Kenrith, the Returned King

Printable proxies

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At a glance

• Format: cEDH (Commander)
• Commander: Kenrith, the Returned King
• Colors: Black / Green / Red / Blue / White (BGRUW)
• Archetype: 5-color Ad Nauseam consultation (cEDH)
• Power tier: cedh

Strategy

Gameplan

A 5-color Ad Nauseam / Thassa’s Oracle consultation combo shell wearing Kenrith as a hat. Kenrith is NOT the plan — he’s backup insurance (his draw mode refills, his reanimate mode rebuys a milled Oracle/Jace). The deck races to a compact turn 2–4 kill behind a wall of free counters.

Opening turns: Deploy fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith, Moxen, Lotus Petal, rituals) and green dorks (Birds, Sylvan Caryatid, the Elves, both Hierarchs) off an all-untapped rainbow manabase (10 fetches, 10 ABUR duals, 3 shocks, Command Tower / City of Brass / Mana Confluence / Reflecting Pool / Exotic Orchard / Ancient Tomb). Stick a draw engine early — Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Esper Sentinel, Sylvan Library — to bury the table on cards.

Digging to the kill: Ad Nauseam or Necropotence draws most of the library; the tutor suite (Vampiric, Demonic, Imperial Seal, Grim, Mystical, Enlightened, Worldly, Gamble, Spellseeker, Merchant Scroll, Wishclaw) assembles the two-card win directly.

Key win lines

1. PRIMARY — Thassa’s Oracle + Demonic Consultation / Tainted Pact. Cast Oracle, hold priority, cast Consultation naming a card not in the deck (or Tainted Pact — the manabase is basic-free, so it exiles the whole library freely). Oracle’s ETB resolves on an empty library = win at instant speed.
2. BACKUP A — Jace, Wielder of Mysteries in play + Consultation/Pact empties the library → next draw wins.
3. BACKUP B — Underworld Breach + Lion’s Eye Diamond as a third axis (recur rituals + Consultation from yard) and LED doubles as raw ritual mana to power Ad Nauseam / the Consultation turn.
4. Protect the trigger with the free-counter wall (Force of Will, Force of Negation, Fierce Guardianship, Pact of Negation, Flusterstorm, Mental Misstep, Deflecting Swat, Swan Song, Offer, Dovin’s Veto, Spell Pierce, Mindbreak Trap, Mana Drain, Veil of Summer). Snuff Out / Swords / Trophy / Decay handle hatebears; Force of Vigor blows up opposing rocks/stax; Endurance + Faerie Macabre answer opposing graveyard combos.

Two enablers × three empty-library payoffs (Oracle / Jace / Breach) makes the win extremely hard to permanently answer.

Cards

Decklist

Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):

Commander
1 Kenrith, the Returned King

Deck
1 Thassa's Oracle
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Tainted Pact
1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
1 Underworld Breach
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Necropotence
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 Esper Sentinel
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Grim Tutor
1 Gamble
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Spellseeker
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Wishclaw Talisman
1 Force of Will
1 Force of Negation
1 Fierce Guardianship
1 Pact of Negation
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mental Misstep
1 Swan Song
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Delay
1 Deflecting Swat
1 Dovin's Veto
1 Veil of Summer
1 Spell Pierce
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Mana Drain
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Snuff Out
1 Force of Vigor
1 Endurance
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Grim Monolith
1 Arcane Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Dark Ritual
1 Cabal Ritual
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Ignoble Hierarch
1 Sylvan Library
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Arid Mesa
1 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tundra
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Badlands
1 Plateau
1 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Mana Confluence
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Ancient Tomb

Card images & data via Scryfall.