Yuriko can be fun with the right pod or playgroup. Definitely not fun if it's pub stomping. But if everyone is playing fun, gross, high power stuff, then it's fun.
Ghalta is especially fun because she gets discounted for what you already want to do. Also you can attack with her with her on turn 3 for 12 commander damage (or 13 with the thunder junction boots) if you build your deck right and get lucky.
Amazed that the four God-eternals were completely overlooked for this. The fact that they dodge exile removal is craaazy at the cost of just needing to draw into them again. Oketra shits out zombies, Kefnet is an amazing draw effect for doubling your high value spells, bontu is a beefy aristocrats effect, and Rhonas is a Craterhoof in the command zone that gives vigilance which is very very rare in mono green.
I have a Bontu aristocrats deck and i can confirm that he's ridiculous xD you play him, draw a ton of cards, then sacrifice him with things like Village Rites and you can cast him again on the following turn to draw more cards again and again
My favourite is Edgar Markov, Charmed Groom. Since he revives himself as an enchantment that gives you a 1/1 Vampire token with lifelink for 3 upkeeps and then turns itself back into a creature again, meaning as long as it doesn’t get exiled it will always come back and you don’t have to pay anything.
I got my favorite one: Rona, Sheoldred’s faithful. You can have her in your graveyard and discard 2 cards to cast them. Fill up your deck with a lot of draw spells and burn out the table while being able to get them back if they die.
I love using Ygra, Eater of All for my Golgari foods deck. She has Ward: sacrifice a food. For those who don’t know, Ygra turns all other creatures on the field into food artifacts when she enters the field. Which means unless your opponents have food tokens, they have to sacrifice a creature in order to use any spot removal spells against her. And because she gets stronger by +2/+2 after anything on the battlefield dies, and she’s a 6/6 by default, it’s difficult to drop her toughness or do enough damage to kill her.
At least commanders with affinity or other cost reductions require you to do something to cast them cheaper. Derevi and Yuriko always entering for 4 and 2 mana respectively sucks.
I made a Short about these cards a while ago calling them “design mistakes” and I fully stand by it. Liesa still has some form of taxation in the form of life, but it’s practically free in a life gain deck. Derevi and Yuriko both circumvent the rules of the format in ways that make their decks too consistent and boring to enjoy. Not to mention that they feel awful to play against when spot removal and board wipes hardly set them back.
I think the biggest problem with them is that, for the most part, it’s always on a creature with a good ability alongside it. If Daretti weren’t Stax usually it might be fine, but everything else just has stuff that doesn’t make up for it
Another one is Marchesa the black rose, as long as it has a 1/1 counter on it when it dies and it’s still in the graveyard during the end step it will come back
I'm experiencing firsthand that Gollum, Patient Plotter as a commander is so much better at dodging Commander Tax than I'd ever hoped. Absolute 10/10 experience.
I love Lucius the Eternal as a commander, dodging the commander tax just by haivng to remove an enemy creature means you can do a lot of fun things with that, plus hes big and has haste so you can do stuff like sacc him, kill his target, and then bring him back for a psudo vigilance. Or if you have a sacc outlet you can response to board wipes or being exiled by targeted effects by saccing him in response. Attrition and Goblin Bombardment are very good with him.
My personal pick is Eris, Roar of the Storm. She costs a whopping 8RU but she reduces her cost by 2 for each different costed instant or sorcery in your graveyard, meaning you can easily get this down to just RU and keep it there while filling your yard for a big past in flames/mizzix's mastery turn
I like the Ojer series as well since you also get a land while building back up to getting it online. In the case of Ojer Axonil, it's really easy to hit that 4 noncombat damage
Millicent restless revenant is a great one because she’s reduced by the amount of spirits you control, so you can get her out early and keep her out by making more spirits with her ability
This is just my opinion “Norin the Wary” not for the commander tax but because it will be a pain The but to even put him in the command zone in the first place
Finally! Yes, I count norin because, many games I pay for him once, and for the rest of the game, he just does his thing dodging removal and stealing creatures
I play Balog, Durin’s Blade as a “cheat” commander where I just generate treasure tokens or make people sacrifice stuff to make it cost less for each one. So long as I have at least one red and one black to spend I can continually recast my commander to fling or cheat it out after baiting out removal (which has removal on himself as well when he dies). Lots of value and super easy to cheat out!
Also, commanders that have reduced costs. My first precon ever was the spirit tribal deck helmed by Millicent, Restless Revenant, which is a generic cheaper for each spirit you control.
Urza, Chief Artificer with his ability to have 1 be covered for each artifact creature. If you're ever paying more than an Esper for him, you're playing him wrong.
My favorite are all of the God Eternals from war of the spark. They go third from the top and can dodge exile or target removal. Super grateful for dodging commander tax. You just have to worry about mill or shuffling. The blue one is especially good because blue has access to more easily accessiblecard draw
The name i give it may be sacrilegious, but I have a deck with Darigaaz Reincarnated that I refer to as Dragon Jesus. He also avoids commander tax similar to the scarab/locust/scorpion god in that dying sends him elsewhere. but instead of the hand hes exiled for three turns before he returns to the battlefield
My personal favorite is Imskir, Iron Eater, but affinity kind of just seems like a brute force solution. Still need to track the tax, but I've cast as an many as 5 times in a game for *just* RB.
Optimus has both ways to dodge commander tax. You can cast him in vehicle mode with the more than meets the eye cost that doesn't het hit by tax. In Robot mode, if hes killed,he returns as his vehicle mode for free
My favorite is Licia, Sanguine Tribune. She costs x less for each life you gained before casting her, so by the time you worry about commander tax, you're gaining enough life that you just pay mardu for her
Scarab god is goofy because the only experience I have with it was when one guy at a table of 6 said it would easily win him the game. So obviously we killed it on sight every time he cast it. He just kept spending all his mana on it
This is one of the big advantages in my Ojer Taq deck. More than likely I have way more than 3 creatures available and if I do not only to I avoid the tax but he’s cheaper to return than when I cast him the first time
Oubliette, kenriths transformation, darksteel mutation, song of the dryads. Any spells that have similar effects lock yuriko right the hell out. Yuriko decks fall apart with out her. And if you dont have any like that, kill her evasives. It feels like a waste using removal on a 1/1 flyer with no other abilities. But you remove her ability to ninjutsu if she has nothing to swing with. Yuriko is a glass cannon, if you can hold her off long enough by doing any of these things she folds really fast.
Derevi >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yuriko It's so much fun, lots of possibilities and different ways to build and strategies to play, from birds tribal to hardcore tax, cantrips, pod, and so many others, and an amazing combination of colors to add any answer or option to adapt, bant it's so much fun than dimir
Surprised Eris, Roar of the Storm wasn't mentioned here. Very fun to only pay izzet by dumping all my flashback spells into grave, and summon an army of elemental dragons.
Negative. Mutate is still casting the creature spell(read the flavor text of any Mutate card, Vadrok, Porcuparrot, et cetera) and casting from the Command Zone always adds the Tax.
Hexproof equips, nobody likes the decks i make because the commander is always "use this for wincon" (like dragon engine for a door to nothingness based deck) i can NEVER get him out for long enough to use his ability because murder is a card that exists.
Roxanne star savant has my favorite work around she enters with a meteorite mana rock and if she attacks for example with haste in the same round she creates another having paid Future commander tax I already have paid 15 mana for her no problem
I think honestly those were good ideas, but why not be a smart magic player? It’s kind of like let’s say I wanna play my cats so I don’t play them and use all my Mana. What I do is I wait a turn because I have things that protect them with one mana or with two.
Build derevi as voltron not stax and you’re set. Dump equipments for free and shit with sigards aid. Forge Anew. Pure steel paladin. Load up derevi with any number of your favorite equipments. Give it holy avenger for flavor. Then watch the table cry as you slap everyone 1 by 1 with pro every color unblockable lifelink trample vigilance double strike and all the effects triggered when your swords hit face.
First time hearing Yuriko and the word fun in the same sentence lol
Derevi is also far more interesting, Yuriko is a commander for dullards.
Yeah I've NEVER found Yuriko fun
Yuriko can be fun with the right pod or playgroup. Definitely not fun if it's pub stomping. But if everyone is playing fun, gross, high power stuff, then it's fun.
yuriko a thousand times over derevi. derevi makes games always shitty, just ban her again
@@atomoclastGross high power Yuriko is also the opposite of fun
Talking about overlooked commanders and then you immediately overlook how flexible and powerful Derevi's ability is
Hes not talking about that tho?
Thats the linked vid, also it says commons not commanders
@@simionion9998 commons?
I mean it ain’t bad especially with the new survival ability in Duskmourn but ain’t the best either.
@@theultra5482 you are definitely either new to the game or you don't understand what flicker/blink decks do
Cards that are able to reduce how much you pay like Ghalta and Millicent also get around commander tax if you can fulfill their requirements
Millicent and a copy of her can pump out 2 spirit tokens for each cast and assuming you have enough spirits to start you can loop her for 2 mana.
Ghalta is especially fun because she gets discounted for what you already want to do. Also you can attack with her with her on turn 3 for 12 commander damage (or 13 with the thunder junction boots) if you build your deck right and get lucky.
There's izzet dragon Eris that is discounted by different mana costs in graveyard, so she's always 2 mana
No love for Squee, The Immortal Flung?!
It's my "No Tax, No Attacks" deck. He just flies across the board at very much high speeds!
There is also his friends slimefoot that loves to stay in the grave when he is with squee
Amazed that the four God-eternals were completely overlooked for this. The fact that they dodge exile removal is craaazy at the cost of just needing to draw into them again. Oketra shits out zombies, Kefnet is an amazing draw effect for doubling your high value spells, bontu is a beefy aristocrats effect, and Rhonas is a Craterhoof in the command zone that gives vigilance which is very very rare in mono green.
I have a Bontu aristocrats deck and i can confirm that he's ridiculous xD you play him, draw a ton of cards, then sacrifice him with things like Village Rites and you can cast him again on the following turn to draw more cards again and again
My favourite is Edgar Markov, Charmed Groom.
Since he revives himself as an enchantment that gives you a 1/1 Vampire token with lifelink for 3 upkeeps and then turns itself back into a creature again, meaning as long as it doesn’t get exiled it will always come back and you don’t have to pay anything.
I got my favorite one: Rona, Sheoldred’s faithful. You can have her in your graveyard and discard 2 cards to cast them. Fill up your deck with a lot of draw spells and burn out the table while being able to get them back if they die.
Derevi took so many strays this video
as someone who's mained Derevi Pod since 2015: :(
I love using Ygra, Eater of All for my Golgari foods deck. She has Ward: sacrifice a food. For those who don’t know, Ygra turns all other creatures on the field into food artifacts when she enters the field. Which means unless your opponents have food tokens, they have to sacrifice a creature in order to use any spot removal spells against her. And because she gets stronger by +2/+2 after anything on the battlefield dies, and she’s a 6/6 by default, it’s difficult to drop her toughness or do enough damage to kill her.
Urza, Chief Artificer cheats commander tax by having affinity for artifact creatures
At least commanders with affinity or other cost reductions require you to do something to cast them cheaper. Derevi and Yuriko always entering for 4 and 2 mana respectively sucks.
I made a Short about these cards a while ago calling them “design mistakes” and I fully stand by it.
Liesa still has some form of taxation in the form of life, but it’s practically free in a life gain deck.
Derevi and Yuriko both circumvent the rules of the format in ways that make their decks too consistent and boring to enjoy. Not to mention that they feel awful to play against when spot removal and board wipes hardly set them back.
“Nooo youre supposed to sit there not playing while i spam remove your commander”
No
might be a reason why they get constantly removed
Part of the appeal of mtg is that some cards could break rules, complaining about some commanders doing as such is really stupid tbh
@@DraphEnjoyer You say that, but then complain when the table focus you when you're playing any of these commanders.
I think the biggest problem with them is that, for the most part, it’s always on a creature with a good ability alongside it. If Daretti weren’t Stax usually it might be fine, but everything else just has stuff that doesn’t make up for it
Another one is Marchesa the black rose, as long as it has a 1/1 counter on it when it dies and it’s still in the graveyard during the end step it will come back
I'm experiencing firsthand that Gollum, Patient Plotter as a commander is so much better at dodging Commander Tax than I'd ever hoped. Absolute 10/10 experience.
Alora can work great with candlekeep sage and get you a bunch of cards while constantly returning to your hand
I love Lucius the Eternal as a commander, dodging the commander tax just by haivng to remove an enemy creature means you can do a lot of fun things with that, plus hes big and has haste so you can do stuff like sacc him, kill his target, and then bring him back for a psudo vigilance. Or if you have a sacc outlet you can response to board wipes or being exiled by targeted effects by saccing him in response. Attrition and Goblin Bombardment are very good with him.
My personal pick is Eris, Roar of the Storm. She costs a whopping 8RU but she reduces her cost by 2 for each different costed instant or sorcery in your graveyard, meaning you can easily get this down to just RU and keep it there while filling your yard for a big past in flames/mizzix's mastery turn
Y'alllll, hogaak is always free! Combine him with draw effects equal to power and build your deck in a stompy/or combo way, ur welcome!
Hogaak can get crazy for sure!
Othari, sun's glory. Makes rebels and ,if you have a rebel to tap, brings itself back from the grave
Running protection spells works too.
There are even free ones to protect your commander, depending on color
I like cards like the swarmlord that don’t dodge the tax but get stronger each time they’re cast
I like the Ojer series as well since you also get a land while building back up to getting it online. In the case of Ojer Axonil, it's really easy to hit that 4 noncombat damage
Millicent restless revenant is a great one because she’s reduced by the amount of spirits you control, so you can get her out early and keep her out by making more spirits with her ability
This is just my opinion “Norin the Wary” not for the commander tax but because it will be a pain The but to even put him in the command zone in the first place
Finally! Yes, I count norin because, many games I pay for him once, and for the rest of the game, he just does his thing dodging removal and stealing creatures
Always worth noting that Liesa's text has it so that paying the life instead of mana is *mandatory*
I play Balog, Durin’s Blade as a “cheat” commander where I just generate treasure tokens or make people sacrifice stuff to make it cost less for each one. So long as I have at least one red and one black to spend I can continually recast my commander to fling or cheat it out after baiting out removal (which has removal on himself as well when he dies). Lots of value and super easy to cheat out!
Gorax! You can literally build around his commander tax when you exile creatures out of your graveyard.
Also, commanders that have reduced costs. My first precon ever was the spirit tribal deck helmed by Millicent, Restless Revenant, which is a generic cheaper for each spirit you control.
Urza, Chief Artificer with his ability to have 1 be covered for each artifact creature. If you're ever paying more than an Esper for him, you're playing him wrong.
Can’t forget Otharri, Sun’s Butts
That guy is good
My favorite are all of the God Eternals from war of the spark. They go third from the top and can dodge exile or target removal. Super grateful for dodging commander tax. You just have to worry about mill or shuffling. The blue one is especially good because blue has access to more easily accessiblecard draw
The name i give it may be sacrilegious, but I have a deck with Darigaaz Reincarnated that I refer to as Dragon Jesus. He also avoids commander tax similar to the scarab/locust/scorpion god in that dying sends him elsewhere. but instead of the hand hes exiled for three turns before he returns to the battlefield
Don't forget about alternative casting methods like Dash and Blitz!
My personal favorite is Imskir, Iron Eater, but affinity kind of just seems like a brute force solution. Still need to track the tax, but I've cast as an many as 5 times in a game for *just* RB.
Optimus has both ways to dodge commander tax. You can cast him in vehicle mode with the more than meets the eye cost that doesn't het hit by tax. In Robot mode, if hes killed,he returns as his vehicle mode for free
What do you mean the vehicle doesn't get hit by commander tax? You are still casting your commander. You must still pay the tax.
@facelessgames94 seems you're right..I've missed the text that said cast and thought it worked like Derevi. Robot Mode part still is correct though
Yuriko is anything but subtle lmfao
My favorite is Licia, Sanguine Tribune. She costs x less for each life you gained before casting her, so by the time you worry about commander tax, you're gaining enough life that you just pay mardu for her
Jadzi oracle of Arcavios also dodges the commander tax by being able to bounce herself to your hand.
Scarab god is goofy because the only experience I have with it was when one guy at a table of 6 said it would easily win him the game. So obviously we killed it on sight every time he cast it. He just kept spending all his mana on it
Yuriko being more fun than derevi is an insane take yo
Honorable mention should go to Licia, Sanguine Tribune (5WBR, costs 1 less for each life you've gained this turn).
Commander Ninjutsu should be errata’d to include commander tax. You can’t change my mind on that.
I built a Ozox, The Clattering King aristocrat deck which kinda dodges commander tax. Most games Ozox never went back to the command zone.
Yuma, Proud Protector removes commander tax for each land in the graveyard
Big up to my derevi, tribal birds deck
Bird gang!
@forgottengodsthatliveamong137 Yayyy !
Brokkos also dodges commander tax, but he has to hit the graveyard not anything else
My favorite is Karador, you continue to dump creatures to your graveyard to make it almost always cost BGW
This is one of the big advantages in my Ojer Taq deck. More than likely I have way more than 3 creatures available and if I do not only to I avoid the tax but he’s cheaper to return than when I cast him the first time
Aren't there things like affinity, like with Urza, Chief Artificer?
Oubliette, kenriths transformation, darksteel mutation, song of the dryads.
Any spells that have similar effects lock yuriko right the hell out. Yuriko decks fall apart with out her.
And if you dont have any like that, kill her evasives. It feels like a waste using removal on a 1/1 flyer with no other abilities. But you remove her ability to ninjutsu if she has nothing to swing with.
Yuriko is a glass cannon, if you can hold her off long enough by doing any of these things she folds really fast.
Marchesa can also recur herself from the graveyard so long as she has a +1 counter
Otrimi, the Ever-Playful also dodges this by mutating onto a creature for 4 mana every time, which is cheaper than its base cmc. Mutate is ❤
Derevi >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yuriko
It's so much fun, lots of possibilities and different ways to build and strategies to play, from birds tribal to hardcore tax, cantrips, pod, and so many others, and an amazing combination of colors to add any answer or option to adapt, bant it's so much fun than dimir
Ghalta: Am I a joke to you?
I'd include things like ghalta and Emry who can reduce their tax away through total power or artifacts on board respectively
Then there's a bunch of legendaries from the old days, who dodge Commander Tax by not being played.
Yuma, Proud Protector. Just throw lands in the graveyard and cheat that tax
Surprised Eris, Roar of the Storm wasn't mentioned here. Very fun to only pay izzet by dumping all my flashback spells into grave, and summon an army of elemental dragons.
oh no i knew the liesa shoutout was coming
Muldrotha replaying command beacon means you always cast her from the hand.
Derevi is very cool commander now with The One Ring and Gaea's cradle 😅
Yuriko’s ability asto “Fun” is highly debatable
Roxxane, starfall savant creates a mama rock on entry.
You forgot the 2 best commanders who avoid commander tax. Otharri, Sun's glory and syrix carrier of the flame
Surprised Edgar, Charmed Groom isn't mentioned, will you have a full length video to showcase a bunch of these cheat-y commanders?
Theres also commanders that are a pain in the ass to remove like the Theros enchantment gods.
Honourable mention Marath.
He gets more expensive but not less worth it!
I was hoping to see my boy hogaak
Where's my big boi Dargo being casted and sacrificed 7 times per turn?
Ah yes Yuriko is definitely way more casual than Derevi xD
Hogaak and Brokkos can both also be "cheated" fir no tax as they can come out of the graveyard
Should have been called 3 best commander ever printed
Tymaret the Murder King!!
If you play yuriko it won't be the commander the targeted one. It will be you.
What about yuma proud protector???
Sublte is not how I'd describe Yuriko lmao
Does Mutate work this way too?
Negative.
Mutate is still casting the creature spell(read the flavor text of any Mutate card, Vadrok, Porcuparrot, et cetera) and casting from the Command Zone always adds the Tax.
Hexproof equips, nobody likes the decks i make because the commander is always "use this for wincon" (like dragon engine for a door to nothingness based deck) i can NEVER get him out for long enough to use his ability because murder is a card that exists.
Roxanne star savant has my favorite work around she enters with a meteorite mana rock and if she attacks for example with haste in the same round she creates another having paid Future commander tax
I already have paid 15 mana for her no problem
I love my derevi group hug stax deck
Kellan the fae blooded
You forgot slimefoot and squee
Henzie kinda does this by making other stuff cheaper every time he dies
Derevi is my queen 😊
The Lady of Otaria is also one because you can tap 3 dwarves instead of paying her mana cost
Alternate casting costs don’t dodge commander tax. The wording would have to say “put into play” for that to work
There is also slimefoot and squee cuz he wants to be in the grave
Shout out to my boy ghalta
Eris roar of the storm and yuma from the thunder junction precon noth dodge it by having recourses in the graveyard
I just bought derevi lol im going to play it as combat untap shenanigans
easy solution just play Feather and any 1-mana protection spell
I’d give OG Ghalta a spot on this list. She 2 green to slap down cuz rebuilding a board is easy. 😂 I’ll take the 12, okay Berserk.
I think honestly those were good ideas, but why not be a smart magic player? It’s kind of like let’s say I wanna play my cats so I don’t play them and use all my Mana. What I do is I wait a turn because I have things that protect them with one mana or with two.
Build derevi as voltron not stax and you’re set. Dump equipments for free and shit with sigards aid. Forge Anew. Pure steel paladin. Load up derevi with any number of your favorite equipments. Give it holy avenger for flavor. Then watch the table cry as you slap everyone 1 by 1 with pro every color unblockable lifelink trample vigilance double strike and all the effects triggered when your swords hit face.
Oh boy dodge commander removal by getting player removed
my marath always teaches new player a lesspn 😂
Why you shitting on Derevi?
me the immortal can be cast from anywhere
Not a soul plays these as fun decks btw
I have a scarab hod deck that i play for fun. Its great
Forgot hogaak 🤔
Or card who gets cheaper Karendor
Commander's that negate the command tax are massive design mistake.