[EDH] Kynaios and Tiro, Bros 4 Lyfe

[Davran]

Four color commanders are upon us, and everyone is hyped for them. Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis is probably the least popular of them all due to the group hug aspect, but I decided to give it a shot since I've never really tried this archetype. The basic premise of the deck is to be friendly, but not too friendly. Sure, have some extra cards...too bad none of your ETB effects work. Go ahead, put some extra lands into play. Watch out for the Treacherous Terrain, though.

I've built the deck to take advantage of morph and various creatures with static effects so that Torpor Orb and Hushwing Gryff don't impact me at all. I've also got a fairly robust pillow fort, and plenty of ways to encourage my opponents to attack someone other than me. The ultimate goal is to finish everyone off with Treacherous Terrain, but combat is also pretty viable as a win condition.

General:

Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

Creatures:
Birds of Paradise
Containment Priest
Den Protector
Humble Defector
Willbender
Chasm Skulker
Dulcet Sirens
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
Hushwing Gryff
Orzhov Advokist
Selvala, Explorer Returned
Clever Impersonator
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
Gahiji, Honored One
Mischievous Quanar
Psychosis Crawler
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Dragonlord Dromoka
Mana-Charged Dragon
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Progenitor Mimic
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight

Instant:
Path to Exile
Swan Song
Arcane Denial
Benefactor's Draught
Deflecting Palm
Arachnogenesis
Bant Charm
Chaos Warp
Naya Charm
Oblation
Fact or Fiction
Reins of Power
Intellectual Offering

Sorcery:
Collective Voyage
Farseek
Hull Breach
Regrowth
Guided Passage
Tempt with Discovery
Wrath of God
Austere Command
Treacherous Terrain

Artifact:
Sol Ring
Torpor Orb
Chromatic Lantern
Ghirapur Orrery
Prismatic Geoscope

Enchantment:

Oath of Lieges
Spectral Grasp
Sylvan Library
Detention Sphere
Fevered Visions
Ghostly Prison
Propaganda
Rites of Flourishing
Collective Restraint

Planeswalker:
Dack Fayden
Tamiyo, Field Researcher

Lands:
Arid Mesa
Breeding Pool
Cascade Bluffs
Command Tower
Desolate Lighthouse
Exotic Orchard
Flooded Grove
Flooded Strand
Hallowed Fountain
Kessig Wolf Run
Krosan Verge
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Misty Rainforest
Mystic Gate
Prairie Stream
Reflecting Pool
Reliquary Tower
Sacred Foundry
Savannah
Scalding Tarn
Steam Vents
Stomping Ground
Taiga
Temple Garden
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
4 Island
3 Forest
3 Plains
2 Mountain

[warfordium]

I really like this. shares some similarity with the CMDR Theory Zedruu list i'm a fan of—might have to try this out. (Zedruu list below). using morphs alongside orb/gryff is really smart.


//Artifact (10)
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Strionic Resonator
1 Sunforger
1 Torpor Orb

//Creature (12)
1 Desolation Giant
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Felidar Sovereign
1 Gilded Drake
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Sun Titan
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vedalken Plotter
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Zedruu the Greathearted

//Enchantment (16)
1 Celestial Dawn
1 Detention Sphere
1 Endless Horizons
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Land Tax
1 Nevermore
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Paradox Haze
1 Puca's Mischief
1 Pyromancer's Swath
1 Rest in Peace
1 Statecraft
1 Stranglehold
1 Treachery
1 Wild Research

//Instant (12)
1 Chaos Warp
1 Condemn
1 Counterflux
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Into the Core
1 Oblation
1 Orim's Thunder
1 Reins of Power
1 Render Silent
1 Return to Dust
1 Spell Crumple

//Sorcery (12)
1 Austere Command
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Insurrection
1 Political Trickery
1 Retribution of the Meek
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Storm Herd
1 Terminus
1 Three Dreams
1 Vandalblast

//Land (38)
1 Arid Mesa
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Mistveil Plains
2 Mountain
3 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of the False God
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tundra
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Volcanic Island

[Davran]

I really like this. shares some similarity with the CMDR Theory Zedruu list i'm a fan of—might have to try this out. (Zedruu list below). using morphs alongside orb/gryff is really smart.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

I thought about taking a more Zedruu style approach with stuff like Puca's Mischief and Bazaar Trader...but green doesn't really lend much to that strategy. I also tried to stay away from stuff like Pyromancer's Swath since actually donating it to someone could be problematic with Zedruu not sitting in the command zone.

As for the morphs, I was looking for a way to reconcile orb/gryff and Eternal Witness when I remembered that Den Protector is a thing. I like that it also helps with the 4 color mana base a little since you only ever need :3: and then usually one colored mana of some sort. I might try and find room for some others like Ainok Survivalist, Chromeshell Crab, Hidden Dragonslayer, Rattleclaw Mystic, Sagu Mauler, Stratus Dancer, and Thousand Winds.

Part of me wants to make Secret Plans work, but I don't think there's enough playable morphs.

[Davran]

Had an opportunity to play the deck, and it worked reasonably well. Torpor Orb ended up doing a ton of work slowing my opponents down, and I managed to get the win with Treacherous Terrain just as planned. A few changes:

- Burgeoning, + Containment Priest

Burgeoning was never really useful due to the ability of my commander. I ended up without lands in my hand for much of the game as I was always able to play them. I'm hoping Containment Priest will help with the mild hatebear theme I have going on. Plus, Containment Priest doesn't affect this deck at all.

- Statecraft, + Fevered Visions

Statecraft is cute if I can also draw Zedruu, but it's only mildly useful on its own. The "downside" isn't really a downside for the deck, but it does limit my options which I don't want. I'm hoping that Fevered Visions will add some incidental damage to all of the cards I'm letting people draw. Plus, it interacts with several things already in the deck.

[Ace/Homebrew]

List looks fun! Lots of card advantage. Were you able to maintain a decent hand-size even though KaToM lets you play two lands a turn?

Fitting a bunch of colorless lands is tough in a 4-color list, but have you thought of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea or Geier Reach Sanitarium?
If you added one or both of those, does Captain Sisay start to look appealing?

How about Jace Beleren?

Isn't Ash Barrens superior to Evolving Wilds? They both essentially cost :1: to get a land, but the land from Barrens enters untapped (albeit from your hand).

[Davran]

List looks fun! Lots of card advantage. Were you able to maintain a decent hand-size even though KaToM lets you play two lands a turn?

Fitting a bunch of colorless lands is tough in a 4-color list, but have you thought of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea or Geier Reach Sanitarium?
If you added one or both of those, does Captain Sisay start to look appealing?

How about Jace Beleren?

Isn't Ash Barrens superior to Evolving Wilds? They both essentially cost :1: to get a land, but the land from Barrens enters untapped (albeit from your hand).

I had a fairly full hand for the majority of the game. K&T were pretty great for that, mostly because I get to draw a card first and then play a land (or not). So most often what would end up happening is I would draw a land, drop it in play, and ship the turn. If the card I drew wasn't a land, oh well.

Mikokoro would be pretty good in here I think, I might have to pick one up. I originally wanted to stay away from the typical Howling Mine and Iron Maiden type of thing, but I might end up going that way.

As for Captain Sisay, she's probably worth running now. There's lots of legendary creatures in here that play all kinds of roles.

Jace Beleren and Dack Fayden were competing for a slot when I built the deck. I settled on Dack because I never get to play with him, and I like the idea of randomly stealing something.

Evolving Wilds should definitely be something else...I'm just not sure what it is yet. Ash Barrens is a contender, but it might just be better to go with some sort of utility land. Alchemist's Refuge is on my short list, and now maybe Mikokoro too. I could also see City of Brass or something, but the mana was actually fine when I was playing.

[Davran]

Made a couple more changes:

- Zedruu the Greathearted, + Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

I took a closer look at what I might actually give away with Zedruu and it turns out there were only 8 or 9 targets...so as sweet as that card is, it's not really doing much. Rashmi might not be right for this deck either, but the card is sweet and I want to try it out for a while. Another contender for the slot was Kraum, Ludevic's Opus since his rules text is somewhat on theme for a deck that's giving my opponents cards to play and he has decent stats...but Rashmi is objectively more powerful.

- Evolving Wilds, + Mikokoro, Center of the Sea

Picked one of these up after Ace/Homebrew suggested it above. Should be good in here, or at the very least should be better than Evolving Wilds.

[deakmana]

Seems like New Frontiers would fit pretty with both the theme and Treacherous Terrain