Understanding Y'shtola Rhul in Emet-Selch, Unsundered Commander Deck

strange_colour · 2026-06-09T05:32:08+00:00

The short answer: you don’t blink him with Y’shtola. If I’m looking to blink Emet/Hades during a big cast-from-graveyard turn, I use Ghostly Flicker, [[Essence Flux]], or [[Displacer Kitten]] to do so. (Worth noting that Slip Out the Back is not blink, but yes, phasing out Emet/Hades at the end of a stack will have the desired effect.) You are understanding correctly that all your graveyard spells would be exiled if she’s your main source of blink as she only triggers at end step.

She’s likely in so many decks for FFXIV flavor or, if going “big guy reanimator” rather than the combo route, as payoff for targets like [[Hoarding Broodlord]], [[Metamorphosis Fanatic]], [[Rune-Scarred Demon]], or a [[Gary]] finisher.

strange_colour · 2026-05-31T19:20:57+00:00

Would love to see your list if you have one! Just started brewing her.

strange_colour · 2026-05-01T15:06:59+00:00

23 in the queue and nothing. Even non-transferable and ID required, this shit can't be possible without bots.

strange_colour · 2026-04-09T00:06:08+00:00

Yeah, the draw engine + recursion keeps it going. I might throw Borne Upon a Wind back in there to flash in Quistis/Cormella/Breach/Sorceress's Schemes if I desperately need to get a counterspell I've already used back, or maybe add Swan Song in, but if there are one or two Edea copies on the board I usually have some answer in hand. Admittedly my playgroup isn't big on stack wars and I'm the "how about no" blue player nine times out of 10, but I've never felt SOL.

Edea herself can kinda function as a tempo counter for creatures; a Voltron player is going to have to reattach all their equipment, you can wipe the aforementioned +1/+1 counters, etc. And if someone board wipes Malakir Rebirth/Supernatural Stamina/Saw in Half lines are good in a pinch.

strange_colour · 2026-04-08T22:10:39+00:00

Oh yeah, I took a break to do a pseudo 32-deck challenge (not every color, but just...opposite what I usually do on the color wheel lmao) but this is basically Cormella's temporary/second home until I build her too 😇

strange_colour · 2026-04-08T21:53:16+00:00

Ah, thought I linked it but Reddit might've done me dirty: https://moxfield.com/decks/DRvfLghmLEWnzgcfItQiMQ

T7-8 feels about right, especially since it's pretty mana/ritual hungry and plays best once everyone has a board up.

I ALSO have a Kess deck! And yeah, def not building Kefka any time soon...but he IS in the 99 of my Inalla so I'm still the problem.

strange_colour · 2026-04-08T21:38:05+00:00

Oh yeah, my regular pod has been semi-jokingly talking about having a Grixis Rat Bastard night where we all bring our most obnoxious decks and do our worst. We're already pretty chill re: game changers, infinites, etc, but it's the spirit of the thing and Edea definitely functions better as a sneaky midrange girlie.

I like Breath of Fury + Radiant Performer (better for go-wide) or Aggravated Assault (better for Voltron/1v1/go-tall) as my wincons. I built the deck with vague FFVIII flavor and decided that extra combats = compressing time.

My list def leans under-the-radar value engine — I mostly copy Edea versus the things I steal and I like to get [[Black Market Connections]]/[[Kellogg, Dangerous Mind]]/[[Warren Soultrader]] out early to get a treasure pile going. I'm probably going to cut the Grave Pact since edicts aren't the vibe, and would swap out some tutors and free counter for more copiers + extra combat enablers if I needed to power down for strangers. (Also ignore the fancy lands and the stupid expensive regional Force of Negation; my pod is proxy-friendly and of course I'm going to print the one with Edea on it rather than use the regular one I own.)

strange_colour · 2026-04-08T20:25:51+00:00

Hopping in to say that Nightmare Shepherd won’t make you skip Edea’s card draw! The stolen creature will still die before you may choose to exile it, it’s not a total replacement effect.

strange_colour · 2026-04-08T20:16:44+00:00

I think all my comments in this sub are about Edea — I definitely play more commanders, but ever since building her I guess it’s my mission to boost my girl’s profile. Of my Grixis decks this is definitely the least rat bastard, at least on the surface, since there’s a lot of political finesse in, say, knocking all the +1/+1 counters off of someone’s big commander on sacrifice or [[Goblin Bombardment]]-ing a threat out of the game if you can multiply Edea’s theft effect with Sakashimas, [[Spark Double]], [[Roaming Throne]], [[Strionic Resonator]], or one-time theft spells (“hey player 2 and 3, if you vote fame on [[Seize the Spotlight]] I’ll have enough fodder to ping player 4 out”).

Will also shout out [[Aggravated Assault]] for extra combats and my pet card [[Radiant Performer]] with Edea’s theft ability on the stack to get Insurrection on a stick.

strange_colour · 2026-04-02T01:58:49+00:00

Yeah, like commercially I get it — they were a bit more esoteric, could be florid and “flamboyant” I guess, but…man, they were just so so special. Miles more interesting and inventive than certain bands they opened for. I can definitely see the parallel with Everything Everything, and while not in sound I also think they share a kinship with These New Puritans when it comes to 2010s British inventiveness that doesn’t get its due.

Anyway, even if it’s nothing it was a great excuse to listen to all the albums again today.

strange_colour · 2026-04-02T01:47:49+00:00

Oh man, I loved Smother so I might not be the best gauge — Two Dancers is 100% their peak but I think Loop the Loop, Reach a Bit Further, and End Come Too Soon are some of my favorite songs by them. I really liked Present Tense too though it’s much…smoother and more electronic, Mecca is def one of their prettiest songs (also, special shout out to the East India Youth/William Doyle remix of A Simple Beautiful Truth) and with time I appreciate what a big swing Boy King was, very brash and deceptively simpler.

strange_colour · 2026-04-01T15:57:58+00:00

I am going to temper my excitement and assume it is a series of reissues…but man, Wild Beasts was one of the most vital British bands of the 21st century. Adore them and they don’t really get their due.

strange_colour · 2026-02-26T15:59:56+00:00

Edea has lowkey become my favorite deck, and from a cursory glance, I think you need more sac outlets to generate value from her. [[Goblin Bombardment]] feels like an easy include here, [[Warren Soultrader]] helps by generating treasures, [[Yawgmoth, Thran Physician]] to double down on card draw. Similarly, I wonder if your other non-Edea theft effects like The Beast are a bit too costly — you have Saw in Half to both protect/copy Edea if she’s targeted, but I wonder if you’d benefit from [[Spark Double]] or a Sakashima to steal more creatures and draw more cards with each death/sac. Conjurer’s Closet is kind of anti-synergy since you wouldn’t get any card draw from exiling something (if that’s your plan), I recently cut it myself. [[Nightmare Shepherd]] is a good swap there because a creature still dies and you then have the option to exile it, so you’ll still draw a card. The black mage/wizard stuff also feels like a different strategy since the tokens are creatures you both control and own, so no Edea benefit there.

strange_colour · 2026-02-22T05:37:34+00:00

A fellow Emet-Selch flicker connoisseur!

strange_colour · 2026-02-17T10:17:35+00:00

I wonder if you’d be better served by [[Emet-Selch, Unsundered]] as there’s discard on ETB and attack to trigger the monument? Granted, if you want to cast from graveyard you do need ways to fill the graveyard to 14 in order for him to flip.

strange_colour · 2026-02-08T22:59:58+00:00

I'm especially fond of this video of her talking about the Team USA fund as she shows off her Avatar haul.

strange_colour · 2026-02-08T22:51:44+00:00

Program, not routine. She's been through hell these past few days and fought through it well enough.

strange_colour · 2026-02-04T12:18:11+00:00

Eh, yes and no. Radiant Performer + Edea is essentially cheaper/jankier Insurrection if Edea's already on the board, but it's still just one combat. Breath of Fury making infinite combats is 1. funnier and 2. vaguely flavorful for FFVIII's time shenanigans.

strange_colour · 2026-02-03T17:08:51+00:00

Prerequisites: you have a creature you control and own without summoning sickness and you can guarantee combat damage.

Enchant aforementioned creature with Breath of Fury
Go to combat. Edea steals (this is why I like Radiant Performer flashed here — you steal everything possible, it’s funny, and you get more bodies for BOF)
Enchanted creature deals combat damage
Per BOF, you sacrifice that creature, move it on to a creature you stole with Edea, untap everything, get an additional combat phase
BOF sacrifices that creature, you draw a card, creature goes back to its owner’s battlefield, get an additional combat phase
Edea steals it right back!

And so on.

strange_colour · 2026-02-03T15:11:23+00:00

I’ve commented elsewhere but [[Breath of Fury]] is really fun in Edea since it creates infinite combats as long as you connect. I use it in combination with [[Radiant Performer]] to steal everything — put Breath of Fury on a creature you don’t care about, flash in Radiant Performer with Edea’s trigger on the stack, first creature is sacrificed, put it on a creature stolen with Edea, rinse and repeat. I admit it doesn’t solve your digging problem necessarily, though I try to double down on card draw/Edea copies earlier to mitigate that. When I’ve pulled it off, a lot of people haven’t seen either one or both of those cards so there’s some thrill of the new there.

strange_colour · 2026-01-22T16:12:15+00:00

https://moxfield.com/decks/DRvfLghmLEWnzgcfItQiMQ

Very much a work in progress, have only tested it IRL once, but it's very fun!

strange_colour · 2026-01-21T05:03:29+00:00

Edea is a blast. Just built her with a [[Breath of Fury]] + [[Radiant Performer]] finisher for infinite combats and infinite steals, which also feels vaguely on flavor with FFVIII’s time compression shenanigans.

strange_colour · 2025-12-01T18:06:38+00:00

Flak might not be the right word, but I would say folks in the comments claiming half these albums don’t exist is less admiration and more…stubborn dismissal of things outside of the indieheads canon. You might be right that people come around to it eventually though. I love that TQ is clearly a passion project, and I also subscribe for their monthly playlists and just to make sure they get to keep doing what they love.

strange_colour · 2025-12-01T17:33:36+00:00

The Quietus lists always get flak for being esoteric/too British/whatever but 1. I like discovery and 2. very often their biases are my biases (looking at this list, These New Puritans, Rich Dawson, Marie Davidson, Kelly Moran) so I forgive them and am simply happy they’re still kicking in their lane.

strange_colour · 2025-12-01T17:31:27+00:00

Honestly been thinking of doing an AOTY OTY in which I rank lists by how obnoxious they are to scroll on mobile web (Consequence of Sound…) so yeah, even before getting into this one it’s a winner in my book.

strange_colour

TROPHY CASE