OVERVIEW:

This is my attempt at a mono-blue aggro-tempo list that wants to take advantage of Yorion, Sky Nomad in Pioneer! I admit, my first reaction when I saw the card was skeptical, but after thinking it over I actually think it slots pretty well into my favorite archetype in Pioneer, blue tempo.

There are a ton of cards here - building with 80 is definitely a learning curve when you're used to building with 60 - but at the end of the day, this is just a big pile of a bunch of my favorite blue cards, and it was a lot of fun to put together. I tried to strike a balance between building for consistency and utility here. Whereas a 60-card blue tempo list like my Flash Blink Blue can get away with lots of singletons and two-ofs because it can pretty reliably expect to see a lot of its cards during the course of a game, a Yorion deck really wants to thrive off of playsets and sets of 3 more than anything else. That being said, a playset in an 80-card deck is only about as consistent as a three-of in a list of 60, so there's still a lot of variability in how this deck sets up its lines and makes its way to a win, though those wins usually look pretty similar. A bunch of strong, evasive creatures hammer home all the card advantage the deck has built up, all while little tempo victories add up into an overwhelming resource disparity.

This list, at heart, is an aggro deck whose game plan is stretched over the first 5 turns instead of the first 3 or 4. It really wants to stay on curve beyond anything else, since it's packed full of creatures and enchantments with super nice ETBs and card advantage payoffs, and in line with that philosophy I think it's best to go through it by drops rather than functionality or card type (especially since there are really only permanents in the deck, anyway).

ONE-DROPS

This is a deck that almost always really wants a turn 1 play, focusing on creatures that can come in and give you a board presence (usually in the air) while continuing to make a impact in value into the mid- and late-game. Siren Stormtamer is a classic from the only mono-blue aggro deck besides Merfolk to ever see success in Standard, and its popularity in Pioneer is a testament to how useful a 1/1 flier with a counterspell strapped to it can be in the right deck. Cloudfin Raptor is a bit innocuous to the untrained eye, looking a little like a Birds of Paradise that doesn't make you mana, but its low base power and toughness usually fade far, far into memory by the time this thing is swinging in for a ton of damage on turn 4 or 5. It also usually survives the new Heartless Act, a trait that I think is going to prove more valuable than it looks on paper. Spectral Sailor can flash in for lots of benefit at any time, draws you cards in the later game, and just generally puts in a ton of work. Overwhelmed Apprentice is a little slow and not evasive, but with the way this deck tends to bounce and flicker stuff, it'll be scrying through your whole deck in the right games, and it's a pretty good blocker besides.

Enough has been written about Curious Obsession that I think whatever I could add would probably end up lost in the churn, but suffice it to say that this is a fantastic card, more than welcome in a deck like this, and one of the absolute best uncommons of the past 5 years. It just does so much, and encourages blue to explore new directions in gameplay that continue to confirm that it's the best color in Magic.

TWO-DROPS

Four copies of Merfolk Trickster are, frankly, not enough for mono-blue devotion tempo, especially not when they're only 4 of 80 instead of 4 of 60, but we are going to stuff this deck with as many copies of that card as we can legally get away with, because it's just that good. The double blue casting cost is a boon rather than a restriction in this deck, and getting devotion, creature control, and board presence out of just one card is exactly what this deck wants. We're also running a full set of Quickling, a super cool Faerie from the often-slept-on M15, which is not so much what you want to be playing on turn 2, but more of a way to save something from removal or milk an ETB (or both) later into the game. The deck's other primary turn 2 play (besides Merfolk Trickster, mutating a Sea-Dasher Octopus onto something, or throwing down a second one-drop creature and a Curious Obsession) is the lovely Omen of the Sea, which does a ton of very nice things for us at once and is more than welcome as a playset in the list. Especially fun is that, being a nonland permanent, it's a valid blink target for Yorion, Sky Nomad, giving us a ton of potential value.

THREE-DROPS

It's perfectly poetic that we have three three-drop creatures, at three copies each, and it works out effectively in-game to boot. Brazen Borrower is annoying and on-meta, yes, but there's really no excuse to cut it from any 80-card list in mono-blue. It's just a great, useful card in a number of ways, and an excellent bounce target for Quickling, since you just get to Petty Theft again. There are plenty of options if it's out of your price range, though (three Tempest Djinn will do a more than admirable job). Nimble Obstructionist is a much morre affordable 3/1 flash flier for three in blue, though, and I I like it even more than Brazen Borrrower in this deck. There are tons of abilities it loves to counter - it's effectively a cantripping Stone Rain if you counter the fetch effect on Fabled Passage, for example - and even if it doesn't have anything to stop your opponent's board from doing, it can happily be slapped down on your own as a threat in the air. Sea-Dasher Octopus is an exceptional Ikoria card, basically three more copies of Curious Obsession with even more utility, and despite its underwhelming statline, its effects are so good that it's just as welcome in this list as the other three-drops. Blue tempo is thrilled to have its company.

The only singleton in this deck, As Foretold, has a really powerful Aether Vial-type effect, but it's far from necessary for the strategy to function, and there will be lots of games where you're more on the control side of the matchup where you'd really rather not see As Foretold at all until you've already taken a commanding advantage and it can seal the deal. It's still a great reminder of this deck's strategic roots in Modern Merfolk, though, and in matchups where we're on the offensive, it's a great turn 3 play to have in the hand.

FOUR-DROPS

Thassa, Deep-Dwelling is, with the possible exception of Heliod, Sun-Crowned, the best of the new Theros gods, and the crux (besides Yorion) of why this deck works. The God of the Sea is just so useful all-around, a huge value engine that takes advantage of all our best ETBs, is a huge, indestructible threat in her own right, and can even tap things if we have the mana to spare. We dip back to original Theros for Master of Waves, win-con number two. This classic is even better in a deck that loves blink effects than usual, gifting our board a constant supply of Elementals that will happily crash into our opponents over and over until they erode under the swell. 

FIVE-DROPS

Cavalier of Gales is one of my all-time favorite cards - a 5/5 for 5 in the air that builds our devotion by three pips, casts a free Brainstorm for us on ETB, and never even really dies (unless exiled) is just hilarious - and this deck looooves having a playset. Also at 5 are our two non-companion copies of Yorion, Sky Nomad. Mass blink that we always have access to as an eighth card in hand attached to a big flying creature is worth building an 80-card deck in constructed around, but mass blink attached to a big flying creature is good enough to include two copies of it in the mainboard, too. Along with Quickling and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, Yorion can set off huge chains of blinks that can totally change the game in a turn.

LAND BASE

24 Islands, 4 Castle Vantress (essentially a strictly better Island that will occasionally net you some value), and two Field of Ruin are all this deck needs to be well on its way to success. It's the simple things, sometimes. Joy!

SIDEBOARD

One of the toughest parts of building an 80-card deck is figuring out a worthwhile sideboard, since you can't take out as much of the mainboard as usual between games. This means that your mainboard cards have to be useful in nearly every matchup, and the cards in your actual sideboard need to pack a real punch to be worth slotting in. Luckily, Yorion, Sky Nomad fits best in the two archetypes that fit these requirements best: aggro-tempo, where every card is super flexible and value-oriented, and true control, interested in one-for-one trades, card advantage, and inevitability (watch out for Azorius, Esper, and especially Jeskai blink control with this in Standard). The blue-white bird serpent is just a wonderfully designed card, and at the end of the day building around it is just a ton of fun.

The star of the show here is of course Yorion, Sky Nomad itself (himself? herself? themself?) in the companion slot, and I figured it was best to keep the rest of the board tried and true. Three each of Thassa's Rebuff and Disallow will more than do you for counterspells, and a playset of Leyline of Anticipation (while less reliable than in a 60-card list) gives those creatures in the mainboard that naturally lack flash the quickness they need, all while building our devotion and turning Yorion into even more of a tempo bomb (keep in mind that we have access to the card in every single game). Two Panharmonicon give us a great turn 4 option against slower control and combo decks, and Ashiok, Dream Render rounds out the board as a fantastic all-purpose hate card that will surely be missed in Standard soon.