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Forging Yasova

Sheldon Menery is stoked about the new legends from Fate Reforged! He’s showing his excitement by taking all of your creatures! See how Sheldon plans to Threaten his way to victory in his latest Commander column!

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We Commander players get pretty easily excited by shiny new toys. Even when we have larger-scope projects in mind, we get diverted every now and again to
play around with the latest cool thing. So it is today with Yasova Dragonclaw. I said last week that I was going to put Yasova into Intet,
but a week thinking about a card is an eternity. Storms of exciting ideas rage cross your mind. So I decided I’d build something totally new.

Before we get to that, I’ll tell you that I have a new podcast in the works. Together with former Director of Bulls Radio, Commander fan, and newly-minted
Level 1 Judge Cole Giering, I’ll be doing a weekly podcast called The Command Zone. It will focus on all aspects of our favorite format, from
decks to stories to super secret tech and more. We recorded the first episode yesterday. Eventually we’ll have local and call-in guests, and who knows what
will happen when RC members show up in Tampa to visit. The show is scheduled to air Thursdays at 1300 (that’s 1pm) Eastern. Tune into www.bullsradio.org to check it out.

We’ll start with the list and then I’ll talk about how we got there.

The Threat of Yasova
Sheldon Menery
Test deck on 01-29-2015
Commander
Magic Arena

Creatures (29)

Planeswalkers (1)

Lands (38)

Spells (31)

Magic Card Back


When putting together the deck, I ran with a few basic ideas: Stuff That Threatens, Extra Combat Steps, Sacrifice Outlets, and Buffing Yasova. Add to that
the normal utility things you need to make a deck work, and it didn’t take long at all to come up with a list. We’ll look at the general breakdown of what
went into each category, then we’ll talk about the cards individually.

Stuff that Threatens (and steals):
Conquering Manticore, Dominus of Fealty, Jeering Instigator, Molten Primordial, Roil Elemental, Scourge Of The Throne, Sower of Temptation, Willow Satyr,
Zealous Conscripts, Empress Galina, Keiga, the Tide Star, Memnarch

Extra Combat Steps:
Hellkite Charger, Godo, Bandit Warlord, Aggravated Assault, Breath of Fury, Savage Beating, World At War, Bear Umbra

Sacrifice Outlets:
Goblin Bombardment, Greater Good, Read the Runes, Birthing Pod, Perilous Forays, Life’s Legacy, Momentous Fall, Breath of Fury, High Market, Miren, the Moaning Well, Phyrexian Altar, Shivan Harvest, Grab the Reins, Fling, Perilous Research

Buffing Yasova:
Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of War and Peace, Garruk Wildspeaker

Creatures

Coiling Oracle: The best two-drop in Simic colors, it’s either card draw or ramp, and both are fine. It can later be used as a chump blocker or something
to swap for something better with Djinn of Infinite Deceits.

Conquering Manticore: This card has been around a while; I’d consider it a hidden gem. Once it’s done its enters-the-battlefield business, it’s a nice 5/5
flyer.

Djinn of Infinite Deceits: So here’s the trick: use one of the Threaten effects to get the creature you want to battle with or use an activated ability of.
Then swap that creature for something you want even more; it doesn’t even have to be from the same player!

Dominus of Fealty: The reason I think we don’t see more of the Dominus is that Izzet is one of the toughest two-color decks to play. I had thought we’d see
an uptick when it was reprinted in the first Commander set, but I still haven’t seen much of it. There are so many great creatures running around this
format, I’d suspect it would be a more prevalent strategy.

Jeering Instigator: It’s not always Willbender anymore.

Hellkite Charger: Sure, it’s an infinite attack steps combo with Bear Umbra, but how often is that actually going to happen? The untap part of this and
other cards made me think about inspired in general and Daring Thief in particular.

Molten Primordial: The weakest of all the Primordials is still pretty saucy.

Oracle of Mul Daya: There are no counterspells in the deck and very few surprises, so I’m not really worried about folks knowing what I have in my hand.
Maybe we can amp up the fear factor when they see Savage Beating sitting on top. Or that could get me killed.

Ravenous Baboons: One of the major problems this deck will have is Homeward Path. They must all be destroyed. I had momentarily considered Blood Moon
toward that end, but went instead with the land-based suite of nonbasic land destruction.

Roil Elemental: The Living the Dream Moment™ for this deck will be Roil Elemental + Boundless Realms.

Scourge Of The Throne: Big, fat, flying dragons that generate an extra combat step are just fine with me.

Solemn Simulacrum: I was quite happy that Mary McCormack was in the last few episodes of The Newsroom. I was less happy that her character was a one-dimensional version of her
excellent character from In Plain Sight.

Sower of Temptation: It doesn’t give haste, but you also don’t have to give back the thing right away.

Willow Satyr: I will give mad props and a copy of Willow Satyr to anyone who sends me a can’t-be-ignored idea for an Eric Klug alter of this card. I’m not guaranteeing there will be a winner,
but if you offer up something awesome enough for me to spend the cash to get Eric to do the alter, you’ll get your Willow Satyr.

Wood Elves: Sometimes, you just need the fuel that makes decks run. Not a huge fan of staples, but every craftsman needs tools, right?

Woodfall Primus: There isn’t that much noncreature destruction in the deck, so it was either this or Terastodon since Indrik Stomphowler can’t take out
planeswalkers or lands.

Yavimaya Elder: See Wood Elves.

Zealous Conscripts: I like this creature and don’t play it as often as I otherwise might. Perhaps it’d be good in Kresh as well.

Legendary Creatures

Barrin, Master Wizard: Barrin is an additional way to sacrifice creatures. I had considered a whole suite of things which exchanged control of noncreature
permanents, but it started weighing the deck down a bit.

Empress Galina: This was played like mad in the earliest days of the format. Today, not so much. Let’s see if we can change that.

Godo, Bandit Warlord: The primary things that buff up Yasova are equipment. I know I’ve gone away from tutors for the most part, but something this narrow
feels okay to me. Plus, extra combat steps.

Keiga, the Tide Star: Sometimes, you just need to take something permanently.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: I agonized over whether or not this should go into the deck. Obviously, it’s an awesome card, but I suffer from a little bit of
Kiki-Jiki fatigue. Through the holidays and the first week of the semester, I haven’t played as often as I normally do, so maybe I just haven’t seen it so
much lately-but copying stuff for free is cool. Copying stuff that threatens is even better.

Riku of Two Reflections: While I have Riku as the alt-commander for Dreaming of Intet, I don’t play him very often. We most frequently see him as a
commander; I thought it would be interesting to find out what he does as one of 99.

Maelstrom Wanderer: There are no X spells. The only two things in the deck that it won’t get are Woodfall Primus and Praetor’s Counsel. I think I can live
with that.

Memnarch: I’m not running a great deal of artifact destruction. I figured going along with the theme of the deck, it’d be a better idea to just steal them.
I mean appropriate them for a higher purpose.

Xenagos, God of Revels: With the trigger off of Xenagos, Yasova now threatens most everything. Better yet, it can make her a two-shot killer when she’s
equipped with a sword. This card makes me want to put Berserk in the deck as well. Hrm…I’m going to go do a search.

Thassa, God of the Sea: I know it’s a crazy longshot, but what I’d most like to do with this is threaten someone’s commander and kill them with it by using
Thassa’s ability. Also, the scry part is excellent when I remember to do it.

Artifacts

Birthing Pod: If I can’t keep your creature permanently, then it makes sense to get some use out of it besides smashing someone in the face. There’s a
complete list of all the creatures in the deck, sorted by converted man cost below.

Conjurer’s Closet: This was the first card I put in the deck after Yasova, because sometimes I can keep your creature permanently.

Phyrexian Altar: Sacrifice outlet and mana generator.

Sword of Feast and Famine: Another way of getting infi combat steps with Hellkite Charger, and again, pretty unlikely. I like that it protects the creature
from the color with the best spot removal (black) and the most prevalent color in the format (green). And just so you know, there’s no Sword of Body and
Mind because I don’t really want to mill people without a plan to use what gets put into the graveyard. I certainly don’t want to give them or anyone else
playing reanimator strategies more ammo.

Sword of Fire and Ice: A little card draw and protection from getting my own things threatened.

Sword of Light and Shadow: Creatures die sometimes. It’s nice to get them back. The lifegain is collateral at best.

Sword of War and Peace: Hey, a little more lifegain. Maybe I should have thought about Loxodon Warhammer too.

Enchantments

Aggravated Assault: This card is there to step up the inevitability of getting savaged by your own creatures.

Bear Umbra: In a format with so many board wipes, I’m surprised we don’t see more totem armor. This one is ridiculously good if you can get it to stay
around.

Breath of Fury: Perhaps my favorite card and another candidate for least likely to do something all that often-but when it does, it will be epic. I’m
imagining a scenario where I put it on one of my creatures, attack with Yasova, threaten something, then when the trigger resolves, put it on whatever got
threatened. Repeat. Sure, it costs mana, but even if it only gets two or three creatures out of the way, that’d be fine.

Goblin Bombardment: Simple, classic last resort for something to do with what I don’t want to give back to you.

Greater Good: Slightly less simple, no less awesome.

Perilous Forays: One of my locals played this for a while, and it always paid dividends. I wonder why no one else at the shop picked it up.

Shivan Harvest: There are many nonbasic lands in the world, Bilbo Baggins. None of them should be used lightly. By that I mean, “death to Homeward Path!”

Sorceries

Boundless Realms: Like I said, with Roil Elemental.

Cultivate: There will be a sweet spot of mana this deck needs to get to in order to function-probably about nine. That way I can both cast spells and pay
for Yasova’s trigger. Cultivate will help get there.

Explosive Vegetation: Ditto.

Life’s Legacy: Sure, it’s a sorcery, but I don’t necessarily have to attack with what I threaten. It’s an inexpensive way of getting an additional benefit
from one of someone else’s creatures.

Praetor’s Counsel: My graveyard is essentially meaningless, but having no limit to my hand size before I cast Life’s Legacy is all that and a bag of chips.

World At War: As a sorcery, you’ll see it coming-but sometimes that’s not enough.

Instants

Dragonrage: From being able to pay for Aggravated Assault to pushing across last bits of commander damage, it feels like this will be a fun combat trick.

Cyclonic Rift: One of the few defensive cards in the deck, there will be times when I’m just behind and need to equalize. Or when I’m ahead and need to put
on the finishing touches.

Grab the Reins: I think this will be the deck in which I play this that I entwine it the least. It will probably just end up being an alternate Fling.

Fling: You can’t have an alternate Fling without the real one.

Mnemonic Nexus: Again, my graveyard is a non-player (for once). This card provides a huge blowout to anyone casting Rise of the Dark Realms or attempting
any graveyard shenanigans.

Momentous Fall: Obviously, I’m hoping to borrow something large of yours instead of having to use something of my own.

Perilous Research: Drawing two cards for two mana is good enough; sacrificing that thing I don’t want to give back to you is even better.

Read the Runes: This is a card that I played until it frayed back in my original Phelddagrif deck. I want to recapture the magic of some of those days-by
drawing some cards, thank you very much.

Savage Beating: Double strike is an ability that’s been around a while, but I think Commander players are just recently discovering. It is simply savage,
and double-striking commanders get quickly lethal.

Skyshroud Claim: A little more ramp to help the cause.

Volcanic Offering: This came into the deck as another way of getting rid of Homeward Path, but I’m pretty sure that it’s super value for the five mana it
costs. There’s always a deal to be made with someone, and you’re never in jeopardy of losing your own things (unless someone casts Commandeer).

Planeswalkers

Garruk Wildspeaker: I put this in as a way to buff up Yasova, but it’s also pretty good at helping you cast stuff.

Xenagos, the Reveler: It’s there mostly for the mana acceleration, but occasionally the creature. It’s seemingly innocuous as planeswalkers go, but that
ultimate can be quite something.

Lands

There is mana fixing, sacrifice outlets, and Homeward Path destruction amongst the lands. Pretty standard stuff. When Gauntlets of Chaos was one of the
options in the deck, I considered Academy Ruins, but once it went, so did a land that doesn’t do much besides produce colorless mana.

For your convenience, here’s a breakdown of the Birthing Pod chain:

2: Coiling Oracle, Jeering Instigator

3: Barrin, Thassa, God of the Sea, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Elder

4: Oracle of Mul Daya, Ravenous Baboons, Solemn Simulacrum, Sower of Temptation, Willow Satyr

5: Dominus of Fealty, Empress Galina, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Riku of Two Reflections, Xenagos, God of Revels, Zealous Conscripts

6: Conquering Manticore, Djinn of Infinite Deceits, Godo, Bandit Warlord, Hellkite Charger, Keiga, the Tide Star, Roil Elemental, Scourge Of The Throne

7: Memnarch, Molten Primordial

8: Maelstrom Wanderer, Woodfall Primus

The deck seems like it will be fun to play, with a number of decision trees. There might be some situations where the play line is obvious, but I think in
a complicated multiplayer game, it will require a fair amount of thinking in order to maximize value. Thank you in advance for letting me borrow your
creatures.

Kresh, the Bloodbraided
Sheldon Menery
0th Place at Test deck on 06-11-2014
Commander
Magic Arena

Creatures (34)

Planeswalkers (1)

Lands (37)

Spells (28)

Magic Card Back


Here is the latest database version of all my decks:

ADUN’S TOOLBOX
; ANIMAR’S SWARM;AURELIA GOES TO WAR;CHILDREN of a LESSER GOD;DEMONS OF KAALIA;EREBOS and the HALLS OF THE DEAD;GLISSA, GLISSA;HELIOD, GOD OF ENCHANTMENTS;DREAMING OF INTET;FORGE OF PURPHOROS;KARN, BEATDOWN GOLEM;HALLOWEEN WITH KARADOR;KARRTHUS, WHO RAINS FIRE FROM THE SKY;KRESH INTO THE RED ZONE;LAVINIA BLINKS;LAZAV, SHAPESHIFTING MASTERMIND;ZOMBIES OF TRESSERHORN;MELEK’S MOLTEN MIND GRIND;MERIEKE’S ESPER CONTROL;THE MILL-MEOPLASM;NATH of the VALUE LEAF;NYLEA OF THE WOODLAND REALM,OBZEDAT, GHOST KILLER;PURPLE HIPPOS and MARO SORCERERS;ZEGANA and a DICE BAG;RAKDOS: LIFE IS SHORT;RITH’S TOKENS;YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF;RURIC THAR AND HIS BEASTLY FIGHT CLUB;THASSA, GOD OF MERFOLK;THE ALTAR of THRAXIMUNDAR; TROSTANI and HER ANGELS

If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a campaign that’s been alive since 1987 and is just now getting started with a new
saga called “The Lost Cities of Nevinor”), ask for an invitation to the Facebook group ” Sheldon Menery’s Monday Night Gamers.”