YurikoTempo

Commander / EDH* Aggro Competitive Control Delver Multiplayer UB (Dimir)

drippyCat

Lands (29)

• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 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
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip

Hate (6)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Null Rod

Amplifiers (3)

• 1x Mist-Syndicate Naga
• 1x Sakashima the Impostor
• 1x Spark Double

Evasion (3)

• 1x Wingcrafter
• 1x Cover of Darkness
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

Counters (13)

• 1x Dispel
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mausoleum Wanderer
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Drown in the Loch
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Misdirection

Ninjas (7)

• 1x Changeling Outcast
• 1x Mothdust Changeling
• 1x Universal Automaton
• 1x Skullsnatcher
• 1x Mistblade Shinobi
• 1x Ingenious Infiltrator
• 1x Sakashima's Student

Nonjas (7)

• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Gingerbrute
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Jace's Phantasm
• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Spectral Sailor
• 1x Phantasmal Image

Burns (3)

• 1x Temporal Trespass
• 1x Blinkmoth Infusion
• 1x Draco

Ramp (3)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond

Commander (1)

Removal (12)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Sidisi's Faithful
• 1x Ulcerate
• 1x Vendetta
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Warped Physique
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Snuff Out
• 1x Contagion
• 1x Submerge

Manipulation (6)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Faerie Seer
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault

Flex (3)

• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Street Wraith

---

Winrate: 15 / 55
(4 games I lost from tiny misplays chip damage misplays,
2 games lost from greedy early game tapouts)
Gotta always look for chip damage!

avg cmc of:
1.61 spells as I would them
2.51 cards for life loss off Yuriko triggers

Based on my inevitabilityuriko deck, which evolved into yurikontrol-aggro, which has now evolved into something akin of traditional 60-card tempo decks (such as Legacy's UR Delver)

Life total as inevitability

The point of cEDH is to win, by any means necessary. One avenue to victory is constructing a game plan that puts huge tactical/strategic constraints on the opponent(s) to find a profitable attack on your game plan. If your attack cannot be easily dealt with strategically, you do not need to protect it as much with deck construction or in-game decisions/resources.

I would argue that reducing opponents' life totals to 0 is an underrated, inevitable win condition in my current cEDH meta. Inevitable in the sense that, the other decks are terrible at it and stand no chance if the game goes long and life totals are what it comes down to. Our games already trend this way. Importantly, none of these opposing decks regain life, and they often seek to spend life greedily.

On a side note, I controversially contend that combo-less decks are underrated in cEDH at large but it is always relative to the meta

My meta for context

My meta consists of:

some r/cedh & discord decks.

- First Sliver food chain
- Thrasios Tymna sushi hulk
- Kykar divergent transformations
- Tymna Kraum opus thief
- various Kenrith combo builds
- Kess consultation
- Jeleva storm / doomsday
- CST
- Zur
- Urza powered scepter
- JVP high tide
- Najeela "tempo"
- Meta Pod
- Gitrog
- Korvold Food Chain
- etc.

and some of the above players also running spice

- Nexus Derevi
- Nin / Keranos Control
- Mizzix combo

At this point my meta has kind of changed... it's become even more slow, staxy, and controlling. Many of the top tier decks aren't seeing much play in recent weeks in favor of tier 2 or 3 decks. Probably because variety is the spice of life

Most of those decks are a variation of "interactive combo". More importantly, they cannot win without comboing. Yes, games have gone long and grindy and gotten to beats, but none of them rely or plan on that. Part of this is that my particular meta sandbags winning often since the players run higher than average counter spell density, rarely tap out if anyone could potentially win, and often play chicken trying 'combo last' after most answers have been played out. Part of the tension is that counter spells are being used both to stop and protect combos, and backup plans are always combos.

Importantly, I don't have to deal with "high power" beat down decks, or hatebear decks like Blood Pod, Captain Sissay (rip), Derevi (usually), etc. In effect, none of these decks (other than Najeela, and that's usually piloted by me) can turn to beats as a plan.

What beats interactive combo?

A control deck with a win con that can't be interacted with is historically the strongest answer (looking mainly at mtg theory from Legacy, Modern, and some Standard). To apply this to 4 player cEDH a few things should be tweaked.

Countering an opponent's combo costs you a card while the two other non-involved players gain relative card advantage. It also likely means two players have less mana available. So decks seeking to control in some fashion often dip into stax effects, especially those they can break parity on. They provide longer lasting control, can be deployed proactively, and can shut down multiple opponents at once.

Typically, the 'control' decks in cEDH still use combos to finish (e.g.- 4C curious control, 4C divergent control, Tasigur decks, Baral decks, Rashmi decks, MAN decks, etc.). For a truly inevitable / uninteractive win con, it should not be a combo. All of the other decks are already built to deal with combos.

Yuriko as a solution

Yuriko supports an inevitable control strategy in a multi-faceted way.
- enables control by providing card advantage if she can draw 1+ extra card(s) each turn
- if attackers can get through unblocked, she will not cost more than , avoiding commander tax
- her commander ninjutsu ability allows her to hit the field without the opportunity to be countered
- her triggered ability for ninjas hitting is not going to get countered (Stifle effects are practically non-existant)
- the triggered ability affects all opponents providing a steady clock
- cEDH interative combo decks cannot protect their life total, regain life, and if they use Necropotence, Ad Nauseam, Mana Crypt, Plunge into Darkness, Razaketh, etc. they seek to spend their life
- Blue and black is arguably the strongest two-color pairing offering card advantage, tutors, and counter magic
- due to her exact wording, she breaks parity on some of the strongest stax cards. Additionally, the deck can be built to play around even more hate cards:
Chains of Mephistopheles
Cursed Totem
Null Rod
Grafdigger's Cage
Back to Basics
Arcane Laboratory

This deck looks weird...

Control and disruption. Prioritizing prolonging the game over advancing my own game plan*

I realize this may differ from many (most?) Yuriko builds. I built this deck from a bottom-up perspective, trying to develop a "combo-less" control list for a new meta after moving to a new city / meta.

The emphasis on "combo-less" control is important. So while there are changeling creatures in the deck, this is not ninja tribal. The changelings acts as 1 and 2 mana draw engines (think of the plethora of draw engines in Curious Control). Yes, they also speed up the clock, but I don't want to tap out and not hold up interaction just to "win faster". They are primarily a means to providing me with resources (counters, stax, land drops).

Similarly, there are stax pieces in this list. But this is not a stax-focused list. These serve as asymmetrical road blocks to opponents and should be deployed properly. I'm not seeking to "hard lock" the table. Most decks run removal to deal with these cards, so don't think you've locked anyone out and start playing greedily. The name of the game is inevitability.

This is also not necessarily a list optimized to take advantage of Yuriko herself. While she is critical to the game plan by providing reliable card advantage and a clock, I'm not trying to play voltron, or focus on flipping Draco / Emrakul damage with her (xD I've since added burn cards!). I'm flipping about 1.9 damage per trigger, so pilot like a marathon, not a sprint.

Also, I'm not jammming every time walk card. At first I only played Temporal Trespass and Temporal Mastery because they cheat on mana cost, but I've recently added the 5 cmc ones as well. So when looking at these cards, I'm never focusing on chaining turns to win. That may happen, but the goal is control. In opening hands these cards are dead. In the early game these cards are mostly dead, though they can be pitched to free cast spells. However, since so much of the list is dedicated to prolonging the game, these somewhat fill out a package of securing late game resource advantage. A typical use case might be: I have 7 mana available, Yuriko and a ninja or two on board, at least 1-2 opponents aren't set to attempt wins in this turn cycle. The extra mana lets me hold up interaction in case my turn spell gets countered, but I probably won't try to protect it. However, if it does resolve, I can draw extra cards, deploy a permanent, untap, draw again with combat triggers, and hold up even more interaction. Basically they fill a role of late game asymmetric resource development.

I do have some admittedly greedy cards in this list, like Sword of Feast and Famine. These cards are kind of like test slots. So far my meta hasn't found great ways to fight this deck, but when they do, those slots could be replaced with answers to their adaptations.

Finally, this is just a brew. There's probably mistakes and sub-par choices in here, so if you have feedback / questions just reach out to me!

How I pilot this deck

Maybe this build will get better, but right now it is rough. The card quality and evenness of opening hands is nowhere near a top tier deck. You can't keep nearly as many 7 card hands like you could with CST or Curious Control. Realistically, I'm looking for hands with:
- lands to make both of my colors, so probably 2-3 lands (this is the top priority)
- early game interaction (perhaps just 1-2 pieces, but I'd rather not play "naked" with no answers)
- preferably a low cmc creature to get the engine going (this one isn't the most important, it's certainly nice but the above are crucial)
- basically a hand that enables preventing my current opponents from winning in the early game

If opponent opening plays are strong, I'm fine making land drops and passing. I don't even run ramp (xD I've recently added some) so this build entirely concedes early game dominance in exchange for other strengths. Think of it this way, the burden of comboing is on the other decks. We're not the aggressor, so the "who's the beatdown?" question is pretty easy.

That being said, often my opponents are not actually threatening early wins. Assess the plays, there often are opportunities to just tap out for creatures and Yuriko in the first 2 turns. Our disruption is for combos. We don't have enough counters to stop most things our opponents are doing.

The bulk of the game is the Yuriko variation on draw-go. Mostly it's just draw, go to combat, stock up our in-hand answers & advance the clock, pass turn.

On opponents' turns we're assessing threats and looking to prolong the game by stopping the win attempts.
When attacking, I prioritize whoever can use their life total as a resource the best. After that, I focus on the opponent with the highest life total. But of course, sometimes you just need an open face to swing at. The main goal is drawing cards, not racing with life.

Also, sometimes there's a choice where you can deploy permanents in the second main phase. I just try to weigh the benefits versus the risks of having less interaction up.

Finally, some common play patterns I've seen so far:
- this build is "combo-less", so often I wait and hold on to my tutors, eventually I'll see an opening for a strong silver bullet like a well-timed Back to Basics, it's fun using tutors opportunistically instead of just as redundant copies of combo pieces
- if the board gets gummed up with blockers, Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugutive is the best option, though there are some other options as well (Umezawa's Jitte, Sword of Feast and Famine, creature removal on a player with few creatures, etc.
- to protect Yuriko from Gilded Drake, use creature removal, either on the Drake in response to the trigger, or on her if it's later on
- if players use all of their incidental chip damage on you, maybe try out Umezawa's Jitte. The idea is that it also helps keep the board clear of blockers, but I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet

Intuition

Madcatmax's intuition piles Base pile: Demonic consultation, Thassa's Oracle, Reanimate

Thassa's Oracle in hand: Misdirection, Fow, Demonic consultation

Demonic consultation in hand: Fow, Reanimate, Thassa's Oracle

Extra turns pile: 5 CMC turn spell, Reanimate, Breezecaller

Doomsday

Consolidated Yuriko Doomsday piles:

Double trigger free pile, requires BBB at start of turn, courtesy of hissp:
brainstorm, amber, chrome, petal, oracle

Single trigger uncounterable layered pile, requires BBBUU at start of turn:
probe, brainstorm, oracle, cavern, jace

Single Trigger uncounterable pile, requires BBBU at start of turn, based on Strix's line with Careful Study:
Probe, Brainstorm, Petal, Cavern of Souls, Oracle

Single Trigger uncounterable gush pile, requires BBBU at start of turn, courtesy of Rad_Hazard:
Probe, Gush, Oracle, Cavern of Souls, Jace

Single Trigger free pile, requires BBB at start of turn, courtesy of Totte:
Gush, Probe, LED, Oracle, Reanimate

0 trigger pile, requires BBBU at start of turn:
brainstorm (cracking), scour, petal, chrome, oracle, reanimate

0 trigger pile, requiring BBBUUB/BBBUB (Probe crack), courtesy of koshey:
scour, x, oracle, reanimate, Jace

Edits

I change this list a lot and haven't kept track of edits up until now.

2020-03-06

CUT:
Mist-Syndicate Naga attracts a lot of attention, unlikely to contribute much for its cost
Ninja of the Deep Hours also expensive, and I don't need more card draw, worst of the expensive ninjas in my opinion
Metallic Mimic it messes with Tetsuko and is not a changeling for tribal benefits, nor blue for pitching
Diabolic Intent it's a pretty high investment and could be seen as superfluous when trying to test new cards
Spell Pierce one of the weaker conditional counters, meta is increasingly creature heavy
Mystical Dispute one of the weaker conditional counters, meta is increasingly creature heavy

ADD:
Sword of Feast and Famine evasion, hand hate, chip damage, allows me to play proactive and hold up control mana, and untaps lands in the face of Derevi's Winter Orb and Static Orb
As Foretold allows me to play proactive and also hold up control mana, allows some play through Keranos's Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, Back to Basics (B2B is also played by Derevi), also helps a bit with my lack of ramp
Bloodchief Ascension as opposed to Mist-Syndicate Naga, this applies steady pressure for minimal investment, aligned with overall game plan, should help a bit when I barely miss lethal
Countersquall I'm quite scared of Static Orb so I'd like a bump in my counter suite
Go for the Throat as meta adds more creatures I want removal, but also needs to hit Yuriko, Gilded Drake, Notion Thief, Tymna, Oko elks, Najeela, etc.
Ulcerate as meta adds more creatures I want removal, but also needs to hit Yuriko, Gilded Drake, Notion Thief, Tymna, Oko elks, Najeela, etc.

2020-03-22

CUT:
Counterbalance I think it's powerful and puts in work in a long game, but I'm not manipulating it. I can take better advantage of this slot
Sword of Feast and Famine grindy and expensive for now
As Foretold grindy and expensive for now

ADD:
Muddle the Mixture adds to the counter density, but also finds everything from ninjas, to silver bullet hate (Chains, Cursed Totem), removal and evasion, and win cons like Lim-Dul's Vault and Oracle Grafdigger's Cage meta call vs Hulk and Evolution Tasigur
Curtains' Call burn and more removal needed in midrange / board based meta

2020-04-05

CUT:
Thassa's Oracle in testing I haven't had the opportunity to go for this combo from a strong position. While I certainly don't deny the power of winning for 3 mana through nearly all stacks (it's my preferred combo for all other decks), I'm not on the full suite (Tainted Pact, Jace, Intuition, Reanimate, or possibly Doomsday). For now I would rather pursue my plan A of inevitability with the entirety on my deck, therefore I can take better advantage of this slot
Demonic Consultation see the above
Consign / Oblivion great universal bounce with damage upside, but I never tutored this for the damage, upgrading this to new hard creature removal
Spellstutter Sprite with only 7 other fairies in the deck, this is too conditional, upgrading this to another counter
Countersquall this is the weakest of the 2 cmc counters and it can be upgraded to a new card

ADD:
Sword of Feast and Famine evasion, hand hate, chip damage, allows me to play proactive and hold up control mana
As Foretold similar to Sword of Feast and Famine, but also allows some play through Keranos's Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, Back to Basics (B2B is also played by Derevi), also helps a bit with my lack of ramp
Mystical Dispute in the current meta it targets Flash, Thassa's Oracle, Jace Wielder of Mysteries, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Windfall, Timetwister in Opus Builds, Notion Thief, nearly all counters, etc., this is an upgrade to Spellstutter Sprite
Deadly Rollick amazing new hard creature removal, inflated CMC, free cast, and the plan is to always have Yuriko in play (her tax evasion helps mitigate the conditional nature of this card), seems like a staple
Fierce Guardianship this is the upgrade to Countersquall, see Deadly Rollick's reasoning for inclusion, gaining both of these Yuriko staples is just more inevitability tempo Yuriko goodness Christmasland, the deck just keeps getting better and better

2020-04-18

CUT:
Sword of Feast and Famine I never draw this beloved card so I can't test it xD but I'm upping removal density and this is one of my few flex slots
As Foretold same reason as above
Mystic Sanctuary I should have removed this when I cut the turns package... There's not enough upside now

ADD:
Warped Physique increasing creature removal to combat Zur / Kess prevalence, this one hits almost all relevant targets
Heartless Act almost universal, only things to watch out for are Neoform and Kenrith
Island

2020-04-20 Flash got banned!

CUT:
Sol Ring I count something like 28 generic mana in this list, not much at all, and my initial turns are for playing dude into Yuriko which is usually all colored mana, I should have removed this when I cut the turns package
Mana Crypt same reason as above
Scroll Rack I don't have a very high density of high cmc spells, and this is 3 mana to deploy, which is a bit steep, I think it's no longer worth the slot

ADD:
Mist-Syndicate Naga with Flash gone and my creature removal count higher, I think this can shine, it's a powerful game closer
Curiosity good draw boost that's on plan
Arcane Laboratory with Flash banned all win cons are sorcery speed, this spreads those over 2 turns and prevents players from defending themselves with counters

2020-04-23

I had a dream about more creature removal and keeping the deck ultra focused on its plan... so this is experimental and basically a whim. Basically I cut anything that wasn't absolutely essential. CUT:
Bloodchief Ascension this is a longer term investment, but if I can get more ninjas to connect I should be fine
Curiosity again, if I can clear the path for more Yuriko triggers I'll draw more anyways
Arcane Laboratory I may want to play removal and counter, or advance my plan and a tutor, etc., it might be amazing and I want to test in the future, but for now I'll let other decks run the rule of law effects and I'll stick to plan
Grafdigger's Cage this card is amazing, especially against Yisan, Kess, Underworld Breach, storm, and it should make its way back in, this hurts to cut for now
Umezawa's Jitte slow to deploy and you kind of need good attacks before you can use it, also costs too much for my lean mana base

ADD:
Contagion maybe hits two dorks for free, or just a Tymna / Najeela, or a Dark Confidant and a Notion Thief
Fatal Push mainly playing this because it costs 1 mana, but with ninjutsu I might be able to turn on the Revolt effect
Force of Despair more free removal, hopefully my black density is high enough at this point, the timing restriction could be awkward...
Vendetta 1 cmc is key, I think this is like the Spell Snare of my removal suite, it's too narrow for a top 10, but it's still really good
Perish could be good in this creature heavy meta, unlike Jitte it immediately clears the path, asymmetrical

2020-05-27

Moscow Mules + fresh brewed black espresso + senpai Noah compel me to stand up straight with my shoulders back and face Kenrith Evolution with bravery! out come the slowest of the stax, removal, counters, in come the cantrips, best current meta hate and those sweet, sweet draw engines / aggressive finishers

CUT:
Back to Basics sooo strong in a consult meta, but this doesn't stop combos, and I don't want to prevent my fellow opponents from shutting down Evolution win attempts, 3 mana is just so costly in this list when I want to deploy a piece that pushes my game plan forward and hold up mana for interaction, time will tell if this cut is a mistake
Mystical Dispute opponents often have excess mana in this post-flash meta, I still love this spell though
Perish the ceiling is very high here, but again, 3 cmc is hard to sequence in this build
Curtains' Call the ceiling is actually not very high here! and again... 3 mana 2x doom blade is like, pretty medium, no room to be cute here
Negate Dockside + Barrin, Pako, we've got a lot of problematic creatures these days and Fierce Guardianship is already a new negate, gotta find cuts from somewhere!
Overwhelmed Apprentice post-flash has more creatures, I'd rather have something more evasive, this was a greedy slot taking advantage of the old meta
Force of Despair super juicy ceiling but the timing restriction isn't the nicest
Delay I hate to cut counters but I'm adding cantrips and this one costs 2 cmc
Counterspell see the above
Heartless Act worst removal spell, seems like the appropriate swap to test Gilded Drake

ADD:
Bloodchief Ascension I can maybe politic the table into letting this stick to turn off graveyard / wheel / Evolution / breach shenanigans, and it's a great finisher for 1 mana
Null Rod does wonders against Dockside / LED / Smothering Tithe and I've cut a lot of the artifacts this would have previously nonbo'd with
Gitaxian Probe this should have always been in, but it's an easy cut when testing cards, that said it should really stay in
Street Wraith see above
Curiosity if I want to keep up with Evolution I need to draw A LOT, this is super on point
Hope of Ghirapur replaces Overwhelmed Apprentice and can buy a turn against an aggressive deck
Grafdigger's Cage hits Underworld Breach, to battlefield creature tutors in Evolution, local meta decks Kess / Yisan, Yawg's Win, etc all kinds of nonsense
Sakashima the Impostor this seems like the quintessential finisher for this type of build, let's see if it works!
Spark Double see above
Gilded Drake this card can do more damage to an opponent than a doom blade, worth testing

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WRG
Splash colors	B
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	96
Avg. CMC	2.53
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone
Based on	inevitabilityuriko drippyCat EDH