Introduction
When initially getting into the cEDH scene about 6 months ago, I wanted to build something that was not like the rest of the meta, and strayed away from the "cheesy" decks that played all the meta cards and won with something like consultation/labman. My idea for this deck was sparked because I had a really strong deck with the old sisay at the time. And when the rules change for planeswalkers turning into legends happened, the deck came into existence. The deck's central idea started to form around cEDH TV's sisay citadel list, which is completely focused on going off as fast as possible. My version of the deck developed to have more interaction and backup game plans in addition to the central combo.
Play this deck if you like:
- Fun, non linear gameplan that changes every game
- Having the ability to adapt to any situation and continue to succeed
- Can go off early in the game or grind out the late game
- Multiple win cons (doesn't die to one praetor's grasp)
- Very resistant to counterspells
- Toolbox commander with answers to anything
- (almost) ZERO dead cards
Don't play this deck if you like:
- Games lasting under 5 minutes
- Linear gameplans
- Meta decks
- Fast combo decks
- building on a smaller budget
The legendaries
The legendaries in your deck can change depending on your meta, but here are the ones I personally run and why.
It is very important to know every legendary in your deck and exactly what situation to use them in since having WUBRG and a sisay on the table is pretty open ended.
SITUATIONAL LEGENDS
Ashiok, Dream Render
Flashing this card in with our commander can be insanely powerful and be an aven mindscensor straight from the deck, except they don't get to search 4 cards, they get none! Notably stops hulk from searching.
Dack Fayden
That's a nice artifact you got there, mind if I borrow it forever?
Narset, Parter of Veils
Narset is a powerhouse in this deck, no one will ever be confident in casting their
Timetwister
if you have WUBRG open. For the poor souls who fall for it, flashing in a narset is the equivelent of a notion theif straight form the deck.
Teferi, Time Raveler
Get this handy dude on endstep the turn before you go off, and no one can do anything!
Oath of Liliana
Very good against people with low creature counts, kills off brago and lab maniac at instant speed. In a creature heavy meta using
Oath of Chandra
instead might be a good idea.
Anafenza, the Foremost
Completely annihilates any stratagy that has anything to do with creatures in graveyards, notably hulk and worldgorger dragon. casting it early game from hand isn't bad either because it buffs our commander by three and also can put +1/+1 counters on her. In creature light metas, anafenza can kill players very fast through beats as her and sisay can swing for ten right off the bat.
Kataki, War's Wage
For the urza player at the table. or anyone that has a lot of artifacts.
Lavinia, Azorious Renegade
Cheap to cast if drawn, and stops people from countering your stuff with
Force of Will
or other free stuff. Very good if someone at the table is short on lands. Notably stops urza's (5) ability and also stops mind's desire.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Insanely powerful card that can completely shut down a multitude of stratagies. Once again, Urza get shut off as he can no longer draw mana from artifacts or use his (5) ability. Also shuts down decks that are based on getting mana from untappers and other dorks such as golos ascendancy, selvala untap, hermit druid, and Momir hackball. Also makes the new anja decks completely useless. Linvala is also an option for flashing in blockers if someone is attacking you with a brago or something in the air.
Venser, shaper savent
Last ditch remand on a sisay activation. Being able to hold up a "counterspell" with sisay's ability is a nice failsafe. Notably can return stuff that cant be countered to it's owner's hand.
UTILITY LEGENDS
Aminatou, the Fateshifter
An allstar in this deck, she has synergies with
Oath of Nissa
,
Oath of Teferi
,
Oath of Liliana
,
Dockside Extortionist
,
Kenrith's Transformation
, resets counters on
Mystic Remora
, resets
Carpet of Flowers
for mana in your second main, and also resets loyalty on all of our planeswalkers. If none of these apply, you can always untap lands or draw cards with her. Also part of one of our wincons.
Domri, Anarch of Bolas
Also an allstar in the deck, he gives +3/+2 to our commander, helps ramp, and fights stuff for free removal. he's generally not a target on the table and can really give that extra boost that you need for 7 power on sisay when needed.
Dovin, Hand of Control
One sided thalia that covers two colors for sisay, dropping him early game or right after a
Doomsday
can be devastating to people's gameplans. Notably doesn't tax you, just everyone else.
Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
Essentially an eternal witness on a legendary body that can gain us card advantage with the +1 ability. Very good with
Sensei's Divining Top
.
Saheeli Rai
Good at copying stuff like
Dockside Extortionist
and can draw some cards. Mainly here to combo with
Felidar Guardian
.
Brago, King Eternal
Insane blink engine that is also a flying blocker, works with everything mentioned in the description for aminatou.
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
Our other captain on the weatherlight also happens to be a very good value engine with the legends and artifacts in our deck. Goes through our deck twice as fast when comboing off.
Card choices
All of the card choices made in the deck are made based on the fact that if you will sometimes need to cast the spells with no target with
Bolas's Citadel
, otherwise you'll get stuck. Cards like
Dispel
have proven to hurt more than help with my testing.
COUNTERSPELLS
Counterbalance
Great counterspell (sorta) that can make people think twice about casting anything ever. Happens to work well with
Sensei's Divining Top
and brainstorm effects. can't beat it in stack battles unless you have stifle.
Dromar's Charm
A counterspell that can be used to gain life when going off with bolas's citadel if needed, or kill lab man, or hermit druid, or whatever.
Glen Elendra Archmage
Same concept as counterbalance, except you have to keep a blue open and no one will want to cast anything. can't beat it in a stack battle with regular counterspells either, you have to stifle the trigger.
Izzet Charm
The choice between faithless looting, spell pierce, and shock all in one nifty two mana package!
Mindbreak Trap
A hilarious gotcha card that comes in handy more times than you'd think. most people HAVE to cast at least 3 spells to combo off anyway. Also really good for exiling hulk, and countering stuff that can't be countered like dovin's veto, or exiling the entire stack against storm decks. (yes, you can exile all copies of
Mind's Desire
off of the stack) Notably can choose zero for the amount of spells to target.
Pyroblast
Great removal/counterspell for almost every meta. Note that it targets the spell/permanent BEFORE it checks if it's blue or not, meaning yes, you can target anything with it.
Red Elemental Blast
does not do the same thing that this does, and it matter in this deck.
The removal package is relatively simple, and can be modified based on your liking. Yes, I don't have an assasin's trophy yet...
Spells like
Silence
,
Veil of Summer
and
Autumn's Veil
are also very good in this deck based off the same principal that the counterspells are based around.
The combo(s)
Going straight to the point, when sisay has 7 power, you can tutor up
Bolas's Citadel
and go through your deck until you get a
Sensei's Divining Top
and then proceed to draw your entire deck (each draw will cost 1 life and cast a top each time) until you hit
Aetherflux Reservoir
, then draw and cast top a bunch of times and nuke everyone at the table. The reason this is so effective is that you don't have to go out of your way to do it, your hatebears and utility planeswalkers will get sisay up to 7 power in no time, and activating sisay's ability is also completely resistant to regular counterspells since the card you tutor hits the battlefield straight from the deck.
ENABLERS
Any tutor that tutors to the top of your library, you'll want to grab
Sensei's Divining Top
with, then the chances are you'll win from there.
Vampiric Tutor
Enlightened Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Lim-Dul's Vault
Scheming Symmetry
(be careful who you target with this)
Imperial Seal
(if you happen to have 500 dollars lying around for a tutor)
Children of Korlis
and
Weather the Storm
are cards that can keep you alive during the process so that you don't die to bolas's citadel. the more tutors you put in the deck, the less you'll need these. Weather the storm is worth casting in the middle of someone else's turn if they've cast more than 4 spells.
If plan A doesn't work, we have plan B:
Saheeli Rai
and
Felidar Guardian
. Tutor up saheeli and the cat and go off.
If plan B and A doesn't work, you can also win using
Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
,
Aminatou, the Fateshifter
and
Oath of Teferi
which are all very good cards on their own right and aren't dead if you draw them. Use aminatou and nicol bolas to blink each other, but since you can activate them twice each blink, throw in some nicol bolas +1 abilities in between each blink. With enough of those, you will be able to exile everyone's hands and permanents that they happen to have.
Ramp choices
Most ramp in this deck is built to get our commander out on turn two, and then be ready to activate her on turn 3 or 4. In order to cast a turn 2 three drop, one mana ramp is necessary.
Mana Crypt
and
Mox Diamond
are something that you can put in if you can afford them.
Even though
Chromatic Lantern
doesn't curve well, it can be a huge enabler to fix perfect mana for sisay's ability.
Dockside Extortionist
is usually a positive mana gain, and works wonders with any of our blinkers, usually winning the game if it is working with them.
Notable card exclusions/exclusions
**note: if something is excluded from the list that is more than 35 USD it's probably because I can't afford it but feel free to mention them in the comments.
Seedborn Muse
Even though this card is super greedy, it's an immediate threat that can be used as a lightning rod for any counterspells or removal. if it resolves and we have proper mana out, we can easily win in one rotation by activating for
Domri, Anarch of Bolas
the on the first opp's turn, then
Teferi, Time Raveler
before your turn, and then grabbing
Bolas's Citadel
on your turn. And teferi will protect you from your combo being disrupted.
krosan grisp
Even though it doesn't curve well with our commander, it's such a great utility spell that is guaranteed to delete anything. Feel free to remove this if it's not necessary in your meta.
Hide / Seek
This card is artifact removal if you want it to be, and also a praetor's grasp if you want it to be. Can gain you big chunks of life when you're storming off as well.
Playstyle and piloting tips
(coming soon)
Cards to cut
Wild Growth
should most definitely be cut for utopia spawl (just haven't gotten one yet)
Thought Scour
can be cut for another draw seven such as timetwister
NOTES:
Yes, my land base is garbage. ideally you want 9 duals, ten fetches, and 9 shocks + command tower
