Sisay, Weatherlight Captain Optimized copy

Commander / EDH* Combo Control Infinite Combo Midrange Multiplayer Toolbox

CBaldy

Land (33)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Island
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Planeswalker (5)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Oko, Thief of Crowns
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler

Creature (27)

• 1x Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Emiel the Blessed
• 1x Esika, God of the Tree  ^Flip
• 1x Faeburrow Elder
• 1x Fblthp, the Lost
• 1x Ghostly Pilferer
• 1x Hullbreacher
• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
• 1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
• 1x Lazav, the Multifarious
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
• 1x Valentin, Dean of the Vein  ^Flip

Artifact (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Blackblade Reforged
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Mystic Reflection
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Veil of Summer

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Compost
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Oath of Chandra
• 1x Oath of Nissa
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Neoform
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Windfall

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This is a version of my other Sisay deck that’s in the works. I am planning to transition having this be my main build, but I still need to play test a lot more to see what works.

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Sisay, Weatherlight Captain Optimized

Commander / EDH CBaldy

SCORE: 5 | 3 COMMENTS | 600 VIEWS

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This is my Semi-Competitive Sisay Toolbox deck. Utilizing Sisay’s tutoring ability, you can fill your deck with impactful legendary creatures and planeswalkers. There are some legendaries in the deck that are specifically for the combo, but I’ll go over those later in the description. This deck looks to leverage powerful hate-bearer effects on your opponents until it can assemble your deck’s combo.

Combo

Sisay has the really powerful ability to tutor up any legendary permanent in your deck. Granted, her power does have to be high enough, but that isn’t too hard to accomplish. The combo line in this version of Sisay is Aminatou, the Fateshifter + Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God + Oath of Teferi . Once you assemble these three permanents on the board you have infinite mana which you can then pour into Sisay to grab something like Ashiok, Dream Render and win the game (Note: you win through activating Ashiok and then bouncing her and activating her again, infinitely repeating this process). Now you may be asking how having Nicol Bolas, Aminatou, and Oath of Teferi gives you infinite mana. For those who are interested, go ahead and read the second section titled “So, how does this combo work?” Otherwise, skip ahead to the third section titled “Assembling the Superfriends Combo.” This is one of many combos Sisay can have in her tool belt, but I chose this one because I have always had a soft spot for planeswalkers. In the next section I’ll explain how to go about assembling the combo.

So, how does this combo work?

If you don’t already know how the combo achieves infinite mana, I’m going to explain it here. If you do, skip ahead to the next section that goes over assembling the combo. In case you’ve forgotten, our combo is Aminatou, the Fateshifter + Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God + Oath of Teferi . Aminatou is what makes this combo feasible. Her -1 ability, for those who aren’t familiar, let’s you exile a permanent you control and then it immediately comes back to the battlefield (flickering). This can hit creatures, artifacts, and enchantments; but notably for this combo, this ability can flicker lands and planeswalkers. Next, Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God has a static ability that allows this combo to function. His static ability allows him to use loyalty abilities of every other planeswalkers on the battlefield, notably Aminatou. This can give you value if you have Nicol Bolas on the battlefield without the rest of the combo or if an opponent has a spicy planeswalker with fun abilities. However, in relation to the combo, Nicol Bolas allows you to copy Aminatou’s flicker ability explained in the last paragraph. Lastly, Oath of Teferi allows you to activate loyalty abilities of planeswalkers you control twice on each of your turns instead of the normal once. This is key. Between Aminatou, Nicol Bolas, and Oath of Teferi, you have 4 Aminatou actuations. Now, how do I actually get the mana? Here is how to proceed.

1. Activate Aminatou to flicker a land. This will make it come into play untapped (Note: if the land you are flickering is untapped prior to the flicker, tap and float the mana in response to the loyalty activation).
2. Activate Nicol Bolas to flicker a second land.
3. Activate Nicol Bolas to flicker a third land (Note: Nicol Bolas is out of activations for this turn, but Aminatou is not).
4. Activate Aminatou, but this time target Nicol Bolas. This will flicker Nicol Bolas, and, upon reentering, his loyalty will reset and he will be able to be activated two more times (Note: if you don’t understand why he can activate two more times, it is because the game sees him as a new permanent. Don’t fight me on this one. There are loads of helpful articles explaining why online).
5. Activate Nicol Bolas with his newly acquired activations to bounce one land and Aminatou. Aminatou will then bounce one land and Nicol Bolas.

Continue step five until you have billions of every color of mana in your mana pool. You can then win on the spot by tutoring Sisay and finding any other planeswalker that draws cards or mills - my personal favorite being Ashiok, Dream Render . Now, instead of bouncing lands, bounce Ashiok to reuse her -1 ability to mill all your opponents out and exile their graveyards (Note: another easy and popular way to win is to grab any planeswalker that allows you to target a player and make he or she draw a card. You can loop this to make them draw their libraries. However, because this deck’s goal is to play with higher power levels, your opponents will have cheap or free interaction. I like making them mill and exile all of this so they never have the chance to interact). Then it is as simple as passing the turn to watch each of your opponents die due to an empty library.

Assembling the Superfriends Combo

Okay, so now we know what the combo is and how it wins. The issue is that it is a three card combo. While this may seem like a big issue, I’ll explain how to win off of one Sisay activation (as long as her power is 6 or more). Once you have assembled enough colored legendary permanents to get Sisay’s power up to 6, you want to pass the turn with access to at least one Sisay activation’s worth of mana (WUBRG).

1. Once it gets to the end step before your turn, activate Sisay and find Jegantha, the Wellspring . Untap on your turn and pass until you’re in your first main phase.
2. Tap Jegantha and grab Derevi, Empyrial Tactician . Derevi’s ETB will trigger, and you need to target Jegantha to untap our Elk friend.
3. Next, tap Jegantha and tutor Aminatou, the Fateshifter to the battlefield. Use her -1 loyalty ability to flicker Derevi. Upon reentering, Derevi’s ETB will trigger and once again untap Jegantha.
4. Tap Jegantha and tutor for either Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God or Oath of Teferi . Nicol Bolas will let you use Aminatou’s -1 thanks to his static ability, and Oath of Teferi will let you activate Aminatou a second time that turn. Whichever you choose, flicker Derevi to untap Jegantha.
5. Activate Sisay to find the permanent you didn’t grab last time (either Nicol Bolas or Oath of Teferi).

You have now assembled the combo, and it only took one Sisay activation - okay, yes I know it took 4 or 5 activations total, but you did it with only using your lands, rocks, and dorks once.

Flexible Cards

There is a lot of flexible options in this deck depending on what you like to play. You can go for a stax build and utilize different legendaries to get extra benefits. You can build the deck as a good stuff deck. You can build it as a turbo combo deck, or you can build it as a reactive deck. Because I dislike stax and turbo combo decks need a lot of fast mana (which is expensive), I decided to build my deck as a good stuff reactive deck which helps to explain some of my card choices (Note: this deck originally was a Superfriends deck so the higher amount of planeswalkers is because of that). I’ll go over most of the specific card choices in the future sections.

Combo Support

Okay, so this section is going to explain the combo support cards in the deck. Here we go!

1. Ramp. This deck plays a lot of ramp cards. There are the mana rocks, Farseek -esque effects, and planeswalkers who give you slight mana advantage. Ramp will allow you to have more mana available which will let you win sooner.
2. Teferi, Time Raveler . This card is a powerhouse! Its +1 allowing you to cast sorcerers at instant speed is absurd. His -3 lets you remove a pesky artifact, enchantment, or creature. But his true power comes from his static effect. He restricts your opponents to only casting spells at sorcery speed. This is busted. It completely turns off counters and a bunch of infinite combos, along with other things. If possible, I always try to get Teferi on the battlefield prior to going off for the win. Having him on the field almost ensures you will be able to combo off uninterrupted.
3. Faeburrow Elder . This card is a second Jegantha, the Wellspring . Once Faeburrow can tap for WUBRG, you can go off without needing Jegantha. Another card deserves a mention here and that card is Bloom Tender . I would definitely suggest playing this card if you have it. Because of its hefty price tag, I don’t currently have a copy. I am hoping to get one if and/or when the price drops.
4. While this hardly needs to be mentioned, I’ll say it anyways. Counters are a must run in any combo strategy. I don’t actually have a lot of them in this deck, but that’s because I’m working to get my hands on some better ones.

Legendaries

This is going to be the longest section for sure. I’m going to go over each of my legendaries and explain what purpose they serve.

1. Oath of Nissa . Oath of Nissa is a source of small card advantage. It replaces itself when cast from hand and can get you up a card when tutored. It allows our mana to be a little more flexible for our planeswalkers, but its main purpose is to serve as a 1 cmc legendary. When you need Sisay’s power up and you have no other legendaries, this can help you start. I’m looking into getting a Rhys the Redeemed because she’ll give you two colors at 1 cmc and because her recent reprint in double masters has made her affordable.
2. Oath of Chandra . This is a card I originally passed over when building my deck. A sorcery speed Lightning Bolt with a small upside occasionally? Doesn’t sound worth it. However, through a lot of play testing, I found myself wanting a cheap way to remove smaller creatures and a red legendary at a low cmc to buff Sisay. And this fits both roles.
3. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy . Kinnan is a good stuff card. He doesn’t help our combo, but he gives us two colors at two cmc and makes all our rocks and dorks better. I’ve considered playing a Freed from the Reel effect in the deck just for Kinnan. If you have Jegantha, the Wellspring or Faeburrow Elder , Kinnan and the Reel make infinite mana. Let me know in the comments if you think this is worth including.
4. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade . Lavinia serves multiple purposes. If you want to play him just for the colors, I wouldn’t blame you. But he has a larger effect of turning off decks with a lot of fast mana and turns off any free spells. This can be very relevant at higher power levels.
5. Fblthp, the Lost . Fblthp, or Phil, is definitely a flex spot. He’s in the deck to draw some cards and be a cheap legendary. He’s pretty alright in an opening hand, and in a pinch he can be tutored to get two cards. If you wanna play around with a slot, this would be a good one.
6. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons . Hapatra is currently in the deck almost solely for the colors she has. This is one of the slots I’m looking to improve shortly. However, she can give you some value in a grindier game.
7. Blackblade Reforged . This sword is in here to provide an alternative option to win. I’ve played games where I’ve ramped up to 12 or 13 lands and my combo was stopped. In these moments, grabbing Blackblade can be a quick way to win out of the blue. Also a flex spot.
8. Aminatou, the Fateshifter . I’m going to be brief with this walker along with the other combo pieces and enablers because I’ve already talked a lot about them in the earlier sections. But, Aminatou is a great way to get Sisay’s power up in a pinch.
9. Ashiok, Dream Render . Ashiok is a great way to get UB colors, and she also is a wonderful hate bearer. Not only does her static stop opponents from searching their libraries, her -1 ability exiles graveyards.
10. Narset, Parter of Veils . If you don’t know what this card does, you’ve been living in a cave for the last year and a half. Narset is a mediocre draw engine, but her real power comes from her static ability of stopping opponents from drawing multiple cards. This hoses turbo draw decks, and when combined with a wheel effect, she can be a wincon on her own.
11. Teferi, Time Raveler . If you want an in depth explanation to why this card is extraordinary, read about him in the above sections. Otherwise, Teferi is a good stuff card with a hate bearer effect.
12. Anafenza, the Foremost . Anafenza hoses any aristocrats deck and any deck look to abuse for triggers because her ability turns them all off. She also has 3 colors for 3 cmc and can buff Sisay additionally through combat.
13. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician . His main purpose is to help find your combo, but he also gains incidental advantage through combat.
14. Pramikon, Sky Rampart . Okay, this is going to take more explaining. On the surface, Pramikon isn’t that great of a card. But it has a spot in the deck because it gives you three colors for 3 cmc and can deter a lot of Afro strategies from going at you specifically. Combine Pramikon with Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons to fully buff Sisay.
15. Oko, Thief of Crowns . I know I said this about Narset, but if you don’t know what Oko is, you have been off the face of the earth in the last year. Oko is banned in practically every format but EDH because he is so powerful. He gives Sisay two colors and comes with 4 loyalty for three cmc. He has wonderful Commander removal with his +1 and when combined with Oath of Teferi , he can hose all the other commanders.
16. Tamiyo, Collector of Tales . Tamiyo is a flex choice and definitely a meta card. Her static is the most important part, barring opponents from making you sacrifice or discard cards. She is in the deck to compete with those sorts of decks. Her +2 is pretty bad, but her -3 is a regrowth, so that can come in handy if an important card is in your graveyard.
17. Yasharn, Implacable Earth . Yasharn is definitely a hate bearer card. While this boar gets you small card advantage with its ETB, its tea power is in its second ability. There is so much life payed in cEDH as well as permanents sacrificed. Yasharn shuts this all off. It’s especially good against fetches (Note: keep in mind that Yasharn’s ability is universal. This is one of the only universal hate bearer effects in the deck, but this one also prevents you from paying life and sacrificing permanents. Just keep that in mind when tutoring for it).
18. Linvala, Keeper of Silence . Linvala is in here for her hate bearer effect. She turns off activated abilities which can hose certain decks. She is the best possible tutor if you are ever playing against another Sisay player.
19. Karn, the Great Creator . Karn is in the deck again for his heat bearer effect. He adds nothing to Sisay’s power and his -2 ability does nothing due to EDH rules, but his static effect can ruin other people’s decks. I would never keep an opening hand with this in it, however.
20. Nissa, Vital Force . As I’ve been tuning the deck, I’ve almost cut this card a couple of times. It’s so hard to justify a 5 mana card when it isn’t part of the combo, even if all the abilities are great. This is definitely one of the weaker slots and one I’m looking to replace. Let me know if you have any suggestions in the comments.
21. Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God . Along with being a combo piece, he works really well with your other planeswalkers.
22. Jegantha, the Wellspring . An absolute monster in Sisay. Because she taps for WUBRG, she is essential in the combo package.
23. Oath of Teferi . An expensive enchantment but a good one. It is essential for the combo and makes your planeswalkers much better. It can also be tutored up to save a permanent with its delayed flicker ability in a pinch.

The Manabase

The Manabase is pretty straightforward. I’m playing all 10 shocks and 4 of the fetches. If you have the rest of the fetches or any ABUR duals, you should definitely add them in. I’d suggest taking out some basics. This deck is very mana hungry, but all the pips for Sisay’s ability are colored. There are a lot of colorless utility lands, but I don’t play any because of that reason. Next, the pathways. I’m playing four of the pathways. They’re not the best dual land, but they’re good on a budget. When combined with a couple of the pain lands, they allow me to have 18-19 sources of green mana in the deck, meaning I can consistently cast mana dorks turn 1. These should be switched with other fetches if you have them. I’m running 34 lands right now. This can seem a little high for any cEDH deck. Granted, this is not a competitive deck, but it is a high powered one. The reason I play this high of a land count is you never want to miss your land drop. Sisay is so mana hungry, especially if you don’t have legendaries in hand, that you need to continue to drop lands in the mid and late sections of the game.

Card draw? Why no tutors?

First, efficient card draw gets really expensive and I don’t quite have it in my budget to purchase it. Cards like Ghostly Pilferer and Compost are in the deck because they are cheap (both financially and cmc) and they are great draw engines. If anyone knows of any other cards like these, please let me know in the comments below. Sygg, River Cutthroat is a place to get some colors and a repeatable card draw effect. Sylvan Library is a slam dunk. Super efficient card draw. And second, drawing into any of your combo pieces makes it more difficult to combo off. You still can, but you have to cast some of the spells instead of tutoring for them. Brainstorm is in the deck to put any combo pieces back on top of the library, and then you can shuffle them away with Sisay’s ability. I’ve been heavily debating playing Scroll Rack to serve this function as well, but I’m still on the fence. And as for running no main board tutors, this is mostly a budget restriction. If you have it in your budget to play some of these tutors, go ahead and do it. I’m happy to provide suggestions on what I would cut from the list for some tutors. As my collection grows, I’ll add any tutors to the deck. However, Neoform is amazing. It turns a dork into Dockside Extortionist . A 2 cmc into Faeburrow Elder . A 3 cmc into Emiel the Blessed .

Deck’s Weaknesses

There are some things you need to watch out for while playing Sisay.

1. Any card like Cursed Totem that turns off your activated abilities completely turns off Sisay. These effects are hard to beat and a great thing to hold a counter for.
2. Ashiok, Dream Render , Aven Mindcensor , and the newly printed Opposition Agent . All three of these cards, along with any other cards that turn of searching libraries, make it really difficult to win. The deck has some ways to deal with these permanents in the form of interaction.
3. Sisay has a big target. Sisay has a big target on her back and she gets removed a lot. You need Sisay to be able to win, meaning that I wouldn’t play her until you have someway to protect her or you’re close to going off for the win. Lightning Greaves are both in the deck to protect Sisay.
4. Opening Hands. This is a deck where you have to aggressively mulligan at the beginning of the game. You need to have a hand with some sort of ramp or card draw and hopefully interaction. A cheap legendary is always nice. And whenever I have an opening hand with a combo piece, it’s almost an instant mulligan. Don’t be afraid to go down to 6 or even 5 cards for a good opening hand.

A Good Opening Hand

For a good opening seven, you want 2 or 3 lands, a little bit of interaction, a dork or two, and some card draw. Really explosive hands are ones that have a lot of dorks and fast mana. These can get to the win, but if your opponents have interaction, you fizzle really quickly. If there is a cheap legendary in your hand, that’s awesome. It helps to boost Sisay and can give some value.

Help, Please

Now I’m asking for your help. Please, if you have any suggestions at all, leave them in the comments below. I’m always looking for new cards to add that are powerful. I do have a bit of a budget, but I’m open to any ideas. Currently (03/15/21), I’m looking for some good interaction that won’t cost me a fortune financially. But any suggestions for any part of the deck would be much my appreciated. Thanks so much!

Cards From Kaldheim

1. Mystic Reflection . Anyone who hasn’t seen this card needs to check it out. The foretell ability is gravy on top and not why I want to play it. The ability to change what something enters as is huge. It can be used offensively or defensively. Turn your Arbor Elf into a Dockside Extortionist or turn someone else’s commander into a mana dork. This card is very strong, and I plan to play it as soon as I get my hands on one.
2. Esika, God of the Tree  . I’m not sure how I feel about this card yet. The front side is the only side tutorable by Sisay. Its effects are solid. Turning all your legendary creatures into dorks as well as there abilities is nothing to laugh at. The backside is pretty strong, but also very random which isn’t very strong in higher power levels. If I get my hands on one, I’ll try it out.
3. Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider . Well, they finally did it. They put Doubling Season in the command zone. I don’t think I’m going run this guy in my build, but this is an auto-include in any Superfriends build. Get Sisay up to 7 power, tutor Vorinclex, tutor a slew of planeswalkers, and ultimate them to win the game.

Okay, that’s about all I have for you guys! The rest of the deck is fairly straightforward. If you have any questions about what you’ve read here in the description or about any card choices, let me know I’m the comments below. I’m constantly tuning this deck, and I’ll update this page when I do. If you like what I’ve done here, let me know in the comments and I’d love an upvote on the page. Thanks for letting me share my deck with you all!

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Aminatou, the Fateshifter + Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God + Oath of Teferi
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 56 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.97
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Elk 3/3 G, Food, Foretell, Pest 1/1 BG, Treasure, Warrior 1/1 W
Based on	Sisay, Weatherlight Captain Optimized CBaldy EDH