Shiko, Paragon of the Way

Shiko is a flying, vigilant value engine that turns your graveyard into a second hand. Every time she enters the battlefield, you're exiling a cheap spell or permanent from your graveyard, copying it, and casting that copy for free. This means you want to fill your graveyard early with efficient cards—cheap cantrips, removal spells, mana rocks, or token generators—so Shiko can turn them into free value. The deck plays like a UR/Jeskai tempo deck that pivots into value: you're getting ahead on cards and mana while building a modest board presence.

Win conditions come from Shiko herself (a 4/5 flyer is real damage), tokens generated by copying permanents, or just grinding out a long game where you've copied enough utility spells to lock opponents out. With cards like Fury, Fury, or Subtlety, you're copying efficient interaction; with token generators like Talrand or Young Pyromancer, each copy becomes a token army. Think of Shiko as a fair but powerful self-mill payoff that rewards playing a focused, synergistic deck rather than pile of staples.

The deck wants some redundancy on cheap spellslinging and token generation so Shiko always has juicy targets. Self-mill effects like Stitcher's Supplier or simple cantrips fill your graveyard. Blink effects (Ephemerate, Soulherder) let you reuse Shiko's trigger multiple times per game, turning a good effect into a game-winning engine.

Strategy generated by Tapped Decks AI. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.