Hi vegnz,

thank you for your thoughtful comment.

You got it right mentioning Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Crucible of Worlds. If I have the Crucible in my hand or out on the battlefield, then Azusa is a logical target to grab with Captain Sisay. Together with the number of fetch lands, Strip Mine, Wasteland, Horizon Canopy and such.. The fun then really starts (for me xD).

I had Saffi in an earlier build, but it wasn't overall good enough for me to retain a place in this deck. Too many times it was just present on the board doing.... nothing. Do you disagree about this? Because this cards still dwells in the back of my head ;-)

Saffi Eriksdotter/Blasting Station for life!

karametra is the best ramp card that can be searched with Sisay and probably the best in edh

Pyromancer999: Karametra is actually pretty terrible in a Sisay deck, especially in a competitive Sisay deck. She's slow, clunky, and most importantly doesn't ramp Sisay herself.

On top of that she's a catch 22 in that you don't want to play your small creatures until she's down to get ramp from them, however most of those small creatures are mana dorks, so not playing them slows you down.

Karametra is ok as commander when you can build around her, but as part of the 99 she's not great.

Something to add to interesting combos might be infinite green mana with: at least 4 creatures, Gaea's Cradle, Deserted Temple, and Rings of Brighthearth. Then you can just infinite overruns with Kamahl ;)

So, you should look into getting the new Selvala, Heart of the Wilds for this deck. She looks like she'll do some serious work. Also, Umbral Mantle makes her gross and is actually a fairly solid card for the deck in general.

I don't actually feel like the new Selvala is good enough here. The draw is unreliable and you don't have THAT many high-mana-cost creatures (plus Selvala doesn't do anything until your next turn).

Because Sisay decks have no way of giving any of their stuff haste...

While she is a 3 drop (won't ramp Sisay) the fact that she not only mana fixes but will typically be tapping for 3+ mana a hit seems really strong. And not only that but she lets you snowball beaters. Slamming a Titania means that she now taps for 4 mana, basically guaranteeing you an Eldrazi the next turn.

As for her card draw, that's not the reason you're playing her. It's just a bonus. And 99% of the time you have the biggest creatures as well. So the occasional card is just gravy.

enpc: I suppose we'll have to see what PartyJ thinks. But without a large creature on the battlefield (who are win-cons by themselves) she's usually a legendary Fyndhorn Elder: without a win-con already on the field, she will rarely net more than 2 mana (though, admittedly, she does color-filter).

The thing is though that there are a decent number of creatures who aren't win-cons but who will get her tapping for a decent chunk of mana (both Sigardas, Knight of the Reliquary, Titania, Dromoka, etc). And more than that, she then helps you ramp into your win conditions. Chances are if you're playing Titania for example, with new Selvala down then next turn you will have the mana for an Eldrazi. And considering that this is possible to do turn 5-6 without a huge amount of difficulty, it seems really good.

I think that Garruk Wildspeaker could easily be cut for her. That's just my two cents at least.

Hi guys,

great discussion going on about the new spoil that I learn about as of .... now xD

Umbral Mantle will go on my maybe list for future reference.

Now I join your discussion about this beauty of an elf: Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

The first ability is pretty neat, knowing that I could benefit the most of it. Since I tend to ramp my big win cons asap, I do see myself draw more cards than my opponents ever will because of this elf. It's a nice extra, nothing more.... nothing less...

The second ability inspires me to find some interesting gameplays using Sisay to get the most benefit out of this elf. This elf is legendary, so its a viable thought that she will see the battlefield pretty often. Which makes me confident that this discussion about earning a spot in the mainboard is a valid one. She could ramp in Sisay a turn sooner than normal, if get get a good opening ramp hand with this elf in it. But I think that her strength for Sisay lies in ramping your win cons in sooner. Making this elf an overall good asset for Sisay, early game and late game. If she gets a spot, than surely I would not want to swap her for something that could always ramp in Sisay at least a turn sooner. Like enpc said Garruk Wildspeaker would be a valid cut for her, since I cant tutor him up.

Great thoughts guys. Thanks for your indepth comments. If she proves unworthy, than she is easily replaced again.

With Umbral Mantle I am still on the fence. Basically, since its pretty hard to decide what to replace it for.

I know you do not like Scapeshift, but when I had Scapeshift in my hand I never ever lost when I smacked in Titania.

ps: Burgeoning is a card I truely want to give a try in my deck as well. We solely play multiplayer here. This card I want to add and remove Exploration. If I drop Sisay, I can tutor a land in an opponents turn and play it straight away. Like a cradle. Its faster than Exploration will be.

For you, Exploration is better than Burgeoning.

Exploration gives you the lands on your turn which is more important to you. You're not playing a control deck and chances are that you won't get any benefit from it over Exploration. Remember, a turn 1 Burgeoning dropping 2 more lands into turn 2 play 4th land then Sisay is exactly the same as turn 1 Exploration dropping 1 more land then turn 2 playing 2 lands onto Sisay.

As for Umbral Mantle, it's solid enough to mainboard. It also gives you additional Sisay tutors outside of combo or gets really gross with a Mangara of Corondor. But one thing I would recommend is if you're going to find room for it then find room for a Stoneforge Mystic too.

Don't see why you feel it's necessary to label different sections as "tutor" or "ramp" as if no one knows what a birds of paradise does.....

Balance is something that is pretty well tuned in this competitive build Jsmith94. Thanks to carefull testing and finetuning I shape the categories in size. Having them lined per section makes it easer to do this and easier for others to see how this build has been constructed.

I hope this makes any sense to you :) If you prefer to see the Type overview, feel free to change it. T/O is here to help organising our MtG needs easier ;)

Really sweet deck and is probably one of the most refined Sissays I've seen on TO. +1