Today's deck started out as a precon. I opened up Squirreled Away and thought long and hard about how I might make a Squirrel deck into something interesting that I would enjoy. I considered lifting my copy of Earthcraft out of my Six deck and going all in with every Squirrel combo I could think of. Hazel of the Rootbloom didn't seem like a bad commander, but I just wasn't feeling inspired.

I've dabbled in Squirrels before, but I've never fallen in love with a Squirrel deck. Apologies to Chatterfang, Squirrel General and Toski, Bearer of Secrets, but for some reason I just never kept those brews together for very long. I was also feeling drawn to another Legendary creature from Bloomburrow and decided upon a slightly more morbid use for all those squirrels.

Ygra, Eater of All is a legendary Elemental Cat with a taste for... well... a taste for anything with a pulse. When Ygra is in play, all other creatures become Food artifacts in addition to their other types, and can be sacrificed just like a Food token to gain 3 life. Whenever a Food is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, I'll put two +1/+1 counters on Ygra.

My thoughts of building a Squirrel deck loaded up with sacrifice outlets and combos quickly turned into thoughts of building a cool Ygra deck that might happily gobble up a few Squirrels on its path to victory. Ygra is in the same colors as both Hazel and Chatterfang and both were in the precon deck.

Changing Focus

My first step was to take the Squirreled Away precon and pare away everything I didn't care for. I still thought I might run Squirrels but I didn't want to focus on non-creature tokens so I dropped out Gilded Goose and Moonstone Eulogist, which create Food and Blood tokens respectively. I moved Arasta of the Endless Web over to my Ms. Bumbleflower deck, as it seemed like a better fit there. Haywire Mite, which can exile a noncreature artifact or enchantment, got replaced by Caustic Caterpillar, which can destroy an artifact or enchantment. I made a bunch of little changes, and I tried to lean into what Ygra brings to a game.

Silverback Elder has a trigger that happens whenever I cast a creature spell. There are three possible modes and the first will let me destroy target artifact or enchantment. Artifact removal is going to be great in Ygra, as all other creatures are Food artifacts in addition to their other types. Playing a creature spell to kill a creature, artifact or enchantment sounds pretty good to me. The other modes aren't bad, but removal is usually going to be my best option.

When all of your other creatures are also Food artifacts, Camelia, the Seedmiser goes from being decent to being incredibly dangerous. Whenever I sacrifice one or more Foods, I'll create a 1/1 Green Squirrel creature token. That creature will also be a Food thanks to Ygra. With a sacrifice outlet, I'll be able to do that as many times as I like, and with the right outlet or payoff I should be able to just win the game right there. The precon comes with Academy Manufactor, Bastion of Remembrance, Moldervine Reclamation, Nadier's Nightblade, Poison-Tip Archer and Zulaport Cutthroat, and I've added Mirkwood Bats and Vindictive Vampire.

Viridian Revel is worth a special mention. This three-mana enchantment simply says that whenever an artifact is put into an opponent's graveyard from the battlefield I may draw a card. If someone is playing a graveyard deck that wants to sacrifice creatures and Ygra is on the field, I'll be drawing cards. If I cast creature spells with Silverback Elder in play and decide to destroy an opponent's creature (because Ygra made it an artifact) I'll draw a card. If someone wipes the board with Ygra in play, I'll draw a ton of cards.

How We Win With Ygra

This deck can play in a number of ways. I've always got the option to play out aristocrats pieces and try to win through incremental lifegain and damage / life loss to my opponents. I've shifted some of my ramp and removal over to creatures like Sakura-Tribe Elder, Dawntreader Elk and the aforementioned Caustic Caterpillar to try to make the most of my removal options. Sacrificing Sakura-Tribe Elder will not only get a land, it will also trigger Ygra to put two +1/+1 counters on it.

I wanted to be able to present a combat threat so I kept Beastmaster Ascension and a bunch of the token generators from the precon. I added in two more and a powerful little flyer that cares about creating tokens.

I added in For the Common Good as another way to pump out a bunch of tokens and gain a little life. It's a sorcery so I can't use it to protect against boardwipes, but I think it's still a good card for this deck. I'll need a token in play for it to work, but I'm optimistic that I'll usually be able to make a Squirrel or something to target with it.

Curious Herd is an instant, and in Ygra, Eater of All, it's a banger of an instant. It's only been printed once, in the Ikoria Arcane Maelstrom precon deck, led by Kalamax, the Stormsire, and I've been a fan of Curious Herd for a long time. You'll choose target opponent and create X 3/3 green Beast creature tokens where X is the number of artifacts they control. It's fantastic against decks that spam out tons of treasures, Thopters, clues, food, or any other artifact, and in Ygra you'll pick the opponent with the most combined creatures and artifacts, as Ygra will make all creatures into artifacts. I wouldn't be surprised to see this regularly make you a dozen or more 3/3 Beast tokens.

One of my favorite old token generators, Tombstone Stairwell, is also in today's list. It will trigger on every player's upkeep, and each player will make a number of 2/2 Black Zombie creature tokens equal to the number of creature cards in their graveyard. At the end of any turn or if this enchantment leaves play, all of the tokens created with Tombstone Stairwell get destroyed. All of these tokens will be Food artifacts, and as such they will put +1/+1 counters on Ygra.

Those tokens will also trigger permanents like Academy Manufactor, Zulaport Cutthroat and Mirkwood Bats, and they can be sacrificed before the end step to Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Altar of Dementia or Viscera Seer. In a deck built to leverage creatures dying, Tombstone Stairwell should be able to really put in work if I've got even a decent number of creatures in the graveyard.

The only thing more dangerous than spamming out a ton of tokens is looping a creature that makes tokens.

Between a number of Squirrel token generators and a few other creatures like Sling-Gang Lieutenant, Pawn of Ulamog, and Priest of Gix, this deck is set up to play a sacrifice outlet and use Nim Deathmantle to loop it out of the graveyard. Any loop will put +1/+1 counters on Ygra, Eater of All, even if it doesn't do anything else of value. Usually I'll have something in play that can do a bit more, but it's nice to know that I can make my commander huge.

A huge commander can draw me a lot of cards if I'm able to hit it with something like Rishkar's Expertise or Soul's Majesty. I'll generally be digging for a wincon, and with enough mana I should be able to play one out and then start the loop again.

One of my favorite Golgari wincons is Jarad, Lich Lord. This legendary Zombie Elf has an activated ability that will let me pay three mana and sacrifice another creature to have each opponent lose life equal to the sacrificed creature's power. I can also sacrifice a Swamp and a Forest to return Jarad from my graveyard to my hand. Sacrificing lands is no joke, but if it lets me kill the table, it'll be worth it.

Paths Not Traveled

I always like to talk about things I didn't build into a deck because not every build is right for every playgroup, and my own decks tend to lean towards lower powered play these days.

The fact that Ygra, Eater of All makes all creatures into Food artifacts enables some pretty effective shenanigans.

Destroying all artifacts isn't any more brutal than any other boardwipe except for the fact that Ygra, Eater of All won't be an artifact. He'll get two +1/+1 counters for each creature destroyed this way, and if it's on the battlefield it will probably be big enough to swing lethal damage on someone.

Bane of Progress is particularly good with Ygra, as the former will get a +1/+1 counter for each artifact and enchantment destroyed and the latter will get two +1/+1 counters for each artifact that hits the graveyard. If you've got a haste enabler you'll be able to swing some big damage at two opponents right away.

I did a little searching through my collection for this deck but I couldn't find a Bane of Progress anywhere. I'm generally OK with running fewer boardwipes than most players, and I prefer to try to win games by killing everyone at once so nobody has to sit out to wait for the game to end.

Just because I'm OK with walking away from running artifact boardwipes doesn't mean you shouldn't run them.

I'd argue that if you were aiming for high powered EDH you really should throw them into your Ygra list. You know your playgroup and you know what will work and what will make for more enjoyable games. Trust your instincts, and if you feel like giving them a try, you can always pull them out if they're not giving you the kinds of games you want.

Hungry, Hungry Ygra

One of the reasons I was drawn to Ygra is that I opened a variant art version of the card and loved the way it looked. I think this deck can work really well without any combos or tutors as a lower powered version for lower powered games. There's nothing wrong with playing a lower powered brand of EDH and for many players that is their sweet spot, where games are the most fun and players get the least salty.

The brew I'm sharing with you today is not fully optimized but should play just fine at mid to high powered tables. It's got tutors. It's got some powerful combos and very effective ways to win games. It can also play a "fairer" game, but it isn't designed to primarily be a combat focused deck. If you wanted to push it up in power you would throw in fast mana, a better mana base, more tutors, and you would do well to go pick up a copy of Bane of Progress. I might still do that - it's a great card for this deck. Whiptongue Hydra might also be worth a look, though it only hits flyers so there will be games where it doesn't do much.

Ygra, Eater of All | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Ygra, Eater of All

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Academy Manufactor
• 1 Camellia, the Seedmiser
• 1 Caustic Caterpillar
• 1 Chatterfang, Squirrel General
• 1 Dawntreader Elk
• 1 Deathrite Shaman
• 1 Deep Forest Hermit
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Hazel of the Rootbloom
• 1 Hazel's Brewmaster
• 1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Mirkwood Bats
• 1 Nadier's Nightblade
• 1 Pawn of Ulamog
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Poison-Tip Archer
• 1 Priest of Gix
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Scurry of Squirrels
• 1 Silverback Elder
• 1 Sling-Gang Lieutenant
• 1 The Odd Acorn Gang
• 1 Tireless Provisioner
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Vindictive Vampire
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Spells (20)
• 1 Curious Herd
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Return to Nature
• 1 Second Harvest
• 1 Vampiric Tutor
• 1 Windgrace's Judgment
• 1 Beseech the Mirror
• 1 Broken Bond
• 1 Chatterstorm
• 1 Decree of Pain
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Farseek
• 1 For the Common Good
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Soul's Majesty
• 1 Three Visits

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Desecrated Tomb
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Idol of Oblivion
• 1 Nim Deathmantle
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Resilience

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Beastmaster Ascension
• 1 Moldervine Reclamation
• 1 Viridian Revel

• Lands (37)
• 13 Forest
• 13 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deathcap Glade
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Mudflat Village
• 1 Necroblossom Snarl
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Woodland Cemetery

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I was able to play this list in one game on Tabletop Simulator and it played pretty well. I was able to get a nice reaction from the table by playing Curious Herd and making around a dozen 3/3 Beasts because someone had a decent little board of token creatures, which were also Food artifacts. That play was only possible because I used a tutor to try to find Rogue's Passage, but I was shocked to find out that I hadn't (yet) put it into the list. Ygra was at 20 power and it seemed like a good way to kill someone who had just pushed out a ton of damage at the whole table. I pivoted from looking for a land that wasn't in my deck to getting Curious Herd, but if I wasn't on my first game with the deck I might have found a better answer.

I didn't win that game, but it felt great to make that cute play with Curious Herd. In the end I was able to knock out a few players and might have been able to win if I had figured out the combat math better. In the end the player who had gotten half their library exiled and was still very new to the game got the win, and that made me happy. Ygra did cool stuff and I'm looking forward to playing the deck in paper.

Final Thoughts

Most Commander players have cards and combos they love and I'm no exception. Ygra, Eater of All looks like it's going to be a fun deck, but it now shares a footprint with another deck in my collection: Mahadi, Emporium Master. My Mahadi list runs Nim Deathmantle combo and has a copy of Tombstone Stairwell, so I'm now considering scrapping that deck and using its bones to build another Rakdos commander.

The only thing keeping me from diving into that project is that I've been out of the game for three weeks, which for me something like nine play sessions and means I've missed out on probably over twenty games I could have played. COVID sucks. I'm better though, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the mix. I've got a half dozen shiny new Bloomburrow decks that I'm looking forward to playing and I just need to figure out which groups to play which decks at from a power level perspective. I don't really want to pubstomp, but new decks can be hard to properly rate until you've seen them in action.

If you're still with me, I hope I've given you some cool ideas for your own Ygra, Eater of All brew. I think Ygra is going to be a really fun deck and I suspect it will win its fair share of games.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!