[EDH] Sisay, Captain of Legends

[Atwa]

Intro:

As most people here know, I collect Korean cards. I just love the look of those cards, they way their alphabet looks on it, it’s just wonderful. A collection I also have, and is less known, is my legendary collection. I’ve always had a soft spot for those cards, cards so special you can only play one of them at a time. Cards which represent the main characters of the story (I started playing during Urza’s block, so there was only 1 story at that time).

At the moment I only miss 26 cards for a complete English collection (most of them from Legends and Portal: 3 Kingdoms, I also miss a Guildpact Niv-Mizzet, I know, shame on me) and I’ve also started to get them in foreign languages, foils, promos and the like. This puts me at a great advantage in EDH, I already have all the generals I could wish for, and instead of roaming gatherer for generals, I can simply start searching in my binder to see what kind of deck I want to play.

This is great and all, but most of the time I take apart my EDH decks after a couple of weeks because I want to use the cards in a serious deck. This gave me idea of building an EDH deck with cards I won’t play with anyway, since those are my collectibles (I have playsets of most collection cards, so they never leave my binder (save for Tabernacle and Karakas). I give you my first version of my EDH Sisay deck, Captain of Generals.

General:
Captain Sisay

Lands:
9 Forest
8 Plains
Wooded Foothills
Verdant Catacombs
Misty Rainforest
Flooded Strand
Marsh Flats
Arid Mesa
Windswept Heath
Savannah
Temple Garden
Brushland
Sunpetal Grove
Horizon Canopy
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Eiganjo Castle
Kor Haven
Yavimaya Hollow
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Maze of Ith

Creatures:
Rhys the Redeemed
Birds of Paradise
Mother of Runes

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Saffi Eriksdotter
Stoneforge Mystic
Qasali Pridemage
Fauna Shaman

Mangara of Corondor
Lieutenant Kirtar
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Reki, the History of Kamigawa
Isao, Enlightened Bushi
Knight of the Reliquary
Eternal Witness

Commander Eesha
Iwamori of the Open Fist
Willow Satyr
Chameleon Colossus

Mageta the Lion
Baru, Fist of Krosa
Ayumi, the Last Visitor
Kodama of the North Tree
Genesis

Jareth, Leonine Titan
Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
Tolsimir Wolfblood
Yosei, the Morning Star
Jedit Ojanen of Efrava
Jugan, the Rising Star
Silvos, Rogue Elemental
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
Adarkar Valkyrie
Primeval Titan

Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Chorus of the Conclave
Myojin of Cleansing Fire
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Avenger of Zendikar

Non-creature cards:
Sol Ring
Condemn
Swords to Plowshares
Enlightened Tutor

Umezawa's Jitte
Sword of the Chosen
Sylvan Library
Survival of the Fittest
Candles of Leng
Luminarch Ascension
Selesnya Signet

Oblivion Ring
Helm of Kaldra

Sword of Kaldra
Shield of Kaldra
Day of Destiny
Pattern of Rebirth
Harmonize

Predator, Flagship
Gideon Jura
Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
Akroma's Memorial

First thoughs:
Sisay is a beast! She can fetch you 42 cards out of 99 total. I’ve tried to include legendary cards for all purposes: mana, defense, removal, offensive (with all sorts of evasion and added utility).

I tried to keep the deck fair, no mass removal or (strong) combo’s, I tried to make it function like a GW Survival deck, you have a lot of cards, search for the ones you need at this particular moment without being too strong or too anoying for your opponent(s). You survival into what you need and never get a hand without creatures, Sisay fills your hand with useless cards to pitch (if the card you are looking for isn’t Legendary), whenever you want something in your grave, simpy discard Emrakul and start searching for it again.

I included Wasteland and Strip Mine, but I’m not sure if this deck needs it. I do play some cards with harsh casting costs (3 mana of 1 color), so the spots might be better of as basic land.

Cards I’m looking to find a spot for but weren’t included because I don’t own them at the moment:
Academy Rector (not sure since I don’t have any sac outlets)
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (instead of Ermakul)
Any other suggestions?

[Valtrix]

I run a Sisay deck too. I couple things that I saw missing:

Glissa Sunseeker
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Elvish piper (Insane with Sisay. A turn 6 Ulamog/Emrakul is scary)
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (I just think he's better than Emrakul because Ulamog doesn't die to most sweepers and is reasonable to hardcast, even if he's "weaker")
Cultivate and Kodama's Reach (You really want the land advantage in EDH, and you really should be running more mana-cards with your high curve.)
Life from the loam (With so many fetches, strip mine, wasteland, you have more than enough ways to make it useful, and it's particularly nice to ensure land drops)
Karakas (If this isn't banned...Somewhat unfair though ;P)

Those are just some suggestions at an initial glance.

[Atwa]

Unfortunatly Karaks is banned. Bounching generals each turn is a bit harsh.....

I don't have Ulamog at the moment, that's why I run Emrakul. I mostly want to use them for their reshuffle ability anyway and the little brother seems more useful, even if he's less impressive of a Pattern of Rebirth.

I can't believe I skipped over both Glissa and Linvala in my binder, those should be included. I also found out I forgot all about Dosan the Falling Leaf.

I have to agree with you on Life from the Loam, but I'm not sure yet about the other two land searchers. At the moment I believe I'm already rather tight with the cards I want to play, so making room will be rather difficult.

Does anyone have a suggestion on the weakest cards in my list? Something that will give me ideas on what to cut from the list...

[Valtrix]

I would first look at selysnya signet. Reach/cultivate seems better. Next I'd say sword of the chosen. +2/+2 is just not that great, and Konda's Banner just seems better anyway since it's a permanent +2/+2 and helps your other guys, even if it does boost opponent's creatures as well. Chorus of the Conclave is just a bad card, please don't play it. Isao seems kind of weak. It's an okay defensive card, but little else. I'd rather play Spearbreaker Behemoth, even if it's not legendary and it costs a lot more. Also, I think Gaddock Teeg is a great target for Sisay, but I only play 1 conflicting card with him, so he becomes a lot better in my deck. Luminarch Ascension is nice, but it makes you a lightning rod in multiplayer games, which is why I would be inclined to not play it. The card disadvantage of enlightened tutor is not my favorite either. You might just want to run idyllic tutor, even if it can't get your couple artifacts that are non-legendary.

Just some other thoughts.

[Atwa]

I'm going to test the following changes to the list:
- Selesnya Signet
- Chorus of the Conclave
- Konda
- Emrakul
- Luminarch Ascension
- Isao

+ Ulamog
+ Kodama's Reach
+ Cultivate
+ Linvala
+ Dosan the Falling Leaf
+ Life from the Loam

I tried the first list a few times goldfishing and I always seem to get stuck and 4-5 lands. I hope these changes will help to fix it. If it doesn't help as much as I hope, I might add another Forest in the mix.

[luckme10]

um, what about Gaea's Cradle. Legendary tutorable land that gives green mana?
Flagstones of Trokair and Pendelhaven also seem like good ways to tutor land

[Atwa]

Cradle is pretty decent, however it sucks in your starting hand. Not being able to generate mana to drop your first dude is a pretty big drawback. I won't cut a normal land for it, but if I decide to cut a non-land card for a land card though, it'll be a Cradle.

Pendelhaven is pretty useless, I only have 4 1/1 creatures in the list, 1 of them conditional (Omnath will grow) and 1 I won't ever use to attack with (stealing your opponent's general is way too cool).

I didn't add Flagstones because I didn't want to play with land destruction, but I realize that line of thought was flawed :) It's a tutor-able Plains if nothing else.

I've come to the conclusion Iwamori is too risky to run. Sure, a 5/5 for 4 is decent, but people are running Eldrazi legends at the moment and I don't want to face a Korzilek of Emrakul with only a 5/5. Still debating if I want to add Glissa or Elvish Piper for it's place. My creatures aren't the giants you'd want to cheat into play, but Glissa feels underwhelming too.

Any ideas?

[Skeggi]

Have you considered Dark Depths?

[DownSyndromeKarl]

wait, why drop Luminarch Ascension? if you're playing White in EDH, you should always play Ascension. Unless you're doing 1v1 i guess...

[Atwa]

wait, why drop Luminarch Ascension? if you're playing White in EDH, you should always play Ascension. Unless you're doing 1v1 i guess...

At the store I play, most people play 1vs1. And then again, in multiplayer, landing it makes everyone point their damage at you early game, and that's the state of the game I am the weakest. I'd hate to lose 20 life before I can stabilize.

Dark depth seems like a neat idea, however I normally spend a lot of my mana on my actual gameplan (survivaling costs a lot of mana, and summoning Kaldra also takes up some resources). If I ever get an open spot I'll try it out, however I think actually summoning legends out of my deck is a better spending of my mana. If I were black, I could at least play Hexmage, but white also has no way to remove counters.

[Nightmare]

If you're in a 1v1 meta with Sisay, you need to be playing:

Gaea's Cradle
Yomiji, Who Bars the Way
Mindslaver
Mistveil Plains

I played Sisay for a long time, and those were the best ways to win. Cradle seems weak but in fact, it makes it near impossible to lose when online. Your dudes are all super expensive, so Cradle accels you into them. Also, run every way to hit 4 mana on turns 2-3 that you can. The earlier Sisay happens, the better off you'll be. I'm talking Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Signets, Talismans, all of it. Once you get the mana to either recur Slaver with Yomiji or MVP (Mistveil), you go nuts. Sisay lets you find the Slaver on the bottom every turn, by the way, which is how you lock with that.

Also cut the crappy legends for stuff like Lightning Greaves and Sword of Vengeance so you can give Sisay haste. Also, run Loyal Retainers. Even without Iona, it's great. If you run some Heart Wardens or whatever you can go infinite with Saffi, which is awesome and something people don't usually bitch about.

[Atwa]

Playing proxies in a "casual" deck (EDH is played only casual around here) is being frowned about over here, which takes a Retainer a little out reach for me at the moment. I'm thinking about starting my own company and I need to save all the cash I can save right now. I did think about it, and I must speak to the other guys how they'll feel about it if I proxie the Retainer. I've only recently become a little more active at the local shop, so I'm not sure if they'll allow it.

I can't believe I actually manage to miss out on Yomiji though. I guess I really hate Kamigawa block for pumping out a lot of legendary creatures, so I never really read them closely, big mistake on my part, the block was the easiest part of my collection to put together, so I didn't give it a lot of love.

Slaver + Mistveil Plains is actually a very good idea. I'll try it out. The biggest (and by far coolest) thing I thought about when building the deck was assembling a fully equipped Kaldra token around turn 6.

@ Nightmare, do you happen to have an old list somewhere? I hate to netdeck on a casual deck, but having to build a deck in a singleton format, it'll really help to have something to reference to.

[Nightmare]

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?14912

This was the last time I had the deck together before I sold it. I'd change some stuff, but its a good start.

[freakish777]

Non-legendary stuff to consider:

Loxodon Warhammer
Behemoth Sledge (you run a lot of creatures)

Rampant Growth
Sakaru-Tribe Elder (mana ramp is really important in multiplayer, so you can leverage your high casting cost, high power cards before your opponents, STE is still good 1v1 since it fogs also)

Wolfbriar Elemental (make an army)
Sprout Swarm

Seedborn Muse (as Nightmare suggested)

Legendary cards to consider:

Kataki War's Wage (you'd only go get him when your opponent is playing a million artifacts that combo, since you're playing a bunch of equipment yourself)
Patron of the Kitsune (although this may just mean everyone attacks you)
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (your opponent has a bunch of tokens maybe?, also he's hard to kill)
Hokori, Dust Drinker (if you had Seedborn Muse down, I'm pretty sure your opponents just concede here, but this takes away from the fairness of the deck)
Arashi, the Sky Asunder
Vereloth the Ancient


Cards I think are weak (specifically geared towards multiplayer though):

Rhys
Isoa
Iwamori
Jugan
Chorus of the Conclave
Kaldra equipment

[fusionshogun]

Solitary Confinement works with Sisay and Eldrazi pretty well too. But lots of people don't like the Eldrazi, and it opens you up to Bribery more. It's just a thought though. This deck looks like a lot of fun.