Welcome to the Random Deck of the Week thread! This is a thread where once a week a deck is chosen randomly from the pool of submissions for us all to discuss at length, or at least until the next deck's turn. This week's deck is:
What sort of comments should you leave here?
Mostly you should just be speaking about your own experience: what commentary you can make is going to depend on what your personal experience is. If you're not sure what to say, here are some questions you could answer:
Have you played with a deck like this before? If so, tell us about it! Would you recommend building a deck like this? What about your deck was similar to this? Did you use the same colors and general, or were you playing something strategically similar? Did you play mostly the same cards? What cards are a uniquely good fit for this deck? What's would be your favorite card to draw from this deck? Is there an opponent this deck is really good against or really bad? Is there a number of players you find this deck ideal for? What seemingly obvious inclusions would you say are traps to avoid? Do you have any particularly memorable moments from playing something like this?
Have you played against a deck like this before? If so, tell us about that! How would you feel playing against this deck? Has this style of decks given you good games or bad ones? How do you feel sitting across the table from this commander, and does this deck meet your expectations? What card is in the back of your mind that you hope your opponent doesn't draw? Are any cards you play especially bad against this deck or especially good against it? If you wanted to set up a good matchup, either for competitive or entertainment purposes, what deck would you play against this? Do you have any particularly memorable moments from playing against a deck like this?
Regardless of your past experience, were you inspired reading this decklist? What in this deck would you want to imitate? What would you least want to immitate? What in this deck have you never thought about before? Are there any themes or strategies you feel would overlap nicely with what this deck is doing? Are there any ideas from this deck you would consider adding to your own other decks? Would you rather play with this deck or against it? If you were to recommend this deck to someone you know, what type of player would that be, and how would you sell them on it?
And of course, try to limit discussion to whatever the current deck is. Some overlap is inevitable, but please don't distract from the current deck by responding to otherwise concluded conversations.
Should you leave comments or questions for the deckbuilder?
Absolutely, 100%, but probably not here. I hope that people see when their deck's been picked and involve themselves here over the course of their week, but there's no guarantee of that. There's no better place to discuss a deck with its builder than in their thread itself.
If you have questions about deck choices, recommendations for cuts or inclusions, or even just compliments about a job well done, please follow the link to where the deck is posted and leave your comments for them there. Everyone listing decks here is encouraging feedback and would be ecstatic to hear from you. Additionally, if the deck of the week isn't enough to satiate your desire to discuss decks, the list at the bottom of this post is all decks where your feedback would be welcomed.
Just, as a personal request from me, try to maintain situational awareness when you make recommendations. The competitive duel commander deck doesn't want Scrambleverse, the 75% deck didn't just forget about Mana Drain, and nobody will ever respond "Thank you so much! I've never heard of Sol Ring before!". No suggestion is a bad suggestion, but think about what answer you're likely to get before making one. How do you get your decks into the Random Deck of the Week
First, you need to meet just a few requirements:
You need a link to your list. I can't take stray decklists as submissions, so you need a url to link to.
Your decklist must be a 100 card Commander deck, including the commander(s). If you're playing with a different banlist than the standard one, please note that in the linked page.
You genuinely want feedback. Not all feedback is good, not all good feedback is productive, and not all productive feedback may seem kind. If you want to have people talking about your deck, go in with the mindset that all comments are welcome.
That's it! If you've got a handle on those and you have decks you would like to have a chance at Random Deck of the Week, just submit the links to your decks, I'll pull out your username and deck titles from there. There are two ways you can get your decks to me.
Message me the list of links you want to add to the pool, using the "send message" button when you click my name.
Comment them in this thread, but I'd like it to be done a specific way: have the decks you want added contained within a spoiler. If you don't know how to do that, your post should look something like this:
[spoiler]
Links to your decks
[/spoiler]
That way, the deck links don't take up too much space in the thread. And since you're already leaving a reply at that point, you may as well comment on the current Deck of the Week with the same post!
Thank you to everyone sharing their decks here, and thank you to everyone sharing your experiences here. I hope this thread is both fun and enlightening. All the Random Decks of the Week, both past and future
An evasive ninja-tribal deck with a focus on top of library manipulation and large cmc spells (though not necessarily in the way you might expect).
With regards to this thread, all suggestions to improve the thread itself are certainly welcome. And of course, submit away. The deeper the pool of decks gets, the more random it's going to feel.
oooh.. Man, i dunno what i'd be suggesting for that yuriko deck, to be honest. I've had it played against me in legacy (with enlightened tutor/draco as the wincon) and in EDH, but to be honest, the only card i've seen used in the EDH games that i've not seen in this list is doomsday. It leads to really boring games though, but it's basically a win with beacon of tomorrows/nexus of fate.
Isn't a week a bit too long? I think most of what people want to say can be said in one or two days. Maybe three days would be good because then the op gets to read replies and respond if they are active.
Looks like a rather serious take on Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow. Still, some of the interactions look really fun, especially the inclusion of Insidious Dreams.
Only card i was wondering about was Mox Amber with just 3 legendary creatures and 0 planeswalkers included.
p.s. A friend of mine has a lot more casual Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow list, that's a blast to play against, actually. It's slower, packs Coastal Piracy, Bident of Thassa and dozens of weenies to turn them into Ninjas. It can be shaky at times if he doesn't hit any of the creature type spenders, but that's just how it is with rather smaller tribes.
I would play Dire Undercurrents....
I think Far // Away is really good.. you always need some edicts.
I feel like I want something that can repeatedly return a creature to my hand. Sometimes looping Baleful Strix with a ninja over and over again will be the best bet. There is a Cavern Harpy.. but what about Equilibrium? You can use it to control the board or to generate more value with your ninjas. I also like Faerie Impostor and Quickling.
Isn't a week a bit too long? I think most of what people want to say can be said in one or two days. Maybe three days would be good because then the op gets to read replies and respond if they are active.
We'll figure that out together! I can speed it up or slow it down however suits us best. Consider this the prototype phase.
With regards to the actual deck of the week:
I have never built a Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow deck, but back when they released the planeschase ninjas I did build a ninja deck, so I have some experience there, and the biggest thing I would tell people from that is that Sakashima's Student is a messed up card. The way ninjutsu works, you can activate it any point after blockers are declared as many times as you see fit, and usually ninjas only care about who does the damage, but Sakashima's Student can copy anything. So you can do something like ninja in the Student as a copy of Baleful Strix, draw a card, then ninja it out with a Skullsnatcher, as sort of a "1UB: draw a card" engine. Also, this list has Cloud of Fairies, so it can actually theoretically go infinite this way paying 1BU to untap two lands if one of those lands is is Lost Vale, which makes infinite mana and infinite etbs from any creature in play. If I were building this deck, I'd probably include something that triggers when a creature enters or leaves the battlefield, just for the purpose of spamming Sakashima's Student, but you don't even have to spam to get that sort of value. Because you can activate ninjutsu both before and after combat damage, you can actually do things like connect with Higure, the Still Wind, tutor out a ninja, then ninja that in place of Higure to hide Higure from wraths, and if the card you find is Sakashima's Student, you can have it enter as a Spellseeker for that extra little bit of value.
I enjoyed looking at this list how the high CMC spells are incorporated. There's plenty of opportunity for Yuriko to hit everyone for 7+ life loss, but the most you actually have to pay for the spells is like 5 because of cost reducing abilities and split cards. I should have guessed it before looking at the list because I'm currently playing with Azor's Gateway in a deck with a couple split cards and am taking advantage of the combined cmc there. It's defintely a compelling way to get credit for high costs without actually paying any, it's just a shame that most of the cards in the game that reward you for having high converted mana costs only care about permanents in play, and there aren't any split permanents (yet).
I have played against a Yuriko deck a few times (the same deck every time), and the counter-intuitive thing is that killing Yuriko is often a bad idea. She can just drop back in attacking and unblocked. If you want to stop the trigger, it can be better to leave Yuriko alone and block her with something with less than 3 power (like Zedruu!), cause you can't ninjutsu if you're stuck in play. Of course, that opponent was playing sort of a permission deck using Yuriko as both a clock and a card draw engine and didn't really care about ninjas, so my plan to counter that deck doesn't really apply here, she'd just trigger off other ninjas instead. Clearly, the correct answer is Plow Under, I can't imagine that not making Yuriko cry a little.
And if I had to pick out one card in here I wish I'd known about when I was playing ninjas, it'd be Thalakos Seer. It's basically unblockable AND has a leaves the battlefield trigger rather than a death trigger, which is not common on cards that old. It's almost like it was made for ninjas that didn't exist yet.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
Mox Amber is pretty reliable with a commander that essentially always costs 2 mana and is counterproductive to kill.
Yuriko decks in general still very much have no clear consensus on what card setup is optimal. For example, there is no consensus as to whether 1 mana unblockables or two mana owls are better for the deck, although competitive builds lean toward the owls.
Nonetheless, I have found 3 points that make building this deck actually very restrictive.
1) Too many lands will sink your deck. There is very much a randomness factor that will cause you to lose games if you are forced to blind flip too often. This means in these types of decks it is often correct to opt for one fewer land than needed rather than one more.
2) High printed cmcs. Find every trick out there to use alternative costs to your advantage.
3) Low functional cmcsa. Ninjutsu and playing enablers will often cost most of your mana on certain turns and you will want to account for it.
Symmetrical hate cards are actually very easy to bypass with this deck, hence the competitive builds actually being stax builds. Effectiveness of them is unknown.
One thing I found randomly interesting about Yuriko and a lot of the other ninja cards is that they all appear to be striking the same kind of pose in their artwork. Moving on...
This deck looks really solid. Insidious Dreams is an inspirational card that I need to try out myself.
About plushpenguin's Yuriko: I've been dunked by a buddy of mine that plays his Yuriko deck every once in a while. Would Sublime Exaltation be good? I figure you have redundancy in your weenies, and it'd be a good hit for Yuriko.
Outcryqq: Roon of the Hidden Realm (Primer), link here
Outcryqq: Lord of Tresserhorn (Primer), link here
Outcryqq: 5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits), link here
I've had a look over this deck before, and I was impressed then, nothing has changed. It seems a really strong build that plays right into it's Commander's strengths. I've played Yuri a few times before, but probably not a deck this well configured, and I'd imagine it puts the table on a really short clock. Regardless, Yuri is strong, and I suspect I would struggle to compete against this build.
Honestly I don't really have any specific suggestions for the deck, it seems to have the best of library manipulators available to it already. Ancestral Knowledge could be cute, but there seems plenty of library manipulation anyway and Scroll Rack does just nicely anyway.
The deck looks really interesting.
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
The deck looks really interesting.
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
Good question. The changeling is a 1cmc ninja that can grant evasion to itself via another creature, even if that other creature has summoning sickness.
I can't say for certain what card was meant by Sublime Exaltation, but as it turns out, every card released with Sublime or Exaltation in the name is white (at least for the moment).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
I can't say for certain what card was meant by Sublime Exaltation, but as it turns out, every card released with Sublime or Exaltation in the name is white (at least for the moment).
My guess is it's Coastal Breach, the closest equivalent.
Sort of an ode to colorless, a deck that was posted explicitly with the creation of this thread! (What are the chances!? Actually not that low... like 1-in-30. That's higher than most of the called shots in Magic. If you'd like the chances of any given deck being picked to go down, you know what to do.) If you'd like to cast Planar Bridge to untap your 7/7 for 4, here's a deck for you.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
You haven't lived until you've Bridged up a DS Forge in response to removal. But this is just another reason why you should never let the Bridge stick.
I'm honoured to get Traxos picked! I'm only on the second iteration of the deck and still trying to find it's footing, so eager to hear others ideas on its maximum potential!
I kid. Damn, I googled the guy you based the deck on. He's a monster.
I've always liked Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. As a card, and also because he looks a lot like the siege hammer Grond, from LOTR at the siege of Minas Tirith. There's a vorthos deck there if you squint hard enough, I'm sure of it.
Not sure if I understand why Thran Turbine is in the deck tbh. What are you using that mana for during your upkeep? I'm fairly certain with the stupid amount of mana you can churn out here, there's bound to be potential for straight up combo as an alternative. I'd think Cloudstone Curio and Aetherflux Reservoir could storm you out. But that doesn't seem like where you're going with this one.
How would Scarecrone work in here? Not sure how much removal you're seeing, could be a decent add though. Otherwise, not sure what I have to suggest, it's been a while since I built brown, and I don't have the same staples you do. What sort of problems are you coming across in the build or in your meta? That might help point me in the direction of what I can help to suggest.
Hmm. Finding colorless draw sources is tough. You got 5, which is decent for colorless, but has the ratio so far been giving any problems? I personally have a preference for going for 8-10 when reasonable.
Secondly, you are pretty ramp light for a colorless deck and have multiple cards in the likeness of Planar Portal. Has it been working out for you?
I wouldn't run O-stone in here either. Losing your artifacts puts you too far behind as you rely on them for positional advantage.
Hmm. Finding colorless draw sources is tough. You got 5, which is decent for colorless, but has the ratio so far been giving any problems? I personally have a preference for going for 8-10 when reasonable.
Sandstone Oracle or Kozilek, the Great Distortion could help with burst draw. Both are expensive, but if mana is no object who cares. Kozi could even double as some degree of control with it's third ability. Also, both have evasion, so can do double duty carrying equipment.
Hmm. Finding colorless draw sources is tough. You got 5, which is decent for colorless, but has the ratio so far been giving any problems? I personally have a preference for going for 8-10 when reasonable.
Secondly, you are pretty ramp light for a colorless deck and have multiple cards in the likeness of Planar Portal. Has it been working out for you?
I have ~10 mana sources + 37 lands, which I think is as good a place as any to start with a commander that costs 4. Of course as the deck is still quite young, there will always be room to grow on however. As yo the draw, there's a lot of incidental virtual CA hidden in there as well (a signature of mine) such as glaciers + rings of brighthearth. I suspect Endless Atlas might be the best for the deck however.
I kid. Damn, I googled the guy you based the deck on. He's a monster.
I've always liked Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. As a card, and also because he looks a lot like the siege hammer Grond, from LOTR at the siege of Minas Tirith. There's a vorthos deck there if you squint hard enough, I'm sure of it.
Not sure if I understand why Thran Turbine is in the deck tbh. What are you using that mana for during your upkeep? I'm fairly certain with the stupid amount of mana you can churn out here, there's bound to be potential for straight up combo as an alternative. I'd think Cloudstone Curio and Aetherflux Reservoir could storm you out. But that doesn't seem like where you're going with this one.
How would Scarecrone work in here? Not sure how much removal you're seeing, could be a decent add though. Otherwise, not sure what I have to suggest, it's been a while since I built brown, and I don't have the same staples you do. What sort of problems are you coming across in the build or in your meta? That might help point me in the direction of what I can help to suggest.
Yeah man, Brian Cage is a gem of an independent worker. How Vince McMahon had him and then released him is a mystery, but hey, more revenue chances for the smaller places. He's great.
You might be looking at the first iteration (in the spoiler) because the second doesn't use turbine. I like it, and I'll miss it, but its mostly just supplemental. It was better when I still had glaciers, top, and four "fetch" lands in there which ultimately were just a bit too slow.
You realize cloudstone curio is specifically not for this deck right? Non-artifact. Pesky, pesky. I did consider Erratic Portal for a long time though, and it may end up in the final polished version.
Why do I forget Scarecrone? Every. Single. Time. Though he is kinda duplicated by Trading Post, that's a kind of overlap I'm A-Ok with having. I'm gonna need to buy one...which means I'm gonna buy a $14 4drop 1/2. -_-
You realize cloudstone curio is specifically not for this deck right? Non-artifact. Pesky, pesky. I did consider Erratic Portal for a long time though, and it may end up in the final polished version.
I swear, I forget about that wording every time I think of Curio. I've read and forgotten that clause so many times.
Glad to have added to your buy list though Scarecrone is great value, it's worth dropping a little coin on.
I dunno what to say about that list, really; it looks kinda complete as it is.
I've been wanting to save up for a playset of workshops to build vintage, but i could buy a car or house or something for that kinda cash!
I got it ages ago before it hit $700. Hardly used it but knew "one day..." now I could sell it for $2k...but, like, I have it. Kinda don't want to part with it.
Yea, it's one of those "great in the specific niche" sort of cards that happens to suffer because it exists on the reserved list (and it's a named card, so it makes it harder to reprint anyways).
But yea honestly, i don't see any major missing pieces for that deck.. i imagine that it'd completely crush all of my decks (aside from possibly the blind seer, since i can do weird things with colours). But yea, Me likey!
Welcome to the Random Deck of the Week thread! This is a thread where once a week a deck is chosen randomly from the pool of submissions for us all to discuss at length, or at least until the next deck's turn. This week's deck is:
What sort of comments should you leave here?
Mostly you should just be speaking about your own experience: what commentary you can make is going to depend on what your personal experience is. If you're not sure what to say, here are some questions you could answer:
Should you leave comments or questions for the deckbuilder?
Absolutely, 100%, but probably not here. I hope that people see when their deck's been picked and involve themselves here over the course of their week, but there's no guarantee of that. There's no better place to discuss a deck with its builder than in their thread itself.
If you have questions about deck choices, recommendations for cuts or inclusions, or even just compliments about a job well done, please follow the link to where the deck is posted and leave your comments for them there. Everyone listing decks here is encouraging feedback and would be ecstatic to hear from you. Additionally, if the deck of the week isn't enough to satiate your desire to discuss decks, the list at the bottom of this post is all decks where your feedback would be welcomed.
Just, as a personal request from me, try to maintain situational awareness when you make recommendations. The competitive duel commander deck doesn't want Scrambleverse, the 75% deck didn't just forget about Mana Drain, and nobody will ever respond "Thank you so much! I've never heard of Sol Ring before!". No suggestion is a bad suggestion, but think about what answer you're likely to get before making one.
How do you get your decks into the Random Deck of the Week
First, you need to meet just a few requirements:
That way, the deck links don't take up too much space in the thread. And since you're already leaving a reply at that point, you may as well comment on the current Deck of the Week with the same post!
Thank you to everyone sharing their decks here, and thank you to everyone sharing your experiences here. I hope this thread is both fun and enlightening.
All the Random Decks of the Week, both past and future
3drinks: Definitive Kaalia of the Vast 1v1 Primer
3drinks: Alesha Who Smiles at Slivers
3drinks: Dumb Green Goreclaw Things (1v1)
3drinks: [Oathbreaker] Sarkhan, Fireblood w/ Volt Charge
Dragonlover: Lathliss, Dragon Queen
Dragonlover: Ramos. Dragon Engine Alt Wincons
Dragonlover: Ruhan of the Formiri... Pillowfort?
Dragonlover: Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
dragonlover: Storrev, Devkarin Lich
GloriousGoose: Erebos, God of the Dead - Danse Macabre
JqlGirl: Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle - Do Not Disturb
JqlGirl: Rakdos, the Showstopper's Earthshaking Extravaganza
JqlGirl: Angus Mackenzie - Fog of War
JqlGirl: Ashling the Pilgrim - Equipment and Blowing up the World
materpiller: Damia, Non-Infinite Storm
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt: Lazav, the Multifarious [Shapeshifting] [Wheels]
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt: Kambal, Consul of Allocation [Drain] [Gain]
OCPunisher: The Scarab God
OCPunisher: Rakdos, Lord of Fatties
OCPunisher: Raff Capashen, Flash Like It Oughtta Be...
Outcryqq: Lord of Tresserhorn (Primer)
Outcryqq: 5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
plushpenguin: Xenagos, the God of Double Damage Beatdown
plushpenguin: The Gitrog Monster - Non-combo Infinite Value
plushpenguin: Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots EDH Affinity
rogerandover: Hazezon Tamar - Cycling Through the Dunes of Sand
toctheyounger77: Nissa's Spanish Inquisition!
toctheyounger77: Dralnu, Lich Lord - Control & Reanimation
toctheyounger77: Zedruu the Greathearted - I give you the gift of chaos
toctheyounger77: Edgar Markov - Low Cost, High Efficiency
tstorm823: Zedruu the Greatest Of All Time
tstorm823: Bruse and Thrasios, Banding Buddies
WizardMN: Ephara, God of the Polis
WizardMN: Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
WizardMN: Karametra, God of Harvests - All the Creatures
WizardMN: Mowu, Loyal Companion
WizardMN: Nicol Bolas, the Ravager - Superfriends
WizardMN: Niv-Mizzet Parun
plushpenguin: Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow: Your 2 mana Hydra Omnivore
3drinks: Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - he's not a man, HE'S A MACHINE!
toctheyounger77: Varina, Lich Queen - Esper Zombie Midrange
materpillar: Progenitus, All Hail Laboratory Maniac
JqlGirl: Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign - Sphinx Storm
Dragonlover: Mono-White Mono-Legends: No fixed Commander (but it might be a dragon sometimes)
tstorm823: Olivia- Hasty Reanimator
rogerandover: Look ma, no hands! - Erebos, creatureless control
BaronCappuccino: Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder: Aristocrats, Big Mana & Combo
OCPunisher: Yeva Flash
Outcryqq: Roon of the Hidden Realm (Primer)
toctheyounger77: Glissa, the Traitor - midrange Birthing Pod toolbox build
WizardMN: Teysa Karlov - Aristocrats
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt: Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist [Fatties] [Combat Tricks]
OCPunisher: Raff Capashen, Flash Like It Oughtta Be...
materpillar: The Ur-Dragon 14 Card Changeling Combo
Hazzenko: From the Shadows Comes the Haunt of Hightower
Pokken: Ephara, God of the Polis - Flash Hatebears
3drinks: Edgar Markov Swarmpires Contamination
WizardMN: Karador, Ghost Chieftain - War of Attrition
Zahrim: Savra, Queen of Split Personalities
rogerandover: Nissa- Mono Green Control
Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow: Your 2 mana Hydra Omnivore (that draws you cards) by plushpenguin
An evasive ninja-tribal deck with a focus on top of library manipulation and large cmc spells (though not necessarily in the way you might expect).
With regards to this thread, all suggestions to improve the thread itself are certainly welcome. And of course, submit away. The deeper the pool of decks gets, the more random it's going to feel.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Only card i was wondering about was Mox Amber with just 3 legendary creatures and 0 planeswalkers included.
p.s. A friend of mine has a lot more casual Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow list, that's a blast to play against, actually. It's slower, packs Coastal Piracy, Bident of Thassa and dozens of weenies to turn them into Ninjas. It can be shaky at times if he doesn't hit any of the creature type spenders, but that's just how it is with rather smaller tribes.
I would play Dire Undercurrents....
I think Far // Away is really good.. you always need some edicts.
I feel like I want something that can repeatedly return a creature to my hand. Sometimes looping Baleful Strix with a ninja over and over again will be the best bet. There is a Cavern Harpy.. but what about Equilibrium? You can use it to control the board or to generate more value with your ninjas. I also like Faerie Impostor and Quickling.
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
We'll figure that out together! I can speed it up or slow it down however suits us best. Consider this the prototype phase.
With regards to the actual deck of the week:
I have never built a Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow deck, but back when they released the planeschase ninjas I did build a ninja deck, so I have some experience there, and the biggest thing I would tell people from that is that Sakashima's Student is a messed up card. The way ninjutsu works, you can activate it any point after blockers are declared as many times as you see fit, and usually ninjas only care about who does the damage, but Sakashima's Student can copy anything. So you can do something like ninja in the Student as a copy of Baleful Strix, draw a card, then ninja it out with a Skullsnatcher, as sort of a "1UB: draw a card" engine. Also, this list has Cloud of Fairies, so it can actually theoretically go infinite this way paying 1BU to untap two lands if one of those lands is is Lost Vale, which makes infinite mana and infinite etbs from any creature in play. If I were building this deck, I'd probably include something that triggers when a creature enters or leaves the battlefield, just for the purpose of spamming Sakashima's Student, but you don't even have to spam to get that sort of value. Because you can activate ninjutsu both before and after combat damage, you can actually do things like connect with Higure, the Still Wind, tutor out a ninja, then ninja that in place of Higure to hide Higure from wraths, and if the card you find is Sakashima's Student, you can have it enter as a Spellseeker for that extra little bit of value.
I enjoyed looking at this list how the high CMC spells are incorporated. There's plenty of opportunity for Yuriko to hit everyone for 7+ life loss, but the most you actually have to pay for the spells is like 5 because of cost reducing abilities and split cards. I should have guessed it before looking at the list because I'm currently playing with Azor's Gateway in a deck with a couple split cards and am taking advantage of the combined cmc there. It's defintely a compelling way to get credit for high costs without actually paying any, it's just a shame that most of the cards in the game that reward you for having high converted mana costs only care about permanents in play, and there aren't any split permanents (yet).
I have played against a Yuriko deck a few times (the same deck every time), and the counter-intuitive thing is that killing Yuriko is often a bad idea. She can just drop back in attacking and unblocked. If you want to stop the trigger, it can be better to leave Yuriko alone and block her with something with less than 3 power (like Zedruu!), cause you can't ninjutsu if you're stuck in play. Of course, that opponent was playing sort of a permission deck using Yuriko as both a clock and a card draw engine and didn't really care about ninjas, so my plan to counter that deck doesn't really apply here, she'd just trigger off other ninjas instead. Clearly, the correct answer is Plow Under, I can't imagine that not making Yuriko cry a little.
And if I had to pick out one card in here I wish I'd known about when I was playing ninjas, it'd be Thalakos Seer. It's basically unblockable AND has a leaves the battlefield trigger rather than a death trigger, which is not common on cards that old. It's almost like it was made for ninjas that didn't exist yet.
Yuriko decks in general still very much have no clear consensus on what card setup is optimal. For example, there is no consensus as to whether 1 mana unblockables or two mana owls are better for the deck, although competitive builds lean toward the owls.
Nonetheless, I have found 3 points that make building this deck actually very restrictive.
1) Too many lands will sink your deck. There is very much a randomness factor that will cause you to lose games if you are forced to blind flip too often. This means in these types of decks it is often correct to opt for one fewer land than needed rather than one more.
2) High printed cmcs. Find every trick out there to use alternative costs to your advantage.
3) Low functional cmcsa. Ninjutsu and playing enablers will often cost most of your mana on certain turns and you will want to account for it.
Symmetrical hate cards are actually very easy to bypass with this deck, hence the competitive builds actually being stax builds. Effectiveness of them is unknown.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
This deck looks really solid. Insidious Dreams is an inspirational card that I need to try out myself.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Outcryqq: Roon of the Hidden Realm (Primer), link here
Outcryqq: Lord of Tresserhorn (Primer), link here
Outcryqq: 5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits), link here
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsHonestly I don't really have any specific suggestions for the deck, it seems to have the best of library manipulators available to it already. Ancestral Knowledge could be cute, but there seems plenty of library manipulation anyway and Scroll Rack does just nicely anyway.
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
Good question. The changeling is a 1cmc ninja that can grant evasion to itself via another creature, even if that other creature has summoning sickness.
It also sends in Yuriko on turn 2. Very good.
Also on Sublime Exhalation, isn't that a white card?
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
I can't say for certain what card was meant by Sublime Exaltation, but as it turns out, every card released with Sublime or Exaltation in the name is white (at least for the moment).
My guess is it's Coastal Breach, the closest equivalent.
The second random deck goes to 3drinks: Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - he's not a man, HE'S A MACHINE!
Sort of an ode to colorless, a deck that was posted explicitly with the creation of this thread! (What are the chances!? Actually not that low... like 1-in-30. That's higher than most of the called shots in Magic. If you'd like the chances of any given deck being picked to go down, you know what to do.) If you'd like to cast Planar Bridge to untap your 7/7 for 4, here's a deck for you.
You haven't lived until you've Bridged up a DS Forge in response to removal. But this is just another reason why you should never let the Bridge stick.
I'm honoured to get Traxos picked! I'm only on the second iteration of the deck and still trying to find it's footing, so eager to hear others ideas on its maximum potential!
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I kid. Damn, I googled the guy you based the deck on. He's a monster.
I've always liked Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. As a card, and also because he looks a lot like the siege hammer Grond, from LOTR at the siege of Minas Tirith. There's a vorthos deck there if you squint hard enough, I'm sure of it.
Not sure if I understand why Thran Turbine is in the deck tbh. What are you using that mana for during your upkeep? I'm fairly certain with the stupid amount of mana you can churn out here, there's bound to be potential for straight up combo as an alternative. I'd think Cloudstone Curio and Aetherflux Reservoir could storm you out. But that doesn't seem like where you're going with this one.
How would Scarecrone work in here? Not sure how much removal you're seeing, could be a decent add though. Otherwise, not sure what I have to suggest, it's been a while since I built brown, and I don't have the same staples you do. What sort of problems are you coming across in the build or in your meta? That might help point me in the direction of what I can help to suggest.
Secondly, you are pretty ramp light for a colorless deck and have multiple cards in the likeness of Planar Portal. Has it been working out for you?
I wouldn't run O-stone in here either. Losing your artifacts puts you too far behind as you rely on them for positional advantage.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Sandstone Oracle or Kozilek, the Great Distortion could help with burst draw. Both are expensive, but if mana is no object who cares. Kozi could even double as some degree of control with it's third ability. Also, both have evasion, so can do double duty carrying equipment.
I have ~10 mana sources + 37 lands, which I think is as good a place as any to start with a commander that costs 4. Of course as the deck is still quite young, there will always be room to grow on however. As yo the draw, there's a lot of incidental virtual CA hidden in there as well (a signature of mine) such as glaciers + rings of brighthearth. I suspect Endless Atlas might be the best for the deck however.
Yeah man, Brian Cage is a gem of an independent worker. How Vince McMahon had him and then released him is a mystery, but hey, more revenue chances for the smaller places. He's great.
You might be looking at the first iteration (in the spoiler) because the second doesn't use turbine. I like it, and I'll miss it, but its mostly just supplemental. It was better when I still had glaciers, top, and four "fetch" lands in there which ultimately were just a bit too slow.
You realize cloudstone curio is specifically not for this deck right? Non-artifact. Pesky, pesky. I did consider Erratic Portal for a long time though, and it may end up in the final polished version.
Why do I forget Scarecrone? Every. Single. Time. Though he is kinda duplicated by Trading Post, that's a kind of overlap I'm A-Ok with having. I'm gonna need to buy one...which means I'm gonna buy a $14 4drop 1/2. -_-
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I swear, I forget about that wording every time I think of Curio. I've read and forgotten that clause so many times.
Glad to have added to your buy list though Scarecrone is great value, it's worth dropping a little coin on.
I dunno what to say about that list, really; it looks kinda complete as it is.
I've been wanting to save up for a playset of workshops to build vintage, but i could buy a car or house or something for that kinda cash!
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
I got it ages ago before it hit $700. Hardly used it but knew "one day..." now I could sell it for $2k...but, like, I have it. Kinda don't want to part with it.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Yea, it's one of those "great in the specific niche" sort of cards that happens to suffer because it exists on the reserved list (and it's a named card, so it makes it harder to reprint anyways).
But yea honestly, i don't see any major missing pieces for that deck.. i imagine that it'd completely crush all of my decks (aside from possibly the blind seer, since i can do weird things with colours). But yea, Me likey!
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom