Commander Collection: Storm Runner

Commander / EDH Bracket 4 Prowess RUW (Jeskai, America) Tokens

Jurrane

Land (37)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Inspiring Vantage
• 3x Island
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 4x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Raugrin Triome P
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Riverpyre Verge
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn P
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Spectator Seating
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunbillow Verge

Tutors (5)

• 1x Enlightened TutorGC
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Mystical TutorGC
• 1x Open the Armory

Token Generators (13)

• 1x Ainok Strike Leader
• 1x Call the Coppercoats
• 1x Divine Visitation
• 1x Dragon Fodder
• 1x Entrapment Maneuver
• 1x Krenko's Command
• 1x Midnight Haunting
• 1x Monastery Mentor
• 1x Raise the Alarm
• 1x Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 1x Servo Exhibition
• 1x Third Path Iconoclast
• 1x Will of the Mardu

Direct Damage Sources (7)

• 1x Agate Instigator
• 1x Impact Tremors
• 1x Molten Gatekeeper
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Vivi Ornitier
• 1x Warleader's Call
• 1x Witty Roastmaster

Removal (7)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Excise the Imperfect
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Token Doublers (5)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Elspeth, Storm Slayer
• 1x Exalted Sunborn
• 1x Harmonic Prodigy
• 1x Mondrak, Glory Dominus

Protection (1)

• 1x Teferi's Protection PGC

Commander (1)

Card Draw (10)

• 1x Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
• 1x Curiosity Crafter
• 1x Idol of Oblivion
• 1x Jeskai Ascendancy
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study PGC
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Tocasia's Welcome
• 1x Welcoming Vampire
• 1x Whirlwind of Thought

Countermagic (5)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Fierce GuardianshipGC
• 1x Force of Negation P
• 1x Mana Drain

Ramp (5)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Battle Hymn
• 1x Jeska's Will PGC
• 1x Smothering TitheGC
• 1x Sol Ring

Splinter Twin Combo (4)

• 1x Deceiver Exarch
• 1x Pestermite
• 1x Splinter Twin
• 1x Village Bell-Ringer

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{W}{U}{R} Introduction: Token Effort {W}{U}{R}

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Welcome to my primer for a Jeskai Tokens deck in EDH, with Kykar, Wind's Fury as its Commander.

Of all my EDH decks, this is the one that’s gone through the most stages of iteration and development. It started life as a Jeskai prowess deck built around Narset, Enlightened Master with a Monks tribal theme, but it wasn’t very effective. Since then, I’ve made a lot of changes and eventually ended up with a Jeskai tokens build that seeks to make the most of Kykar, Wind's Fury as the commander. This has worked much better.

I’ve actually wanted to build a deck like this for some time. I really liked the Jeskai Tokens deck that was in Standard around 2015 and wondered if there was a way of replicating it in EDH. I’d started with a Boros tokens deck that seemed OK but didn’t really seem that interesting when I played it. I ended up combining my two old decks: Iroas, God of Victory Boros Tokens and Narset, Enlightened Master Jeskai Prowess, and added Kykar, Wind's Fury to make an early version of the deck you see here. Since then, I’ve developed it, playtested it a bit and added more cards to maximise the value it gets from tokens. I’m now really happy with it and it’s become one of my favourite decks.

Deck Concept

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The DNA of this deck is in its roots as a prowess build: it runs relatively few creatures and seeks to gain value from casting non-creature spells. In our case, we use non-creature spells to generate a steady stream of threats, as Kykar, Wind's Fury, Monastery Mentor, Ainok Strike Leader and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer all give us creature tokens when we cast non-creature spells. Anointed Procession, Elspeth, Storm Slayer, Exalted Sunborn and Mondrak, Glory Dominus are both amazing because they double the amount of tokens we get each time.

Creature tokens can often be tough for opponents to deal with. One for one removal against them is usually a terrible idea and we frequently overwhelm our enemies with sheer numbers, especially as many of our creature tokens have flying and can avoid most blockers. We’re always a bit wary of boardwipes but we can usually rebuild relatively quickly, providing we haven’t overextended by playing too many of our token generators at once. A well-timed Rakdos Charm can also potentially ruin our day, but Kykar is a great outlet for sacrificing tokens at instant speed if needed.

The tokens theme of the deck is supported by a direct damage element as we have numerous cards that trigger for damage, either when creatures enter the battlefield (Impact Tremors, Purphoros, God of the Forge etc), or when we cast noncreature spells (Vivi Ornitier). Gradually chipping away for frequent points of damage is a surprisingly effective tactic for this list, ready to soften opponents up for swathes of combat damage, or to deal the final decisive blows when life totals are low.

In line with its Bracket 4 status, I've also added several variants of the Splinter Twin // Pestermite infinite combo/instant win condition to end the game out of nowhere. Splinter Twin with any of Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite or Village Bell-Ringer will make an infinite creatures, which will either kill everyone immediately if Impact Tremors or similar is in play, or should guarantee the win on our following turn when we go to combat with an arbitrarily large large number of attackers.

Our Commander

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Kykar, Wind's Fury is an incredibly versatile Commander. Kykar decks can be built in a large number of different ways including (but definitely not just limited to) spellslinger, Polymorph, cantrips, Vehicles, storm and even Dragon's Approach versions. But for this list, we want him for his token generating triggered ability, which creates a 1/1 flying white Spirit token whenever we cast a noncreature spell while he's in play. With over 80% of our nonland cards being artifacts, instants, sorceries or planewalkers, we have an excellent chance of hitting those triggers frequently and regularly, thereby creating lots of Spirits.

But the great value Kykar offers doesn't end there. The Spirits he creates enable our direct damage sources that trigger for damage when creatures ETB: Impact Tremors; Purphoros, God of the Forge; Agate Instigator; Molten Gatekeeper; Warleader's Call and Witty Roastmaster. While he's on the board, we also get to sacrifice our Spirits (NB. this can be any Spirit we control, not just those created with his triggered ability) to add {R} to our mana pool, which is useful for ramping into bigger spells.

As with many good Commander decks, the goal of this build is to ensure it can win without its Commander. Because we have so many other ways of creating tokens, that's definitely the case here. But Kykar definitely helps things along and fulfills a number of important roles in the deck's design.

It's also worth adding Kykar has a special place in my top tier of favourite cards as my friend James kindly made me an amazing 3D version as a birthday present, created by layering lots of identical copies of the CMM printing. It's awesome, thanks James!

“Speak Little. Do Much.”

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The great thing about this deck is it can attack on several different axis and adapt to the situations we face. We can attack with waves of flying token creatures and win through creature combat. We can slowly and surely grind away with incremental damage using Impact Tremors, Molten Gatekeeper, Witty Roastmaster and Purphoros, God of the Forge. Or we can close out the game explosively with our Splinter Twin combo variants. Plus we're the perfect deck for Vivi Ornitier, who's capable of closing out the game on its own if left unanswered.

We have answers for nearly everything using some of the Jeskai colour identity's strongest removal spells, and also a counterspell package. Chaos Warp, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Generous Gift, Stroke of Midnight and Excise the Imperfect are our removal options; and An Offer You Can't Refuse, Counterspell, Arcane Denial, Mana Drain, Force of Negation and Fierce GuardianshipGC are our counters. These cards are usually best left for anything that negates our go-wide strategy, or punishes us for creating lots of tokens.

Engine Room Cards

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The deck has a series of engine room cards that we rely to on to keep things moving. They generally fulfill one (or more) key functions: generating threats, drawing more cards, powering up our token creatures, or damaging our opponents. Let’s take them each in turn.

Threat Generation Engines
Many of our creatures are primarily used to pump out smaller threats. These include Kykar, Wind's Fury, Monastery Mentor, Ainok Strike Leader, Third Path Iconoclast and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer. We really like Harmonic Prodigy too as it doubles the number of triggers from Curiosity Crafter, Vivi Ornitier and Kykar, Wind's Fury.

We also have numerous one-off token generators like Dragon Fodder, Krenko's Command, Raise the Alarm, Call the Coppercoats, Servo Exhibition, Entrapment Maneuver, Midnight Haunting and Will of the Mardu. These can’t really be considered engine room cards as they’re one-shot effects, but they support our token generation strategy and are included to deal various amounts of burst damage with our direct damage sources.

Each of these token generators are enhanced by four powerful cards: Anointed Procession, Elspeth, Storm Slayer, Exalted Sunborn and Mondrak, Glory Dominus which double the number of tokens our various sources create. Their doubling effects stack if we're lucky enough to have two or more of these in play, giving us the potential to accumulate a gigantic token army. Harmonic Prodigy works in a similar but only triggers for our Wizards creature types (Kykar, Vivi Ornitier), albeit in an explosive way.

Card Draw Engines
As we’re in Jeskai colours, we have access to some great card drawing engines. We almost always want to see three of our core enchantments - Jeskai Ascendancy, Whirlwind of Thought and Rhystic StudyGC – at some point in the game. Skullclamp, Jeska's WillGC, Curiosity Crafter, Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Welcoming Vampire, and Tocasia's Welcome all help us draw cards too.

Power Up Engines
Although we don’t necessarily mind if our token creatures die – there’ll be more along shortly – we like ways of powering up our tokens so they become lethal rather than just annoying. We can also make them indestructable too, giving us plenty of incentives to keep attacking. Jeskai Ascendancy increases their power and toughness.

Direct Damage Engines
We have a number of strong cards that synergise well with our token creation strategy by causing damage to our opponents when creatures come into play, or are removed from play. Impact Tremors, Molten Gatekeeper, Agate Instigator, Witty Roastmaster, Warleader's Call and Purphoros, God of the Forge are great for ETB effects, and Vivi Ornitier is a house in this deck. Throne of the God-Pharaoh is also good when we’re on the attack-with-waves-of-tokens plan.

Finishers

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Here are the main ways we'll finish the game.

Splinter Twin Combo
As outlined above, any one of Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch or Village Bell-Ringer that's enchanted with Splinter Twin will usually win pretty much straight away by generating an infinite number of creatures. Those creatures will then trigger the direct damage sources that ping opponents when creatures ETB, or be ready for a killing wave in our next combat step. We run three tutors to find Splinter Twin: Enlightened TutorGC, Idyllic Tutor and Open the Armory.

Direct Damage Effects
Just one of Impact Tremors, Molten Gatekeeper, Witty Roastmaster and Purphoros, God of the Forge is annoying. Multiples of these can turn to lethal pretty quickly, especially when we combine them with burst effects that create lots of tokens, like Will of the Mardu or Call the Coppercoats.

Divine Visitation
No-one really cares about 1/1 creature tokens. The replacement effect from Divine Visitation will make them sit up and take notice. Suddenly we have an army of 4/4 flyers instead. I've watched this card win games in very short order.

Vivi Ornitier
Vivi is also a must-answer card. He can take over games on his own if not removed, dealing incremental damage and pumping his stats to very high levels, all the while ramping for lots of red or blue mana. I consider him a win condition in his own right.

Power Level

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I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

I would classify this as one of my Tier 3 decks. It exploits a token strategy pretty well and compete against other mid to high level casual builds. While we're liable to disruption - and don't run many counterspells or protective measures to protect our stuff - we can rebuild quickly after boardwipes and the like, and have enough staying power to compete if the game goes long. All in all, this is a fun, decently-powered, reasonably competitive casual deck.

In terms of WotC's new EDH power brackets system, this list fits in Bracket 4. It includes five game changer cards (Jeska's WillGC, Smothering TitheGC, Mystical TutorGC, Enlightened TutorGC and Cyclonic RiftGC), and has been developed to be as optimised as possible. Although it doesn't run any fast mana sources or free spells, it's still pretty efficient and attacks on a slightly different axis to many other decks. I'd aim to play it at casual tables that are happy with a slightly higher level of power.

Budget

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The average price for this deck on Card Kingdom is around $700. It's one of the first Commander lists I built so it's gone through a lot of development (and resource). Fortunately token strategies are fairly cheap so don't be put off by the high price tag: aside from some of the higher priced staples (Anointed Procession, Cyclonic RiftGC, Smothering TitheGC, Mondrak, Glory Dominus etc), it can be built on a budget and still holds its own in casual pods. Jeskai land bases can still be fairly expensive with fetches and shocklands etc but there are budget options there too. As with most of my decks, if you're looking in to more cost-effective options, I'd strongly recommend using lands that don't ETB as they'll slow you down a lot.

Future Developments

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It's been hard to pin down a settled list for this deck. The version you see here is the most recent build for playtesting and I don't envision many other changes. It feels fun, interactive and can cope with most game states. Adding the Splinter Twin combo hopefully gives it a bit of extra punch.

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All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Midrange Combo

{B} Ayara, First of Locthwain {B}
Black Diamond: Mono-Black Aristocrats Combo

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Land Sacrifice

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IVGC {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{U}{B} Lord of the Nazgul {U}{B}
The Black Gate Opens: Dimir Spellslinger

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Font of Blessings {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{W}{B} Eriette of the Charmed Apple {W}{B}
Flight of the Wicked Witch: Orzhov Auras

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Marchesa, the Black Rose {U}{B}{R}
Revenge of the Mummy: Grixis Dethrone/Combo

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{B}{G} Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant {W}{B}{G}
A Long-Expected Party: Abzan Lifegain/Combo

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Control

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

{U}{R}{G} Eshki, Temur's Roar {U}{R}{G}
Thunder Striker: Temur Power Matters

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.76
Tokens	Agate Instigator 1/1 R, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Copy Clone, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Elephant 3-3 G, Goblin 1/1 R, Human 1/1 W, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Incubator, Monk 1/1 W, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Servo 1/1 C, Soldier, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Treasure, Warrior 1/1 R