Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow: Ninja Tempo - RETIRED

[plushpenguin]

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Yuriko, The Tiger's Shadow

Ninjas

1 Changeling Outcast

1 Fallen Shinobi

1 Ingenious Infiltrator

1 Mistblade Shinobi

1 Mist-Syndicate Naga

1 Mothdust Changeling

1 Ninja of the Deep Hours

1 Sakashima's Student

1 Skullsnatcher

1 Universal Automaton

1 Walker of Secret Ways

Flyers and Unblockables

1 Cloud of Faeries

1 Faerie Seer

1 Hope of Ghirapur

1 Gingerbrute

1 Mausoleum Wanderer

1 Ornithopter

1 Spectral Sailor

1 Siren Stormtamer

1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

1 Wingcrafter

Rebuying spells

1 Snapcaster Mage

1 Mission Briefing

Stupid Enchantments:

1 Arcane Adaptation

1 Cover of Darkness

1 Smoke Shroud

Manarocks:

1 Chrome Mox

1 Mox Amber

1 Sol Ring

Graveyard Hate

1 Grafdigger's Cage

Library Manipulation

1 Ancestral Knowledge

1 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Brainstorm

1 Dream Cache

1 Scroll Rack

1 Discovery // Dispersal

Tutors

1 Lim-dul's Vault

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Vampiric tutor

1 Demonic Tutor

High cmc burn

1 Dig Through Time

1 Blinkmoth Infusion

1 Draco

Extra Turns

1 Karn's Temporal Sundering

1 Time Warp

1 Temporal Mastery

1 Temporal Manipulation

1 Temporal Trespass

Answers

1 Consign // Oblivion

1 Commit // Memory

1 Commandeer

1 Counterspell

1 Countersquall

1 Curtains' Call

1 Drown in the Loch

1 Dismember

1 Flusterstorm

1 Negate

1 Submerge

1 Force of Negation

1 Force of Will

1 Force of Despair

1 Mystical Dispute

1 Snuff Out

1 Swan Song

1 Wash Out

1 Coastal Breach

Lands (30)

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Command Tower

1 Drowned Catacomb

1 Gemstone Caverns

1 Flooded Strand

9 Island

1 Morphic Pool

1 Mystic Sanctuary

1 Polluted Delta

1 Prismatic Vista

1 Reflecting Pool

1 River of Tears

1 Scalding Tarn

1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse

1 Sunken Hollow

4 Swamp

1 Underground River

1 Underground Sea

1 Watery Grave

Approximate Total Cost:

The premise of this deck is simple. Just play small flyers or unblockables, sneak in ninjas, and try to stack your deck so that 7-11 cmc cards (that sometimes functionally cost less) are on top of your deck.

Ninjutsu is often mana intensive and so for interaction you want to play as much of the "free" interaction as possible in order to maximize the output of the deck. You generally have cards to spare. Mana is the limiting resource.

Having too many lands in a deck such as this is problematic as flipping too many lands will cause game losses. Rely on your drawpower to hit land drops each turn.

The wipes in this deck are designed to buy tempo rather than clear boards. You never really want to wipe your own creatures but mass bounce is significantly easier to play around.

Control the game with the rest of your drawpower.

[Kemev]

I like this list quite a bit better than the other recent Yuriko list... the extra deck stacking is way better than the "hope you get a lucky blind flip" plan (how good is Insidious Dreams in this list lol). Couple questions tho...

Is there a way to fit in Jace, the Mind Sculptor? What about Personal Tutor?
Do you ever wish you had more Ponders (Portent and/or Omen)?
How do you feel about Ashiok, Dream Render with Yuriko? (Ashiok helps clear dead cards for Sensei's Top, and the list doesn't have much GY hate)

Also I kinda hate Arcane Denial. It's partly personal preference, but giving cards away works out pretty badly sometimes.

[plushpenguin]

I would prefer to avoid planeswalkers as this deck completely lacks ways to protect them

Arcane Denial can become a Negate.

The other ponder variants can be problematic beyond 1cmc. Also, sorcery speed topdeck tutors are at a disadvantage as you can't fire them off between flips in case you hit one. They may still be worth running anyways, but the main issue of course is finding one!

[Sinis]

Your list is very, very similar to my own, including many of the tempo spells with alternative costs (especially Submerge, Snuff Out, and cards with 'Force' in their title).

Have you found Coastal Breach to be at all favourable? The mana as the primary limiting factor makes it feel kind of bad. I was considering Rags // Riches as a wipe since it probably clears most early game cards for 2BB and has an artificially high CMC (11!).

I also found Mist-Syndicate Naga so explosive that players had to answer it or lose. It has a relatively high Ninjitsu cost, but getting free ninjas is very strong.

My last piece of tech has been Sleep. Two free swings on a player will usually end the game, and it's thematically appropriate that Ninjas might attack while the enemy is asleep.

Edit: the way you've organized your list; Changeling Outcast is listed as a Flying/Unblockable, while Phantom Ninja and Mothdust Changeling are listed as Ninjas. At first, I thought you had overlooked Changeling Outcast.

[plushpenguin]

Coastal Breach is generally 4 mana in a 4 player game, which is slightly favorable. This is about the lowest I can pay for a mass bounce effect.

I probably should throw in Mist-Syndicate Naga given its very high ceiling. I should probably cut another ninja for it though.

Sleep is interesting. I'm thinking of making room for a Dismember, but I do need outs to when it is a 1v1 and they have a board full of viable blockers. The extra turn you get to swing at someone makes it generally better than something like Levitation where it feels bad when it doesn't do anything.

Edited list to put Changeling Outcast with ninjas.

[Sinis]

Coastal Breach is generally 4 mana in a 4 player game, which is slightly favorable. This is about the lowest I can pay for a mass bounce effect.

Maybe I'll give it a try in my own list.

Another piece of tech that I forgot about is Turbulent Dreams. In the games I've played, the card glut is real enough that I rarely actually play anything to get card advantage (Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise are still in my list, but I can't recall having cast either of them). I haven't drawn Turbulent Dreams yet, but I think it will shine at 3-4 cards.

The other main difference between your list and mine is that I play Distortion Strike, Artful Dodge and Shadow Rift. I'm not personally convinced they're worth the slots.

I've also been considering efficient card-disadvantage selection effects, like Frantic Search or Careful Study. Or even something like Magus of the Bazaar.

[Simto]

Been wanting to build this deck for a while. I've had Yuriko sitting in my binder and I've finally started to slowly buy cards for it. I'll be watching this thread closely

[Shabbaman]

Speaking of inflated mana costs, you might want to take a look at Avatar of Woe. Granted, it's personal pet, but it has evasion, a solid activated ability and a heavy discount most of the time. Poor synergy with delve though.

[plushpenguin]

I got some games in. The deck runs like fire when it hits land drops and creatures. The most important factor is to ensure that we have sufficient protection for our board.

I cut smokeshaper for mist-syndicate and do not regret that situation. Since our deck is designed to apply maximum early pressure, it completely gets out of control when unanswered.

Currently I do not like Misdirection. Very often it sits around unable to protect my board as people don't bother wasting spot removal on me unless absolutely necessary. And usually I'm the one countering answers rather than needing to protect my own threats.

I also cut Arcane Denial for a Swan Song. While the latter produces a relevant blocker for us, being 1 mana to stop a wipe is way too important to pass up.

I want to find space for an additional counterspell (Negate. Countersquall is relevant but we are color starved as it is) and a Dismember. The latter definitely deserves a spot. Probably better than black Force.

The Modern Horizons additions have done so much to make the deck better. I think the consensus now is that enablers should lean towards being 1 drops rather than 2 drops. Expect some more 2 drops to get cut in the future as we get better stuff.

[Simto]

Anybody see Yuriko is at the top of the biggest stock decrease on Magic Cardmarket? Anybody know why she's popping up there all of a sudden?
It's usually when somebody makes a crazy list or something.

[plushpenguin]

- Azra Smokeshaper
- Misdirection
- Arcane Denial

+ Mist-Syndicate Naga - This thing gets out of control if unanswered
+ Swan Song
+ Dismember

[TheGildedGoose]

Nice to see this deck is still being updated.

Thoughts on Envelop or Invasive Surgery in addition to or instead of Swan Song? Leaving behind a blocker is troublesome, even if the former two aren't as versatile.

I'm surprised you're still not running Hope of Ghirapur. It's one of the better Flying Men variants around since it serves as another form of Wrath protection.

Also, as a way of making sure games get closed, I still think this deck is the perfect place for Winter Orb. Effectively locking out your control opponents after they tap out seems like it should all but guarantee a victory.

[Sinis]

Thoughts on Envelop or Invasive Surgery in addition to or instead of Swan Song? Leaving behind a blocker is troublesome, even if the former two aren't as versatile.

It's funny seeing someone with a bird in their avatar advocating against Swan Song.

But, I'm in agreement, and I've been considering Envelop/Invasive Surgery as well. Most wipes are not instants.

-----

I played a game last night; Turbulent Dreams was exactly as bonkers as you'd expect. 2-mana shut down on blockers was wild.

[TheGildedGoose]

It's funny seeing someone with a bird in their avatar advocating against Swan Song.

Take it from a pro: swans are jerks.

I played a game last night; Turbulent Dreams was exactly as bonkers as you'd expect. 2-mana shut down on blockers was wild.

Interesting. I was initially skeptical because I felt like the card would just be a miserable topdeck when you're behind and low on cards, but getting Yuriko (and a friend!) through just once can be very important and powerful even if it means pitching a moderately useful card or two. It also ends games while leaving up mana for countermagic. I like it and will probably try to find room for it.

For what it's worth, here's my old list I updated with some help from your plushpenguin's current list as well as a few other spicy sources:

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander:

1 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Lands: 33

1 Blinkmoth Nexus

1 Choked Estuary

1 City of Brass

1 Command Tower

1 Creeping Tar Pit

1 Darkslick Shores

1 Drowned Catacomb

11 Island

1 Mana Confluence

1 Morphic Pool

1 Mutavault

1 River of Tears

1 Strip Mine

1 Sunken Hollow

1 Sunken Ruins

5 Swamp

1 Underground River

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Watery Grave

Creatures: 27

1 Augury Owl

1 Baleful Strix

1 Changeling Outcast

1 Cloud of Faeries

1 Dimir Infiltrator

1 Faerie Seer

1 Hope of Ghirapur

1 Hypnotic Siren

1 Ingenious Infiltrator

1 Mausoleum Wanderer

1 Mist-Syndicate Naga

1 Mistblade Shinobi

1 Mothdust Changeling

1 Ninja of the Deep Hours

1 Ornithopter

1 Phantom Ninja

1 Phyrexian Revoker

1 Sage Owl

1 Siren Stormtamer

1 Skullsnatcher

1 Snapcaster Mage

1 Spectral Sailor

1 Spire Owl

1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

1 Thalakos Seer

1 Throat Slitter

1 Wingcrafter

Sorceries: 13

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Diabolic Intent

1 Discovery / Dispersal

1 Karn's Temporal Sundering

1 Ponder

1 Preordain

1 Serum Visions

1 Temporal Manipulation

1 Temporal Mastery

1 Temporal Trespass

1 Time Warp

1 Treasure Cruise

1 Wash Out

Instants: 17

1 Abjure

1 Brainstorm

1 Commit / Memory

1 Consign / Oblivion

1 Counterspell

1 Cryptic Command

1 Cyclonic Rift

1 Dig Through Time

1 Envelop

1 Insidious Dreams

1 Invasive Surgery

1 Muddle the Mixture

1 Mystic Confluence

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Snuff Out

1 Submerge

1 Vampiric Tutor

Artifacts: 6

1 Chrome Mox

1 Meekstone

1 Mox Amber

1 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Sol Ring

1 Winter Orb

Enchantments: 3

1 Arcane Adaptation

1 Smoke Shroud

1 Unnatural Selection

Approximate Total Cost:

Notes:

There are some budget omissions from the deck (Scroll Rack, Force of Will, Bitterblossom, fetches, etc).

Unnatural Selection is an underperformer for me since it taxes our mana each turn that I would rather be spending on turn spells or keeping up for disruption. I'm thinking of cutting it for Xenograft since it's easier on the colors than Conspiracy. Smoke Shroud has been mediocre but is really cool. I think it might get cut for Turbulent Dreams since it's a little more bomb-y.

I still play the 2cmc owls because I can't bring myself to cut them. Dimir Infiltrator is probably about to become another flying man variant, probably Artificer's Assistant. I haven't used the transmute in a long time and 2cmc isn't where I want to be with my enablers, hence the lack of Invisible Stalker.

Meekstone! Because why not.

[benjameenbear]

Since this is a dedicated tempo deck, do tax counterspells a la Mana Leak have a place here? It will act as a hard counter most of the time when you need it to be since this deck's curve is so low to the ground. I know that Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm are cheap spells (all-stars in cEDH environs) that counter the relevant Wrath effects Yuriko might be worried about.

[Sinis]

Since this is a dedicated tempo deck, do tax counterspells a la Mana Leak have a place here?

I think once we accept that we're running 2-mana counterspells (as opposed to narrow ones like Invasive Surgery or free ones like Force of Will), we might as well run hard-ish counters like Negate/Countersquall. I'd also consider Remand and/or Arcane Denial, since they may not be able to leverage the same spell (i.e. they died).

It's an interesting discussion what we could run. Delay, Dimir Charm, and Disdainful Stroke are also possibilities.

[plushpenguin]

I think once you start getting into 2cmc counterspells, you end up having enough good ones that the tempo ones don't seem necessary.

The real question is how many 1cmc counterspells are worth running.

[Sinis]

The real question is how many 1cmc counterspells are worth running.

I think it's a case by case thing, given that there's only a handful and they're mostly awful. I think Invasive Surgery to counter wipes is worth giving a shot. If we have delirium, we even get to look at their hand.

Beyond that, what are the viable ones? Swan Song gives them a blocker (but that doesn't mean we can't punch other people). Spell Pierce is really unreliable. I don't think we have enough 'big' creatures for Stubborn Denial. How do we feel about Turn Aside/Intervene/Mizzium Skin (given you just cut Misdirection)? Does Dispel counter anything Turn Aside wouldn't?

Honestly, I would run Invasive Surgery (but perhaps not Envelop; we can reasonably use one, but likely not both). Swan Song I'm leaning to including but the rest are varying degrees of not reliable/good enough, IMO. Far more effective are the pitch spells (since mana is typically our limiting reagent and they have higher mana costs for the purposes of Yuriko's flips), but those are already in.

I think we could probably test Spell Pierce. I doubt people will play around it, and it's a question of if we close out games before they can cast an answer with +2 mana. I think we're underrating Swan Song, and it deserves a slot. It really depends on meta; when I played a couple of nights ago, the answers that were leveraged were Oath of Liliana, and two Fleshbag Marauder analogues. Against the marauders, none of these would have worked. Oath could have been pushed back by Spell Pierce (he played it on 4 lands, so, it was only to be good until the midgame), and there would have been no opportunity to use Invasive Surgery. Honestly, I powered through by recasting Yuriko from the command zone (instead of using Ninjutsu).

edit: TLDR: To test: Spell Pierce, Invasive Surgery - To include: Swan Song (but let's be very careful how we play it).

[Sinis]

Interesting. I was initially skeptical because I felt like the card would just be a miserable topdeck when you're behind and low on cards, but getting Yuriko (and a friend!) through just once can be very important and powerful even if it means pitching a moderately useful card or two.

I glossed over this.

I play 38ish lands, so, a pretty high count. As a result, I flip quite a few zeroes, but, I always hit my land drops, my Mox Diamond is more playable, etc. I want to include Frantic Search and possibly other looting cards. I don't find the potential glut bad; I find that games are more decided by the fact we draw a bunch of cards. I also find that I'm frequently discarding cards due to the hand size limit, and that while my draw parity suffers from having a high(er) land count, that it probably doesn't matter.

More than anything, I would hate to be trapped on two or three land, and unable to make plays. Turbulent Dreams is a way to trade poor draw parity in for a massive tempo swing. If you discard 3 lands, and then can draw however many back and do some damage, all the better.

[plushpenguin]

Honestly, I want to probably go up a land again.

Spellseeker is nice but I'm wondering if it's just an unnecessary luxury here. It very possibly could be.

Also on other types of cards. I used to stick to 2cmc evasion creatures with added value back before MH1. Post-MH1, we can rely enough upon having higher quality creatures and ninjas overall that we draw more cards and therefore don't need the library manipulation of the owls quite as much.

The last type of card I would like to discuss are cards that let you sac creatures for a benefit. I think these days that the tempo of the deck is far too important and getting Yuriko (or something else) through is easier and easier and so there aren't huge advantages to saccing the commander anymore. Even Diabolic Intent, the best of these effects, looks worse than it used to be.

[Rumpy5897]

Would it be worth it to jam Sun Quan, Lord of Wu as an umbrella unblockable forever sort of thing? You get a pretty good proxy of that via your Stupid Enchantments, but you also have a nontrivial amount of actual ninjas that only benefit from a few of those. I realise he's quite high CMC and probably not the best of ideas.

[Kelzam]

Would it be worth it to jam Sun Quan, Lord of Wu as an umbrella unblockable forever sort of thing? You get a pretty good proxy of that via your Stupid Enchantments, but you also have a nontrivial amount of actual ninjas that only benefit from a few of those. I realise he's quite high CMC and probably not the best of ideas.

Speaking from experience with my own build, I think you called it right that Sun Quan would be too much mana for what he does, but Plush could very well disagree with me. I'm picturing myself drawing into it but not wanting to play it as opposed to removal or extra turn spells, etc. By that point in the game I'm hoping most of the table is pretty close to dead and looking to finish them off or protect my board.

[plushpenguin]

Would it be worth it to jam Sun Quan, Lord of Wu as an umbrella unblockable forever sort of thing? You get a pretty good proxy of that via your Stupid Enchantments, but you also have a nontrivial amount of actual ninjas that only benefit from a few of those. I realise he's quite high CMC and probably not the best of ideas.

Speaking from experience with my own build, I think you called it right that Sun Quan would be too much mana for what he does, but Plush could very well disagree with me. I'm picturing myself drawing into it but not wanting to play it as opposed to removal or extra turn spells, etc. By that point in the game I'm hoping most of the table is pretty close to dead and looking to finish them off or protect my board.

Nah, you're both on point with what I believe on the matter.

At that point you're better off playing levitation, and I'm not sold on that card either

[Sinis]

On the Sun Quan conversation: I think there are easier ways of securing unblockability. Except with the worst Yuriko flips, we probably won't need more than two or three attack steps to win. To that end, I think Sleep works just fine at a bargain mana cost.

I'd also be open to experimenting with Wash Out or other mass asymmetric bounce. Maybe even something like Undo, or Profaner of the Dead.

[Hawk]

What are your thoughts on Trinket Mage? I've run it in my lists and am toying with cutting it, but struggling to do so. I can't decide if it's THE reason my deck is currently like 0-5 .

- Clearly our most explosive draws include some combination of Ornithopter, Sol Ring, and/or Sensei's Divining Top. I don't run the moxes (yet) but those are also clearly pure gas for a mana-starved aggro-tempo deck like Yuriko. Mage is functionally an additional copy of each attached to a 2/2 body that loves being ninjutsued/Curfewed/Crystal Sharded back to your hand as often as possible.

- It also has a fail rate of being a Borderland Ranger if we make sure to include Seat of the Synod and Vault of Whispers.

- And, there are several additional trinket targets that aren't terrible here including Engineered Explosives (to clear out token swarms), Aether Spellbomb and Executioner's Capsule (tutorable removal/disruption), Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Pithing Needle to stop "unfair" decks, and Runed Stalactite for more ninjas. I don't run Signal Pest, Meekstone, or Universal Automaton but they do exist and are interesting and useful.

I'm torn right now between cutting mage entirely, and just cutting my "cute" Mage targets. What do you think?