Madam Sisay's Illustrious House of Degeneracy
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 8 | 999 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Changing Games —March 26, 2025
So, since this reads as a 3 anyways I've thrown in a couple more GC that synergize with the deck: Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and Fierce Guardianship. Kinnan works with quite a few cards, and IIRC it makes ~7 creatures capable of going infinite with Freed From the Real (which is a nice perk). Fierce Guardianship can protect my combos as long as Sisay is out, a nice perk for doing a thing the deck almost always wants to be doing.
Out went New Frontiers and Collective Voyage, both cards that served a role, but were at their best vs lower powered opponents, the opposite of what the deck was trying to do. I think most people running 3s will tend to play around cards like these, so I've cut them for now. I'm still planning to switch in Ignoble Hierarch and Noble Hierarch, as well as Lively Dirge (which is mostly in here to cheat Zur directly into play). I have some lands I wish to add, so I'll have to shave some stuff down, so I'm thinking some of what'll go are Basics and Basic land synergy pieces.
Edit: I'm not sure if anything will come of this, but I feel like Windborn Muse, Burgeoning, and Progenitus could all easily go for anything better, possibly more interaction (the deck has no wipes other than Elesh Norn atm), or possibly some Legendary cards with relevant abilities. Maybe a wipe or 2? I guess we'll see, but I would be a bit shocked it if was ramp, other than something like Incubation Druid that can theoretically combo off without support using Freed (if I draw a very weird hand), but tbh I have a lot of stuff in here already that can combo with Kinnan and Freed to win on the spot (and potentially have only the casting of the mana dork be counterable).
I feel like this is probably a solid 4 going by power level, but it probably would have some non-games where I draw my weird jank instead of ramp. I would probably call it a 4 if it wasn't running an 11 card Shrines package (and an even bigger Zur package, to which I'm adding a spell to cheat Zur into play from my deck), but as is it's got so many derpy slowsauce cards from when it wanted to be able to play softball games, but the new bracket system is less forgiving of this kind of thing.
Edit: Maybe Archon of Emeria? I can progress my board without casting spells once I reach critical mass. I could also toss in Deafening Silence and High Noon, perhaps the 3 best Rule effects? I also wonder about Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar as a way to protect my turn, it's not unusual for me to be at 1 WUBRG when I need 2 WUBRG to win, at that point Kutzil could feel good later when people can't interact with me? It's a weird idea I guess, but as of now the best other thing is Postie
, and then on the next turn have two combos to choose from (since Zur doesn't use mana his fetched combo uses U, while getting Selvala and Inigo generally wants 11 minimum (which is why I often have to wait until the next turn). We'll see I guess?
Edit: I feel like maybe Swan Song would be a better include than a Rule of Law? It'll protect me from a fast combo still, and it'll also protect Maralen (or an infinite mana combo). I still like Kutzil's effect, and I know how terrifyingly powerful Archon of Emeria can be, so maybe Archon, Kutzil, and Swan Song?
Edit: I wonder if I should be using a Crop Rotation in here? I might have one not in use still, if I stumble on one maybe it'll go in? I think I'd pull a higher MV spell, probably something like Hour of Promise, mostly because the main payoff of Hour is finding World Tree, and if I play Rotation I can probably sacrifice a Basic Forest to find said World Tree. I could also move in Three Visits and Nature's Lore, this deck has a pretty full suite of non-Basic duals, either of those would be better than a 3 or 5 mana ramp spell. I mean I could consider all 3 if I really wanted, all would improve the list from a technical standpoint.