Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss | Art by Karl Kopinski

As of today, April 13th, Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed is officially the 4th most popular commander on EDHREC. The last time we covered Y'shtola's lightning-fast ascension through the popularity ranks, Y'shtola was at over 34,000 decks and overtook Kaalia of the VastKaalia of the Vast's #5 spot. Now, Y'shtola has over 37,000 decks and has bumped Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss to the #5 spot.

Without rehashing the previous discussion too heavily, let's examine where Y'shtola is now, where she may be headed, and who she's up against!

Popularity, Thy Name Is Y'shtola

So, how did Y'shtola manage to usurp Krenko's ranking? There are a few valid theories behind this.

For one thing, the Final Fantasy catgirl, mechanically, has more colors than Krenko. But she also has, perhaps more importantly, a broader spectrum of versatility. The color identity aspect partly plays into this idea, but it's more than just that concept.

Krenko, Mob Boss is pretty firmly pigeonholed into a role in a majority of Goblin-typal decks (with the odd token deck as well), while the Night's Blessed is beholden to no such limitations. In stark contrast to the common Aggro-archetypal builds that Krenko commands, our feline-humanoid protagonist is a spellslinger with a few other aces up her sleeve.

Notably, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed is also an Esper () commander, which is a popular color identity that, until very recently, has suffered from conflicts of power level and identity. I covered this particular issue back in January, concluding that Hashaton, Scarab's FistHashaton, Scarab's Fist was the beginning of something that Y'shtola has since largely settled. Players like the Esper color identity, but for whatever reason, they found the commanders either unfit to command or generally uninteresting.

So, perhaps it's because of this niche that Night's Blessed has taken up the mantle she now has.

The Next Hurdle: Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice

When our heroine defeats the most popular Goblin commander on EDHREC, what's next? Simply put, it's time for Y'shtola to defeat the compleat.

At this time, Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice has a staggering 2,084-deck lead over Y'shtola. Although this is a tighter margin than where Krenko was when Kaalia got deposed from the Top 5, Y'shtola's versatility will now be truly put to the test.

Not only will Night's Blessed builders need to contend with Atraxa's addition of a fourth color - (, which is arguably the strongest color in Commander right now - but also the simple variability of what Atraxa does. Let's face facts: the concept of "counters" is widespread and extremely broad. Spellslinger decks like Y'shtola's may, honestly, not be able to keep up.

But will this be the end of the road for the FFXIV marvel? Like I often say when speculating like this, it remains to be seen. And she has two more tricks at her disposal. These come in the form of being more current, as she came out just last year, and being part of an immensely popular outside property. Y'shtola double-dips with ease into the Final Fantasy and Magic fandom pools, while Atraxa has only Magic fans to draw from.

Conclusion

We won't get into The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon or Edgar MarkovEdgar Markov for now, as we can just cross those very distant bridges when we come to them. But for now, I'd like to do two things.

The first is to congratulate anyone rooting for Y'shtola to come out on top, because she's doing a great job of it! The second is to open the floor to you, dear readers, as I so often do. Where do you foresee Y'shtola, Night's Blessed landing in our popularity ranks before she plateaus? Do you think she will even plateau? And have you built any of the decks in the current Top 5?

Sound off in the comments below!