Yasova Dragonclaw EDH

Commander / EDH* RUG (Temur) Sacrifice

Anthalt

Land (36)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Barkchannel Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Shadows
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Cragcrown Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x High Market
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 3x Snow-Covered Forest
• 2x Snow-Covered Island
• 2x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas

Creature (15)

• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sower of Temptation
• 1x Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
• 1x Ulvenwald Hydra
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Bonfire of the Damned
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Life's Legacy
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Treasure Cruise
• 1x Wheel of Fortune

Instant (9)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Reins of Power
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Control Magic
• 1x Evolutionary Leap
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Food Chain
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Shivan Harvest
• 1x Song of the Dryads
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Treachery
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Blackblade Reforged
• 1x Champion's Helm
• 1x Hero's Blade
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Proteus Staff
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Spawning Pit *list*
• 1x Sword of the Chosen
• 1x Talisman of Creativity

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Intro

At the beginning of 2019 I set out to build a commander deck without any outside 'inspiration' (no looking at other decks on Tappedout, no Starcitygames articles, no EDHREC to find out the most popular cards. Just me brainstorming with friends, and endlessly sifting through cards on scryfall). This is that deck.

Why Yasova?

The decision to make Yasova the commander of the deck was a combination of several factors.

• I wanted to play something people in my playgroup didn't see often.
• I wanted a low curve commander I could play out quickly and replay if needed.
• I wanted at least 2 but preferably 3 colours. Temur is among my favourite colour combinations.
• Steal and Sac is a theme I always wanted to build around.
• Yasova is an awesome character and easily one of the best khans in the lore.

Strategy

The plan is pretty simple. Get Yasova out and start acting as the table police, start stealing key pieces of other people's boards to keep them off the win, swing, and sacrifice them for value. Rinse and repeat the soft lock against while building up my own board state.

The deck can then win through a couple options:

• Yasova beats.
• Kiki kiki, mirror Breaker + zealous conscripts combo.
• Craterhoof into a large board state.
• Rite of Replication something big.
• Occassionally steal opponents' win conditions to use against them.

Building the Deck

I wanted this deck to be as tunes as I could make it while still fitting into my playgroup's power level. As a result it is budgetless, but kept in check with building restrictions.

To get started I used the tried and true 8 by 8 method of picking 8 things I wanted the deck to do and then approximately 8 cards I wanted in each of those categories.

Those categories were:

• Ramp - Yasova needs a lot of mana to steal, sac, and still cast spells.
• Draw - Everybody needs cards.
• Single Target Removal - I leaned more heavily into non-creature removal as the steal and sacrifice already acts as targeted creature removal.
• Mass Removal - For when board states get too crazy.
• Steal - The first half of the core theme of the deck, focused on taking away opponent's creatures.
• Sacrifice - The second half of the theme of the deck, focused on using those stolen creatures to gain value for me.
• Payoffs and Value - Its all well and good to sacrifice my opponents' stuff but there needs to be a reason to do it.
• Buffs for Yasova - The stronger she is, the better she steals. Bonus points for making her more resilient and hitting harder for the occasional commander damage win.

With the categories selected I made a list of every possible card that might fit into the deck; nearly 400 in total. Then began to trim down until I found the ones I was most happy with.

Refining and Fine Tuning

My rule has always been that if I draw a card and I am never happy to see it, it gets the axe. All in all the largest challenge in building Yasova was that between steal, sacrifice, buff effects, and the usual core pieces you want to play in Commander there really wasn't much room to actually win.

As I mentioned I also wanted to make sure my deck matched my playgroup's game expectations so I put in a few restrictions. I have kept tutors, and infinite combos to a minimum.

Using this popular power level scale: https://m.imgur.com/OcMdyUH I would say the deck falls around power level 6 or 7 despite the enormous budget. The deck is consistent, and plays the best mana base it could possibly have without bringing overwhelming speed or power to the table.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	2/2 C Artifact Creature Spawn, Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Plant 0/1 G
Folders	EDH Prospects, Stuff I like or intrested in, MAYBE DECKS