Magic: The Gathering Commander Focus: Airbending, Eldrazi Typal, & Monk Gyatso

I've gone on the record to state that typal (formerly tribal) strategies are among my least favorite to build & play in Commander. This stands in stark contrast to their actual popularity, being by leagues and bounds the most common way to theme a deck—it's a breeze to jam together cards that mention similar words, and come away with a solid enough midrange core. Yet, for all their allure it comes with a cost, with fairly flat power curves and a necessity to be Creature-based, these aren't decks that tickle my Johnny brain in quite the same way as a meticulously-constructed combo deck that hinges on some single printing from Darksteel. Call me contrarian, a Magic hipster, or worse still, but in being so, when a typal strategy catches my eye it means all the more. That's why today we're covering Monk Gyatso, what I would mark as the strongest Eldrazi Commander we've seen in some time. He doesn't say Eldrazi, and certainly doesn't look like one, but between the margins of this unassuming aero-pâtissier's textbox we're confronted with the long shadow of Zendikar, and the end of all things. Join me as I do my best to convince you to check your Ulalek, Fused Atrocity at the door. Let's teach those squid to airbend.

Credit: Wizards of the Coast

"You May Airbend that Creature."

It's important to understand what Airbending is, before we delve into the intricacies of the mechanic by way of Gyatso. Whenever a nonland permanent is Airbent, it's moved to exile and given an alternate casting cost, {2}. You can cast a card that's Airbent at any time it would be appropriate; Flash Creatures can be cast at Instant-speed, for example, but because the {2} is an alternate casting cost, you wouldn't be able to Morph an Airbent Creature, nor Mutate, etc. This is a deceptively powerful mechanic, and Gyatso provides it to our other Creatures in spades, as not only does his ability allow us to 'dodge' removal by hiding in exile to be Airbent back out, but not unlike a certain problematic bird, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, we can trigger it by way of our own spells or abilities. Keep that in mind as we proceed, that getting our Creatures Airbent is not difficult. The accessibility of the mechanic is why we've chosen to run with Gyatso rather than any of the other Legendary Creatures who can also Airbend, like Appa, Steadfast Guardian.

Due to the fact that this is an alternate casting cost, discounts apply as normal to Creatures you're playing. If you had a Semblance Anvil on the board, all of your Airbent Creatures would have a cost of {2}...reduced by {2}, meaning yes, they're free. Creatures with inbuilt discounts also thrive in this environment, with two draft chaff commons being perhaps Gyatso's favorite students (after Aang, of course), in Salt Road Packbeast & Search Party Captain. The synergy is obvious, where each has a means to attain its own 2-mana discount, cantripping for free whenever they're sent skyward. Gyatso can certainly reward more Creatures like this, from Daybreak Chimera to Cyan, Vengeful Samurai, and even Valiant Changeling was the very last cut from this list. We don't merely want to infinitely cast these silly french vanillas, though. We're in the business of casting Eldrazi.

It means 'The Drazi'

Actual conversation had at my LGS.

Monowhite doesn't come to mind as the color you'd use for an Eldrazi strategy. The vast majority are headed by Ulalek, Fused Atrocity or Zhulodok, Void Gorger, each on polar opposites of the color spectrum; White itself only has two real Eldrazi, and only one worth playing, in the absolutely stellar Eldrazi Displacer. By virtue of a huge chunk of the Creature type being Colorless, however, the majority of its most powerful members are still accessible to a Monocolor strategy, if accounted for in terms of ones' mana base, and Gyatso specifically turns a decent-enough piece of ramp into something truly terrifying. I'm referencing, of course, Eye of Ugin. Instead of tapping for mana, this land provides a static discount of {2} to our Colorless Eldrazi which, hey, that's what it fcosts to Airbend a permanent. Indeed, while I knew upon his reveal that I was going to cover Monk Gyatso, what crystallized this idea in my mind was the revelation that Eye pushes this unassuming Monk into Eldrazi Typal.

Gyatso & Eldrazi solve many of the questions one asks of the other—for Gyatso, this is an endgame, even more options for Creatures that actually push for a win when being cast infinitely, who take full advantage of the fact Gyatso's looping is via casting. Eldrazi meanwhile see Gyatso as a Monowhite Ulalek, paying at most 2 mana to duplicate a trigger, though with far more forgiving a timing window and with the opportunity to actually combo off. You can play Gyatso into a packed board and Airbend stuff you already have, while the wholly-unprotected Ulalek needs to have landed prior to accruing value. The Eye pulls this all together, making many Eldrazi feasible to hardcast, and discounting their secondary Airbent costs to 0; it's no small stretch to see how they complete one another. As an example, this gets even more clear when pulling on microsynergies, as Inversion Behemoth goes from fun combat trick to a means of resetting your entire board.

It's no secret that Eldrazi are famously tough to cast, however, and if we're looking to start soft looping Creatures as expensive as Kozilek, the Broken Reality, they need to hit the board first. This is where a dense ramp package enters the fray, raising us up to the high bar of {7} or more. In terms of rocks, Mind Stone & Everflowing Chalice take up the 2-mana slot, though I'm especially fond of our ability to play chalice for X=2, jumping us from 4 to 6 mana, or that illustrious 7 with a land drop. As expected, there's cost reducers in the form of Urza's Incubator and the aforementioned Semblance Anvil, but Ugin, the Ineffable is likewise notable even if he costs a chunky 6 mana. From there, one of the most curious mana rocks seen in a Monocolor deck: Chromatic Lantern. This card is broadly overplayed, and a 3 mana rock with this effect has been outpaced in all but the most color-screwy strategies...but what if I told you it let Eye of Ugin tap for mana? Yes, this (as well as Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth & Honor-Worn Shaku) both see slots here as a mechanism to make the discount provided by Eye closer to actually {2} when casting from hand, rather than ~{1}, given it doesn't tap for mana on its own. As a bonus, it helps offset draws where we've hit the Colorless portion of our lands, given we do still need a bit of White mana throughout the midgame.

Ego Eimi Lotophagus

Mana rocks are fine and all, but I want to talk about something White quietly excels at: Land ramp. This might sound absurd to someone peering in from the outside, given White's lack of mana access has long since been a gripe of the Commander community at-large, but the trick of it comes from a select group of Lands, the 'Lotus Lands'. These three, between Lotus Field, Lotus Vale, & Scorched Ruins each make way for 'catch up ramp', and going mana positive on untap, something I covered extensively in one of my previous forays into Monowhite. White loves being behind on lands, and can tutor Equipment as though it were breathing, so it's actually the second-best color in terms of ramping via lands. This is made possible by the bevy of untappers, such as Lost Jitte & Pip-Boy 3000, who normally net a single mana in their trigger, but via Lotus Lands produce 3-4. Though this can mean you need to spend the mana over the course of two Main Phases, as is the case with Sword of Feast & Famine, that's not too much of an issue with our mana batteries like the Monoliths, which we'll cover later.

Being behind on lands also gives us the opportunity to tutor for Eye of Ugin via Weathered Wayfarer, or access a suite of utility Deserts via Sand Scout. The latter in particular is excellent in this list, finding what amounts to a dual land in Shefet Dunes' capacity to tap for White or Colorless, or access the yard with Lazotep Quarry. We could even bounce a land that's better off in-hand via Arid Archway, keeping us down on lands when we inevitably Airbend the Sand Scout. While less efficient, Scampering Surveyor finds either Urza's Cave or Echoing Deeps, the former being a means to tutor Eye of Ugin, and the latter a means to copy it should it hit the Graveyard. Ultimately, part of making a Monocolor deck feel powerful is pushing your mana base to its absolute limit, and the fact only 26 of our 69 nonlands are White lets us cut way down on non-utility lands.

If It Talks Like a Nadu...

The 3-year development cycle dictates this was a mistake in the making.

A key component of Gyatso is reacting to our Creatures being targeted, and while this might normally be seen as a defensive gesture, much like Nadu this quickly spirals out of control the moment you introduce means of targeting them yourself. I've actually covered a Nadu-like card before, in Danny Pink, and chasing that bird's legacy seems to be at the forefront of my mind when discussing Commanders; there's something about playing in a space thought verboten, with Nadu being the most recent ban, that enchants me. Compared to Danny though, Gyatso has much clearer ties to the Winged Wisdom. It uses the same implements of power, Shuko & Lightning Greaves, but we run the gamut of options in order to ensure ample redundancy in repeating the bird's mistakes. Grafted Wargear & Umbral Mantle are the final two Equip {0} Artifacts, but as stated above, finding any one of these four is shockingly easy. If there's one thing White can tutor, it's Equipment, and since the printing of Stoneforge Mystic there's been a slew of these tutors made ever and ever more available.

White as a color also has access to something Nadu lacked in his heyday: The en-Kor. This subspecies of Rathi Kor have the ability to spread damage amongst themselves, or your other Creatures, though the templating had led to their abuse in a number of combos. Most lists with Gyatso will load up on these Creatures, who can for {0} shift the next instance of damage to another Creature (therefore targeting them for free at instant speed), but here I've chosen to only play Nomads en-Kor. As shown with Nadu, it's perfectly fine to perform your combo using Equip abilities largely at Sorcery-speed, but by way of Ranger-Captain of Eos and similar recruiter effects, we can find our sole Instant-speed option easily. After all, while we're happy to potentially save our Creatures from a board wipe, our actual combo is performed on our turn, and Gyatso cannot be protected by his own effect anyway. To over-commit to these Creatures which do nothing beyond give you free Airbending is in my view a trap, especially when the Equipment is more accessible and comes with added bonuses.

If you really want more Instant-speed targeting, Forge Anew is excellent during our turn, able to pass a Greaves between various bodies in response to removal, on top of potentially recurring the very same. One important interaction to remember is that an Equipment only becomes unattached from the Creature it's currently on when it successfully becomes equipped to a new target; due to the fact we're exiling the target as soon as the ability goes on the stack, we can actually just keep, say, Lightning Greaves equipped to Gyatso at all times providing Shroud, and attempt to equip over and over, failing...successfully! There's also incidental targeting in the form of Liquimetal Torque if you don't need the mana, or removing a Charge counter from Lost Jitte to target a Creature at Instant-speed. Modality is the name of the game, when it comes to squeezing every last drop out of included cards.

Walk Like an Amonkhetu

We've already lightly touched on the win conditions for this deck, but it's worth going in-depth for those interested Eldrazi players who might not have combo experience! We've covered Monk Gyatso himself, the means of freely targeting our Creatures, and some of the means of discounting mana, but how does it all come together? While we can infinitely cast many of our Eldrazi when enabled by Eye of Ugin, Semblance Anvil, or Ugin, the Ineffable, cards like Inversion Behemoth don't do anything on their own beyond generate infinite storm count. You could certainly play an Aetherflux Reservoir, but I favor a few more synergistic options that don't read as scarily to ones' opponents at a glance. The first of which, Ugin's Mastery, allows us to Manifest our entire Library, and by Airbending these face-down Creatures (be they secretly non-Creature or not) we're able to find a different line to victory. Glaring Fleshraker has become the poster child for the current wave of Eldrazi support, with ramp and a damage-based win condition wrapped up into a single card, but beyond that, our big threats are all win conditions on their own. Both Kozileks tear through our library for a secondary win condition, and we can play an Emrakul, the Promised End even without a discount for cast and enters triggers. Oblivion Sower mills out the table, and in the midgame is a solid ramp piece, and Devourer of Destiny clears the board on top of being a fine 7 mana Eldrazi (relevant for Ugin's Labyrinth), and even occasionally smoothing out your opener.

Apologies for the brainrot here, Gyatso needs his kicks.

But while this is firmly in the Eldrazi typal space, that doesn't mean we're without alternate win conditions. A few pieces of recent draft chaff have an incredibly favorable interaction with Airbending, so while a Kozilek can draw out the Library with a card that provides a discount of {2}, those come in one package with a pair of cards mentioned early on in this article: Salt Road Packbeast & Search Party Captain. You still need a targeter, but these are the most practical combo pieces available to Gyatso, and the latter is even searchable with Recruiter of the Guard. In this list, we also use our mana acceleration as parts of a combo, with either Monolith going infinite with Rings of Brighthearth, and Metalworker popping off alongside an Equipment that just so happens to have Equip {0}: Umbral Mantle. These are all wholly Colorless combos that are independently playable, so given we're in at minimum Bracket 3 (potentially low B4) it only makes sense to stumble into these lines on occasion. When a combo requires no pieces you'd not otherwise consider running, beyond their application there, you've got a great recipe for surprise victories.

Example Decklist: Monk Gyatso's Breakfast

As discussed above, this midrange strategy has a combo endgame, and given Gyatso lacks the ability to protect himself we're on a bevy of options to keep him safer than he ended up in the show. I favor effects like Blacksmith's Skill & Restoration Magic here, given we have more than just Creatures which worry about removal, and being able to protect an Eye of Ugin from Strip Mine or Lightning Greaves from Abrade is a huge plus. A few of the near-autoincludes are here as well, with Flawless Maneuver & Ephemerate, on top of the newcomer, Dawn's Truce. In spite of our strategy hinging on hiding Creatures away in exile, as to avoid removal and board wipes, Gyatso does start at 4 mana without any way to protect himself, and that means proper insurance is important. Conqueror's Flail, an eminently searchable card, falls into the protection category as well and helps insulate a combo turn. The tools white provides to a strategy like this are profound, and shows how one more color than Zhulodok is a huge boon for Eldrazi.

That is still four fewer colors than Ulalek though, which brings to light a worthwhile point: Is it worth losing access to a huge chunk of Devoid Eldrazi to play in a purely Monowhite space? I would argue yes, because many of the roles seen in those technically-Colored Creatures can be supplanted by similar options in White. You can find ramp, can find means of aggression—I will always contend that having a better core gameplan, an endgame you've planned for specifically, will lead to better games. In having five colors, you need to fight back against becoming goodstuff and letting Kenrith, the Returned King end up a better Eldrazi Commander than your actual pick. In White, you've got more restrictions, and those breed creativity; we know our path to victory, and it's both more coherent and less mana-intensive than our competition.

Decklists are kept updated, and may change with set releases.

Now the discussion turns to whether this version of Gyatso belongs in Bracket 3 or 4, and that's a far tougher question than the one above. Our combo is inherently one that requires 3 cards, being at minimum a targeter, Gyatso, and a relevant Creature. Gyatso is in the Command Zone though, and we likely need a means of discounting the Creature, so it maths out to what I'd consider a ~3.5 card combo. That's certainly within the bounds of B3, but being in B4 with significantly higher access to fast mana and card advantage is nothing to scoff at. Ultimately, the list in this article is intended for high B3, but it's a few pieces of fast mana and interaction away from hitting proper B4.

Winds of Change

James Paick gives the Eye an eerie, almost post-nuclear feel. Spooky.

There's something deeply incongruous about seeing a side character from a 2005 Nickelodeon cartoon lead a horde of one of Magic's most well-known original creations. These are truly alien creatures, and their appeal is obvious—horrific Lovecraftian behemoths who disobey the order of Magic's most central guiding principle, the color pie. By that same token, for a player like me whose interest stems from mechanical design, and not narrative, the idea of some whipped old dude taking Jace's spot in Zendikar's apocalypse is utterly hilarious. Moreover, this is what's taken me from using Colorless as a secondary color in a number of my previous Commander Focus pieces, and fully immerse myself in actual Eldrazi typal. I am not a typal player, but Gyatso and his mysterious Eye plead one to be so. Still, this isn't the cEDH option for Gyatso, as there's far faster builds along the lines of Legacy 'Cephalid Breakfast' that involve not a single eldritch horror. I posit that instead, this is the apex of Eldrazi, even if it might not be Gyatso's strongest bent. One of my core tenants as a player is to have every Commander I build 'justify itself', provide some novel gameplay hook or do things in a way no other can, even if that thing is suboptimal; I'm a neophile, an adventurer of the pits most benthic found in Scryfall's deepest cenote.

And I meant it when I said you should hang up that Ulalek list of yours, and try this. To put it bluntly, why pay 5 mana for a do-nothing with no protection, that requires an additional 2 mana alongside some other (likely massive) card, when you could relax, and find 2 mana before or after, maybe even 0 if it's properly planned. Gyatso's cheaper, more dynamic, more forgiving, and Ula knows the world has enough five-color piles. Nicer still is the fact that Gyatso has combos which provide a cogent endgame, rather than scratching your head and trying to point Annihilator at the right opponents. To put money where my mouth is, I went from conceptualizing this list to purchasing the pieces I need in paper (proxies included) in the span of 48 hours. This is the fastest any Commander deck has translated from page to playmat for me, and it's not hard to see why.

Until next time, please avoid referencing your 'gyatt' during course of play.

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