This deck has been retired.
Blink Engines
The main idea behind the deck is get an an indefinite blink engine going between certain cards that will "exile a card and return to play".
There are two main flavors of this, return to play immediately or a delayed effect until the beginning of next end step.
Yorion, Sky Nomad is itself one of the types of cards that return the exiled cards at end of the turn.
Felidar Guardian, Restoration Angel are cards that do the blink effect immediately.
Dance of Many, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, Glimmerpoint Stag, Sentinel of the Pearl Trident, Blizzard Strix, Skybind, are at end of turn delayed effects.
Spark Double and Sakashima the Impostor may not seem obvious a first, but they are creatures that can copy a legendary creature and remain in play, getting around the "legendary" rule of only one of these.
What you can do of course is copy Yorion, Sky Nomad and this will give you the ability to exile non-land cards including Yorion.
What do these Blink Enabler achieve?
The general idea is that with Yorion and one of these cards, you'll get a pattern of exiling and returning cards to play every either every turn including opponents, or alternative turns.
Return to play immediately
Let's look at what happens with Felidar Guardian, Restoration Angel, Wispweaver Angel.
If we have these in play already when we cast Yorion then Yorion will exile them.
At end of turn they will return to play and you can then target Yorion for the exile effect.
He will return to play immediately and then you exile your nonland cards including Felidar Guardian/Restoration Angel/Wispweaver Angel.
However because its already end of the turn, Yorion ability to return those cards at "beginning of the next end step" will actually need to wait until the next players end step.
This results in Yorion remaining in play through opponents main phases, while your other nonland cards remain in exile.
Any sorcery speed effects like removal will not be able to effect the cards you exile. So a Wrath of God for example will kill Yorion, but the rest of your creatures will return to play at the end of the turn.
Beginning of the next end step
Now the other cards that return Yorion at end of turn have a slightly different timing.
Again we cast Yorion say exiling Flickerwisp.
At end of turn Flickerwisp returns to play and you target Yorion.
However this time Flickerwisp is a delayed until "beginning of the next end step", and so we have to wait until a full turn until next players end step/
The result is that this time we will have all the permanents in play during main phases, and its Yorion that remains in exile.
Then we he returns he will exile your nonland permanents, and we get the delay again. So this time round Yorion will remain in play through main phases, and your nonland permanents are in exile.
This is an alternating pattern of whether its Yorion that is in exile, or your other nonland permanents.
If its a 4 player game lets look at the pattern.
Player 1 (you) : Cast Yorion exiling nonland permanents including Flickerwisp.
Player 2 : Nonland permanents in play through main phases. Yorion in exile through main phases.
Player 3 : Yorion in play through main phases. Nonland permanents in exile through main phases.
Player 4 : Nonland permanents in play through main phases. Yorion in exile through main phases.
Player 1 (you) : Yorion in play through main phases. Nonland permanents in exile through main phases.
So in a 4 player game, you'll actually end up with the same players having the same sequence.
Interestly during your own turn the nonland cards that you do exile will not be available to you. So what you should do if you want them in play, say they artifact mana, then you don't exile those at the end of Player 4 turn.
However in a 3 or 5 player game (or any odd number of players) you'll actually get different outcomes of whether its Yorion in play or your nonland permanents during those main phases.
Now if its an even number of players, then what can happen is that if somebody has sorcery speed effects, say removal, they will possible not be able to effect your board, except for Yorion.
So in a 4 player game, Player 3 is not going to be able to cast Hour of Revelation to get your nonland permanents as they'll be exile.
Yorion is in play so they can remove him.
This just has this interesting pattern where seating position makes a huge difference to how the can effect you, and even how you can interact with them.
If you are exiling creatures for example for ETB effects, then you won't have the same number of blockers if you are getting attacked.
You might have artifacts that you tap for mana during opponents turns. When you exile them, they won't be available during a particular players turn.
Now there is another way that you might get a sequence. You might already have Yorion in play and then cast Flickerwisp for example targeting Yorion.
You get the same results of having alternative turns, but this time it'll look like this.
Player 1 (you) : Cast Flickerwisp exiling Yorion.
Player 2 : Yorion in play through main phases. Nonland permanents in exile through main phases.
Player 3 : Nonland permanents in play through main phases. Yorion in exile through main phases.
Player 4 : Yorion in play through main phases. Nonland permanents in exile through main phases.
Player 1 (you) : Nonland permanents in play through main phases. Yorion in exile through main phases.
So it might be that you know Player 4 has a heavy sorcery speed removal deck, and so want to actually wait to play this specific order of what to cast first and blink during your turn.
Protecting your engine
With two blink enablers and Yorion you can look keep all your nonland permanents off the board except and the end of players turns.
This means that literally you'll not have anything exposed to sorcery speed interaction.
Dance of Many is special in that creates this scenario where you get to blink out Yorion and Dance of Many so that you will only have nonland permanents coming into play at end of turn, without having to expose them during opponents main phases.
Dance of Many copies Yorion, then due to the legend rule you choose Yorion to keep. With the sacrifice trigger for Dance, you just make sure to have Yorion blink effect resolve first and you can blink out the Dance of Many before you have to sacrifice it. Keep doing this every end step.
You can also use the flash blink creatures in Sentinel of the Pearl Trident or Blizzard Strix to get the same pattern by if Yorion is coming into play at end of turn, you can flash them in with Yorion trigger on the stack.
Sentinel of the Pearl Trident/Blizzard Strix targets Yorion and then Yorion targets the blink creatures.
So now they both be exiled and both come back into play at the end of the next turn.
But note that Yorion has to have already been blinked to come into play at end of turn. So this does suggest that you have already played a blink creatures.
If you were to simply try and flash in Sentinel of the Pearl Trident/Blizzard Strix with Yorion in play, then it will blink out Yurion, but Yurion won't return until the end of the next turn, so its just the same as casting a blink enabler at sorcery speed.
However Sentinel of the Pearl Trident/Blizzard Strix are excellent at also protecting Yorion or another blink enabler against removal if held back for reacting to opponents actions.
Further to getting a setup with having no nonland permanents in play through opponents turns, you can use Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir or Teferi, Time Raveler to make sure that opponents literally can't cast spells during the end of turn when they come into play.
Its virtually impossible for your opponents to do anything to interact with your setup. The would need an onboard answer like a Oblivion Stone.
Because we are looking to have no nonland permanents on the board expect during those end steps, this means that you won't have creatures to block. So eventually we are looking for Glacial Chasm to prevent all damage.
Once the cumulative upkeep becomes a little too much you can look for other blink cards to reset it with Flickerwisp, Skybind.
Enter the Battlefield
The deck is filled with nonland permanents which have enter the battlefield triggers.
I've made a point to prioritize as many low costed effects as possible, preferring them in the 2-3 mana range.
There a some higher costed ETB permanents, but these are more about blink enabling, and also engines for producing more mana.
There is a mix between various card advantages like draw, removal, tutors and mana producers.
Additional mana
One element of the deck that is really important is that you can get much more mana with the blink abilities.
Yorion is able to reset artifacts that provide mana, so there is a emphasis on good artifact mana.
You also want to avoid ones that come into play tapped, as you won't be able to get the benefits.
But its also important to remember if you are blinking them out, then because of the pattern I explained, you are not always going to get the artifacts available through particular opponents turns.
If you were hoping to hold up a counterspell, then you might be out of luck.
However you do get to choose which nonland permanents you exile with Yorion so it is very much a case of managing when you've already tapped them and exiling them, or when you want to just leave them in play so that you can use them during particular opponents turns.
But further to this we have ETB effects that can untap your lands.
Parallax Tide, Peregrine Drake, Treachery can all untap your lands.
This means that you can just keep exiling them and it won't matter if they are in play, you'll get to continuously untap lands.
Skybind is another card that can target lands. So you look to blink a few lands depending on how many enchantments you have in play.
If you have the luxury you can also use Flickerwisp or Glimmerpoint Stag to exile a land, although this would be unlikely as you be realistically using them for a complete blink engine.
Note that Parallax Tide and Skybind can be used to exile your opponents lands for their main phases. I use this quite often to shut opponents out of being able to get back into the game by restricting their mana.
Flash...ah ha...it'll save everyone of us!
Because you have such a high chance of untapping your lands, or getting additional mana from your artifacts, there are some flash enablers so that you can make use of the mana during opponents turns.
Leyline of Anticipation allows any card to be played and great if in your starting hand.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir allows you to cast creatures with flash, and also shuts off opponents from trying to cast anything at instant speed, which is great when most interactions are happening during the end steps.
Winding Canyons allows you to cast creatures.
Emergence Zone is a once off effect, but good if you have a lot of cards you want to deploy when you get additional mana engines setup in opponents turn.
Because you are gaining so many cards with your ETB effects, you'll have a stocked hand, so its just a case of deploying them.
With Scroll of Fate, you can put any card into play face-down, even lands. When Yorion blinks the face-down card it'll return to play face up.
At the same time you blink Scroll of Fate so that it returns to play untapped. With a blink engine going, you get to put a permanent into play ever players turn, even if that just means land ramping. Trust me this is insane!!
ETB Disruption
Some of the effects have a specific wording in that they put cards into exile but have the stipulation "When this card leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to the battlefield under its owner's control."
At first this doesn't seem the best to be continuously blinking them, as your opponents just get the cards back.
They are Journey to Nowhere, Leonin Relic-Warder, Oblivion Ring, Fiend Hunter, Detention Sphere.
However there is some special timing that you can use with these.
If for example you have Felidar Guardian, Restoration Angel as part of you blink engine, as long as you stack the ETB a certain way you can in fact exile opponents cards permanently.
The trick is that you target your opponents card(s) and make sure that they will be last to resolve (last in first out).
Then the trigger you want to execute first is the Yorion blink on the your own cards.
What happens is that because your exile cards (Oblivion Ring, etc) leave play before the exile effect happens, the card won't be considered to "leaves the battlefield" (because its already happened) and your opponents card will get exiled forever.
SPOILER
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Note that there are lots of cards that have similar wording but do not work in the same way as the cards I've specifically included.
Lets look at Banisher Priest.
Lets look at Banisher Priest.
It would appear to be similar, but because the clause is all in a single sentence, if the Banisher Priest leaves the battlefield before the exile trigger resolves, the exile effect simply won't happen.When Banisher Priest enters the battlefield, exile target creature an opponent controls until Banisher Priest leaves the battlefield.
Venser, Shaper Savant can return any permanent to hand. Note that its not easy to return spells if Venser is already part of the blink engines, as most of the time its happening at end of turns.
But with some of the blink enablers like Eldrazi Displacer you can use it at instant speed.
Vendilion Clique can be used to try and get rid of problematic cards each turn from various opponents. You can even use it on yourself if your wanting to dig for particular cards.
The Best of the Rest
Archaeomancer can keep return counterspells or whatever.
You can even return Eerie Interlude so that you get blink engine going without Yorion if need be. You can just keep doing this each players turn as long as you have the mana.
There are creatures that can search for various cards, and you can get amazing value out of them; Knight of the White Orchid, Recruiter of the Guard, Spellseeker, Solemn Simulacrum.
How to Win?
You just overwhelm your opponents with card advantages and constant removal that winning simply becomes a case of grinding people out of threats.
You can eventually beat down with your creatures once you have a lock on the game, and a number of them do have reasonable power and flying.
Remember that once you have a two blink enablers and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir or Teferi, Time Raveler going its virtually impossible to interact with your incredible engines. And Glacial Chasm protects you from all damage.
Whats not in the deck?
There are a lot of amazing ETB cards in Azorius that are tempting.
Lavinia of the Tenth, Mulldrifter, Cloudblazer, Sun Titan, Agent of Treachery are examples of these, but being 5 or more mana really makes it hard to deploy them in a timely manner when Yorion is 5 mana also.
I've really tried to keep low cost cards so that you can curve up towards Yorion.
Other single use per turn blink effects like Soul Herder, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and even Brago, King Eternal have also been avoided. The do have use, but they are not quite as effective as the other blink engines, as you can get ETB from all your permanents, every players turn, rather than just the once each turn round.
Brago, King Eternal even has the additional issue that you might not even have your nonland permanents in play due to the sequencing.
There a few more blink enablers in Oath of Teferi, Wispweaver Angel, Deadeye Navigator. But the deck has plenty already and its going to be more of a case of keeping Yorion alive, rather than if you have access to one of them most games.
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Approximate Total Cost:
Zacama
