pie chart

[Primer] Yomiji, A Syncretic Rock

Commander / EDH Infinite Combo Jank Mono-White Primer

Kinpa6Ansatsu

Upvote 0
0

Creature (29)

Instant (4)

Artifact (19)

Sorcery (5)

Enchantment (4)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Yomiji, Who Bars the Way

Land (38)

Maybeboard

Creature (19)

Artifact (12)

Instant (6)

Land (11)

Sorcery (5)

Enchantment (3)

The below description for this deck is very outdated, but should still provide an idea of what my original thoughts for the deck were.

Welcome to my Yomiji, Who Bars the Way Primer that was previously titled "The Murder of Heroes." In 2015 (I can't find a more recent version) Yomiji was ranked #169 for the least played commander according to edhrec.com. There are currently 673 legendary creatures in the format, so Yomiji is just in the top 500. The goal of this primer is to look at Yomiji as a potential commander that can be playable.

Yomiji, Who Bars the Way is a with a 4/4 body. That is unnerving and no matter how you look at it: that is not good. Yomiji also falls into the standard Kamigawa block phenomenon of having an obscure low impact effect. However, you are not playing Yomiji to win tournaments. You are playing him because 1) you want to make an obscure Commander seem viable in a format. 2) you are a special snowflake. 3) you like to have fun. 4) all of the above. Let's look at Yomiji's effect in more detail.

The oracle effect of Yomiji is "Whenever a legendary permanent other than Yomiji, Who Bars the Way is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return that card to its owner's hand." The first words that should be noticed is the "legendary permanent" aspect. Yomiji likes to head tribal legendary decks. And so, we will be using several legendary's to activate Yomiji's effect. The other words to note is the "put into a graveyard from the battlefield." Yomiji recurs legendary permanents. That means to get the most horsepower from this engine the best fuel to put into the tank is a sacrifice theme. Thus we will be using many cards that support this theme.

Mono-White is usually considered one of the worst color combinations in EDH for many reasons. The main one is that White many of the staple effects that many of the popular EDH color combinations have access to. The major one is card draw and mana ramp. Outside of Land Tax (which is a pricey card and an auto-include if you own one) there is not all that much for White. White is not a fast color. There is a reason why Sonic the Hedgehog is blue, or that Speed Racer's car is blue. Blue is a fast color. White, despite not being fast, does the opposite really well. Minas Tirith, the White City, is a fortress that was able to defend itself from the hosts of Mordor. White is a tanky color. White can utilize cards that slow the game down and fight faster decks on an even playing field.

White does one other thing really well. Many white commanders (Kemba, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, etc) are Voltron commanders. White is really good with equipment. Considering spells like Stoneforge Mystic or Enlightened Tutor as being some of the better artifact tutors in White, this is only the tip of the iceberg of what White do with equipment.

While there are many other things that White does well (namely tokens and hate bears). STAX and Voltron are two of the functioning themes and toolkits that will be used to support my Yomiji deck.

Time to buckle up, kiddos. The part you have been looking forward to. The actual deck. So far we have discussed the themes of "legendary permanents," "sacrifice," "STAX/Pillowfort," and "Voltron." The machine of this deck is to utilize different aspects of each theme to create a machine that is dressed to impress (hopefully) so let's get to it.

Lands:

For the next few paragraphs, I am not quite sure how I want to write or organize this section. So, I'm going to just randomly talk about different parts of the deck and try to give you an idea of how I play the deck, and how I perceive some cards versus other. So, this segment might seem random in some places. bear with me. In the early game you often want to be mana ramping and drawing cards. This is one of the many struggles of white. However, many might point out Land Tax. Yeah, that is a great turn 1 card and is amazing at ensuring that you always have basic lands to play. So why do I not run Land Tax? It is because that currently the price of it is about $20. If you can afford it, buy one. If you can not afford Land Tax, look no further. Oath of Lieges is your budget Land Tax. Yes, it is group huggy and will give your opponents lands. As long as you are able to keep up with other cards: don't worry about it. Also, you might be able to use it to deter attacks away from you. Some other notable mana ramp cards are Weathered Wayfarer and many of the one-drop artifacts. Weathered Wayfarer is amazing. Solemn Simulacrum is an okay source of mana ramp. The one-drop artifacts seem unremarkable, but they are handy in being consistent in the early game. Some other early game goals are to get cards like Shield of Kaldra and Darksteel Plate. These come into play when you have to deal with Yomiji, Who Bars the Way. I recommend this path because 7 mana is a lot of mana, and the last thing you will want is recasting Yomiji. These equipment give him more staying power, so that you do not have to recast him. I would probably consider throwing in a Command Beacon to also mitigate that high mana cost. But, I will digress further from that discussion. Another really pleasant thing about indestructible equipment are some ways to take advantage of them. My favorite is using the cards Pariah and Pariah's Shield. With these two cards all damage that I take gets redirected to the equipped creature. No damage to me until the equipment are removed. It is great stuff. Getting all of these equipment is easy with Steelshaper's Gift or Stonehewer Giant. Stoneforge Mystic, Open the Armory, and Enlightened Tutor are other great ways of drawing what you need. Speaking of draw. How do I draw cards since DRaWinG cARdS iS iMpoRtaNt. There are a few ways. Honestly, they are not the best, but they do exist. Chromatic Sphere and Sunbeam Spellbomb are decent ways of drawing "a" card with Wall of Omens. Skullclamp is one of the best draw cards in Magic. Please play it. Heroes' Podium is more of fixing or a bad tutor for a creature. I have not seen it show up in a game, but the Coat of Arms like effect is usually more relevant. This deck struggles to draw cards and there are many great draw cards that can work that I do not own... Mind's Eye is probably one of the premier draw spells for white and is a great addition if you own one. Endless Horizons is more of a mana ramp spell, but it fixes your draws by removing all of those basic lands from your library. This is great too. There are better ways to draw in this deck, but the discussion for that involves explaining the big part of how this deck works. I'm just going to transition with stating Ashnod's Altar. Sacrifice engines in white. One of the best colors for this (surprisingly). This deck runs Ashnod's Altar, Spawning Pit *list*, Martyr's Cause, and Altar of Dementia are the main sac outlets that I am running. Others to consider are Blasting Station and Phyrexian Altar. So what can I do with this? Well... we have the clasic Karmic Guide + Reveillark loop. Sun Titan also has a couple of loops that it can accomplish with Gift of Immortality, Fiend Hunter, or even Angelic Renewal (if I owned a copy). Fiend Hunter + Karmic Guide and Fiend Hunter + Reveillark also works to create a loop. Our Commander (Yomiji) can also create a few sacrifice loops. Ashnod's Altar + Hope of Ghirapur + Yomiji, Who Bars the Way creates infinite sacrifice and colorless mana. Kytheon, Hero of Akros + Phyrexian Altar + Yomiji, Who Bars the Way or Isamaru, Hound of Konda + Phyrexian Altar + Yomiji, Who Bars the Way also creates infinite sacrifice and colored mana (if you have the altar). However, there is an even better way of formulating a sacrifice loop. Let me introduce you to Deathrenderer. With this card a legendary creature on the field and a legendary in your hand with Yomiji, Who Bars the Way on the field, you have access to infinite sacrifice. Altar of Dementia? Infinite mill. Ashnod's Altar? Infinite colorless mana. You get the picture. What if my sac outlet is Martyr's Cause? Honestly this is one of the worst sac outlets, maybe better then Reckless Devotion. What do you do with infinite sacrifice? Salvaging Station is a great way of recurring cards like Chromatic Sphere, Chromatic Star, Sunbeam Spellbomb, or Origin Spellbomb. This can lead to infinite card draw which can lead to you drawing into a sac outlet that does something. You can also use Skullclamp to draw cards for mana (which is worth it even if you run out of mana first). Another one involves using Reveillark to recur Wall of Omens or Solemn Simulacrum to get card draw. Do not forget that Reveillark recurs two creatures when it dies. This is where the card draw engine in this deck lies.

Work in Progress. Will finish in the next couple of days. I'm still thinking about how I am going to finish writing this, but there was a big news with Ixalan. Legendary rule changing for planeswalkers. According to the article on Ixalan Mechanics from WOTC, "Starting with this set, all planeswalkers past, present, and future will have the supertype legendary. They will also be subject to the "legend rule." The "planeswalker uniqueness rule" is going away." What this means is that planeswalkers are now subject to Yomiji's effect. I'm looking for thoughts on this. Gideon of the Trials seems busted. Also, Elspeth, Sun's Champion seems pretty good. What are some other planeswalkers to consider?

Suggestions

Updates Add

Aug. 4, 2026
Edit

Subtractions: Desert of the True, Relquary Tower, Isamaru, Hound of Konda, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Mind's Eye Additions: Samwise the Stouthearted, Ambrosia Whiteheart, Stone of Erech, Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai, Dust Bowl

The Long Awaited Update — June 17, 2018
Edit
Generic Stuff About Views and Plans — Feb. 21, 2017
Edit
Update — June 29, 2016
Edit
A Few Changes — Oct. 10, 2015
Edit
Sept. 22, 2015
Edit
Change Description and Comment Reset — Aug. 3, 2015
Edit

Comments View Archive

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment