Lean Yuriko cEDH

Commander / EDH UB (Dimir)

deakmana

Land (30)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 7x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave

Draw/Tutor/Selection (9)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Street Wraith
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Removal (5)

• 1x Contagion
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Perish
• 1x Snuff Out
• 1x Submerge

Nonja (14)

• 1x Deepwood Legate
• 1x Faerie Seer
• 1x Fourth Bridge Prowler
• 1x Gingerbrute
• 1x Mausoleum Wanderer
• 1x Memnite
• 1x Mistcaller
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Plague Engineer
• 1x Sidisi's Faithful
• 1x Spectral Sailor
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Wingcrafter

Counterspell (10)

• 1x Abjure
• 1x Commandeer
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Misdirection
• 1x Negate

Turns (6)

• 1x Capture of Jingzhou
• 1x Karn's Temporal Sundering
• 1x Temporal Manipulation
• 1x Temporal Trespass
• 1x Time Warp
• 1x Walk the Aeons

Utility (3)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Conqueror's Flail
• 1x Drown in the Loch

Commander (1)

Ninja (11)

• 1x Azra Smokeshaper
• 1x Changeling Outcast
• 1x Fallen Shinobi
• 1x Ingenious Infiltrator
• 1x Mist-Syndicate Naga
• 1x Mistblade Shinobi
• 1x Mothdust Changeling
• 1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1x Sakashima's Student
• 1x Skullsnatcher
• 1x Universal Automaton

Mana (6)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sol Ring

Stax (4)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage

Damage (1)

• 1x Blinkmoth Infusion

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Maybeboard

Other (10)

• 1x Brazen Borrower
• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Dystopia
• 1x Force of Despair
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1x Unmask

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This is my current list which is built around 2 tenets:

1. Always be able to cast a creature on turn 1, and hit turn 2 with Yuriko
   
2. Mana should essentially be spent on dropping more ninjas, clearing blockers, or taking extra turns
   

In a heavy stax build, the problem was I could drop more strong stax pieces like Arcane Lab, Ashiok, Orb of Dreams, Damping Matrix, Narset, etc, but this meant I wasn't advancing my own boardstate. Blockers would tend to get out, I'd miss some Yuriko draws I could have had otherwise, and the game would grind to somewhat of a standstill, frequently becoming topdeck reliant.

I had an additional issue with various lists: Unblockable creatures are pseudo card disadvantage. While they effectively guarantee you a hit with Yuriko or another ninja, they are effectively dead cards. A 1/1 unblockable has no purpose outside of enabling a ninjutsu effect. They're terrible to draw and have in your hand outside of the first turn. To use them to avoid creatures after the initial hit, Yuriko would have to be sacced and ninjutsu'd in again from the unblockable creature. Which is mana hungry and clunky to say the least.

Instead of having directly unblockable creatures, I focused on having 0cmc creatures that can be played, used for ninjutsu and still let me advance my boardstate in another way such as playing a 1cmc tutor, holding up countermagic, playing a stax piece, or playing a 1cmc ninja.
My 1cmc creatures I focused on having ones that could continuously allow Yuriko to connect ( Wingcrafter & Vedalken Certarch ), have evasion plus additional functionality ( Gingerbrute & Faerie Seer ) or have a strong/versatile ability relative to a 1cmc body ( Fourth Bridge Prowler , Mistcaller , Sidisi's Faithful ).

Anything past 1cmc are high impact cards. These are Notion Thief (which can be a haymaker or a speedbump), Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive (making everything unblockable), and Plague Engineer which can keep the board completely clear of dorks and can shut down various combos such as breakfast/shuffle hulk (naming Nomad for instance).

I've recently added Blinkmoth Infusion as a card I can tutor/Brainstorm/Scroll Rack to top of deck for damage, as there were several times I wanted to do that. I chose Blinkmoth over Draco & Emrakul, the Promised End for a couple reasons. Neither of those cards can be exiled to Force of Will , Force of Negation , or Chrome Mox . This means if they're in your hand they're dead weight (Some argue that Emrakul is castable, but that is such a niche and unlikely scenario, that it does not make up for its other shortcomings). Additionally Blinkmoth can be tutored by Mystical Tutor .

Eventually I'll split this off into a notable exclusion section, but for now I'll put notes on why certain cards aren't run here. Rags / Riches is a card a ran initially. It has high cmc, exilable, and is castable. The reason I cut it is because its so rarely castable. I didn't often want symmetrical board wipes. Rags would frequently hurt my board, and prevent Yuriko damage for the turn. This meant it was good at one thing, life loss through Yuriko, and in that regard other cards were superior. I feel this might be a meta dependent choice as others might more frequently be playing against multiple Najeelas or maybe Edric or something.

Mulling around testing Bribery to go for Dockside Extortionist to make combo with Sakashima's Student more likely.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.67
Tokens	Copy Clone