You're walking through a forest. It's a beautiful day. The wind is warm and soothes your soul. The sounds of the forest surround you. Birds sing. Bugs chirp. Squirrels chitter. The trees themselves creak as they sway, almost as if they are all making music in harmony...Wait a minute. They are. You didn't notice at first, but the gentle sound of a lyre has steadily been growing in your subconscious, drawing you in. You continue to walk, unable to resist its pull. It's beautiful. Somewhere in your mind you realize you aren't walking alone. Other elves have joined you, heading toward the music. You must hear more. You're insatiable. You begin to run, then sprint, until finally you break out into a meadow. A lone bard sits upon a tree stump. You don't know who he is. You don't care. You simply know you must feed the magic of his music. All must hear its call. All must bend to its will.
This is a Yisan, the Wanderer Bard deck. The point is to use your first few turns to give yourself as much mana as possible and follow it up with heavy-hitting, unblockable creatures. Each verse listed below corresponds to the number of verse counters on Yisan and what, in order, you should prioritize each summon on.
1st Verse
Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, or Llanowar Elves (doesn't really matter as they're all the same)
2nd Verse
Priest of Titania, Gyre Sage
3rd Verse
Elvish Archdruid, Imperious Perfect
4th Verse
Karametra's Acolyte, Forgotten Ancient, Elder Druid (may depend on what permanents are on the board)
5th Verse
Bellowing Tanglewurm, Heroes' Bane
6th Verse
Hydra Omnivore, Woodland Bellower
7th Verse
Elderscale Wurm
8th Verse
Liege of the Tangle
9th Verse
Void Winnower
Elision
As there is no 10 mana cost creature I found suitable to the deck I decided to forego verse 10 and go straight into verse 11. There should by now be cards on the field that allow for adding additional counters on permanents so skipping verse 10 shouldn't be too much trouble.
11th Verse
Worldspine Wurm
Defensive Strategies
Green isn't known for being able to counter opponents' spells, but that doesn't mean we have zero options. There are a number of tools at our disposal that we can use to prevent foes from meddling with us while we build up our army.
Isochron Scepter: Pair with Bind, Heroic Intervention, Naturalize, or Warping Wail depending on what's available to you and what the biggest threat is.
Eldrazi Monument: Always a good thing to have around that prevents a lot of board wipey cards and makes your army pretty terrifying offensively as well. Pair it with Imperious Perfect, Presence of Gond, or Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury to sacrifice a token you get every turn.
Cauldron of Souls: Another good card for surviving board wipes. If you have Oran-Rief, the Vastwood it will essentially negate the -1/-1 effect.
Asceticism: Self-explanatory.
Witchbane Orb and Orbs of Warding: Just so opponents can't target you directly.
Winning the Game
It's pretty unlikely you'll need all 11 verses in order to win the game, though with Nature's Chosen, Quest for Renewal, Animation Module, Contagion Engine, and several instants that allow you to untap combined with Isochron Scepter, it is certainly possible to get there. But more often than not, you will probably end up winning with one of these strategies:
Bellowing Tanglewurm + Heroes' Bane: Try and get both of these cards out on the field. Power Conduit can help remove a counter from Yisan if you need it. Next turn, pour as much mana as you need to into Heroes' Bane to make it strong enough to one-shot opponents. The intimidate it gains from Bellowing Tanglewurm should make it hard to block. Eldrazi Monument makes a good substitute for Bellowing Tanglewurm if you manage to draw it.
Hurricane: Pretty self-explanatory. If you find yourself in a situation where you have more life than everyone else and you've got the mana for it, go for it.
Triumph of the Hordes: Also pretty self-explanatory. Combine it with Bellowing Tanglewurm and/or Eldrazi Monument and go crazy. Grafted Exoskeleton can also be used for infect purposes if Triumph of the Hordes is unavailable.
Genesis Wave: Try and get enough mana where X is around 20. With Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, and Karametra's Acolyte this shouldn't be too difficult. While this might not necessarily win the game it will be very hard for your opponents to catch up to you and you'll probably win within a couple turns.
The longer the music goes the louder it gets. You no longer have any sense of self. The music is a part of you now, just as you are a part of it. You are both slave to it and freed by it. You never knew life could be so joyous and wonderful. Tears fall from your eyes. How had you been so blind for so long? What had life been before this moment? The music reaches a crescendo and you feel yourself falling through the sky, or perhaps flying. You don't know. You don't care. You are joined with all things in a great dance. Suddenly, you're lying in the grass. Something is wrong. Something is different. It's silent. You look around frantically, trying to find the bard amidst the sea of beasts and monsters that had become one with the music. Next to the stump where the bard sat stands a figure in a brown cloak, its hood covering its features. "Where is the bard? Where has the music gone?" you cry. The figure looks at you with disinterest, as if you were a dog barking, but answers you anyway. "Gone. He served his purpose, as you served yours." Then the robed figure turned and vanished. Taking a closer look around, you realize many of the elves and other creatures that had just moments ago been your kin in dance and song lay bleeding or dead in the field, along with many other beings and creatures not native to any forest. What had happened? Were you in a battle? You don't know. Sinking to your knees, you find that you don't really care for the answer. All you know is that once there was music in your heart, and now there is only a hole.
