When Yahenni was spoiled I became really excited about testing them in my existing decks running Black. What I realized, though, was that I really wanted a dedicated space to try to break them because of how resilient they could be and started brewing. A few staples are here that I use in Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, but the idea of this deck is to be swinging in.
Depending on how this deck tests, I may go a heavy Stax route to get them to stick on the board. Right now I'm anticipating that their ability to survive the massive amount of removal in the deck will let them get through. More or less equipment could be the key, but I'll go over how I see this going after the deck list below.
Strategy:
Idea of the deck is to cast Yahenni, Undying Partisan early in the game and make them huge through relentless board wipes and sacrificing recurring creatures and tokens to make them indestructible through it all. In order to keep the feast going, you will use a tool box of cards that give your opponents more creatures for them to eat.
Pros:
-Very resilient to removal through sheer size and Indestructibility
-Can get into action quickly
-Convenient, zero-cost sac ability for combos
-In the color able to tutor for answers most easily
Cons:
-Will depend on board wipes to get through
-Will be Public Enemy #1 when they get big
-Susceptible to Exile effects without protection
Really Big Yahenni, Option 1: Use the various spells in the deck that reanimate your opponent's creatures for them or that gives them creature tokens then use a boardwipe.
Really Big Yahenni, Option 2: When the way is clear, pay however much life is needed to deal the remaining Commander damage to an opponent with Hatred targeting Yahenni. Can recur Hatred with Toshiro Umezawa, Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed or Yawgmoth's Will/
Really Big Yahenni, Option 3: Make Yahenni big enough to survive or Indestructible, then equip with Blade of the Blood Chief and nuke the board. Yahenni will get three +1/+1 counters per opponent creature death instead of one because they are a Vampire
Unblockable Yahenni: Use various tutors early on such as Entomb, Demonic Tutor and others early on to get Filth in your graveyard + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth on the board, making Yahenni and her compatriots unblockable.
Combo: Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension will kill the board.
Synergies:Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Profane Command. Cast Profane Command, sacrifice Xiahou to bring it back. As long is equal to 4 or more, you can use one mode to always get Xiahou back
Many of these cards depend on whether I feel more Equipment would be beneficial or if I end up desiring to go a more Stax route with them if they seems to have a problem sticking on the board or getting through. The Rituals are in here as well, as I may find it needs to also be more aggressive in trying to get Yahenni out on Turn 1 or 2 to go to town.
It's looking very interesting. If you find you need more mana ramp, maybe Crypt Ghast or Magus of the Coffers? Keep up the good work!
I was also thinking about Rouge's Passage, Grave Titan or Vampire Nighthawk, Gary (Gray Merchant) or maybe Treasure Keeper or Zulaport Cutthroat...but those are just my early thoughts.
It's looking very interesting. If you find you need more mana ramp, maybe Crypt Ghast or Magus of the Coffers? Keep up the good work!
I was also thinking about Rouge's Passage, Grave Titan or Vampire Nighthawk, Gary (Gray Merchant) or maybe Treasure Keeper or Zulaport Cutthroat...but those are just my early thoughts.
Overall, I'm interested to see where you take it.
I considered Rogue's Passage, too, but I think the activation cost might be too slow. It's on my sorta-maybe-board to test depending on how initial testing goes. Grave Titan was in my original list but I felt like it was sort of taking away from the goal of the deck. I love Grave Titan but since it's not a token deck and I'm mostly looking to assassinate people with Yahenni I ended up taking it out for Massacre Wurm. Gary is already in the list I didn't put Zulaport Cutthroat in because I won't get as many triggers off of my own creatures as I will opponents, but he's a maybe. Crypt Ghast is a possibility depending on how fast or slow the deck seems to be going
I'm embarassed to say I've forgotten why I put Spoils of the Vault in the deck. I had it in here for some particular reason. Perhaps the initial reason was cut when I was tweaking the current list Expedition Map would definitely do work in this deck. As I test the deck out I'll be looking at the speed and if Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper need to go in. They're definitely staples in Black. Ditto with Kagemaro, First to Suffer and Crux of Fate. Part of the thing with this deck will be finding the balance between too many board wipes and the opponents having creatures to kill. I've thought about Liability for further pain, so we'll see where things go I'll be trying to test this out with a friend this week!
Also, Kormus Bell combined with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a great way to make sure your opponents have plenty of creatures. Karn, Silver Golem can do some similar, less drastic work against non-creature artifacts.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Tinkering with my own build myself, but have you considered Blood Tribute with your commander? It is really nasty and am surprised you are not running Conqueror's FlailwithBoseiju, Who Shelters All if you are worried about getting your boardwipes countered. Cheers
Hey there, sorry for the long period without an update. I've done some testing and will be posting some changes I made here in just a bit. Until then I'll at least reply to everyone that's been stopping by
Also, Kormus Bell combined with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a great way to make sure your opponents have plenty of creatures. Karn, Silver Golem can do some similar, less drastic work against non-creature artifacts.
I'd say Acorn Catapult is a bit too cute, albeit funny. Komrus Bell could be a consideration, especially if I end up going heavier on the Stax side of things. That's actually a great way to lock the game down and I may look to make that a feature combo in the deck and ways to make it hurt opponents more than myself. Thanks for the suggestion!
I completely forgot about this but am now heavily considering this as an inclusion in the deck. More ways to get Yahenni through unconditionally is definitely a good thing.
Honestly though, if your handing out that many 1/1 creatures then Plague Spitter and Thrashing Wumpus are decent cards to consider.
These are pretty good suggestions, too. In handing out so many 1/1's I had been thinking about something like that to make them basically dead on arrival so opponents don't get a chance to do anything I wouldn't want them to do with the fodder
Essence Harvest? To waste the player at lowest so you can attack another?
In theory it sounds good. My fear with this could though is that it would really be a dead card in my hand if Yahenni gets removed or I'm riding low with her at around a 10/10 or so. Until I get Infernal Genesis or other cards out to help make more victims to blow up Yahenni's size is incredibly dependent on what opponents play, so having a card that directly depends on Yahenni's side feels like it would be really inconsistent.
Tinkering with my own build myself, but have you considered Blood Tribute with your commander? It is really nasty and am surprised you are not running Conqueror's FlailwithBoseiju, Who Shelters All if you are worried about getting your boardwipes countered. Cheers
Regarding Blood Tribute, I'm not a fan of cards like this that only do half of the job then leave the entire table staring you down. I'm vary wary of multiplayer politics, and being an aggressive deck this will already be drawing the ire of the table with all the board wipes. I also feel like it's pretty expensive and I don't want the curve of the deck to be too high being more of an aggro deck.
As for Inquisitor's Flail, I'm trying to watch how much Equipment I run because frankly Equipment is slow outside of White with the cards that specialize in finding and equipping Equipment. I've thought about quite a few including a couple of the Swords and Quietus Spike but given how fast this deck wants to start knocking people out, it's going to need to find the right balance between Equipment and other effects. At the beginning of the post I mentioned some changes incoming that I'll be posting later. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep it in mind if I feel like I need more than Boseiju
It occurs to me that Mutilate, Toxic Deluge and Kagemaro, First to Suffer are not so great here because Yahenni's ability to become indestructible doesn't protect it from these effects; it just has to have enough toughness to survive.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
It occurs to me that Mutilate, Toxic Deluge and Kagemaro, First to Suffer are not so great here because Yahenni's ability to become indestructible doesn't protect it from these effects; it just has to have enough toughness to survive.
I don't use Kagemaro because hand size is an inconsistent thing, but in testing so far I've found that Toxic Deluge is great given I can size it to make sure Yahenni doesn't die. So far I've been using it to kill the 1/1's and 2/2's I've been helping opponents create and it's been a superstar in the deck. Mutilate is something I haven't played more than twice, but it was worth killing Yahenni to get rid of an Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Archetype of Endurance combo the Captain Sisay player managed to assemble. Sometimes I've had to make the difficult choice of letting Yahenni die to get board states under control.
Update 1:
After doing quite a bit of testing I've decided to make the following changes. This is a big sweeping list of changes, but overall the intention is to focus up on what this deck wants to do: Unleash a very angry Yahenni. More notes below.
After playing I found that Genesis Chamber, Akroan Horse, Hunted Horror and Twilight's Call were all much too situational. Often times they sat in my hand waiting for a good opportunity to play them, which is fine in certain decks, but this deck wants to be fast. I realized that it doesn't take long to make Yahenni really big off of all the board wipes and removal alone, so giving an opponent the tokens from Hunted Horror and Genesis Chamber just felt excessive. Akroan Horse was more often than not sacrificed by the player it was given to as part of another play on their part and never sat on the table to make tokens once given to someone. Twilight's Call proved to be more futile than helpful given how dominant ETB effects are in EDH.
The Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension combo takes some effort to turn on after Bloodchief Ascension is out and Mindcrank is really only in the deck as part of that combo. This isn't a combo or toolbox deck so it started to feel like finding some of the combos in the deck were a distraction from the overall goal. It was too slow and didn't help what I wanted to do with Yahenni so both have been cut, for now. I may reconsider these cards later after further testing. Umezawa's Jitte is - as unbelievable as it sounds - too slow to become useful and doesn't really help Yahenni get through obstacles in this land of giants and opponents who go wide. If Equipment is going to be utilized it needs to be something that helps Yahenni stay on the board or get combat damage through to opponents, and Jitte doesn't accomplish any of those very fast. Deathbringer Regent was switched out for another semi-board wipe that works better and is lower CC. Hex Parasite went out along with Glacial Chasm and Dark Depths in favor of cards that help further the goal of the deck. Atraxa, Praetors' Voice has died down in my local meta but is easily dealt with via board wipes, anyway.
Several non-basics were taken out that felt like they weren't entirely necessary in the deck. These were found to be unnecessary fluff but some of them could return depending on meta shifts, such as Cavern of Souls.
Sword of Light and Shadow could be another sword but was chosen for my meta as protection from Black and White removal is the most relevant given Exile effects and creature heavy decks in those colors. The Sword, Tainted Strike, Rogue's Passage, Magus of the Abyss and Archfiend of Depravity are additions meant to make finishing the game and getting Yahenni through crowded boards become easier. I may switch out for Sword of War and Peace or another Equipment giving Yahenni protection depending on how additional testing goes.
Other includes are Ophiomancer, Pawn of Ulamog and Grave Titan to help with giving Yahenni fodder to make her Indestructible as well as to sacrifice to other triggers when necessary. Zulaport Cuthtroat is now here to help drain life away as our own creatures die, but is somewhat experimental. Read the Bones and Beseech the Queen were added to help with consistency.
Note: These changes were made before my earlier reply so a few cards suggested such as Plague Splitter and Dauthi Embrace haven't made it in yet. Kormus Bell is such a backbreaking card that I went ahead and shoved it in for this update because in this deck I feel it has the potential to seal games.
Just chiming in to say, I like what you're doing here and I'll be putting together my list in the next week or so. Likely going to play a more Mono Black Control style game with Yahenni serving as both a reliable sac outlet and a back-up wincon. I'll share what I brew once it's done, but thanks for all the hard work to start. Saves me some time looking through piles and piles of cards.
I'm guilty of completely overlooking Necrotic Ooze and I may try to find room for it in the deck With all the graveyards I'm looking to fill up, the thing should have a lot of fun abilities.
This project fell by the wayside due to other projects taking precidence, but I'm finally coming back around to Yahenni again. Amonkhet has some stuff I'm extremely interested in for this deck, such as Archfiend of Ifnir (should I go more with a Stax route) and Nest of Scarabs. I'll probably concentrate more on updating and testing this once Amonkhet has been fully spoiled this coming Friday!
I really like this idea. I've been looking for a mono-B general to playtest, and I have Yahenni, Undying Partisan sitting in my folder doing nothing. I may well give it a go.
Tell me though, do you find the deck to be formulaic? It seems like there are options and multiple lines of play. I find a lot mono-B decks focus on tutors for win cons and singular paths to victory. This list seems reasonably versatile, and I do like to build with a bit of flexibility.
Having recently come back to EDH after a few years Yahenni instantly stood out to me, both lore wise and for the sheer efficiency of the card.
You mention Kormus Bell, and I apologize if it has been brought up before but have you considered Massacre Wurm to compliment your Bell and general theme of removing opponents creatures?
Another favorite addition of mine is the particularly obscure Tombstone Stairwell, which all by itself turbo accelerates your Yahenni engine or other cards that care about creatures dying.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Brilliant ideas are stupid ideas that worked - Patrick Chapin
Having recently come back to EDH after a few years Yahenni instantly stood out to me, both lore wise and for the sheer efficiency of the card.
You mention Kormus Bell, and I apologize if it has been brought up before but have you considered Massacre Wurm to compliment your Bell and general theme of removing opponents creatures?
Another favorite addition of mine is the particularly obscure Tombstone Stairwell, which all by itself turbo accelerates your Yahenni engine or other cards that care about creatures dying.
Thanks for stopping by
I actually already have Massacre Wurm in the list just for that sort of interaction!
I'm hoping to get some more testing in with Yahenni and post some reports, soon. I got distracted by building Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
I actually have had a Yahenni deck for awhile now, so I thought it suggest a funny little card called Worldslayer.
It's kinda not really super efficient, but funny if you equip, sac a creature right before it triggers, then laugh as the the table goes back to square one. (Although Yahenni will most likely die if you attack again lol)
Awesome deck btw!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
However, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now."
When Yahenni was spoiled I became really excited about testing them in my existing decks running Black. What I realized, though, was that I really wanted a dedicated space to try to break them because of how resilient they could be and started brewing. A few staples are here that I use in Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, but the idea of this deck is to be swinging in.
Depending on how this deck tests, I may go a heavy Stax route to get them to stick on the board. Right now I'm anticipating that their ability to survive the massive amount of removal in the deck will let them get through. More or less equipment could be the key, but I'll go over how I see this going after the deck list below.
Strategy:
Idea of the deck is to cast Yahenni, Undying Partisan early in the game and make them huge through relentless board wipes and sacrificing recurring creatures and tokens to make them indestructible through it all. In order to keep the feast going, you will use a tool box of cards that give your opponents more creatures for them to eat.
Pros:
-Very resilient to removal through sheer size and Indestructibility
-Can get into action quickly
-Convenient, zero-cost sac ability for combos
-In the color able to tutor for answers most easily
Cons:
-Will depend on board wipes to get through
-Will be Public Enemy #1 when they get big
-Susceptible to Exile effects without protection
1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
Land (36)
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Deserted Temple
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 High Market
1 Maze of Ith
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Strip Mine
18 Swamp
1 Temple of the False God
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vesuva
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Artifact (10)
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Expedition Map
1 Kormus Bell
1 Mana Vault
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Corpse Dance
1 Entomb
1 Hatred
1 Tainted Strike
1 Vampiric Tutor
Creature (23)
1 Abhorrent Overlord
1 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
1 Archfiend of Depravity
1 Blood Artist
1 Bloodghast
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Filth
1 Grave Titan
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Magus of the Abyss
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Merciless Executioner
1 Nether Traitor
1 Ophiomancer
1 Pawn of Ulamog
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 All Hallow's Eve
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Buried Alive
1 Damnation
1 Decree of Pain
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Exhume
1 Exsanguinate
1 Mutilate
1 Read the Bones
1 Reanimate
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Victimize
1 Yahenni's Expertise
1 Yawgmoth's Will
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
Enchantment (8)
1 Animate Dead
1 Endless Whispers
1 Grave Pact
1 Infernal Genesis
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Tombstone Stairwell
**Ways To Win and Eliminate Opponents**
Really Big Yahenni, Option 1: Use the various spells in the deck that reanimate your opponent's creatures for them or that gives them creature tokens then use a boardwipe.
Really Big Yahenni, Option 2: When the way is clear, pay however much life is needed to deal the remaining Commander damage to an opponent with Hatred targeting Yahenni. Can recur Hatred with Toshiro Umezawa, Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed or Yawgmoth's Will/
Really Big Yahenni, Option 3: Make Yahenni big enough to survive or Indestructible, then equip with Blade of the Blood Chief and nuke the board. Yahenni will get three +1/+1 counters per opponent creature death instead of one because they are a Vampire
Unblockable Yahenni: Use various tutors early on such as Entomb, Demonic Tutor and others early on to get Filth in your graveyard + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth on the board, making Yahenni and her compatriots unblockable.
Combo: Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension will kill the board.
Combo: Any sac Outlet + Priest of Gix + Nim Deathmantle + Exsanguinate or Profane Command. If using Ashnod's Altar, this generates infinite black mana, otherwise you can repeat this as long as your mana holds out.
**Other Synergies**
Synergies: Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Profane Command. Cast Profane Command, sacrifice Xiahou to bring it back. As long
Cards To Continue The Feast: Akroan Horse, Genesis Chamber, Hunted Horror, Endless Whispers, Infernal Genesis, Tombstone Stairwell, All Hallow's Eve, Exhume
Other Cards For Consideration
Many of these cards depend on whether I feel more Equipment would be beneficial or if I end up desiring to go a more Stax route with them if they seems to have a problem sticking on the board or getting through. The Rituals are in here as well, as I may find it needs to also be more aggressive in trying to get Yahenni out on Turn 1 or 2 to go to town.
1x Bottomless Pit
1x Cabal Ritual
1x Cunning Lethemancer
1x Dark Ritual
1x Desolation
1x Geth's Grimoire
1x Magus of the Abyss
1x Necrogen Mists
1x Necromancy
1x Ophiomancer
1x Sadistic Sacrament
1x Smokestack
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Quietus Spike
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Assault Suit
Change Log
January 23rd, 2017 Cuts & Additions
Further details and explanations here
Cuts:
Additions:
/////END
(Also known as Xenphire)
I was also thinking about Rouge's Passage, Grave Titan or Vampire Nighthawk, Gary (Gray Merchant) or maybe Treasure Keeper or Zulaport Cutthroat...but those are just my early thoughts.
Overall, I'm interested to see where you take it.
I considered Rogue's Passage, too, but I think the activation cost might be too slow. It's on my sorta-maybe-board to test depending on how initial testing goes. Grave Titan was in my original list but I felt like it was sort of taking away from the goal of the deck. I love Grave Titan but since it's not a token deck and I'm mostly looking to assassinate people with Yahenni I ended up taking it out for Massacre Wurm. Gary is already in the list
I'm embarassed to say I've forgotten why I put Spoils of the Vault in the deck. I had it in here for some particular reason. Perhaps the initial reason was cut when I was tweaking the current list
(Also known as Xenphire)
Also, Kormus Bell combined with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a great way to make sure your opponents have plenty of creatures. Karn, Silver Golem can do some similar, less drastic work against non-creature artifacts.
Nice deck. I really like Anowon in it.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Greaves doesn't play well with other equipment and Blade of the Bloodchief is a potentially game-winning card here.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Honestly though, if your handing out that many 1/1 creatures then Plague Spitter and Thrashing Wumpus are decent cards to consider.
I'd say Acorn Catapult is a bit too cute, albeit funny. Komrus Bell could be a consideration, especially if I end up going heavier on the Stax side of things. That's actually a great way to lock the game down and I may look to make that a feature combo in the deck and ways to make it hurt opponents more than myself. Thanks for the suggestion!
Correct - Lightning Greaves doesn't play well with things like Hatred, Blade of the Bloodchief and other shenanigans Yahenni can do.
I completely forgot about this but am now heavily considering this as an inclusion in the deck. More ways to get Yahenni through unconditionally is definitely a good thing.
These are pretty good suggestions, too. In handing out so many 1/1's I had been thinking about something like that to make them basically dead on arrival so opponents don't get a chance to do anything I wouldn't want them to do with the fodder
In theory it sounds good. My fear with this could though is that it would really be a dead card in my hand if Yahenni gets removed or I'm riding low with her at around a 10/10 or so. Until I get Infernal Genesis or other cards out to help make more victims to blow up Yahenni's size is incredibly dependent on what opponents play, so having a card that directly depends on Yahenni's side feels like it would be really inconsistent.
Regarding Blood Tribute, I'm not a fan of cards like this that only do half of the job then leave the entire table staring you down. I'm vary wary of multiplayer politics, and being an aggressive deck this will already be drawing the ire of the table with all the board wipes. I also feel like it's pretty expensive and I don't want the curve of the deck to be too high being more of an aggro deck.
As for Inquisitor's Flail, I'm trying to watch how much Equipment I run because frankly Equipment is slow outside of White with the cards that specialize in finding and equipping Equipment. I've thought about quite a few including a couple of the Swords and Quietus Spike but given how fast this deck wants to start knocking people out, it's going to need to find the right balance between Equipment and other effects. At the beginning of the post I mentioned some changes incoming that I'll be posting later. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep it in mind if I feel like I need more than Boseiju
(Also known as Xenphire)
I don't use Kagemaro because hand size is an inconsistent thing, but in testing so far I've found that Toxic Deluge is great given I can size it to make sure Yahenni doesn't die. So far I've been using it to kill the 1/1's and 2/2's I've been helping opponents create and it's been a superstar in the deck. Mutilate is something I haven't played more than twice, but it was worth killing Yahenni to get rid of an Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Archetype of Endurance combo the Captain Sisay player managed to assemble. Sometimes I've had to make the difficult choice of letting Yahenni die to get board states under control.
Update 1:
After doing quite a bit of testing I've decided to make the following changes. This is a big sweeping list of changes, but overall the intention is to focus up on what this deck wants to do: Unleash a very angry Yahenni. More notes below.
Cuts:
After playing I found that Genesis Chamber, Akroan Horse, Hunted Horror and Twilight's Call were all much too situational. Often times they sat in my hand waiting for a good opportunity to play them, which is fine in certain decks, but this deck wants to be fast. I realized that it doesn't take long to make Yahenni really big off of all the board wipes and removal alone, so giving an opponent the tokens from Hunted Horror and Genesis Chamber just felt excessive. Akroan Horse was more often than not sacrificed by the player it was given to as part of another play on their part and never sat on the table to make tokens once given to someone. Twilight's Call proved to be more futile than helpful given how dominant ETB effects are in EDH.
The Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension combo takes some effort to turn on after Bloodchief Ascension is out and Mindcrank is really only in the deck as part of that combo. This isn't a combo or toolbox deck so it started to feel like finding some of the combos in the deck were a distraction from the overall goal. It was too slow and didn't help what I wanted to do with Yahenni so both have been cut, for now. I may reconsider these cards later after further testing. Umezawa's Jitte is - as unbelievable as it sounds - too slow to become useful and doesn't really help Yahenni get through obstacles in this land of giants and opponents who go wide. If Equipment is going to be utilized it needs to be something that helps Yahenni stay on the board or get combat damage through to opponents, and Jitte doesn't accomplish any of those very fast. Deathbringer Regent was switched out for another semi-board wipe that works better and is lower CC. Hex Parasite went out along with Glacial Chasm and Dark Depths in favor of cards that help further the goal of the deck. Atraxa, Praetors' Voice has died down in my local meta but is easily dealt with via board wipes, anyway.
Several non-basics were taken out that felt like they weren't entirely necessary in the deck. These were found to be unnecessary fluff but some of them could return depending on meta shifts, such as Cavern of Souls.
Additions:
Expedition Map is a must with how much hinges on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (Filth and now Kormus Bell).
Mana Vault, Crypt Ghast and Liliana of the Dark Realms are to help ramp into the higher CC cards more and help with finishers.
Nveinyrral's Disk has been inserted to help with Enchantments like Dictate of Erebos and other Grave Pact effects that hose Yahenni and the general deck strategy.
Sword of Light and Shadow could be another sword but was chosen for my meta as protection from Black and White removal is the most relevant given Exile effects and creature heavy decks in those colors. The Sword, Tainted Strike, Rogue's Passage, Magus of the Abyss and Archfiend of Depravity are additions meant to make finishing the game and getting Yahenni through crowded boards become easier. I may switch out for Sword of War and Peace or another Equipment giving Yahenni protection depending on how additional testing goes.
Other includes are Ophiomancer, Pawn of Ulamog and Grave Titan to help with giving Yahenni fodder to make her Indestructible as well as to sacrifice to other triggers when necessary. Zulaport Cuthtroat is now here to help drain life away as our own creatures die, but is somewhat experimental. Read the Bones and Beseech the Queen were added to help with consistency.
Note: These changes were made before my earlier reply so a few cards suggested such as Plague Splitter and Dauthi Embrace haven't made it in yet. Kormus Bell is such a backbreaking card that I went ahead and shoved it in for this update because in this deck I feel it has the potential to seal games.
(Also known as Xenphire)
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
Turn your junk into something great with PucaTrade!
(Also known as Xenphire)
(Also known as Xenphire)
- Pestilence
- Witherng Wisps
- Crypt Rats
?Clears boards, sac your guys anyway for Indestructible, profit.
With Rats out sombody gonna get a hurt on bad.
Tell me though, do you find the deck to be formulaic? It seems like there are options and multiple lines of play. I find a lot mono-B decks focus on tutors for win cons and singular paths to victory. This list seems reasonably versatile, and I do like to build with a bit of flexibility.
You mention Kormus Bell, and I apologize if it has been brought up before but have you considered Massacre Wurm to compliment your Bell and general theme of removing opponents creatures?
Another favorite addition of mine is the particularly obscure Tombstone Stairwell, which all by itself turbo accelerates your Yahenni engine or other cards that care about creatures dying.
Thanks for stopping by
I actually already have Massacre Wurm in the list just for that sort of interaction!
I'm hoping to get some more testing in with Yahenni and post some reports, soon. I got distracted by building Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
(Also known as Xenphire)
I actually have had a Yahenni deck for awhile now, so I thought it suggest a funny little card called Worldslayer.
It's kinda not really super efficient, but funny if you equip, sac a creature right before it triggers, then laugh as the the table goes back to square one. (Although Yahenni will most likely die if you attack again lol)
Awesome deck btw!