Yidris, Maelstrom Thief

Commander / EDH Aikido Cascade Jank Spellslinger Theme/Gimmick UBRG

bushido_man96

Land (37)

• 4x Forest
• 4x Island
• 4x Mountain
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crosis's Catacombs
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Darigaaz's Caldera
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Opulent Palace
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rugged Highlands
• 1x Savage Lands
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Sulfurous Mire
• 1x Volatile Fjord

Removal (9)

• 1x Bituminous Blast
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Curtains' Call
• 1x Natural Reclamation
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Casualties of War
• 1x Decimate
• 1x Fade Away
• 1x Hull Breach

Finisher (2)

• 1x Surrak Dragonclaw
• 1x Villainous Wealth

Theft (16)

• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Dominating Licid
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Thalakos Deceiver
• 1x Confiscate
• 1x Control Magic
• 1x Steal Artifact
• 1x Steal Enchantment
• 1x Treachery
• 1x Volition Reins
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Haldan, Avid Arcanist
• 1x Pako, Arcane Retriever
• 1x Blatant Thievery
• 1x Bribery
• 1x Inevitable Betrayal

Ramp (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Averna, the Chaos Bloom
• 1x Brass's Bounty
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Search for Tomorrow

Protection (6)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak
• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Robe of Mirrors
• 1x Forceful Denial
• 1x Surrak Dragonclaw

Commander (1)

Cascade (15)

• 1x Meteoric Mace
• 1x Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
• 1x Maelstrom Colossus
• 1x Shardless Agent
• 1x Annoyed Altisaur
• 1x Apex Devastator
• 1x Bloodbraid Elf
• 1x Boarding Party
• 1x Sakashima's Protege
• 1x Sweet-Gum Recluse
• 1x Bituminous Blast
• 1x Forceful Denial
• 1x Natural Reclamation
• 1x Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

Draw (6)

• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Kumena's Awakening
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Boardwipes (2)

• 1x Evacuation
• 1x In Garruk's Wake

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Maybeboard

Other (5)

• 1x Hostage Taker
• 1x Jori En, Ruin Diver
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Three Visits

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Introduction

The focus of the deck has been changing ever since I started tinkering with Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder. At first, I thought I wanted to play a spellslinger style of deck. Then, I thought I wanted to do that along with some big mana stuff. I've moved away from the spellslinger style, and focused on two aspects; the Cascade mechanic, and theft.

Those two mechanics have really made this a deck with two themes, neither really being a subtheme, as the presence of both is pretty balanced here.

Cascade

This theme was easy to start with, since it is printed on the Commander. Yidris even makes it easier by granting spells without Cascade the ability to do so. Throwing in more spells with Cascade makes him even better. Commander Legends added quite a few spells with Cascade to the fold, and even though they may not be the best or most efficient spells, I feel that having Cascade on the them is worth the extra mana cost. Natural Reclamation is not a good removal spell, but the way I see it in this deck, I'm paying 5 mana to at least two, if not three spells out of it, especially if I cast it in my second main phase after attack with Yidris. Even if I use it on another person's turn at instant speed, I'm still getting at least two spells for 5 mana, which I think is great.

Due to the nature of the Cascade spells I'm running, along with the theft spells I'll talk about in that section, this deck is on the higher end of the average CMC. Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty kicks in more synergy with the high CMC of the deck, and while I'm doing all that Cascading, Averna, the Chaos Bloom is ramping lands out onto the battlefield. I've played games where I've Cascaded five or six times in a turn, and it's a load of fun. The deck can be a bit slow to start up, with Yidris being a 4 CMC Commander, but once it starts rolling, it's pretty easy to get a nice board state established.

Theft

Why I decided to go with a theft theme, I don't know. I was fortunate to have cards like Bribery, Gilded Drake and Treachery in my collection from years ago, and I wanted to find a place to play them. This deck has made a good home for them. provides me with most of my more traditional steal spells, snatching stuff off the battlefield the old fashioned way. I've already mentioned the heavy hitters (on the budget, anyway), but I've also included some more situational steal spells, like Steal Enchantment and Steal Artifact.

adds a nice touch to the theft theme by providing impulse draw off of all the libraries at the table. Etali, Primal Storm and the Partners Pako, Arcane Retriever and Haldan, Avid Arcanist are great for this. Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty will even let me cascade off spells I cast from other libraries, provided they meet the CMC criteria. Playing this theft subtheme puts the deck into that 75% category, really scaling with the power of the decks at the table.

Draw

This deck doesn't run as much straight card draw as I would usually run in one of my decks. The Cascade mechanic and the impulse draws make up for this, providing plenty of card advantage for the deck. I thought Humble Defector nicely complemented the playstyle of this deck. Tatyova, Benthic Druid is just a generally good card, and I don't feel guilty at all about including her in this build.

Finishing

I expect to deal chunks of damage with Yidris, Maelstrom Weilder throughout the game, in order to get his trigger. He's big, he has trample, so he's a bruiser. I like to utilize the combat phase, and will be punching with Yidris often. There are quite a few big beaters in the deck, and Surrak Dragonclaw helps them punch through for the finish. The big finisher in here, and the most fun, is the ultimate theft card, Villainous Wealth.

Other Thoughts

I really like how this deck plays out. The only real concern I have is that I'm running a ton of mana rocks for the ramp package, instead of green land ramp spells. Most of the rocks are 2 mana rocks, which are great for Cascading onto the table. I worry about artifact wipes, though, and wonder if going with more of the green land ramp spells would be better. My color distribution is not super heavy towards green either, and the rocks help keep the mana base more balanced, I think. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Conclusion

I hope this deck strikes players as an interesting take on how to build Yidris. After playing it a few times, I really enjoy it, and once the Cascades start, the deck really takes off.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.29
Tokens	City's Blessing, Treasure
Folders	4-Color EDH Decks I Have, Glint UBRG