Fun fact: experience counters go on you. That means if you manage to summon Mizzix and gain three experience, only to summon Kalemne, Kalemne benefits from the three experience counters her little goblin friend made. Naturally, this means we’re hereby required to make a 5C experience deck, and who better to lead it than Sisay? Let's walk through our options...
-
Fblthp, the Lost: Fblthp is great in the right circumstances. Typically, in the early game, I'm trying to pump up Sisay to fetch the big guns and Fblthp isn't too reliable in that department. All it takes is an opponent throwing a spell his way and Sisay shrinks. I'm not really that keen on that, but later on? He's wonderful.
-
Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile: He can filter my mana to let Sisay go grab someone.
-
Katilda, Dawnhart Prime: Once upon a time, this deck was utilizing shrines to allow Daxos to do something. Then Kamigawa II: Electric Boogaloo came out, added more shrines, and I had to ask myself, “How devoted to this being a shrine deck am I?” The answer is not much. The shrines went out and some toolbox creatures went in. A good chunk of those creatures were also human, and we do like mana fixing. Katila lets us fix our mana, turning most of our creatures into walking Arcane Signets to fuel Sisay’s hunt even more.
-
Krydle of Baldur’s Gate: Krydle’s first ability may not do much for us, but that other one can end games. We can potentially make some very big creatures and having the ability to pay 2 to get them through is wonderful.
-
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade: MOAR HUMANS! Lavinia is another human to fuel our psuedo-Coat of Arms, fix mana with Katilda, and might also hinder our opponents’ game plans.
-
Radha, Heir to Keld: Early on, Radha's tap ability is great. I always like seeing Radha in my opening hand. The trouble is that if Radha isn't cast early, Sisay isn't going to go looking for her. Odds are, Norin is already out and that means Radha might only be providing us with +1/+1 for her green pips.
-
Saffi Eriksdotter: If all I have is a 3/3 Sisay, this is generally the card I'm grabbing. Saffi is potentially making us 5/5 (assuming I have Norin out and not Sanctum of Tranquil Light). She also provides some protection for our favorite pieces, which is neat.
-
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy: Shanna may be on the chopping block. She doesn't add much to the deck. Early game, there may not be a lot out to boost her. Late game, there are bigger, badder threats in the 99. What she does have going for her is being a 2-drop legendary creature of more than one colour and I'm too lazy to look at see if we've gotten a better replacement in recent years.
-
Daxos the Returned: The first of our hidden commanders, Daxos... doesn't see a lot of play. He's outshined by so many of his cohorts that he either ends up getting passed over by Sisay or being a dead draw in our hand. In the event that Ezuri generates enough experience, he can start to put out some decent Spirit tokens, but that's about it.
-
Kethis, the Hidden Hand: Kethis is here to support Meren and Muldrotha as I would much rather slowly recoup our creatures than I would exile two of them to hard cast them from our graveyard. He does decrease some CMCs though, so he has that going for him. Also, he's three colours for three mana, which can really help to buff Sisay up.
-
Kelsien, the Plague: Pssst! Hey, wanna know a secret? I have never played Kelsien. Like Kethis, he's three colours for three mana and unlike Kelsien, he helps with our experience theme. However, he tends to not be useful in most of the games I play. He gets passed up for better legends or the mana that could go to casting him goes to tutoring up something else.
-
Kunoros, Hound of Athreos: As we shifted from shrine.deck to toolbox, stopping graveyard shenanigans seemed like a decent tactic to add to the mix.
-
Mangara of Corondor: Oh, hi removal.
-
Reki, the History of Kamigawa: I like drawing cards. Reki and Jhoira allow this to happen.
-
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: Selvala’s a relatively new addition to the crew and already is proving to be a MVP. Most games, Selvala is tapping for more than ten mana, letting us tutor up two or more creatures, on most occasions. I’m kicking myself for not including this sooner.
-
Day of Destiny: I don't believe I have ever played this card.
-
Dragon Throne of Tarkir: Late game, this thing is an MVP. Let's say we've managed to pull off our Norin/Ezuri engine. We're dumping +1/+1 counters on Sisay, who keeps getting more and more creatures onto the battlefield. Then, she fetches this. We equip her and tap her. She gives her crew Trample and something ridiculous like +19/+19. It's even stupidier if Mizzix has come out and cast a ridiculously big Secure the Wastes.
-
Ezuri, Claw of Progress: My first time shuffling this deck up, Ezuri and Norin showed up in my opening hand. Turn one was Mountain, Norin. Turn two, I dropped a Forest and Sol Ring. Turn three was Island, Ezuri. As soon as Ezuri was on the field, Norin fled and I had my first experience counter. By the time it got back to me, I was at four experience. Sisay came out on turn four and Ezuri made her a 9/9. Sure, that was a god hand that I'm never going to see again, but it left me infatuated with Norin and Ezuri as an engine to build experience. That's our main tactic when playing the deck. If our opponents disrupt the machine by taking out Ezuri, we have people to bring him back. If we sticks, we have ways of protecting him. Ezuri is a very important component of the deck. After Sisay, he may be the most important card in it.
-
Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero: If I'm anticipating a board wipe, Gerrard is a great pick for Sisay. His presence is usually enough to keep my opponents from casting that Wrath of God, as they don't want to give the advantage to me. They will forestall nuking the battlefield until they have targeted removal.
-
Halana and Alena, Partners: Oh, my stars and garters, these two are so good here. One, their ability to grant haste is something I initially overlooked. One of the first games with them added to the deck saw them letting Selvala tap for twelve mana the turn Sisay brought them out, resulting in even more stupidity following.
-
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain: In the instance where another player decides to devote their removal to Sisay, Jhoira tries to step up and fill her shoes. We're seldom without a historic spell in our hand and she might just get us another. No, we don't get to choose what we're putting out, but she's still amazing during those dark times.
-
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas: If Ezuri is allowed to do his thing, Kalemne can come down and become a problem for our opponents. There are only seven creatures in the deck who will trigger Kalemne's ability, but Kalemne will take advantage of all the experience her cousins have generated.
-
Llawan, Cephalid Empress: Screw you, Blind Seer!
-
Meren of Clan Nel Toth: No one will be surprised that Meren is one of the best cards in this deck. Once the Norin/Ezuri engine takes off, Meren will come out to be ready to bring Ezuri back (because as soon as the table sees what Norin and Ezuri are up to, they are going to throw everything they have at Ezuri). Meren keeps the machine going.
-
Mizzix of the Izmagnus: I have a Mizzix deck. I enjoy Mizzix. Here, there isn't much devoted to Mizzix. There are presently eleven cards in the deck Mizzix reduces the cost of and some barely need it. They are whammies, however... If we've built up our experience, Mizzix can flood the battlefield with tokens for W, play our deck for GG, deck an opponent for UUU, exile everyone else's boards for W, or undo all our opponents' hard work for WB. Mizzix has the potential for ending games... if Ezuri didn't tend to close games out instead.
-
Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage: Remember what I said about flashing in Gerrard in response to a board wipe? For eight mana, I can make it a bigger surprise.
-
Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge: When this guy got spoiled, I considered building a deck around him. I have wanted a legendary human tribal deck for a while, but Sisay is slowly turning into that. Here, he can give all of my creatures Menace. He also lets me draw cards in the event that I actually cast creatures from my hand instead of just letting Sisay call them up.
-
Thran Temporal Gateway: This guy is on the chopping block as... there aren't many instances where it has proven itself to be useful. Yes, it lets me cheat something in on someone else's turn. A surprise Gerrard could be cool when someone casts Wrath of God, sure, but most of the time, I'm pouring my mana into Sisay.
-
Vhati il-Dal: One day I'm going to have Vhati out and then go fetch Kelsien and the two are going to just go on a killing spree. You watch.
-
Arvad the Cursed: Like all vampires, I find Arvad boring. He's here because he can potentially turn Sisay into a 6/6 by his lonesome, but if we're counting on him to do that, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. If Sisay is big enough to go and get him, odds are she's fetching better targets.
-
Heroes' Podium: A Coat of Arms for legends only! Cool! That alone warrants it a place here as, if we're allowed to build an army of legendary creatures, this can make them all into major threats. It's second ability is alright, but if we can take advantage of it, odds are we have the mana to activate Sisay's ability, letting us tutor for anything we want, rather than just look at a small section of our deck. Odds are, the second ability is useless to us.
-
Jodah, the Unifier: Jodah almost acts like an alternate general for this deck. He's stupidly good. He's a one-sided Coat of Arms and, in the event that I actually cast my creatures rather than cheating them into play with Sisay's ability, he gives them cascade. He's great.
-
Kyler, Sigardian Emissary: As the deck became more and more human tribal, Kyler seemed like a great addition. Not only does Norin accelerate his growth, but he makes Sisay bigger as he goes.
-
Niv-Mizzet Reborn: Fun fact: when I was initially thinking about this deck, Niv-Mizzet here was going to be helming the deck. He could come out and potentially put the experience commanders into my hand, but he could also whiff or find some that we weren't really ready for ("Oh, hai Daxos! Nice to see you. Sure would be nice to have some enchantments to cast with you..."). Then Modern Horizons gave us Sisay and we found our captain. Still, Niv can snag us a lot of our other toys, so... he still has a place here.
-
Predator, Flagship: When an opponent presents a problem that our generals and/or shrines can't resolve, shoot it out of the sky!
-
Roalsek, Apex Hybrid: Roalesk's proliferation can boost our experience counters. He can also bolster Sisay's power. If the Norin/Ezuri engine is going strong, putting counters on Roalesk turns him into a threat our opponents have to answer. Flying, Trample 30/30's tend to do that.
-
Rubinia Soulsinger: When everything else fails, take someone's creature.
