Kykar, Wind's Fury - Spellslinger Tokens
—Jeskai teaching
Table of Contents
Introduction
Now, lest you think this is a sub-optimal strategy in a "go big or go home" format like Commander, I have created this thread to share my love of spellslinging and tokens with one and all and to show you just how powerful this approach to magic can be. Of course, both token and spellslinger strategies are fairly common, but I can't say that I have ever seen them built in a complementary and synergistic way in the same deck. This deck is my attempt to do so, and I think I have largely succeeded. Enjoy!
Why play Kykar?
Kykar's static ability triggers whenever you cast a noncreature spell to create a 1/1 white flying spirit creature token, and since it is a cast trigger, the spell resolving is not a requirement for the trigger itself to resolve. Moreover, "noncreature spell" is a big umbrella to be under. This ability is enormously flexible and can build out your board state without a lot of work on your part. On top of that is the extra oomph from Kykar's activated ability which makes it into a lean, mean, mana machine. Both abilities are self-contained and powerful, which lends this legendary bird to a variety of potential themes and deck variants. When the only "restriction" in your deckbuilding is that you should probably jam a lot of noncreature spells, then you aren't very restricted at all - at least not in these colors.
I have dabbled a fair bit in the different ways one could feasibly build a casual Kykar list, whether in theory or with the actual physical cards, and I have to say that after a sustained period of time brewing with the bird, managing a primer isn't straightforward. That's because there isn't really one list. Ever. There's too many flavors of Kykar for me to be disciplined enough to stick with just one. That said, this primer will largely focus on a default list ("Bird's the Word") that is focused on triggering Kykar itself as much as possible. In addition to this I will curate some of my favorite alternate lists in the primer and discuss them now and again, but the strategy guide herein will hone in on the default list.
The three color cost does make casting Kykar more restrictive, but with a decent manabase and other fixing I typically don't struggle to cast this commander on or before curve. Jeskai colors are ideal for a combination of great spellslinger instants and sorceries, token production and support, and a wide range of answers. What Jeskai may lack in terms of the raw power of green and black it makes up for with speed, flexibility, and utility.
If you are a fan of super casual or jank decks you could certainly build Bird tribal with Kykar at the helm, but Wizard is likely the more relevant creature type in these colors. Or, you could just ignore Kykar's creature type and focus on goodies for maximizing spirit synergy with the tokens it makes. The build herein doesn't include many tribal synergies, but the potential is definitely there with Kykar if you want to pursue it.
A 3/3 with flying is deceptively good in this format. You will be amazed at how many decks fail to include a gameplan for dealing with fliers. Since you will usually want Kykar to stick around with that wonderful triggered ability, you won't often want to block with it, preferring instead to fly over opposing ground creatures. This means you should feel free to swing away and rack up chip damage throughout a game. I have been quite surprised at the number of times I've snuck through a commander damage kill with Kykar (and a little help) without really planning to.
Enchantress without green mana symbols? No problem! Jeskai colors give you access to some incredibly powerful enchantments, including a number of anthem effects that make your spirit tokens bigger threats.
Voltron with tokens? Sure thing! Kykar comes with some built in evasion, and only needs 4 more power to get to the magic number 7 for a 3 turn commander damage kill. Even fewer turns with some double strike or extra combats! Not to mention, after a few spirit triggers resolve you can leverage Kykar's activated ability to pay for your generic mana artifacts and equip costs for a discount other voltron generals have to work a bit harder for!
Going wide with artifacts? Yes please! Jeskai colors are THE artifact colors and you can certainly pull some shenanigans if you go this route.
Well, that's all fine and dandy, but at the end of the day a deck needs to be focused and can't chase every possible strategy, so you have to pick a direction. I chose to stick with the very broad theme of "awesome noncreature spells that proc Kykar" for the main primer list. This approach means that Kykar is the main payoff, while all your noncreature spells are the enablers, but there is certainly overlap. By shifting your focus in one direction or another away from the "awesome noncreature spells" theme, you unlock whole new sets of payoffs and enablers (ex: Veyran, Voice of Duality and Thousand-Year Storm are suddenly outstanding payoffs in an instant/sorcery enablers build, or Sai, Master Thopterist and Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain in an artifact enablers build).
Regardless of the strategy you choose, fliers make for great attackers, "free" tokens make for great chump blockers. These facts alone make Kykar an outstanding commander... but wait, there's more!
Of course the single is not fully refunding the mana cost from the noncreature spell you cast in many cases. With the list contained in this thread I am actually trying to activate this ability as little as possible (within reason) because I am generally looking to win with a token swarm and sacrificing said tokens for value is counterproductive in many cases. On the other hand, I have no intention of pretending such a powerful line of text doesn't exist, and the acceleration, flexibility, and utility it affords you is amazing. In a deck without green mana symbols any ability to ramp, even these one shot effects, are most welcome. A free instant speed sac outlet that produces mana is also great when facing a board wipe, or even to just get some use from your blocked/blocking Spirits before they bite the dust.
With all that said, one could build a much more tuned Kykar list specifically around abusing this activated ability with what are likely the most powerful versions of the deck: artifact storm and/or degenerate combo. The general idea is to play 0 cmc noncreature spells like Lotus Petal, Tormod's Crypt, Mox Amber, Mox Opal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Pact of Negation, Force of Negation, and Mana Crypt - or 1 cmc noncreature spells in a pinch - to trigger Kykar and then use the mana from sacrificing the spirit to keep going for as long as you can. If the deck is built right, you will chain spells non-stop and net mana with each cheap/free spell. The printing of Underworld Breach allows for even more nonsense in conjunction with Brain Feeze and Lotus Petal and/or Lion's Eye Diamond and now Diamond Lion.
There are other great cards like Paradoxical Outcome, Whir of Invention, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, and Storm the Vault // Vault of Catlacan that help facilitate loops of cheap spell cast triggers, card draw/tutoring, and mana generation. With a well built list you can set up an explosive turn very early in the game where you cast an arbitrarily huge number of spells before resolving Grapeshot, Aetherflux Reservoir, Brain Freeze or something similar to win on the spot.
Jumping another tier up to competitive - and I'm not overly literate in the ways of competitive EDH (cEDH) - but from what I understand those Kykar players generally blow past a lot of the fluff and get straight to business with a control strategy to keep the opponents from comboing early, then turning the corner with an Underworld Breach combo to mill the table with Brain Freeze or kill with Goblin Bombardment. Or, perhaps a Divergent Transformations package featuring Leveler and Thassa's Oracle, or transformations into Spellseeker (fetching Enlightened Tutor into Sensei's Divining Top) and Elsha of the Infinite to go nuts with the top.
The common denominator in all these cutthroat Kykar strategies? Maximizing the advantage of the activated ability. That said, spiking Kykar's activated ability to a combotastic extreme is not the focus of this primer. The purview of this thread is the casual, social game of commander which can range from jank and precon decks to focused or somewhat optimized decks.
Why not play Kykar?
- ramping (with permanents) as much as possible
- battlecruiser magic with huge creatures and 5-10 cmc spells
- not having to remember multiple triggers
- as few decision points as possible
- not thinking about the stack and ordering of effects
- gobs of tutors and broken combos
No green in Kykar's color identity means ramp effects will be less common and less potent. In fact, with this being a spellslinger deck that wants to ramp into a 4 cmc commander, nearly all of the ramp I have included outside of Kykar's activated ability is in the form of 1-2 cmc rocks. These are cheap and effective sources of ramp in the early game, but they are vulnerable to artifact removal and don't help get more lands onto the battlefield.
Token decks are notoriously weak to board wipes of nearly all shapes and sizes, and lo and behold, board wipes are commonly utilized in this format. I have included some ways to mitigate the downside of opposing wraths, but it nevertheless remains a chink in the deck's armor.
Spellslinger decks can be absolutely wrecked by tax effects. There's probably no other strategy out there that ruins Kykar's day more than oppressive stax builds.
Alternate Commanders
- Zedruu the Greathearted - A fun and wacky commander with a powerful and unique strategy. Check out @tstorm823's Zedruu primer here for a great read!
- Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest - Voltron kung fu master capable of some shockingly fast kills, but he struggles to manage a table with 3+ opponents.
- Narset, Enlightened Master - She was the most popular Jeskai commander before Kykar came along. Well known cEDH general that likes to take extra turns for free!
- Elsha of the Infinite - Elsha is sweet, and is probably a superior option if you want to play cEDH in these colors, but she doesn't really lend herself to a token strategy
- Ruhan of the Fomori - One of the first commanders I loved the look of when I first learned about EDH years ago. Chaos embodied. Hilarious and fun.
- Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer - A great option in two of the same colors as Kykar that looks to copy a bigger, badder token rather than swarm with a massive army.
- The Locust God - An awesome general, and this Kykar deck originated in part from a Locust God list I used to run. More combo centered than it looks.
- Slimefoot, the Stowaway - Pivoting completely out of Jeskai does give you a lot of great token tools: green gives you token generation/doublers and black gives you sac outlets and sick value.
- Niv-Mizzet, Parun - One of the best spellslinger options out there. As with the other Izzet Niv-Mizzets, the Parun is known for the 2 card insta-win combos.
- Alela, Artful Provocateur - A recently released legendary that is functionally very similar to Kykar. I think they are both amazing and the choice really comes down to color and playstyle preference.
Deck History
I won't bore you with my entire magic history, but this section will give you an overview of why I ended up favoring the Jeskai wedge and relishing the challenge of winning with 1/1's and how Kykar fit into all of that. Otherwise known as: how I learned to stop worrying and love noncreature spells!
While I love me some good Izzet brews, I was always disappointed that Izzet token decks always seemed to be missing something. I ran The Locust God for a while and really enjoyed it, but the gameplan felt too linear. Play my commander, tutor up or draw into Skullclamp and Ashnod's Altar, draw a million cards, then turn haste bugs sideways. Every. Single. Time.
I spiced things up with a Zada, Hedron Grinder and Mirrorwing Dragon package that was fun to combo with. One of the craziest games I ever won ended with a Chaos Warp targeting my Zada and dozen or so Locust tokens, redeploying my The Locust God, an Impact Tremors, and sufficient on-board draw effects to get to the win. While the change was fun, I felt I was sacrificing power to make the token swarm strategy less linear and boring.
I decided that adding another color was the ticket to getting me where I wanted to go with a token deck. I felt that black or green would pull me too heavily out of the izzet flavor of spellslinging that I love so much, and white seemed to provide a natural support for tokens without interfering with my beloved cheap instants and sorceries.
Choosing a Jeskai Commander to lead a token army was the tricky part. Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest and Ruhan of the Fomori have their own aggressive gameplans, and Zedruu the Greathearted is its own unique deck. I debated between Narset, Enlightened Master and Numot, the Devastator knowing that either would likely draw hate from the table. I settled on Narset, and built a solid list that ultimately got pulled apart because everyone always assumes you're playing Narset to combo into infinite turns rather than go off with Docent of Perfection and a bunch of draw spells, so the deck played like archenemy often enough to not be fun.
I set aside my hopes for a solid Jeskai token commander for the time being, but it wasn't long before I was pleasantly surprised with two new Jeskai legendaries in Elsha of the Infinite and Kykar, Wind's Fury. Elsha is really something else, but Kykar is an engine and enabler for a token build by itself and seemed a no-brainer to me. I've now been piloting Kykar since shortly after it was printed and have had a blast with the list and it's constant shifting. I started off with a (bad) spirit tribal build, then pivoted to a spellslinger/swarm strategy. From there I slowly crept into storm/combo.dec without meaning too and have done a hard pivot back into spellslinger/swarm since that is what works best for my own personal taste, fun, and playgroup. Eventually I made the decision to have a stock list of "awesome noncreature spells + Kykar and a few other payoffs + spicy multiplayer fun stuff" and then explore all the other avenues Kykar can cover with alternate lists.
Deck Philosophy
You may look at the list below and immediately ask yourself "Where's the Sensei's Divining Top? Scroll Rack? Mizzix's Mastery? Mystical Tutor? Enlightened Tutor? Where's Counterspell and Swan Song for crying out loud!?!?!?" The fact of the matter is, I just don't think these cards preserve a balance of fun and power in my available meta. I don't think it's "wrong" to run them by any means. It may even be optimal depending on what one is crafting the deck to do and what you regularly play against. I might even include one or more of them eventually. For now, however, I want to to play powerful, but not oppressive, "broken", or cutthroat competitive magic. Long story short, I'd rather run cards like Mirrorweave, Dermotaxi, and Role Reversal for the lulz because I'm playing a card game with friends and family, not playing for a paycheck in the super bowl.
This deck will consistently threaten lethal around turns 5-7 at a casual table if it is not interacted with, and the Plan A win condition is combat. That's pretty powerful for casual. I'd say it's a 7.5-8/10 in terms of power, although that is a subjective rating and some players will certainly see it as a 5-6/10. Trying to win through combat is pretty "fair" magic, but I've built some options into the deck so there are a few non-combat ways to win because sometimes game just have to end. I'll emphasize here that these are secondary and tertiary win cons, so the deck is not stuffed with tutors and protection for combo pieces. The non-combat win cons are there as a mostly incidental way to close out a game and keep the deck from being too linear and predictable.
To sum it up, I like to say that this deck is absolutely NOT attempting to be a cEDH or even fully optimized list, but it ain't your daddy's pre-con either!
Current Decklist
Card Choice Discussion
To make up for this the deck runs some good old fashioned rocks for early game ramp. They are more vulnerable than lands, but there's good news too!
First, many of the deck's spells are cheap, cheap, cheap, and you have mana production in the command zone so it's not as crucial that you be able to produce a jillion mana before you go for the win like a lot of EDH decks. Second, unlike rocks in many decks, these aren't necessarily dead draws later in the game. Casting a signet on T10+ still triggers Kykar and some other engine cards, which could in turn make for that one additional Jeskai Ascendancy trigger necessary for lethal combat damage, or some similar scenario. Finally, since the deck runs many filter/draw/cantrip type spells, it can often allow a keep for an otherwise good hand without a rock in it and still find one on T1, but the hand needs to be good enough that it's not too sad if it whiffs and has to settle for a slower start.
For mid and late game acceleration, Jeskai colors give you some options for some truly absurd mana production, so you aren't restricted to rocks alone.
Sol Ring - What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's great in your opening hand. It nets you 2 mana if you cast it while Kykar is in play. It's a swell target for Saheeli, Sublime Artificer to turn a servo into. Really, it just does what it says on the packaging, and that's a good deal.
Wayfarer's Bauble - This puts an additional land onto the battlefield, which is the most resilient form of ramp. It's dirt cheap, so it can be jammed in on your curve whenever you've got an extra mana, though it's definitely at it's best on T1. It's mana neutral if you cast it with Kykar out, and mana positive if you have a doubler like Anointed Procession, Harmonic Prodigy, or Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty in play as well. If your early game is going very poorly and you have somehow landed in desperation mana screw mode, this can be brought back for repeated use by Underworld Breach or Sevinne's Reclamation.
Arcane Signet - The best two mana rock. No pain. No filtering. Just fixing and ramp. As with all the two mana rocks, it becomes a mana positive spell in the mid/late game if you manage to stick Kykar and one of the afore mentioned doublers since you will spend 2 mana and receive 2 spirits. A winning board state is often one such as this plus some draw engine like Skullclamp, Whirlwind of Thought, or Kindred Discovery, which turns these rocks into cheap spells that net you mana and cards so you can keep churning through your library searching for a win button, haste enabler, or Impact Tremors.
Azorius Signet, Boros Signet, Izzet Signet - Same as with Arcane Signet, but with the added hurdle of needing a separate mana source to activate. That is generally not an issue except in the early game, since casting one of these with Kykar in play gives a spirit that can in turn activate the signet.
Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Creativity, Talisman of Progress - Same as with Arcane Signet, but with the downside of needing to pay for colored mana with life. A little pain is often a non-factor in commander games where games are often decided by life totals going from 30+ to 0 in a single combat step or combo turn, but make a habit of trying to tap these for colorless whenever practical - especially if you played Mana Confluence early on or are facing off against aggro strategies.
Archaeomancer's Map - In the weird space between Burgeoning and Land Tax is this thing. It's pretty great. Make sure you run enough basic plains that it actually draws you some cards when it enters. If you're playing against green decks you'll nearly always ramp at least once or twice with the map. Against a landfall deck you're in some serious business. You'll feel slick the first time you use it in conjunction with a bounce land, and it's far from the worst Sevinne's Reclamation or Hall of Heliod's Generosity target if it gets blown up.
Sevinne's Reclamation - Here's a Kykar all star! It buys back so many relevant pieces that can draw removal or get pitched early to a Faithless Looting: Jeskai Ascendancy, Underworld Breach, Rhystic Study, Sunforger, etc. It is very often a ramp spell though, but only reliably so if you run fetchlands or multiple ways to loot/rummage away excess lands or rocks early on. Another slick play is to use SevRec to buy back a fetch or three to set up island count and fetch Mystic Sanctuary for a key piece of interaction, card draw, or nonsense.
Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty - Birgi is effectively a second Kykar triggered ability, minus the middle man of the 1/1 spirit body and with the added "restriction" of requiring you to use the mana by the end of the turn. She is one of the deck's "doublers" which can set you up to absolutely go off when in play alongside Kykar, justifying her inclusion as a payoff and one of the very few creature spells in the deck. The backside, Harnfel, Horn of Bounty sees less play, but is a fantastic draw when you have a hand of several excess lands or less than useful spells for the current boardstate. Pitch one, get two fresh cards and hopefully something useful to cast instead.
Smothering Tithe - "Do you pay for tithe?" gets obnoxious, but golly gee ain't all that treasure grand? Excellent fixing in a deck that is color hungry throughout the game. Pairs particularly nicely with Anointed Procession. Occasionally the odd treasure lying about will catch Saheeli, Sublime Artificer's eye and get turned into a Monastery Mentor, Harmonic Prodigy, or Sol Ring.
Turnabout - This spell is a swiss army knife. It's a modal card with Sleep, Twiddle, Dramatic Reversal, To Arms!, and more stapled on. Perhaps the most common use is to float all the mana from your lands, sac a couple of spirits for the generic cost, then untap all your lands for a mega ritual. It is a key spell in an Underworld Breach turn where colored mana becomes the pinch while you're digging for a wincon since it lets you keep untapping your blue and white sources. Sometimes the cleanest use for it is to just tap down the archenemy's lands on upkeep or an opponent's creatures before swinging in for lethal.
Skullclamp - There is not much explanation needed here. Kykar spits out 1/1's. Chocolate, meet Peanut Butter. 1 mana to draw 2. Feels good, doesn't it? It is worth noting that Kykar gives an added advantage of being able to sac spirit tokens after clamping them even if they've been buffed above 1 toughness, which is one issue other token decks sometimes have with Skullclamp.
Land Tax - If you are not going first or someone ramps ahead by even a single land, this little ditty can net you quite a few cards and keep you hitting land drops. It pairs nicely with Archaeomancer's Map for keeping up with the green decks. It's also great for setting up Mystic Sanctuary by getting those basic islands in hand, and just fixing your mana in general. You can also get tricksy with it by drawing up to 8+ cards in hand and forcing yourself to discard something at end of turn that is useful in the graveyard, such as Sevinne's Reclamation, or something that Mistveil Plains can tuck away at the bottom of your library for that Sunforger in your hand to fetch up later.
Ponder - Probably the best T1 play if you don't start the game with enough lands or a mana rock in hand. You get to dig for what you need and get to mulligan the top of your library if you don't like what you see. Great for the same reasons later in the game when all you want to draw is more cheap spells or need an engine piece.
Faithless Looting - It's cheap and can be paid for by sacrificing a spirit. You can flash it back later if you get stuck with a grip full of lands or spells that don't help your current situation. You have some relevant cards to put in the graveyard and ways to get spells back from the yard, so the discard isn't particularly bad. Combine it with Kykar, Underworld Breach, and Jeskai Ascendancy to draw your whole deck and pump the team in a big way, as detailed here.
Idol of Oblivion - This is a deceptively good little artifact. It is in fact a brick if you don't have Kykar, Monastery Mentor, Anointed Procession, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer or some other token production available courtesy of Dermotaxi, Mirage Mirror, or Role Reversal/Inevitable Betrayal nonsense. That's a long winded way of saying it's not good if you're losing badly. In all other circumstances, however, it is steady card draw that flies under the radar as compared to something like Rhystic Study or Skullclamp. It almost never draws spot removal and thus can get away with drawing you 5-10 cards in a game sometimes.
Frantic Search - One of my favorite things to do in magic. Fantastic in this deck since it digs deeper, does relevant things with the yard, and keeps the spellslingin' army-in-a-can train rolling by being functionally free, all at instant speed! The only downside is the need to be careful to avoid having this be the last card played out of hand, although even then it may send something useful to the yard that you can with aided by freshly untapped lands. C-c-c-combos with Underworld Breach and Jeskai Ascendancy as detailed here.
Rhystic Study - "Do you want to pay for Rhystic Study?" is a notorious line amongst commander players and can draw unwanted attention, but it's worth it. In most games where Study is played early, it either draws you well over 3 mana worth of cards or significantly slows down your opponents' gameplans if they decide to be responsible and keep you from drawing off of it.
Jeskai Ascendancy - This is probably the most iconic card for a casual Kykar deck and it belongs in basically every iteration of a Kykar build outside of cEDH. It doubles as both an enabler for Kykar and other "noncreature spells matter" payoffs and is itself one of the best of those payoffs. The card velocity Ascendancy provides is top tier. It keeps you seeing fresh cards and pitching excess lands or dud spells to fuel Underworld Breach or Sevinne's Reclamation later.
Of note is the fact that the loot is a "may" ability, so you don't have to do it if the situation calls for not looting. You can also order the stack to your advantage if you have Ascendancy and something like Whirlwind of Thought out at the same time: draw off Whirlwind first, then loot so you see the most cards possible before making your discard decision.
The additional discard from Ascendancy alongside the two cards discarded by Faithless Looting or Frantic Search enables a combo detailed here.
As if that weren't enough, pumping and untapping the team is kind of a big deal. It allows you to go nuts with an Opposition lock, sometimes prompting concessions or at least giving you a window to close out the game in short order. Even easier is chaining together multiple Ascendancy pump triggers along with a haste outlet like First Day of Class or Heroic Reinforcements. Monastery Mentor and his students get double prowess when Ascendancy is around and Kazuul's Fury starts being quite powerful.
Fact or Fiction - Good old FoF is a powerful blue card draw spell that either gets you EXACTLY what you need in a 1-4 or 2-3 split, or puts you up cards in a 3-2 or 4-1 split. The 5-0 split is not unheard of if you politic well or there is a salty player at the table. Play it for the card advantage, but also play it for the fun multiplayer minigame and graveyard synergy. Instant speed pushes it way over the top since you can do things like hold up interaction or sac three spirits for the generic cost in response to an opponent's sweeper.
Ephara, God of the Polis - Similar to Idol of Oblivion, Ephara is a dud if you don't have token production on board, but unlike Idol she is much harder to remove and can draw up to four times as many cards in an ideal set of circumstances where you are generating a creature token every turn. Even drawing 1-3 extra cards per turn cycle while being so tough to remove makes Ephara worth the higher mana requirements. She generally won't be a creature while in play, and if you do unlock that achievement you're probably already in a winning position with something like Kykar + two absurd permanents in play to the point that the extra 6/5 body is moot.
Vanish into Memory - You would be surprised how often the downside on this card is not an issue, particularly since there are good uses for your graveyard in this deck. You can always target Kykar to save it from removal/sweepers and be happy with the draw 3, discard 3. You can target a massive Monastery Mentor or Jeskai Ascendancy pumped token (post combat or opponent's turn preferable) to draw a bunch and never have to discard any lower than hand size. It's great removal against an opponent's pumped dude, voltron commander, or Giant Adephage token. The icing on the cake is that it is Sunforger fetchable, so you can restock your empty hand at instant speed as long as forger is out.
Whirlwind of Thought - Whirlwind is one of the premiere card advantage spells in the deck. Being an enchantment makes it slightly more difficult to remove for your opponents. It's often worth being pretty aggressive with this and running it out the turn after Kykar when you have five mana sources. The spirit it creates with its cast trigger plus the untapped land/rock that remains can often net you 1-2 more spell casts and help you recoup cards and make more spirits. If you get to untap with it on the following turn you quickly become a force to be reckoned with. Careful though, it is not a "may" trigger, so you can deck yourself with it. Hurray for Generous Gift and Forsake the Worldly saving you from yourself!
Kindred Discovery - Slap this on the table and name whatever you have the most tokens of (usually "spirit") right before a big attack and you'll have instantly gotten your value. Even better news, if your token engine is still around post combat you get to cast the cards you drew and have more of those tokens ETB, thus drawing you cards which you can cast, making more tokens ETB, thus drawing you cards. . . and so on. The list used to run The Locust God, but even without it in the 99 there is a non-zero percent chance you can nab one with Dermotaxi, Mystic Reflection, Inevitable Betrayal, Mirage Mirror, or Role Reversal. If you unlock this achievement, then cast Discovery naming "insect" and finding a way to draw a card, you have gone infinite and can then draw your deck. The problem is the trigger is not a "may" ability, so you better be sure you will be drawing a way to blow up the Discovery (see above as with Whirlwind of Thought).
Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares - It doesn't get cheaper or more unconditional for creature removal. The hardest part of playing these cards is proper threat assessment. It's best to hold on to them until they either pave the way to victory immediately, can be reused, or are the only thing preventing certain death. Fetchable with Sunforger, repeatable with forger + Mistveil Plains, Underworld Breach, Expansion // Explosion, or Mystic Sanctuary.
Blind Obedience - Sloooooow down everyone (besides you, of course). The deck is very hungry for blue and white mana, so you won't extort too often, but it's a great way to use that 1-2 extra mana lying around without another use at the moment for an extra 1-3 life a pop. It can just win the game via extort if you have Frantic Search + Jeskai Ascendancy + Underworld Breach going with an Azorius Chancery in play.
Unexpectedly Absent - This is a more powerful spell than you may first realize. The trick is all in the timing. X can usually just be 0, and you can sort of Time Walk a single opponent by putting their sweet expensive permanent a la Zendikar Resurgent on top of their library during their upkeep. You effectively deny them their draw step and force them to pay double for a permanent that they really want on the battlefield. Aside from tricksy lines, it makes a terrifying token disappear, gets a Consecrated Sphinx off the board before someone resolves a draw spell, changes combat math, interrupts permanent based combos, saves your own sweet permanent, or buries a permanent someone tutored for a couple cards deep if you want to spend some real mana on it.
Dovin's Veto - The "Um, I'd rather you didn't play that infinite combo/board wipe" card in the deck. Shut em down, no questions asked. The veto obviously doesn't shut down creature combos and it can be outmaneuvered with a well placed copy spell for some combos and wipes, but that is very rare. Ok, so there are some corner case questions asked. Uncle Veto is Sunforger fetchable and can protect Kykar from Doom Blades, and that's always nice.
Forsake the Worldly - Unconditional artifact and/or enchantment removal at instant speed. Cycle it away if you don't need it, fetch it with Sunforger if you do.
Generous Gift - Nearly unconditional removal for any permanent and another great use for Sunforger. The 3/3 is almost never an issue, but the fact that this can't hit indestructible permanents is annoying, but in a real sticky situation you can get around that with Mirrorweave if the issue is an indestructible thing.
Fierce Guardianship - Free spells WotC? Free COUNTERspells WotC? Alright fine. Play it if you got it. Anti-boardwipe and spot removal tech if ever there was any. Tap out like a boss.
Imprisoned in the Moon - Some metas hate this thing and Song of the Dryads. That's understandable since usually people want to play with their commanders. There are just certain commanders though. . . they deserve it don't you think? The Yawgmoth, Thran Physicians and Chulane, Teller of Taless of the world? Korvold, Fae-Cursed King would be a good candidate, but you'd rather just borrow him with Role Reversal or something similar. Make your own meta call, but keep in mind it doesn't have to target a commander if that will end friendships. It's fine as removal for ridiculously powerful lands like Gaea's Cradle and Cabal Coffers, or must-remove targets for Kykar like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Ethersworn Canonist. Planeswalker removal is nothing to sneeze at either, and Narset, Parter of Veils and Teferi, Time Raveler deserve swift deaths.
Chaos Warp - Here is some unconditional removal for any permanent. . . sort of. Careful pointing this in the direction of dedicated creature decks. Getting rid of a control or fellow spellslinger deck's nasty permanent with this is pretty safe since there are decent odds that they flip an instant or sorcery. No matter what it targets, there is a solid chance that permanent just gets replaced with a land. Of course, there are times when you target a massive Omnath, Locus of Mana and they flip a Zendikar Resurgent, laugh, and recast Omnath While mileage may vary with warps, it's always Sunforger fetchable, and that's reassuring.
Opposition - This card ranges from mildly controlling but fair to game ending, "you don't get to play magic", stax bullcrap. If your board consists of 2-3 tokens, you can just keep a couple of the biggest mana producers and threatening attackers tapped down at strategic moments, and it opens up the table to talking politics. "I won't tap down your Pathbreaker Ibex as long as you promise to not attack me with anything this turn" is a powerful way to leverage your threat of activation. The real fun is when you have 10+ tokens and you stick Opposition with a Jeskai Ascendancy in play, spells in hand, and a burning desire to tap down your opponent's mana on their upkeep. It also pairs wonderfully with Turnabout.
Tragic Arrogance - A great and underplayed board wipe. It won't completely wipe the board, but the fact that this hits multiple permanent types and you get to keep your best permanent of each type while choosing the worst of your opponents' permanents to stick around is sweet! The sacrifice clause is handy as it gets around indestructible, hexproof, shroud, and regeneration shenanigans. The only downside is that tokens are going bye bye, but you can sac Spirits for mana in response.
Perplexing Test - Making all non-token creatures go away at instant speed as opposed to ALL creatures gives Test the edge over things like Evacuation, Whelming Wave and Engulf the Shore. Sometimes this will just end the game since it simply gets rid of all relevant blockers before you swing in with your token army. Getting around commander tax is the cherry on top of the sundae.
Boros Charm - Sorcery speed spells that trigger your token engines come with the downside of your army often sitting on the board with summoning sickness before getting to beat down. This versatile spell, fetchable with Sunforger, helps keep the little dudes alive despite the inevitable board wipes to come. It also has some additional utility for killing planeswalkers or giving something huge double strike. The wombo ??combo?? is to equip Kykar with Sunforger, giving it 7 power, then hitting an opponent. On the next turn, unattach sunforger getting Boros Charm and give Kykar double strike before re-equipping it with sunforger. Hit that same opponent with a 7 power double strike Kykar for a 2 turn commander damage kill. Another little piece of secret tech if the graveyard is full enough is to escape Boros Charm a handful of times with Underworld Breach and burn an opponent out.
Sunforger - Mmmmmm... Yum. The swiss army knife of any deck running Boros colors. This card is a real treat to play with. It fetches so many different red/white instants out of the deck, most of which deal with a problem, protect your board, or keep your opponents from stealing the win before it comes back to your turn. While it's only occasionally relevant, it's worth noting that equipping it on Kykar gives it the magic power of 7 for a three turn clock of commander damage on a single opponent. With Boros Charm you can make it a 2 turn clock as mentioned above. Did I mention that Sunforger can search up Boros Charm?
Flawless Maneuver - Sometimes you just have to resolve sorcery speed goodies and don't have a source of haste for the team. That's not a great place to be for a token swarm deck since it leaves your army exposed to wraths, but lucky for you WotC thought printing free spells would be fun and not broken at all... ok, so it's not "free" since you have to have Kykar in play, but that tends to not be a massive hurdle. It's also a fine card to have in your opening hand since you can safely tap out to cast Kykar on T3-4 with this in hand to protect it from removal.
Idyllic Tutor - One of only two tutor spells in the deck whose primary function is to fetch Underworld Breach, Jeskai Ascendancy, Whirlwind of Thought, Anointed Procession, or Impact Tremors/Goblin Bombardment depending on the situation. However, it is also fine as a moderately costed cast trigger that effectively cantrips for another cantrip in Confounding Conundrum if you just need to keep cards flowing.
Silundi Vision // Silundi Isle - Here's a cantrip that is roughly on par with Impulse, though more restricted, but is way better than it looks because it means the list gets to cheat a bit and trim a land in order to have a higher spell density. The margin is tiny to be sure, but every spell counts when you're slinging away and every land counts when you need to play one every turn (ie: always).
Role Reversal - "Alright, I'll give you this 1/1 Elemental, and you give me your 9/9 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King!" Or, how about "Here's a 1/1 insect, and I'll take that The Ur-Dragon!" Maybe "Here, take this 1/1 Servo and give me that Vedalken Orerry!" The possibilities are plentiful and hilarious.
Chemister's Insight, Fact or Fiction - You'll learn to love your cheap cantrips, but sometimes you just need some raw card advantage and haven't found your Skullclamp, Underworld Breach, Whirlwind of Thought, or Kindred Discovery yet. These two both fit the bill. FoF digs a bit deeper while Insight lets you spin the wheel a second time. Both give you an opportunity to get that Anger into the graveyard.
Turnabout - Another swiss army knife of a card. It is functionally a Fog, Twiddle, High Tide, and Sleep all on one card while simultaneously triggering token engines and increasing storm count. Exquisite. Copy it with Expansion // Explosion, replay it with Underworld Breach, recur it with Mystic Retrieval.
Heroic Reinforcements - What a gem. A cast trigger, it's own token creation, haste for the team, and a P/T boost for the team, all on a single magical card. The only way it could be better (ie: too powerful) would be if it was either cheaper or an instant, but you'll find it serves your needs just fine as is.
Mirrorweave - A silly, powerful, and Sunforger fetchable card that I learned about through this thread. On offense, it can turn all your tokens into Monastery Mentor, Giant Adephage, Utvara Hellkite, Pathbreaker Ibex, or similar nonsense. Defensively, it can turn everything into a 1/1 spirit allowing you to chump block everything that is going to revert back into something threatening the following turn. If you activate Celestial Colonnade then target it with Mirrorweave you can turn all creatures into unactivated creature lands for a number of applications: stopping an opponent's attack, getting blockers out of the way before animating and pumping a couple of your own lands to attack with, or making a bunch of mana if the situation calls for it. Truth be told, every new set probably contains a few cards that stretch the boundaries of what absurdities Mirrorweave can inspire: Nyxbloom Ancient, Elder Gargaroth, Scute Swarm, and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove come to mind from recent sets (why does green get EVERYTHING?!?!?)
Electrodominance - A big burn or removal spell that can be cast entirely with spirit mana to close out a game or in response to a board wipe to make use of the spirits if need be. The free spell cast from hand also makes sure that the mana invested is being used very efficiently. It has some great play with Underworld Breach and a full graveyard as well, especially if you've loaded up on a pile of spirits. You basically get to cast it plus one other card for "free" from the yard as long as you have the escape fodder to do so and you can repeat until you run out. It can even be played and replayed with Breach for = to rack up storm count if you have a way to create two spirits with each cast trigger, such as Sakashima the Impostor or Anointed Procession.
Expansion // Explosion - A copy effect, burn/removal, and card draw all stapled on one card. Seems great. The Expansion half is stellar for piggybacking on an opponent's early ramp spell a la Cultivate or copying your own Turnabout to send your mana production to the stratosphere. Like Electrodominance, the Explosion half is a good way to use up spirits for value in response to a board wipe.
Since the deck needs the jeskai color sources so much it also can't run a whole lot of utility lands, but I've included some. This may change as I test and tweak the deck, or if I find that the colorless sources are too much of a liability at a lower than usual land count. I am only running 34 lands + Silundi Vision // Silundi Isle since the curve is so low, and I've found it to be highly functional given the 9 mana rocks, Land Tax, Gift of Estates, and abundance of draw/cantrip effects.
Command Tower - Seems good.
Reflecting Pool, Exotic Orchard - Conditional tri-lands that enter untapped and are usually just Command Tower #2 and 3. The Pool can be a liability in the first few turns, but once Jeskai is assembled it's great. The Orchard can technically fix all three colors as soon as each other player plays their first land, and it's likely to do so in the early turns in a format where people run Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and Chromatic Lantern. Although sometimes you sit down at a table with Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, and Slimefoot, the Stowaway and the Orchard is a total bummer. It's awful hard to find a pod of 3 other players without someone running at least blue though.
Raugrin Triome - Slower Command Tower, fetchable, cycles when you are flooding. Solid.
Mystic Monastery - Just slower Command Tower.
Fabled Passage - Solid fixing that can also help set up for a Mystic Sanctuary.
Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta - The only two proper fetchlands I run since I'd rather feed my family than buy $60 lands. Literal heaps of articles have been written about fetchlands and their utility and drawbacks, so I won't add to that here other than to say it helps you fix by grabbing any of the shocklands, Raugrin Triome, Irrigated Farmland, Prairie Stream, and most importantly sets you up for Mystic Sanctuary or fetches the Sanctuary itself. They also work well with Sevinne's Reclamation to ramp and fix simultaneously in a pinch. If you're looking to improve on the manabase, I'd recommend starting here by adding the other blue fetchlands followed by the other off-color fetches not named Verdant Catacombs.
Flood Plain - Slow fetches still get lands that say "Island" in the type line. Needs to be upgraded once I've struck it rich.
Hallowed Fountain, Sacred Foundry, Steam Vents - I'm sure no one is shocked to see these in the deck! *BaDoom Tshhh!* The best duals that don't require taking out a second mortgage to acquire.
Rugged Prairie, Cascade Bluffs, Mystic Gate - The filters are great in a deck with heavy colored mana requirements. Two of them allow a spirit to become two colored sources for casting a Cathars' Crusade or Talrand, Sky Summoner that couldn't otherwise be cast.
Irrigated Farmland, Prairie Stream - It's unfortunate that these cycles haven't been completed in Jeskai colors, but U/W is by far the most critical dual for the deck. These both say "Island" on them, thus satisfying Mystic Sanctuary, and the cycling on the Farmland is relevant more often than you might think.
Fiery Islet, Sunbaked Canyon - Sometimes you just REALLY need to draw a card. These also fix and enter untapped, so the pain is worth it.
Clifftop Retreat, Sulfur Falls, Glacial Fortress - More duals that will enter untapped often enough (90%+ I'd say) to not be a massive liability.
Celestial Colonnade - Manlands still tap for mana, meaning this guy can be animated and then go nuts with Jeskai Ascendancy. It is also a great target for Mirrorweave since it will turn all opposing creatures into *unanimated* versions that they will have to pay for if they want to activate. Colonnade's evasion and U/W dual-iness is why it is the only manland to make the cut as entering tapped is a liability.
Ash Barrens - Cycling this is a great T1 play to fix mana ASAP. Once it's cycled away, it can then combine with Sevinne's Reclamation for some ramp. Later in the game when fixing is solid this can just enter untapped and be run through a signet or used for generic costs.
Ghost Quarter - It's not great that it taps for colorless, but when you want to blow up a Cabal Coffers, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, or Dark Depths, you REALLY want to blow them up.
Riptide Laboratory - This is clunky, to be sure, but a really grindy game can make keeping Kykar at a reasonable casting cost extremely important. Fortunately you're running enough instant speed action that you can hold up mana and still find a use for it if you don't have to bail the bird (wizard) out.
Hall of Heliod's Generosity - White does give a lot of recursive effects, but you have limited slots to utilize, so double dipping on recursion with Sevinne's Reclamation and getting value out of a utility land in Hall has to suffice, and you'll find that it's enough more often than not. Hall buys back some important pieces in Goblin Bombardment, Impact Tremors, Jeskai Ascendancy, Underworld Breach, Whirlwind of Thought, Kindred Discovery, In the Web of War, and Cathars' Crusade.
Mystic Sanctuary - I won't go so far as to say that Sanctuary is the BEST land in the deck, because that is a relative and situational evaluation, but I will say it is the spiciest land in the deck. You can do so very much with it: Cast Idyllic Tutor to get your Jeskai Ascendancy, play Sanctuary, draw Idyllic, cast Idyllic, go get your Underworld Breach. Use Sunforger on an opponent's end step to go fetch and cast a Path to Exile, untap, play Sanctuary, draw your Path. Counter the most threatening opponent's first spell on their turn with Render Silent, shut down their turn, untap, play Sanctuary, draw Render, dare them to cast a spell on their next turn. You get the idea. Truth be told, this list isn't even using Sanctuary to it's maximum potential. There was a loop with Sanctuary and Ghostly Flicker that is no longer included, but if you're interested in doing more with this glorious land card you can look into nonsense with rav bouncelands, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Deprive, Daze, Gush, etc.
2x Plains, 3x Island, 1x Mountain - So basic. You might be tempted to run no basic mountains because. . . well, read Kykar, but don't fall for this. Being able to Ash Barrens or Fabled Passage for that first red source required to cast Kykar is essential sometimes. Islands are important for Mystic Sanctuary, and plains are important for Gift of Estates. 6 is a good number for Land Tax. I don't recommend going lighter on basics having done so myself in times past.
Mana Echoes - Definitely a Kykar card. Insane mana production capability here. My issues with it are 1) $ 2) it only makes generic mana and 2.5) that basically begs for something like Walking Ballista or Buyback combo packages, and that's just not a road I want to go down.
Authority of the Consuls, Blind Obedience - Speedbumps for the bad guys and lifegain for the good guys. I like these cards a lot, and you could lump in stuff like Propaganda, Crawlspace, and Ghostly Prison here too. I don't think I would gravitate towards full on pillow fort, but it's definitely viable in these colors. I think Blind Obedience would be a fine inclusion just for the extort and is on my short list.
Opt, Serum Visions, Careful Consideration, Deliberate, Anticipate, See the Truth, Visions of Beyond, Perilous Research, Thought Scour, Sleight of Hand - Wouldn't you know that blue has lots of cheap cantrips, draw, and loot effects? Many of these have been in and out of the deck before. As of the update where I am writing this these are the ones that don't quite make it. They are all defensible and have their pros/cons.
Keep Watch, Reconnaissance Mission, Glimmer of Genius, Deep Analysis, Compulsive Research, Distant Melody, etc. - The medium costed blue draw spells are all solid, but these are just priced out by Fact or Fiction and Chemister's Insight in the current list.
Blue Sun's Zenith, Stroke of Genius, Pull from Tomorrow, Read the Runes, etc. - The big blue draw spells are incredible, but I want the lowest curve I can get and I already have lots of card draw effects. The biggest selling point aside from the card advantage for these is that they are a good outlet for saccing spirits in response to chump blocks or a board wipe. Ultimately though, I'd rather pay a lower premium for an on-board repeatable draw effect like Whirlwind of Thought, Skullclamp, or Kindred Discovery that will keep fueling my turns.
Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time - Dynamite cards that I go back and forth on a lot. Mostly what keeps them out is wanting to keep a full yard for Underworld Breach action.
Honor the Fallen - A hidden gem of a cheap token trigger that hates on graveyard strategies while giving the deck a source of lifegain. I do miss it every now and again, so I keep it in mind for if my meta ever shifts in the direction of heavy GY strategies.
Favorable Winds, Intangible Virtue, Spear of Heliod, Dictate of Heliod, Eldrazi Monument, Call for Unity etc. - Anthems are sweet in token decks, and these all trigger Kykar, but not some of our other token engines. Also, many of them cost a fair bit of mana, slowing the deck down. Some of the more powerful or efficient ones could certainly earn their keep, but the effect isn't quite what I'm looking for.
Valor in Akros - This is more like the creature pump effect I like for the deck. Valor underperformed just enough to miss the cut though. It tries hard to be Cathars' Crusade but fair, but I just end up looking at it like a dead card in hand most of the time. Goldnight Commander, Soulblade Djinn, and Strongarm Monk have even less chance of making it in unless you want to build a Kykar variant that makes them somehow more relevant.
Docent of Perfection - It's a bit pricey and the tokens aren't remarkable on their own, but if you flip him and he remains protected or unanswered for a turn cycle, it's often game over. Kykar, Murmuring Mystic, and Talrand, Sky Summoner are all wizards that will flip Docent quicker and benefit from the resulting buff. Unfortunately Docent just ends up being a bit too expensive for my liking.
Mad Ratter, Nadir Kraken, Improbable Alliance, Gavi, Nest Warden, Chasm Skulker - Token engines that are asking just a bit too much IMO, but future cards may make them better.
Divine Visitation - A powerful effect, but one that interferes with spirit mana. I feel like the list is better of pumping the team with stuff like Cathars' Crusade, In the Web of War, Jeskai Ascendancy, etc.
Supreme Verdict, Cleansing Nova, Austere Command, Winds of Abandon, Settle the Wreckage, Flood of Tears etc. - More decent board wipe options that may or may not be better than what's in the current list depending on meta. I keep the list very light on board wipes just because I really only want the one sided ones and feel like in many situations I can win through a cluttered board. The fact that they are expensive and I want to be resolving multiple spells a turn also keeps me hesitant to run more.
Sephara, Sky's Blade - A great source of lifegain, and a big beater that is often easy to cast in this deck. The protection for flying tokens is the cherry on top of an already tasty sundae. I just struggle to include creatures in the deck unless they make tokens or do something really bananas. Sephara tempts me, but not enough.
Nin, The Pain Artist - Repeatable card draw from nuking some poor token. Lack of haste hurts her chances, and if I wanted to sink a bunch of mana into drawing cards, I'd probably rather run some big X costed instant/sorcery.
Aetherflux Reservoir - A little too spiky for my tastes. A great source of lifegain and a very effective win condition though. I'm trying to balance spellslinging and token production, and this just pulls the deck right into spellslinger only mode.
Fight to the Death - This can really be a blowout, especially if you hit multiple opponents' creatures. Blocking a bunch of big beasties with Spirits, casting this, and then sacrificing Spirits for mana in response seems pretty dang good too though. I've done it before and it feels good, but a lot of times this card is just dead in hand.
Deflecting palm - This strikes me as a very fun card, and sometimes your opponent has some massive trample critter you just can't deal with (it's Gishath, Sun's Avatar in my meta) or something unblockable with a sword equipped. The wording even gets around hexproof! Unfortunately it is highly situational and I hate having dead cards in hand.
Jeskai Charm - Removal, burn, pump, and lifegain all stapled on one card. Flexible as a rubber band in a yoga class. Unfortunately the flexibility comes with a significant reduction in power. It's already easy enough to find better versions of all three effects in these colors.
Rally the Righteous - Seems real good, but I get to be picky because I already have several pump effects that are either strictly better or do something in addition to pumping the team. There's also the downside (or political upside) of this card potentially helping an opponent, although you can mitigate by only casting it after favorable blocks are declared.
Make a Stand, Rootborn Defenses, Unbreakable Formation - A jeskai token deck really needs haste or indestructibility, and I'm leaning more heavily into haste since I get some added benefit from a couple of my haste enablers. These are still great though, but they get priced out by Boros Charm and Flawless Maneuver.
Mox Amber, Mox Opal, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, Riddlesmith, Herald of Kozilek, Foundry Inspector, Fabricate, Whir of Invention, Paradoxical Outcome, Grapeshot, etc. - As I mentioned above, I think one of the most optimized/competitive versions of Kykar would probably be an artifact storm build. The general idea is that you would play lots of 0 cmc artifacts or "cheerios" and other cheap artifacts with any cost reduction and mana from thin air that you can get, all of which trigger Kykar and give you Spirits. Then you could sac the Spirits to generate mana and keep casting spells and racking up the storm count. Paradoxical Outcome sees play in older competitive formats for a reason, and that reason is to pick up all your cheerios, draw a bazillion cards, and play all your cheerios out again for an arbitrarily high storm count. Toss in Aetherflux Reservoir or Grapeshot and you've got your instant combo win.
Call the Coppercoats, Goblin Wizardry, Empty the Warrens, Secure the Wastes, White Sun's Zenith, etc. - I prefer my spellslinging take care of other things like draw and removal whilst my mentors take care of the token creation. That said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to jam one of the better token creating instants/sorceries.
Rhystic Study - Results can vary depending on the playgroup, but this is generally one of the best blue draw spells around. It's not in the deck because on T3 you want to be playing Kykar and after that there is usually something faster or more explosive to be doing.
Smothering Tithe - This would easily be the best source of ramp and fixing in the deck if included, but it's out for the same reasons Rhystic Study is out.
Purphoros, God of the Forge, Vicious Shadows - Mostly not included because they aren't token engines or spells to sling, but also due to personal preference. They are great ways to win a game of commander with a token deck, but I find the victory pretty hollow when it's achieved in such a non-interactive "auto-win" fashion. Especially Purphoros. What a groan fest of a card. Vicious Shadows feels a little more "fair" because it's so expensive, but it turns Kykar's sac ability into a machine gun for an insta-win sometimes. Maybe I'm being a bit too "75%" in my approach, but I just can't help having a bad taste in my mouth from 1-2 card victories.
Midnight Clock, Windfall, Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge, Reforge the Soul - drawing 7 (or more) cards sounds like a good time, but they all seem fairly conditional and slightly akward outside of a deck dedicated to draw/discard and wheels.
Shared Animosity - It's a great card for the deck, but honestly it's a nightmare for combat math if you've got a mix of different token types. I think it lags behind the other pump effects too since it does nothing other than boost power and only on attacks.
Felidar Retreat, Moraug, Fury of Akoum - Even with a handful of fetches and a couple other cute ways to hit landfall triggers, this list doesn't provide a ton of support for these to be good. That said, they don't really need a ton of support to be good. My main issue is that they are expensive do-nothings unless you make a land drop immediately after casting them and they are good enough to draw removal for sure.
Spark Double - I gave the edge to Sakashima the Impostor here since it can target any creature on the battlefield, not just your own, and it can return itself to hand. I find I have a just right density of mentors in the deck and don't feel an urgent need to add another, but if I really wanted an additional mentor in the deck I would stick Spark Double in and tell him to start doing his best bird wizard impression.
Kyren Negotiations, Opposition, Intruder Alarm, Faces of the Past, Rakka Mar - Not token engines or spells to sling, but this is DEFINITELY my kind of nonsense! Negotiations and Opposition go nicely with Jeskai Ascendancy, and Rakka Mar goes infinite with Intruder Alarm and Iron Myr, and is good with Kykar even if it doesn't go infinite.
Savage Beating, Relentless Assault, Hellkite Charger, Fury of the Horde etc. - Extra Combats are also great for a token deck, and some of these are instants/sorceries, but they are higher cmc which makes me hesitate. The effect is powerful enough that it may just be worth running one or two though.
Berserkers' Onslaught - Sweet card and effect for decks trying to win during their combat phase, but it's expensive to cast and is not a token engine or instant/sorcery.
Cyclonic Rift - I don't own one, it's expensive, and it would be immoral to own one anyhow (I kid, I kid!), but it would certainly be the best board wipe in the deck if I ran it. I just... really don't like this magic card.
Cultural Exchange - "Ok, here's the deal. You get these five 1/1 Spirits, and I get your Omnath, Locus of Rage and his 4 5/5 buddies." Expensive to cast and swingy, but loads of fun if you pull it off. The fact that it's conditional and so many decks run some sort of sac outlets to respond with keep me from including it.
Rite of Replication, Helm of the Host, Saheeli's Artistry - Hilariously fun cards! Overloaded Rite targeting your opponents' sweet thing or one of our non-legendary token engine creatures can end a game quickly. Helm on Kykar gets out of hand quick because every 1 mana noncreature spell you cast turns into 2 or more Spirits which can be sacrificed for mana to cast even more spells. Artistry really shines if someone at the table is playing an artifact themed deck and you get to make two copies of a Wurmcoil Engine or Steel Hellkite. You can always just copy the best mana rock and best creature on the board though, which certainly isn't bad. The problem with these in anything other than a casual meta is that they are just so darned expensive and slow.
Assemble the Legion - I love this card and want it to be good, and when it is good it's reeeeeeally good. Unfortunately, the only time that really happens is when you play it on T4-5 and it gets 5+ counters in a long game, or you're on proliferate.dec. It's a do nothing the turn you play it, and a dead draw in the mid to late game.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - I keep telling myself I'm going to pick up a copy and try her out, but she is awfully expensive. That said, she's close to a perfect planeswalker for the deck IMO.
The Magic Mirror - I like it. I think it's just a smidge too slow though. If you run a proliferate subtheme maybe...
Earthquake, Magmaquake, Subterranean Tremors - one sided sweepers that ask just a little too much IMO.
Deck Strategy
By itself, Faithless Looting is a good card and all, but it's not incredible. However, with Kykar and another token producer in play it becomes quite strong. Suppose I played an Azorius Signet on turn 2, Kykar on turn 3, and Talrand, Sky Summoner followed by Swords to Plowshares on an opposing commander on turn 4. I now untap and draw for turn 5 with 5 non-spirit mana sources, Kykar, Talrand, a 1/1 spirit, and a 2/2 drake on board and 5 cards in hand. I cast my Faithless Looting. For a single I have now: replaced the 1-2 least useful cards in my hand, put three cards in my graveyard, created a 1/1 flyer and a 2/2 flyer, and have given myself the opportunity to recoup the spent by sacrificing the spirit Kykar just made. Additionally, between the five cards I had in hand after my draw step and the two I saw by looting, I've almost surely hit my land drop. That's a lot of upside at a low cost! Now we can start to chain the value together with more spells!
Let's suppose I pass the turn with 3 cards in hand and 5 untapped mana sources after casting my sorcery and playing my land. One of my opponents casts Damnation, so I respond with Render Silent. Now I've protected my board, shut down my opponent's turn, and created another 1/1 and 2/2 flyer. Finally, on the last opponent's end step, I resolve Impulse. The cast trigger creates another 1/1 and 2/2 and end my opponents' turns with 2 cards in hand and Kykar, Talrand, 4 2/2 drakes, and 3 1/1 spirits in play (that's 14 power in the air).
To recap, for only 6 mana I have:
-Dug 2 cards deeper into the library, likely hitting my land drop and replacing 1-2 of the least exciting cards in my hand.
-Protected my board.
-Shut down at least part of an opponent's turn.
-Put 5 cards into my graveyard, at least one with flashback, to fuel future turns.
-created 3 2/2 drakes and 3 1/1 Spirits netting me 6 flying bodies!
I personally like that type of play a lot more than untapping, playing a land, casting a Grave Titan or some other fatty and passing!
It is absolutely worth noting here that while this strategy is incredibly mana efficient, it uses a lot of cards. As such, it is important that the list includes plenty of cantrips that replace themselves and at the very least do not create card disadvantage, as well as sufficient sources of raw card advantage. It is a tough balance to strike, and the deck can be slightly modified a huge number of ways to try to mitigate this, but if that is taken overboard it can sacrifice raw power in the name of having more cards in hand.
OR
Underworld Breach + Jeskai Ascendancy + Faithless Looting + Kykar, Wind's Fury = the same effect
This combo is pretty straightforward. You are looking to get both Underworld Breach and Jeskai Ascendancy into play and then start casting and subsequently escaping either Faithless Looting or Frantic Search over and over. Every time you cast one of the loot spells you get a Jeskai Ascendancy trigger that puts a card into your graveyard, then the loot spell itself puts two more cards in your graveyard giving you a total of three to pay for the next escape cost. Since Frantic Search untaps three lands it can be cast for "free" until you've drawn your entire library and pumped your team to epic proportions with Jeskai Ascendancy. In order for the same to be true for Faithless Looting you will need Kykar in play to keep making spirits on the cast triggers and generating .
This combo pairs really well with a storm outlet like Impact Tremors. If for some reason you can't finish off your opponents with the combat step after you execute the combo, you can just play Goblin Bombardment and turn your tokens into bullets.
Combine this abundance of ETB triggers with Impact Tremors, Goblin Bombardment, or just good old pump + combat to seal the deal.
Kykar, Wind's Fury + Sakashima the Impostor copying Kykar + Anointed Procession + Haze of Rage = Infinite storm, infinite pump, and infinite creature ETBs.
This is the only truly infinite combo since the previous two are limited by your library size and this one is not. Once you have Kykar in play with Sakashima the Impostor in play as a copy of Kykar and Anointed Procession on board you have a setup where every noncreature spell you cast will result in four spirit tokens being made - one from each Kykar trigger, then doubled by Anointed Procession. You then sac those four spirits to cast Haze of Rage paying its buyback cost, creating four spirits off of cast triggers and allowing you to do it again. Storm builds up every time and you can repeat the loop to turn your creatures into arbitrarily enormous death dealers to kill via combat or a storm outlet.
Early Game Strategy
With a lot of the cantrips and filtering spells in the list, riskier than normal keeps can be potent. 2 lands, a rock, and a cantrip in the opening 7 is often enough. Alternatively, 5-6 lands and a Faithless Looting or Frantic Search is probably better than a mull to 6 since I can pitch excess lands without feeling bad about it.
Some opening hands as concrete examples:
Mid-Game Strategy
You're also trying to keep yourself from overextending at this point in the game. The sweet spot I've found is Kykar plus one additional token engine if it's a creature, or two engines if one is a noncreature. The reason is pretty simple: if someone wipes the board, you can sometimes recoup some value from Spirits via sacrificing them for mana on the spot, and while you're not stoked to see your 2/2 drakes or 1/1 elementals or whatever get nuked, they are replaceable. Kykar can also be re-cast, but you don't have many ways to recur creature based token engines, so while it may be tempting to run out Young Pyromancer, AND Monastery Mentor, AND Murmuring Mystic alongside Kykar, it's better to keep all but one in hand for rebuilding if the board is wiped, and use the mana on instants and sorceries in the meantime instead. Note: The Locust God is a bit of an exception here since it returns to hand.
This is also the point in the game where you should at least aware of any combo pieces, if not actively playing to them as my main outs. For example, if I have Haze of Rage and Sakashima the Impostor in hand, you might be a bit more reckless with your play patterns and focus on digging as deep as possible in your library looking for Anointed Procession. Or, if you have either Jeskai Ascendancy or Underworld Breach in hand, You might go all in on getting your hands on Faithless Looting or Frantic Search.
Late-Game
- In the Web of War
- The Locust God + Skullclamp
- Jeskai Ascendancy. . . by itself really, but especially with Hour of Reckoning or Underworld Breach. . . or both
- Cathars' Crusade
- Monastery Mentor and his prowess monk tokens.
I don't mean this list to be exhaustive at all since there are many combinations the deck can utilize to make the token swarm unstoppable. Rather, it's just to give a flavor of what end-game punch the deck has to create a devastating attack. The combos are, of course, also viable late game options to generate large storm counts and build/buff a huge army.
However, the game can not always be won through combat, so in some games the end-game strategy will have to center around Goblin Bombardment, Impact Tremors, or both. As with the finishers listed above, these two enchantments + Kykar and/or one of the token engines in the 99 + a salvo of cheap spells can do massive damage. Goblin Bombardment is also handy to use as a last bit of post combat reach if I just couldn't finish off all my opponents with an alpha strike.
Alternate Decklists
Credit & Thanks
@Feyd_Ruin, @WizardMN, and @toctheyounger for help with formatting and forum code.
@OCPunisher, @WolfWhoWanders, @nimbaway, and @kirkusjones for being my fellow Kykar pilots and discussing card choices in this thread.
@darrenhabib for the usual high level of analysis and insight.
@pokken and @shermanido37 for great card discussions whether here or in one of the Ephara threads in the forum.
@3drinks for keeping the random card of the day thread going, which has resulted in food for thought for yours truly and more than one change in this list.