Madam Sisay's Illustrious House of Degeneracy
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 8 | 999 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
All Flustered, Like Some Kind of Swan —Aug. 26, 2025
Still liking the idea of adding a couple more U counters to protect my stuff, and still not thrilled when I see Prison/Propaganda vs most opponents (but it is great when it's great). I'm also thinking of switching up Chromatic Lantern for Esika, mostly because Lantern is a bad card in a deck with this level of fixing, and Esika would usually be decent (and if I draw her I suppose I can cast the back and hope for Jeggy or Elesh Norn?), and I can technically fetch Esika. Probably a few more things I want to fit in, like Lotho and Rhystic Study, and maybe a Mountain/Plains land because I keep stubbing my toes on that specific absence.
Edit: So I finally switched out Chromatic Lantern for Esika. Esika is a similar effect floor-wise when drawn, but I can also fetch her up and turn various Legendary creatures into more mana, and unlike Relic, this actually works with Kinnan. Vigilance is also sweet with Derevi (and the general Voltron plan of the deck, it's best to have a few baskets to work with IMHO, as long as they interact with one another positively).
Edit: Maybe a Sacred Foundry in for The World Tree, and a Utopia Sprawl for Krosan Verge? I feel like I have enough Forests/fetches that I can PROBABLY cast it turn 1 if I get it, just like a mana dork, and while it's not GREAT fixing, it's also not BAD fixing since I get to choose the most convenient colour for the given hand. This would FINALLY let me stop stubbing my toe on the 'I need a Plains/Mountain' rock, and Sprawl has a MUCH higher ceiling than Verge, and the floor isn't wildly different (Verge is a terrible land in a low land hand etc) so this would be pretty sweet. Still looking out for a Swan Song and Flusterstorm to help protect my stuff. I'd technically be down a land, but Krosan Verge isn't usually worth a land at this power level.
Edit: I don't have all the cards yet, but I might as well change it since I'm going to change them when I can, so in go Torgal, Utopia Sprawl, and Sacred Foundry. Sprawl is the most touchy, but I do run quite a few Forests, especially the duals. I'll wait and see if it's too toe-stubby, either for it's lack of fixing or for requiring a Forest in the opener sometimes. Sakura Tribe Elder and Krosan Verge were both 'good' cards, but this deck is powerful enough that they probably need to be great, and I don't think either was making the cut anymore.
Edit: I was digging around for another alternative to Selvala, and the best I was coming up with wouldn't cut it, until I finally found Selvala, Eager Trailblazer! It's not exactly great, but this deck can theoretically have 4 or 5 relevant White or Green creature to make her worth digging out, and I felt that since just her and Sisay would be enough for Freed to work it's also good? I'm thinking it's better than Heronblade Elite, the only thing Heronblade really works with is Freed, and I can't find it with either my primary or secondary tutor (and I'm never digging her out with Maralen). I feel like one more mana and a bit harder to cast is wortth for all that upside? The next best I could find was Redshift, Rocketeer Chief, and afaik the only way THAT could work was if I had both Emiel and Elesh Norn out, and Elesh Norn is one of the two hard to fetch out Legends in the list, so that seemed terrible (also he's an awful mana dork, only useful for combo), or Vhal, Candlekeep Researcher, and Vhal is pretty much only good to power Emiel, and requires both Jeggy (or another dork able to make any colour of mana) and Kinnan (to make Vhal mana positive with Emiel), and while that's less hoops than Oath of Teferi (and able to go off at instant speed, so it's a LOT better than Oath lines), I'm not sure if it's good enough. I like that Vhal doesn't need anything that isn't already in the list, but if people are smart they'll know to exile Emiel at all costs, because there isn't another Emiel that's worth playing (that's why I went with Zur, Zur is much faster at winning if I hard cast him (he needs 2 swings and can win at insant speed during that second combat), hardcasting Aminatou isn't very good (and she'll be roflstomped), casting Bolas probably sucks (and he's also easy to kill), and casting Oath will usually do nothing. Imagine your combo requiring you to get Sisay to 6 power so you can get your FIRST piece, that seems objectively bad, getting 4 colours is hard IMHO.
Edit: Maybe just go with Ioreth instead? That can work at instant speed, and I have 4 Legendary mana dorks that can work with her and a copy to make infinite mana and win. I am also curious if I should look at Najeela in the 99, the deck has a few ways to make her a bit more rugged (and that can deal with opposing creatures), the idea would be to use her as a wincon that doesn't require Emiel, because there aren't more Emiels. The nice thing about Ioreth is it'll generate the infinite mana the deck wants, and it's also a playable card when it's not comboing off (same for the other cards). I like this more than using sorcery speed stuff, even if I can't farm ETBs, if I take out Shrines I might also pull Maralen, though that's still a very tight combo if you have a few protection spells in hand, and due to stealing combo pieces you often win on your next turn via Thoracle. We'll see, pulling just the Shrine package is a honking 11 cards, if I replace them with mostly Legendary creatures the deck would probably be better (I'd also toss in Flusterstorm and Swan Song). Arguably if I have Najeela maybe I don't need Maralen? This will require more thought.
Edit: How bad is Skynoodle in a Sisay list like this? The idea is to use the Noodle to protect my board from a wipe, but it can also just flub someone's targeted removal. Seems legit, but 5 mana is a lot of mana I guess for an effect like this.
Edit: Just spitballing, but Garth and Kinnan with Emiel is infinite mana and infinite draw for target player? I mean it's better than Pheldy IMHO, and both require Emiel, this is the mana and the payoff in one card. I wonder why nobody does this? I guess Kinnan is a big ask, and it works with nothing BUT Emiel, but I feel like the other spells aren't terrible if you have to play him for value, and a WUBRG legend can be VERY useful I've found. It even works to an extent if you can untap him and have infinite mana, you can at least kill off one player, even if you can't flicker him. Seems better than Jodah, and he's worse than Elesh Norn (and not a combo piece). I mean technically if I have Haste I can also make a Shivan Dragon with infinite power (and possibly Trample if necessary), that could kill another player? This seems suspiciously good.