Eighty Is the New Sixty

Ikoria, Episode 3: Yorion, Sky Nomad

 

It's Friday night at the game shop, and you are starting to get nervous. Your opponent just sat down across from you, and they're the best player in the store. You've seen that swagger, that easy confidence, that friendly-but-never-cocky vibe. They flash a smile and greet you warmly. Despite yourself, you smile back. There's no mistaking that aura. They reach into their backpack and you already know what's coming: a well endowed deck box, the envy of any Commander player, holding a thick stack that must be at least 90 cards high. They shuffle it smoothly and offer you a cut. No need, you reply. You know they would never cheat you. "High roll to see who starts?"

 

Ikoria has crash landed into Magic's competitive formats, and left players everywhere scrambling to sift through the wreckage of the Companion Apocalypse. In every deck, in every format, it's Lurrus all the way down for every archetype that can support it. And for everyone else, there's Yorion, with giant decks suddenly en vogue everywhere you look. "Life begins at forty"? More like "Eighty is the new sixty"!

 

This week we tackle Yorion, the friendly bird that asks just one simple question: does your brew have that Big Deck Energy, that no-effs-given swagger to scale up effortlessly to 80 cards? We explore possibilities for maximizing Yorion's trigger, and break down the nuts and bolts of crafting the perfect 95. After that, we open up the Brewer's Mailbag and field questions from listeners on the deckbuilder's craft, our picks from Ikoria, and much more.

 

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

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Brew Session: Yorion, Sky Nomad

 

Modern

 

Sketch 1: 4c Kiki-Chord

 

Sketch 2: Bant Blink

 

Pioneer

 

Sketch 3: Yorion's Monument

 

Sketch 4: Esper Doom Foretold

 

Sketch 5: Niv-Yorion Fires