The Caller of Heroes *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Casual Goodstuff GW (Selesnya) Multiplayer

NV_1980

Creature (34)

• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld
• 1x Delighted Halfling
• 1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
• 1x Dragonlord Dromoka
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1x Gaddock Teeg
• 1x Gisela, the Broken Blade  ^Meld
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Hua Tuo, Honored Physician
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 1x Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
• 1x Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Myrel, Shield of Argive
• 1x Reki, the History of Kamigawa
• 1x Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant  ^Flip
• 1x Saryth, the Viper's Fang
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Yasharn, Implacable Earth

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 7x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Minas Tirith
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 7x Plains
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Instant (5)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Urza's Ruinous Blast

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chimil, the Inner Sun
• 1x Heroes' Podium
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x The Great Henge
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Flowering of the White Tree
• 1x Instill Energy
• 1x Mirri's Guile
• 1x Wheel of Sun and Moon

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Teyo, the Shieldmage
• 1x The Wanderer

---

Welcome to The Caller of Heroes! {G}{W}!

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this Selesnya, legend-themed, toolbox deck; commanded by Captain Sisay. The heir to the Legacy itself has been gathering its component-parts for as long as she can remember. Many times, Yawgmoth sent out his Phyrexian forces to find the young master of the Weatherlight, in an effort to stop her from assembling the ultimate weapon that could spell his faction’s doom. A few times, his compleated ones even managed to capture Sisay. So far though, they’ve not been able to hold her for long. For our captain has friends, powerful friends, that have come to rescue her whenever she found herself in dire straits. Now, the forces at your disposal are threatening her. She’s not going take any chances this time around. She’ll summon her compatriots to her aid right away. Prepare yourself for the arrival of many legendary forces that will rock your multiverse! This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hope you will enjoy it!

Why Sisay?

When one aims to build a tool-box deck, it really helps when one can rely on a continuous enabler of tutoring to fetch required tools. Captain Sisay’s tutoring just comes with one minor caveat; she can only tutor for legendary stuff. As it happens, Selesnya colors offer a wide range of incredibly useful legends whose abilities combined together form a nigh impregnable pillow-fort.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The following parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck.

• Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
• Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
• Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
• Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
• Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
• Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
• Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
• Resilience: indicates the measure in which the deck can prevent and take punches.
• Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

---

Mana: 3

In terms of direct additional mana, this deck benefits from having four mana dorks available as well as four solid rocks. It’s also worth pointing out that at least three repeatable, unattached untap-options can be deployed in order to re-use dorks and other mana-producing permanents.

Ramp: 4

Fortunately Selesnya has the best ramping colors in the game, so some beautiful spells can be cast in this regard. One can divide them into land-fetchers (six options in total, two of which can be repeated) and droppers (two excellent, cheap-to-cast spells whose drops can be repeated every turn).

Card Advantage: 5

The major defining strength of this deck. Obviously Sisay herself is an incredibly potent tutor whom one can rely on consistently because she’s the commander. Her ability is supported by a few great CA boosts, including five that provide direct draw, three that provide conditional draw, an additional tutor and two scry resources.

Overall speed: 4

Everything that’s required for a speedy deck is in here in sufficient numbers; mana, ramp, card-advantage and a nice and low average CMC of 3,3 (with 42 of its cards sitting at <= CMC 3). Especially once one gets the captain up and running, she can pretty much fetch whatever one needs to ensure an even bigger pool of resources at one’s disposal.

Combo: 1

Though having a tutoring commander seems almost like part of a recipe for a successful combo-deck. It’s been decided not to focus it in this direction. There’s still a lot of synergy of course, as this is what makes a pillow-fort extra fluffy.

Army: 4

Powerful creatures, in terms of strength/toughness as well as ability, have been added to create a versatile force. Both colors are featured in more or less equal measure. Attention has been spent on ensuring that when combined, a board-state can be created that’s difficult to combat as it features almost all available ways to keep the army’s individual members from harm.

Commander: 2

This deck really profits a lot from having its commander around. Being able to tutor for needed pieces to vanquish opponents is pretty crucial. Not to say that this can’t be accomplished without Sisay at the helm, but it’s going to be much more difficult (and slower).

Interaction: 5

Stopping opposing decks in their tracks is one of the things that this deck excels at. Most notably amongst its strengths, are nine options that inhibit spell-casting or completely prevents the use of counter-spell magic. Then there’s seven spells included to destroy opposing permanents along with two cards that severely dampen the speed of opposing decks.

Resilience: 5 There’s a lot of stuff in here that protects the deck’s wielder and his/her creatures from harm. Some of them provide hexproof (five cards), while others provide indestructibility (three cards), life-link (three cards) and protection. There also several great recursion options available (four cards) as well as three other options to keep the deck’s board-presence vibrant.

Spellpower: 2

Not a lot of high-powered stuff in here, but amongst these spells are opportunities like two all-in protection spells, a spectacular creature booster, a recursion permanent, a strong artifact/enchantment vaporizer and a mass-exile spell.

---

Total power score: 35

Pretty high-powered for a relatively straight forward deck. Overall its power resides in abundant resources, predictability and a hell of a lot of protection and durability. It’s unlikely to run out of useful spells anytime soon and Sisay ensures that one can keep looking for them time and again to find what’s needed.

General strategy

The plan is to start by building up a pillow-fort; as comfy as it can possibly be made. Choosing the appropriate cards to construct it (which greatly depends on the opponents one’s facing) becomes easy once the good Captain becomes available. With a decent chunk of protection in place, tutor and summon whatever is needed to finish the job; easy.

Starting hand

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a cheap-to-cast dork/rock like Birds of Paradise, Arcane Signet, Mox Amber or Sol Ring. This is a must; it’s not recommended to start a game without this hand (even if one has to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand would also contain some additional ramp and/or low-cost draw options.

Early game

Get that bed ready, it’s time to build a nice, big pillow-fort on top of it! Could use some resources before laying down that first floor, though. Aside from the cards already mentioned in the ‘Starting hand’ section, some ideal land-fetching/tutoring cards would include Exploration, Nature's Lore, Three Visits or Weathered Wayfarer. Truthfully, Sword of the Animist is also brilliant on creatures that can attack early. Casting some early card-advantage is helpful too. Mirri's Guile, card:Reki, History of Kamigawa, Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top are all excellent in this phase.

Ready to build that fort? Not quite. One still needs Captain Sisay as she’s instrumental at finding fort-components. Before summoning her, it would be very helpful to make sure her landing happens AND it sticks. Therefore, casting stuff like Delighted Halfling, Dosan the Falling Leaf, Grand Abolisher, Lightning Greaves, Mother of Runes or Myrel, Shield of Argive should get some priority. After Sisay’s arrival, her first tutoring should be used to find and cast a creature that will grant even more protective options, like Saryth, the Viper's Fang or Shalai, Voice of Plenty. The first floor has been erected! On to the second! Maybe even a third … and fourth!

Mid-game

For protection, one needs something that limits oppositions’ options. What exactly that entails, depends on their strategy. The most common eventualities can all be accounted for. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker and Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist can take care of combat-focused decks. Spell-slinging can be opposed with Brisela, Voice of Nightmares    , Gaddock Teeg or even The Wanderer (dependent on the type of spell-slinging). ETB/XTB-decks can be brought low with Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines and Hushbringer (the last of which unfortunately cannot be tutored with Sisay). There’s ways to counteract decks (and/or commanders) that depend greatly on activated abilities, with a creature like Linvala, Keeper of Silence. Infect-decks can be completely disabled with Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Opponents that fuel their strongest abilities/combos by sacrificing permanents only require something like Sigarda, Host of Herons or Yasharn, Implacable Earth as powerful deterrents.

To make sure as much of the above as possible actually lands on the field, the counterspell-inhibitors mentioned in the previous section remain important. By this time, one should also have enough mana available to cast Chimil, the Inner Sun, which doubles as a fantastic card-advantage resource. In case the opposition still manages to kill stuff, one can utilize several means to bring back what’s been lost through recursion enablers like Bruna, the Fading Light  , Wheel of Sun and Moon and especially card:Hua Toa, Honored Physician.

End-game

By now, a fluffy moat, drawbridge and inner-keep surround the deck’s wielder. Time to relax, sit back and unleash some truly powerful vaporizers to mop up. These include engines of destruction like Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, card:Ulamog, Infinite Gyre and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger. With sufficient creatures summoned, the use of Heroes' Podium can also prove very powerful.

Protection Suite

As mentioned in the ‘General Strategy’ section, there’s a lot of potential harm that one can protect themselves from by using the (legendary) permanents in this deck. In case it was possible, some redundancy was built in, just in case opponents found creative ways to get rid of permanents anyway. Overall, the ‘fort’ has the potential to grant:

• protection from targeted, hostile spells for the deck’s wielder (one enabler).
• protection from targeted, hostile spells for creatures (lots of built-in redundancy for this).
• protection from non-combat damage to the deck’s wielder (one enabler).
• protection from all damage to the deck’s creatures (one enabler).
• protection from non-combat damage for all the deck’s permanents (one enabler).
• prevention from anyone benefiting from ETB effects (two enablers).
• prevention from anyone benefiting from XTB effects (one enabler).
• inhibition of opposing spell casting/ability-use during the deck’s turn (lots of built-in redundancy for this).
• inhibition of spell-casting/ability-use by paying life or sacrificing permanents (one enabler).
• inhibition of all non-creature spell-casting (two enablers (combined)).
• protection from forced sacrifice (one enabler).
• indestructibility for all permanents (one enabler).

Unfortunately, there are some spells and effects this deck can’t provide any protection against. This includes:

• Forced, untargeted draw/milling.
• Untargeted exile.

Card Choices

Lands

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

• Ancient Tomb: this deck has so much life-gain potential, that the cost of using this can be considered negligible.
• Arid Mesa/ Flooded Strand/Marsh Flats/Misty Rainforest/ Verdant Catacombs/Windswept Heath/Wooded Foothills: the lands used to filter through the deck, which enables finding cards that matter to the deck’s strategy quicker.
• Command Tower/Exotic Orchard/Mana Confluence/Reflecting Pool: great all-color mana lands that have very few disadvantages in their use.
• Bountiful Promenade/Canopy Vista/Sunpetal Grove/Temple Garden/Temple of Plenty/Wooded Bastion: lands that provide Selesnya mana, that depending on circumstances enter the battlefield tapped or untapped. The best MTG has to offer has been incorporated, except for the original dual lands which are outside most players’ price-range.
• Gaea's Cradle: productive land in a creature-rich deck.
• Minas Tirith: a draw resource of which the requirements are easy to obtain.
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: very useful mana battery in a permanent-rich deck; especially when said permanents are hard to get rid of.
• Yavimaya Hollow: a great tool to keep valuable creatures alive and kicking.

Mana and ramp

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

• Arcane Signet: cheap-to-cast, doesn’t come into play tapped and grants any Selesnya mana when tapped.
• Azusa, Lost but Seeking/Exploration: because playing more lands than one a turn creates more available resources faster.
• Birds of Paradise: just a decent dork.
• Cultivate: obtain two lands in one go? Hell yeah!
• Delighted Halfling: a dork that prevents legendary spells from being countered; makes it much easier for legends’ landings to stick.
• Mox Amber: a free-to-cast mana source that just depends on a legendary permanent to be on the battlefield? An excellent fit in this deck!
• Nature's Lore/Three Visits: perfect, cheap-to-cast, green ramp spells.
• Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: an all-time favorite legendary mana source that can generate great amounts of it with a strong creature present.
• Sol Ring: are there EDH decks without this card?
• Sword of the Animist: a legendary weapon with which all basic lands can be tutored from the deck.
• Weathered Wayfarer: as long as one’s behind on lands, this can be used to grab one.

Card Advantage

The mechanisms that provide card advantage:

• Enlightened Tutor: there’s some fantastic artifacts and enchantments that can swing games in the deck’s favor, and this beautiful instant can find all of them.
• Mirri's Guile: helps to determine what’s drawn.
• card:Reki, History of Kamigawa: considering most of the spells in this deck are legendary, this is one of the best draw enablers possible.
• Scroll Rack: in essence, this extends one’s hand-size.
• Selvala, Explorer Returned: a reliable draw enabler with a touch of mana- and life generation alongside; a great combination. She grants the draw to others as well, but hey … if that keeps opponents from attacking/bringing the hurt, that can be considered a win.
• Sensei's Divining Top: functions like Guile in most respects, but allows draw in a pinch as well.
• Toski, Bearer of Secrets: quite a common ability within blue and a very rare one in green, and therefore insanely valuable in a green creature-heavy deck like this.

Inhibition

The mission is to stop you from doing stuff, and these cards will enable that.

• Bruna, the Fading Light  /Gisela, the Broken Blade  : these angelic companions by themselves are powerful combatants and Bruna even brings back a creature upon ETB. But when they’re combined into Brisela, Voice of Nightmares    , their true purpose within this deck is fulfilled as one of the most powerful inhibitors known to the MTG plane-verse.
• Chimil, the Inner Sun: good luck countering the deck’s spells (spoiler-alert: it’s impossible!). Also an amazing free-casting resource at the end of every turn, which is very useful in a permanent-rich deck.
• card:Elesh Norn, Mother of Machine: not added for the benefit of this deck’s permanents (almost no ETB-abilities in it), but instead added to keep you from benefiting from yours.
• Dosan the Falling Leaf/Grand Abolisher: no-one gets to cast outside of their own turns; completely disables blue counter-decks.
• Dragonlord Dromoka: allows for casting spells during your turn, but disallows the other way around.
• Gaddock Teeg: stops a lot of spell-slinging dead in its tracks; especially the very powerful stuff.
• Hushbringer: a cheaper version of Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines that also inhibits benefits from XTB’s.
• Linvala, Keeper of Silence: so powerful it almost defies belief; many creatures’ value in the game depends entirely on their activated abilities and this wonderful angel shuts them all down.
• Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist: nearly disable entire armies from functioning in combat, both offensively and defensively.
• Myrel, Shield of Argive: allows for some major disruption on the opposing side and generates tokens upon attacking to boot; what’s not to love?
• Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: one of the most hated Praetors for good reasons; outright demolishes most opposing mana-generation while strengthening its deck’s.
• Wheel of Sun and Moon: such an amazing recycle engine when combined with Sisay, as she can tutor instantly for anything that ends up here.
• Yasharn, Implacable Earth: a boar that drops the heavy end of its tusks on a lot of Golgari, Grixis, Jund and Orzhov decks in that it disables some of their most powerful abilities and combos.

Protection

You were doing what now? Ok … who cares?

• Avacyn, Angel of Hope: invulnerability; means the deck’s creatures can bathe in lava and not give two cents; kinda nice.
• Flowering of the White Tree: a boost AND some warding for the deck’s legends, the redundant protection and the increased power/toughness is just gravy.
• Heroic Intervention: here comes the pain! Or, maybe not.
• Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots: can’t neglect to include these in a deck that depends a lot on its commander.
• Melira, Sylvok Outcast: so you’re using the infect mechanic? Whither even? Go right ahead!
• Mother of Runes: are you really saying that you’re trying to destroy, maim or otherwise harm that? But, but … it’s your friend?!
• card:Rune-Tail, Kitunse Ascendant: the guardian-spirit (not -angel) that protects all its companions from harm; what a legend!
• Shalai, Voice of Plenty: such a giver; her boss and every one of her companions gains protection from hostile spells, … such a shame she can’t protect herself too. Fortunately, this deck takes that into account.
• Sigarda, Host of Herons: shuts down a whole bunch of Golgari and Mardu stuff. No-one will force this deck to sacrifice anymore.
• Teferi's Protection: love the looks of dismay when opponents, thinking they’ve just played a winning set of cards, wind up having everything they’ve just done rendered invalid.
• Teyo, the Shieldmage: just an easy legendary that makes one immune to opposing (targeted) spells.
• The Wanderer: a character that provides such an incredible amount of protection; especially against decks featuring lots of red damage spells.

Utility

A smattering of cool stuff that strengthens our permanents or destroys yours.

• Aura Shards: lots of creatures entering the battlefield on this side, gives a lot of munition for this wonderful enchantment.
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: completely wrecks opposing weeny-token armies while greatly strengthening the deck’s own critters.
• Heroes' Podium: a one-sided Coat of Arms specifically for legends that also allows scrying AND drawing every turn (provided one pays the mana for it of course), ow yes!
• Hua Tuo, Honored Physician: it didn’t die, … it just took a nap.
• Instill Energy: perfect to re-use Sisay’s ability once a turn at no cost.
• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: excellent draw enabler when cast and an engine of death once active on the battlefield.
• Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker: are you really, really sure you want to hurt this deck?
• Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares: cheap exiling that is awesome.
• Seedborn Muse: untapping Sisay literally every turn accelerates tutoring a great deal.
• The Great Henge: amazing utility mana-source, life-gain and card-draw that one can tutor for with Sisay.
• Thousand-Year Elixir: allows one to use Sisay’s tutoring the turn she arrives; not to mention the activated abilities of other heroes.
• Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: an utter monster that destroys just about anything in its path.
• Urza's Ruinous Blast: say goodbye to most of your permanents; while this deck gets to keep its own.

Notable exclusions

• Kogla, the Titan Ape: still doubting about adding Kogla, as (s)he is pretty damn strong and the artifact and enchantment killing is awesome. His/her other abilities are only so-so and not nearly as strong as some of the cheaper-to-cast stuff in here.
• Sigarda, Font of Blessings: she’s ok but very similar to Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Shalai is the easier one to use and also has the boosting ability.
• Yisan, the Wanderer Bard: another great tutor, but just for creatures. Was in a previous iteration of the deck but didn’t perform so well.

Thank you for reading!

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 11 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.38
Tokens	Soldier, Wall 0/3 W