Nikara, Lair Scavenger // Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel - Hyenas are a Mans best friend [Retired]

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago



This deck has been retired.




Buckle your seat-belts, there is a lot going on with these partner commanders and within this deck. It has a bit of everything, and is a real treat.

Drawing cards from your creatures

Lets get the party started and look at Nikara, Lair Scavenger first.

Menace is the main reason for playing this commander. The aim is to deal 21 commander damage over 11 turns...wait I've changed my mind, I have a new plan...


Whenever another creature you control leaves the battlefield, if it had one or more counters on it, you draw a card and lose a life.

At first it looks like another one of the suite of "Whenever creature dies, draw a card". These come in 3 flavors normally. Nikara, Lair Scavenger can trigger for any creature, so tokens are up for grabs!

But there are two major differences.
  • They need a counter of any kind to be on the creature.
  • Triggers when "leaves the battlefield", which means not only if they go to graveyard, but also if they get exiled or returned to hand or even the command zone, you'll get the draw.
How to put counters on your creatures?

Obviously you want ways to get counters on creatures, otherwise no bueno.

There are two main ways of putting counters on creatures; retroactively and at the time creatures come into play.

When Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel enters the battlefield, exile another creature you control, until Yannik leaves the battlefield. When you do, distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of target creatures, where X is the exiled creatures power.

Fortunately the partner commander Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel is designed to help with retroactively putting counters on creatures.
Whenever it enters the battlefield you can exile a creature, and then you get to distribute +1/+1 counters equal to the power of that creature.
So imagine if you have 4 creatures in play, you'd want the optimal power of that creature to be 4 power.
In this manner we are playing creatures that scale exactly like this, Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Voice of Resurgence, Ironroot Warlord, Wayfaring Temple.
This way it doesn't matter how many or few creatures you have, you'll always manage to get a +1/+1 counter on each of the creatures you have in play.

Further to this we have some relatively cheap utility creatures that have a decent amount of power, that could be used also with
Wayward Swordtooth and Omnath, Locus of Mana, along with other creatures you can use in a pinch to distribute counters if you feel the need.



"Image"






But don't worry, this isn't the only way to get counters on creatures. You'll be casting lots more creatures after this and we have ways to put counters on them as they enter the battlefield.

Renata, Called to the Hunt, Good-Fortune Unicorn, The Great Henge can put +1/+1 counters when creatures come into play.
As can Oran-Rief, the Vastwood for green creatures, which is most of the deck.
Renata, Called to the Hunt can also have a lot of potential power, so is another card that could be used with Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel if needed.

Tayam, Luminous Enigma gives your creatures a "vigilance counter" when they come into play, and truth be told not nearly as good as +1/+1 counters, but the ability to return 3 cmc or less permanents from your graveyard gives you a lot of utility.

Later on in the game you can retroactively give all your creatures a +1/+1 counter with Shalai, Voice of Plenty.
Gavony Township is a land that enables you to do this as well.
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest requires something to be sacrificed, which there are lots of fetchlands in the deck, and honestly its not a case of if, but how many times you'll put counters on your creatures. Mazirek is a beast.
Forgotten Ancient is also a way to distribute +1/+1 counters, but you'll need to wait until your upkeep.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade is a small-ball way of giving counters, but more importantly it will allow your non-mana creatures to tap for g as you have so many ways to get counters on your creatures.


We have counters on our creatures, what does this really do?

Well obviously it gives you insurance against opponents removal, a board wipe normally leaves you down on resources, but with Nikara, Lair Scavenger ability we'll now get to draw cards.

Blink
But to extend this, lets look back on the clause "leaves the battlefield".
With cards that blink creatures you can look to gain draw without actually having to lose them.
Eerie Interlude and Ghostway are the perfect cards for this. You can use them patiently to avoid removal, whilst getting the draw, or you might just fire it off to get the draw to setup even further.
Planar Guide is also perfect for this type of play.

If you've exiled a large power creature with Yannik, then when Yannik leaves the battlefield it will return to play. Once Yannik and all your other creatures return to play then you can exile your power creature and put +1/+1 counters back on all your creatures, so you are all setup again for draw.



Enters the battlefield triggers
There are a small number of "enter the battlefield" utility creatures that can make use of these blink effects, Knight of Autumn, Eternal Witness, Shriekmaw.
Another possible use for Yannik is that you simply exile an ETB creature, so that when/if its removed you'll get the trigger again.
So imagine you cast Yannik and exile Knight of Autumn that had counters, so 4 power. You'll get to distribute those counters across your creatures, and you even get a draw from Nikara as it had counters on it.
Now when Yannik leaves play, the Knight of Autumn comes back and you can destroy a problematic artifact or enchantment.




Return to hand
Returning to hand from the battlefield is also another way to get draw and Temur Sabertooth is perfect for this effect.
You can also use it as a way to protect your creatures against removal.
Opponent plays a board wipe and you return all your creatures, draw tons of cards, and then just replay them again.

There is even a Sanctum of Eternity so that you can keep resetting Yannik each turn if you wanted.

Seedborn Muse can go a long way to help with paying for activation's during opponents turns.
Temur Sabertooth and Sanctum of Eternity can be used with Yannik to use the trick of distributing counters on creatures that might not have any.

If you are having to clear the board of creatures then Black Sun's Zenith is going to put -1/-1 counters on your creatures, so that you'd get the draw if they died.
However you might just have enough +1/+1 counters on them so you can do a one-sided board wipe.

Token creatures

Because Nikara allows you to draw from even token creatures, its desirable to be able to create some. The deck doesn't aim to go completely over the top with this, but instead concentrates on quality value.

Tendershoot Dryad will produce multiple token creatures if not dealt with.
Rhys the Redeemed can be a mana sink and if you've already have a token army, then activating his double up is a sure fire way to overwhelm opponents.

There are also creatures that "populate" meaning copying a token you already have in play with Wayfaring Temple and Trostani, Selesnya's Voice.

Ironroot Warlord can also be used to sink mana into creating tokens.

Combo

There are some sacrifice outlets in the deck, and these can be important for two reasons. Sometime you might just want to get the draw off Nikara, Lair Scavenger to find cards you need to either combo or deal with what opponents are doing.

But the other reason will become clear once I explain the other main use of Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel.


When Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel enters the battlefield, exile another creature you control, until Yannik leaves the battlefield.

The "until Yannik leaves the battlefield" is important, as this opens up the possibility of an infinite combo with either Karmic Guide or with a bit more work Phyrexian Delver, and a sacrifice outlet.

The way it works is that you can get Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel killed at any stage and send him to the graveyard.
Once you cast Karmic Guide you can bring Yannik back into play, and then you target the Karmic Guide to exile.
You get to distribute 2 x +1/+1 counters, which you can put one on Yannik.
With a way to kill Yannik, say a sacrifice outlet, you can then send him to the graveyard, and then the Karmic Guide will return to play and now you can loop the process by bring back Yannik again.

With Nikara, Lair Scavenger you can draw as much of your deck as you have life.
But you don't even need to necessarily draw, as you can distribute infinite +1/+1 counters among your creatures and attack for lethal.

1.) Yannik exiles Karmic Guide.
"Image"

2.) Sacrifice Yannik, Karmic Guide returns to the battlefield which in turn brings Yannik back into play.
"Image"

3.) Draw a card. and if you guessed correctly, go back to Step 1.) .. infinite loop

Phyrexian Delver works in the same way, but losing the life means that you can't go infinite without some further help.
This is where Trostani, Selesnya's Voice shines as you'll be gaining 5 life from both Yannik and Karmic Guide entering the battlefield, while only losing 4 life to Phyrexian Delver, which means infinite life gain in the end.
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice also helps with life gain through other parts of the game, as you'll be losing life to Nikara, Lair Scavenger ability.
She also has a populate ability, which means that you can sink your mana into making more token creatures.

It must be noted that even without a sacrifice outlet, if you exile Karmic Guide or Phyrexian Delver with Yannik, this means that its incredible hard to kill him without specifically exiling him, as if opponents do kill him, then he just get returned to play.





Sacrifice outlets in the deck are Viscera Seer and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician can double up on draw by actually targeting your own creatures with the -1/-1 counters, so that if you sacrifice them you'll also get the draw with Nikara, Lair Scavenger as well. Meaning you'll draw 2 cards for some creatures if you want, but they'll need at least 2 toughness in order to do this.
But more than likely you'll get to target your opponents creatures with the -1/-1 counters as you have plenty of ways of distributing +1/+1 counters instead.

How to actually win?
Well once you get to draw as much of the deck as you like, you'll have too many resources and overwhelm your opponents.
I've already mentioned infinitely large creatures with +1/+1 counters and lethal attacks.
But you can also use Blood Artist as a way to deal infinite life loss with the combos if opponents have somehow prevented you from attacking.
Blood Artist also mitigates the life loss you take from Nikara during the course of the game.

Utility creatures

The deck plays tons of small-ball utility creatures, as you want early and fast play, and your ability to refuel your hand is all designed in the deck.

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds can generate you lots of mana scaling up with the "power equal to creatures" in the deck.

Devoted Druid and Wall of Roots have an inbuilt way of getting counters, so you'll always get draw if they leave the battlefield.

Caustic Caterpillar and Qasali Pridemage are creatures that you can sacrifice for removal, and with counters you get the draw along with it.

There are hardly any noncreature spells in the deck so Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Gaddock Teeg are nice hate-bears to slow/stop opponents.


The Decklist

Nikara, Lair Scavenger // Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel

Enchantments

Artifacts

Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by darrenhabib 3 years ago, edited 16 times in total.

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cheonice
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Post by cheonice » 4 years ago

That's a great list, I really like it!
Personally I would try a more casual approach (step away from the combos by running fewer sac outlets, cut down some expensive cards) and I really think, this could work. Atm I'm working on a Kalamax, the Stormsire list, but they will be the next ones.

Some cards to consider:
Juniper Order Ranger - This is proabably too expensive for your build, isn't it?
Sigil Captain - Would be an option for a more tokeny approach.
Black Sun's Zenith - Zenith looks like the perfect removal. It combines the Wrath with the counters you need for Nikara.
Reveillark and Vesperlark - Both could get you back most of your key creatures. Maybe they are worth it.

Keep up the great work!

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

cheonice wrote:
4 years ago
That's a great list, I really like it!
Personally I would try a more casual approach (step away from the combos by running fewer sac outlets, cut down some expensive cards) and I really think, this could work. Atm I'm working on a Kalamax, the Stormsire list, but they will be the next ones.

Some cards to consider:
Juniper Order Ranger - This is proabably too expensive for your build, isn't it?
Sigil Captain - Would be an option for a more tokeny approach.
Black Sun's Zenith - Zenith looks like the perfect removal. It combines the Wrath with the counters you need for Nikara.
Reveillark and Vesperlark - Both could get you back most of your key creatures. Maybe they are worth it.

Keep up the great work!
Thanks a lot. It just really gelled as I was concepting stuff. I'm really proud of it.

Black Sun's Zenith is a great call, if I'm going to be killing creatures then I might as well try and get the draw.

I looked at Reveillark as you can combo with Karmic Guide and a sacrifice outlet, the same way as Yannik, but I actually only have 2 sacrifice outlets.
So in answer to your first question, I'm not focusing too hard on the combo, but its also impossible to pass up on.

Juniper Order Ranger is a little expensive as you say.
Sigil Captain is a little cheaper, but a bit to conditional on what it hits.

I could cut down on some of the more expensive cards like Oracle of Mul Daya, Vizier of the Menagerie, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Seedborn Muse as they are not really essential to the deck, but I'm such a sucker for value if given the opportunity.

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cheonice
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Post by cheonice » 4 years ago

The 4-mana-creatures might be expensive, but they are so much fun :D

Another card to consider: Together Forever. Privides counters, gives some kind of protection. Maybe this could be a choice for lower powered versions.

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Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

Heh, lots of good stuff here that I remember fondly from my Ghave, Guru of Spores days. Top notch deckbuilding and presentation as always darren!
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

Artemis132
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Post by Artemis132 » 4 years ago

Wow, that's a really cool list! Thank you for making this primer darrenhabib !
I was looking through the new Abzan commanders and wasn't too impressed at first, but the Scavengers seem really fun to play and are actually very well designed and synergistic.

So far I never had a deck that used sacrifice (or blink) to abuse leave-the-battlefield effects and I hope that these partners are just what I was looking for. I get that your deck is not too heavy on the sacrifce theme, but do you think I could swap out some of your more generic value cards for more sacrifice-shenanigans?

Personally I would want to play more sacc outlets like Carrion Feeder, maybe Woe Strider or Greater Good as well as some engines like Abzan Ascendancy or the new Luminous Broodmoth. Maybe even Death's Oasis.

I also regularly face some annoying reanimator or spellslinger / storm strategies, so more hatebears like Scavenging Ooze, Anafenza, the Foremost or Kambal, Consul of Allocation would do great work for me in addition to your already existing hatebear package. Do you think adding more hatebears waters down the basic strategy too much?

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

cheonice wrote:
4 years ago
The 4-mana-creatures might be expensive, but they are so much fun :D

Another card to consider: Together Forever. Privides counters, gives some kind of protection. Maybe this could be a choice for lower powered versions.
That's really good actually. I'll replace Vizier of the Menagerie with it :)

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Artemis132 wrote:
4 years ago
Wow, that's a really cool list! Thank you for making this primer darrenhabib !
I was looking through the new Abzan commanders and wasn't too impressed at first, but the Scavengers seem really fun to play and are actually very well designed and synergistic.

So far I never had a deck that used sacrifice (or blink) to abuse leave-the-battlefield effects and I hope that these partners are just what I was looking for. I get that your deck is not too heavy on the sacrifce theme, but do you think I could swap out some of your more generic value cards for more sacrifice-shenanigans?

Personally I would want to play more sacc outlets like Carrion Feeder, maybe Woe Strider or Greater Good as well as some engines like Abzan Ascendancy or the new Luminous Broodmoth. Maybe even Death's Oasis.

I also regularly face some annoying reanimator or spellslinger / storm strategies, so more hatebears like Scavenging Ooze, Anafenza, the Foremost or Kambal, Consul of Allocation would do great work for me in addition to your already existing hatebear package. Do you think adding more hatebears waters down the basic strategy too much?
Absolutely 100% there is lots of room to take cards out and put others in.
At the end of the day I selected a bunch of "good stuff" creatures, but you can go in a different direction for sure.
The least "on theme" cards in the deck are Oracle of Mul Daya, Seedborn Muse, Grand Abolisher, Collector Ouphe, Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Mother of Runes, Sylvan Safekeeper.
You can certainly cut down on a few mana creatures as well, Bloom Tender being the "worst".

But on the same note, I'm always up for more hatebears. Hatebears can win games, when you back them up with combo win conditions, like this deck has.

Elywood
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Post by Elywood » 3 years ago

I noticed you have this and a Tayam deck. I've been looking to build an abzan deck for a while - what's your experience been so far playing the two? Which one has been more fun for you?

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Elywood wrote:
3 years ago
I noticed you have this and a Tayam deck. I've been looking to build an abzan deck for a while - what's your experience been so far playing the two? Which one has been more fun for you?
Hey. To be honest I've not been that impressed with this deck, it just feels a bit slow on the setup, which is fine for casual games, but then I've just basically found myself having to assemble the infinite combos to win, and that becomes a bit linear as far as looking forward to game play.

I think I'll add a bit more card advantage into the deck with Beast Whisperer and Vizier of the Menagerie at least.

The Tayam list remains purely theoretical at this stage as I haven't purchased the cards for it yet. So sorry can't comment on how it feels and plays as a deck.

Actually an Abzan deck that I have been really enjoying and having huge success with is Nethroi, Apex of Death with Umori, the Collector as a companion.
You can check it out here => viewtopic.php?f=35&t=25629
You don't have to play Umori, the Collector as the companion as its not a big element of the deck at all, and with the nerf actually pretty bad.
But the deck itself is really robust and can do busted things.

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