Yisan - Resist And Bite

Duel Commander Combo Competitive Elves Infinite Combo Mono-Green Primer Toolbox

DandiCze

Land (40)

• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Castle Garenbrig
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Lair of the Hydra
• 1x Lazotep Quarry
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Ominous Cemetery
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 20x Snow-Covered Forest
• 1x Talon Gates of Madara
• 1x Urza's Cave
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x War Room
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Protection (6)

• 1x Allosaurus Shepherd
• 1x Legolas's Quick Reflexes
• 1x Royal Treatment
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Whisperwood Elemental

Wincon (4)

• 1x Marvin, Murderous Mimic
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Ashaya, Soul of the Wild
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth

Mana (19)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Delighted Halfling
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Scout
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Earthcraft
• 1x Fanatic of Rhonas
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Circle of Dreams Druid
• 1x Undermountain Adventurer

Tutor (12)

• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Worldly Tutor
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Invasion of Ikoria  ^Flip
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Archdruid's Charm
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Sowing Mycospawn
• 1x Woodland Bellower

Commander (1)

Goodstuff (15)

• 1x Insidious Fungus
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Elvish Visionary
• 1x Keen-Eyed Curator
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Eladamri, Korvecdal
• 1x Endurance
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Six
• 1x Tranquil Frillback
• 1x Questing Beast
• 1x Thought-Knot Seer
• 1x Deep Forest Hermit
• 1x Thrun, Breaker of Silence

Untap (3)

• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Wirewood Symbiote
• 1x Scryb Ranger

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This my Yisan deck for Duel Commander. I have got into mtgtop8 several times, so you can find older versions of this deck there- Mtgtop8. Yeah, I am just flexing, noone cares about old versions.

I have seen some Yisan Primers, but it was either for multiplayer or MTGO and it is very different. Multiplayer is played more as stax and MTGO Yisan has access to much more mana. So I am trying to create an up to date Primer for Duel Commander, I hope this will help you to understand Yisan deck a little better.

There are two major ways how to play Yisan. You can play aggro / combo, where both versions need to use some toolbox cards to get max value from Yisan. I prefer to play more Combo way so keep that in mind.

Mono-green commander

Players asked me about other mono-green commanders so I decided to talk about them a little here. I have played almost all of them before I started with Yisan, so I can try little comparison. Let's start with my first commander.

Thrun, the Last Troll I am not going to give him too much credit. I played him as Land destruction / Voltron. It was fun, but i think he is just too slow, because meta with 20 life is very aggro and he is unable to compete with it. I tried to play him as a card and for commander swap, but my deck list just doesn't work for him, maybe if you play more aggro way. It was definetly worth a try against Baral, Chief of Compliance, but he is banned now.

Nissa, Vastwood Seer   I liked this deck so much. Mono-green "control" was just funny for me, but change for 20 life simple killed her, because she is too slow for it.

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds I have played her for few months and it is funny deck and can be quite compettitive. She is just pure combo deck. It's fun to play Eldrazi turn 3, but she doesn't play too much disruption and decision making isn't too hard with her. But if you want fast combo deck, this is worth a try.

Titania, Protector of Argoth I have played her before Yisan was unbanned and it's definetly compettitive commander. So if you like aggro and mono-green, this will work. But as i said i like combo decks so when Yisan came back, i changed it immediately

Why did i choose Yisan, the Wanderer Bard?

-I like concept of "control" mono-green, that's why I have played Nissa before and you can definetly control board with this deck even in opponent's turn.

-I don't want to play just simple aggro (no offensive for those who like them). I want to play deck with hard decision making and a lot of synergies.

-Yisan is just insanely consistent deck. Well, you have tutor in command zone.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

-very consistent

-quite fast (unless you have to disrupt opponent)

-resilient to spot removals

-resilient to stax and contermagic (as long you have Yisan on board)

-great answers as Toolbox

Weaknesses

-mass removals

-There are cards that just shut down your deck as Linvala, Keeper of Silence / Aven Mindcensor / Containment Priest / Hushbringer / Opposition Agent

Game plan

Main plan is just turn 2 Yisan, first use for Untap, second use Mana, third use Tutor to Wincon. Most of the times this deck kills just with damage, but you can find infinite combo in this deck list.

You want to play Yisan ASAP and you want to just use his ability, if he survives. When Yisan is in game, you usually don't want to play cards from your hand in your turn, unless they are very good. While activating you just have to choose what is best in current situation. This is decision making you just have to learn with Yisan.

Commander swap

You usually want Yisan as your commander, but there may be some match-ups, where it is worth to consider Questing Beast instead.

Mulligan

If you have at least 2 lands and something for turn 2 Yisan, you are good to go, but you can have good hand even without 1 CMC Mana elf (you have 2 CMC elf).

Synergies

-Temur Sabertooth + Wirewood Symbiote + Creature that can give you at least 5 mana = infinite mana, then you just return whatever creature with Temur Sabertooth. Most fun is probably to kill opponent with Thought-Knot Seer (you just "mill" your opponent.

-Deep Forest Hermit + Earthcraft / Circle of Dreams Druid = quite a lot of mana from a creature that is good against aggro decks.

-Deep Forest Hermit +Wirewood Symbiote + Creatures that gives you at least 3+ mana = you can creature 4x 2/2 each turn, which is just end for aggro decks.

-Deep Forest Hermit + Skullclamp = Lot of cards.

-Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth + Boseiju, Who Endures = you can use fact that all lands are forest to return your lands with Quirion Ranger. You can also use Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx twice for example.

-Questing Beast + Maze of Ith = damage can't be prevented only to your opponent, so you can always use maze on Questing Beast to protect it, but blockers will still die.

-Earthcraft / Arbor Elf + Wild Growth / Utopia Sprawl / Nissa, Who Shakes the World = with Earthcraft a lot of free mana. Just Earthcraft helps you with activating Yisan a lot.

Sylvan Library + Augur of Autumn / Courser of Kruphix / Vivien, Monsters' Advocate = you kinda "cheat" top of your library and then play it with those cards from there, really good against control decks.

You can create a lot of synergies in this deck. Those are just my favourite to do.

Verse counters

Double Versing = if you activate Yisan, hold priority, untap Yisan and activate again, you get two tutors for creatures of the latest verse. For example, your Yisan is at 2 counters. You activate Yisan, hold priority, untap Yisan, then activate Yisan again. Yisan is now at 4 verse counters and you can search for two 4-cmc creatures.

Main paths:

1) Standard path: This is path you want to take in most situations unless you need to find answers / get interrupted by opponent / you can get faster with using your hand- Quirion Ranger, Priest of Titania, Fierce Empath for Craterhoof Behemoth

2) Combo path: If you have 1CMC elf and enough lands, then really good path to win turn 5 is: Wirewood Symbiote, Wall of Roots and Circle of Dreams Druid, then you can win in your turn by combo with Temur Sabertooth. You should have 5 mana when you use Yisan for second time, so you search for Wall of Roots and it will give you extra mana to use yisan again.

3) Toolbox path: There are games where you need to use multiple verse counters as toolbox. In games like that you just find whatever is needed and end game might be some big creatures from your deck for example Questing Beast / Elder Gargaroth, but this is based on your hand a lot.

Choices:

1 CMC

Arbor Elf if you have Wild Growth / Utopia Sprawl.

Quirion Ranger / Wirewood Symbiote for untap.

Sylvan Safekeeper if you need protection.

Allosaurus Shepherd this card is just amazing, you can search it if you want to cast something big from hand, or if you have a lot of elves, so you can give everyone Allosaurus and attack opponent.

Boreal Druid if you need colorless mana for Thought-Knot Seer.

Skyshroud Ranger decent choice, if you have some lands on hand and also Quirion Ranger / Scryb Ranger.

Other Mana elves if you need some extra mana.

2 CMC

Priest of Titania / Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary if you can use a lot of mana, this is always good choice.

Phyrexian Revoker is great answer against a lot of combo decks, walkers or some artifacts.

Wall of Roots maybe when you need something on 3 CMC and you need extra mana to use Yisan again or when you need good blocker.

Wall of Blossoms solid blocker + cantrip.

Sylvan Caryatid hexproof blocker can be very usefull against mono-red.

Scavenging Ooze just grave hate and lifegain.

Scryb Ranger is not just for untap. You can use protection from blue for blocking Kraum / Kess or some random blue creatures.

Fauna Shaman you search for her as response, when Yisan would be removed from battlefield.

Elvish Visionary is good to search as reaction against mass removal, so you have some value from it at least.

Kraul Harpooner removal against flyers, but can also be searched for trade with big attacking creatures, because he gets that +X buff even without any flyers on the battlefield.

3 CMC

Augur of Autumn not really good target for Yisan, but I search for it a lot with Woodland Bellower.

Circle of Dreams Druid is really good to search as double-verse along with Fierce Empath, because Circle of Dreams Druid will usually give more mana than Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary / Priest of Titania, so it is easier to cast Craterhoof Behemoth.

Courser of Kruphix good blocker and life gain.

Eternal Witness when you need to get win condition from graveyard.

Reclamation Sage when you need removal for enchantment or artifact.

Endurance can be used as grave hate on opponent, but also on yourself when you want to search something, but it is in your graveyard. Second reason is usually used from hand, because Eternal Witness is just better.

Fierce Empath usually just go for Craterhoof Behemoth, if you can win from it.

4 CMC

Thought-Knot Seer I like to search for him a lot. When i know opponent has something annoying in hand or when i want to win with Craterhoof Behemoth and want to be sure opponent doesn't have any answer against it.

Questing Beast to finish opponent, kill planeswalker, or as toolbox against Glacial Chasm or other prevents.

Temur Sabertooth removal protection and combo piece.

Obstinate Baloth quite big creature that gains life, so solid against aggro.

5 CMC

Whisperwood Elemental if you have enough creatures on the battlefield, then he is really good option to secure you a win, because wrath effects will not save your opponent at that point, but he is also good against aggro decks, because you just creature free tokens each turn, which might turn into usefull creatures later. Also the fact that they are colorless can come handy against protections.

Deep Forest Hermit really good against aggro decks and have some valid synergies.

Elder Gargaroth this is MVP against aggro decks.

6 CMC

Primeval Titan not really target for Yisan, but there are valid targets for him, so he can work as another solo-card win.

Woodland Bellower this is card you will usually choose when you get on this CMC. He is just so good.

Sawtusk Demolisher I wasn't sure about this card, but he turned out as really good card. You will never search for him with Yisan, because you need to get him to your hand. Good thing is that Fierce Empath can find him. When you mutate you can either destroy some annoying card, opponent's land, or against aggro decks I often destroy my own land to create that 3/3 beast under my control.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Duel Commander legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.40
Tokens	Copy Clone, Dungeon: Undercity, Fanatic of Rhonas 4/4 B, Manifest 2/2 C, Royal, Skeleton 4/1 B, Squirrel 1/1 G, The Initiative, Treasure
Folders	Disassembled, Main