Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel MTG Card

Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel - Commander 2020

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Mythic
Type	Legendary Creature — Hyena Beast
Abilities	Partner,Partner with, Vigilance
Released	2020-04-17
Set symbol
Set name	Commander 2020
Set code	C20
Power	3
Toughness	3
Number	19
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Grzegorz Rutkowski

Key Takeaways

Yannik disrupts opponents and shapes gameplay through strategic graveyard interaction and card advantage.
Deck synergy and meta relevance make Yannik a fitting choice for creature-focused strategies.
Understanding Yannik’s strengths and weaknesses is key to overcoming this sentinel in matchups.

Guide to Vigilance card ability

In the strategic universe of Magic: The Gathering (MTG), the vigilance ability stands out as a powerful tool for players. This potent keyword allows creatures to attack without tapping, keeping them ready and alert to defend against incoming threats. It represents a perfect balance between aggression and defense, offering a dynamic approach to gameplay. Lets dive deeper into how vigilance shapes the battlefield.

Text of card

Partner with Nikara, Lair Scavenger Vigilance When Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel enters the battlefield, exile another creature you control until Yannik leaves the battlefield. When you do, distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of target creatures, where X is the exiled creature's power.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Yannik Scavenging Sentinel allows you to exile cards from graveyards, which not only disrupts your opponent’s strategies but can also pave the way for gaining card advantage through graveyard manipulation or recursion tactics within your own deck.

Resource Acceleration: With the potential ability to exile multiple creature cards, Yannik facilitates resource acceleration by bolstering your field presence. This can quickly escalate the power dynamics in your favor, as larger creatures or those with valuable abilities can then be cheated onto the battlefield at a reduced cost or with additional benefits.

Instant Speed: While Yannik itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, the abilities it triggers can capitalize on instant-speed interactions. By exiling opponent’s creatures right before they’re used for effects or when they die, Yannik ensures that you’re always one step ahead, maintaining a sense of control and unpredictability that can disrupt enemy plans at crucial moments of the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel encourages players to explore graveyard strategies by necessitating a creature card discard in order to fully utilize its potential. This prerequisite can be restrictive, particularly in gameplay scenarios where maintaining hand advantage is crucial, and can be a setback when you are already behind on resources.

Specific Mana Cost: This Sentinel’s casting requirements, while not prohibitive, do dictate a commitment to both green and white mana, making it less flexible in decks that aren’t heavily invested in these colors. This requirement can limit deck-building options and potentially cause inconsistency in mana availability within games.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When it comes to deploying creatures to the battlefield, Yannik’s four mana cost is a competitive slot. There are alternative creatures within the four mana range that may provide more immediate board presence or utility without the discard dependency, which could serve as a more advantageous choice depending on the deck composition and current game state.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Yannik Scavenging Sentinel is a dynamic addition to creature-focused decks, offering both offense and defense capabilities. With its power to exile other creatures from the battlefield or graveyard, Yannik serves multiple roles and adapts to various in-game situations.

Combo Potential: This sentinel pairs exceptionally well with creatures that have enter-the-battlefield effects or benefit from leaving the battlefield. It enables creative interactions and unlocks new deck-building strategies for players exploring synergistic combinations.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where graveyard strategies are prevalent, Yannik offers unique utility by interrupting these tactics. Its presence on the board can shift the tide by directly addressing key components of opponents’ strategies, making it a timely addition to your arsenal.

How to Beat

Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel, emerges as a formidable creature with unique abilities that challenge players in Magic: The Gathering. To surmount this adversary, understanding its strengths and vulnerabilities is crucial. Yannik shines in decks synergizing with counters and creature interaction. To effectively counter this strategy, you’ll need removals or spells that can sidestep Yannik’s vigilance and counter distribution.

Incorporating instant-speed removals such as ‘Murderous Rider’ can dismantle the Sentinel before its ability becomes a factor. Cards like ‘Tormod’s Crypt’ can disrupt Yannik’s synergy with the graveyard, disrupting any strategy reliant on recursion. Sweepers like ‘Damnation’ can clear the board and reset the state of play, nullifying Yannik’s influence on the battlefield.

In essence, the key to beating Yannik lies in swift and decisive action, removing it from play before its controller can establish a commanding board presence. Understanding your deck’s tools and staying one step ahead of the Sentinel’s strategies will secure your victory in the duel.

BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering MTG involves knowing the intricacies of each card, like Yannik Scavenging Sentinel, and how it can potentially revolutionize your gameplay. Yannik offers a blend of strategic exile and power plays that can be a game-changer in creature-heavy decks. For those seeking an edge in graveyard-centric matches or looking to harness the full potential of board manipulation, Yannik is a card worth considering. Dive deeper into its capabilities and find out how to optimize your deck with Yannik’s unique abilities. Elevate your strategy and disrupt the meta; let’s explore the depths of Yannik’s utility together.

Cards like Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel

Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel is a compelling addition to creature-based strategies in Magic: The Gathering. It shares synergy with cards like Fiend Hunter, which also exiles other creatures, albeit temporarily. Yannik offers a unique advantage by potentially growing stronger based on the exiled creature’s power and giving that power to another target creature of your choice.

Another card with a comparable mechanic is Fairgrounds Warden. While it similarly exiles a creature upon entry to the battlefield, it lacks the enhancement aspect Yannik possesses. In contrast, Yannik can be a game-changer, essentially serving a dual purpose: removal and power boost. Additionally, we have Karmic Guide, echoing the resurrection theme, but its role reverses by returning a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield instead of exiling one.

Overall, Yannik’s flexible role in creature-focused decks, alongside its capability to disrupt opponents and empower allies, situates it favorably among MTG cards with exile mechanics. It’s not just the exile capability, but the tactical advantage and creature augmentation it provides that sets Yannik apart in gameplay.

Cards similar to Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel by color, type and mana cost

Asmira, Holy Avenger - MTG Card versions

Heron's Grace Champion - MTG Card versions

Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn - MTG Card versions

Leinore, Autumn Sovereign - MTG Card versions

Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa - MTG Card versions

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel MTG card by a specific set like Commander 2020, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2020-04-17	A creature with a “partner with” ability can’t partner with any creature other than its designated partner. Losing a partner ability during the game doesn’t cause either to cease to be your commander.
2020-04-17	Auras attached to the exiled creature will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Any Equipment will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled creature will cease to exist. When the card returns to the battlefield, it will be a new object with no connection to the card that was exiled.
2020-04-17	Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards of your deck are shuffled to become your library.
2020-04-17	If Yannik leaves the battlefield before its triggered ability resolves, you won’t exile any creature you control. Yannik’s reflexive triggered ability won’t trigger.
2020-04-17	If a creature with +1/+1 counters on it receives an equal number of -1/-1 counters and this causes it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner’s graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, Nikara’s last ability triggers. That’s because the ability checks the creature as it last existed on the battlefield, and it still had those counters on it at that point.
2020-04-17	If a creature with counters on it leaves the battlefield at the same time as Nikara, Nikara’s ability triggers for that creature.
2020-04-17	If a token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won’t return to the battlefield. It will still let the ability distribute counters.
2020-04-17	If one of the target creatures becomes an illegal target in response to the reflexive triggered ability, the +1/+1 counters that would have been put on that creature are lost. They can’t be put on another legal target.
2020-04-17	If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders’ combined color identities. If Haldan and Pako are your commanders, your deck may contain cards with blue, red, and/or green in their color identity, but not cards with white or black.
2020-04-17	Nikara’s last ability causes you to draw only one card and lose only 1 life, no matter how many counters or kinds of counters that creature had on it.
2020-04-17	Note that the target player searches their library (which may be affected by effects such as that of Stranglehold) and that the card they find is revealed, even though these words aren’t included in the ability’s reminder text.
2020-04-17	Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won’t have to pay an additional the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 damage from one of them, not from both of them combined. Command Beacon’s effect puts one into your hand from the command zone, not both.
2020-04-17	The second ability represented by the “partner with -ame]” keyword modifies the rules for deck construction in the Commander variant and has no function outside of that variant. If a legendary creature card with “partner with -ame]” is designated as your commander, the named legendary creature card can also be designated as your commander.
2020-04-17	The triggered ability of the “partner with” keyword still triggers in a Commander game. If your other commander has somehow ended up in your library, you can find it. You can also target another player who might have that card in their library.
2020-04-17	Use the power of the creature as it last existed on the battlefield to determine how many +1/+1 counters to distribute.
2020-04-17	Yannik can be the target of its own reflexive triggered ability.
2020-04-17	Yannik’s triggered ability doesn’t target the creature you control. That creature is chosen as the triggered ability resolves. After it’s exiled, the reflexive triggered ability triggers and targets are chosen to receive the counters.
2020-04-17	You choose how the counters will be distributed as you put the reflexive triggered ability onto the stack. Each target creature must be assigned at least one counter.
2020-04-17	You may choose zero target creatures for Yannik’s reflexive triggered ability. If you do, no creature receives +1/+1 counters.
2020-04-17	“Partner with -ame]” represents two abilities. The first is a triggered ability: “When this permanent enters the battlefield, target player may search their library for a card named -ame], reveal it, put it into their hand, then shuffle their library.”