POCKET SAND:
Gaddock Teeg - Ah good ol' GT, the source of many sighs and eye rolls at the table. If I can play him after establishing a meaty board, I'll be on the fast track to victory station... On the other hand, if he does happen to die then I'll be at the mercy of ~3 people with a grudge. Just don't let him die, easy.
Anafenza, the Foremost - A 3 color, 3 mana 4/4 that hates out yard reliant decks. Sounds pretty good to me. 3 colors translates to +3/+3 for my Sisay, and that really helps when trying to get Sisay up high enough to grab the real scary stuff. Three colors makes Ana a possible Giant Growth equivalent, but the real big brain player will slam her down in response to something like The Scarab God dying.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar - I probably wouldn't tutor Thalia, but she is a solid 3 cmc legendary that slows down the opponents. She's a favorite of mine and a reliable stall when the deck is crawling along a bit slower than I'd like.
Dragonlord Silumgar - What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine. A Control Magic effect at instant speed (also with Planeswalkers as a possible target) is a scary thing, indeed. He's also a flying deathtoucher making him a serious threat to anyone who is possibly considering attacking me.
Sen Triplets - A mean card with a nasty effect. The Triplets can often double my hand advantage by giving me access to my opponent's spells. The only downside is that I have to pay for what I cast, but the fact that my deck is 5-colors mitigates this. Often, I will have the colors to cast any spell from any player. Even without casting these spells, there's still a pretty big advantage in being able to shut down one player for the duration of each of my turns. Point her at the blue player to avoid (and gain) counterspells or point her at the white player to avoid any surprise exiles.
Combat Tricks:
Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder - Instant speed double strike goes a long way. Bruse enables surprise commander damage one-shots and can even save a creature that would have otherwise been killed by blockers. Lifelink is just icing on the cake, sweet, sweet, sustaining icing.
Iroas, God of Victory - A real scary boy that turns even relatively small boards into BIG threats and saves lives when my opponent flashes out some surprise defenders. I hesitate to add most gods to the deck since bringing them to life is a bit of a hurdle in a 5-color deck, but there is enough white/red here to consistently proc him; however, even if he was just an enchantment, his effects are so good that he'd still be an auto-include.
Saskia the Unyielding - 4 colors for only 4 cmc? Yes please, I'll have some of that. Saskia let's me kill two people AT ONCE or just doubles my combat damage if the chosen player is the same one I'm attacking. Saskia is easily one of the best creatures in the deck.
Arvad the Cursed - He's an anthem effect on legs, there's not much else to say. Being 2 color makes him a solid +4/+4 boost for Sisay, and playing him at instant speed can make for a nice surprise damage boost.
Surrak Dragonclaw - Trample out of nowhere can make what was a 0 damage attack into a BIG damage attack. When the littlest saproling is all that stands between you and victory, Surrak is here to save the day. He's also very nice to have around when that pesky blue player points a counterspell at one of my creatures that I had to actually cast, but a board-wide trample buff on a 3 color legendary is enough of a reason to include Surrak already.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - Here she is, the big bad of the deck. Double damage at instant speed, oh boy. Half damage on my creatures at instant speed, I think I'm in love. Once Sisay hits 8 power, that's when everyone enters panic mode. That's when Gisela becomes a very real threat that can just pop out whenever you feel like it.
Day of Destiny - Like an Arvad, but not. Sure, it ain't got no legs, but it's cheaper and harder to remove. I can only say so much about a legendary anthem, but I will say that it's a good card to have in a legendary tribal deck.
Panic Buttons:
Saffi Eriksdotter - The meat shield of the deck. She's a 2 drop that can save a bigger, better creature from certain death. Saffi is pretty good.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty - Board wide Hexproof, that is all... but seriously, Shalai can get me out of some real tight spots. Any board is hard to deal with when none of it can be targeted. The fact that I also get hexproof can save me from some real shenanigans. Her activated ability may see a little use too, but the hexproof alone is reason enough to include her.
Sigarda, Host of Herons - The true TRUE panic button of the deck. Sigarda is my answer to aristocrat decks and their annoying Grave Pact effects. She's an essential tool in the deck with a not too shabby 5/5 flying and hexproof body.
Journey to Eternity
- It saves a creature from death and then proceeds to aid my hand advantage for the rest of the game. This is a pretty good piece of recursion that is only made better by its legendary typing.
A Full Hand is a Happy Hand:
Captain Sisay - The first Sisay, a card that would be head and shoulders above her newer iteration if she was more than just . She's a reusable legendary tutor on legs whose only real drawback is summoning sickness. That's pretty damn good in a legendary tribal deck, or any deck with a lot of key legendary cards, really.
Sygg, River Cutthroat - Card draw that is triggered at the end of turns where an opponent took 3 or more damage. That's ANY damage, caused by ANY player. That's some good value for a 2 cmc card.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - The hug to balance out all my hate. Edric may earn a few scowls as a commander, but as part of the 99, he's a pretty chill guy. For the low cost of 3, everyone will draw all the cards, all of them.
Glissa, the Traitor - Glissa, the "in response to your attack, I use Sisay's effect to grab Glissa." First Strike, deathtouch, and reusable artifact recursion. I run a respectable amount of artifacts, and artifacts have a nasty habit of blowing up. I think Glissa is pretty good here.
Reki, the History of Kamigawa - I run a lot of legendaries. Reki draws a card every time I cast a legendary spell... I think you see where I'm going here.
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain - She's Reki with 2 colors and an effect that also draws off of artifact casts. I also personally really like Jhoira and run both her versions as commanders for different decks. She's an auto include.
Ravos, Soultender - An anthem effect that also returns my creatures from the yard to my hand. Both of these effects are pretty necessary. Sisay loves anthems and I run a lot of creatures that are going to die. Everything dies eventually, and Ravos is there to bring them all back.
The Other Guys:
Radha, Heir to Keld - It's a 2 drop, it's a legendary, it's a mana dork, it's a pretty good card. I won't have many opportunities to really get any value out of his triggered ability, but he still fills some key roles in the deck. I think he's a pretty good include for a 2 color 2 cmc.
Kambal, Consul of Allocation - "Stop hitting yourself" the card. 2 damage chip adds up over time, and on a 3 cmc legendary body that also heals me, that's pretty good. He's not someone I'll be grabbing with Sisay, but he IS good.
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist - If only Mirri's first effect didn't rely on her attacking. Had that been the case, she'd be a really solid surprise board wide psuedo-unblockable buff when Sisayed out (yes, that's a verb now) onto a board with Iroas. Fortunately, I can still do this with Mirri on board by slapping Iroas down. Also fortunately, the conditions of her effects don't make her any less good. Mirri's interaction with Iroas is a beautiful thing, but she's plenty beautiful standalone.
Marchesa, the Black Rose - Provided I take advantage of dethrone or pair her with Shalai's activated ability, Marchesa is some formidable recursion. In fact, paired with Shalai, Marchesa is a monster that will bring back every creature I lose to a board wipe, INCLUDING HERSELF. My opponents can stop this by killing her before they wipe, but Shalai's hexproof keeps this from even being possible. To even get to my board, they have to kill Shalai, then kill Marchesa, and THEN wipe, but I'll still be the last one laughing when Marchesa and Shalai come back during the end step. There are ways around this, but they're either pretty situational or are Merciless Eviction, but not every deck has a way of dealing with these two together.
Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage - He gives flash to all my legendaries and artifacts. Considering that I run a lot of both, he opens the door to some real shenanigans.
Samut, Voice of Dissent - A solid body with board wide haste. Opponents die quicker when everything has haste. That is good. Samut is good.
Aurelia, the Warleader - Two combat phases are better than one. Double my damage against one player, or spread the love around. The choice is entirely mine, and it's often enough to end another player's game. Paired with some of the other monsters in the deck (i.e. Gisela or Saskia) a well timed Aurelia can outright just end the entire table. She's good, she's pretty good.
Blackblade Reforged - Big pluses make big creatures. All I need is trample. Luckily, I run Surrak buffing spells in the toolbox. Blackblade on Sisay is often an easy one-shot. Even if it's not, it boosts her power, letting me grab those higher costed legendaries from my deck faster.
Hammer of Nazahn - It protects a creature and lets me skip equipment costs on an equipment's etb INCLUDING ITSELF. With as many valuable targets that are in the deck as there are, it's easy to see how valuable this hammer can be.
Hadana's Climb
- A slow, powerful enchantment piece that can push Sisay's damage output to ridiculous levels. Every little +1/+1 counter helps for Sisay's tutor effect too. In addition, it has good synergy with Marchesa.
Helm of the Host - Unbalanced and easily abused, this helm has nigh endless utility and game ending utility. Helm + Aurelia create infinite combat steps, which gives a nice out for long games.