Yorion, Sky Nomad | Art by Steven Belledin

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Recross the Paths, the series that gives commander a typal twist.

Today we're going a tad back in time to rediscover a creature that once was the bane in multiple formats: Yorion, Sky Nomad. While typically being run as a companion in said formats (mainly Standard and Modern), in Commander, Yorion can't be. As per the rules, EDH decks can only have exactly 100 cards, thus making it impossible for us to respect Yorion's companion clause.

Nonetheless, we can still get access to its powerful effect running it as our commander. But, which typal strategy could benefit from this massive blink enter-the-battlefield (ETB) effect? Well, Wizards. In fact, even though they are one of the most popular and numerous creature types, they don't really have the tools to sustain an aggro strategy. In 20-life formats, Wizards often pair up with burn spells to steadily chip away from opponents' life totals. In EDH however, such a strategy would be, in my opinion, unplayable and extremely slow. Instead, I decided to focus on what many Wizards shine at: Value plays. Rather than hitting hard, they can draw us cards, counter spells and mess with our opponents' creatures, netting us enough advantage to get away with the game. In such a shell, Yorion works as a huge engine, allowing us to repeat all of our ETBs.

Stage One: The Deck

Part One: You're a Wizard, Yorion

The most difficult part of playing this deck is getting in the right mindset. Nobody would ever play Faerie Seer, if not in a dedicated Faerie deck, as it has a very limited impact on the board and on the game overall. Yet, the aim of this list is to win the game, a small bit of advantage at a time. On the same note, Deputy of Acquittals really shines in this environment, as it can reset one of our creatures' effects while also protecting it from removal. Such an ability works well with other niche-y pieces, such as Meddling Mage, which is a silver bullet we are looking to reset and replay multiple times to address different incoming problems.

Another class of extremely synergistic Wizards is that with blinking effects stapled on them. It might seem as if Distinguished Conjurer and Mistmeadow Witch offer overpriced effects, but blinking is the true core of this deck and getting access to reliable-and-repeatable sources of this effect really is priceless. Just imagine how well they work with our commander, even more so if there's a Naban, Dean of Iteration on the battlefield!

But, what are the true heavy hitters when it comes to blinking? Well, Spellseeker, Micromancer and Archaeomancer all work pretty well with cards such as Ephemerate. The first two can go fetch it while also working as a suitable target to get even more value out of it. The last one can straight up start a loop in which we always get the instant back to our hand (if you've ever played Pauper, you know for sure).

Other than them, we can rely on other powerful creatures like Tempest Caller, which can both prevent some attacks and open the way for our creatures to deal damage. Or Smirking Spelljacker, a brand new tool that can mess with our opponents' big spells and make sure we get to cast them. Also, Feywild Caretaker introduces the Initiative to the game and can make sure we can always get it back, provided we keep on blinking it.

Part Two: Hello, Goodbye and Hello Again

As it's the center of our strategy, we're more than happy to devote multiple slots on the list to repeatable blinking effects. Some are instant speed effects, such as Cloudshift, Essence Flux and the aforementioned Ephemerate. These spells are extremely useful and powerful, as they can be tutored with some of our creatures and they serve as protection against targeted removal.

We can also take advantage of some creatures that can repeatedly exile and get our Wizards back. Abuelo, Ancestral Echo and Gilraen, Dúnedain Protector both grant us this possibility. The first one can be used multiple times in the same turn, targetting multiple creatures and gaining us a lot of value. The latter can only be activated once per turn cycle, but it can also reward us if we show a bit of patience. Nonetheless, the true star of the show is Soulherder, a true staple of the blue-white-based blink decks, as it is a free and sure way to get your gameplan going.

Lastly, Far Traveler works exquisitely well with Yorion, as blinking our commander also allows us to blink our whole board every turn. Then, Golden Argosy is another interesting way to get multiple ETBs to trigger again all at once, as all the creatures we control can crew it and benefit from its triggered ability. Last but not least, Teleportation Circle and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling are just sweet inclusions that make the deck flow smoothly.

Part Three: The School of Magic

Sadly, there's not a lot of Wizards that care about other Wizards, so we need to build our synergies ourselves. We can count on some staples of typal strategies, such as Herald's Horn, Icon of Ancestry and Vanquisher's Banner to get card draw and some other benefits. The first one reduces the cost of our creatures, while the other two buff their stats.

We can also count on a number of ways to constantly refill our hand and never run out of gas. Distant Melody is a one-shot effect that rewards us whenever we go a bit wider with our board. Robe of the Archmagi is a cheap equipment that we can take advantage of whenever an opponent leaves their shields down. And finally, Kindred Discovery is simply a never-ending source of cards, as it is so easy to trigger it, thus making sure we always have the best 7 cards possible.

Roaming Throne is another absurdly powerful card in this deck. Considering we are looking to trigger our enter-the-battlefield effects as many times as possible, doubling up on them seems like a plan. Step Through is another interesting inclusion: it can provide us with an Archaeomancer which we can than play to retrieve the Step Through. Using a flicker effect, we can easily repeat this process to draw all the Wizards we need to win. Lastly, From the Rubble is a sweet new toy to play with. Getting back creatures with a finality counter on them is pretty powerful, but it is even more powerful if we can remove said counter by flickering them.

Part Four: The Complete Decklist

Stage Two: The Data Room

We're onto the last part of this deck tech: the data room. Was this deck idea actually unique? Let's compare this list against both the average Yorion and the average Wizard deck to see what we gained (and lost) in the process.

Step One: The Average Yorion Deck

Yorion isn't really a beloved commander. It only ranks 588^th overall in terms of popularity, with 1925 decks registered on EDHREC. This also ranks it as the 22^nd most built Azorius commander. Given that most of the decks it leads are blink-oriented, let's see how popular our inclusions in this department are.

The graph is extremely clear in showcasing the trends with blink cards in these decks. People are extremely conservative with their choices, sticking to cards that have already proved their effectiveness. In such category we can highlight Ephemerate, Soulherder and Teleportation Circle, three cards that synergize perfectly with what the deck wants to do and people know work well.

From this point on the fall is pretty steep. This involves some newer cards, such as Gilraen, Dúnedain Protector, Another Round and Getaway Glamer, which need time and playtest experience to really understand if they are worth playing or not. Combining this characteristic with how not-popular Yorion is as a commander, we can easily understand why changes in the cards included might take some more time to show up.

What surprised me the most was seeing Mistmeadow Witch, Far Traveler and Hallowed Respite all seeing so little play. While I can understand how the last one might result too redundant, I really cannot wrap my hear around the other two. Both work as an effective way to keep on blinking Yorion, which also means keeping on blinking your whole board. Considering how commander-centric these decks are expected to be, I really can't imagine why Far Traveler gets so little interest.

Step Two: The Average Wizard Deck

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is the most popular Wizard commander, with 6385 decks registered on EDHREC. Let's see how popular our inclusions were compared to the most played ones.

There aren't many surprises coming from this graph. Keeping in mind that Inalla is the oldest Wizard commander, I think it's pretty normal to see staples of this typal strategy among the most played cards. Naban, Dean of Iteration, Archaeomancer and Azami, Lady of Scrolls are all true cornerstones of this creature type: it's only normal to see them shine in such an environment.

The most shocking percentage belongs to Aether Channeler for sure. I didn't expect such a recent card to see so much play but I get that the utility it provides is something to keep in mind. Also, it creates infinite loops with Displacer Kitten and this becomes extremely relevant when considering a cEDH-type commander such as Inalla.

Takeaways From Today's Article

Wizards are a peculiar typal strategy to play with. Normally, when building these decks, I'm looking for powerful lord effects, ways to pump the whole team's stats and effects that chain with one another. Instead, in this specific scenario, I found myself only caring about generating value. I wanted to find the creatures that could grant card draw, interactions or generate some kind of loop. It was strange and extremely fun at the same time not to be looking for ways to win through combat. Nonetheless, some more firepower on the offensive side could be really appreciated. The risk of running out of gas and/or being overwhlmed is always dangerously lingering around our games with this deck;
Yorion is criminally overlooked as a commander. While it's a tad on the pricey side, 5 mana is worth the investment in this case. When built correctly, it's able to produce an amount of value and advantage that will leave our opponents miles behind. What I suggest is to shape this list according to the environment you're expecting to play in. This means, for example, that you might want to add some more interactions, counterspells and removals if you know you'll play against creature heavy/fast decks. Instead, if your local meta is slower, then you'll most likely get enough time to set up one of your engine and get going from there;
All in all, I think this was a pretty good innovative list. The pool of available and, most importantly, playable Wizards is extremely deep and there are always new creatures to discover. When dealing with such creature-heavy lists, I always reccomend reviewing that compartment depending on your personal taste. Given the amount of options at your disposal, it wouldn't be wise to stick with creatures that don't mirror your playstyle or that don't share the direction you are going down with your personal build. While I tried to highlight some less played Wizards I personally would enjoy playing, I think you should be the one deciding whether they deserve to be in the list or not. Feel free to make changes and let me know what path you chose for this deck!

That’s all from me for the moment. I hope you enjoyed this deck tech, but now it’s onto you: What do you think of it? Would you have changed anything? Or there’s something you particularly liked? Most importantly, do you believe this was a true innovation? Let me know in the comments below!

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