Kwainmund (EDH / Commander) [Revision 24]

Kwain, Itinerant Meddler is a simile of the Easter Bunny; a rabbit magician who gives away Easter eggs and then performs a vanishing act once there is only one audience member left.

Playing Kwain is a mindset. You should not feel entitled to win every game. The original purpose of this deck is to help other players turbo through their decks and get to show off their cool stuff at otherwise unachievable rates. The deck can also give other players a few resources that aren't detriments to their game plan to minimize the chance they get left behind.

Starts off as group-hug and then turns into a control deck in the 1v1. Draw the entire table as many cards as you can. Everyone else will be busy dealing with each other; they're all way more threatening than you. This allows you to skirt under threat detection easily. Kwain has the ability to police the board state when needed (don't let opponents cast game warping spells and the like) and control the speed of the game. Eventually, one of the players will look at the 50~ cards you have and say something along the lines of "That's your hand?"

The most important thing to understand is your opening hand. There is a low amount of lands/mana rocks in here. Turn one Kwain is possible with Chrome Mox or Lotus Petal and any untapped land. As long as you have a white mana source and a blue mana source in your opening hand, it is a keep; anything else is extra frosting. Mulligan down to 2 cards if you have to find lands, it doesn't matter. As long as you get a turn 2 Kwain, you are on your way to drawing your entire deck. This is the deck I play the most and goes through constant changes but it always stays between 28-32 lands. Cut to your preference.

Early game plan is looking for cards that draw cards for the whole table. Font of Mythos, Horn of Greed, Howling Mine, Kami of the Crescent Moon, etc. Save your personal draw power (Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Preordain, Sea Gate Restoration) to break parity in the mid to late game or in the final 1v1. If you feel you're stuck or need an immediate answer, try and draw the table some cards before turning to your last resorts.

Look for untappers along the way to accelerate draw power, Fatestitcher, Drumbellower, Thousand-Year Elixir, and Retreat to Coralhelm will be some of your best cards to break parity. These untappers can also be used with Walking Atlas to dump lands out of your hand. Remember to tap Kwain before land for turn, then use Coralhelm to untap him, then you can exorcize your hand of lands using Walking Atlas, then untap Kwain a final time to get maximum mileage.

This selection of counterspells have been tailored to hate out Sol Ring. That's about it. Mental Misstep, Offer You Can't Refuse, Annul, Minor Misstep, and Force of Will are all there for catching early Sol Rings. The face someone makes when you counter their turn one Sol Ring cannot be bought. The surprise in their voice could be cashed in for Oscars.

Parallel Thoughts is a PRIMO pet card and doubles as a powerhouse in this deck. The ideal use for this card is to search all the remaining table draw pieces you don't already have. Make sure you can draw some of these cards immediately to prevent getting blown out. Keep an eye on the threats at the table. If there is a mass of artifacts/enchantments threatening the rest of the players, someone will be inclined to use mass removal and your mini-deck will be caught in the crossfire.

Pillow fort effects are there for late game castling. If you are getting punched early in the game, feel free to pull the ripcord early. Keep in mind, playing Silent Arbiter while there are still 4 players in the game may draw attention or frustration to you. It's more beneficial to make deals to get out of combat damage than inconveniencing everyone and getting punished for it. Feel free to leverage your expert political skills and counterspells to encourage other players to not hit you. If you need a few blockers, Ominous Seas, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Toothy, Imaginary Friend, and Body of Knowledge can all be great at providing board presence with some card advantage synergy.

There are a good number of infinite hand size cards in here. These are obviously needed immediately. If you draw into Spellbook after already achieving infinite hand size, save it for recovering after a board wipe that removes your infinite hand.

The weird and cute cards in here can realistically be swapped out for any other utility of the same nature. Deputy of Acquittals is mainly for saving important pieces that will be hard to recur from the graveyard, ie Drumbellower, Fatestitcher, Laboratory Maniac, and what have you. Kwain is the best card in this entire video game, and you should thank your opponents for giving you the opportunity to cast him again. Spectral Searchlight, Victory Chimes, and Rainbow Vale (to a lesser extent) should be auto-includes in every commander deck. Giving players mana when they're behind or as political favors can be game changing. Prismatic Vista, Flooded Strand, and Evolving Wilds are all famously useful with Brainstorm to shuffle away cards you don't need for a long time. Tidal Barracuda has the unique ability to give everyone instant speed spells except on your turn, which doubles as protection for you. Smuggler's Share is a strictly better Smothering Tithe, and Well of Ideas is a great way to break card draw parity. Folio of Fancies can directly turn off Geth's Grimoire, but against some opponents, might still be active.

If you are able to, save all your best counterspells for protecting your winning line. The main win-con in this build is Approach of the Second Sun. It is trivially easy to cast it and then draw 7+ cards. It's optimal to cast Omniscience before Approach to bait out any countermagic my opponent has, which makes it even easier if it resolves. Backup win-cons include Laboratory Maniac, Triskaidekaphile, and even using Wizard Class to pump Kwain and win through commander damage as a last resort. Important to note, Shabraz, the Skyshark in combination with Drogskol Reaver will draw infinite cards. Do not play both without having Lab Man on the field. Or do it to be funny. Either way, if you end up with an empty library and don't win, Emergency Powers can act as a panic button.

//Sideboard & Maybeboard considerations\

Most cards in the Sideboard work really well, they've just been switched out to tune to the tables I play at. Swapping out things for budget or whatever else is fine, using Proxies is better and cooler though. Any land in here can be swapped around, but if you see the Tundra in here and are worried about budget or power level or something, you have my written permission to proxy it. Alhammarret's Archive is a great addition being the second copy of Teferi's Ageless Insight. The Magic Mirror was in this deck from day 1 and never got cast for 3~ years so I finally decided to cut it. Now we also have The One Ring which is just better. If you build a version of this that uses The Magic Mirror well, I would like to see! Fractured Identity is one of the best commander cards ever. Extremely versatile and can use it to punish opponents that cast overpowered cards, or you can exile your own Font of Mythos or even Ghostly Prison. The possibilities are truly endless. Wedding Ring is a really cute way to help another player catch up. Minds Aglow is fun but ultimately just a mana dump that isn't required as you will draw everyone cards anyway. Can be used to get your opponents to tap out when you need it though. Venser's Journal can help you stabilize if you're finding a lot of burn or drain decks in your group, but otherwise kind of a useless 5 mana. Mystical Tutor and Enlightened Tutor are powerhouses in commander, but I like to limit myself to 1 tutor in my decks and I view Parallel Thoughts as meeting that requirement. Scholarship Sponsor is a good card, but again, drawing other players cards kind of already ensures they hit land drops. No real need to ramp everyone on top of that in this build.

Most things in the Maybeboard wound up there because they didn't help with the goal of the deck or were just too strong. Mana rocks that don't cast Kwain, give max hand size, or give other players mana just don't flow with the deck. Sensei's Divining Top is one of my favorite cards, but with how many cards Kwain gives to other players, turns take longer and it's not advisable to spend more time doing top-deck shenanigans when you could just draw a ton of cards instead. Consecrated Sphinx is an incredible card, but too widely known and makes you a target. If it fits in at your table, it's a perfect fit in this deck. The same cannot be said for Smothering Tithe. It draws too much unnecessary attention and doesn't have raccoons on it so it isn't playable. It also makes Dockside Extortionist stronger. (If dockside is legal at your table, I'm sorry.) The point of this deck isn't to ramp, it's to draw your table more cards. If you desire more mana, try Bucknard's Everfull Purse or Tempting Contract. Punishing cards in hand is fun, but if you want to build 8rack most of this deck would have to change. Card draw denial, like Narset, Parter of Veils will quickly see your table stop laughing. Kwain can easily break parity in other ways, so this isn't needed. Effects like Telepathy are great but make sure your play group is okay with this, as it can lead to backseat driving and actual arguments (lol). Powerful control pieces like Drannith Magistrate don't allow your opponents to play their cool cards, which is the opposite goal of this deck.

This may or may not be updated in the future. If you're thinking "Wow, there's a ton of grammatical errors, run-on sentences in here, and it's hard to read!" You're right!
Either way, thanks for reading and if you try this out or any build similar; let me know how it goes! Happy drawing.