A Band of Legends 2016

Commander / EDH* GW (Selesnya) Theme/Gimmick

Awoken_Leviathan

Land (34)

• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 11x Forest
• 1x Fortified Village
• 1x Krosan Verge
• 10x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Riftstone Portal
• 1x Saltcrusted Steppe
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Tutor (7)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
• 1x Open the Armory
• 1x Planar Bridge
• 1x Reap and Sow
• 1x Sylvan Scrying

Repeat Tap (6)

• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Instill Energy
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Nature's Chosen
• 1x Nissa, Genesis Mage
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

Recursion (5)

• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Hua Tuo, Honored Physician
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Saffi Eriksdotter
• 1x Titania, Protector of Argoth

Accelerants (8)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Safewright Quest
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tempt with Discovery
• 1x Traverse the Outlands
• 1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

Protection (8)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Privileged Position
• 1x Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant  ^Flip
• 1x Sigarda, Heron's Grace
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Prison (6)

• 1x Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld
• 1x Dragonlord Dromoka
• 1x Gisela, the Broken Blade  ^Meld
• 1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist

Draw (5)

• 1x Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
• 1x Nissa, Vital Force
• 1x Reki, the History of Kamigawa
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Sylvan Library

Band Lands (2)

• 1x Adventurers' Guildhouse
• 1x Cathedral of Serra

Commander (1)

Bluffs (7)

• 1x Akroma's Memorial
• 1x Day of Destiny
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Heroes' Podium
• 1x Masako the Humorless
• 1x Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 1x Tolsimir Wolfblood

Removal (6)

• 1x Angelic Purge
• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Hallowed Burial
• 1x Mangara of Corondor
• 1x Myojin of Cleansing Fire

Flash (5)

• 1x Hunting Grounds
• 1x Myojin of Life's Web
• 1x Quicksilver Amulet
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Winding Canyons

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Sideboard

Protection (3)

• 1x Lord Magnus
• 1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons

Accelerant (1)

• 1x Karametra, God of Harvests

Bluff (1)

• 1x Nissa, Nature's Artisan

Removal (3)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Glissa Sunseeker
• 1x Major Teroh

Recursion (2)

• 1x Reya Dawnbringer
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

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Maybeboard

Maybe (13)

• 1x Board the Weatherlight
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Gavony Township
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Jhoira's Familiar
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Mirari's Wake
• 1x That Which Was Taken
• 1x Thran Temporal Gateway
• 1x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Weatherlight
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

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"bands with" combined with Legendary Creatures.

The idea is to get out both the Band lands (Adventurers' Guildhouse & Cathedral of Serra), and the Legendary creatures that will be affected by using Captain Sisay. Give these creatures a trample bluff (blanket buff) and stopping the horde is nearly impossible. Or ya' know, just win the game with a bunch of overpowered legendary creatures for obvious reasons without even getting banding onto the field, whichever works. I've included several ways to untap Sisay in order to use her multiple times, ways to cheat creatures onto the field, and ways to give haste.

Banding is an interesting mechanic that doesn't see much (if any) play due to its age and alleged complexity. I know wizards gave up on it, and that many have tried to create decks focused on it but given up too. I thought I might as well try my hand at it and see what I can do. I think the reason that it failed before was because, if you look at the majority of creatures that already have banding, or can give themselves banding, you'll find that they are fairly weak and so, as a result, not able to make use of banding's benefits like spreading damage. This means the end result is the same, that being that they all still get themselves killed. Kind of like giving a 1/1 creature trample. The mechanic wasn't useful on such low toughness creatures, and it's not like there's a large selection to choose from anyway. My plan is to forgo the actual "Banding" mechanic on the creatures for the "Bands with" mechanic as a bluff. That makes the two Band lands essential, this is why I have included non-basic land search cards like Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying on top of the regular accelerants. Unfortunately the band lands are NOT legendary lands so Sisay is unable to procure them.

BANDING MECHANICS EXPLANATION Show

The basics are: A group of 2+ creatures WITH "bands with" and ONE WITHOUT can be considered a singular creature when attacking (so if one is blocked they are all blocked) or blocking (essentially the same as double blocking). HOWEVER the person with the banded creatures chooses both the order in which they are dealt damage when attacking AND how they are dealt damage when defending. Ex: If I attack with 3 3/3 creatures that are banded together, and my opponent blocks one of them with a 6/6, then they are all blocked and no damage gets through to the defending player. Now normally the one 3/3 that was blocked would end up dying, but because it was banded I (the attacker) assign the damage and can instead spread it across the 3 creatures bringing them down to 3/1 each, but keeping them alive, while still dealing a total of 9 damage to the defending creature and killing it. On the flip-side if I am attacked by a 4/4 and I block with 2 3/3s then (usually) one dies and the other is reduced to a 3/2, but if those two creatures are banded then I can choose that the damage is split evenly and the end result is I have two 3/1s instead of one 3/2 and the attacking 4/4 takes 6 damage, killing it.

TL;DR you get to decide how your opponent's damage is dealt as well as your own. In cases of a Band being blocked by another Band (both attacking and defending creatures are banded) then the attacking player decides how the defending creatures deal damage and the defending player decides how the attacking creatures deal damage.

One of the ideal outcomes for this game is to have Sisay in play with multiple untap cards, at least one of the band lands, and Vedalken Orrery. Wait till the end of an opponents turn and then use her as many times as possible to stack your hand with creatures. At least one of them should be Myojin of Life's Web which you can then use to play the rest of the cards.

9-25-2020

Note: This hasn't been upgraded since pre-Ixalan and needs to be completely reworked since A) lots of legendary cards have come out since then, and B) the deck is just plain bad. I haven't given up on making this into a functional banding deck but as a now more experienced player I can see plenty of things that need to be re-considered.

If anyone has any suggestions leave a comment and I will definitely consider it before I start reworking the deck.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	UBR
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	17 - 4 Mythic Rares 36 - 4 Rares 17 - 2 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.05
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elemental 5/3 G, Emblem Nissa, Vital Force, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Voja
Folders	Banding