Yidris, Wielder of Bae

Commander / EDH* Aggro Delver Dredge Eldrazi Four Color Mill

skyburial

Creature (20)

• 1x Anger
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Blood Tyrant
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Elder Deep-Fiend
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Maelstrom Wanderer
• 1x Mockery of Nature
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Mystic Snake
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Phyrexian Ingester
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
• 1x Scourge of the Throne
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x Thraximundar
• 1x Tyrant's Familiar

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Land (37)

• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 5x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 5x Island
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Opulent Palace
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Savage Lands
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Strip Mine
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Berserkers' Onslaught
• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Price of Glory
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Temur Ascendancy

Artifact (9)

• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Instant (6)

• 1x Bituminous Blast
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cryptic Command *list*
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Terminate

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Decimate
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Farseek
• 1x In Garruk's Wake
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Part the Waterveil
• 1x Praetor's Counsel
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Slave of Bolas
• 1x Temporal Trespass
• 1x Treasure Cruise
• 1x Villainous Wealth
• 1x Volcanic Vision
• 1x Whispering Madness

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Jori En, Ruin Diver

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Praetor's Counsel
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Selvala's Stampede
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

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If you've played Maelstrom Wanderer before, you've probably already got a serious interest in Cascade. What if I told you there was a way to get 3 Cascades off of that same legendary elemental?

Have you ever cascaded off of Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker into a Grave Titan, then used Nicol Bolas to do Nicol Bolas-type things? Like winning the game?

I probably have your attention at this point. Let me welcome you to the deck I've been testing for Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder. I'd heard murmurs about this guy among friend groups and he truly delivers on any expectations I had. Try this. It is some of the most fun you will have playing magic.

Deck Philosophy and Abstract

10 (cards) in the yard

8 (cards) in hand

5 (nonland permanents) on the board

3-5 (cards optimized) on top of the deck

Yidris operates at his best under these conditions. And making any and all of them happen at once comes easily, because of the colors available in his identity. If there was any commander that deserved to slap cascade onto any spell, it was a whiteless (AKA Blund or Blue Jund) one. Dimir and Golgari are the best guilds when it comes to managing the graveyard - the combination of them is arguably what makes Sultai as strong as it is. Mono blue creates card advantage constantly, drawing cards and taking extra turns whenever possible. Gruul puts a lot of bodies on the board and has a shocking propensity for managed destruction, and this is only enhanced by the deck's access to black spells. And Temur and mono red are just splendid when it comes to whipping spells and damage out of thin air.

Bear in mind that as long as you maintain 4 of these conditions, you are ahead. If you have all 5, it is very hard not to win the game. And if you have 3, you can play very well from behind, as long as you take the time to build the rest of your resources before taking the cascade plunge.

10 in the yard, 8 in hand, 5 on board, 3-5 on top of the deck.

Go nuts.

Updates

10/31/2016 - A couple friends of mine trimmed out the fat in this deck in order to make room for more ramp, draw, and removal. There are some amazing hand cycling and deck cycling features available to Dimir (Lim-Dul's Vault, Whispering Madness) that I was completely unaware of, and they cost almost nothing. In fact, these updates reduced the overall price of the deck by $20.

I'd forgotten about Urban Evolution since my early Riku days and it is an excellent fit for this deck. For some reason I hadn't heard about Decimate until today, had never seen it in a game, and have been living the lie that Gruul does not have dedicated creature removal. Thank you, EDH Rec. To top it all off, the damn thing hardly costs a dime. I swapped out Maelstrom Pulse for Terminate because I find it saves on mana, puts me back ahead when needed, and is better in most situations barring an army of clones. Plus, I already have one in my collection. Also, Bituminous Blast gives you an extra cascade after a Yidris hit. Who doesn't like more cascade?

Swapped Atarka, World Render out for a Blood Tyrant, which is more appropriate for the attack-with-Yidris-then-play-spells approach that this general takes. Atarka is far more appropriate in Maelstrom Wanderer as a win con when you've got some dragons out.

Price of Glory was added in the event that a player in the group is going ham on the counterspells. Let them tap out and then play it. You'll be so happy, and the rest of the table probably will be too.

Also threw in a few more options for making Yidris unblockable, which has been a huge help in getting the deck to pop off. See Whispersilk Cloak, Rogue's Passage.

We're up to 37 lands now, which should have been the starting point.

Phew. Alright I think that's everything. More ramp, removal and draw, less creatures and graveyard porn.

Oh, and I do believe all the board wipes makes for big cascades and non-symmetrical removal now.

Categories

Land: This one is obvious.

Wincons: Cards with a high enough ceiling that if they resolve, stick, or otherwise succeed at their task, my likelihood of losing is minimal.

Cascade: Cards that I will most often play during my second main phase after a hit off of Yidris. Some of my bigger mana sinks aren't necessarily appropriate to play this way (see Craterhoof Behemoth). Maelstrom Wanderer can be played either way as it is more of a secondary general/lieutenant/flexcon.

Ramp: Cards that will beef up your mana base, putting you ahead of your opponents.

Draw: Cards that will either replenish or cycle your hand.

Adjustment: Cards that adapt to opposing strategies, events on board, or the risk of falling behind an opponent. Price of Glory, for example, is going to be most useful against counterspell.deck or flash-heavy generals such as Rashmi, Eternities Crafter.

Voltron: Though this is not a voltron deck outright, if you want to succeed with Yidris at the helm, you're going to need to deal commander damage to your opponents. This category houses all of the cards that maximize your potential to successfully cascade in main 2. Bear Umbra is the only outlier here, and it falls into our voltron corner as it grants you the majority of your mana base for cascade effects post-combat.

Counters: A subcategory of Adjustments. I will most often play them if my opponent is broadcasting an intent to counter, remove my commander, or pull the rug out from underneath the rest of us at the table. I think 2-3 counters is all you need for an aggressive play style like mine.

Removal: It's hard to consistently win if you can't respond to cards that hose your strategy. For me that's typically going to be things like Linvala, the Preserver, Ghostly Prison, Glacial Chasm, Tamiyo, Field Researcher, Propaganda and Blightsteel Colossus. As a result, I've tried to build enough variety into my removal options to respond to these threats fluidly. I'm not so mean that I'll be destroying every land possible, but I'm not above shooting down a Cabal Coffers. Killing Wave does not interact will with cascade and I prefer my board wipes non-symmetrical, so I've retired it along with Blasphemous Act in favor of In Garruk's Wake, but I may return the latter to the deck along with a Damnation if it turns out I need more wipes.

Topdeck: Ah, yes. The secret to a successful cascade. Knowing what you're going to hit by curating the top 2-5 cards of your library. Controlling your chaos in order to board out or pop off. This is what any good Maelstrom Wielder does best, and an opponent will often be spooked at the sight of it.

Haste: These are most often going to be spells played before a Yidris swing in order to maximize the combat phase. Obviously playing Craterhoof Behemoth in main 2 would be a fatal error. Temur Ascendancy has the added benefit of drawing you a card whenever you cast your commander, and quickly gets out of hand if you're cheating out creatures. Tyrant's Familiar (fondly nicknamed T Fam) is a pet card of mine and in this deck he tends to clear a path for Yidris to get a hit in. Anger is most often used in conjunction with Jarad's Orders as a card I like to keep in my yard. As you can imagine, Yidris does not mind being recast if there's a haste enabler set up already, and enough mana available to get a smaller cascade in.

(Grave)Yard: The most often changed portion of the deck. I first referred to Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder as "Wanderer With a Yard" because my Maelstrom Wanderer deck lacked robust options for graveyard interaction. What I've found in testing so far is that dredging too heavily counteracts the effectiveness of a good cascade - hence the best yard for Yidris is a small one, tightly curated and effective. Keep a few lapdogs out there and clean it often. Cards under review are Yawgmoth's Will and Rise of the Dark Realms, and Praetor's Counsel. Heavily seeking advice in this section.

Tutors: I have an alternate art for Demonic Tutor, so I've swapped out some of my tutors with higher CMC. Typical targets are the next turn's cascade fattie, card draw, and top deck manipulation.

Game Plan

You want to get your commander out swinging as early as possible, but only attack when you have mana up. The more you can cascade, the better.

Turns will typically involve you playing a land, possibly clearing up a bit of board state to enable an attack with Yidris, then using what you have left for Cascade effects. Sometimes you will have all your mana available post-combat. Those are the best turns :)

I usually try to curate my hand in such a manner that will allow me to eat up all my mana in the biggest cascade play possible every turn, and empower my cascades through top deck manipulation a la Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack.

I've included a few things that will give your creatures haste, some graveyard interaction from our Golgari corner, and of course some fatties to maximize on cheating out as big a spell as possible.

Win Condition

Since the first draft of this deck I've added in a few additional win conditions. Of course there is always the option for outright creature-based aggression as that is how I like to play, but now we've built in the options of milling out your opponents in a jam, or using their combos against them with a Villainous Wealth, so go nuts.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Exclude colors	W
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.38
Tokens	Plant 0/1 G, Zombie 2/2 B