MTG Salvation

My list for Yisan, the Wanderer Bard. I've been looking to build Yisan since he was spoiled several years ago, but couldn't find the right timing on it due to always having a mono green deck already assembled.

This deck does take a lot of inspiration from the CEDH version of the list that is widely popular, but is ultimately not a CEDH deck, and I have phased out the parts that I don't think apply to my own list for cards that I simply enjoy running.

It seems your 5 drop slot is fairly light. I am not sure what else to put there, but it seems like it could be easy to whiff if you already have those 3 cards. Maybe Indrik Stomphowler to give you some more utility?

What about Rings of Brighthearth and Illusionist's Bracers to get even more value out of Yisan?

I see you have Mirri's Guile but I am not sure why. It is just for card selection? Why not run Sensei's Divining Top instead? Arguably, they both do the same thing assuming you don't ever plan on using the Top more than once in a turn cycle and Guile doesn't cost mana, but I think Top being able to draw a card and its re-usability are better. Not saying Guile is bad or anything, just curious on why to use it over Top.

I was trying to find cards that would let you re-use Yisan's ability to get a specific CMC by removing counters but there are few. Power Conduit is one and Quarry Hauler is another. I am not sure if they are good enough, though the Hauler does let you skip over numbers or get back to a previous number if you need to.

And, lastly, since you already have your curve set up for it, what about Birthing Pod?

Quote from WizardMN »

It seems your 5 drop slot is fairly light. I am not sure what else to put there, but it seems like it could be easy to whiff if you already have those 3 cards. Maybe Indrik Stomphowler to give you some more utility?

Five mana is tough for green creatures, because they keep putting everything at 6 CMC >.< I will definitely look in to Stomphowler, though!

What about Rings of Brighthearth and Illusionist's Bracers to get even more value out of Yisan?

I thought about them, and I might come back to them depending on how long this deck ends up living from game to game. Mostly they're a little slow, but to start I wanted to stick to ways to activate Yisan that he himself could tutor up (like Quirion Ranger or Wirewood Symbiote).

I see you have Mirri's Guile but I am not sure why. It is just for card selection? Why not run Sensei's Divining Top instead? Arguably, they both do the same thing assuming you don't ever plan on using the Top more than once in a turn cycle and Guile doesn't cost mana, but I think Top being able to draw a card and its re-usability are better. Not saying Guile is bad or anything, just curious on why to use it over Top.

I like Guile more than Top. Sensei's top honestly just feels like a chore where as Mirri's Guile is just a less intrusive way to filter before my draw step. It's mostly personal preference, I'm just a very slow player with Top.

I was trying to find cards that would let you re-use Yisan's ability to get a specific CMC by removing counters but there are few. Power Conduit is one and Quarry Hauler is another. I am not sure if they are good enough, though the Hauler does let you skip over numbers or get back to a previous number if you need to.

And, lastly, since you already have your curve set up for it, what about Birthing Pod?

I'm honestly not a huge fan of Birthing Pod in general, which I know is blasphemy in EDH. But I prefer to use it when I have ways to get around the sacrifice hurting as much. I think Yisan covers me enough in the tutor area that not running it won't hurt too bad.

It seems you ended a quote tag with a closing card tag above so the quote looks off.

Regarding Pod: I have put it into, and taken it out of, a number of decks in the past as it never did quite as much as I wanted. Granted only one was really built for it but that was one of the bigger issues for me: it required a bit more reworking of the curve to make sure each CMC had a relevant hit and it affected the overall deck.

I just figured a Yisan deck, which is already built with the curve in mind, would be a good place for it. But, as with a lot of things in EDH, personal preference is the driving factor so I can definitely respect the decision to omit it from this build and instead focus more on just using Yisan multiple times.

Quote from WizardMN »

Regarding Pod: I have put it into, and taken it out of, a number of decks in the past as it never did quite as much as I wanted. Granted only one was really built for it but that was one of the bigger issues for me: it required a bit more reworking of the curve to make sure each CMC had a relevant hit and it affected the overall deck.

I just figured a Yisan deck, which is already built with the curve in mind, would be a good place for it. But, as with a lot of things in EDH, personal preference is the driving factor so I can definitely respect the decision to omit it from this build and instead focus more on just using Yisan multiple times.

Probably my biggest thing about pod is my inability to get the cards back once I've sacrificed them. That said, I might be down to test it out once I get a feel for the deck. Tutor decks are a lot more difficult for me to pre-emptively intuit changes to just due to how familiar I need to be with the lines of play before I can see where to improve. I'm hoping to start test driving this tomorrow though, so I may be a little less useless at responding to feedback.

Kraul Harpooner is good enough? I'm not a fan of Sakura-Tribe Scout. And how Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth are performing for you?

Elvish Visionary, Wall of Blossoms and Carven Caryatid are good to curve, card advantage, and can be blockers if needed. Destructor Dragon and Whiptongue Hydra for removal. Seeker of Skybreak can generate good value or act as a political tool.

Quote from Hazzenko »

Kraul Harpooner is good enough? I'm not a fan of Sakura-Tribe Scout. And how Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth are performing for you?

Elvish Visionary, Wall of Blossoms and Carven Caryatid are good to curve, card advantage, and can be blockers if needed. Destructor Dragon and Whiptongue Hydra for removal. Seeker of Skybreak can generate good value or act as a political tool.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure if the Harpooner is good enough. I mostly molded this off of the competitive lists with some minor edits on the stax elements. It ultimately probably isn't, but it's a really cool card I don't think sees much play, so I'd at least like to give it a shot. That said, I will probably swap it with, maybe something like Elvish Visionary if it doesn't actually do much. However, it is a tutorable way to kill a few very annoying generals in my meta even without getting pumped, which isn't super easy to come by in green.

Harpooner is a good and much needed answer to Kaalia of the Vast, which proves a fairly difficult match-up otherwise.

Visionary is nice to have once you've gone infinite with Temur Sabertooth you can draw your deck.

Scout works quite well in conjunction with Quirion Ranger and Scryb Ranger.