Welp, I've been trying pretty hard for the past few months to negate blue and islands out of some theoretical storm decks (a completed Rakdos Storm list, another unpublished DL Kolaghan aggro/storm list, and an incomplete gruul/naya storm theory), but the newly spoiled Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder has me exited enough to break tradition and pick up some islands...
I started a theoretical decklist minutes after this card was spoiled. The list (below), is currently in the stages of being cut down to 99x cards. Some very potent storm cards (remand) and safety cards (thoughtseize/toxic deluge) are currently on the side as the deck is being thinned down to a playable # of cards. Once the deck is down to 99x, I will proxie it up and see how it plays.
Reasons to play Yidris in storm;
~ Yidris, after connecting, grants a +1 cascade for any non-zero CMC spell. This means that he essentially grants +1 storm after casting each non-zero cmc spell. This can greatly boost a storm count.
~ With 7x 2-cmc green ramp spells (which help fetch non-basic islands for high tide), and 6x signets, we can reliably see Yidris on turn-3. While the deck is not designed around having Yidris in play, his consistent early presence is still very nice.
Step 1 - With the 2-drop ramp package this deck runs, we want to always try and resolve Yidris on turn-3. If he dies, that's fine, because the deck doesn't require him to run. What we have done although by using Yidris as removal bate was already start to build up our mana.
Step 2 - By turn-4, we can either attack and play with Yidris, or if he has died we can do some sort of follow-up. If Yidris connects, then ideally we want to try and cast a 3-cmc spell. The likelihood of Yidris cascading in to some sort of mana effect is very high. If it is a signet or something it is likely we can cast a 2nd spell to cascade a second time. If Yidris dies before connecting, then we can go one of two routes, depending on what is in hand. We can either play out more mana effects and re-cast Yidris for more removal bate, or we can start to tutor up parts for a victory-turn (ad naus / etc).
Step 3 - If Yidris is about we can continue to get a few free spells out of our deck (casting 3-cmc is ideal for more mana), otherwise the deck is turning more into your typical ad naus storm approach.
Step 4 - By about turn-6 we should have more than enough mana to functionally play out the deck, be it from high tide/turnabout antics, setting up future sight + helm of awakening + top, or cascading into cheap mana-rocks to help build up Aetherflux Reservoir. There are dozens of ways this deck can fail, but since the current design can go in so many directions, ideally we should have some sort of line/path to one possible victory.
There are other possibilities with Yidris, being excluded from this design;
~ double strike effects on Yidris (like psychotic fury/temur battle rage), can generate a second instance of cascade of follow-up spells, but realistically Yidris shouldn't be required for the deck to function. He is just an enabler to up our storm-count, so these effects are going to be ignored.
~ Doomsday packages/stacks are greatly helped by Yidris. You could literally resolve doomsday, putting laboratory maniac on top of the deck, and any 4-cmc or higher draw-5 winds the game (since Lab-man will cascade in to play before resolving the draw). Normally you don't want to run something like tidings in a doomsday deck, but the generic fillers like gitaxian probe/frantic search are just as good in these stacks.
Here is the current deck by card function (@ 105x cards);
Oct 27'th, Yidris Spoiled, original deck created.
- Removed Expedition Map & Sylvan Scrying since bubbling muck+urborg approach seems unlikely.
- Removed Gitaxian Probe and Sleight of Hand - while good, they are the worst low-cmc cantrips.
- Removed (temporarily), recollect, toxic deluge, and notion thief. Notion+wheel is a great combo, but not easy to set up. Recollect is great, but so far the worst available, so it is temp-cut. Deluge is also fantastic, but just an answer, which can be pushed back in after the deck is designed to actually function.
- Removed (temporarily) Remand. It and unsubstantiate are great to enable further storm spells, but Remand is currently the only (semi)dead card when cascading off Yidris. Yes we can just counter our initial spell and still cantrip to continue up'ing storm count, which is why it may find its way back in to the decklist.
- Removed Necrologia. The worse necropotence. Requires infinite hand-size for maximum effect. I ran it in a 1v1 storm brew that was absent blue, but in a multi-player brew it seems too unstable/dangerous.
- Removed (temporarily) Sword of Feast and Famine and Bear Umbra. The land-untap effect only works with Yidris, and the deck is designed to function without him. While he is a great enabler, if he is not around to attack with, then these become dead cards. Their potential is great although, so they may go back in after testing IRL.
- Removed Abundant Growth - a full compliment of fetch+abu+shock should keep our mana covered.
Oct 30'th - revisiting decklist after a weekend of very drunk Halloween shenanigans.
- Removed Ignite Memories, Sphinx-Bone Wand & Fabricate, possibly removing Aetherflux Reservoir in favor for another game-ending storm spell
- Added Wheel of Fate, as another 0-drop that a 1-drop can cascade in to. Seems good with all the top-deck tutors/brainstorm.
- Removed Magus of the Candelabra. While powerful, he has to survive a turn to be useful. The deck has no haste-enablers.
- Removed (possibly temporiarly) Memory Jar, since the 5-mana investment and hit from ad naus hurts, and the addition of wheel of fate may cover its roll. Memory Jar is such a classic staple although that it may end up back in.
- Re-added Fabricate - it gets helm/top for future+top combo, pretty necessary.
Nov 10'th - day before the product is released, struggling to make it down to 99x cards;
- Removed shreds of sanity - while I love this card, in our colors we simply have better recursion effects. We do not have a very high volume of instant spells in the deck, so if we cascade in to this early, it may be a dead spell. If the deck ends up needing this, then mystic retrieval may be a better option.
- Removed (possibly temporarily) ancient tomb. Yes it can help us land a turn-1 signet, but there is no likely follow-up to allow Yidris any faster. The fast-mana is always helpful, but this is an experiment to try and make a high tide 4-color deck, and the tomb doesn't give us blue.
- Sickeningly enough I am going to temporarily move grim monolith out. While thought vessel aids with the infinite hand-size we want from necropotence, we have over 20x versions of ramp, most that come out on turn-2. Grim Monolith is absurdly powerful, but the colorless mana in a 4-color deck may backfire.
----
depending on how playtesting goes, if Yidris is killed ever-so-frequently, I may exchange the signet package for the more storm-like monolith/rituals.
----
- Removed Serum Visions - cutting the weaker 1-cmc cantrip effects. We can use 1-drops to get our mox/petal/crypt, but past that they are just for early-game fixing.
I'd throw Wheel of Fate and Ancestral Vision into the mix of considerations for cascade funtimes.
I definitely think your list of win conditions is a bit high. Ignite Memories, Sphinx Bone Wand, and Aetherflux are probably worth removing.
Ignite Memories is not a good wincon. Also, I'm not sure about including high tide in a four color deck? You could do some standard rituals like seething song or dark/cabal ritual.
Sphinx-bone wand is bad.
Winds of change is an underrated wheel, and trinket mage should definitely be in here.
Definitely experiment with the list though. I feel there are a lot of cheap cantrips, but that also is the life of the deck. This could be where aetherflux reservoir shines.
Another thematic issue: if you want to go off quickly you probably won't have that many lands, lessening the effectiveness of land untappers and making me think traditional rituals have a spot in here over those kinds of cards.
Urza free spells are 100% broken, but maybe candelabra of tawnos isn't worth it? I know it's broken but you just might not have enough lands (Specifically islands with high tide).
Would you be open to including a Doomsday package? Doomsday seems like the kind of card that would help you win immediately after untapping with Yidris, though I don't have any specific piles in mind.
I'd throw Wheel of Fate and Ancestral Vision into the mix of considerations for cascade funtimes.
I definitely think your list of win conditions is a bit high. Ignite Memories, Sphinx Bone Wand, and Aetherflux are probably worth removing.
I can agree that the ignite memories is the weakest part here, and the wand + flux are vulnerable to removal.
While that would leave me with 4x "win-condition" cards, really the only victory-enabling cards left would then be guttersnipe and tendrils of agony, since the others tend to put me in a position to win with one of those cards. By removing 3x of the actually victory-condition cards I may be too short.
I think temporal fissure may be better over ignite memories since it should be able to put me in a position where I can continue to swing with Yidris or develop a 2nd storm-turn. Alternatively thermo-alchemist has done very well in my Rakdos Storm list, since he does protect me from some early aggro. Atherflux Reservoir is still tempting here since it is cheap to get out on the same turn Yidris attacks, and it wouldn't take much effort with his cascade ability to build up enough spells to kill multiple opponents.
For now I'm going to remove ignite/wand/fabricate, and possibly change Aetherflux to something different.
I do like the idea of Wheel of Fate and Ancestral Vision, hadn't thought about those. I do have a fair amount of top-deck tutors/brainstorm, so the wheel seems absolutely good enough. Ancestral, while great, seems only good if drawn early here as there are better 0-drops to cascade in to (wheel/mana).
Ignite Memories is not a good wincon. Also, I'm not sure about including high tide in a four color deck? You could do some standard rituals like seething song or dark/cabal ritual.
Sphinx-bone wand is bad.
Winds of change is an underrated wheel, and trinket mage should definitely be in here.
Definitely experiment with the list though. I feel there are a lot of cheap cantrips, but that also is the life of the deck. This could be where aetherflux reservoir shines.
Another thematic issue: if you want to go off quickly you probably won't have that many lands, lessening the effectiveness of land untappers and making me think traditional rituals have a spot in here over those kinds of cards.
Urza free spells are 100% broken, but maybe candelabra of tawnos isn't worth it? I know it's broken but you just might not have enough lands (Specifically islands with high tide).
High Tide really seems good here. We have 14x islands, and a complete compliment of fetch's, so most early landfall should be fetching island shocks/duals to correct colors. I was originally considering sylvan scrying/expedition map to get that Urborg, so Bubbling Muck would be playable along with High Tide, but that is stretching too far.
Wand & Ignite have already been commented on*
I don't think this is a deck that can go off super early. My Rakdos Storm deck relies so heavily on ad naus / necrologia/necropotence and its speed is utterly reliant on which mana-rocks/rituals I see. Since we have green and 7x turn-2 land-to-play ramp effects, I don't really think this deck will need any rituals.
Using some land-ramp does lower the possible speed (unlikely turn-3/4 storm), it should increase the actual consistency of the inevitable storm-turn.
Would you be open to including a Doomsday package? Doomsday seems like the kind of card that would help you win immediately after untapping with Yidris, though I don't have any specific piles in mind.
I already maintain a u/b control deck that utilizes a few doomsday stacks. I'm a bit bored with the repetitive easy-win.
I do think that adding doomsday here would make for a very strong contender since you could easily create simpler stacks to have Yidris cascade through. For example any 4-drop draw spell can cascade into laboratory maniac before resolving. Seems good.
Green cascade storm brings Hypergenesis to mind, it can cascade off of 1 drops.
..
Seems fun, but I'm not sure if it will help this deck since using its effect it doesn't generate a "cast" trigger.
Thank you all for the feedback! I'm going to keep fiddling with my list and numbers while I try to shrink it down to 99x cards. I'm always open to further opinions/ideas!
Well the product comes out tomorrow, and I have my pre-order for the commander cards I want already set in stone. So I need to continue whittling away at this list. I'm down to 105x cards, and choosing some of the cuts here is getting incredibly difficult.
Any opinions on the final cuts would be greatly appreaciated, but I may go ahead and assemble the 105 cards and see how this plays out in-hand before making the final judgement.
Until I get a chance to actually sit down and play the deck, there are a few routes that may work better. For example the deck runs 6x signets, but no rituals, and grim monolith is currently in the maybe board. If Yidris just dies every time he sees play, then the more typical storm mana (rituals/monolith) may be better than 6x signets. Similarly, the mana-base is set up for high tide, but there are numerous filter lands that could be used along side non-signet 2-drop ramps that could aid in pushing Yidris out on turn-3.
Strionic Resonator would be pretty good here. It can copy Yidris' cascade trigger, and more importantly it can copy your storm or aetherflux triggers.
Double storm count or an extra instance of your largest life gain seems pretty good.
While enabling a second (or more) instance of cascade for Yidris is really powerful, I'm fairly certain that in my meta, Yidris is removal bate. My design is set to function without Yidris, so it isn't using any of the combat tricks. I've even had to push sword of feast and famine/bear umbra out while cutting down to 99.
If this were more like a good-stuff maelstrom wanderer deck, then the cascade tricks would be very good.
Have you considered going with Oath of Druids ? Im currently building on a creatureless Yidris Storm list that is based on oath filling up your graveyard, then finishing off with Mizzix's Mastery . Also with Yawgmoth's Will combined with rituals like Seething Song , Cabal Ritual it would be possible to go off when Oath of Druids triggers.
I love oath of druids but the reliance of creating that much mana to get mastery off, while having an opponent with a creature, it a bit odd. There is also the issue of mastery being sorcery, so I wouldn't be able to up-keep win w/o having some sort of instant-enabler before I draw-death myself. I do really like this idea. How are you stopping the draw/death / do you have a list I can check out?
Strionic Resonator would be pretty good here. It can copy Yidris' cascade trigger, and more importantly it can copy your storm or aetherflux triggers.
Double storm count or an extra instance of your largest life gain seems pretty good.
While enabling a second (or more) instance of cascade for Yidris is really powerful, I'm fairly certain that in my meta, Yidris is removal bate. My design is set to function without Yidris, so it isn't using any of the combat tricks. I've even had to push sword of feast and famine/bear umbra out while cutting down to 99.
I guess there aren't many targets in your current build of Yidris storm. But the fact that you can double your storm count for 2 mana is very appetizing. I'd definitely run the resonator in a version that includes more ETB effects (like Palinchron)
Welp, I've been trying pretty hard for the past few months to negate blue and islands out of some theoretical storm decks (a completed Rakdos Storm list, another unpublished DL Kolaghan aggro/storm list, and an incomplete gruul/naya storm theory), but the newly spoiled Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder has me exited enough to break tradition and pick up some islands...
I started a theoretical decklist minutes after this card was spoiled. The list (below), is currently in the stages of being cut down to 99x cards. Some very potent storm cards (remand) and safety cards (thoughtseize/toxic deluge) are currently on the side as the deck is being thinned down to a playable # of cards. Once the deck is down to 99x, I will proxie it up and see how it plays.
Reasons to play Yidris in storm;
~ Yidris, after connecting, grants a +1 cascade for any non-zero CMC spell. This means that he essentially grants +1 storm after casting each non-zero cmc spell. This can greatly boost a storm count.
~ With 7x 2-cmc green ramp spells (which help fetch non-basic islands for high tide), and 6x signets, we can reliably see Yidris on turn-3. While the deck is not designed around having Yidris in play, his consistent early presence is still very nice.
Step 1 - With the 2-drop ramp package this deck runs, we want to always try and resolve Yidris on turn-3. If he dies, that's fine, because the deck doesn't require him to run. What we have done although by using Yidris as removal bate was already start to build up our mana.
Step 2 - By turn-4, we can either attack and play with Yidris, or if he has died we can do some sort of follow-up. If Yidris connects, then ideally we want to try and cast a 3-cmc spell. The likelihood of Yidris cascading in to some sort of mana effect is very high. If it is a signet or something it is likely we can cast a 2nd spell to cascade a second time. If Yidris dies before connecting, then we can go one of two routes, depending on what is in hand. We can either play out more mana effects and re-cast Yidris for more removal bate, or we can start to tutor up parts for a victory-turn (ad naus / etc).
Step 3 - If Yidris is about we can continue to get a few free spells out of our deck (casting 3-cmc is ideal for more mana), otherwise the deck is turning more into your typical ad naus storm approach.
Step 4 - By about turn-6 we should have more than enough mana to functionally play out the deck, be it from high tide/turnabout antics, setting up future sight + helm of awakening + top, or cascading into cheap mana-rocks to help build up Aetherflux Reservoir. There are dozens of ways this deck can fail, but since the current design can go in so many directions, ideally we should have some sort of line/path to one possible victory.
There are other possibilities with Yidris, being excluded from this design;
~ double strike effects on Yidris (like psychotic fury/temur battle rage), can generate a second instance of cascade of follow-up spells, but realistically Yidris shouldn't be required for the deck to function. He is just an enabler to up our storm-count, so these effects are going to be ignored.
~ Doomsday packages/stacks are greatly helped by Yidris. You could literally resolve doomsday, putting laboratory maniac on top of the deck, and any 4-cmc or higher draw-5 winds the game (since Lab-man will cascade in to play before resolving the draw). Normally you don't want to run something like tidings in a doomsday deck, but the generic fillers like gitaxian probe/frantic search are just as good in these stacks.
Here is the current deck by card function (@ 105x cards);
Oct 27'th, Yidris Spoiled, original deck created.
- Removed Expedition Map & Sylvan Scrying since bubbling muck+urborg approach seems unlikely.
- Removed Gitaxian Probe and Sleight of Hand - while good, they are the worst low-cmc cantrips.
- Removed (temporarily), recollect, toxic deluge, and notion thief. Notion+wheel is a great combo, but not easy to set up. Recollect is great, but so far the worst available, so it is temp-cut. Deluge is also fantastic, but just an answer, which can be pushed back in after the deck is designed to actually function.
- Removed (temporarily) Remand. It and unsubstantiate are great to enable further storm spells, but Remand is currently the only (semi)dead card when cascading off Yidris. Yes we can just counter our initial spell and still cantrip to continue up'ing storm count, which is why it may find its way back in to the decklist.
- Removed Necrologia. The worse necropotence. Requires infinite hand-size for maximum effect. I ran it in a 1v1 storm brew that was absent blue, but in a multi-player brew it seems too unstable/dangerous.
- Removed (temporarily) Sword of Feast and Famine and Bear Umbra. The land-untap effect only works with Yidris, and the deck is designed to function without him. While he is a great enabler, if he is not around to attack with, then these become dead cards. Their potential is great although, so they may go back in after testing IRL.
- Removed Abundant Growth - a full compliment of fetch+abu+shock should keep our mana covered.
Oct 30'th - revisiting decklist after a weekend of very drunk Halloween shenanigans.
- Removed Ignite Memories, Sphinx-Bone Wand & Fabricate, possibly removing Aetherflux Reservoir in favor for another game-ending storm spell
- Added Wheel of Fate, as another 0-drop that a 1-drop can cascade in to. Seems good with all the top-deck tutors/brainstorm.
- Removed Magus of the Candelabra. While powerful, he has to survive a turn to be useful. The deck has no haste-enablers.
- Removed (possibly temporiarly) Memory Jar, since the 5-mana investment and hit from ad naus hurts, and the addition of wheel of fate may cover its roll. Memory Jar is such a classic staple although that it may end up back in.
- Re-added Fabricate - it gets helm/top for future+top combo, pretty necessary.
Nov 10'th - day before the product is released, struggling to make it down to 99x cards;
- Removed shreds of sanity - while I love this card, in our colors we simply have better recursion effects. We do not have a very high volume of instant spells in the deck, so if we cascade in to this early, it may be a dead spell. If the deck ends up needing this, then mystic retrieval may be a better option.
- Removed (possibly temporarily) ancient tomb. Yes it can help us land a turn-1 signet, but there is no likely follow-up to allow Yidris any faster. The fast-mana is always helpful, but this is an experiment to try and make a high tide 4-color deck, and the tomb doesn't give us blue.
- Sickeningly enough I am going to temporarily move grim monolith out. While thought vessel aids with the infinite hand-size we want from necropotence, we have over 20x versions of ramp, most that come out on turn-2. Grim Monolith is absurdly powerful, but the colorless mana in a 4-color deck may backfire.
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depending on how playtesting goes, if Yidris is killed ever-so-frequently, I may exchange the signet package for the more storm-like monolith/rituals.
----
- Removed Serum Visions - cutting the weaker 1-cmc cantrip effects. We can use 1-drops to get our mox/petal/crypt, but past that they are just for early-game fixing.
No mention of Lotus Bloom? I'd imagine that cascading into it off a cantrip would be one of the primary ways to keep going off. Pentad Prism does a great job of ramping and fixing for Yidris and while you're going off it's a free cascade for 2 (although it now occurs to me that cascading into Pentad Prism kind of sucks). Harrow is also a decent piece of ramp that'd be great to cascade into. Manamorphose, on the other hand, would be great here no matter when it comes up. And what about Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time? They're amazing card draw and could let you cascade into something expensive without paying for it upfront.
Private Mod Note
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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.
Until I get a chance to actually sit down and play the deck, there are a few routes that may work better. For example the deck runs 6x signets, but no rituals, and grim monolith is currently in the maybe board. If Yidris just dies every time he sees play, then the more typical storm mana (rituals/monolith) may be better than 6x signets. Similarly, the mana-base is set up for high tide, but there are numerous filter lands that could be used along side non-signet 2-drop ramps that could aid in pushing Yidris out on turn-3.
This will need some extensive testing
My testing has raised this question also. Even when Yidris doesn’t die, the goal of playing him Turn 3 often has him triggering when I have a hand that I know I’m just going to be wasting spells if I try to go off. I have seen it go off Turn 4-5 before when somebody else was playing the deck, but not without rituals, and hitting both Mana Crypt and Wheel of Fate. Maybe it is closer to reliable with more 1cmc material in the deck to hit Wheel of Fate, but still extremely risky.
I can see going one of two routes to get around this:
First, just using the Yidris trigger to build up a good mana count, with a lot of 3cmc draw spells and 2cmc ramp. The general just gives your opponents something to get rid of while upping your mana count. This route though, I would tend to lean toward a more compact win condition. Maybe something like a Polymorph package into Palinchron, or Reset-Reiterate, each powered out by either High Tide or Mana Flare/Heartbeat of Spring. Those combo’s each give you more flexibility in reward for reaching higher mana counts. Trying to pull off a Storm turn without the benefit of a Doomsday pile as a fall-back seems like a risky idea.
Strionic Resonator would be pretty good here. It can copy Yidris' cascade trigger, and more importantly it can copy your storm or aetherflux triggers.
Double storm count or an extra instance of your largest life gain seems pretty good.
While enabling a second (or more) instance of cascade for Yidris is really powerful, I'm fairly certain that in my meta, Yidris is removal bate. My design is set to function without Yidris, so it isn't using any of the combat tricks. I've even had to push sword of feast and famine/bear umbra out while cutting down to 99.
If this were more like a good-stuff maelstrom wanderer deck, then the cascade tricks would be very good.
I agree with FiftyRings. The double-strike antics seem to have a tendency to be quite dead quite often, but Strionic Resonator is worthwhile in any Storm deck, imo. Even for just copying the Storm trigger itself, it’s quite worthwhile.
Have you considered going with Oath of Druids ? Im currently building on a creatureless Yidris Storm list that is based on oath filling up your graveyard, then finishing off with Mizzix's Mastery . Also with Yawgmoth's Will combined with rituals like Seething Song , Cabal Ritual it would be possible to go off when Oath of Druids triggers.
I love oath of druids but the reliance of creating that much mana to get mastery off, while having an opponent with a creature, it a bit odd. There is also the issue of mastery being sorcery, so I wouldn't be able to up-keep win w/o having some sort of instant-enabler before I draw-death myself. I do really like this idea. How are you stopping the draw/death / do you have a list I can check out?
The death-avoidance is Krosan Reclamation or Memory’s Journey. You basically just get a ritual every time with it on upkeep, then use the ritual to Flashback Past In Flames, use Regrowths to get all your rituals back, last regrowth for YagWin, then Yagwin your artifacts and all your rituals back one last time. Don’t forget Noxious Revival and things with flashback cantrips like Manamorphose. Once you get it down, all you need is about 2RBGG to go off. Although it’s possible that there’s a sequence that just takes 2BG for YagWin right away, I just haven’t worked it out to get the Storm count high enough to Tendrils out 3 palyers at full life.
I'm curious, how is this deck going for you? I myself had a Mizzix storm but it felt underwhelming (mostly because of mizzix weak body).
The real reason I ask though is because my gf has a very powerful Yidris... which is just filled with overpowered good stuff. Still works insanely well however. Only thing with it is I put in the infinite attack combo pieces for fun. I just bought her almost all the extra turn cards as well for even more shenanigans.
How is the storm playing out? Is it killing tables?
How is the storm playing out? Is it killing tables?
I ran this for about a week on mtgo, fiddling with the last few cuts. It did as expected, with an average turn-4/5 victory if Ad Nauseam or Necropotence+infinite hand was found, or approximate turn-6 without. Nut-draw made for a turn-3 win on a few occasions, but I've been screwed over by the 4-color issue, bad draws, poor plays (I still have little exposure to competitive 1v1 friends on mtgo), etc. The best part of this list is the land-ramp makes for a very resilient mid-to-late game. Yidris is also a great enabler for extra cards, but is also pure removal bate and rarely survives to attack. When he does although it usually shoots my mana-base ahead by quite a bit.
I started this brew as soon as Yidris was spoiled, but as the (lame) hipster that I am, I got annoyed at seeing the sheer volume of other similar yidris decks on mtgo, so I haven't played it for a few weeks. My interest has turned to a empty the warrens focused list that I've been playing IRL.
But...
This seems like a good card to include in a deck with so many signets + rocks. 5-drop hurts on Ad Nauseam, but casting anything to untap mana vault/gilded lotus/etc = silly, and it triggers off of Yidris's cascade'ed cards.
I'll snag one of these for testing on mtgo once it is available. Next time I log in I'll also try to update the list in this thread to the last version I was running online.
It doesn't even need Yidris to connect. Yidris is just bait. However, if Yidris does get through then you can use it to cheat out mana rocks and tutors to help speed up combo assembly.
Total mana investment is just 2GG. You can do various stack tricks to get around disruption and play around most types of hate (although opponent flashing in a free Hushwing Gryff or Aven Mindcensor in response to Recruiter is a serious issue).
Although you guys are primarily going for a Storm deck, it wouldn't be hard to squeeze in an Aluren combo as an alternate win. With the cantrips and tutors, it may end up being easier to assemble Aluren than set up a big Storm turn.
It doesn't even need Yidris to connect. Yidris is just bait. However, if Yidris does get through then you can use it to cheat out mana rocks and tutors to help speed up combo assembly.
Total mana investment is just 2GG. You can do various stack tricks to get around disruption and play around most types of hate (although opponent flashing in a free Hushwing Gryff or Aven Mindcensor in response to Recruiter is a serious issue).
Although you guys are primarily going for a Storm deck, it wouldn't be hard to squeeze in an Aluren combo as an alternate win. With the cantrips and tutors, it may end up being easier to assemble Aluren than set up a big Storm turn.
I think I'm missing something. Well two things.
For that combo, wouldn't you need a way to flicker imperial recruiter constantly? I can see once or twice but how does it win?
Also my second question is.. if it does win, why Yidris? Why not litterally any other deck that produces red and green.
Would love to get the combo if it works... but... wallet though
I think I'm missing something. Well two things.
For that combo, wouldn't you need a way to flicker imperial recruiter constantly? I can see once or twice but how does it win?
Also my second question is.. if it does win, why Yidris? Why not litterally any other deck that produces red and green.
Would love to get the combo if it works... but... wallet though
Sorry, I should have explained for everyone who hasn't been playing competitive Legacy for years and seen the fringe combo decks. This combo has made a few Legacy top 8s, winning games in a format with access to very fast and consistent combos.
It just requires Aluren in play and Imperial Recruiter in hand to go off though, which makes it quite simple to assemble and low on mana requirements as far as 2-card combos go, although it does take up other deck slots.
Now you've established a loop where you can keep reusing Recruiter at the cost of 1 life.
The simplest way to win is just tutor for Parasitic Strix and then loop through Cavern Harpy + Parasitic Strix over and over to gain arbitrary life and drain everyone to death.
Depending on your decklist, you can also have access to other toolbox creatures (e.g. Eternal Witness, Phantasmal Image, Reclamation Sage, Cloud of Faeries, Riftsweeper, Shardless Agent, Grinning Ignus) to play around hate, access pieces that were killed, generate mana for spells, or look for alternate win conditions. You don't need a toolbox at all though. But the possibility is there. Like Karador Boonweaver Giant+Pattern of Rebirth combo, once you go off you can arbitrarily grab tools from your deck (and graveyard and exile!) to answer or win around even bizarre board states. And if people try to intervene partway through the combo, you can usually do stack tricks with Cavern Harpy to protect your team or just combo off in response, since Aluren gives everything flash.
Because of this versatility, the game usually ends if you get through the Aluren + Imperial Recruiter part without getting disrupted, which is why I consider it a 2-card combo.
Why Yidris? This version of Aluren combo requires BRUG colors, something that was not available to Commander before. Also, the self-bouncing creatures used (e.g. Cavern Harpy, Man-o'-war, Grinning Ignus) synergize with Yidris's ability, so they are still useful outside of the combo (as is Aluren). So this is a very convenient Commander to employ this combo.
My build is just focused on this combo, optimizing Yidris cascades if any happen, and protecting the combos, so the deck is quite different from yours. However, Aluren combo could theoretically be squeezed into a Storm shell. It's probably easier to use all those cantrips and tutors to set up some Aluren chain than to build lethal storm in Commander.
I started a theoretical decklist minutes after this card was spoiled. The list (below), is currently in the stages of being cut down to 99x cards. Some very potent storm cards (remand) and safety cards (thoughtseize/toxic deluge) are currently on the side as the deck is being thinned down to a playable # of cards. Once the deck is down to 99x, I will proxie it up and see how it plays.
Reasons to play Yidris in storm;
~ Yidris, after connecting, grants a +1 cascade for any non-zero CMC spell. This means that he essentially grants +1 storm after casting each non-zero cmc spell. This can greatly boost a storm count.
~ With 7x 2-cmc green ramp spells (which help fetch non-basic islands for high tide), and 6x signets, we can reliably see Yidris on turn-3. While the deck is not designed around having Yidris in play, his consistent early presence is still very nice.
~ Top-deck tutors and manipulation like scroll rack/brainstorm/mystical tutor/personal tutor/vampiric tutor, allow for a great amount of cascade control. We can push critical must-have cards like turnabout or wheel of fate on the top of our deck, netting a free cast of the desired spell with any other spell that costs more.
The game-plan with Yidris!
Step 1 - With the 2-drop ramp package this deck runs, we want to always try and resolve Yidris on turn-3. If he dies, that's fine, because the deck doesn't require him to run. What we have done although by using Yidris as removal bate was already start to build up our mana.
Step 2 - By turn-4, we can either attack and play with Yidris, or if he has died we can do some sort of follow-up. If Yidris connects, then ideally we want to try and cast a 3-cmc spell. The likelihood of Yidris cascading in to some sort of mana effect is very high. If it is a signet or something it is likely we can cast a 2nd spell to cascade a second time. If Yidris dies before connecting, then we can go one of two routes, depending on what is in hand. We can either play out more mana effects and re-cast Yidris for more removal bate, or we can start to tutor up parts for a victory-turn (ad naus / etc).
Step 3 - If Yidris is about we can continue to get a few free spells out of our deck (casting 3-cmc is ideal for more mana), otherwise the deck is turning more into your typical ad naus storm approach.
Step 4 - By about turn-6 we should have more than enough mana to functionally play out the deck, be it from high tide/turnabout antics, setting up future sight + helm of awakening + top, or cascading into cheap mana-rocks to help build up Aetherflux Reservoir. There are dozens of ways this deck can fail, but since the current design can go in so many directions, ideally we should have some sort of line/path to one possible victory.
There are other possibilities with Yidris, being excluded from this design;
~ creature-based combo approach, using aluren + Æther Adept/cavern harpy/dream stalker/etc to get all 0, 1 or 2 drops out of the deck, or just cloudstone curio along with peregrine drake/great whale/palinchron + clones to cascade the entire deck.
~ double strike effects on Yidris (like psychotic fury/temur battle rage), can generate a second instance of cascade of follow-up spells, but realistically Yidris shouldn't be required for the deck to function. He is just an enabler to up our storm-count, so these effects are going to be ignored.
~ Doomsday packages/stacks are greatly helped by Yidris. You could literally resolve doomsday, putting laboratory maniac on top of the deck, and any 4-cmc or higher draw-5 winds the game (since Lab-man will cascade in to play before resolving the draw). Normally you don't want to run something like tidings in a doomsday deck, but the generic fillers like gitaxian probe/frantic search are just as good in these stacks.
Here is the current deck by card function (@ 105x cards);
1x Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
Victory Conditions (3)
1x Guttersnipe
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Aetherflux Reservoir
Victory Enabling (2)
1x Mind's Desire
1x Mizzix's Mastery
Recursion and Enablers (4)
1x Noxious Revival
1x Past in Flames
1x Regrowth
1x Yawgmoth's Will
Random Utility (7)
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x High Tide
1x Unsubstantiate
1x Future Sight
1x Mind Over Matter
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sensei's Divining Top
High-Impact Card Draw (7)
1x Ad Nauseam
1x Time Spiral
1x Timetwister
1x Wheel of Fate
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Windfall
1x Necropotence
Card Selection / minor-draw (12)
1x Anticipate
1x Brainstorm
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Frantic Search
1x Impulse
1x Lim-Dul's Vault
1x Cathartic Reunion
1x Faithless Looting
1x Night's Whisper
1x Ponder
1x Preordain
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Intuition
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Dark Petition
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Gamble
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Personal Tutor
1x Fabricate
Land-Untap (6)
1x Turnabout
1x Snap
1x Rude Awakening
1x Candelabra of Tawnos
1x Frantic Search (also listed w/ minor-draw)
1x Time Spiral (also listed w/ big-draw)
Mana Ramps/Rocks + Reduction (23)
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Explore
1x Farseek
1x Into the North
1x Nature's Lore
1x Rampant Growth
1x Three Visits
1x Chrome Mox
1x Dimir Signet
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Golgari Signet
1x Gruul Signet
1x Izzet Signet
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Simic Signet
1x Sol Ring
1x Thought Vessel
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Command Tower
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Badlands
1x Bayou
1x Taiga
1x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Blood Crypt
1x Breeding Pool
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Watery Grave
8x Snow-Covered Island
Here is the current deck by card type (@ 105x cards);
1x Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
Creature (2)
1x Guttersnipe
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
Instant (16)
1x Ad Nauseam
1x Anticipate
1x Brainstorm
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Frantic Search
1x High Tide
1x Impulse
1x Intuition
1x Lim-Dul's Vault
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Noxious Revival
1x Snap
1x Turnabout
1x Unsubstantiate
1x Vampiric Tutor
Sorcery (30)
1x Cathartic Reunion
1x Dark Petition
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Explore
1x Fabricate
1x Faithless Looting
1x Farseek
1x Gamble
1x Into the North
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Mind's Desire
1x Mizzix's Mastery
1x Nature's Lore
1x Night's Whisper
1x Past in Flames
1x Personal Tutor
1x Ponder
1x Preordain
1x Rampant Growth
1x Regrowth
1x Rude Awakening
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Three Visits
1x Time Spiral
1x Timetwister
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Wheel of Fate
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Windfall
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Future Sight
1x Mind Over Matter
1x Necropotence
Artifact (20)
1x Aetherflux Reservoir
1x Candelabra of Tawnos
1x Chrome Mox
1x Dimir Signet
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Golgari Signet
1x Gruul Signet
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Izzet Signet
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Simic Signet
1x Sol Ring
1x Thought Vessel
Land (33)
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Command Tower
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Badlands
1x Bayou
1x Taiga
1x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Blood Crypt
1x Breeding Pool
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Watery Grave
8x Snow-Covered Island
Current mana-curve (@ 105x cards);
Average = 2.37
0 = 6
1 = 14
2 = 28
3 = 9
4 = 6
5 = 5
6 = 3
Here are some current considerations;
1x Metallurgic Summonings
1x Magus of the Wheel
1x Magus of the Will
1x Thermo-Alchemist
1x Temporal Fissure
1x Curious Homunculus
1x mystic retrieval
Cards that have been temporarily removed while cutting down to 99, but I want to re-add;
1x Duress
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Gitaxian Probe
1x Grim Monolith
1x Necrologia
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Bear Umbra
1x Memory Jar
1x Ancient Tomb
Change Log;
Oct 27'th, Yidris Spoiled, original deck created.
- Removed Expedition Map & Sylvan Scrying since bubbling muck+urborg approach seems unlikely.
- Removed Gitaxian Probe and Sleight of Hand - while good, they are the worst low-cmc cantrips.
- Removed (temporarily), recollect, toxic deluge, and notion thief. Notion+wheel is a great combo, but not easy to set up. Recollect is great, but so far the worst available, so it is temp-cut. Deluge is also fantastic, but just an answer, which can be pushed back in after the deck is designed to actually function.
- Removed (temporarily) Remand. It and unsubstantiate are great to enable further storm spells, but Remand is currently the only (semi)dead card when cascading off Yidris. Yes we can just counter our initial spell and still cantrip to continue up'ing storm count, which is why it may find its way back in to the decklist.
- Removed Necrologia. The worse necropotence. Requires infinite hand-size for maximum effect. I ran it in a 1v1 storm brew that was absent blue, but in a multi-player brew it seems too unstable/dangerous.
- Removed (temporarily) Sword of Feast and Famine and Bear Umbra. The land-untap effect only works with Yidris, and the deck is designed to function without him. While he is a great enabler, if he is not around to attack with, then these become dead cards. Their potential is great although, so they may go back in after testing IRL.
- Removed Abundant Growth - a full compliment of fetch+abu+shock should keep our mana covered.
Oct 30'th - revisiting decklist after a weekend of very drunk Halloween shenanigans.
- Removed Ignite Memories, Sphinx-Bone Wand & Fabricate, possibly removing Aetherflux Reservoir in favor for another game-ending storm spell
- Added Wheel of Fate, as another 0-drop that a 1-drop can cascade in to. Seems good with all the top-deck tutors/brainstorm.
- Removed Magus of the Candelabra. While powerful, he has to survive a turn to be useful. The deck has no haste-enablers.
- Removed (possibly temporiarly) Memory Jar, since the 5-mana investment and hit from ad naus hurts, and the addition of wheel of fate may cover its roll. Memory Jar is such a classic staple although that it may end up back in.
- Re-added Fabricate - it gets helm/top for future+top combo, pretty necessary.
Nov 10'th - day before the product is released, struggling to make it down to 99x cards;
- Removed shreds of sanity - while I love this card, in our colors we simply have better recursion effects. We do not have a very high volume of instant spells in the deck, so if we cascade in to this early, it may be a dead spell. If the deck ends up needing this, then mystic retrieval may be a better option.
- Removed (possibly temporarily) ancient tomb. Yes it can help us land a turn-1 signet, but there is no likely follow-up to allow Yidris any faster. The fast-mana is always helpful, but this is an experiment to try and make a high tide 4-color deck, and the tomb doesn't give us blue.
- Sickeningly enough I am going to temporarily move grim monolith out. While thought vessel aids with the infinite hand-size we want from necropotence, we have over 20x versions of ramp, most that come out on turn-2. Grim Monolith is absurdly powerful, but the colorless mana in a 4-color deck may backfire.
----
depending on how playtesting goes, if Yidris is killed ever-so-frequently, I may exchange the signet package for the more storm-like monolith/rituals.
----
- Removed Serum Visions - cutting the weaker 1-cmc cantrip effects. We can use 1-drops to get our mox/petal/crypt, but past that they are just for early-game fixing.
Give me ideas!
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
I definitely think your list of win conditions is a bit high. Ignite Memories, Sphinx Bone Wand, and Aetherflux are probably worth removing.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Sphinx-bone wand is bad.
Winds of change is an underrated wheel, and trinket mage should definitely be in here.
Definitely experiment with the list though. I feel there are a lot of cheap cantrips, but that also is the life of the deck. This could be where aetherflux reservoir shines.
Another thematic issue: if you want to go off quickly you probably won't have that many lands, lessening the effectiveness of land untappers and making me think traditional rituals have a spot in here over those kinds of cards.
Urza free spells are 100% broken, but maybe candelabra of tawnos isn't worth it? I know it's broken but you just might not have enough lands (Specifically islands with high tide).
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
I can agree that the ignite memories is the weakest part here, and the wand + flux are vulnerable to removal.
While that would leave me with 4x "win-condition" cards, really the only victory-enabling cards left would then be guttersnipe and tendrils of agony, since the others tend to put me in a position to win with one of those cards. By removing 3x of the actually victory-condition cards I may be too short.
I think temporal fissure may be better over ignite memories since it should be able to put me in a position where I can continue to swing with Yidris or develop a 2nd storm-turn. Alternatively thermo-alchemist has done very well in my Rakdos Storm list, since he does protect me from some early aggro. Atherflux Reservoir is still tempting here since it is cheap to get out on the same turn Yidris attacks, and it wouldn't take much effort with his cascade ability to build up enough spells to kill multiple opponents.
For now I'm going to remove ignite/wand/fabricate, and possibly change Aetherflux to something different.
I do like the idea of Wheel of Fate and Ancestral Vision, hadn't thought about those. I do have a fair amount of top-deck tutors/brainstorm, so the wheel seems absolutely good enough. Ancestral, while great, seems only good if drawn early here as there are better 0-drops to cascade in to (wheel/mana).
No deck is perfect, a lot of things can stop a lot of things. At least Yidris doesn't die to doom blade.
High Tide really seems good here. We have 14x islands, and a complete compliment of fetch's, so most early landfall should be fetching island shocks/duals to correct colors. I was originally considering sylvan scrying/expedition map to get that Urborg, so Bubbling Muck would be playable along with High Tide, but that is stretching too far.
Wand & Ignite have already been commented on*
I don't think this is a deck that can go off super early. My Rakdos Storm deck relies so heavily on ad naus / necrologia/necropotence and its speed is utterly reliant on which mana-rocks/rituals I see. Since we have green and 7x turn-2 land-to-play ramp effects, I don't really think this deck will need any rituals.
Using some land-ramp does lower the possible speed (unlikely turn-3/4 storm), it should increase the actual consistency of the inevitable storm-turn.
I already maintain a u/b control deck that utilizes a few doomsday stacks. I'm a bit bored with the repetitive easy-win.
I do think that adding doomsday here would make for a very strong contender since you could easily create simpler stacks to have Yidris cascade through. For example any 4-drop draw spell can cascade into laboratory maniac before resolving. Seems good.
Seems fun, but I'm not sure if it will help this deck since using its effect it doesn't generate a "cast" trigger.
Thank you all for the feedback! I'm going to keep fiddling with my list and numbers while I try to shrink it down to 99x cards. I'm always open to further opinions/ideas!
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Double storm count or an extra instance of your largest life gain seems pretty good.
Any opinions on the final cuts would be greatly appreaciated, but I may go ahead and assemble the 105 cards and see how this plays out in-hand before making the final judgement.
Until I get a chance to actually sit down and play the deck, there are a few routes that may work better. For example the deck runs 6x signets, but no rituals, and grim monolith is currently in the maybe board. If Yidris just dies every time he sees play, then the more typical storm mana (rituals/monolith) may be better than 6x signets. Similarly, the mana-base is set up for high tide, but there are numerous filter lands that could be used along side non-signet 2-drop ramps that could aid in pushing Yidris out on turn-3.
This will need some extensive testing
While enabling a second (or more) instance of cascade for Yidris is really powerful, I'm fairly certain that in my meta, Yidris is removal bate. My design is set to function without Yidris, so it isn't using any of the combat tricks. I've even had to push sword of feast and famine/bear umbra out while cutting down to 99.
If this were more like a good-stuff maelstrom wanderer deck, then the cascade tricks would be very good.
I love oath of druids but the reliance of creating that much mana to get mastery off, while having an opponent with a creature, it a bit odd. There is also the issue of mastery being sorcery, so I wouldn't be able to up-keep win w/o having some sort of instant-enabler before I draw-death myself. I do really like this idea. How are you stopping the draw/death / do you have a list I can check out?
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
But I'm also running pitch cards... so theres that.
I guess there aren't many targets in your current build of Yidris storm. But the fact that you can double your storm count for 2 mana is very appetizing. I'd definitely run the resonator in a version that includes more ETB effects (like Palinchron)
Did u already see this decktech of a possible Storm brew with Yidris? Both (his) and yours look awesome, but his is very pricey in its current configuration.
Greetings
King
UWRWorking on: Pyromancer AscensionUR
My testing has raised this question also. Even when Yidris doesn’t die, the goal of playing him Turn 3 often has him triggering when I have a hand that I know I’m just going to be wasting spells if I try to go off. I have seen it go off Turn 4-5 before when somebody else was playing the deck, but not without rituals, and hitting both Mana Crypt and Wheel of Fate. Maybe it is closer to reliable with more 1cmc material in the deck to hit Wheel of Fate, but still extremely risky.
I can see going one of two routes to get around this:
First, just using the Yidris trigger to build up a good mana count, with a lot of 3cmc draw spells and 2cmc ramp. The general just gives your opponents something to get rid of while upping your mana count. This route though, I would tend to lean toward a more compact win condition. Maybe something like a Polymorph package into Palinchron, or Reset-Reiterate, each powered out by either High Tide or Mana Flare/Heartbeat of Spring. Those combo’s each give you more flexibility in reward for reaching higher mana counts. Trying to pull off a Storm turn without the benefit of a Doomsday pile as a fall-back seems like a risky idea.
Second, a Flash enabling package – Yeva, Nature’s Herald/Winding Canyons/Alchemist’s Refuge, then some land tutors. That way, you basically just play hand sculpting spells and draw until you’ve got D-tutor, Merchant Scroll or Dark Petition in hand for the Intuition/Past in Flames pile. Then you play down Yidris with Flash and go off with a full untap. Might still eat removal, but oh well.
I agree with FiftyRings. The double-strike antics seem to have a tendency to be quite dead quite often, but Strionic Resonator is worthwhile in any Storm deck, imo. Even for just copying the Storm trigger itself, it’s quite worthwhile.
The death-avoidance is Krosan Reclamation or Memory’s Journey. You basically just get a ritual every time with it on upkeep, then use the ritual to Flashback Past In Flames, use Regrowths to get all your rituals back, last regrowth for YagWin, then Yagwin your artifacts and all your rituals back one last time. Don’t forget Noxious Revival and things with flashback cantrips like Manamorphose. Once you get it down, all you need is about 2RBGG to go off. Although it’s possible that there’s a sequence that just takes 2BG for YagWin right away, I just haven’t worked it out to get the Storm count high enough to Tendrils out 3 palyers at full life.
how's the deck been treating everyone?
The real reason I ask though is because my gf has a very powerful Yidris... which is just filled with overpowered good stuff. Still works insanely well however. Only thing with it is I put in the infinite attack combo pieces for fun. I just bought her almost all the extra turn cards as well for even more shenanigans.
How is the storm playing out? Is it killing tables?
I ran this for about a week on mtgo, fiddling with the last few cuts. It did as expected, with an average turn-4/5 victory if Ad Nauseam or Necropotence+infinite hand was found, or approximate turn-6 without. Nut-draw made for a turn-3 win on a few occasions, but I've been screwed over by the 4-color issue, bad draws, poor plays (I still have little exposure to competitive 1v1 friends on mtgo), etc. The best part of this list is the land-ramp makes for a very resilient mid-to-late game. Yidris is also a great enabler for extra cards, but is also pure removal bate and rarely survives to attack. When he does although it usually shoots my mana-base ahead by quite a bit.
I started this brew as soon as Yidris was spoiled, but as the (lame) hipster that I am, I got annoyed at seeing the sheer volume of other similar yidris decks on mtgo, so I haven't played it for a few weeks. My interest has turned to a empty the warrens focused list that I've been playing IRL.
But...
This seems like a good card to include in a deck with so many signets + rocks. 5-drop hurts on Ad Nauseam, but casting anything to untap mana vault/gilded lotus/etc = silly, and it triggers off of Yidris's cascade'ed cards.
I'll snag one of these for testing on mtgo once it is available. Next time I log in I'll also try to update the list in this thread to the last version I was running online.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
I'm using the 2-card combo of Aluren + Imperial Recruiter = Win
It doesn't even need Yidris to connect. Yidris is just bait. However, if Yidris does get through then you can use it to cheat out mana rocks and tutors to help speed up combo assembly.
Total mana investment is just 2GG. You can do various stack tricks to get around disruption and play around most types of hate (although opponent flashing in a free Hushwing Gryff or Aven Mindcensor in response to Recruiter is a serious issue).
Although you guys are primarily going for a Storm deck, it wouldn't be hard to squeeze in an Aluren combo as an alternate win. With the cantrips and tutors, it may end up being easier to assemble Aluren than set up a big Storm turn.
I think I'm missing something. Well two things.
For that combo, wouldn't you need a way to flicker imperial recruiter constantly? I can see once or twice but how does it win?
Also my second question is.. if it does win, why Yidris? Why not litterally any other deck that produces red and green.
Would love to get the combo if it works... but... wallet though
Sorry, I should have explained for everyone who hasn't been playing competitive Legacy for years and seen the fringe combo decks. This combo has made a few Legacy top 8s, winning games in a format with access to very fast and consistent combos.
Requires these cards in your decklist:
It just requires Aluren in play and Imperial Recruiter in hand to go off though, which makes it quite simple to assemble and low on mana requirements as far as 2-card combos go, although it does take up other deck slots.
Flash in
Imperial Recruiter --> Man-o'-War or Shrieking Drake
Man-o'-War bouncing Recruiter
Imperial Recruiter --> Cavern Harpy
Cavern Harpy bouncing Man
Pay 1 life to bounce Harpy
Man-o'-War bouncing Recruiter
Cavern Harpy bouncing Man
Now you've established a loop where you can keep reusing Recruiter at the cost of 1 life.
The simplest way to win is just tutor for Parasitic Strix and then loop through Cavern Harpy + Parasitic Strix over and over to gain arbitrary life and drain everyone to death.
Depending on your decklist, you can also have access to other toolbox creatures (e.g. Eternal Witness, Phantasmal Image, Reclamation Sage, Cloud of Faeries, Riftsweeper, Shardless Agent, Grinning Ignus) to play around hate, access pieces that were killed, generate mana for spells, or look for alternate win conditions. You don't need a toolbox at all though. But the possibility is there. Like Karador Boonweaver Giant+Pattern of Rebirth combo, once you go off you can arbitrarily grab tools from your deck (and graveyard and exile!) to answer or win around even bizarre board states. And if people try to intervene partway through the combo, you can usually do stack tricks with Cavern Harpy to protect your team or just combo off in response, since Aluren gives everything flash.
Because of this versatility, the game usually ends if you get through the Aluren + Imperial Recruiter part without getting disrupted, which is why I consider it a 2-card combo.
Why Yidris? This version of Aluren combo requires BRUG colors, something that was not available to Commander before. Also, the self-bouncing creatures used (e.g. Cavern Harpy, Man-o'-war, Grinning Ignus) synergize with Yidris's ability, so they are still useful outside of the combo (as is Aluren). So this is a very convenient Commander to employ this combo.
My build is just focused on this combo, optimizing Yidris cascades if any happen, and protecting the combos, so the deck is quite different from yours. However, Aluren combo could theoretically be squeezed into a Storm shell. It's probably easier to use all those cantrips and tutors to set up some Aluren chain than to build lethal storm in Commander.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11439737#post11439737
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