Into the Vault: Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

           Japanese history, Samurai, Ninja, Anime. These topics have intrigued me for so long. As an anime fan, I’ve watched my fair share of shounen shows such as Naruto, Akame Ga Kill and Demon Slayer. What if there is a way for us to bring them to Magic the Gathering and specifically Commander.

            Yuriko, is a legendary human ninja whose identity is shrouded in mystery. One things for sure, she inspires hope among the weak and terror to the mighty. This is the new commander that a friend of mine (Ryan Salvador III) has chosen as his first commander. He is hopeful that he can wield her and use her as a weapon to debase the powerful and bring aid to the oppressed and afflicted. I just hope I am not one of those powerful commander players.

            When building a commander deck, I look for commanders that can give card advantage or is a wincon in the command zone. And I believe Yuriko has the capability to do both. Her Commander Ninjutsu ability allows her to bypass commander tax by simply paying black and blue mana. Her second ability is her card advantage ability and damage dealing skill.

“Whenever any Ninja you control deals combat damage to a player, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. Each opponent loses life equal to that card’s converted mana cost.”

            This is what makes Yuriko so special. There are three things that pops out with this ability.

1. This affects all Ninjas you control and not just her.
2. You must put the top card of your library in your hand which is card advantage. Effects that prevent you from drawing a card will not affect you such as Narset, Parter of Veils and Notion Thief.
3. Her skill does not target any opponent and cannot be prevented since they are losing life. The life loss amount is dependent on the card’s converted mana cost which means we need to be playing expensive spells.

            Now that we have a gameplan. Let us get to deck building.

Catch me if you can

            For Yuriko to use her Ninjutsu properly, we need to make sure that we have a consistent number of creatures that we can cast early and attack unimpeded. Based on play testing, the deck needs to have at least 10 to 11 creatures whose CMC is at 0 – 1 and has a form of evasion. You could start with any of the following creatures:

Ornithopter, Memnite, Phyrexian Walker, Changeling Outcast, Faerie Seer, Hypnotic Siren, Sage of Epityr, Siren stormtamer, Spectral Sailor, Universal Automaton, Wingcrafter, Mothdust Changeling.

   

For the Horde!

            Next, let us look for creatures that can help Yuriko and our ninjas get damage through or bring with them useful abilities.

 

            Filth and Wonder are two creatures that can give your whole team a form of evasion when they are in your graveyard. Filth in combination with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth makes all your creatures gain Swampwalk and will also be unblockable even if they do not have any swamps in play. Wonder on the other hand gives all your creatures flying.

 

            These two behemoths will bring your enemies to their knees. Only choose one of them not both since most of the time they are uncastable due to their high casting cost. So why include them in the deck you might ask? Well imagine this board state: You have 2 unblockable creatures in play that can attack this turn. When they attack and are not blocked, play Yuriko and one other ninja for their ninjutsu ability. This will trigger Yuriko’s second ability twice making you reveal the top card of your library. In response to the first trigger, cast Vampiric Tutor and place Draco on top of your library. Draco is then revealed dealing 16 damage to everyone. In response to the second trigger, cast Brainstorm and return Draco and another card to the top of your library making sure that the top most card is Draco. The second trigger resolves revealing Draco again and dealing another 16 damage. That is a total 32 damage to all opponents. That brings your opponents one lucky flip away from death.

 

            Although these two cards do not have evasion, what they offer to the table is value. And with ninjutsu, you can bounce them back to your hand and get further value specially in grindier games.

Ninjas Assemble!

            Although you want to pack the deck with as many ninjas as you possibly can, what we are aiming for is to form an elite team of individuals that will avenge the oppressed people and bring the powerful to their knees.

       

            Ingenious Infiltrator and Ninja of the Deep Hours helps propel you to victory with the amount of card draw they can provide. Mistblade Shinobi helps bounce opposing creatures. Getting beat by graveyard heavy decks? Skullsnatcher can help you get rid of the graveyard. Mist-Syndicate Naga, if left unchecked, will steamroll you to victory by generating copies of itself every time it deals damage to an opponent. Every have that itch to play cards from your opponents deck? Say no more. Fallen Shinobi is here. The downside with Fallen Shinobi is its consistency in finding good top deck targets. Sometimes you are lucky and at other times, you see all lands.

Jedi Mindgames

            As a ninja, you need to master the skill to manipulate the top card of your library. You can do this with cards like Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor and Lim-Dul’s Vault. Other cards you might want to consider are Jace the Mindsculptor, Sensei’s Diving Top and Scroll Rack.

   

Strike them when they least expect it

            Now let us look for cards that can help bring pain and suffering. When looking for cards, look for expensive cards that can be played with an alternate cheap cost. Force of Will and Force of Negation are good interaction spells and may be played for “free” if you have a blue card in hand. Commandeer lets you steal noncreature spells and help drain opponents for 7 life. Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise gets you more cards.

   

            Extra turn cards might be the last component you need to close out those games. Temporal Trespass is an eleven casting cost spell that can help you get there. Note that if you are playing this card, you might not want to add Treasure Cruise since three delve cards might be one too many and you really do not have enough cards to support this play style. Other extra turn spells you can play are:

   

Conclusion

            Yuriko is definitely a very strong commander. She even got the ban hammer in Duel Commander. She can bring you the win in the early part of the game when defenses are down and she can grind till the late game and win using extra turns. You opponents should be mindful of those weak unblockable creatures because Yuriko is always in the shadows just waiting for the right moment to strike.

            I want to give a shoutout to Solelyselesnya. His primer helped me make this content and the decklist shown below is also his.

Decklist

Creature (25)
1x Changeling Outcast
1x Draco
1x Faerie Seer
1x Fallen Shinobi
1x Filth
1x Gilded Drake
1x Ingenious Infiltrator
1x Memnite
1x Mist-Syndicate Naga
1x Mistblade Shinobi
1x Mothdust Changeling
1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
1x Ornithopter
1x Phyrexian Walker
1x Sage of Epityr
1x Sakashima the Impostor
1x Sakashima's Student
1x Sidisi's Faithful
1x Siren Stormtamer
1x Skullsnatcher
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spectral Sailor
1x Spellstutter Sprite
1x Universal Automaton
1x Wingcrafter

Artifact (8)
1x Chrome Mox
1x Cursed Totem
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mox Amber
1x Null Rod
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring

Instant (24)
1x Abjure
1x Brainstorm
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Commandeer
1x Consign / Oblivion
1x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Dark Ritual
1x Dig Through Time
1x Flusterstorm
1x Force of Negation
1x Force of Will
1x Insidious Dreams
1x Lim-Dul's Vault
1x Mana Drain
1x Memory Lapse
1x Mental Misstep
1x Misdirection
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Narset's Reversal
1x Negate
1x Snuff Out
1x Submerge
1x Vampiric Tutor

Sorcery (10)
1x Capture of Jingzhou
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Intent
1x Imperial Seal
1x Karn's Temporal Sundering
1x Scheming Symmetry
1x Temporal Manipulation
1x Temporal Mastery
1x Temporal Trespass

1x Time Warp
Commander (1)
Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow

Land (28)
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Darkslick Shores
1x Flooded Strand
6x Island
1x Mana Confluence
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Morphic Pool
1x Mutavault
1x Mystic Sanctuary
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Polluted Delta
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
2x Swamp
1x Underground River
1x Underground Sea
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (2)
1x Back to Basics
1x Mystic Remora

Planeswalker (2)
1x Ashiok, Dream Render
1x Narset, Parter of Veils