As the boogeyman of cEDH, it’s no secret that Partner is one of the most busted mechanics in MTG. Offering easy access to an expanded color identity, not to mention some insane abilities, Partner is deservedly notorious. Thanks to this, it’s little wonder that Wizards of the Coast has tried to fix the mechanic a few times.
To stop things getting too out of hand, Wizards have created a fair few dedicated Partner pairs and groups. While these aren’t nearly as powerful as their unrestricted counterparts, they can still pack a serious punch. With this in mind, it’s wild that Partner pairs like Nikara, Lair Scavenger and Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel see so little play in Commander.
MTG Nikara, Lair Scavenger and Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel
Within this Partner pair, Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel is by far the better card, and it’s not even close. By putting one of your creatures in a temporary time-out, you can load up your board with tons of +1/+1 Counters. On its own, this unique ability opens up tons of flicker and counter-based synergies, which are incredibly easy to exploit in Abzan colors.
On the counter side, cards like Hamza, Guardian of Arashin and Corpsejack Menace are auto includes for this Partner pair. Similarly, Conclave Mentor, Warden of the Grove and Arwen, Weaver of Hope all scale your board incredibly quickly. This, in turn, opens up synergies with Gyre Sage, Incubation Druid, and Evolution Witness, which want as many counters as possible.
Beyond these typical counter synergies, you can also include high-power creatures that naturally work wonders with Yannik. Yargle and Multani, Ghalta, Primal Hunger, and Hierophant Bio-Titan are all fantastic for this, and are surprisingly inexpensive, too. The same is also true for Warp cards like Anticausal Vestige, Astelli Reclaimer, and Mightform Harmonizer, which each offer compelling synergy individually.
As if Yannik wasn’t already compelling enough, you can easily tap into flicker synergies to double dip on counters. Cards like Emiel, the Blessed, Charming Prince, and Flickerwisp are fantastic for this, but you don’t just have to flicker Yannik. Cards like Ravenous Chupacabra, Wood Elves, and Reclamation Sage are all ideal flicker targets and easy inclusions as a result.
While Yannik is the star of the show, Nikara, Lair Scavenger isn’t just here to boost color identity. Unsurprisingly, this card has fantastic synergy with Yannik, essentially letting you draw a card whenever you exile or flicker something. Hell, Nikara lets you draw when creatures with counters die, too, so keeping your hand stocked is trivial.
Infinite Mana, Blink, Counters, and Tokens
Given they’re the driver of the deck, it shouldn’t be surprising that Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel is also the more capable combo engine. This is thanks to its flicker ability, which lets it slot into countless existing combos. Alongside Abdel Adrian, Gorion’s Ward and Restoration Angel, for instance, Yannik can serve as the final piece of the puzzle.
By playing Yannik to exile Restoration Angel, then playing Abdel to exile Yannik, you’ll get a fresh Restoration Angel back. This then lets you flicker Abdel to bring back Yannik, who exiles Restoration Angel again. From here, you’re back to step one, while being up one 1/1 Soldier Token, and having distributed three +1/+1 counters.
Technically, this combo doesn’t win on its own; however, adding a wincon is trivial in Abzan colors. Altar of the Brood is the classic colorless option, but Concordant Crossroads alternatively lets you swing in to win.
For extra redundancy, any creature-based Oblivion Ring-style effect can fill in for Abdel alongside Felidar Guardian or any other flicker effect. With Glorious Protector, Lumbering Battlement, and All-Fates Stalker all filling this role, adding consistency is easy. If you want to go in a completely different direction, however, Yannik can also enable infinite mana combos.
Alongside Karmic Guide and Ashnod’s or Phyrexian Altar, you can get infinite mana, counters, and death triggers. With Yannik in the grave, playing Karmic Guide will bring it back into play, allowing you to exile Karmic Guide for two +1/+1 Counters. From here, sacrificing Yannik to an altar brings back Karmic Guide, allowing you to restart the loop while being up on mana.
Naturally, ending the game from this point is trivial, with Walking Ballista, Torment of Hailfire, and Exsanguinate all being on the table.
Bafflingly Underplayed
Offering a remarkably cohesive combination of archetypes, Nikara, Lair Scavenger and Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel are a fantastic MTG Partner pair. Realistically, the only trouble with this pair is finding slots for everything, as there are so many synergies to abuse. Despite this, there are fewer than 1,300 decks using this pair at the helm, according to EDHREC.
While both Nikara and Yannik are slightly more popular in the 99, even then, they’re hardly format staples. With Nikara appearing in under 6,000 decks and Yannik in around 2,000, they do seem truly forgotten. This seems like a crying shame given their potential; however, there is a silver lining.
Thanks to seemingly being forgotten following their release in the Commander 2020 Symbiotic Swarm deck, both these cards are incredibly cheap. On TCGplayer, you can easily pick up a copy of Nikara, Lair Scavenger for $0.91, while Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel is $0.29. At this price, building a deck around these two feels like a fantastic budget option.
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