Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest

[Ruiner]

Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest

Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest

Creatures

1 Young Pyromancer

1 Dockside Extortionist

1 Snapcaster Mage

1 Leonin Lightscribe

1 Veyran, Voice of Duality

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Feather, the Redeemed

1 Thassa, God of the Sea

1 Elsha of the Infinite

Planeswalkers

1 Jeska, Thrice Reborn

1 The Royal Scions

Offensive Tools

1 Built to Smash

1 Rush of Adrenaline

1 Infuriate

1 Brute Force

1 Titan's Strength

1 Reckless Charge

1 Unleash Fury

1 Invigorated Rampage

1 Runechanter's Pike

1 Blackblade Reforged

Defensive Tools

1 Sheltering Light

1 Gods Willing

1 Shelter

1 Reality Ripple

1 Teferi's Veil

1 Teferi's Protection

1 Deflecting Swat

1 Swiftfoot Boots

Evasive Tools

1 Distortion Strike

1 Leap

1 Artful Dodge

1 Slip Through Space

1 Shadow Rift

1 Aqueous Form

Draw/Tutor/Filter

1 Ponder

1 Brainstorm

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Mystic Remora

1 Manifold Insights

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Whirlwind of Thought

Removal

1 Vandalblast

1 Shattering Spree

1 Path to Exile

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Wear // Tear

1 Generous Gift

1 Supreme Verdict

1 Austere Command

Counterspells

1 Swan Song

1 Trickbind

1 Dovin's Veto

1 Counterspell

1 Fierce Guardianship

1 Force of Will

Misc Enchantments

1 Jeskai Ascendancy

Misc Artifacts (Non-Ramp)

1 Sensei's Divining Top

Artifacts (Ramp)

1 Chrome Mox

1 Sol Ring

1 Arcane Signet

1 Boros Signet

1 Izzet Signet

1 Azorius Signet

Lands

1 Command Tower

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Mana Confluence

1 City of Brass

1 Tundra

1 Hallowed Fountain

1 Flooded Strand

1 Sea of Clouds

1 Mystic Gate

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Plateau

1 Sacred Foundry

1 Arid Mesa

1 Spectator Seating

1 Rugged Prairie

1 Battlefield Forge

1 Sunbaked Canyon

1 Steam Vents

1 Scalding Tarn

1 Training Center

1 Cascade Bluffs

1 Shivan Reef

1 Fiery Islet

3 Mountain

3 Plains

3 Island

1 Ancient Tomb

1 Homeward Path

1 Strip Mine

Approximate Total Cost:

About the Deck

Shu Yun is an odd mix of spell slinger and voltron styles that can be a bit of a challenge to play but is rather fun.

The goal of the deck is to hit opponents for 21 damage and knock them out of the game with commander damage. Shu Yun can do a massive amount of damage pretty easily with a few offensive buffs. The key to killing with commander damage with Shu Yun is generally some combination of offensive buffs and evasion. Often Shu Yun will kill in a single swing if you have sculpted your hand correctly but it is important to not fall into the trap of always trying to accomplish this, killing opponents with two swings is totally fine.

A secondary gameplan can be to attempt just normal aggro damage with cards like Monastery Mentor and Young Pyromancer providing a swarm of bodies to swing with.

Also, keep in mind that Shu Yun's double strike granting ability can be used on opponent's creatures. If opponents are swinging at each other, you can dramatically increase their damage potential. This isn't your primary goal but it is certainly something you should not overlook.

This deck runs a rather low creature count. Every creature in the deck is aimed at assisting Shu Yun in the goal of dealing commander damage in some way, or providing some other worthwhile buff. Guttersnipe is a creature I commonly see in Shu Yun lists, and I tried it for a while but random non-commander damage doesn't really advance the main strategy of the deck and it isn't a massive enough damage output to be impressive otherwise. Monastery Mentor and Young Pyromancer are fairly crucial in providing you with a mass of bodies to be able to block with, sacrifice to Grave Pact effects (which are generally the bane of a voltron style deck), and of course swing out in a pinch.

Despite a commander that only costs 3 mana, and a very low overall mana curve, this deck is surprisingly mana hungry. On an average turn when you are "going for the kill", consider that you need to have 2 mana available for Shu Yun's triggered ability to give double strike, generally 2-3 mana available for some combination of offensive buffs and evasive maneuvers, and then unless you are just gambling and going "all in", you are going to want some additional mana available for some sort of defensive tech. This all adds up to generally, depending on circumstances, wanting to have a pretty significant amount of mana to work with. In addition, this deck is very color intensive, so it is important to have as many options for producing the various colors you want, which makes it hard to have room for utility lands.

With this deck wanting to kill through combat damage the temptation would be to play Shu Yun as quickly as possible and get to swinging but this is generally a bad idea. Unless you are extremely confident in knowing what your opponents have in hand, playing Shu Yun without the ability to protect him is a giant gamble. In my experience, it is best to slow play things a little and then when the ideal time presents itself you strike. When people have seen this deck in action, as soon as you drop Shu Yun the alarms will start going off in their heads so that is something you have to be prepared for.

Equipment in general eats up too much mana for Shu Yun and re-equipping after Shu Yun dies can slow you down significantly. Consequently, this deck runs very little equipment. Blackblade Reforged and Runechanter's Pike are massive offensive buffs that increase your damage output by a really high amount so they are definitely worthwhile inclusions. Swiftfoot Boots giving hexproof and haste for a very low cost makes it another key equipment piece. Beyond that, there aren't really any equipment pieces I would generally consider. I could see an equipment heavy build of this deck potentially working but it would play drastically different and I believe that there are much better commanders for that sort of equipment voltron strategy.

With the decklist as it is now, there are no cards for graveyard hate. It is really hard to find room for everything in this deck but if that's a big concern for you I'm sure a few things could be switched around. Or, you just prioritize removing the graveyard based decks first.

Monastery Siege is a card that I previously had in the deck and only recently removed just to try out Veyran, Voice of Duality. It is a very useful card for digging through your deck and sculpting a good hand. I will potentially add this back in at a later date.

Budget Options

This decklist is a bit tuned up and as a result is quite costly however none of these costly elements are absolutely crucial to the deck and a Shu Yun deck can be run on a rather low budget. The "free" spells like Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship, and Deflecting Swat could easily be removed and the mana base could easily be made significantly cheaper with more basics and some "comes into play tapped" dual lands. The actual core of the deck is remarkably cheap with most cards being less than a dollar. The important cards are in the "Offensive Tools", "Defensive Tools" and "Evasive Tools" sections of the decklist and the few expensive cards in those sections could be replaced with much cheaper alternatives if needed. A solid Shu Yun deck could easily be built on a very low budget and then improved over time if you have the inclination. If you are looking for one card to splurge on, including Monastery Mentor is really worthwhile but is not absolutely necessary.

Further Notes

Leonin Lightscribe and Veyran, Voice of Duality are both very recent additions to this deck and I have not actually drawn them in any game since adding them to the deck so they are basically untested. They both seem like great fits for the deck though.

[pokken]

Generally speaking I don't think signets are particularly good as ramp spells for shu Yun.

Dowsing dagger, Dockside extortionist, jeska's will, knight of the white orchid, cartographer hawk are all likely to do a lot more work overall. I'd also consider primal amulet as pretty playable.

I am kind of a weirdo in being anti signet unless they really achieve something and they're really just medium bad in this deck, sometimes letting you sequence shu Yun plus a protective spell or triggering him late game, but otherwise not doing that much.

This also feels like a manifold insights deck to me, and definitely a mystic remora deck.

Looks darn cool though

[Ruiner]

Generally speaking I don't think signets are particularly good as ramp spells for shu Yun.

Dowsing dagger, Dockside extortionist, jeska's will, knight of the white orchid, cartographer hawk are all likely to do a lot more work overall. I'd also consider primal amulet as pretty playable.

I am kind of a weirdo in being anti signet unless they really achieve something and they're really just medium bad in this deck, sometimes letting you sequence shu Yun plus a protective spell or triggering him late game, but otherwise not doing that much.

This also feels like a manifold insights deck to me, and definitely a mystic remora deck.

Looks darn cool though

Being a non-green deck the Signets have been valuable ramp sources for me over the years but I totally understand that perspective. Dockside Extortionist is definitely something I've been meaning to add to the deck, that card is so absurd on the value it provides. I've considered Archaeomancer's Map for this deck too, just for the two guaranteed land drops and then the Exploration effect. I could totally see dropping signets for those types of cards.

Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale is really good that I run in some other decks but I worry that with such a low creature count I'd have trouble utilizing it in this particular deck.

Jeska's Will is such a good card but only providing red mana is the reason I've hesitated on including it.

Mystic Remora is another that should definitely be in here and for the years I've been playing the deck I just keep neglecting to track down a copy.

Manifold Insights is a sweet suggestion. I'll be considering that in a future update.

[pokken]

Map is solid for sure, I'd definitely give that some thought if you like to slow play shu Yun.

It's been pretty good for me in breena

[duducrash]

Sweet deck! There are a two cards I absolutely love in my own version of the deck.

Whirlwind of Thought its a nice enchantment that keeps your hand full.

Mavinda, Students' Advocate in a deck filled with pump and protection Mavinda lets us recur stuff for free!

[Gamazson]

Don't sleep on Scroll of the Masters. A buddy of mine runs a budget version of this commander. That thing does some serious damage if you don't remove it.

[Ruiner]

Don't sleep on Scroll of the Masters. A buddy of mine runs a budget version of this commander. That thing does some serious damage if you don't remove it.

I has this in my deck years ago when I first built it but ended up removing it.

Scroll essentially costs 5 mana, split over two turns, and requires you to play at least 3 spells after playing it to get it to have the benefit of a simple 1 red mana +3/+3 buff. It just ended up being too mana/set up heavy for my tastes for the benefit and risk of removal.

It isn't awful, and in some lower power/budget versions I could definitely see it working but it just wasn't for me. I'd recommend Runechanter's Pike over it, but if you wanted a secondary version of this kind of thing then Scroll could fill that role.

Sweet deck! There are a two cards I absolutely love in my own version of the deck.

Whirlwind of Thought its a nice enchantment that keeps your hand full.

Mavinda, Students' Advocate in a deck filled with pump and protection Mavinda lets us recur stuff for free!

Whirlwind is definitely one I've been meaning to try. It seems like it could draw quite a few cards.

Mavinda is another I'm pretty sure I'll eventually try to find room for. Kind of works as another Feather effect and Feather has been stellar whenever I have it in play.

[TheGildedGoose]

Have you considered more ramp, specifically the Talisman of Creativity cycle and Fellwar Stone? Those four would make running Mox Opal feasible as well. The deck looks pretty mana hungry when factoring in Shu Yun's triggered ability as you note. They also trigger Prowess, and if you're feeling spicy, enable the alt win con of Dramatic Reversal and Isochron Scepter. If you're feeling really spicy adding more artifact mana and Winter Orb becomes a possible win con, too. Tribute Mage finds many of those pieces, the equipment you run, as well as your other orbs/totems.

You mentioned that sometimes you have problems with card flow. Do you think you may be running too many offensive, defensive, and unblockable spells that don't cantrip or scry? Do you often find yourself unable to connect with Shu Yun even with the pinpoint removal to clear a path? Without having played the deck my instinct tells me to cut stuff like Infiltrate and Artful Dodge for more "do something" cards that perform a variety of tasks an, more important, cantrip or scry. Whirlwind of Thought seems like an excellent draw engine to compliment this. Personally, I would also jam in Preordain, Serum Visions, and possibly Sleight of Hand or Opt. Samut's Sprint seems playable, too.

EDIT: Oh, and Time Wipe seems pretty good here, too.

[Ruiner]

Have you considered more ramp, specifically the Talisman of Creativity cycle and Fellwar Stone? Those four would make running Mox Opal feasible as well. The deck looks pretty mana hungry when factoring in Shu Yun's triggered ability as you note. They also trigger Prowess, and if you're feeling spicy, enable the alt win con of Dramatic Reversal and Isochron Scepter. If you're feeling really spicy adding more artifact mana and Winter Orb becomes a possible win con, too. Tribute Mage finds many of those pieces, the equipment you run, as well as your other orbs/totems.

You mentioned that sometimes you have problems with card flow. Do you think you may be running too many offensive, defensive, and unblockable spells that don't cantrip or scry? Do you often find yourself unable to connect with Shu Yun even with the pinpoint removal to clear a path? Without having played the deck my instinct tells me to cut stuff like Infiltrate and Artful Dodge for more "do something" cards that perform a variety of tasks an, more important, cantrip or scry. Whirlwind of Thought seems like an excellent draw engine to compliment this. Personally, I would also jam in Preordain, Serum Visions, and possibly Sleight of Hand or Opt. Samut's Sprint seems playable, too.

EDIT: Oh, and Time Wipe seems pretty good here, too.

Connecting with Shu Yun is rarely an issue due to all of the unblockable effects. I have considered running Trailblazer's Boots as a more permanent evasion source but it rarely is a problem.

Getting into topdeck mode is probably the biggest issue as it stands right now. Some games it isn't an issue at all, and I find I tend to draw into scry effects regularly so card quality is not an issue usually, but I have been bit by lack of card quantity at times. I'm definitely going to be adjusting the deck soon to address that to some degree.

As far as ramp is concerned, I don't often find it to be a huge issue but I could definitely see making room for Fellwar Stone and Dockside Extortionist on my next update. I do like the Talisman cycle of cards but I don't know that I need to get that heavy on ramp.


I have thought of including some anti-ramp/search stuff like Stranglehold and Aven Mindcensor, and maybe some other hate bears. Wouldn't hurt to try I suppose.

Posting this list and seeing the comments has been a good motivation to tinker with it. I've neglected this deck for a little while, and while it generally does pretty decent when I play it, there is always room for improvement.

[duducrash]

How do you play with Runechanter's Pike ? I feel anytime its on the field it's a big target on Shu Yun. When I win I win out of nowhere mostly with pump

[Ruiner]

How do you play with Runechanter's Pike ? I feel anytime its on the field it's a big target on Shu Yun. When I win I win out of nowhere mostly with pump

Generally I'm dropping it before Shu Yun, and I don't usually rush to drop Shu Yun so that gives time to have the power be significant. Then it is just a matter of equipping and using anything, maybe a 1 drop unblockable spell, to swing for lethal or near-lethal It has been super useful as a later game tool. It isn't uncommon for it to give +6 or greater easily in my experience. Sometimes it just eats a removal spell, but that's bound to happen at times.

It just makes for a super scary threat without always having to try to chain and fire off multiple cards in one turn so I'm usually pretty happy to see I.

If find the power increase of it and Blackblade to generally be pretty significant so they've been worthwhile.

[Ruiner]

Made a few revisions to the deck list:

Added Cards
+1 Mystic Remora
+1 Manifold Insights
+1 Whirlwind of Thought
+1 Dockside Extortionist

Removed Cards
-1 Borrowed Hostility
-1 Infiltrate
-1 Torpor Orb
-1 Cursed Totem


Overall I think these additions are probably going to make a noticeable difference on card draw.

I'm not thrilled about removing Torpor Orb and Cursed Totem but I figure I'll get some games in with the deck list as it is now, and if I'm routinely flush with cards I'll drop some offensive buff or defensive cards or something like that to put these two back in. They definitely make a difference whenever they are on the field.