Hey everyone!

I've been playing a ton of Standard lately and my favorite card in recent weeks has been Yorion, Sky Nomad. Today I'm going to share my versions of the two most popular ways to build around Yorion- Sultai and 4 Color.

The Standard metagame has been quickly evolving so it's important to stay up to date when piloting a deck that is reactive in nature.

Let's begin with Sultai:

Sultai Yorion | KHM Standard | Kyle Boggemes

• Companion (1)
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad

• Creatures (2)
• 1 Valki, God of Lies
• 1 Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

• Instants (10)
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Jwari Disruption
• 1 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Negate
• 2 Eliminate
• 4 Heartless Act

• Sorceries (18)
• 2 Extinction Event
• 2 Shadows' Verdict
• 3 Alrund's Epiphany
• 3 Sea Gate Restoration
• 4 Cultivate
• 4 Emergent Ultimatum

• Enchantments (15)
• 1 Kiora Bests the Sea God
• 2 Elspeth's Nightmare
• 4 Binding the Old Gods
• 4 Omen of the Sea
• 4 Wolfwillow Haven

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Esika's Chariot

• Lands (33)
• 2 Swamp
• 3 Forest
• 3 Island
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 4 Barkchannel Pathway
• 4 Clearwater Pathway
• 4 Darkbore Pathway
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Temple of Malady
• 4 Zagoth Triome

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Duress
• 2 Elder Gargaroth
• 1 Kaervek, the Spiteful
• 2 Polukranos, Unchained
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
• 1 Extinction Event
• 1 Eliminate
• 1 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Elspeth's Nightmare
• 2 Negate

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The removal suite has the most room for customization.

Cycling has increased in popularity the last couple of weeks which makes Elspeth's Nightmare more powerful than ever. It destroys Irencrag Pyromancer, discards a cycler or Zenith Flare from hand, and exiles the graveyard which makes future Flares less useful.

Eliminate augments Heartless Act as additional 2-mana removal. I can always add Yorion to my hand on turn three so I want to emphasize interacting on the second turn. If I add Yorion to my hand on the third turn I can blink Binding the Old Gods on curve.

The stock Sultai list plays three Shadows' Verdict and one Extinction Event, but I prefer an even split. As I play more spot removal lower on the curve the need to sweep everything is less of a priority. For example, I can eliminate an even-costed creature to sweep remaining odd costs and vice versa. I also want additional ways to exile Toski as that little squirrel can be very pesky.

This split hurts the Cycling matchup because Shadows' Verdict can exile cycling creatures in the graveyard.

I used to play a Hagra Mauling as my double-faced land that entered the battlefield tapped. It was better than I expected and I could see playing it again.

There are also plenty of options for the maindeck counterspell suite. Negate and Disdainful Stroke perform similar functions, but are not always going to counter everything. Disdainful Stroke picked up in popularity a couple weeks ago when Goldspan Dragon was being paired with Alrund's Epiphany and The Great Henge in Temur Tempo. It was also able to counter both Yorion and Emergent Ultimatum in the mirror. Stroke also has a key advantage against Mono-Red as it doesn't discriminate when interacting with the top end of Embercleave and Torbran.

Negate doesn't counter Goldspan Dragon, Torbran, and Yorion, but is able to protect Emergent Ultimatum from resolving. When I only maindecked Disdainful Stroke I felt helpless against a foretold Saw it Coming as it wasn't able to be discarded. In the mirror I wasn't wasting my precious few counterspells on Yorion as there aren't a ton of great targets in the first place which made countering a creature less important.

Mystical Dispute has high diminishing returns, but plays out very well in post board Blue mirrors. I wouldn't feel bad drawing a single copy against a random opponent. We're operating in a world where open decklists are more common which makes a single Dispute hard to play around while two copies means the opponent can play off curve to your detriment.

The same consideration needs to be taken with the single Jwari Disruption. I don't think an opponent will realistically play around Jwari Disruption often if there is only a single copy in your eighty-card deck.

The sideboard is very intricate with this deck. I play two Elder Gargaroth primarily for the Mono-Red matchup. Sultai Ultimatum is currently a popular deck which means I expect more Roiling Vortex. Rather than try and interact with this enchantment directly I want to play a more proactive role in the matchup with beefy Green creatures.

The same can be said about two copies of Polukranos, Unchained. This is another creature that's good in Red matchup, but also fulfills my quota of Escape cards for the Rogues matchup. Don't copy Polukranos if you exile it with Valki as it will immediately become a 0/0 and die. Another interesting interaction is it will double in size Vorinclex in play.

The third Elspeth's Nightmare is for Cycling, Rogues, and Naya. Most Naya decks shore up their Sultai Ultimatum matchup by adding Drannith Magistrate and Reidane, God of the Worthy; Nightmare stops both in their tracks.

Duress is very strong in the Sultai Mirror as it prevents an Ultimatum from resolving, but also discards counters to force through your own. The post board mirror is still about playing haymakers.

Additional Negates help fight through countermagic in Blue mirrors hence not playing any Disdainful Strokes in the sideboard.

Removal spells aren't bad in the post board games of the mirror so I don't like Koma, Cosmos Serpent. If you do play Koma remember Yorion is also a serpent to sacrifice in a pinch and not a Sky Noodle.

Sultai Ultimatum is a very powerful deck as it wins the game after casting a single spell. It performs best when there are other midrange decks in the format and is weak to aggressive strategies. There are many flavors of Yorion for any type of metagame which is why I branched out to Four-Color.

Here's my current list:

Four-Color Yorion | KHM Standard | Kyle Boggemes

• Companion (1)
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad

• Creatures (3)
• 3 Yorion, Sky Nomad

• Instants (11)
• 1 Eliminate
• 1 Mythos of Nethroi
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 3 Negate
• 4 Heartless Act

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Emeria's Call
• 4 Extinction Event

• Enchantments (21)
• 1 Treacherous Blessing
• 4 Binding of the Old Gods
• 4 Doom Foretold
• 4 Elspeth's Nightmare
• 4 Omen of the Sea
• 4 Omen of the Sun

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Glass Casket
• 2 Esika's Chariot
• 3 Mazemind Tome

• Lands (33)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 2 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Barkchannel Pathway
• 2 Branchloft Pathway
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway
• 4 Clearwater Pathway
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Hengegate Pathway
• 4 Indatha Triome
• 4 Zagoth Triome

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Duress
• 2 Shark Typhoon
• 1 Cling to Dust
• 3 Mystical Dispute
• 2 Glass Casket
• 2 Archon of Sun's Grace
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
• 1 Polukranos, Unchained
• 1 Negate

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Dance of the Manse is notably absent as this deck already does a good job of closing the game with Esika's Chariot and Yorion. Elspeth's Nightmare exiling my graveyard can also be annoying as the Black saga picked up in popularity thanks to Cycling.

Sultai Ultimatum is the current midrange deck of choice and the matchup is not decided by giant haymakers. Four-Color Yorion needs to play an aggro-control game plan because Dance will not end the game like Emergent Ultimatum.

Despite playing four colors I'm not opting to play Golden Egg. I see Golden Egg as a combo with exclusively Dance of the Manse as it can effortlessly go to the graveyard. There are enough Triomes and Pathways to ensure access to all four colors. The only color I need two of before turn five is White to cast Archon of Sun's Grace out of the sideboard.

Archon of Sun's Grace has underwhelmed me while Esika's Chariot continues to exceed expectations. The enters the battlefield trigger has more synergy with the core game plan and is easier to cast. Both are good cards against aggressive decks, but one has more utility against Heartless Act.

Omen of the Sun and Esika's Chariot ensure I stem the bleeding against aggressive decks. I will trigger Yorion multiple times per game making the tokens a serious threat. Remember to blink your Yorion without summoning sickness when you cast a second copy to get another trigger. Chariot and Omen of the Sun play well together because the two 1/1s and a remaining cat token can crew if one should die to a removal spell.

The tokens created by Omen and Chariot also play well with my flash game plan against control decks. Don't forget you can copy a shark token!

Mazemind Tome is a much stronger card advantage spell than Treacherous Blessing to blink with Yorion in the early game as I don't feel guilty scrying up to 3 counters only to reset. I hated three copies of Treacherous Blessing because casting it on turn three led to me discarding to hand size; that's not much better than Divination. I'm currently down to one blessing because most matchups are either aggro or Sultai. Raw card advantage isn't important at the moment.

Three Negate and two Disdainful Stroke is my current counter suite. There are plenty of counters to ensure you're able to take Game 1 against Sultai Ultimatum.

A single Glass Casket in the maindeck is a concession to Elspeth Conquers Death being replaced with Binding the Old Gods. I have fewer ways to exile in the Four-Color version leaving me vulnerable to recursive creatures. This should be viewed as the sixth 2-mana removal spell alongside four Heartless Act and Eliminate. The Mythos of Nethroi can be replaced with another two-mana removal spell, but I didn't want too many removal spells that are weak against midrange decks.

I've made some upgrades to the sideboard. Many Four-Color Yorion lists play two Cling to Dust, but I've been very happy with a single Polukranos. It's a much higher impact threat against Rogues that can also come in against Sultai Ultimatum as it can shake off a Heartless Act unlike Archon of Sun's Grace.

The overall sideboard is constructed with the same thing in mind as Esper Doom last Standard season - kill creatures Game 1 and then transform into more of a counterspell deck after board. I play three Mystical Dispute and two Duress to help out against Rogues, the mirror, and Sultai Ultimatum.

I take the counterspell transformational package further by playing the fourth Negate. Again, this deck is good against creatures already so I prefer Negate over Stroke in the board.

Shark Typhoon combined with the Polukranos provide enough threats to close the game as I sit back with countermagic. When I face Sultai, I have never felt as though there are too many counters in my deck. If a single Duress takes your Negate that might lose you the game.

The two Archons are certainly powerful against Red, but there are plenty of 4-drops already. I can see not playing Archon at all because I'm likely trimming Doom Foretold to make room. It might be more high impact to play additional Eliminates in the sideboard.

I prefer Four-Color Yorion when there are low to the ground aggressive decks in the format preying on Sultai Ultimatum. This is currently a good metagame for Four-Color Yorion to do well.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle