So it's extended season again. What decks will be the top deck of this extended season, no one knows. Since Wizards announced extended has turned into double standard, no one has yet to know which deck can actually survive in a new environment. The only deck that survived the rotation was faeries, so it's up to all the innovative deckbuilders out there to create something. The decks out there now, are mostly combo decks Living End, Restore Balance, Hive Mind, Ad Nauseam, and Scapeshift. For control, it's faeries and 5CC . Even faeries have a hard time against these combo decks, even though it still does pretty well.
So it seems that combo decks will reign in this new format. Even the strongest control decks have trouble against them. Control doesn't seem like the best option now, and we can always play the combo decks, and have 50/50 chance against other similar combo decks. The problem is how to deal with the combo decks. Hive Mind, Ad Nauseam are slower combo decks, while Scapeshift, Living End and Restore balance are faster decks. So I thought, why not play Kithkin ?
Creatures : 27
3x Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile
4x Goldmeadow Stalwart
4x Knight of Meadowgrain
4x Thoughtweft Trio
4x Kinsbaile Borderguard
4x Wizened Cenn
2x Reveillark
2x Stoneforge Mystic
Non-creature spells: 11
3x Spectral Procession
3x Oblivion Ring
2x Basilisk Collar
3x Honor of the Pure
Lands: 22
2x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
3x Rustic Clachan
2x Windbrisk Heights
15x Plains
Sideboard:15
4x Disenchant
4x Kitchen Finks
3x Mana Tithe
4x Tectonic Edge
Kinsbaile Borderguard keeps your board full of chump blockers against Living End, and lets you gain creature advantages against Restore Balance. In the sideboard, we have tectonice edges against scapeshift, to deal with valakut, Disenchant to deal with Hive mind and Ad nauseam. Mana Tithe is there against combo decks that tap out for their enchantments (Primary win condition). Kitchen finks is just good, and against Living End and Restore Balance, it's better. Against Faeries, Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile is amazing. Against creature decks like the mirror, or maybe some form of Zoo, equiping Brigid with Basilisk Collar gives us an amazing advantage. Also, having Collar with Thoughtweft Trio is just too good. It can win a battle against 5 other creatures and live. Oblivion Ring deals with enchantments, and planeswalkers.
Against 5CC, again, Kinsbaile Borderguard is amazing (Personally, I think it is one of the best cards in the present environment). Even if they resolve Cruel Ultimatum, you still get a bunch of tokens. After getting the kithkin tokens, evoke Reveillark, and get it back. That is really a big blow against 5CC players, since you are the aggro deck. They would probably have to draw an answer to Kinsbaile Borderguard through Cruel Ultimatum, or Path to Exile the Borderguard before playing Ultimatum. This is also where Mana Tithe shine, as Cruel Ultimatum cost 7 mana, and they still have to deal with threats.
I definitely think Kithkin is a competitive deck in the present environment. Unless the pros have hidden tech that simply kills everything, I think Kithkin would probably win some games against the decks we know presently.
