Shu Yun, the Silent TempestShu Yun, the Silent Tempest | Art by David Gaillet

As we prepare to return to the plane of Arcavios for a second set based around the magical school of Strixhaven, it makes sense to look at some of the abilities and themes that were featured last time in order to prepare ourselves to maximize any of those that are revisited. One of the abilities that crossed the curriculum was Magecraft, which made me think about my own deck designed around a similar ability.

The easiest comparison to draw for Magecraft is prowess. Both are abilities attached to creatures, both care about casting noncreature spells, and both encourage players to play a lot of spells in the same turn. As we saw with the Otter Typal deck a few weeks back, Magecraft and prowess ride that balance between creature decks and spellslinger decks, with typal synergies further complicating the math.

We’ll see how this Shu Yun, the Silent TempestShu Yun, the Silent Tempest Commander Deck Tech finds its balance, while also highlighting the focus and power Monks are known for in Magic and Dungeons and Dragons.

Monk History

Whenever Magic visits a set inspired by an Asian country, Monks seem to come with them. This makes sense, given the spread of Buddhism around the continent, as well as the focus on meditation present in several religions that originated there. Monks trace their lineage back to Portal, mostly in white, and then the Jukai region of Kamigawa gave them some green support. Neither of these gave them any sense of identity, however.

It wasn’t until Tarkir that Monks really felt like a supported type, coinciding with the introduction of the Jeskai wedge and their signature ability, the aforementioned prowess. Returns to Kamigawa and Tarkir have helped shore up the numbers, and even Avatar: The Last Airbender added to our numbers, as did Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. As a result, we have a hodgepodge of Monks that have some slight overlaps in abilities.

Most recently, several Monks were printed with the ability Flurry, which triggers when the second spell is cast on a particular turn. Since we are playing many cheap instants and sorceries in order to trigger prowess, this happens to work well with what we are doing.

But how do we make Monks unique from general spellslinger decks, and how do we win games with our synergies?

What Does Shu Yun, the Silent TempestShu Yun, the Silent Tempest Do?

Shu Yun, the Silent TempestShu Yun, the Silent Tempest might not be the strongest Monk commander, but he is the most aggressive. Shu Yun is one of the Fate Reforged commanders that gives access to a wedge color identity because of his activated ability, but he only requires blue mana to cast and either red or white to activate. This means that we can have our commander out and usable without having to fix our mana, which is important for a nongreen aggressive three-plus color deck, as we can easily cast him turn three and use him turn four without help or even needing a fourth land.

While his prowess is a powerful passive ability, the triggered ability to give out double strike to any creature, not even just our own, is part of what makes Shu Yun such a fun and versatile commander. We can use our opponents’ aggression against each other, if we so choose, in what feels like a very Akido-like situation.

But how do we win with our cheap little prowess creatures? And how do we keep from getting smacked on the crackback?

Key Cards for Shu Yun, the Silent TempestShu Yun, the Silent Tempest

Monks are a surprisingly versatile creature type, largely because their design has changed so much. The tricky part is limiting our scope. Since we are looking to be aggressive and cast multiple spells in a turn, we’re going to limit ourselves to Monks that cost three or less mana. Even with that limitation, there are still quite a lot of different Monks we have access to.

Monk RealistMonk Realist and Venerable MonkVenerable Monk were among the first Monks to see print, both of which are small white creatures with enters-the-battlefield (ETB) abilities. The Realist is a NaturalizeNaturalize on a stick, while Venerable MonkVenerable Monk gains life. Both of these happen to work well with UnsummonUnsummon effects, which fits me, Unsummoned Skull, to a T!

Abbot of Keral KeepAbbot of Keral Keep and Zephyr ScribeZephyr Scribe represent the prowess and prowess-adjacent Monks. The Abbot has an ETB that lets us play the top card of our library, which makes it a solid topdeck or UnsummonUnsummon target. Zephyr ScribeZephyr Scribe is a looting effect that lets us re-use the looting ability when we cast a noncreature spell.

Mantis RiderMantis Rider and Fleet-Footed MonkFleet-Footed Monk are evasive Monks that make solid use of our commander’s ability to grant double strike. Mantis RiderMantis Rider was a staple in Modern Humans decks because of its ability to come out swinging with evasive damage while still presenting a blocker. Fleet-Footed MonkFleet-Footed Monk can’t be blocked by high-power creatures, kind of like a primitive version of skulk, and can become dangerous to block with double strike or any pump effect.

But how do we trigger our commander’s ability consistently?

The short answer is, we use as many cheap noncreature spells as we do Monks, so any spell off the top has a 50/50 chance of being either a Monk, which can draw cards, or a cheap noncreature spell, which, in turn, has a 50/50 chance of drawing a card (cantripping).

Our most common type of noncreature spell is cheap card draw. We want spells that cantrip, like OptOpt, or cards that let us dig deep into our deck, like Faithless LootingFaithless Looting. We want to be able to leave mana up to activate our commander’s ability, so typical typal draw effects, like Kindred DiscoveryKindred Discovery, are less useful here.

Running Monk ClassMonk Class in a Monk deck seems obvious from a flavor perspective, but the card is surprisingly useful. Its first ability is like Flurry, reducing the cost of our second spell each turn. When we level it up, we can bounce a nonland permanent. And, with its last ability, we can simulate Abbot of Keral KeepAbbot of Keral Keep’s ETB each upkeep.

SnapSnap is another bounce spell, but a bit more of a straightforward one. Still, it was printed in the broken-in-half Urza’s Block, specifically Urza’s Legacy, and has seen play in a variety of formats, including…Legacy. What makes it so powerful? It has the ability to untap two lands when it resolves. While we’re not using it for broken effects, we can use it to fix our mana if we have too much blue, in addition to having a free prowess-enabler.

Speaking of fixing our mana, like the Grixis () Robots deck last week, our manabase is primarily built around making sure our lands enter untapped and we can cast our spells on time. Command TowerCommand Tower and Exotic OrchardExotic Orchard are two of the best cards in the business at doing this, although Exotic OrchardExotic Orchard is a bit risky because it makes us reliant on our opponents to fix our mana.

How Does This Shu Yun, the Silent TempestShu Yun, the Silent Tempest Commander Deck Win?

Our win conditions are ways to break parity on board; we can absolutely win without them, but they make winning much easier. In particular, we want noncreature spells that enable us to continue to get in for damage when opponents have blockers. Akroma's WillAkroma's Will should have most modes active on any given turn, as our commander can come out on turn three regardless of whether our mana is fixed. 

Spare from EvilSpare from Evil gives us and our creatures protection from noncreatures, which can be used defensively, as a FogFog, or aggressively, as a means of making it really hard to block. As a two-mana means of invalidating blockers, which triggers prowess, we can use it to enable massive swings. With double strike, we can easily end a player or two!

In short, we’re looking to win by attacking with small Monks while players are setting up, then growing them while invalidating blockers when the game goes long. The early tenderizing damage enables big swings late, making Monks a solid aggressive typal deck despite being three colors.

Conclusion

Monks are a fun and flexible aggressive creature type, but they are a bit removed from the multi-strike class from Dungeons and Dragons. Extra combat steps could capture this, while Shu Yun’s abilities could lend to an interesting Voltron build if we wanted to lean into Equipment or Auras.

But how would you build Monks? And who would you have command the other variants?