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Yennett’s Odd Necropolis

Commander / EDH Midrange Reanimator Scry Sphinx WUB (Esper)

Digmyownwhole

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Land (33)

Enchantment (4)

Instant (22)

Sorcery (11)

Planeswalker (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

Creature (18)

Artifact (9)

Maybeboard

Instant (3)

Ongoing update of (in my humble opinion) one of the most underrated commanders in the format.

Manipulating the top cards of the deck, the pilot quickly gains incremental advantage from being able to play high MV, unevenly costed spells for free. While developing an advantageous board state, the pilot can use the low MV filtering cards to begin dropping other high MV cards in the bin to reanimate for free later, either en-mass using Rise of the Dark Realms or Liliana Vess’s ultimate or again incrementally for value using the lower MV reanimation spells.

The deck also runs a ton of disruption across low MV counter magic, targeted removal and asymmetrical board wipes to get through our fatties. There’s even a suite of spells and creatures to turn our opponents libraries in to threats of our own and a mana sink or two to help us create tokens and go wide. It’s focussed but at the same time, gives the pilot plenty of room to play the most impactful Timmy Magic of their choosing.

Change Log.

Sefris of the Hidden Ways - Out

Sefris seemed like a great fit initially due to their reanimation redundancy but they were just too slow in reality. A 2/3 body with no evasion and a trigger ability with a hard limit sadly just doesn’t cut the mustard in an otherwise quite tight deck.

Vega, the Watcher - In

Vega on the other hand is an early threat due to their evasion and it’s triggered ability seems likely to draw me a bunch of cards, due to the number of cards and effects that give me free casts from my own and opponents graveyards and libraries. It’s also small enough that it’s unlikely to draw targeted removal, so it’s likelihood of grinding continuous value is pretty high.

Beacon of Unrest - Out

So I’ve reached a point where making cuts in this deck is difficult most of the time. Beacon of Unrest’s neck has been on the block for a while now though. A 5 mana, sorcery speed, recursion spell that doesn’t give your fatty haste is suboptimal to say the least. Even when cast for free with out timing constraints off of Yennett’s attack trigger. It’s saving grace was its potential for reuse (owing to its shuffle in effect) but that was also annoying because it then couldn’t be targeted in the graveyard. It was also a totally dead draw against opponents who’d already hated out my yard. Sadly it’s bye bye Beacon, Beacon goodbye.

Danse Macabre - In

Danse Macabre on the other hand… what a card. The Magically Christmas Land scenario goes like this.

Stack your library using your plethora of card manipulation tools so it casts for free off of Yennett’s attack trigger. Kill any small non token creatures you wouldn’t want sacrificed by your opponents with spot removal. Attack with Yennett. Cast Danse for free, killing three worthwhile bodies on the other side of the field making it easier for your fatties to get in for a ton of damage, sacrificing your own Scholar of the Lost Trove. Reanimate it and the biggest/most relevant creature one of your opponents sacrificed (after rolling a nat 20). Target Danse Macabre with your reanimated Scholar’s ETB. Repeat then exile Danse Macabre.

At this point you’ve 6 for 1’d for net 0 mana, stolen two of their biggest threats and potentially generated a ton of extra value off of their ETB effects. You’ve also got a second Scholar trigger outstanding with which to target an extra turn spell in your yard that’ll probably end the game. You’re welcome. I can already tell that Danse Macabre and I are going to become very firm friends.

Dream Cache - Out

Dream Cache is an interesting card. A three mana Brainstorm that lets me bottom dead cards in a pinch seems a reasonable in this deck. Annoyingly it doesn’t interact with all the zones I want to though (almost nothing does to be fair though). Like Beacon of Unrest, it’s one of the only cards that I always find myself looking at and thinking, “does something else do this with a cherry on top”. Time to find out.

Discovery//Dispersal - In

Discovery// Dispersal is also an interesting card. For starters it’s not trying to a Brainstorm’s poor cousin. It does it’s only thing and to my knowledge, is the only card in Magic history that offers this level of interaction between library, yard and hand.

It’s not a perfect fit with Yennett because it can’t be cast off of her attack trigger but given its effect, I’m rarely going to be looking to cast it in combat anyway. I’d also like to think I can avoid hitting it the majority of the time using my other library manipulation tools.

As a spell it lets me set up the top my deck, drop cards in my yard for reanimation or other means of casting and draw something meaningful for the cost of a single card. The fact it has a hybrid cost only adds to its flexibility. Having Dispersal as an instant speed piece of interaction that can be cast for free off of Yennett or from hand late game to help my team get in for damage, might just be the proverbial cherry on top. Time will tell I guess.

Mortify - Out

Mortify has been a card I’ve questioned in the list for a while now. Admittedly it stems from the fact that my opponents always question its inclusion, as I remove one of their creatures. “Seems to be doing a halfway decent job to me”, is my normal retort, coupled with a wry grin. With so much unconditional removal in the format now though, it has made me wonder enough to at least test the theory.

Utter End - In

So as far as unconditional removal goes, Utter End is just about the best there is. Exiling a non-land permanent at instant speed for four mana is huge. It’s not entirely on theme in the deck as it can’t be cast for free off of a Yennett attack trigger but being able to draw it and cast it at the end of declare attackers step isn’t nothing in a deck that wants to get through with big bodies. Also, having a card I can cast almost unconditionally on my opponent’s turns (using all the mana I’m not having to spend on my own huge threats) is a boon I don’t mind paying one more colourless mana for in most situations. Again time will tell but I suspect Utter End will be here to stay.

Magister Sphinx - Out

I think I’ve nearly cut Magister Sphinx more than any other card in the deck at this point. On paper a thematically sound, oddly costed, 5/5 flyer with a cool and impactful ETB (that’s saved my butt and won me games in equal measure) seems pretty good in a deck that cares about all of that. In reality though, there are just better creatures with bigger bodies and even more splashy effects out in the wild now. Times change and as big as shooting the life leader down from their lofty pedestal to 10 life is, there are more proactive routes I can take.

Lorcan, Warlock Collector - In

The “Planar Portal” deck contained a couple of real haymakers. I’ve already talked about the merits of Danse Macabre and why it has a place in this list. Chief among those cards for me though is Lorcan, Warlock Collector. What a card!

As a 6/6 flyer he’s already our 5/5 Magister Sphinx on steroids. He’s less colour intensive but no more expensive at 5BB vs 4WUB if I need to actually hard cast him. Then we come to that triggered ability… you what now?

Whenever AN opponent’s creature hit the yard, reanimate it by paying life?! My brain nearly exploded in my head when I read that. There is NO downside to this card. WotC decided to give us a 6/6 flying body for 7 (even with BB that’s perfectly reasonable), then stapled an unconditional, Instant speed, FREE Reanimate to it. This card is insane.

Trade a spent ETB creature with their Avenger of Zendikar and OOPs! Instant army plus ETB in the yard to cash in again. Need a big turn but just not enough mana? That’s a nice Dockside Extortionist you have. PING! Now he’s mine. Thanks for all the Treasure! Want to crash in for the win? Give Elves a taste of their own medicine with a wide field of Fairies, Thopters or Manifested dudes and their Craterhoof Behemoth! This card just opens endless lines to victory (and stealing people’s commanders in a pinch).

Lorcan is a house and I can’t wait to see how much value we can generate together.

Sphinx Mindbreaker - Out

He was a big body and also a Sphinx. He milled stuff; mostly for reanimation targets. Sadly he also shoved the overall mana curve way up, was heavy in the blue department and for all his ETB efforts never really delivered a whole lot in a meta full of deck with very little creature action worthy of attention. Happy travel SM.

Raffine, Scheming Seer - In

I saw Raffine put in work on Play to Win’s “New Capenna Commanders” episode and instantly wanted it for the deck. Sphinx creature type, odd (and low) mana value, attack trigger stacks nicely with Yennett’s, draws us interaction pieces to protect our board and get through damage, plus a great discard outlet for reanimation targets AND stack counters on our already chonky team… wow. It even protects itself while not being the biggest target for spot removal. I genuinely think it’ll be an all-star.

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99% Casual

Competitive