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Last weekend saw Kethis Combo emerge as a contender in Standard. This innovative deck came out of nowhere and put three players into the top sixteen of the Mythic Championship Qualifier on MTG Arena.
Kethis Combo | Core Set 2020 Standard | STANCIFKA, Arena MCQ 8-17-2019
- Creatures (16)
- 4 Diligent Excavator
- 4 Fblthp, the Lost
- 4 Kethis, the Hidden Hand
- 4 Lazav, the Multifarious
- Planeswalkers (9)
- 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
- 3 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
- 4 Teferi, Time Raveler
- Sorceries (2)
- 2 Urza's Ruinous Blast
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Oath of Kaya
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Mox Amber
The Arena MCQ is massive in size, being open to the top 1000 mythic players on MTG Arena in Standard and Limited from the months of May, June, and July. The field was undoubtedly diverse and hard to predict since it included so many different types of players from a metagame that remains unexplored by statistical analysis (stats on what is played on the MTG Arena Mythic Ladder are not released by Wizards of the Coast). Any deck expecting to perform well has to have strong game against a wide variety of decks.
While the deck clearly has the power and consistency necessary to rack up a crazy amount of wins in the Arena MCQ, its competitiveness has been questioned for the week since that event. Is it really that good? Surely the deck can't beat Unmoored Ego! Surely the deck can't beat graveyard hate! After playing the deck for the last week, I still have a lot to say about it, so let's get into the questions surrounding the Arena MCQ's best kept secret.
This will not be a breakdown of how the deck works. For a quick rundown of what the deck is trying to do, you should check out my article from last week.
Q: Is the deck really good?
A: A deck is always only "good" in relation to the format, and in the format as it sits right now the deck is very good. The current meta features Vampires and Scapeshift as the most powerful decks, and Kethis Combo has a good matchup against both. Vampires is the harder of the two, and if the bloodsuckers have an amazing curve on the play it takes a Kethis Combo god-draw to keep up. Kethis Combo vs Scapeshift has felt easy thus far. Scapeshift decks aren't designed to interact, and a Scapeshift combo needs a turn to create zombies and a turn to attack with zombies, while Kethis Combo can mill or burn you out in one turn.
Esper Control and Esper Hero decks are lurking near the top of the metagame. Esper decks have so many great answers in the card pool that they can be tuned to beat anything, and if they target Vampires and Scapeshift the Esper builds can be successful. The more narrow the meta, the better the Esper.
Other top tier contenders include Mono-Red Aggro, Simic Nexus, Bant Ramp, Golos and Yarok variations on Field of the Dead, Boros Feather and Jund Dinosaurs. Out of all these decks, Feather is the one I fear the most, and specifically I fear a draw that includes Feather, the Redeemed and Reckless Rage.
Q: Does this deck fold to removal?
A: This deck could fold to the right removal, and this format doesn't run it right now.
When looking at the most played decks in the meta, Kethis, the Hidden Hand doesn't die easily. Cast Down, Oath of Kaya, Lightning Strike, and Legion's End don't kill the Abzan legend, and decks like Scapeshift, Bant Ramp, Simic Nexus and Jund Dinosaurs hardly kill anything at all. Lava Coil is at an all-time low since it was introduced, and that removal spell could keep Kethis Combo down if it found a way back into the meta. Baffling End would also help.
Exile removal is key because Kethis Combo is great at getting cards back from the graveyard. Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, Kethis, the Hidden Hand, Lazav, the Multifarious and Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle all recover key cards from the grave if given time. If you are planning to contain the Kethis Combo with removal, you need exile removal or a way to remove the whole graveyard (more on that in a moment).
Q: Does the deck fold to Unmoored Ego?
A: No.
Getting more specific, I am often asked "Is Unmoored Ego on Kethis, the Hidden Hand gg?" or "Is Unmoored Ego on Mox Amber gg?". In both cases, no. Kethis, the Hidden Hand is the most commonly named, but I have been Unmoored Egoed naming Mox Amber, Diligent Excavator, Oath of Kaya, and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. My opponent has gone turn three Unmoored Ego into turn four Unmoored Ego, and I have won that game regardless.
Unmoored Ego is a powerful weapon against the right kind of deck. Unmoored Ego naming Nexus of Fate or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria has been game over in some spots where the opponent's deck is all-in on those cards. Kethis Combo is a combo deck, but it doesn't need the combo to win. If you exiled all the cards I mentioned above from Kethis Combo, you would still face a lot of planeswalkers. Most of my wins post-Unmoored Ego involved Tamiyo, Collector of Tales getting back Ashiok, Dream Render over and over, while also using Urza's Ruinous Blast again and again. Planeswalkers represent a ton of value in modern Magic: The Gathering, and many of them will beat you straight up.
When playing Unmoored Ego against Kethis Combo, it needs to be part of your strategy, not your one-shot kill card. Ask yourself, what part of the Kethis Combo deck is my deck already attacking, and how can Unmoored Ego assist that strategy by taking out the cards I am otherwise weak against? There is a lot more to beating Kethis Combo than naming Kethis, the Hidden Hand with Unmoored Ego on turn three.
Q: Does this deck fold to graveyard hate such as Ashiok, Dream Render and Leyline of the Void.
A: Yes, in the deck's current form this is a very successful strategy against Kethis Combo.
Leyline of the Void is the better of the two. Since the planeswalker can be attacked down rather quickly and since Kethis Combo can put a good amount of little dudes on the board, Ashiok, Dream Render is not a sure thing. There is also the question of when to play Ashiok, Dream Render. Do you run them out on turn three? There won't be much of a graveyard to exile. If you hold Ashiok, Dream Render in your hand the opponent may be able to go off before you cast them. The Kethis Combo deck is explosive and can fill the graveyard fast with a Diligent Excavator and Kethis, the Hidden Hand in play. As the player holding Ashiok, Dream Render to hit a juicy graveyard, you need other interaction for the creatures to keep the combo from going off.
Leyline of the Void is very strong against the current versions of Kethis Combo. They are limited in ways to remove it, and the card can make it into any deck. If decks start to run Leyline of the Void, Kethis Combo will need to adapt. The card I want to add to the sideboard the most is Assassin's Trophy. This card can take on any permanent, so whether the opponent has Grafdigger's Cage or a Ghalta, Primal Hunger, your sideboard card has a target.
My prediction is that Kethis Combo will go mostly ignored for the next few weeks until the MPL Sapphire Division Core Split. Most players don't want to invest into a complicated deck that looks like a gimmick. Kethis Combo is hard to play, and it appears at first glance to be easy to hate out. I expect some MPL players to put some time and work into the deck, and to come up with sideboard strategies that beat the hate. Assassin's Trophy solves a lot of issues, and there is also the option of using the sideboard to transform into a beatdown deck with Lyra Dawnbringer or Shifting Ceratops. If Kethis Combo makes a dent in the MPL Core Split, I suspect it will be remembered as a serious metagame contender. Otherwise, it could be a legendary flash in the pan.
