Hey Commander players! Here’s another new deck from Commander Legends! This time it’s Rakdos star of the stage, Juri, Master of the Revue. When I saw Juri, I knew I had to build a deck like this. It’s a sort-of hot potato deck, where my opponents have to contend with a rapidly growing Juri that might kill one of them if it dies. The twist? The only way I have to kill my own Juri is Last One Standing. Give this revue a review!
I Do All My Own Stunts
Essentially, this is a Voltron deck. Voltron decks are those that load up creatures with equipment and auras and send them in for big damage. A typical sub-strategy is to focus on using the Commander as the creature, so you can kill with 21 Commander damage as opposed to whatever life points your opponents actually have. If you want to do that in the most efficient way, you can load up on Swords of Something and Something, Hammer of Nazahn, and even Trailblazer’s Boots to make sure you get into the red zone unscathed. Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots protect the queen, etc. Those decks bore me, honestly, and a lot of the pieces are powerful and in tons of lists. They get quick kills that all play out the same, or else the opponents get wise and team up to freeze you out. I’m not interested in those games.
I could also build this deck with tons of creature sacrifice outlets, so I could go for those quick kills. Nah. None of those. I want to load Juri up with big buffs from cards like Bonehoard and Blackblade Reforged, and then add something like Trove of Temptation or Blazing Sunsteel to make my big Juri into somebody’s big dilemma. I can double things up with Dying Wish, Strionic Resonator, and even Dictate of the Twin Gods. I’ve got Feast on the Fallen, Ring of Xathrid and Ring of Valkas for slow burn, too. Juri will get there for sure. There are so many hazards for a creature in Commander, I won’t have to kill Juri, I just have to send it into danger, again and again. All the stunts.
Helping out are a whole pile of cards that either self-sacrifice, or create things that do. The best outlet for easy self-sacrifice is treasure tokens. Cards like Brass’s Bounty and Dockside Extortionist provide a pile of triggers for Juri. Cards like Curse of Opulence and Captain Lannery Storm are slower, but do the same. In addition, all of my mana rocks and a huge chunk of my lands self sacrifice as well. Mind Stone and Commander’s Sphere are easy includes, and so are Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse. Beyond that, it was just a small bit of digging to fill out the list. It’s nice to justify no Sol Ring or Command Tower.
Juri is going to be a huge target, naturally, and I’m worried mostly about exile and stuff like Darksteel Mutation. My main hedge against exile is letting it happen, then recasting. Juri’s low CMC is huge, and I’ve coupled it with all sorts of ways to bring Juri back cheaply if it does actually die. From Supernatural Stamina to Minion’s Return to Nim Deathmantle. I don’t want to pay a lot of tax, but I expect to pay a bit for Path to Exile. Such is Commander.
Against troublesome shutdown auras, including Imprisoned in the Moon or Song of the Dryads, red and black can struggle. A lack of enchantment removal is the bane of the colours, and all the typical remedies are cards that kill any permanent, like Chaos Warp, which I’m playing, because it doesn’t actually kill anything. New hawtness Feed the Swarm wouldn’t work for me, and there aren’t many other options. We’ll see. Hopefully I’m not running into that wall over and over.
To keep the heat off me, unless I’m turning it up with Trove of Temptation, I have a bunch of rattlesnake effects, which are almost like backup Juris. Stuff like Brash Taunter and Stuffy Doll that I can slap equipment on, too. I really like Farsight Mask as a combo of card-draw and attack deterrent. An assortment of things like Maze of Ith, Smoke and Uphill Battle help out.
I wish Revel in Riches didn’t win the game and just made treasure. Theater of Horrors has overperformed every time I’ve had it in play, and I’m looking forward to that again. Impulsive Pilferer looks like an easy way to get a whopping 7 sacrifice triggers. 8 if I can sac the original to Goblin Chirurgeon. I’m curious if Helm of the Host ever lives long enough to make a second Juri. I’m definitely going to kill someone with Marionette Master.
If you want to see exactly what cards I’m using in paper, or see my ‘maybeboard’ considerations, check out the list on Archidekt. I’ll know after a few playthroughs what the deck needs, or if it’s for the long term. More removal and card draw are often top of the list. That’s a wrap on this show, and I thank you for reading! Watch out for more Commander Legends decks this week! Your life matters. Black Lives Matter!
