Can't say enough good things about our new friend Goreclaw. He's absolutely Yeva's BFF. He might even be the actual bear depicted in Yeva's artwork. He's one of the few cards in recent memory that I immediately paid full retail price to acquire.
I did also preorder a Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage. Making an artifact and legendary creatures version of Yeva in U/W feels like...well, like U/W has better things it could be doing instead, but I'm going to try and force it anyway.
I wanted to do the same thing, but it would mean taking apart my Esper deck with the foil Thopter Foundry and I just can't bring myself to do that.
Back on topic...Dominaria is not a good set for this format. Very disappointing.
Rivals is kind of a pile for Yeva. Explore and enrage are useless, and green doesn't have any raid guys. Wayward Swordtooth is the only one that's close, and original Exploration was never really in contention, so adding a shaky 5/5 for more mana isn't going to cut it.
Ghalta was a huge letdown, no pun intended. You would think that a creature with the type of "Elder Dinosaur" would be a shoe-in for a deck full of big green creatures, but this could not be a worse fit.
Tendershoot Dryad might be the dark horse of the set. This deck will Ascend very easily, so making a 3/3 for FREE on EVERY TURN (not just your own) is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately the commander format has no shortage of strong five-drops, strong token-makers, etc.
One more off-the-radar card that I find very useful in this list is Thunderfoot Baloth. Obviously it puts a bit more of a bullseye on Yeva, but unlike other Overrun effects, this one is more "permanent".
Just read through your primer and it was very informative. I've had a Yeva list together for several years, and you gave me some fresh ideas that I hadn't yet considered, so thanks for putting in all that hard work!
Couple questions on some cards I didn't see mentioned here:
- Garruk Wildspeaker: You seem to be big on untapping lands, and Garruk is pretty solid at doing just that. He also can throw out an Overrun effect without too much effort.
- Emerald Medallion and Rhonas's Monument: I know that Yeva hates artifacts, but these two have really pulled their weight for me. They're both much more subtle than a Sol Ring, so you won't get as much flack early on.
- Gaea's Touch: An old-school Exploration variant that adds an extra point of devotion AND allows you to cash out once it has worn out its welcome or gets too far into the late-game to be valuable.
- Vigor: This is probably more of a meta-call, but if you face any damage-based sweepers, or token decks that actually try to block, or the like, this can get out of hand quickly.
- Lifecrafter's Bestiary: I initially thought that this was a trap card, as it basically made the majority of your spells cost 1 more. However, I saw it in action the other day and it was quite impressive at keeping my opponent's hand full.
Definitely play Patron of the Orochi. Seedborn Muse is your best card ever, so if Patron is even half of that, that's another chance at your best effect.
Also, unless I missed something in the masses of text above, I think you have a few too many ramp creatures. People are already going to look at the mono-green player and start thinking about ways to wrath the board, so losing your mana guys along with the rest of your team when that inevitably happens is just going to set you back even more. I'd much rather run effects like Cultivate and Rampant Growth than Krosan Restorer and Juniper Order Druid.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
I wanted to do the same thing, but it would mean taking apart my Esper deck with the foil Thopter Foundry and I just can't bring myself to do that.
Back on topic...Dominaria is not a good set for this format. Very disappointing.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Ghalta was a huge letdown, no pun intended. You would think that a creature with the type of "Elder Dinosaur" would be a shoe-in for a deck full of big green creatures, but this could not be a worse fit.
Tendershoot Dryad might be the dark horse of the set. This deck will Ascend very easily, so making a 3/3 for FREE on EVERY TURN (not just your own) is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately the commander format has no shortage of strong five-drops, strong token-makers, etc.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Love me some green Sol Ring! If you're into creature-based accelerant, this is the best one outside of Priest of Titania.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Couple questions on some cards I didn't see mentioned here:
- Garruk Wildspeaker: You seem to be big on untapping lands, and Garruk is pretty solid at doing just that. He also can throw out an Overrun effect without too much effort.
- Emerald Medallion and Rhonas's Monument: I know that Yeva hates artifacts, but these two have really pulled their weight for me. They're both much more subtle than a Sol Ring, so you won't get as much flack early on.
- Gaea's Touch: An old-school Exploration variant that adds an extra point of devotion AND allows you to cash out once it has worn out its welcome or gets too far into the late-game to be valuable.
- Vigor: This is probably more of a meta-call, but if you face any damage-based sweepers, or token decks that actually try to block, or the like, this can get out of hand quickly.
- Lifecrafter's Bestiary: I initially thought that this was a trap card, as it basically made the majority of your spells cost 1 more. However, I saw it in action the other day and it was quite impressive at keeping my opponent's hand full.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
- Yavimaya Elder
- Masked Admirers
- Garruk's Packleader (and to a lesser extent, Elemental Bond)
- Harmonize
Definitely play Patron of the Orochi. Seedborn Muse is your best card ever, so if Patron is even half of that, that's another chance at your best effect.
Also, unless I missed something in the masses of text above, I think you have a few too many ramp creatures. People are already going to look at the mono-green player and start thinking about ways to wrath the board, so losing your mana guys along with the rest of your team when that inevitably happens is just going to set you back even more. I'd much rather run effects like Cultivate and Rampant Growth than Krosan Restorer and Juniper Order Druid.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani