Despite being one of the most broken mechanics in Magic: The Gathering, many Partner cards are remarkably underplayed. While the best of the best naturally see play everywhere, there are lots of slightly sub-optimal options that barely get any recognition. This is especially true for many of the Partner With cards, which preselect your Partner option.
As players gravitate toward known options, this has left Commander options like Rowan Kenrith and Will Kenrith remarkably overlooked. While they do take some work to get going, since they’re both planeswalkers, this pair has some serious potential. If you want to cause chaos, combo off, or copy everything, this Kenrith duo might be the Commanders for you.
MTG Rowan and Will Kenrith
While they do have potential, clocking in at six mana each, Rowan Kenrith and Will Kenrith take their sweet time getting going. Naturally, fast mana speeds this up, but even then, you really need both of them in play to pop off. After managing this, however, you can easily disrupt the board by combining Will’s +2 with either of Rowan’s non-ultimate abilities.
At the very least, this pair can pick off the two most threatening creatures a player controls each turn. Doing this via Rowan’s -2 ability is the most consistent, but forcing attacks can be equally deadly. While her +2 ability notably doesn’t prevent attacking you, like Goad, with a robust board, you can still sow chaos and force bad trades.
Naturally, if you do want to use Rowan’s +2 ability, Propaganda and even Collective Restraint are auto-includes. The same is also true for planeswalker support spells like Teferi’s Talent, Ichormoon Gauntlet, and The Chain Veil. While there are plenty of lines available with this partner pair, Izzet Superfriends tends to be the best bet.
Not only can Rowan and Will handle protection in this archetype, but Rowan’s ultimate is a massive bomb, too. Since planeswalker abilities are activated, using this ultimate massively amplifies the deck’s potential, and hitting it via Deepglow Skate is surprisingly easy. Even without this counter doubler, Proliferate cards like Flux Channeler, Thrummingbird, and Inexorable Tide work wonders.
Leveraging this support, powerful planeswalkers like Chandra, Awakened Inferno are sensible inclusions, as are the many planeswalkers with copy effects. While Will Kenrith naturally leads down this path, Ral, Storm Conduit and Chandra, Hope’s Beacon can push it further. Whether you’re copying counterspells, removal, card draw, or Proliferate effects, it’s hard to go wrong here.
Cost Reduction and Copy Combos
As much as they might be expensive, Rowan and Will Kenrith can absolutely keep up in a fair fight. If you want to end the game in a hurry, however, this pair gives you access to plenty of infinite combos. The easiest of these uses Will Kenrith’s cost reduction ability, opening up lines with Ghostly Flicker.
Alongside a blue-producing land or artifact and Archaeomancer, Ghostly Flicker can flicker them both, allowing Archaeomancer to bring it back. Since it only costs one to play each time, you can do this infinitely for endless Magecraft and Landfall triggers. This lets you draw your entire deck with Archmage Emeritus or burn opponents out with Guttersnipe.
Unsurprisingly, there are also plenty of combos using both Rowan and Will’s ultimate abilities. With Will, for instance, you can just use the copy of Reiterate to copy itself, giving you infinite Magecraft triggers again. Alternatively, you can use Narset’s Reversal and Frantic Search for an infinite Looting combo that creates near-infinite mana.
If you want truly infinite mana, Rowan’s ultimate achieves that alongside Aphetto Alchemist and Vhal, Chandlekeep Researcher. Thanks to doubling the untap effect, you can easily use Aphetto to untap both Vhal and itself. That being said, while this is possible, these cards don’t really fit the deck’s hybrid Superfriends and Spellslingers theme.
Realistically, if you do want infinite mana, just slotting Storm-Kiln Artist into a Magecraft combo is the best bet. Naturally, this opens up countless win conditions, like Jaya’s Immolating Inferno or even just Fireball.
Surprisingly Solid Spellslinging Superfriends
Thankfully, while Rowan and Will Kenrith do technically have a split focus, as Commanders, they don’t fall into the usual pitfalls. Since Superfriends and Spellslingers play off one another as archetypes, the resulting decklist is impressively consistent. So long as you can power through the early game, this deck can really come alive and dominate tables.
Despite having this impressive potential, Rowan and Will Kenrith are remarkably underplayed in Commander. According to EDHREC, there are fewer than 1,000 decks with these two at the helm, and neither is that popular in the 99, too. The good news, at least, is that this low-play rate means that both Rowan Kenrith and Will Kenrith are rather cheap.
With both Rowan and Will selling for less than $1 each on TCGplayer, they’re a fantastic underplayed budget option. Since many Izzet Superfriends and Spellslingers cards are on the cheaper end too, this entire deck is surprisingly affordable. Subsequently, if you’re after something a little different for your next Commander game, this Partner pair is definitely worth considering.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!