Madam Sisay's Illustrious House of Degeneracy
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 8 | 999 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
The Big 8 Way Switcheroo —June 12, 2025
I changed up 8 cards in here, and from playtesting it tends to shave at least a turn off this deck's wins, it turns out I was really sleeping on some of these, mostly Derevi and Tyvar. The fixing is quite a bit better too without 2 colourless lands (replaced with 2 true Fetches) and 2 Basics replaced with fetchable Tri lands. Now Krosan Verge can find all 5 colours, at this point it's easily one of the weakest lands in the list, but ramping out non-basic lands isn't bad. In addition I threw in Winds of Abandon and Kudo, Winds is a really good wipe to have in here, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Kudo, King Among Bears is a really nice perk at higher level tables, when people are less likely to bother with derpy BS like Anthems or +1 counters. I pulled Spirit of Resistance, Captain Sisay (it was one step too many for a Zur win, just not Bracket 4 material I felt), Domri, and Windborne Muse.
I'm still unsure if the list wants a Phelddagrif, but I think Legacy Weapon is easily the best payoff for infinite mana in Sisay, even if it doesn't technically win on the spot the ability to exile your opponents' boards is pretty devastating, and it's not like you won't have a huge trampling Sisay.
The other cards I wonder about are Rhystic Study, because that's really efficient card draw, Utopia Sprawl and maybe even Wild Growth, though both of those require a dual to get optimal use out of, but 1 mana ramp is tempting! I think if I throw in a few more Fetch lands both of those would make more sense, either plays great if I can fetch out a non-Basic Forest. Obviously for this change to make sense I'd be shaving down my non-Basic Forests for Fetches, so that's less likely as the deck has most of the affordable fetches in it already. I think either of those auras would be more relevant than a Llanowar Elves, I much prefer the ceiling of mana neutral ramp later game v1 an Elf, and those auras are much more stable over time, way less people wipe Enchantments than artifacts or creatures.
Edit: Does this deck want a Deadpool, Trading Card in the toolbox? It's a great way to 'remove' a problem creature (while gaining it's text), I also wonder about Sygg, River Cutthroat, he seems better than the Assassin's Creed guy that draws off of historic spells.
Edit: Thinking of switching out Ash Barrens and a Plains for 2 more Fetches, in part because this would let me pull Sakura Tribe Elder and Chromatic Lantern for the two ramp auras. I wonder how many Forests/fetches you need to get away with Sprawl? Wild Growth seems fine, not ideal but it's also a 1 drop and I can cast it on turn 1 with a dual Forest, or turn 2 on a Tri-land. From my rough numbers it looks like I have about a 7% chance of having Sprawl in a given opening hand, while I have a ~5.3% chance of having both it and a Forest/way to find a Forest, is that good enough? It will mean a dead card once in awhile, but the upside is pretty substantial potentially, and this deck's big hurdle is being faster than other decks, it's almost parasitically low on interaction. I was also thinking that if I put this kind of stuff in I can probably throw in Arbor Elf, yeah? It's just better Llarry if you have a dual or tri land.
Edit: Not saying I won't add it back in later (someday), but is Crop Rotation actually good in here? ATM the best grab is Verge, and that's a bad card right? The deck has good enough fixing that I rarely need to worry about The World Tree (but it's fine if I have it I guess? I'm honestly thinking of pulling it, this deck doesn't get to 6 lands very often at this point. Anyways, I'd put Phelddagrif in for Rotation, and throw in the other two Allied fetches (one for a Plains, the other for Ash Barrens)?
Edit: Just a random point, but the Selvala version I'm using (with the brilliant pink background) has a huge upside, it's the easiest card to find in the deck, and as the one I need to find the most often that's pretty sweet. If I then go for Tyvar he's also easy to find!
Edit: Did people finally realize that Oath lines are stuck operating at Sorcery speed? There are so many ways to win at instant speed in Sisay, why build around a multi card clunk-fest that's stuck at sorcery speed? I think my weird Phelddy line is stronger in part because it can also protect itself with the Ertai/Emiel combo, if that sets up (and it can all be fetched) I think the only thing that can actually beat me is stuff like Split Second. It does need to target, but the deck can also win via combat damage.
In more interesting thoughts, I'm curious if I should switch out my two remaining Propaganda effects for a Swan Song and Flusterstorm? The deck could use more interaction at Bracket 4, even if it's pretty fast/consistent.