to focus on the best and worst aspects of the color that the Gods I am covering encompass, in this case blue. Note that the analyses I'm doing for these Gods can be seen as pretty subjective, to be frank about it. Some people don't like it when their opponents draw options en masse to deal with their opposition. Other people love it. Same with taking extra turns to the point of not allowing anyone else to play. It's really based in opinion, but regardless, this is a deck tech, not an op-ed, so let's just dive in.

The decklist in full as discussed in this article can be found here.

With this deck, we want to focus on the better aspects of blue on a moral level. A lot of people hate blue decks. I mean a lot, from my experience. Some people just gun for blue players right away in multiplayer, and while I can't fault them for being worried, I also disagree with that stance. That being said, this deck is more innocuous than the next one. This one focuses on drawing a ton of cards so that Kefnet can attack and block, to a fault. It might even let its pilot win the game on the spot.

Notable Inclusions

"Tax-or-Draw" cards – Cards like Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, and Nezahal, Primal Tide all make a lot of players pretty angry (so hence why people often tend to dislike blue, even at its most innocent). Allowing you to draw is the sensible answer, so if someone gets angry for having to pay the one mana every time they cast something, remind them that it's ultimately their own choice to do so.

Patron of the Moon – This card combos with Kefnet in that whenever you draw with Kefnet you may bounce a land to your hand and the Patron allows you to replay it in the same turn. This helps when you consider land cards like Mystic Sanctuary or Halimar Depths, which have enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities. Overuse them to your heart's content!

Draw increase – Cards like Howling Mine and its ilk are vital for the deck to keep its critical mass of seven-plus cards in hand so that Kefnet can be used for more than his card draw alone. Font of Mythos and Kami of the Crescent Moon are all good candidates for inclusion for this reason.

Maximum hand size nullifiers – Nezahal, who we covered a moment ago, negates the maximum hand size of its controller. Cards like Venser's Journal and Library of Leng also do this and it's so very important to this deck because of our need to have a huge hand and therefore more options (and the allowance of Kefnet to attack and block for us – not the most important thing, admittedly, but still nice).

Meishin, the Mind Cage – This expensive enchantment helps you to maintain a reasonable defense for when you're being attacked on all sides for being blue or for any other reason you can think of. Making sure your hand is huge means making sure you're well-defended.

Empyrial Plate – By contrast, this nifty piece of Equipment can allow Kefnet to do some real damage on the offensive front if need be. People are apt not to expect blue players to attack very often if at all, so this will take them by surprise.

In Conclusion

This deck has not been tested thoroughly. Like with white, blue is still not my forte overall. I usually use it in conjunction with other colors, but alone it tends to be tough for me to work with, personally. I've seen it used to great effect and I'm sure this deck follows through similarly.

What do you think? Is this deck viable to you? Could Kefnet the Mindful be used to the fullest like this? If you have any suggestions for this deck, let us know!

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!