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Hey everyone!
It's no secret I've been a big fan of Temur Rhinos. In the last week I ventured into a fourth color thanks to a new brew by D00mwake: Four Color Yorion rhinos. He has been crushing the Magic Online Challenges recently so it has some real fighting power. How could I not take it for a spin?
Here's the list:
Four-Color Yorhinos | Modern | Kyle Boggemes
- Companion (1)
- 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
- Creatures (20)
- 4 Brazen Borrower
- 4 Fury
- 4 Omnath, Locus of Creation
- 4 Shardless Agent
- 4 Solitude
- Planeswalkers (4)
- 4 Teferi, Time Raveler
- Instants (15)
- 3 Dead // Gone
- 4 Fire // Ice
- 4 Force of Negation
- 4 Violent Outburst
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Crashing Footfalls
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Ardent Plea
- Lands (33)
- 1 Forest
- 1 Island
- 1 Mountain
- 1 Plains
- 1 Breeding Pool
- 1 Hallowed Fountain
- 1 Ketria Triome
- 1 Raugrin Triome
- 1 Reflecting Pool
- 1 Sacred Foundry
- 1 Steam Vents
- 1 Stomping Ground
- 1 Sulfur Falls
- 1 Temple Garden
- 3 Wooded Foothills
- 4 Flooded Strand
- 4 Misty Rainforest
- 4 Scalding Tarn
- 4 Windswept Heath
- Sideboard (15)
- 4 Mystical Dispute
- 4 Endurance
- 4 Force of Vigor
- 2 Knight of Autumn
- 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
It took me a bit to get the hang of how to think about Yorion decks. I'm used to thinking about the likelihood of drawing cards in a 60-card deck which makes eighty an unknown territory. When I think about distance, miles and feet come to mind. If someone tells me a distance in meters I need to translate it to something more understandable in my head. It's only natural I want to do the same thing with my decks.
80/60=1.33
60/80=.75
It's just an exchange rate.
The Spells
Let's talk about the card choices in the context of a sixty card deck.
Twelve cascade cards: 4 Violent Outburst, 4 Shardless Agent, and 4 Ardent Plea
12 x 75% = 9
One of the bigger draws to Yorhinos is the extra cascade card compared to the sixty card deck. Ardent Plea pushes into a fourth color so there is a cost. Exalted is different from the instant-speed with Violent Outburst and the 2/2 creature with Shardless Agent, but still a powerful effect. A 4/4 trample with exalted makes the deck a little more powerful against other big creatures.
You can board out a couple Ardent Plea when hateful artifacts come in after sideboard.
4 x 75% = 3
Another positive to the eighty card deck is a full Crashing Footfalls less than the sixty card counterpart. I'm basically cutting the fourth Crashing Footfalls for an additional card with cascade. At the same time, I get to cast just as many rhinos over the course of a game.
4 x 75% = 3
There's one fewer Brazen Borrowers, but there are other ways to bounce Chalice of the Void. Borrower is still the best way to interact with hate cards.
4 x 75% = 3
When you add Teferi and Brazen Borrower together there are six ways to interact with Chalice of the Void in the maindeck. This is as much as the traditional Temur Rhinos deck with the four Borrower and two Cryptic Command/Prismari Command.
Teferi plays very well with Yorion as it can be bounced each turn and blinked back to four loyalty. I can also bounce Shardless Agent and Ardent Plea to get another pair of rhinos.
4 Solitude
4 x 75% = 3
Solitude is able to shore up a hole in the Temur Rhinos deck that's weak to big creatures like Death's Shadow and Tarmogoyf. Anything larger than a 4/4 can be a pain to fight.
Yorion not only synergizes with Solitude for the blink, but the companion can also be added to your hand and exiled for a two-mana discount.
4 Fury
4 x 75% = 3
Between Solitude and Fury there are six cards in a 60-card deck that can be pitched to interact with creatures. This means more reasons to have five lands in play instead of three which makes the horizon lands less valuable in Four-Color Rhinos.
Fury and Solitude can be awkward in similar matchups and there aren't enough cards to always take out all eight. Don't be afraid to board in Mystical Dispute if it's not a Blue deck so you have more relevant interaction.
4 x 75% = 3
Most of the effects I was able to add a similar card to demonstrate there are actually more of an effect compared to the 60-card deck. When it comes to Force of Negation there is not a second card to replicate the effect. There are only three ways to counter a spell without spending mana and that's the major downside of playing Yorion.
Like Temur Rhinos, I have plenty of chances to board out Force of Negation in matchups where Fury and Solitude shine.
4 x 75% = 3
A card with four different mana colors can be pitched for Solitude, Fury, and Force of Negation in the main, Endurance and Force of Vigor in the sideboard. Omnath also can be blinked with Yorion and the extra four-mana generated with a fetchland ensures the companion can be added to the hand and cast easier.
Omnath is a great midrange threat that is an upgrade compared to Seasoned Pyromancer. If the game goes late, you can bounce Yorion each turn with Teferi and generate two extra cards plus tons of extra mana from the fetch lands to create a scary card advantage engine. Eventually Fury and Solitude enter the mix and things get out of hand.
Omnath and Solitude help improve the matchup against Burn since White cards ensure you can actually gain life.
I don't board out Omnath as there are a ton of pitch cards regardless of the matchup. The games will naturally drag out longer after board as well.
4 x 75% = 3
There are fewer ways, between Brazen Borrower and Fire // Ice, to interact before the third turn. Ice remains the best early play ahead of making a couple rhinos.
3 x 75% = 2.25
The final three spells aren't a lock. The remaining forty-four cards are set in stone and Dead // Gone is just bumping up the interaction before the third turn. Gone is less important as Teferi and Solitude can handle larger threats.
The Mana Base
33 x 75% = 24.75 lands
The traditional Temur Rhinos deck plays twenty-four lands so we're close to an extra land with thirty-three in eighty cards. Not only are there more elementals to hard cast with the slightly bigger mana base, Omnath and Yorion are more mana-intensive as well.
4 Flood Strand, 4 Windswept Heath, 4 Misty Rainforest, 4 Scalding Tarn, and 3 Wooded Foothills
19 x 75% = 14.25 fetch lands
I've never played a deck with more fetch lands in my life. They play very well in the deck, but it can feel like there's a Roiling Vortex on the battlefield as I take one damage each turn from the mana base.
There are five out of six of the possible fetch land combinations excluding Arid Mesa.
1 Raugrin Triome and 1 Ketria Triome
2 x 75% = 1.5
These two Triomes enable the large amount of fetch lands to create four colors easily. The two Triomes have Blue and Red so this is the easiest color combination to assemble. You don't need double Green in the first game and the second White is needed on turn five to hard cast Solitude. A White fetch for Plains can be saved for the fifth turn as it helps hard cast Solitude with lands or Omnath's landfall.
1 Forest, 1 Island, 1 Plains, and 1 Mountain
4 x 75% = 3
Blood Moon is strong against this deck, but you can prioritize a couple of the Bant basics ahead of time. The best part of the basic lands is they don't deal you damage. The first turn can fetch a Triome followed by the basic to complete the fourth color.
1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Temple Garden, 1 Stomping Ground, 1 Steam Vents, 1 Hallowed Fountain, and 1 Breeding Pool
6 x 75% = 4.5
There is one of each shock land in the Omnath color combination. Each fetch land can find five out of six shock lands.
1 Reflecting Pool and 1 Sulfur Falls
These are the two remaining flex lands. They are two dual lands that don't deal damage. D00mwake has a Grove of the Burnwillows over the nineteenth fetch land. Both are solid options.
The Sideboard
Temur Rhinos has a great sideboard with high impact cards that come in against a wide variety of decks. Eighty cards dilutes those great sideboard cards. We're trading a powerful sideboard for a better game against fair decks, Burn, and Mill.
4 x 75% = 3
Most combo and big mana decks involve cutting creature removal for Mystical Disputes, but they truly shine against Azorius Control and Izzet Murktide. The additional grindy elements in Yorhinos make up for the last copy of Mystical Dispute.
4 x 75% = 3
This is the best card against Hammertime and Amulet Titan. The extra color enables different ways to interact with Urza's Saga and friends, but it involves spending mana. Drawing fewer copies of Force of Vigor hurts the overall consistency of the deck in artifact and enchantment matchups
4 x 75% = 3
The game against Mill is better. This is a big upside because their post board game plan is to attack your graveyard to make Endurance less potent. Twenty extra cards helps a lot.
Endurance is the generic card to add when Solitude, Fury, and Dead // Gone aren't strong in the matchup. I liked three Endurance in Temur Rhinos which makes four copies in eighty cards reasonable as there should be ways to interact with the graveyard.
2 x 75% = 1.5
I like Knight of Autumn more than Prismari Command as the flex spell to interact with hateful artifacts. It doubles as life gain for additional ways to interact with Burn. A permanent also has value as it can be bounced with Teferi. A Green and White card can be pitched to Solitude and Force of Vigor, too. This is better than being pitched to Force of Negation and Fury post board as the two cards are rarely good in the same matchup.
Not only are you less likely to draw your sideboard cards, but you play 9% fewer spells that can be added to your deck.
Conclusion
Yorhinos shines against fair decks looking to win with individually powerful cards, Burn, and Mill. The biggest loss to the deck is the lower odds of drawing Force of Vigor and more importantly Force of Negation.
A further area of exploration is making this a 60-card deck where you have more flexibility with the probabilities of drawing each effect. This means sacrificing Yorion, but you retain the better Burn matchup. The fair matchups and Mill would be weaker, but it would be better against linear strategies.
Magic Online means you don't have to shuffle eighty cards which is a huge draw. I can shuffle eighty cards that aren't double-sleeved, but it's a lot more awkward and it required taking apart most of my Modern decks to build in paper. Despite the negatives, the deck is fun and I would advise trying it out.
Also, for the Temur Rhinos fans out there, you can play Thurn, the Last Trolls in the sideboard if you're running into large quantities of Azorius Control.
That's all I have for today.
Thanks for reading!
-Kyle
