Shaman-shake: Yurlok's Tap Dance Tribal Team

Commander / EDH BRG (Jund) Casual Combo Midrange Shaman Tap/Untap Theme/Gimmick

Shazica

Creature (41)

• 1x Beastcaller Savant
• 1x Bloodline Shaman
• 1x Bosk Banneret
• 1x Crimson Mage
• 1x Dark-Dweller Oracle
• 1x Elvish Piper
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1x Grismold, the Dreadsower
• 1x Harmonic Prodigy
• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
• 1x Jade Mage
• 1x Kaervek the Merciless
• 1x Kazandu Tuskcaller
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Lightning Crafter
• 1x Masked Vandal
• 1x Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Orochi Sustainer
• 1x Rage Forger
• 1x Rakka Mar
• 1x Realmwalker
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Saryth, the Viper's Fang
• 1x Seasoned Pyromancer
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Sensation Gorger
• 1x Silverback Elder
• 1x Species Specialist
• 1x Thunderscape Familiar
• 1x Timeless Witness
• 1x Underrealm Lich
• 1x Vexing Shusher
• 1x Whisperer of the Wilds
• 1x Wolf-Skull Shaman

Land (33)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deathcap Glade
• 1x Fire-Lit Thicket
• 6x Forest
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rockfall Vale
• 1x Secluded Courtyard
• 1x Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass  ^Flip
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Turntimber, Serpentine Wood  ^Flip
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Ziatora's Proving Ground

Instant (4)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Hagra Mauling  ^Flip
• 1x Kindred Summons

Commander (1)

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Ezuri's Predation
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Pact of the Serpent

Artifact (7)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Pyre of Heroes
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Vanquisher's Banner

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Quest for Renewal
• 1x Steely Resolve

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"Have you ever been misunderstood? Ever had someone look at you and twist your talents into toxic, friend-ending behaviour, when all you wanted was to dance to spread joy and free mana?"

sad but affirmative hissing

"Well, my reptilian resident, that ends today. Let me introduce you to some friends and see you shake that tail."

IT'S TIME TO SHAMAN-SHAKE

The Nature of Dance (The Why)

“Life is a gift. We must celebrate it. We have to dance to show God we are grateful to be alive.” – Rosie Betzler

Dancing. Intimidating for all, but beneficial for everyone. It is possible to struggle through today’s life without any spontaneous celebration of joy, but those who do dare to let loose and dance every once in a while, rarely looks back. Try it. Tap your feet, untap them back. You move. 1, 2, 3, 4. Repeat. You groove. You feel great – no, you feel fantastic. You don’t care what anyone else is doing – you could look pathetic for what it’s worth. But you feel it therapeutic, ritualistic, cleansing. As you shake, you shake off your worries. Turn it sideways, twist it up. There is no one in control over you except you. Now, give up that control. It’s ecstasy.

Just watch out for Yurlok’s spikes though. But oh, that guy can tap.

Understanding the Tap Dance Style (The What)

“There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.” — Vicki Baum

Inspired by Yurlok’s sweet movements, we want to create a tap dance team to really get the energy flowing. As such, what better team can be assembled than the shamans themselves, whom have been draining power from roots of rhythm long before society became a thing. Indeed, with all-stars like Fauna Shaman, Elvish Piper, and Lightning Crafter, this team has the potential of truly impacting the dancefloor. Heavy hitters such as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker doubles the fun, and Seedborn Muse keeps the team refreshed – and Yurlok is there to bring them out and cheer them on.

To increase the tempo, some dancers like Kazandu Tuskcaller, Ophiomancer, and Rakka Mar brings out additional fans to shake along, which can be utilized with shamans like Dark-Dweller Oracle and Izoni. Cards like Birthing Pod and Diabolic Intent can then help us find the final parts of the show – like Nyxbloom Lightshow or Yurlok’s personal favorite – the almighty Beatstick, which will throw the beat into critical and make the night one to remember.

How the party ends up is up to you – Meren of Clan Nel Toth will bring back all your dancers for a never-ending rave, Harmonic Prodigy and Rage Forger will soon eliminate any resisting competition, or Aggravated Assault will transform your tapping team to breakdance behemoths. The night is young, and your shoes are ready.

Put It Into Practice (The How)

“I would only believe in a god who could dance.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

Learning the Basics (Early Game / Turns 1-3)

We start out slow and steady, preferably securing a solid backbone with dual-coloured lands and a rampy shaman on turn 2, such as Goblin Anarchomancer or Sakura-Tribe Elder. This will allow us to cast Yurlok on turn 3, which will improve or mid and late game massively.

Should the opening contain any card draw value engines like Black Market Connections or Guardian Project, it is however advised to play these as early as possible instead, as the deck can suffer from running out of gas either from unlucky draws or a board wipe. Once deployed around turn 3-4, cast Yurlok ASAP afterwards.

Get that Rhythm Going (Mid Game / Turns 4-6)

In this stage of the game, focus on summoning your shaman tap dance crew and cash in on tap triggers and additional synergies (remember that many tap abilities are best used in the opponent-before-you’s step!).

Ideally, once you reach turns 6-7, you want to have a card draw engine online (either a permanent like Vanquisher's Banner or a token + sacrifice synergy as well as around 10-11 mana. Tutoring for Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro makes the latter part easy, but Saryth, the Viper's Fang can also contribute substantially.

Moves to Finish Off the Dancefloor (End Game / Turns 7+)

There are three lines of play that will close out the game. All of them need Yurlok + Thornbite Staff:

1. Nyxbloom Ancient + Aggravated Assault. If you play Nyxbloom Ancient with one land and Yurlok untapped, you will end up with 11 mana to spare. Assuming that Thornbite Staff is attached to Yurlok, the remaining mana can then be spent on Aggravated Assault and it’s untap ability, which lets you re-use Yurlok’s ability, thus producing infinite mana. Although the table is most likely dead at this point, you can prevent the same fate to you by using up your mana on Thornbite Staff or Aggravated Assault.

2. Rage Forger + Harmonic Prodigy. With 5 shamans on the board, deploying these two creatures gives your team +2/+2 in counters, and 10 damage to throw somewhere before blocks (which will hopefully break life parity). As long as Yurlok doesn’t die in combat, he should get ample untap triggers from the Thornbite Staff via killed creatures, which can be used to mana burn the remaining players to death. Should no creatures die, well, then you dished out around 20-25 damage. As long as you manage the crackback, this line of play will force your opponents to choose quickly between combat damage or mana burn (note that this line of play is not infinite and is more of a grindy play).

3. Kazandu Tuskcaller + Phyrexian Altar. With Thornbite staff attached to the Tuskcaller, you can tap it to make an elephant, which you sacrifice to make mana. Since tokens go to the graveyard before ceasing to exist, Thornbite Staff will untap the Tuskcaller, allowing you to repeat the effect. Level up the Tuskcaller until you make two elephants, at which point you can use infinite mana to equip the staff between Yurlok and the Tuskcaller, allowing you to generate infinite mana with Yurlok. Use up all your mana on the Tuskcaller, then pass priority and mana burn your opponents to death.

Useful advice

• Kaervek the Merciless has the potential of making you the archenemy. Prevent this by giving it the “Druid of Purification-treatment”, i.e., tell players to who triggers Kaervek that they can pick the target, as long as it’s not on a creature you control.

• Lightning Crafter + Thornbite Staff will bolt all bolt-able creatures your opponents control in a single turn. Are you up against a token deck, consider searching for this synergy.

• If you have an established token + sacrifice value engine set up, don’t be afraid of naming the token creature subtype with Species Specialist rather than Shaman.

• Steely Resolve is an excellent card, but prevent your equips. Read your board twice before playing it to make sure you don’t prevent anything crucial. Should you find out that it prevents your plays, remember that you have plenty of creatures like Silverback Elder or Reclamation Sage to get rid of it.

• Quest for Renewal is really, really, good and will win you games.

• Remember that the Shapeshifter made by Black Market Connections counts as a shaman!

• Any creature dying will trigger Thornbite Staff, and multiple creatures dying will give the staff one trigger each. This is worth remembering in combat and with board wipes like Ezuri's Predation or Kindred Dominance.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 56 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.25
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Elemental 1/1 R, Elemental 3/1 R, Elephant 3/3 G, Experience Token, Human 2/2 G, Insect 1/1 BG, Phyrexian Beast 4/4 G, Plant 1/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Snake 1/1 B, Timeless Witness 4/4 B, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G