Last weekend, I made the Top 4 of the MagicFest Online Season 2 Finals with an updated version of Yorion Bant Control.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (9)
Lands (37)
Spells (29)
Last week, I wrote that the deck felt like it was capable of two different gameplans — a draw-go style with counterspells and Shark Typhoon, and a tap-out style with haymakers such as planeswalkers, Elspeth Conquers Death, and Agent of Treachery. I also wrote that it was better to play draw-go in most situations, if given the choice. So, I considered — if playing draw-go is the better choice, I should probably maximize my deck to do that, similarly to what we did at World Championship XXVI with Azorius Control. Thus, “Yorion Bant Flash (?)” was born.
Of course this isn’t a “Flash deck” in the literal sense of the word — not in the maindeck, anyway — but I believe it does have a similar playstyle to that deck than it does to regular Yorion Bant Control so the differentiation in names is useful.
The biggest difference between the lists is the lack of Agent of Treachery. In a Standard that’s about throwing haymakers at each other, it feels weird to not include what is perhaps the biggest haymaker of all of them, but I think you will usually not win the war versus other Agent decks, so there’s no sense in even trying.
This is actually one of my favorite things in Magic — when someone is so prepared for a specific fight (in this case, the Lukka deck with the Agent fight), you simply try to make the game not about that. Concede that particular fight and fight on a different front where you have the advantage.
On top of the fact that you will never be as good an Agent of Treachery deck as Yorion Jesai Lukka, many other decks are also playing four copies of Mystical Dispute, and that’s Agent of Treachery’s biggest predator — you’re a ramp deck, but reaching ten mana is not trivial, and you don’t have Fires of Invention to play Agent and still be able to pay for Dispute. I found myself sideboarding Agent of Treachery out in enough matchups that I feel like it just shouldn’t be in my deck anymore.
There are two big additions to the deck — Dovin’s Veto and Brazen Borrower.
Dovin’s Veto is usually a sideboard card, but it has seen maindeck play from time to time (for example the aforementioned Azorius Control deck from World Championship XXVI played three copies). I think this is the right time for it again. In this build, it’s actually a necessity because Teferi, Time Raveler is the best card against you and you need more ways to counter it on the draw. Dovin’s Veto is the best card against Temur Reclamation, the best counterspell versus Temur Adventures, excellent against Yorion Jeskai Lukka, and useful against Boros/Jeskai Cycling, since Zenith Flare is one of their main avenues to victory. In fact, my newest build plays more Dovin’s Vetos in the maindeck.
Brazen Borrower was an experiment that was mostly successful. The main reason it’s there is that I wanted something that was good versus opposing Shark Typhoons. Brazen Borrower lets you deal with a Shark token without losing card advantage and, most importantly, it lets you do that at instant speed. This means you can attack into it and, if they commit to the Shark as a blocker, you just bounce it. It also protects your planeswalkers (most notably Teferi) against end-step Sharks that are otherwise hard to deal with.
Brazen Borrower is also an excellent card against Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast. They cast Lukka, -2 it on a token, and then you in response bounce the token, fizzling the ability. Then you cast Brazen Borrower in the end step and attack and kill Lukka, who is now at three loyalty.
Other than that, Brazen Borrower also has applications versus Agent of Treachery (sometimes they steal Elspeth Conquers Death or a planeswalker and then you can bounce it back); Wilderness Reclamation; Flourishing Fox; Teferi, Time Raveler; Obosh, the Preypiercer; and any random amount of aggressive creatures, as well as attacking planeswalkers and combining with Nightpack Ambusher to form a flash plan after sideboard.
The other major difference comes in the sideboard, and is the inclusion of Nightpack Ambusher.
Nightpack Ambusher is the perfect threat for when both players are trying to play a draw-go game, such as against Temur Reclamation or other Yorion decks. The most-played permission spells right now are Dovin’s Veto, Negate, and Mystical Dispute, and Nightpack Ambusher is immune to the first two while forcing the full cost on Mystical Dispute — as such, it’s not hard to fight over or to make sure you can untap and cast an uncontested threat. Aether Gust is a good card against it, but it’s not positioned well (I don’t play any in my sideboard myself) and not very good against the rest of your deck, so if your opponent brings it in, it could be a liability.
Nightpack Ambusher also plays a very important role in that, unlike some other anti-control options, it can be sideboarded in versus aggressive decks. When you’re playing an 80-card deck, you’ll naturally have more cards you need to take out in certain matchups, and since your sideboard doesn’t scale accordingly, you need some versatile cards that you can bring in against multiple people. Even though Nightpack Ambusher isn’t the best card ever versus a Lurrus of the Dream-Den deck, it’s certainly a better option than having Mystical Dispute, Dovin’s Veto, or Elspeth Conquers Death.
Moving forward, I would take the draw-go aspect of this deck even further. I believe Dovin’s Veto is in a good spot right now and would add an extra copy to the maindeck instead of a Tamiyo, Collector of Tales. Tamiyo is a good card, and important to lock up games with counterspells and to enable the escape on Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, but it doesn’t play well with the “flash” nature of the deck, it’s vulnerable to every single piece of disruption from Mystical Dispute to Aether Gust, and it’s expensive enough that you can’t easily force it through (unlike, say, Teferi, Time Raveler). So I’m going down to one Tamiyo and adding a third Dovin’s Veto to the maindeck. Here’s the current build:
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (37)
Spells (30)
Sideboard Guide
VS Temur Reclamation
I think that, the way this list is constructed, this is a pretty good matchup — better than what other Bant Yorion lists have. Your planeswalkers are great versus them and you have a lot of countermagic to make sure you don’t die before you can get them on the battlefield, as well as a reasonable amount of answers to Shark Typhoon, which is their best way of dealing with them. The fact that most lists have cut Brazen Borrower for Scorching Dragonfire means they really don’t have a good answer to Teferi, Time Raveler or Narset, Parter of Veils if you keep them at more than three loyalty, so consider simply not activating Narset.
Out:
In:
With this configuration, I think you can play enough of a draw-go game that you don’t want Knight of Autumn. They often bring in four Negates, but I think you’re still favored after sideboard — Ambusher is a pretty good card versus Negate and goes well with your gameplan. I think having one Glass Casket can be okay to deal with Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath and Shark tokens — you can always reset it with Yorion or Teferi. If they have Ambushers themselves, then Elspeth Conquers Death is better.
Blast Zone is one of their best cards against you, so if you see multiples you should bring in Tale’s End. It counters Shark Typhoon, Uro, and Fabled Passage, so it can still have uses, and they never expect you to get their Blast Zone.
VS Yorion Jeskai Lukka
Not much has changed here in this matchup — you still want to play the draw-go game and you’re now better-equipped to do it, which means this matchup also gets better. Teferi is the most important card from their side — if they don’t resolve it, then you have a pretty good chance to win; if they do resolve it and you can’t get rid of it for a couple of turns, you’re very likely to lose.
Out:
In:
Most players I see have been taking out Fires of Invention in this matchup so that they can bring in a lot of counterspells. Because of this, I’m not bringing in Knight of Autumn. It’s not a horrible card even if they don’t have Fires, as even getting rid of Omen of the Sea can be good, but it doesn’t really fit the gameplan you’re trying to play.
Since Teferi is their best card against you, having another way of answering it on the draw with Tale’s End can be helpful. Other than that, it also counters Lukka, Yorion, Narset, Shark Typhoon, and the first half of Elspeth Conquers Death, so you’ll find plenty of uses for it. Don’t feel like you need to fire it off at the first opportunity, as it’s a legitimately good card versus them.
VS Temur Adventures
This is a rough matchup Game 1. Lucky Clover is the best card and you have no answer for it other than Teferi, Time Raveler + a counterspell on the way back, and that takes a while (and if they have the right hand, by the time you can accomplish this it will be too late). Narset is your most important card, as it stops Edgewall Innkeeper from working, so make sure to protect it. Being on the play is huge in this matchup, as it means you can Dovin’s Veto a Lucky Clover on Turn 2.
Out:
In:
This matchup improves tremendously after sideboarding, since they gain basically nothing (they have a Fae of Wishes sideboard) and you take out some very bad cards for very good replacements. Between Knight of Autumn and Glass Casket, you bring in answers to both cards that beat you (Lucky Clover and Edgewall Innkeeper respectively), and each Knight of Autumn can be reused to get rid of multiple Lucky Clovers. This matchup becoming more popular is the main reason for a third Knight of Autumn in the sideboard.
I tried bringing in Nightpack Ambusher in this matchup instead of the remaining Mystical Disputes, but they proved to be quite bad — they’re just outclassed on both offense and defense. Mystical Dispute is pretty bad too but I think it’s better than the other cards.
VS Obosh Mono-Red Aggro
This is also a bad matchup Game 1, but you can swing it by drawing Shatter the Sky. Given that you’re almost 0% to win if you don’t draw it and actually a favorite if you do, I recommend mulliganing very aggressively. You aren’t going to mulligan every hand that doesn’t have Shatter the Sky, but the hand should have at least some means of digging for it or surviving until you find it. Similarly, you should keep borderline hands that have Shatter the Sky in them because it’s that important.
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In:
This matchup also improves a lot after sideboarding, since now you have real cards in your deck and are not put in a “Shatter the Sky or bust” situation (on top of having a fourth Shatter). Knight of Autumn is pretty important to hit Heraldic Banner.
Nightpack Ambusher isn’t incredible or anything but I think it’s better than the planeswalkers as it at least provides some defensive value.
VS Boros Cycling
You have a lot of countermagic in your deck, so it’s tough to kill you with Zenith Flare. Because of this, an early Flourishing Fox or going wide with Valiant Rescuer are their best bets. Unfortunately these are pretty good bets because some of your hands just can’t beat either of these cards. If you stabilize, try to stick a Narset — they have a really tough time beating that card.
Out:
In:
Originally, I liked Knight of Autumn in this matchup as a way to bring yourself out of Zenith Flare range. However, after playing it more, I realized that it wasn’t actually accomplishing that. The games can go quite long and you usually get to a point where Zenith Flare is lethal anyway, regardless of whether you’ve gained four or even eight life. For the most part it’s not very good as a blocker, so I prefer just having two Ambushers, which both block better and can close out the game before they draw enough Flares.
Dovin’s Veto might seem like a weird addition, but Zenith Flare is really the most important card, and I think that after sideboarding you have enough ways to stop their early aggression that Zenith Flare is the most common way you lose, so having another answer seems good.
If you’re playing versus the Jeskai version with Improbable Alliance, then I believe Knight of Autumn is better than Nightpack Ambusher.
Moving Forward
Overall, I think this is definitely the direction Bant-based Yorion decks should be going. The Yorion mirror and Temur Reclamation matchups show real gains by having more counterspells in the maindeck, and neither option is very good versus the aggressive decks so it’s not like you’re giving up a lot there.
I enjoy playing this deck, but I also think it happens to be a good choice right now. You have your share of bad matchups, but all of them improve a lot after sideboarding, which I think is a good place to be in.
