BFZ: Shu Yun, Edric, Speed Force
So, in case the title and teaser didn't exactly fill you in, the Speed Force is what the Flash (of DC Comics) harnesses to be able to run as fast as he does. The Speed Force was the extra-dimensional energy that once powered all of the Flash's superhuman abilities. It is not like any other fundamental force. Its origin is likely the same as most superhuman abilities found in the DC Universe, a byproduct of the mysterious omni-energy known as The Source and The Godwave.
As fellow Johnnies and/or at the very least, fellow Commander Aficionados, you should be harnessing this force to fuel the two decks I'm about to spit fire about.
A lot of the decks are made to withstand all of the short haul, long haul, multiplayer and 1v1 duel. It is very reasonable to say I do favor 1v1 duels, when constructing decks. I have also posted before about weenie decks / quick decks. My previous article featured Fast Vamps and a quick Zada deck. But these two decks? Edric, Spymaster of Trest & Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest? These are decks that aim to fly out of the gates and hit fast and often, much like the Flash himself. And, while we are the subject of my nerd loyalties, I will clarify I actually haven't seen any of the Live-action current Flash series, but I was a fan of the 90s version-- but more of a fan of the actual comics. DC for LIFE.
also Earth-2/Flashpoint Batman is awesome, but he's not why we are here today.
Let's start with Shu Yun:
Shu Yun is the Jeskai Khan from back in the day before Sarkhan Time Copped up everything. He's epic with the quickness, a real Kung Fu master. If you pop out a Mana Crypt and an Island he's turn one! I have very easily, even in a Jeskai deck, gotten him out on turn two, and consistently on turn three if nothing else. His whole gimmick is to give himself his vaunted Double Strike ability so you kill quicker with a Prowess'd, Double Striking Commander. In the late game, you can apply generously the double strikezors to things like Baneslayer Angel.
We want him to target himself, so we are running light on creatures, heavy on noncreature spells. Thankfully we can supplement this with a few token makin' noncreature spells to up the creature count, and, of course, we are running removal spells to compensate.
So, let's look at the creature choices:
Serra Ascendant - I have personally seen this become a 6/6 flying lifelink double strike on turn three.
Mantis Rider & Lightning Angel & Ruhan of the Fomori - sometimes opponents figure out Shu Yun is trouble pretty quickly, so we need some guys like these to slap on the field and load with equipment or cheap pump.
Aurelia, the Warleader - if she's out, you know you can potentially kill an opponent in one turn with a double strikin' commander.
Thassa, God of the Sea - Scry 1 every turn and make my Super Monk unblockable? Heck yes.
Goblin Electromancer - lotso them sorceries and instants in here, pretty nice little two-drop.
Mother of Runes - why yes, my Commander does want protection from one of your pesky creatures or spells.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence - just an overall sweet shut-down card, which targets hate, and leads to inevitable "Sophie's Choice's"; "Do I hose his Shu Yun, or his Linvala?"
Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer - we want as many ways in the deck as possible to ensure we keep hitting with our double strike-endowed creatures.
Consecrated Sphinx - a staple in most of my Commander decks that include blue. The value it provides can't be beat.
Commander Eesha - while you can't target Eesha with our Commander's ability, it does provide the valuable double duty of being a blocker and an unblockable attacker.
Medomai the Ageless - Whew! This guy friggin' loves double strike! He also loves Aurelia. That's right, in one turn, I have successfully had two combats, with a Medomai with double strike thanks to Shu Yun. I scored four extra turns, which actually means I scored a concession.
Inferno Titan - a big red giant that does continual damage with attacks, and is good late game. Again, it's an inclusion that is always warranted when playing a red Commander deck.
Baneslayer Angel - yessssss my precious!
Talrand, Sky Summoner - so, we are rockin' tons of instants and sorceries, which can score us a lot of drakes alongside Shu Yun's double strike-giving.
Sublime Archangel - She's nice if you, say, use Thassa to make Shu Yun Unblockable, have out a few Spirit tokens and an Eesha, and attack-- ya'know?
Duplicant & Solemn Simulacrum - yup.
Now let's talk Planeswalkers:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - produces tokens, makes things bigger, may make your stuff indestructible. Four mana, planeswalkers trigger Prowess and Shu Yun's ability. I'm not going to repeat the every time. That'd be annoying. I assume you will all know this for the rest of 'em!
Ral Zarek - underrated, his potential for flipping up multiple turns is epic, and so are his other two abilities.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - more removal, more tokens, etc.
Narset Transcendent - everything she does absolutely works perfectly with this deck.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - expensive CMC, but you know I gotta have this in my Commander decks.
Karn Liberated - see previous entry.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - the king of planeswalker utility.
So let's talk cheap spells, and why they are in here:
Lightning Bolt - removal. One CMC.
Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares - removal. One CMC.
Magma Jet - removal. Two CMC. Scry 2.
Titan's Strength - pump spell for One CMC, and Scry 1.
Voyage's End - cheap Two CMC bounce with a Scry 1.
Preordain, Sleight of Hand ,Portent, Brainstorm, Ponder Serum Visions - card draw / deck sifting. One CMC.
Impulse - card draw / deck sifting. Two CMC.
Midnight Haunting - makes two fliers for Three CMC.
Electrolyze - Three CMC removal with a card draw.
Curse of the Swine - removal.
Jace's Sanctum - makes our instants/sorceries cheaper and gives us some more Scry.
Bribery - grab some sweet, another body on the field. Let the bodies hit the floor.
Talrand's Invocation - two drakes, four mana.
Sol Ring, Mana Crypt - indeed.
Angelic Destiny - a four mana delicious smackdown aura.
Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of the Animist - give a kung fu master a sword, for added buttkick.
Lightning Helix - ok, you should be understanding why stuff like this in in here now.
Tithe - cheap mana fixing.
Aqueous Form - cheap unblockability and Scry!
Shadow Rift - cheap card draw and 'can't be blocked'.
Spin into Myth - even with the impending tuck rule, still one of blue's best removal spells.
Cyclonic Rift - should be a blue staple.
Mizzium Mortars - should be a red staple.
Council's Judgment - Best exile removal. (Hint: it can take out hexproofy and shroudy things).
Prophetic Bolt - Will always love this plucky apocalypse card.
Brutal Expulsion - the newest addition to Izzet awesome.
So, we could even alter our strategy to burn to the opponent dome if need be. All of these cards are cheap at the highest being a few Five CMC'ers.So much of this deck's contents help cantrip or Scry, you can easily get to cool stuff you want.
You have a standard land package for a decent commander setup, and 15 nonbasics to snag with things like Solemn or the Animist's sword.
Get out there quick, punch, jab, double strike. Throw down some Talrand and Angelic Destiny mid game, and in the long game double strike up some Inferno Titan and cast Ugin.
Edric wants to get down and get out creatures quick to stab them as well, but he's not as quick as Shu Yun. Don't get me wrong, he's still quick-- that's why he's crotchety old Jay Garrick. With his displeased visage that looks like David Bowie and Tim Curry stepped into a transporter together.
Edric is all about drawing cards. To that end, he has backup in the form of Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa. Tandem Lookout, Curiosity, Sword of Fire and Ice, and a slew of other things also help you really draw all the cards.
Let's talk creatures:
Lorescale Coatl - grows when you draw. Perfect.
Ohran Viper - grabs you cards or grants blockers a swift death.
Chasm Skulker - grows when you draw, then drops tons of squids onto the battlefield.
Cold-Eyed Selkie - creepy selkie helps draw you cards.
Consecrated Sphinx - blue Commander staple.
Horizon Chimera - perfect, perfect, perfect for this deck. Seriously, I'm glad this little chimera found a home.
Kami of the Crescent Moon - I guess, why not draw all the card? I mean f'reals.
Thassa, God of the Sea - more than the scrying, she's here for makin' things 'can't be blocked.'
Sun Quan, Lord of Wu - Universal Horsemanship FTW.
Multani, Maro-Sorcerer - ee be drawin' lotso cards.
Maro - a sweet lil' throwback and four-drop elemental that can be huge and potentially on horseback for the win.
Acidic Slime - utility creature.
Bellowing Tanglewurm - makin' alllll the green creatures intimidating.
Elusive Krasis - unblockable & grows.
Invisible Stalker - unblockable & hexproof.
Lu Xun, Scholar General - Horsemanship & card draw.
Saprazzan Heir - a cool twist if Edric is out. Don't block? I draw. Block? I draw three.
Duplicant - utility creature.
Marang River Prowler - epic in this deck: a self-recurring 'can't be blocked'.
Stormsurge Kraken -
Tandem Lookout - covered this already.
Trygon Predator - amazing three-drop for Simic.
Oracle of Mul Daya - by getting out those extra lands you leave more probability to score useful cards with all your draws.
Progenitor Mimic - I just can't help but include this in Simic decks.
Clever Impersonator - a great way to copy anything useful on the board (nonland).
Sakashima the Impostor - double Edric ability FTW.
Phyrexian Metamorph - can copy an artifact or creature, so it can copy a sword or another Tandem Lookout.
Thunderfoot Baloth - we be pumping.
Siege Behemoth - a way to ensure card draw.
Now, let's talk spells:
Overwhelming Stampede & Overrun - to pump my Simic weenies and to grant trample for more card draw.
Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Body and Mind, Sword of Light and Shadow, Umezawa's Jitte - great equipment to help add protection or whatever to your attackin weenies.
Words of Wilding - we're gonna draw a lot of cards. We can skip some for bears.
Fable of Wolf and Owl - let's invite birds and wolves to the bear party.
Praetor's Counsel - no maximum hand size all game and getting back all the cards you discarded when you over-drew.
Curse of Inertia - again, we are going to be attacking a lot, and this card can help you with picking off blockers, untapping for pseudo-vigilance, or so forth.
Beast Within, Lignify, Desert Twister, Curse of the Swine, Pongify, Spin into Myth, Rapid Hybridization, Brittle Effigy, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Karn Liberated, Song of the Dryads, Reality Shift - utility! ,
Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Simic Signet - mana fixing!
Kiora, the Crashing Wave, Garruk Wildspeaker - great 'walkers for fast decks.
Trailblazer's Boots, Aqueous Form - unblockable!
Hunter's Prowess - pump and card draw!
So, as you can see, there is a lot-- I mean a lot, of card drawing capabilities in this deck, which help you gather what you need to get out there with the quickness of the Speed Force to win duels. As for lands, again, a standard package of Commander staples.
Thanks for joining me again. Did I miss anything you would've included?
Lemme know in the comments below, or maybe shoot me a message in Twitter: @CmdrJohnnyBoosh.
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