And on the other hand, you don't think that Fiend Hunter is better than Banisher Priest? I think we prefer a removal creature with more toughness than power.
Short answer: I don't remember.
Also, you're right about Fiend Hunter being better. Opposing Norns are a real thing to be concerned about, if nothing else. Swapping out.
Full disclosure: Haven't played in ages. Not for lack of interest, but for lack of time. =/
I'm debating throwing an Academy Rector into my deck to counter board removal that seems pretty dangerous with some fast enchantments like living plane, Sylvan Library, and survival of the fittest. I can't see many options for countering nearly free -x/-x counters in GW.
I played today for the first time in months (deja vu??). Just three matches against a Skittle deck (lost all of them), which I figured would be a great demonstration of the Toxic Deluge problem.
Well, here's the thing...
There are plenty of other problems. Like having all of your guys mass removed or murdered on sight with numerous other cards, even the ones that are shrouded and indestructible. Toxic Deluge did factor into one game, but it was Black Sun's Zenth, Barter in Blood, and various 2-mana kill/sac spells that prevented me from building any momentum. So that's a thing.
And yet, the more meta-conscious mono-black decks were already running Perish and Dystopia, so I'm not sure that this changes anything for us.
But what does concern me is whether there's a trend again towards extinction builds. Can anyone speak to that? If Derevi is as terrifying as tournament results make it out to be, the response to this new dominant deck would be nothing short of murder-all-the-creatures builds—going back to the dark days of Edric.
I'm not sure. I'm way out of the loop. But removal is increasingly more amazing and our creatures remain just as vulnerable, so I'm totally on board with putting Academy Rector back into the deck. Getting Living Plain into play can really seal some friggin' deals, man.
On the Skittles games: I ran into a situation where my only out would have been tutoring and hardcasting Iona, BUT she's no longer in my deck post Retainers banning. So, that's annoying, but I can see her being positively dead in the majority of matches, and those extra two turns to try and get her into play with Karmic Guide instead is the difference between Tier 1 and Tier Who-Gives-A-Crap.
Anyway, I need some more testing before I decide what I'll do with this upcoming tournament...
I played today for the first time in months (deja vu??). Just three matches against a Skittle deck (lost all of them), which I figured would be a great demonstration of the Toxic Deluge problem.
Well, here's the thing...
There are plenty of other problems. Like having all of your guys mass removed or murdered on sight with numerous other cards, even the ones that are shrouded and indestructible. Toxic Deluge did factor into one game, but it was Black Sun's Zenth, Barter in Blood, and various 2-mana kill/sac spells that prevented me from building any momentum. So that's a thing.
And yet, the more meta-conscious mono-black decks were already running Perish and Dystopia, so I'm not sure that this changes anything for us.
But what does concern me is whether there's a trend again towards extinction builds. Can anyone speak to that? If Derevi is as terrifying as tournament results make it out to be, the response to this new dominant deck would be nothing short of murder-all-the-creatures builds—going back to the dark days of Edric.
I'm not sure. I'm way out of the loop. But removal is increasingly more amazing and our creatures remain just as vulnerable, so I'm totally on board with putting Academy Rector back into the deck. Getting Living Plain into play can really seal some friggin' deals, man.
On the Skittles games: I ran into a situation where my only out would have been tutoring and hardcasting Iona, BUT she's no longer in my deck post Retainers banning. So, that's annoying, but I can see her being positively dead in the majority of matches, and those extra two turns to try and get her into play with Karmic Guide instead is the difference between Tier 1 and Tier Who-Gives-A-Crap.
Anyway, I need some more testing before I decide what I'll do with this upcoming tournament...
From what I've been seeing there's a really big shift towards dork mana lately. Aggro_Prossh, Derevi, Marath, Ezuri, Doran, Rafiq, Aggro-Jenara, Karador are all running the 1 and 2 drop dorks to try to get out just a little faster, so early-game sweepers are becoming immensely successful. Couple that with the printing of the Deluge and I would recommend trying to get something figured out to combat that shift, wither by running less dorks yourself and some wrath effects, or finding faster ways to get Elesh in play or something, I dunno. There's a million and one Tier 1-1.5 decks out there now though that are all running 6-8+ 1 cmc mana dorks, so sweepers are getting more plentiful as a response.
At leaat, that's what I've seen. Good luck on the tournie, thanks for joining in!
From what I've been seeing there's a really big shift towards dork mana lately. Aggro_Prossh, Derevi, Marath, Ezuri, Doran, Rafiq, Aggro-Jenara, Karador are all running the 1 and 2 drop dorks to try to get out just a little faster, so early-game sweepers are becoming immensely successful. Couple that with the printing of the Deluge and I would recommend trying to get something figured out to combat that shift, wither by running less dorks yourself and some wrath effects, or finding faster ways to get Elesh in play or something, I dunno. There's a million and one Tier 1-1.5 decks out there now though that are all running 6-8+ 1 cmc mana dorks, so sweepers are getting more plentiful as a response.
At leaat, that's what I've seen. Good luck on the tournie, thanks for joining in!
Oh yeah, going back to spectating lately, soooooo many games being with turn 1: land, mana dork. It's dreadful when your opponent gets the dork in their opener.. but you don't get yours. Traditionally, I've been pretty smirkface about Arbor Elf and Boreal Druid but my face becomes significantly twisted and sorrowful when I don't have that turn one accelerator. These cards seem to be working for others, so maybe I'm just being overly paranoid. I'll have to reconsider them, I think—yes, even knowing the removal hate is on the rise. Sisay's still at her best with creatures boosting Gaea's Cradle and getting Norn into play. I don't think there's any sort of replacement for that, even with the potential of being blown out (he says, with tepid conviction).
Last time mass removal was trending, I shifted the deck to use safer cards like enchantments and rampant growth effects, but the deck slooowed down just enough to be non competitive, despite not getting easily neutered with a wrath or two. With only two Wild Growth effects and (Exploration and friends testing poorly), this just isn't a worthwhile shift for the deck, I think. It may not sound like me at all compared to earlier times when the meta was less brutal, but it's probably better for Sisay to be risky than to be safe.
So here's a thing that happened: I came back after a multi-month hiatus, played against a few Marath decks, played against an Oloro deck, lost miserably all of my games, watched some Derevi games in despair, and then panicked and quickly decided to try Gaddock Teeg in the tournament instead.
But then I saw asimov's tier list post and that these generals are considered to be some of the best, and that they've indeed been showing up in a lot of tournament top 8s. And now I feel dumb for overreacting, especially after losing round 1 of the tournament to a Thrun deck with Teeg, which I've never lost to with Sisay. -.-
WELP, lesson learned: do more testing before quickly jumping to conclusions like "Sisay can't beat anyone now!" when most decks have poor matchups against some of the new generals.
FYI Riley, when I used to play the deck IRL, I had a very high winning rate against most non-blue generals (not exaggerating, around 80%, Marath wasn't available at the time), against permission decks or "kill them all" builds it was a toss coin depending on how much pressure I could put in the table before they take control of the game. To disrupt them, is very important to play ala maverick (disrupting early their mana base with things like recurring wasteland, mindcensor and that kind of stuff), I don't think we should have a bad game against Marath (well less dorks, more artifact ramp and back to Nature's Lore and Three Visits), and even trying a more midrangey version of the deck, including cards like Harmonize (how I could forget that).
Right now my game plan is a) to ramp fast into Elesh, b) disrupt their manabase with kotr, wasteland, rish.port, mindcensor, etc, c) DD - Stage combo (which is assembled with ease, for my surprise). For the tournament, I chose a 5 color zoo build that haven't tested before, because I thought it would be cool ..... (not thinking about metagaming or sth like that). Toxic Deluge is a pain the ass for sure, but the key as always is to not overextend in the board, in the end, is almost the same that playing against Pernicious Deed or cards like Slagstorm.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy Decks:
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander: GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG GW The Captain WG GWB Karadores BWG GWU Jenara UWG UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Karametra, God of Harvests 3GW
Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to green and white is less than 7, Karametra isn't a creature.
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may search your library for a Forest or Plains, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
6/7
This is a FANTASTIC Commander card—in multiplayer commander. As it stands for DC: we're already not playing Mirari's Wake, something that would function similarly in the spot.
Use case-wise, our mana ramp comes turn 4 post-Sisay with a tutored Gaea's Cradle, hopefully receiving a boost from mana dorks and protection creatures. If that fails (and it does fail often enough, due to board wipes), an engine card at 5 mana that thins the deck for the looooong game is not what this deck is looking for, in my opinion, because we're otherwise completely un-suited for the long game due to lack of control in the colors. I can't really envision an effective way to completely transform the deck that would like this card as part of its strategy, unless you had a purely Rampant Growth / Elfball style deck with like 10 bombs or something. In that direction, I think the deck just becomes a worse Azusa for various reasons.
As usual, Riley is deeply disappointed with recent Selesnya offerings. =P
i realize this is kinda off topic but isn't sisay black? im comissioning an artist friend to do a altered sisay and we cant seem to decide on what art to use. i was thinking a tyra banks/naomi campbell look. what do you guys think?
my sisay deck is very different. i have a heavy focus on legends. i run cards like trostani, avacyn, myosin of lives web etc. Nyxthos is awesome in a sisay deck too. try using the new legendary artifact from BotG. it should be awesome if your running lots of legends. i wish i knew how to post a list so i can get some advice on my deck. Anyone know where i can get some instructions regarding that?
Spirit of the Labyrinth
1w
Enchantment Creature — Spirit Rare
Each player can't draw more than one card each turn.
Students at the Dekatia Academy learn that being sent to study with her is a lesson in itself.
Illus. Jason Chan #27/165 3/1
It has a legendary feel on it, don't know why it isn't :/ In Kamigawa block it should DEFINITELY BE LEGENDARY.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1ww
Legendary Creature — Cat Soldier Mythic Rare
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz, King of Oreskos attacks, put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield attacking.
Whenever Brimaz blocks a creature, put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield blocking that creature.
Illus. Peter Mohrbacher #5/165 3/4
Maybe in more aggro oriented builds, including Hero of Bladehold. The rest of the edition, including the scryland, is pure crap atm.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy Decks:
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander: GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG GW The Captain WG GWB Karadores BWG GWU Jenara UWG UWB Oloro-DD BWU
i realize this is kinda off topic but isn't sisay black? im comissioning an artist friend to do a altered sisay and we cant seem to decide on what art to use. i was thinking a tyra banks/naomi campbell look. what do you guys think?
my sisay deck is very different. i have a heavy focus on legends. i run cards like trostani, avacyn, myosin of lives web etc. Nyxthos is awesome in a sisay deck too. try using the new legendary artifact from BotG. it should be awesome if your running lots of legends. i wish i knew how to post a list so i can get some advice on my deck. Anyone know where i can get some instructions regarding that?
She's probably meant to be some non-identifiable fantasy type, appearing closer to a Drow from D&D than anything in our world. I'd say you could use any actress with sharp, angular facial facial features as a base and give her more of a bronze complexion. ::shrug::
Quote a post with a deck list to see the formatting (as long as the list isn't already in a quote, which is then invisible on re-quite).
That new Legendary artifact is very interesting indeed. As often I say, it seems like the sort of thing that wants a more controllish build with rampant growth effects (instead of dorks) and frequent board wipes to then dig for splashy bombs—which may well be viable, but not my preferred play method. Usually I see builds like that in all colors just crumble to U/W control, so I dunno. I don't feel compelled to try it.
Spirit of the Labyrinth
1w
Enchantment Creature — Spirit Rare
Each player can't draw more than one card each turn.
Students at the Dekatia Academy learn that being sent to study with her is a lesson in itself.
Illus. Jason Chan #27/165 3/1
It has a legendary feel on it, don't know why it isn't :/ In Kamigawa block it should DEFINITELY BE LEGENDARY.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1ww
Legendary Creature — Cat Soldier Mythic Rare
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz, King of Oreskos attacks, put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield attacking.
Whenever Brimaz blocks a creature, put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield blocking that creature.
Illus. Peter Mohrbacher #5/165 3/4
Maybe in more aggro oriented builds, including Hero of Bladehold. The rest of the edition, including the scryland, is pure crap atm.
Lovin' the new hate-bear. Will absolutely jam that into my Thalia deck as well. Agreed that it should have been Legendary, but instead it's just more destructible. Even still, lovin' the bite it packs and pushes extra damage with the impending Norn drop. Ought to be a good fit for the meta, since Black just keeps getting more draw spells and Blue is Blue.
Brimaz is so freaking incredibly awesome. He certainly makes a bigger case for playing the deck as G/W aggro instead with Sisay there to replenish the board, search up Jitte and Norn, and screw with your opponent's head with whether or not he should hold his counterspells for Sisay or for all the beaters you're resolving to slaughter him with. Brimaz is a terror. Again, definitely going into my Thalia, at least.
Just needed to add sth: Harmonize is awesome in this kind of midrangey deck :D.
Also, I think NO will be banned on Monday (along with maybe Oath & Helm of Obedience). I don't think I will take out P.Titan, as the Titan itself is one the most amazing cards in the deck (along with Elesh :P). The lands of this deck serves multiple purposes, from mana denial plans, to a high % winning uncounterable combo.
Well, NO out means that we have one extra slot: Spirit of the Laberynth, Breemaz, Hokori (I don't play it) ????
On a random note, my Sisay is doing pretty well in Cockatrice (though I haven't faced new generals besides Marath). I saw a guy yesterday playing an Oath-Dream Halls Progenitus decks, and I felt proud for a moment
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy Decks:
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander: GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG GW The Captain WG GWB Karadores BWG GWU Jenara UWG UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Well, NO was banned, and so derevi and zur, two very bad matches for me.
I will keep P.Titan, as he gets me the lands I need (cavern of souls, wasteland and rishadan port, kor haven agaisnt voltron, dd/ts). In place of NO, Im considering:
- Spirit of the Laberynth, because why not.
- Kataki (anti marath decks will proliferate, and they use a lot of artifact ramp)
- Hokori (if we go mana denial plan)
- Breemaz (creature is good)
- Bind (mana denial plan)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy Decks:
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander: GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG GW The Captain WG GWB Karadores BWG GWU Jenara UWG UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Well, NO was banned, and so derevi and zur, two very bad matches for me.
I will keep P.Titan, as he gets me the lands I need (cavern of souls, wasteland and rishadan port, kor haven agaisnt voltron, dd/ts). In place of NO, Im considering:
- Spirit of the Laberynth, because why not.
- Kataki (anti marath decks will proliferate, and they use a lot of artifact ramp)
- Hokori (if we go mana denial plan)
- Breemaz (creature is good)
- Bind (mana denial plan)
I'm happy with the ban—because it frees up a spot for Spirit of the Labyrinth without forcing us to make a tough cut decision. ;P
Seriously though, good riddance to broken BS.
MRW I see that someone's running my Captain Sisay Commander list on Cockatrice:
Damn, I'm losing a lot to Xenagos :/ not enough instant removal to deal with the bombs that deck drops.
Selesyna Charm could definitely be added here. And though I haven't played against it myself now, I've definitely seen a TON of Gods being played on Cockatrice. I think playing both Banisher Priest and Fiend Hunter makes sense in this meta. Those Gods run completely uncontested against non-blue decks, like goddamn, so more exile-like effects seem necessary.
I'm trying a new approach with the deck (must be a Tuesday!). I took a no-nonsense stance on the cards that (let's be honest) aren't run in other decks and took them out for, chiefly, more ramp. To make up a number, I'm only getting an elf in my opener like 25% of the time maybe, and that's just not acceptable for a deck that's trying to be Tier 1 with a slower general. Also, I gutted the cards that I put in for specific types of matches, opting instead to just be faster and better than those smelly decks. Here's what I'm working with and will probably submit to the tourney:
In a nutshell, I took out things that weren't directly contributing to our win strategy and/or were just kind of not great cards or anti-synergistic?
- Primeval Titan (Eh, this was mostly was used to exploit Natural Order being legal.)
- Ulvenwald Tracker (I can never win a fight ever. And if I can, it's because I've got Norn down and I've won already.)
- Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (Great as a general, okay on turn 2 even though I have way better options and just plain useless as the game goes on.)
- Scavenging Ooze (GY decks aren't all that fashionable and maybe I can just beat them faster? Or lose, whatever. I can't best every archetype and I was silly to try.)
- Relic of Progenitus (See above. GY decks, derp away.)
- Lotus Bloom (Fine enough card, but I'd rather my mana be creature permanents for Cradle/Norn synergy.)
- Tariff (Meh. Fine enough, but I'm running too many creatures now to get much use out of this. Also, Animar didn't catch on quite like I thought he would.)
- Spirit of the Labyrinth (If this were a general, it would be.. okay. Ehhhh not feeling it as a random two drop for this particular deck.)
Anyway, y'all know me well enough by now: even though I'm trimming some maybe not so great stuff, I'm of course focusing on maybe not so great strategies because dammit winning with Living Plane is so satisfying. Say hello to Academy Rector again as wrath insurance. Also, I seriously underestimated Birthing Pod. No longer. That card is freaking great, especially now that I re-added Karmic Guide. I also re-added its buddy, Iona, Shield of Emeria. Seriously, sometimes I was losing to God decks when I had 9 mana but no Iona in the deck and nothing else I could do to stop them from ending me in a turn or two and that just blows. But yeah, being able to abuse Survival of the Fittest again just feels so right. Phyrexian Revoker again because **** PWs and Jitte UGH. The rest should be self-explanatory.
tl;dr: Let's win this muh fuggin' tourney with Sisay, no nonsense!
As a curious note, I tried Into the North as the darkest card of my 99. It fetches secretly Dark Depths OMG xDDD (thanks god I bought one at $20 a couple of months ago, I knew it was a matter of time for the DD/TS combo to explode in legacy).
It was rare for me that you didn't try Birthing Pod, that card allows POWERFUL STUFFFFFFFFFFF, like killing your Reveilark to fetch your Sun Titan gg too much value, or podding Sisay into Karmic Guide (value too xD).
Thalia: little lackluster, but Geist is going to be a thing again, I will keep it.
Spirit of the Labyrinth: too fragile :/. Good against control. I agree with you on this one.
Scavenging Ooze: never going out of home without him.
Tracker: yeah. It was only here for the Animar MU (really, just for him). Ramping into Norn is a better option.
Iona: IDK, I prefer P.Titan over Iona, unless I'm trying Painter-Iona again (which lost value due to NO ban).
Well, now that Zur is gone, I will focus on beating the new generals go for it Riley, if my Karador results aren't as good as I expect, I will join you with Sisay xD.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy Decks:
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander: GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG GW The Captain WG GWB Karadores BWG GWU Jenara UWG UWB Oloro-DD BWU
As a curious note, I tried Into the North as the darkest card of my 99. It fetches secretly Dark Depths OMG xDDD (thanks god I bought one at $20 a couple of months ago, I knew it was a matter of time for the DD/TS combo to explode in legacy).
I can't believe I never thought of that! Into the North should probably find its way back into my build... hot damn.
Thalia: little lackluster, but Geist is going to be a thing again, I will keep it.
My Geist experiences are like, 90% of the time after my opponent casts and untaps with Geist, he's adding some means of making it bigger and unblockable by me with auras or equipment. Thalia can randomly throw my opponent off tilt when it comes to making those means sliiightly more difficult to cast, I suppose (but not Steel of the Godhead which would come down on turn 4 regardless), but that's just too random for me and I play too many non-creature spells for it to be properly asymmetrical. I LOVE Thalia but I think she either has to be a general or a 4-of to really maximize.
Scavenging Ooze: never going out of home without him.
I adore Ooze, but... man, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a protected early Ooze on the field against Iname and still lost (and I consider the other GY decks in the meta to be either too slow [Karador] or too volatile [Mimeoplasm] to warrant specific hate cards, imo). I also feel like the inclusion of these very specific cards pushes me towards using tutors and resources to casting them when they'll often get eaten by removal right away and my board is no closer to advancing my own victory. Ooze's mana commitment has been especially guilty of that. I know not all Sisay decks do this, but mine's pretty tap-out and can rarely spare turns on hosing or extra expenses. Sadly. Poor Ooze.
Iona: IDK, I prefer P.Titan over Iona, unless I'm trying Painter-Iona again (which lost value due to NO ban).
This is going to be a weird adjustment for me, given just how much I prioritized getting Prime Time in hand and casting it over everything else. But then, that used to be true of Iona as well, and I've missed her so. I'm seeing so much ramp battling going on in the current meta, and more and more creatures that just can't even be dealt with for the most part (oh, those wily Gods), so I'm looking at Iona as the ultimate counterspell again, worth going all in for.
I tried it briefly but admittedly didn't give it the proper testing time it deserved.. and that was before the meta was filled with Gods. It probably deserves a spot, but cutting stuff is hard. There's also Norn to consider, who will likely switch off the loyalty of every God on entering the battlefield, so she's kind of a catch all solution.
(But realistically, you could cut Oust, Mox Diamond, or Living Plane to make room for it if you feel it's necessary.)
Short answer: I don't remember.
Also, you're right about Fiend Hunter being better. Opposing Norns are a real thing to be concerned about, if nothing else. Swapping out.
Full disclosure: Haven't played in ages. Not for lack of interest, but for lack of time. =/
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
Well, here's the thing...
There are plenty of other problems. Like having all of your guys mass removed or murdered on sight with numerous other cards, even the ones that are shrouded and indestructible. Toxic Deluge did factor into one game, but it was Black Sun's Zenth, Barter in Blood, and various 2-mana kill/sac spells that prevented me from building any momentum. So that's a thing.
And yet, the more meta-conscious mono-black decks were already running Perish and Dystopia, so I'm not sure that this changes anything for us.
But what does concern me is whether there's a trend again towards extinction builds. Can anyone speak to that? If Derevi is as terrifying as tournament results make it out to be, the response to this new dominant deck would be nothing short of murder-all-the-creatures builds—going back to the dark days of Edric.
I'm not sure. I'm way out of the loop. But removal is increasingly more amazing and our creatures remain just as vulnerable, so I'm totally on board with putting Academy Rector back into the deck. Getting Living Plain into play can really seal some friggin' deals, man.
On the Skittles games: I ran into a situation where my only out would have been tutoring and hardcasting Iona, BUT she's no longer in my deck post Retainers banning. So, that's annoying, but I can see her being positively dead in the majority of matches, and those extra two turns to try and get her into play with Karmic Guide instead is the difference between Tier 1 and Tier Who-Gives-A-Crap.
Anyway, I need some more testing before I decide what I'll do with this upcoming tournament...
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
Can't agree with this more. This card singlehandedly has been wrecking me on mtgo. Anyone have any solutions or answers for it?
From what I've been seeing there's a really big shift towards dork mana lately. Aggro_Prossh, Derevi, Marath, Ezuri, Doran, Rafiq, Aggro-Jenara, Karador are all running the 1 and 2 drop dorks to try to get out just a little faster, so early-game sweepers are becoming immensely successful. Couple that with the printing of the Deluge and I would recommend trying to get something figured out to combat that shift, wither by running less dorks yourself and some wrath effects, or finding faster ways to get Elesh in play or something, I dunno. There's a million and one Tier 1-1.5 decks out there now though that are all running 6-8+ 1 cmc mana dorks, so sweepers are getting more plentiful as a response.
At leaat, that's what I've seen. Good luck on the tournie, thanks for joining in!
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Oh yeah, going back to spectating lately, soooooo many games being with turn 1: land, mana dork. It's dreadful when your opponent gets the dork in their opener.. but you don't get yours. Traditionally, I've been pretty smirkface about Arbor Elf and Boreal Druid but my face becomes significantly twisted and sorrowful when I don't have that turn one accelerator. These cards seem to be working for others, so maybe I'm just being overly paranoid. I'll have to reconsider them, I think—yes, even knowing the removal hate is on the rise. Sisay's still at her best with creatures boosting Gaea's Cradle and getting Norn into play. I don't think there's any sort of replacement for that, even with the potential of being blown out (he says, with tepid conviction).
Last time mass removal was trending, I shifted the deck to use safer cards like enchantments and rampant growth effects, but the deck slooowed down just enough to be non competitive, despite not getting easily neutered with a wrath or two. With only two Wild Growth effects and (Exploration and friends testing poorly), this just isn't a worthwhile shift for the deck, I think. It may not sound like me at all compared to earlier times when the meta was less brutal, but it's probably better for Sisay to be risky than to be safe.
So here's a thing that happened: I came back after a multi-month hiatus, played against a few Marath decks, played against an Oloro deck, lost miserably all of my games, watched some Derevi games in despair, and then panicked and quickly decided to try Gaddock Teeg in the tournament instead.
But then I saw asimov's tier list post and that these generals are considered to be some of the best, and that they've indeed been showing up in a lot of tournament top 8s. And now I feel dumb for overreacting, especially after losing round 1 of the tournament to a Thrun deck with Teeg, which I've never lost to with Sisay. -.-
WELP, lesson learned: do more testing before quickly jumping to conclusions like "Sisay can't beat anyone now!" when most decks have poor matchups against some of the new generals.
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
Right now my game plan is a) to ramp fast into Elesh, b) disrupt their manabase with kotr, wasteland, rish.port, mindcensor, etc, c) DD - Stage combo (which is assembled with ease, for my surprise). For the tournament, I chose a 5 color zoo build that haven't tested before, because I thought it would be cool ..... (not thinking about metagaming or sth like that). Toxic Deluge is a pain the ass for sure, but the key as always is to not overextend in the board, in the end, is almost the same that playing against Pernicious Deed or cards like Slagstorm.
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
Karametra, God of Harvests 3GW
Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to green and white is less than 7, Karametra isn't a creature.
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may search your library for a Forest or Plains, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
6/7
What does everyone think?
This is a FANTASTIC Commander card—in multiplayer commander. As it stands for DC: we're already not playing Mirari's Wake, something that would function similarly in the spot.
Use case-wise, our mana ramp comes turn 4 post-Sisay with a tutored Gaea's Cradle, hopefully receiving a boost from mana dorks and protection creatures. If that fails (and it does fail often enough, due to board wipes), an engine card at 5 mana that thins the deck for the looooong game is not what this deck is looking for, in my opinion, because we're otherwise completely un-suited for the long game due to lack of control in the colors. I can't really envision an effective way to completely transform the deck that would like this card as part of its strategy, unless you had a purely Rampant Growth / Elfball style deck with like 10 bombs or something. In that direction, I think the deck just becomes a worse Azusa for various reasons.
As usual, Riley is deeply disappointed with recent Selesnya offerings. =P
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
my sisay deck is very different. i have a heavy focus on legends. i run cards like trostani, avacyn, myosin of lives web etc. Nyxthos is awesome in a sisay deck too. try using the new legendary artifact from BotG. it should be awesome if your running lots of legends. i wish i knew how to post a list so i can get some advice on my deck. Anyone know where i can get some instructions regarding that?
Spirit of the Labyrinth
1w
Enchantment Creature — Spirit Rare
Each player can't draw more than one card each turn.
Students at the Dekatia Academy learn that being sent to study with her is a lesson in itself.
Illus. Jason Chan #27/165 3/1
It has a legendary feel on it, don't know why it isn't :/ In Kamigawa block it should DEFINITELY BE LEGENDARY.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1ww
Legendary Creature — Cat Soldier Mythic Rare
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz, King of Oreskos attacks, put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield attacking.
Whenever Brimaz blocks a creature, put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield blocking that creature.
Illus. Peter Mohrbacher #5/165 3/4
Maybe in more aggro oriented builds, including Hero of Bladehold. The rest of the edition, including the scryland, is pure crap atm.
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
I looked through all of her cards and I'm honestly not sure: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Sisay#In-game_references
She's probably meant to be some non-identifiable fantasy type, appearing closer to a Drow from D&D than anything in our world. I'd say you could use any actress with sharp, angular facial facial features as a base and give her more of a bronze complexion. ::shrug::
Quote a post with a deck list to see the formatting (as long as the list isn't already in a quote, which is then invisible on re-quite).
That new Legendary artifact is very interesting indeed. As often I say, it seems like the sort of thing that wants a more controllish build with rampant growth effects (instead of dorks) and frequent board wipes to then dig for splashy bombs—which may well be viable, but not my preferred play method. Usually I see builds like that in all colors just crumble to U/W control, so I dunno. I don't feel compelled to try it.
Lovin' the new hate-bear. Will absolutely jam that into my Thalia deck as well. Agreed that it should have been Legendary, but instead it's just more destructible. Even still, lovin' the bite it packs and pushes extra damage with the impending Norn drop. Ought to be a good fit for the meta, since Black just keeps getting more draw spells and Blue is Blue.
Brimaz is so freaking incredibly awesome. He certainly makes a bigger case for playing the deck as G/W aggro instead with Sisay there to replenish the board, search up Jitte and Norn, and screw with your opponent's head with whether or not he should hold his counterspells for Sisay or for all the beaters you're resolving to slaughter him with. Brimaz is a terror. Again, definitely going into my Thalia, at least.
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
Also, I think NO will be banned on Monday (along with maybe Oath & Helm of Obedience). I don't think I will take out P.Titan, as the Titan itself is one the most amazing cards in the deck (along with Elesh :P). The lands of this deck serves multiple purposes, from mana denial plans, to a high % winning uncounterable combo.
Well, NO out means that we have one extra slot: Spirit of the Laberynth, Breemaz, Hokori (I don't play it) ????
On a random note, my Sisay is doing pretty well in Cockatrice (though I haven't faced new generals besides Marath). I saw a guy yesterday playing an Oath-Dream Halls Progenitus decks, and I felt proud for a moment
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
I will keep P.Titan, as he gets me the lands I need (cavern of souls, wasteland and rishadan port, kor haven agaisnt voltron, dd/ts). In place of NO, Im considering:
- Spirit of the Laberynth, because why not.
- Kataki (anti marath decks will proliferate, and they use a lot of artifact ramp)
- Hokori (if we go mana denial plan)
- Breemaz (creature is good)
- Bind (mana denial plan)
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
I'm happy with the ban—because it frees up a spot for Spirit of the Labyrinth without forcing us to make a tough cut decision. ;P
Seriously though, good riddance to broken BS.
MRW I see that someone's running my Captain Sisay Commander list on Cockatrice:
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
Selesyna Charm could definitely be added here. And though I haven't played against it myself now, I've definitely seen a TON of Gods being played on Cockatrice. I think playing both Banisher Priest and Fiend Hunter makes sense in this meta. Those Gods run completely uncontested against non-blue decks, like goddamn, so more exile-like effects seem necessary.
I'm trying a new approach with the deck (must be a Tuesday!). I took a no-nonsense stance on the cards that (let's be honest) aren't run in other decks and took them out for, chiefly, more ramp. To make up a number, I'm only getting an elf in my opener like 25% of the time maybe, and that's just not acceptable for a deck that's trying to be Tier 1 with a slower general. Also, I gutted the cards that I put in for specific types of matches, opting instead to just be faster and better than those smelly decks. Here's what I'm working with and will probably submit to the tourney:
1 Captain Sisay
Legends (8)
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Creatures (24)
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Boreal Druid
1 Arbor Elf
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Benevolent Bodyguard
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Mother of Runes
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Academy Rector
1 Karmic Guide
1 Sun Titan
1 Mox Diamond
1 Skullclamp
1 Expedition Map
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Birthing Pod
Enchantments (10)
1 Wild Growth
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Lignify
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Steely Resolve
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Nevermore
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Living Plane
Instants (8)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Mana Tithe
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Nature's Claim
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Renounce the Guilds
Sorceriers (5)
1 Oust
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Nature's Lore
1 Three Visits
Legendary Lands (7)
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Dark Depths
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyc
3 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Command Tower
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Brushland
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Reflecting Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
1 Homeward Path
1 Wasteland
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Thespian's Stage
In a nutshell, I took out things that weren't directly contributing to our win strategy and/or were just kind of not great cards or anti-synergistic?
- Primeval Titan (Eh, this was mostly was used to exploit Natural Order being legal.)
- Ulvenwald Tracker (I can never win a fight ever. And if I can, it's because I've got Norn down and I've won already.)
- Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (Great as a general, okay on turn 2 even though I have way better options and just plain useless as the game goes on.)
- Scavenging Ooze (GY decks aren't all that fashionable and maybe I can just beat them faster? Or lose, whatever. I can't best every archetype and I was silly to try.)
- Relic of Progenitus (See above. GY decks, derp away.)
- Lotus Bloom (Fine enough card, but I'd rather my mana be creature permanents for Cradle/Norn synergy.)
- Tariff (Meh. Fine enough, but I'm running too many creatures now to get much use out of this. Also, Animar didn't catch on quite like I thought he would.)
- Spirit of the Labyrinth (If this were a general, it would be.. okay. Ehhhh not feeling it as a random two drop for this particular deck.)
Anyway, y'all know me well enough by now: even though I'm trimming some maybe not so great stuff, I'm of course focusing on maybe not so great strategies because dammit winning with Living Plane is so satisfying. Say hello to Academy Rector again as wrath insurance. Also, I seriously underestimated Birthing Pod. No longer. That card is freaking great, especially now that I re-added Karmic Guide. I also re-added its buddy, Iona, Shield of Emeria. Seriously, sometimes I was losing to God decks when I had 9 mana but no Iona in the deck and nothing else I could do to stop them from ending me in a turn or two and that just blows. But yeah, being able to abuse Survival of the Fittest again just feels so right. Phyrexian Revoker again because **** PWs and Jitte UGH. The rest should be self-explanatory.
tl;dr: Let's win this muh fuggin' tourney with Sisay, no nonsense!
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
It was rare for me that you didn't try Birthing Pod, that card allows POWERFUL STUFFFFFFFFFFF, like killing your Reveilark to fetch your Sun Titan gg too much value, or podding Sisay into Karmic Guide (value too xD).
Thalia: little lackluster, but Geist is going to be a thing again, I will keep it.
Spirit of the Labyrinth: too fragile :/. Good against control. I agree with you on this one.
Scavenging Ooze: never going out of home without him.
Tracker: yeah. It was only here for the Animar MU (really, just for him). Ramping into Norn is a better option.
Iona: IDK, I prefer P.Titan over Iona, unless I'm trying Painter-Iona again (which lost value due to NO ban).
Well, now that Zur is gone, I will focus on beating the new generals go for it Riley, if my Karador results aren't as good as I expect, I will join you with Sisay xD.
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
I can't believe I never thought of that! Into the North should probably find its way back into my build... hot damn.
My Geist experiences are like, 90% of the time after my opponent casts and untaps with Geist, he's adding some means of making it bigger and unblockable by me with auras or equipment. Thalia can randomly throw my opponent off tilt when it comes to making those means sliiightly more difficult to cast, I suppose (but not Steel of the Godhead which would come down on turn 4 regardless), but that's just too random for me and I play too many non-creature spells for it to be properly asymmetrical. I LOVE Thalia but I think she either has to be a general or a 4-of to really maximize.
I adore Ooze, but... man, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a protected early Ooze on the field against Iname and still lost (and I consider the other GY decks in the meta to be either too slow [Karador] or too volatile [Mimeoplasm] to warrant specific hate cards, imo). I also feel like the inclusion of these very specific cards pushes me towards using tutors and resources to casting them when they'll often get eaten by removal right away and my board is no closer to advancing my own victory. Ooze's mana commitment has been especially guilty of that. I know not all Sisay decks do this, but mine's pretty tap-out and can rarely spare turns on hosing or extra expenses. Sadly. Poor Ooze.
This is going to be a weird adjustment for me, given just how much I prioritized getting Prime Time in hand and casting it over everything else. But then, that used to be true of Iona as well, and I've missed her so. I'm seeing so much ramp battling going on in the current meta, and more and more creatures that just can't even be dealt with for the most part (oh, those wily Gods), so I'm looking at Iona as the ultimate counterspell again, worth going all in for.
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread
For example, one could still use Natural Order and Loyal Retainers (along with Sol ring). Thank you.
edit- in your change log, it is hard to see what was taken out and/or added. Has the main list been updated?
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
I usually play with multiplayer banlist IRL.
Cards in: Loyal Retainers, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring.
Cards out: P.Titan is banned, so no need for NO (2 less cards).
GBW NO Elves / Aggro Elves
GBWU Combo Elves
EDH Decks:
Duel Commander:
GG Thrun, the last Trolololol GG
GW The Captain WG
GWB Karadores BWG
GWU Jenara UWG
UWB Oloro-DD BWU
Regular EDH:
GBW Ghave the Enchanter WBG
but isn't NO an above-average tutor?
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
(But realistically, you could cut Oust, Mox Diamond, or Living Plane to make room for it if you feel it's necessary.)
My Captain Sisay Duel Commander Primer
Duel Commander Mega-Thread