Shao JunShao Jun | Art by Stephen Stark

Despite the set being over a year old now, I hadn't really engaged with the cards from the Assassin's Creed set until recently. Once I did, I discovered an astonishing number of really compelling legends going through the set, and somewhere along the way Shao JunShao Jun ended up becoming my go-to Bracket 4 (Optimized) deck. In this deck tech, I'm going to show off my build of Shao Jun.

What Does Shao Jun Do?

Shao JunShao Jun is a three-mana 3/3 that has flying and first strike during her controller's turn. She also has an activated ability that taps two artifacts to deal one damage to each opponent. At face value, this is a touch underwhelming. However, Shao Jun is perfectly positioned to take advantage of my favorite blue cards in Commander: CuriosityCuriosity effects! With a Curiosity attached, Shao Jun can tap two artifacts to draw three cards. Once set up, this Shao Jun deck is effectively going to be slamming multiple Ancestral RecallAncestral Recalls every turn cycle!

Key Cards for Shao Jun

Curiosities

CuriosityCuriosity effects are the lifeblood of this Shao JunShao Jun deck. During mulligans and in the early turns, I prioritize finding one of these three cards above all else. Once Shao Jun and a Curiosity effect have been established, the rest of the game tends to sort itself out. The deck's suite of counterspells are primarily used to keep Shao Jun in play and to keep drawing cards.

Not all of the Curiosity effects are built the same: both Ophidian EyeOphidian Eye and Curiosity have optional effects that say "you may draw a card", while Tandem LookoutTandem Lookout's trigger is not optional. In the later stages of a game where Shao Jun is being activated over and over again or even infinitely, this is important to keep that in mind; no one wants to inadvertently deck out while going off.

It's been established that Shao Jun plus Curiosity and two artifacts equals Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall, which is very powerful on its own! But what if that could be pushed a little further?

Unwinding ClockUnwinding Clock untaps all artifacts during each opponent's untap step, which changes the equation a little bit. Adding Unwinding Clock takes it from one Ancestral Recall per turn cycle to four; that's twelve cards per turn cycle per group of two artifacts in play. With four artifacts in play, that doubles to 24 cards to draw per turn. With card draw like this, who needs Rhystic StudyRhystic Study?

Producing Artifacts

Shao Jun needs a lot of artifacts in play to take full advantage of her activated ability. Token-generators, like Pinnacle EmissaryPinnacle Emissary, Third Path IconoclastThird Path Iconoclast, and Sai, Master ThopteristSai, Master Thopterist, all provide an additional artifact whenever an artifact or noncreature spell is cast. Shao Jun is really asking for artifacts to come in groups of at least two, and these creatures all make that happen!

Alongside token-generators, this deck has a very high density of low-cost artifacts. More often than not, the text on these artifacts winds up being irrelevant: if it can be cast cheaply, it triggers a token-generator, and it can be tapped to activate Shao Jun, it fits! Because of this dynamic, the early turns play out similarly to Modern Affinity decks.

Slowing Down the Opponents

This is a Bracket 4 (Optimized) deck, which means there's nothing preventing me from including mass mana denial cards, like Winter OrbWinter Orb and Blood MoonBlood Moon. Shao Jun is definitely aiming to play at tables where these cards are necessary evils to keep incredibly powerful three-, four-, and five-color decks with greedy mana bases off-balance while Shao Jun is setting up. In order to accommodate Blood Moon and Harbinger of the SeasHarbinger of the Seas, I've included a whopping 13 basic lands alongside 8 fetch lands to ensure that these effects only hinder the opponents.

A fun thing to keep in mind when piloting decks that include both Blood MoonBlood Moon effects and Urza's SagaUrza's Saga is that, due to the Sagas rule change that happened ahead of the release of Final Fantasy, Blood Moon no longer sends Urza's Saga to the graveyard. Instead, Urza's Saga will keep the abilities that have been granted to it by its chapter abilities and it will not gain any more lore counters at the beginning of each main phase.

For example, an Urza's Saga that has reached its second chapter and gained the ability to make Construct tokens will retain that ability with Blood Moon in play and won't ever receive its third lore counter. That means the player that controls Urza's Saga will just have a Construct token factory in play until the Blood Moon is removed. Layers are fun!

Winter OrbWinter Orb in particular has a very strong synergy with Shao Jun, as Winter Orb can be tapped with Shao Jun's activated ability on the end step before her controller's turn to ensure that each opponent only gets to untap one land per turn and the Shao Jun player is totally unaffected. This is the same trick that Urza, Lord High ArtificerUrza, Lord High Artificer decks have been using to create salty opponents since his release in Modern Horizons.

How Does this Shao Jun Deck Win the Game?

The most straightforward way to win a game with Shao JunShao Jun is by infinitely untapping artifacts with Dramatic ReversalDramatic Reversal and Isochron ScepterIsochron Scepter to deal infinite damage to each opponent with her activated ability. With the deck's high card velocity and robust suite of tutors, this combo isn't very difficult to assemble, and the only other requirement is having at least two other artifacts in play to tap with Shao Jun.

Because of Shao Jun's built-in evasion, this deck is also able to pull commander damage wins out of nowhere. Proft's Eidetic MemoryProft's Eidetic Memory and Adaptive OmnitoolAdaptive Omnitool can turn Shao Jun into a lethal threat in an instant. In a four-player game, one combat step isn't quite enough to get a game over with, which is where Nexus of FateNexus of Fate comes in. Due to the potent card draw engine of Shao Jun and Curiosity effects, looping Nexus of Fate by simply drawing a million cards on each turn is not an uncommon win condition. This, in addition to Last ChanceLast Chance and Alchemist's GambitAlchemist's Gambit, should provide enough additional combat steps to get the job done.

The last win condition to keep in mind when piloting this deck is making infinite mana with Forensic GadgeteerForensic Gadgeteer and Basalt MonolithBasalt Monolith, then using it to make infinite tokens with Retrofitter FoundryRetrofitter Foundry. This is a combo ripped right from the Vintage Cube, and I love it! I've yet to pull this one off, as it's the highest effort combo and the deck and the other win conditions often present themselves before this one. However, the best thing about this one is that each of these cards are useful to Shao Jun's game plan by themselves!

Shao Jun Commander Decklist

Conclusion

The Hardest Question for Shao Jun to Answer

Unfortunately, at the highest power levels of Commander, every Izzet commander has to answer the question: "Why not just play Vivi?" It's true. Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier can do everything that Shao JunShao Jun can while also single-handedly generating millions of mana while not being forced to focus on artifacts. However, after playing a few games with Vivi, I can safely say that Vivi is also the least fun Izzet commander I have ever played. He's incredibly high power, but not particularly high fun. I tend to prefer decks where the commander is asking me to solve a problem for them in order to unlock their potential, and Shao Jun asks me more interesting questions than Vivi. That's really the only argument I can make for Shao Jun. It's enough for me, but that's only because winning isn't the only thing I'm optimizing for when approaching Commander as a format.

Any player, like myself, who enjoys drawing lots of cards, utilizing artifact synergies, and navigating long, complicated turns will love this Shao Jun deck. The only caveat is that I'd only recommend my build of Shao Jun to players who can find a Bracket 4 (Optimized) table to play the deck at. Key cards for Shao Jun, like Winter OrbWinter Orb, simply won't be well received at lower power tables, so I'd recommend looking at other approaches to this commander for those tables.