[SCD] General: Sigarda, Host of Herons

After the Karametra failure and reminded by today's 58 minutes long phone with Pavel (datanaga on Source) that also other formats exist, I decided to tinker with GW EDH a bit more. But this time I'll be taking a completely different direction... or at least a completely different commander.

http://media.wizards.com/images/magi.../965_thumb.jpg
(note the naked thig; this game is really made for pimply adolescents)

I'm surprised that there's no Sigarda thread here. I think that she's quite a solid commander (at least in low-powered 1v1 environment) but maybe I'm wrong.


General: Sigarda, Host of Herons

I'll start with some overall Q&A before any decklist and whatnot. In fact I don't even think that this thread should be about a particular deck. What I want the community to help me with, is a decision-making process rather than "play this, avoid that" type of support, although this one may be handy later, when I'll decide on general strategy, budget and similar stuff. The deck should be primarily designed for pub games, but I'm not resistant to a more competitive play, however so or so, it's meant for 1v1 as I hate (ok, maybe just "dislike") multiplayer Magic.
But even this isn't my main focus. what I really want is to start a really general discusion on Sigarda as general. (Bad pun intended.) I'd be especially interested in your real life experiences with her at the helm, be it the games/decks you played with her, or the ones you played against the deck. Speaking of deck...


Deck types:
From what experiences I gathered in MtG, GW and EDH, it looks like there are five (or more realistically: four) possible approaches to Sigarda, Deck of Heroes.

1) Voltron. Anyone looking at Sigarda and not realizing that she's a three-turns clock with any Rancor attached, must have been under a rock for last two decades. She's also pretty resilient, and there's not much one can throw in front of her on early turns. Then again Voltron isn't the most thrilling type of deck, and every Wrath, Disk or whatever else hurts, namely once the general's cost rises.

2) Enchantress. Of course, this one is quite natural, as GW is home of the very potent enchantments-based draw engines and lock pieces, however this one is a bit too obvious, especially because it overlaps with the Voltron style. It's definitely the most viable (or maybe the combination of two?), but then the monetary price.

3) Creature rush/geddon. A simple kind of deck where the player casts creatures and either rushes for the kill with a general damage as a backup plan (but wouldn't Teeg be better for this as he stops WoGs?) or a more robust plan of "play dudes, sweep mana", which is definitely a nonono for pub games.

4) Some lovely "Creatures: the ETBing" pile with all the usual suspects like Titan, Terastodon, Orangutan, Primus, Baloths of any kind and shape. However I'm not sure what Sigarda has to do with this, as there are better commanders for that task, although maybe not exactly Tolsimir Wolfblood.

5) "Screw the tactic, I play w/e I got in binders" type of build. This one has some pros (e. g. the money aspect), but it's hardly a satisfying concept. Moreover, this is far from any deckbuilding... :laugh:


So far I'm inclined to build a mix of Voltron and Tress, maybe even clear Tress, as it'll be far less dependant on Sigarda. But I'm open to suggestions.
My budget (while not exactly unlimited) is not a real concern now, because either I'll decide that I want to have this as a "that EDH of mine" and then I'll slowly throw some money into it, or I'll decide to play by Pavel's rules (no card above 5 dollars) and then it's clear that I simply cannot build anything else than cheap Voltron.


So, any ideas?

sigarda is not a great 1v1 general because her ability is so specific.

she's great vs

eldrazi
liliana
pox

but not a lot of edh stuff...

Otoh, she can be ramped out pretty fast and with any Rancor, Civic Saber or Shield of the Oversoul, she's a three turns clock.

Next thing that I thought about is the fact that she removes a bit of interaction from games and speaking specificaly about datanaga's deck, she makes the two decks not interact with each other, because Sigarda cannot be easily removed and her ability is so specific that she needs to be used for general's damage (esp. the Voltron version of deck), and not for creatures support or overall long games.
I am yet to decide what to do with her.

Ad Karametra) I still believe, that a small tweak can improve matchup against my deck a lot, add more removal (exile, afterlife, reprisal atd.) to survive first few turns, because your lategame is imho better than mine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by datanaga

Ad Karametra) I still believe, that a small tweak can improve matchup against my deck a lot, add more removal (exile, afterlife, reprisal atd.) to survive first few turns, because your lategame is imho better than mine.

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I thought about that, as she ramps pretty good and that's what I need if I wish to use the aproach of high-cmc, high-impact cards like Admonition Angel and such. What I find interesting is that against your deck the targeted removal is in fact pretty powerful, as your brilliant color fixation and the low cmc of the general makes it possible to win via general damage in few swings, not even cosidering the Civic Saber (foil): 9 Kč.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bed Decks Palyer

and the low cmc of the general makes it possible to win via general damage in few swings, not even cosidering the Civic Saber (foil): 9 Kč.

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Not sure if you are serious, but my general cmc is not definitely low, five mana is a lot and same as Karametra. You should at least try add more removal before you will abandon your deck and build new one. BTW your deck has a lot of possibilities to deal with a lonely equipment which Im not playing now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by datanaga

Not sure if you are serious, but my general cmc is not definitely low, five mana is a lot and same as Karametra. You should at least try add more removal before you will abandon your deck and build new one. BTW your deck has a lot of possibilities to deal with a lonely equipment which Im not playing now.

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Thing is that your general DOEs something, while Kara just stares. Moreover five mana for 5/5 vigilance, trample, haste is pretty low cmc imho, esp. considering mana rocks, so without targeted removal I simply cannot survive the early turns.
Btw, I tried to build something around Sigarda and as usual, I was completely overwhelmed by the possibilities. Right now I simply tucked her (pun intended) back into the box and don't care any further, namely when I got real fucking managment troubles ones I started to dissolve the rest of my cards, including the RUG Thresh. In fact I think that nothing will come out of this all, so far I got the idea to keep not a single Magic card and by not a single Magic card I mean yes, exactly that, I'll take some of the money I'll get from the sales, and laser-out that fucking tattoo.
That'd be sick.

Wow, those were some shitty games today! I guess that if I'd be playing 99_Savannahs.dec, I'd still miraculously lose to manascrew somehow.

So, the decision is done, the deck cannot be played like this, it's extremely unreliable. The two plans (voltron vs. creatures) do not work together and drawing one 7/7 for seven turn after turn was a major pita.

I guess I'll try the Voltron/Tress route, although it's a bit dull due to the fact that those decks play always the same. However, I'm a great fan of repetitive experiences, so why care, maybe it'll be nice...

I'm trying the Tress approach in MWS and I need to say that it's beyond boring. It's more linear than Your Usual Storm deck and as such, it provides very little fun and serves me with no plan B.

Smaller cons: The deck has very few ways how to deal with anything ugly, due to the nature of its engine it cannot play sweepers and thus it's a bit cold to any game state that gets out of hand, Sigarda is not exactly fast, namely considering the slowness of enchantments-only ramp and the whole "play as many auras as possible" plan leaves me with no backup idea and without any meaning for the non-hatebear creatures.

I wouldn't believe what I'm writing about Sigarda, but I guess it's true: she's not exactly thrilling general and unless one builds the deck solely around her and uses all the resources to resolve and voltron her, there's no way how to win, not to mention how to have fun in the process of winning.


Although the best approach seems to be...
8 one-mana manadudes
2 one-mana manaauras
12 two-mana manadudes/auras/stones
6 two-mana ramps
6 three-mana ramps and manaauras
...I'm not willing to go this way, as there's hardly anything inteesting about this build, other than the fact that I'd cast Sigarda on turn3 each game each turn3 and then just go mad with auras hoping that she won't die before my opponent does. That's an extreme tempo playstyle, e.g. I don't evens ome CA tools, as they simply don't matter, it's all about turn3 Siggy, turn4-5 waterfall of auras, gg.
Do or die. Not funny.


Bye bye, my sweet angel, you'll be sorely missed.

I have a Sigarda Voltron deck, to avoid enormous card disadvantage blowouts I went with equipment instead of auras. Not a whole lot of ways to get rid of a Sigarda that got equipped with a Shield of Kaldra. Buttload of equipment, a few good creatures, a wrath or two, some removal, some ramp, and quite a few Maverick style hatebears. Maybe not overly original.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stan

I have a Sigarda Voltron deck, to avoid enormous card disadvantage blowouts I went with equipment instead of auras. Not a whole lot of ways to get rid of a Sigarda that got equipped with a Shield of Kaldra. Buttload of equipment, a few good creatures, a wrath or two, some removal, some ramp, and quite a few Maverick style hatebears. Maybe not overly original.

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Well, I like the Auras approach coz then you can play Null Rod and Stony Silence and stop the other ppl's ramp and equips. But I guess the huge card disadvantage hurts, unless you pack as many Retether as possible.