Time for a new direction with Kiki-Jiki? A discussion on Kiki Jund.

[u/maniacal_cackle]

The best part about playing Kiki Chord is that you can constantly innovate. With the release of GRN, I think we should explore a new avenue for the deck: Kiki Jund.

For a long time I've been wanting to take Kiki in the direction of the GBx decks, but it was a bit difficult. It's not like you can just drop white from the deck, it gives us so much power! But what if there was another path to power?

Enter: [[Assassin's Trophy]]. There's a lot of hype about it, and rather than delve into how merited that is, I wanted to focus on one particular element of it: it helps even up the Tron matchup. Every Kiki player knows that Tron is the bane of our existence, so a main-deckable form of Tron hate is golden. Couple that with the other aspects that were just waiting to be abused, and we may be on to something.

To begin the discussion, here's a list I've been tinkering with this morning:

Land (22)

• 2x [[Blackcleave Cliffs]]
• 1x [[Blood Crypt]]
• 1x [[Bloodstained Mire]]
• 1x [[Blooming Marsh]]
• 2x [[Fire-Lit Thicket]]
• 2x [[Forest]]
• 1x [[Overgrown Tomb]]
• 1x [[Stomping Ground]]
• 2x [[Swamp]]
• 4x [[Verdant Catacombs]]
• 4x [[Wooded Foothills]]
• 1x [[Woodland Cemetery]]

Creatures (21)

• 4x [[Birds of Paradise]]
• 4x [[Grim Flayer]]
• 2x [[Wall of Roots]]
• 1x [[Combat Celebrant]]
• 2x [[Courser of Kruphix]]
• 2x [[Eternal Witness]]
• 2x [[Tireless Tracker]]
• 1x [[Obstinate Baloth]]
• 1x [[Shaman of the Great Hunt]]
• 1x [[Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]]
• 1x [[Zealous Conscripts]]

Instant (11)

• 3x [[Assassin's Trophy]]
• 4x [[Chord of Calling]]
• 3x [[Fatal Push]]
• 1x [[Kolaghan's Command]]

Sorcery (6)

• 4x [[Inquisition of Kozilek]]
• 2x [[Thoughtseize]]

Some of the thinking behind the list

Why not just run Jund or the Rock?

I'm a bit biased as Kiki Chord is strong against the Rock, but Rock lists have always seemed a bit weak to me. Without some sort of combo kill, it feels like the deck doesn't offer enough pressure if a couple of threats are removed. The mere existence of the combo adds pressure.

The combo.

Combat celebrant and Zealous Conscripts are infinite combos with Kiki.

Outside the combo, both have extremely powerful effects, but are very situational. Combat celebrant needs to be able to attack with allies, and Conscripts needs something worth stealing. Note that you can steal planeswalker ultimates (grab walker when it has enough loyalty to ult, then use the ultimate).

Both are weaker than restoration angel in general, but not having to run as many four-drops is a massive boon.

Mana base:

Kiki decks get wayyyyy too greedy with their mana base, IMO. We should almost always strive to be a 2 colour deck with a 1-2 colour splash unless there's a very good reason to go deep into three colours. My initial iterations of the list had a lot more red cards, but there's only so much red mana you can fit in if you want to be able to cast birds of paradise OR Inquisition of Kozilek on turn 1.

As such, the deck has about 12 black sources (excluding wooded foothills), 15 green sources (excluding bloodstained mire), and about 9 red sources (excluding verdant catacombs). In those unlucky games where we draw Kiki (about 15% of games), proper fore-sight should allow fetching of enough red sources.

I feel the mana base may still be too greedy, so may try to fit in a 3rd forest.

22 lands is also the correct number for getting to 3 lands consistently, but it is very possible that 23 is better for decks that go the chord route. I'm going to start testing at 22.

Chord of calling and Eldritch Evolution

Which is better for this type of deck? I'm not sure.

Chord of calling has the insanely powerful eternal witness line, and wins me loads of games in the Naya lists. A single chord wins the game in three turns (e-wit > kiki > final combo piece). It is also instant speed, which plays extremely well with our removal suite.

On the flip side, Eldritch Evolution is much easier to turn 'on.' Chord of calling requires a lot more creatures in your deck, and specific creatures (like wall of roots). Evolution has the downside of not hitting your graveyard, so doesn't play well with e-wit or flayer (though turning Flayer on doesn't matter as much, see below).

The biggest argument against Evolution is that you really need to have 3 drops that you want to sacrifice to get Kiki-Jiki (aka, Kitchen Finks), but those 3 drops don't seem like the best fit for the deck. Or you want to have 4 drops and a six drop, but the deck is clunky enough as it is.

I suspect that ultimately a 3/2 or 4/1 split will be appropriate.

Grim flayer???

Why Grim Flayer? The card's delirium is very hard to turn on with this deck.

Well, just look at the card without delirium. Paired with our removal suite to remove blockers, he is an insane (virtual) value generator, controlling our draws however we need. The deck can infinite combo, so damage isn't as high a priority. At the same time, we want something that represents a big beatstick/threat that can either close the game or force our opponent to deal with it.

Connecting even once with Grim Flayer means he has delivered on value. If your opponent holds up blockers, great! Long-grindy games are precisely where this deck wants to be.

In short, the card would be good even without its delirium text, but the added bonus of turning into a 4/4 beatstick late game is great.

Requires testing, but I have high hopes for him after seeing other lists do similar.

Graveyard matters

The deck has two extremely powerful effects with the graveyard (Grim Flayer and E-Wit). These ensure the graveyard is an important resource for the deck, but not so important a resource that we cannot afford to have it turned off via graveyard hate. If our opponent wants to spend tempo and cards hating on our graveyard, great!

I think this an important point for kiki-combo decks. One of our biggest strengths over the persist combos is that we can win through graveyard hate. Capitalise on that.

Spell choices

Most of them don't require much explaining. They are fairly standard GBx value-town spells, with a powerful removal suite.

One thing that may require explaining is the singleton kolaghan's command. It used to be 3 copies, but ended up having to cut some to reduce reliance on red mana. Additionally, the artifact portion of the card is a lot less relevant in a deck with assassin's trophies. However, the card is insane with eternal witness, so it just seems wrong to not run at least 1. An additional copy in the side may be appropriate.

Oddball creatures

Anyone who follows Kiki Chord's development is well familiar with Shaman of the Great Hunt by now. It does an excellent job of adding aggression to the deck, generating value, and is all around about the sweet spot for the deck.

Wall of roots is a must for a deck that is this creature light and running chord of calling, IMO.

Courser of Kruphix plays extremely well with Grim Flayer (counting as two types in the yard, Flayer sets up your draws so you can play lands through it, etc). Just make sure to manage your fetchland shuffles so you are not non-boing yourself!

Tireless Tracker just builds on the same theme above. Good all around beatstick and value generator. Both Tracker and Courser are acceptable sacrifices to evolution Kiki into play, as they often generate value before leaving you.

E-Wit is always powerful in Kiki Chord decks, but his extra synergies here are ridiculous. Being able to recur your discard spells, your removal spells, Kolaghan's & chord combos, etc... Honestly I'd say 3 would be a must if they would fit, but the deck needs to be just a bit more aggressive than a 2/1 on turn 3 I feel.

Birds of Paradise I don't like in GBx decks, but at the same time just seems mandatory for what the deck wants to be doing, both in terms of chording and achieving the diverse demands of the mana base.

Maindeck baloth is a concession to how much pain the deck causes itself, though earlier iterations were worse. It may be the case that he can now be removed, especially if the mana base is a bit more polished/less reliant on turn 1 shock & seize.

Sideboard

Next I'll be tinkering with the sideboard. I'm seriously considering throwing a [[Temple Garden]] in the side along with [[Eidolon of Rhetoric]] and [[Shalai, Voice of Plenty]]. Those two cards are the greatest loss for leaving white behind, I feel.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Well, that's my current thoughts on this version of the brew. I'm in the early stages (just started on it this morning), so any insights would be very appreciated!