Kess by user2598485

Format: Commander

Commander: Kess, Dissident Mage

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 36

Deck overview

This deck is a Grixis spellslinger and token-aristocrats strategy commanded by Kess, Dissident Mage. The game plan revolves around casting efficient cantrips, removal, and burn spells while utilizing Kess's ability to recast them directly from the graveyard for compounding card advantage. Cheap creature engines like Young Pyromancer, Third Path Iconoclast, and Talrand, Sky Summoner turn every spellcast into a growing army of creature tokens. As the graveyard fills with instants and sorceries, the deck pivots into game-ending payoffs such as Rise from the Tides to generate massive token swarms or Mob Rule to turn opposing boards against their owners. Aristocrat outlets like Goblin Bombardment, Blood Artist, and Mirkwood Bats convert these creature tokens into direct life loss, bypassing combat blockers and punishing opponents who attempt to wipe the board.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Abrade
  • 1 Aetherize
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archmage Emeritus
  • 1 Baleful Strix
  • 1 Bedevil
  • 1 Big Score
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodfell Caves
  • 1 Cascade Bluffs
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Chart a Course
  • 1 Choked Estuary
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Consider
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Crumbling Necropolis
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dimir Signet
  • 1 Dismal Backwater
  • 1 Dispel
  • 1 Dragon's Rage Channeler
  • 1 Electrickery
  • 1 Electrolyze
  • 1 Emet-Selch of the Third Seat
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Expressive Iteration
  • 1 Faithless Looting
  • 1 Fandaniel, Telophoroi Ascian
  • 1 Fiery Impulse
  • 1 Forum Necroscribe
  • 1 Foul-Tongue Shriek
  • 1 Frantic Search
  • 1 Frostboil Snarl
  • 1 Goblin Bombardment
  • 1 Goblin Electromancer
  • 1 High Market
  • 10 Island
  • 1 Izzet Signet
  • 1 Judith, Carnage Connoisseur
  • 1 Kess, Dissident Mage
  • 1 Kolaghan's Command
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Mana Geyser
  • 1 Mirkwood Bats
  • 1 Mizzium Mortars
  • 1 Mob Rule
  • 1 Mortuary Mire
  • 5 Mountain
  • 1 Opt
  • 1 Ponder
  • 1 Preordain
  • 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
  • 1 Prismari Command
  • 1 Prismari Pianist
  • 1 Rakdos Guildgate
  • 1 Rapid Hybridization
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rise from the Tides
  • 1 Shark Typhoon
  • 1 Shivan Reef
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spirebluff Canal
  • 1 Storm-Kiln Artist
  • 1 Stormcatch Mentor
  • 1 Sulfur Falls
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 2 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Talisman of Creativity
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Indulgence
  • 1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
  • 1 Teach by Example
  • 1 Temple of Epiphany
  • 1 Terminate
  • 1 Third Path Iconoclast
  • 1 Traumatize
  • 1 Vampiric Rites
  • 1 Vandalblast
  • 1 Vibrant Outburst
  • 1 Young Pyromancer