Paradox Sisay 2018

Commander / EDH*

MrChris

Creature (35)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Loyal Retainers
• 1x Magus of the Candelabra
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Qasali Pridemage
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Saffi Eriksdotter
• 1x Seeker of Skybreak
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Voyaging Satyr
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Land (31)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Brushland
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Eiganjo Castle
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 7x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1x Petrified Field
• 2x Plains
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Windswept Heath

Instant (11)

• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Aether Vial
• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Winter Orb

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Land Grant

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Stony Silence
• 1x Survival of the Fittest

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Master list evolving since 2010

Main Combo Line

Combo Requirements

• Sisay untapped with no summoning sickness

• Any nonland permanent that produces 1 mana

• Any cheap spell

If that spell costs 1 to cast:

• 5 other mana of any kind

If that spell costs 0 to cast:

• 4 other mana of any kind

The color of the mana you generate during the combo will all be green, but make 2 white somewhere during the process

Setting up the combo

For this walkthrough, we assume the spell we are using to trigger the initial Paradox Engine untap costs 1 to cast.

(mana available before step is in parentheses)

• (6) Have Sisay + any mana dork/rock + 6 open mana.
• (6) Tutor and play Paradox Engine
• (1) Cast 1 mana spell. Untap everything.
• (0) Tutor Mox Amber. Before casting, tap everything for mana. Cast Amber and tap everything for mana.
• (3) Tutor and play Mox Opal. Tap everything for mana.
• (6) Tutor and play Dosan, the Falling Leaf. Tap rocks. [At this stage, all CMC 3 mana legends are free]
• (6) Tutor and play a 2 mana legend, i.e. Kataki. This nets +1. DO NOT FIND THALIA
• (7) Tutor and play Azusa, Lost but Seeking.
• (7) Tutor and play Inventor's fair. Crack for Thousand-Year Elixir.
• (3) Play Thousand-Year Elixir.
• (0) Tap rocks, tutor and play Selvala, Explorer Returned.

Winning the game

Now that we have the necessary combo pieces in play, we can begin to end the game. Thousand-Year Elixir gives Selvala the ability to use her ability right away, so we can use her to deck our opponents. Before you start this process, it is essential to have Dosan in play since our opponents will be drawing their decks. Dosan prevents them from casting anything they draw to answer our combo.

Since Elixir allows us to activate Selvala's ability right away, we do so. Each time we use her ability, we need at least 1 player to hit a nonland in order for her to generate mana. We can use this mana to untap her via Elixir, where we reuse her ability and hopefully hit more nonlands. We have now drawn two cards and generated usually around 3 mana. If none of these cards is a nonland, use Sisay to find a cheap legend to reset and try again. If you find a nonland, use Sisay to filter out legendary lands to reduce the chance of fizzling. Cast one of the cards in our hand to untap everything with Paradox Engine. From here, our rocks also untap, and we have a very low chance of fizzling. Keep using Sisay to thin the deck before activating Selvala.

Eventually, we will draw into Green Sun's Zenith. Cast this when you have just drawn your last card off of Selvala, as it will shuffle back into your now 1-card deck. This allows you to use her ability as many times as needed since you will always just cast and re-draw Zenith. Repeat until your opponents lose to deck size!

Alternate Win Conditions

Secondary Wincon

The main secondary wincon is through destroying everyone's lands with Elesh Norn + Kamahl activations. Despite the pair costing 13 mana to cast, it is feasable to make upwards of 30 mana a turn if you have the necessary pieces out. Any combo of the following + Gaea's Cradle and a few creatures leads to absurd pools of green mana:

• Deserted Temple

• Candelabra of Tawnos

• Magus of the Candelabra

• Voyaging Satyr

• Nature's Chosen

• Seeker of Skybreak (targeting Magus/Voyaging Satyr)

• Thousand-Year Elixir (targeting Magus/Voyaging Satyr)

• Quirion Ranger (targeting Magus/Voyaging Satyr)

Third Wincon

Assemble the Strip Mine lock:

• Azusa, Lost But Seeking

• Ramunap Excavator

• Strip Mine

This can be assembled fairly easily. We have 9 ways to find Azusa, 8 ways to find Excavator, and 2 ways to find Strip Mine. Finding Strip Mine is by far the hardest part, but adding Wasteland drastically helps the consistency of land locking players.

Wasteland is not in this list due to the decks dependency on having colored mana in the opener, as well as this being plan C. If plan A and B fail, the game has probably gone on long enough that you should have already found Strip Mine.

Single Card Discussion

Stax Pieces

• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: Stops any storm list and makes it hard for faster lists to go off.

• Thalia, Heretic Cathar: Slows down fair decks and prevents combos that utilize tapping creatures to win.

• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Destroys creature decks and can turn dorks into an army.

• Hokori, Dust Drinker: Tutorable Winter Orb. Pair with Gaea's Cradle and Tabernacle to keep the board clear.

• Kataki, War's Wage: Tabernacle for artifacts. Helps deny explosive gameplay due to mana rocks.

• Linvala, Keeper of Silence: Turns off any deck that uses their general as an infinite mana outlet, as well as hoses mana dorks.

• Null Rod: Stalls the game to a crawl when playing vs decks that rely on rocks instead of dorks. Pair with Winter Orb for a standstill. We break parity by running dorks + Cradle.

• Rest in Peace: Hoses graveyard based decks. We can combo off through this since Green Sun never hits the GY.

• Meekstone: Prevents us from dying to creature beats and hinders large creatures that require tapping to be useful.

• Winter Orb: Hokori that we can't tutor for, but is great at stalling games.

• The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale: This card destroys tokens or any deck that likes to have more than 2 creatures on the field. If our combo path is disrupted and dying to creature beats is a threat for some reason, TTAPV + Hokori/Winter Orb is a nasty lock to keep the board completely clear of all creatures. We get around the downside of this card by having Cradle out. We run 5 ways to untap Cradle, and 12 ways to find those untap effects, so we don't lose tempo and can keep our creatures while everyone else is struggling.

Creatures

• Mana dorks (Arbor Elf, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Birds of Paradise, Boreal Druid, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Llanowar Elves): You need one of these in the opener to have a decent start. Not much to explain.

• Azusa, Lost but Seeking: Crucial part of our main combo line, also has synergy with Quirion Ranger and Ramunap Excavator + Strip Mine

• Dosan, the Falling Leaf: Prevents interaction on our combo turn, also forces Ad Naus to go off on their main phase. Only downside is that it helps opponents who do not want interaction.

• Dryad Arbor: Tutorable off of Green Sun for 0. Counts as a forest for Quirion Ranges and Knight of the Reliquary's abilities. Adds to the Cradle mana count as well.

• Elvish Spirit Guide: Free mana to get Sisay out a turn earlier, can also pitch to Survival later if needed.

• Eternal Witness: Tutoring a creature is easy in this deck, and this is our primary way to get back Paradox Engine if something happens to it. Just a good overall card.

• Fiend Hunter: This cannot be fetched by Recruiter of the Guard, but we run this over Banisher Priest because it can exile an opposing Elesh Norn without dying to state based actions. Normally dying to SBA is preferred but Banisher Priest has the "fixed" wording.

• Joraga Treespeeker: This card is fine as long as you go 'all-in' on it for the first 2 turns. He's here to make sure I have enough nonlad mana producing cards for consistency when comboing off.

• Kamahl, Fist of Krosa: Combos with Elesh Norn, and is a good way to dump mana if we have nothing else for some reason.

• Loyal Retainers: Recursion and combos with Survival of the Fittest. Tutor up Elesh Norn via Survival, then dump Elesh for Retainers. Swap on main phase 1.

• Magus of the Candelabra: Makes tons of mana with Cradle, also works as a mana producing nonland for the combo turn as long as we have either Ancient Tomb or Gaea's Cradle. Also can find via Yisan in grindier games.

• Mother of Runes: Protection, white staple for creature decks.

• Qasali Pridemage: Kills artifacts through Torpor Orb where Rec Sage falls short. Reusable with Sun Titan.

• Quirion Ranger: Double Sisay activations on your turn, with enough forests (maybe off Azusa) can be a Sisay active every players turn. Also untaps Magus of the Candelabra, Yisan, Mother of Runes, etc.

• Ramunap Excavator: Combo with Strip Mine and Azusa. Synergy with Knight of the Reliquary and fetches.

• Reclamation Sage: Kills Cursed Totem whereas Qasali Pridemage falls short. Overall great green staple.

• Recruiter of the Guard: Finds 28 of our other creatures and sits on the board for Cradle mana.

• Saffi Eriksdotter: Safety measure for important creatures, can come back via Sun Titan. Also nets mana in the combo chain before tutoring for Azusa.

• Seeker of Skybreak: An all-star of the deck. Need more mana? Untap a dork. Yisan and Sisay activations twice a turn? Yes please. Can act as a second Magus of the Candelabra or even your other lesbian mom. This card does it all.

• Selfless Spirit: It's hard to rebuild after a boardwipe. This card stops most besides Toxic Deluge and Black Sun's Zenith (lol).

• Selvala, Explorer Returned: Primary win condition, can act as a mana dork or card draw when desperate.

• Sun Titan: Meta call. There are tons of boardwipes where I play, I'd say 3 per deck. When playing at a table of 75% decks, I usually go for the midrange/value style of play instead of going hard on the Paradox Engine line. Ending games turn 3/4/5 is not how anyone wants to play when they pull out a 75% list, so longer games are more common. After wipes, this card rebuilds like no other. Reusable Qasali Pridemage, Strip Mine/Fetches, Loyal Retainers, Inventor's Fair, Selfless Spirit, Sylvan Safekeeper, etc. is very strong for longer games as well. Replace this card with something like Vitalize or Silence when going into a cEDH pod.

• Sylvan Safekeeper: Protects multiple creatures without needing to be tapped. Sucks when sacrificing lands, but it sucks more spending 6 to recast Sisay or losing Dosan.

• Voyaging Satyr: Untaps Cradle, Ancient Tomb, and Mistveil Plains.

• Yisan, the Wanderer Bard: Usually the first activation finds Quirion Ranger. Secondary targets include Mom, Magus of the Candelabra, and Sylvan Safekeeper. Keeping Yisan on 1 counter is great for instant speed Selfless Spirit or Saffi out of nowhere. This card shines most in matchups where you can only get 1 tutor off of Sisay before everything else you do is countered. Slam Yisan, hope he sticks. Work your way up to Dosan and combo off.

Artifacts

• Fast mana (Mana Crypt, Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, Mox Amber, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith): no explanation needed. No Diamond because too poor :(

• Candelabra of Tawnos: See Magus

• Paradox Engine: I shouldn't need to explain this one. Remove this to make the deck "fair."

• Thousand-Year Elixir: Crucial combo piece, allows to double up on many creature activations. This is "haste" enabler #2 along with Concordant Crossroads.

• Lightning Greaves - Another haste enabler. Not as good as the first 2, but also provides some protection. Remember, if the creature you are trying to equip is target by a kill spell, you cannot activate abilities of the creature in response. Greaves feel bad sometimes but at 2 mana it's hard to pass up.

• Aether Vial: Meta call, lots of blue and counters in my groups. Worst case scenario Vial ticks up to 3 for uncounterable Dosan on combo turn, otherwise instant speed Saffi or utility creatures is amazing. Saves a lot of mana without losing much speed if played T1. This card does some serious work since most of our creatures cost 3 or less.

Other Nonland

• Chord of Calling: Instant speed way to get key creatures into play, such as Dosan on an end step or Selfless Spirit to save your board from a wrath.

• Crop Rotation: Finds Gaea's Cradle, Deserted Temple, Strip Mine, Mistveil Plains, Inventor's fair.

• Eladamri's Call: Instant speed creature tutor to hand. Key creatures to find are Quirion Ranger, Dosan, Ramunap Excavator/Azusa, any protection creatures.

• Eldritch Evolution: Can turn a tapped mana dork into a Quirion Ranger or Dosan. Great card.

• Green Sun's Zenith: This ensures we don't deck ourselves on the combo turn. Can cast on T1 for Dryad Arbor.

• Survival of the Fittest: Powerhouse of card, can find any answer to any problem by having any creature in hand. Also cute combo with Loyal Retainers.

• Worldly Tutor: Creature tutor. Staple.

• Enlightened Tutor: Finds Mana Crypt when going for an aggressive combo line as soon as possible. otherwise finds Thousand-Year Elixir or Candelabra of Tawnos.

• Instill Energy: 1 mana to double up Sisay actives. Worst case scenario it's a cheap spell to use to cause Paradox Engine untap or throw on a mana dork as ramp.

• Nature's Chosen: See Instill Energy, but can also be used to untap lands if need be.

• Noxious Revival: Free spell that recovers key cards. Also instant speed!

• Armageddon: Wins games when cast even as early as turn 2. Many openers have two to three lands, and blowing all of those up while sticking Sisay or even some mana dorks and rocks can launch you so far ahead.

• Nature's Claim: One shot removal for problems that prevent us from comboing or doing anything. (i.e.Stranglehold, Blood Moon, Cursed Totem)

• Swords to Plowshares: it's Swords to Plowshares. Don't need to explain.

• Concordant Crossroads: 1 mana to give our entire board haste. Mana dorks are now "free," Sisay can activate in response to removal, and utility creatures come online immediately. Only downside is it gives "fair" creature decks a powerful tool of allowing fatties to swing immediately.

Mistveil Plains:

The only reusable recursion piece, easily tutorable with white fetches/Crop Rotation. Gets back anything at instant speed to tutor back up with Sisay.

Cards to Consider

Rule of Law effects

These are great when playing vs anything that tries to win very fast in 1 turn. Slot in vs storm, take out jank like Sun Titan or Ramunap Excavator.

Gaddock Teeg

This card isn't necessarily bad, but it prevents us from winning with Paradox Engine. This card prevents opposing wraths and shuts down a lot of battlecruiser magic. Meta call.

Sanctum Prelate

Naming 2 shuts down Dramatic Scepter combos and Flash, naming 1 shuts down ANT storm lists, naming 4 stops Reservoir and wraths. Overall good card and is probably going to find a slot in the future. Only downside is that WW is hard to cast.

Bow of Nylea

This card was great before the printing of Mox Amber, as it was a tutorable artifact that turned on Mox Opal. It also acts as recursion for destroyed combo pieces, but I have found that more often than not, it felt like dead weight with no targets and would be useless in play. Mistveil Plains does this card's job much better, and can be found with any white fetch/Crop Rotation. Currently testing.

Aura Shards

Great for longer games, but is a total meta call. Slows the deck down quite a bit, but vs 75% opponents this card shines.

Silence

I like this card in cEDH pods, but that's about it. Pretty self explanatory why it's not very good in 75% games.

Cavern of Souls

Costs more money than I am willing to spend on a non-reserved list card. Will add once this is sub $50.

Exclusions and Traps

Reki, History of Kamigawa

Trap card. Drawing cards is great. Spending a tutor on Reki feels awful. Sisay is often the #1 target at the table for removal, and every tutor you get with her should be seen as a blessing and needs to be treated as such. A few cards that you should find before this garbage: - Paradox Engine - Gaea's Cradle - Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - Stax piece to disrupt opposing gameplans

Dragonlord Dromoka

Dosan exists. 6 mana is a lot. It's too much. Just play Dosan. There are very few pods I would slot this in, and is definitely a sideboard card if your playgroup allows sideboards.

Avacyn/Iona

Y tho. I love angels but the amount of mana that these cost is just too much. Additionally, triple white is surprisingly hard to achieve when most of the mana this deck generates is green. Fantastic cards when playing vs slower decks or newer players, but they don't advance our own gameplan. Iona locks certain decks out, but we almost always have a stax piece that works just as well that costs a fraction of the mana. In more casual pods, failure to name white or black with Iona usually leads to the locked player striking a deal with someone else, who then removes her.

Big Eldrazi

Impractical. Ending games with big eldrazi is fun, but not practical. The only use any of these have would be Newlamog's cast trigger. When you have the Sisay tutor + mana to find and play an Eldrazi, then you have the ability to find Paradox Engine and win the game immediately.

The Immortal Sun

Garbage. Cute toy that doesn't advance our gameplan. Costs 6 and does nothing when it hits the board. With this 6 mana, you can find Paradox Engine and combo off instead.

Grand Abolisher

Double white can be hard early, and Dosan does his job just as well.

Scroll Rack and Sensei's Top

These cards allow you to interchange your hand out and control your draws every turn with Sisay shuffles. These cards are great if you have ways to increase hand size, but this deck doesn't usually care about it's hand after Sisay is in play. It plays cards out of the library (tutor->cast immediately) more often than from the hand.

"Why don't you play X card?"

• Check Acquireboard. If it's there, it should be in the deck but I haven't got around to purchasing it yet.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.03
Tokens	Spirit 1/1 C
Folders	Cool Lists