Y'stohla by cdimsdale

Format: Commander

Commander: Y'shtola, Night's Blessed

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This deck pilots a life-drain control strategy in Esper under Y'shtola, Night's Blessed. The commander's first ability draws a card each end step whenever a player lost 4+ life that turn, turning every incremental ping and drain trigger into card advantage. Her second ability deals 2 damage to each opponent and gains 2 life when casting noncreature spells of mana value 3 or greater, rewarding the deck's many enchantment-based punishers and board wipes. The rest of the 99 is built around a dense suite of small life-loss creatures (Sanguine Syphoner, Blood Seeker, Agate-Blade Assassin), life-gain payoffs (Ajani's Pridemate, Voice of the Blessed, Bloodthirsty Conqueror), and symmetrical drain effects (Subversion, Curse of Wizardry, The Rack/Black Vise). The plan is to grind opponents down through repeatable life loss while protecting Y'shtola with a light protection suite and clearing boards with wipes like Day of Judgment and The Meathook Massacre. Victory comes from attrition, a massive Chalice of Life transformation, or the incremental beatdown of Phyrexian Obliterator and Valgavoth, Terror Eater.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Abstergo Entertainment
  • 1 Agate-Blade Assassin
  • 1 Ajani Goldmane
  • 1 Ajani's Pridemate
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Battle-Rage Blessing
  • 1 Battlefly Swarm
  • 1 Black Cat, Cunning Thief
  • 1 Black Vise
  • 1 Bleed Dry
  • 1 Blood Seeker
  • 1 Bloodthirsty Conqueror
  • 1 Bruna, the Fading Light
  • 1 Chalice of Life // Chalice of Death
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Crystal Barricade
  • 1 Curse of Wizardry
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Day of Judgment
  • 1 Decree of Pain
  • 1 Depopulate
  • 1 Diregraf Scavenger
  • 1 Doom Blade
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Enduring Tenacity
  • 1 Espers to Magicite
  • 1 Extinguish the Light
  • 1 Fell the Mighty
  • 1 Final Act
  • 1 Gisela, the Broken Blade
  • 1 Gloom Sower
  • 1 Guardian Sunmare
  • 1 Hinterland Sanctifier
  • 1 Idyllic Tutor
  • 1 Inkshield
  • 1 King T'Challa // Black Panther, Hope Enduring
  • 1 Odric, Lunarch Marshal
  • 1 Offer Immortality
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Pharika's Cure
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Phyrexian Obliterator
  • 10 Plains
  • 1 Reaper's Talisman
  • 1 Rhox Faithmender
  • 1 Sanguine Syphoner
  • 1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel
  • 1 Serra's Guardian
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Slice from the Shadows
  • 1 Soul's Attendant
  • 1 Stab Wound
  • 1 Stitch Together
  • 1 Subversion
  • 1 Summon: Primal Odin
  • 1 Suture Priest
  • 12 Swamp
  • 1 Tainted Field
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 The Darkness Crystal
  • 1 The Long Reach of Night // Animus of Night's Reach
  • 1 The Masamune
  • 1 The Meathook Massacre
  • 1 The Rack
  • 1 Tithing Blade // Consuming Sepulcher
  • 1 Valgavoth's Lair
  • 1 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
  • 1 Vampire Nighthawk
  • 1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
  • 1 Vesuva
  • 1 Victory's Herald
  • 1 Vincent Valentine // Galian Beast
  • 1 Vindicate
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed
  • 1 Wasp, Shrinking Savior
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Winter's Intervention
  • 1 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed