Kona, Rescue Beastie had a lot of hype during Duskmourn preview season.

The ability to put anything into play for free is an extremely appealing one, albeit a somewhat difficult puzzle to solve. Expecting Kona to survive combat is a somewhat dicey proposition, meaning you really want some other way to tap it. You also need a valid plan b, as you can't just have a hand full of uncastable 10-drops when Kona doesn't work.

Thankfully, I think I cracked the code!

Time Stamps:

04:18 - Match 1

31:05 - Match 2

53:32 - Match 3

Kona's Surprise | FDN Standard | Jim Davis, 1st Place RCQ

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Sire of Seven Deaths
• 4 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
• 4 Kona, Rescue Beastie
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Vivien Reid

• Instants (6)
• 2 Royal Treatment
• 4 Archdruid's Charm

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Glimpse the Core

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Omniscience

• Artifacts (4)
• 2 Cultivator's Caravan
• 2 Portal to Phyrexia

• Battles (4)
• 4 Invasion of Ixalan // Belligerent Regisaur

• Lands (20)
• 14 Forest
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Hushwood Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Omniscience
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Cityscape Leveler
• 1 Nahiri's Resolve
• 1 Arid Archway
• 1 Fountainport
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 2 Pawpatch Formation
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Sire of Seven Deaths

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This past weekend I won an RCQ with a very similar list to what is played in this video, and after a week or two of work this deck has morphed into an impressive ramp-combo hybrid.

The key to unlocking the power of Kona (as discovered by friend and fellow content creator CGB) is Archdruid's Charm, which can go get Kona proper, something big to put in for Kona, or a sneaky Scene of the Crime. You can go from three forests in play on turn three to an active Kona on turn four by using Archdruid's Charm end step to find a Scene of the Crime right onto the battlefield, untapping into Kona.

However, the true secret to the deck is that it's secretly just a ramp deck. Overlord of the Hauntwoods remains completely awesome, joining up with Llanowar Elves, Glimpse the Core, and Cultivator's Caravan to just ramp out and cast your stuff a lot of the time, with Cavern of Souls pushing through counterspells. Even the four color Atraxa, Grand Unifier is very castable between Everywhere land tokens and other various colored sources.

With a one two punch of a combo that makes your opponent slow down a bit to ramp that exploits any amount of time your opponent gives you, this deck is the most fun I've had playing Magic all year!