Yoshimaru is a very popular partner Commander. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful offers a low-to-the-ground Legendary Creature that you can reliably cast on turn one every single game. This Legendary pet also makes itself a formidable threat very quickly by playing Legendary permanents.

There are currently 55 Legendary Creatures with the keyword partner that you could decide to put with Yoshimaru, so which one is the best? If you play any Bracket 5 (cEDH) you might say that Thrasios, Triton Hero is the best partner option. Gaea's Cradle decks seem to be all the rage, but what about some other options?

Reyhan, Last of the Abzan offers some more interesting deckbuilding around +1/+1 counters. Jeska, Thrice Reborn could turn Yoshimaru into a fierce Voltron deck, focused on winning with Commander damage, but those decks have a lot of weaknesses. How about a Voltron deck that knocks out the whole table at once? Introducing Yoshimaru's partner in crime: Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar.

Why Kediss Works

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar is a Legendary Elemental Lizard for that deals damage to each of your opponents when Yoshimaru deals combat damage to one of your opponents. Kediss also happens to be only two mana, meaning he is an easy turn-two play right after Yoshimaru. This aggressive curve in the Command Zone creates a little bit of pressure on your opponents as early as turn two.

Boros is one of the most aggressive color combinations in Magic: The Gathering. Let's push it to its absolute limits in Commander by trying to knock out the entire table around turn six or eight with combat damage. By casting Legendary permanents that boost Yoshimaru's power turn after turn you can start to whittle down life totals early and quickly.

Kediss' ability allows you to create a true Voltron deck but also solving the main problem that these decks suffer from: closing the gap to victory.

Equipping your Commander with lots of equipment and auras is nothing new and these decks can be scary. Swords to Plowshares from left field can be enough to completely set you back to the stone age though. If you happen to knock out one player at the table and then crumble to dust, the game may go for a long while yet causing that player to sit on the sidelines for too long.

Let's take out everyone at once to avoid this issue that many Voltron decks struggle with.

Decklist for Yoshimaru and Kediss

Bracket 3 seems to be a perfect fit for this dynamic adorable duo. Yoshimaru dying and losing all his counters can feel pretty devastating and can lead to games going longer than this list would like.

Chrome Mox, Mox Amber, Lotus Petal, and Simian Spirit Guide could help this deck reliably attempt a win on turn five to six cementing it to Bracket 4, but for now we will look under the lens of Bracket 3.

Gamble and Jeska's Will are two Game Changers that are present in this list. Gamble is a cheap tutor that can grab some key pieces to help get through what is on your opponents' board. Jeska's Will feels incredibly powerful right on turn three with both Commanders in play. Your opponents should have around five to six cards in hand netting you some mana and getting so see some cards off the top of your library.

Yoshimaru and Kediss | Commander | Nigel Kurtz

• Commander (2)
• 1 Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar
• 1 Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Agent 13, Sharon Carter
• 1 Agent Bishop, Man in Black
• 1 Amber Gristle O'Maul
• 1 Araña, Heart of the Spider
• 1 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist
• 1 Augusta, Order Returned
• 1 Boromir, Warden of the Tower
• 1 Bre of Clan Stoutarm
• 1 Cait Sith, Fortune Teller
• 1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
• 1 Everett K. Ross, Hapless Attaché
• 1 Gogo, Mysterious Mime
• 1 Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder
• 1 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 1 J. Jonah Jameson
• 1 Kassandra, Eagle Bearer
• 1 Keleth, Sunmane Familiar
• 1 Laelia, the Blade Reforged
• 1 Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion
• 1 Lightning, Army of One
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Mabel, Heir to Cragflame
• 1 Merry, Esquire of Rohan
• 1 Norin the Wary
• 1 Plargg, Dean of Chaos // Augusta, Dean of Order
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Raphael, the Nightwatcher
• 1 Raph & Leo, Sibling Rivals
• 1 Rosa, Resolute White Mage
• 1 Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 1 The Duke, Rebel Sentry
• 1 Urdnan, Dromoka Warrior
• 1 Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn // Hydaelyn, the Mothercrystal
• 1 Zack Fair

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
• 1 Archangel Elspeth
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 1 Jeska, Thrice Reborn

• Instants (7)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Bulk Up
• 1 Legion Leadership // Legion Stronghold
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Lorehold Charm
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Temur Battle Rage

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Avatar's Wrath
• 1 Gamble
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Sundering Eruption // Volcanic Fissure

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Angelic Destiny
• 1 Flaming Fist
• 1 Flowering of the White Tree
• 1 Noble Heritage
• 1 Sheltered by Ghosts
• 1 Tavern Brawler
• 1 Tilonalli's Crown

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Eye of Vecna
• 1 Horn of the Mark
• 1 Luxior, Giada's Gift
• 1 Maul of the Skyclaves
• 1 Mjölnir, Storm Hammer
• 1 The Spear of Leonidas
• 1 Wrecking Ball Arm

• Lands (33)
• 1 Abstergo Entertainment
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flagstones of Trokair
• 1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1 Hammerheim
• 1 Inspiring Vantage
• 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Mines of Moria
• 4 Mountain
• 1 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 4 Plains
• 1 Plaza of Heroes
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Sunbaked Canyon
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 The Grey Havens

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No Need for Ramp

Sol Ring is the poster child of Commander. Playing it is essential in about every deck you can fit it in. Breaking the mold is a fun part of deck construction in this format. For this deck, that means not a single piece of traditional ramp, or a way to generate extra mana each turn.

Yoshimaru and Kediss create a perfect turn-one and turn-two play. Most ramp spells are two mana.

Fellwar Stone, Mind Stone, Arcane Signet, Boros Signet, most of these are staples in every single Boros deck. These cards in fact slow this deck down more than speed it up.

Playing a ramp spell on turn two instead of Kediss doesn't help our aggressive game plan of knocking out opponents as soon as possible. Kediss is just as important to our plan as Yoshimaru so it doesn't make sense to cast him one turn later. The mana curve in this deck is also incredibly low.

Not a single card in this list is over to cast and there are only 12 total spells that cost this value. Come out of the gate swinging in true Boros fashion.

Turn Three is Important

Turn one play Yoshimaru, turn two play Kediss, turn three... now what?

Time to establish an engine to start growing Yoshimaru's power. Agent Bishop, Man in Black from the TMNT set is a perfect spell to cast on turn three. Agent Bishop will put a +1 counter on Yoshimaru when he enters and then will put more counters on our pup during combat.

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame will also put two +1 counters on our Commander as soon as she enters the battlefield. The Legendary Cragflame also can give Yoshimaru a ton of useful keywords as well.

Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion is the absolute all-star of this deck. She will also enter and put two +1 counters on our best boy and then double each counter put on him while she is in play. There are also several other Planeswalkers that are in this deck that she works wonders with.

Backgrounds from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate give Commander Creatures extra lines of text. These Enchantments grow in power if you have two Commanders under your control. Tavern Brawler is my absolute favorite of this cycle of cards.

Drawing two cards a turn and growing each of our Commanders each turn is more value than Phyrexian Arena could even dream of.

Flaming Fist is another three-mana background that gives Double Strike whenever our Commander attacks. Double Strike is the fastest way to win with a large Commander and will also create multiple instances of Kediss' trigger in a turn.

Legendary Lands

Yoshimaru gets a counter whenever a Legendary permanent enters the battlefield under your control. There are quite a few Legendary Lands in Magic thanks, mainly, to Universes Beyond.

Lands don't take up much space in your deck since you have to play them anyway. Legendary Lands essentially grow your Commander each turn without a single spell or action being taken. Most of these also provide some kind of utility that makes them even stronger than just putting a +1 counter on Yoshimaru.

Abstergo Entertainment can help filter mana and bring back a Historic permanent from your gravehand to your hand. Legendary permanents are Historic and there are a ton of them that you will want to get back into play if they are removed.

Minas Tirith can draw you some cards. Mines of Moria can provide some Treasure tokens, although not at a great rate. Mikokoro, Center of the Sea and Geier Reach Sanitarium can allow you to see a few more cards in your deck, just hope and pray your opponents don't draw into an answer to your board.

Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire can be a piece of removal and can be used at a cheaper rate thanks to the amount of Legendaries in play. Flagstones of Trokair is little more than a Legendary basic Plains, but an extra +1 counter on Yoshimaru can't be overlooked.

A lot of these effects do not seem all that great, but they are free slots in the deck since they are on Lands you need anyway. Yoshimaru grows in power each time one of these enters so make sure to play your Land for turn in your first main phase.

Closing the Gap to Victory

There are lots of cards that help push this deck to a winning board state, but there's some that should have your opponents start shaking in their boots when they come down. Norin the Wary is the best card in this entire deck. That's right, this 2/1 for (that is labeled as a coward in his type box) is the single strongest card in the entire 99.

Norin will put a +1 counter on Yoshimaru every single turn, even your opponents. This has to be answered quickly, or it will have you win in a few rotations around the table. Norin is also especially difficult to remove because he exiles himself whenever a spell is put on the stack. Casting Gamble for Norin is a no-brainer most of the time.

Jeska, Thrice Reborn is another way to close out the game. Yoshimaru only needs six +1 counters on him to be lethal with Jeska on the board. Seven Commander damage triples to 21, the magic number. Kediss will also deal 21 damage to each of your opponents, possibly knocking them out if you've been applying enough pressure.

Boros Charm, Bulk Up, and Temur Battle Rage are some classic spells that can end the game in an instant. All three of them are present in this deck. Ajani, Caller of the Pride is a permanent-based version of this effect that also could stick around for a few extra turns.

Delney, Streetwise Lookout doubles Kediss's damage trigger. This is a really cool effect combined with any double strike that you can give Yoshimaru. Delney also works with a lot of other Creatures in this deck that place counters on Yoshimaru or provide some other form of support.

Closing out the game quickly should not be very hard as long as your opponents do not find an answer to Yoshimaru. There are some pieces of protection for him included in this deck, but the focus should be knocking out your opponents before they have a chance to dig for an answer.

Conclusion

Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar offer a perfect aggressive curve in the Command Zone.

If you are looking to build a Voltron deck but also enjoy throwing massive amounts of damage across the table, this partner pair is perfect for you.

Hopefully no one will remove Yoshimaru, because I mean look at how cute he is, how could you possibly cast a Lightning Bolt against him?