Commander Deck Tech - Yarok, the Desecrated

Yarok, the Desecrated is so strong it makes possible to build an almost infinite number of decks, considering ETB is something used in almost 100% Commander decks nowadays, voluntarily or not.

Using it as an engine, let's therefore explore the Underdark: In today's Deck Tech, we'll face Yarok alongside Take the Initiative! If you have any questions or want to understand this mechanic better, I strongly suggest you read this article explaining it.

Yarok, the Desecrated triggers ETB effects an extra time, and, therefore, it is extremely versatile for any idea you want to work on. In this list, we'll try to use the Initiative mechanic, in which you enter a Dungeon, and, each time you trigger Initiative again, you advance to another room.

When you reach the Dugeon's last room, in Initiative's case, when it is triggered again, you return to the first room and restart the Dungeon. We'll use every Initiative instance possible and some Clones to speed up our progress even more.

This deck brings the Sultain color combination , and counts with several Initiative creatures, besides various other answers to try and keep our initial reasoning.

The idea is to trigger Initiative at least 2x with Yarok until we reach the last room, where we'll have a selection of 10 cards to place another creature on board and restart this process. You can win through combat damage and also through effects linked to Initiative to drain your opponent's health points.

Like any reasonable green deck, we use Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Farseek, Rampant Growth, Kodama's Reach and Cultivate for ramp.

As for the rocks, we have the Basic Commander Kit - Sol Ring and every Signet possible. In this case, Arcane Signet, Dimir Signet, Golgari Signet and Simic Signet.

Initiative Cards

We use all Initiative cards possible in the colors we have access to, precisely to have the Initiative as long as we can, after all, just like the Monarch, it is possible for other players to take the Initiative from you through combat damage.

The creatures we selected were Aarakocra Sneak, Avenging Hunter, Passageway Seer, Ravenloft Adventurer, Rilsa Rael, Kingpin, Underdark Explorer, Undermountain Adventurer, Vicious Battlerager and mostly Tomb of Horrors Adventurer.

These creatures don't really synergize with one another, but they do their job well, which is guaranteeing us the Initiative. The highlight goes to Tomb of Horrors Adventurer, because it has the powerful ability of copying your second spell played in your turn twice if you have completed a Dungeon. It is the perfect target to clone, as it can create even more clones and trigger Initiative even more times.

Now, let's see the other cards: Explore the Underdark, which is basically the best ramp card in this deck, and From the Catacombs, Dungeoneer's Pack, Trailblazer's Torch and Sarevok's Tome, which, besides creating additional mana with Initiative, has a free second cast effect if we have completed a Dungeon.

I'll also highlight From the Catacombs, which can Reanimate an Initiative creature from our graveyard.

ETB Interaction

We added a set of cards that work really well in any Yarok build to try and make this deck a bit more consistent in general.

To have even more ramp, we got Solemn Simulacrum, Farhaven Elf and Wood Elves. To trigger even more ETB effects, we use Virtue of Knowledge, Panharmonicon, Deadeye Navigator and Blade of Selves.

Finally, for removals, we have Reclamation Sage, Acidic Slime and Ravenous Chupacabra, and to draw cards, Mulldrifter.

Clones

To make this deck more consistent, as we have just a few Initiative creatures, nothing better than cloning the few creatures we have. So, we use all clones at our disposal: Clone, Glasspool Mimic, Vizier of Many Faces, Undercover Operative, Stunt Double, Clever Impersonator, Phyrexian Metamorph, Mirrorhall Mimic, Progenitor Mimic, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces and the enchantment, Endless Evil.

It's worth stressing that Clones are a sub-theme in this deck, which means, you won't need to only target your creatures - targets will vary from one match to another, depending on which line of play is better to carry on with the game.

Answers and Recursion

Counters and Removals

To interact with your opponents' cards, we use the counters An Offer You Can't Refuse, Arcane Denial and the removals Infernal Grasp, Beast Within and Assassin's Trophy.

And finally, as a protective measure, we added Cyclonic Rift, Heroic Intervention and Ghostly Flicker.

Retrieving Resources

In this part, we have specifically the cards that recover resources from the graveyard. After all, as we're in a good color combination to do that, there is no reason to not do it, even more with additional ETB effects.

So, we use Mythos of Brokkos, Bala Ged Recovery, Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Timeless Witness and Eternal Witness, and I'll highlight both Witnesses, as they can have an additional ETB effect.

This is an alternative Yarok list, more focused on triggering ETBs and Landfalls, and it also has a few combos to end the game if you need them.

Trying to build decks outside the box with unusual mechanics such as Initiative is always a fun challenge. You need to look beyond what's good, and complement with other things, so you can have a cool, consistent build.

The best part is testing it out, and seeing that your idea worked. There are countless other Yarok variants, but, out of all the others I've seen, I think this one is one of the most fun ones.

Would you build this list? Do you prefer the standard ETB list? Would you do it with Energy? Tell me what you think!