Imagine you’re the fierce Orene of Kosul, Svetya, and one day someone’s arrival causes you to jump on your polar bear and make a run for it. Now, you’ll get to introduce your enemies to the man who stole Kosul from Svetya. Yushkov, time to make your entrance.

Yushkov comes equipped with some mighty abilities. With all your enemies coming into play exhausted, he makes it so much easier for your units to keep on hitting. Then, just when they think they’ve got some units ready to defend, the extra power from his Ultimate can fuel up a giant Flame Blast to wipe them out of the game.

So let’s take a look at some decks with the Usurper of Kosul.

Praxis Usurpation 4 Oni Ronin (Set1 #13) 4 Pyroknight (Set1 #16) 4 Torch (Set1 #8) 4 Ankle Cutter (Set4 #8) 4 Flame Blast (Set1 #2) 4 Flamefang Charmer (Set4 #18) 4 Teleport (Set1 #80) 4 Amaran Stinger (Set4 #68) 2 Frontier Bard (Set4 #19) 2 Magus of Celerity (Set4 #241) 4 Rusty Grenamotive (Set4 #26) 4 Yushkov, the Usurper (Set4 #310) 2 Praxis Displacer (Set1 #100) 11 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1) 2 Shugo Standard (Set4 #1) 2 Time Sigil (Set1 #63) 4 Temple Standard (Set4 #49) 4 Praxis Banner (Set2 #171) 4 Seat of Impulse (Set0 #54) 2 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425) Sorting: 4x Oni Ronin

4x Pyroknight

4x Torch

4x Ankle Cutter

4x Flame Blast

4x Flamefang Charmer

4x Teleport

4x Amaran Stinger

2x Frontier Bard

2x Magus of Celerity

4x Rusty Grenamotive

4x Yushkov, the Usurper

2x Praxis Displacer

11x Fire Sigil

2x Shugo Standard

2x Time Sigil

4x Temple Standard

4x Praxis Banner

4x Seat of Impulse

2x Diplomatic Seal 75 cards Export Copied!

This Praxis Aggro deck puts your opponents on the back foot then keeps them there. Time “bounce effects” like Teleport get so much sweeter when Yushkov means those enemies will be replayed exhausted. You get to consistently clear the way for your Flamefang Charmers and Amaran Stingers. Once they’re good and softened up, your Yushkovs and Rusty Grenamotives will charge up a giant Flame Blast for the finishing blow.

A fun wrinkle for this deck is Ankle Cutter. Since units with Endurance are immune to Yushkov’s powers of exhaustion, Ankle Cutter makes all those Sandstorm Titans unable to survive even the tiniest bit of damage.

Grena-Power! 4 Grenadin Drone (Set1 #5) 4 Combustion Cell (Set3 #7) 4 Flame Blast (Set1 #2) 2 Tripwire Grenadin (Set1003 #3) 4 Assembly Line (Set1 #29) 2 Kindle (Set1002 #2) 4 Rusty Grenamotive (Set4 #26) 4 Yushkov, the Usurper (Set4 #310) 4 End of the Barrel (Set4 #44) 4 Waystone Titan (Set1004 #4) 4 Great-Kiln Titan (Set3 #49) 4 First Flame (Set4 #48) 27 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1) 4 Granite Waystone (Set3 #1) Sorting: 4x Grenadin Drone

4x Combustion Cell

4x Flame Blast

2x Tripwire Grenadin

4x Assembly Line

2x Kindle

4x Rusty Grenamotive

4x Yushkov, the Usurper

4x End of the Barrel

4x Waystone Titan

4x Great-Kiln Titan

4x First Flame

27x Fire Sigil

4x Granite Waystone 75 cards Export Copied!

Now, Yushkov gets to show off how he can summon some of the mightiest units in the game to his side. Here you get to use Grenadins to help accelerate with Combustion Cell alongside Yushkov to play Great-Kiln Titan and First Flame way ahead of schedule. Yushkov is a huge boon to Waystone Titan here, making it much harder for your opponent to have a unit ready to block a 5/7 Charge.

It’s better to join up with Yushkov while you still can, because he’s not known for his mercy.

Good luck!