Play It Again, Yisan! *PRIMER* (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Play It Again, Yisan! PRIMER

Commander / EDH Aggro Bracket 3 Casual Elves Mono-Green Multiplayer Ramp Tap/Untap

NV_1980

Creature (39)

Land (35)

Artifact (6)

Instant (5)

Planeswalker (1)

1x Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury

Commander (1)

Enchantment (10)

Sorcery (3)

Welcome to Play It Again, Yisan!

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this mono-green, tutor- and toolbox delivery deck, commanded by Yisan, the Wanderer Bard. Allow him to play a song. A beautiful, multi-faceted composition spanning passionate, different crescendos so powerful that somehow, they influence the fabric of space and time. When it has finally finished, only then will you notice that all the threats you presented this deck with over the last few turns have been whisked away into oblivion. How did THAT happen?! You will wonder … It is then, when you are trying to muddle things over, that Yisan’s second song begins … A terrible sonnet that will drive you to madness as its elemental intricacies summon forces that will pick apart your doodling mind in a very, definitive fashion. This deck is meant to be played in casual formats. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hope you will enjoy it!

Why Yisan?

His tutoring ability makes him the ideal commander for a toolbox deck. In essence, Yisan is a Birthing Pod become flesh. Better in a sense, as the ability does not require a creature to be sacrificed. Add to that the fact that green’s creatures and instants (even some of its sorceries) are proficient overall at killing off opposing permanents, and a combination of cards featured in this deck that can deal with just about anything. Last, but not least, at CMC3, Yisan is easy to summon and re-summon.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The following ten parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).

Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

Mana: 4

This deck only contains eight direct mana generators (most of them creatures), aside from lands. To make better use of these resources, the deck also features nine different ways to untap these creatures (and Yisan). Last, but not least, a mana-dork generator as well as two mana-multipliers contribute to the availability of raw energy.

Ramp: 3

Ramping is featured in the form of creatures and enchantments (five in total) that allow for additional land drops (some of which will allow for more than one additional land-drop per turn).

Card Advantage: 4

Through direct draw, filtering and tutoring, this deck provides a decent amount of card advantage. Most of the direct draw (eight options) is dependent on creature casting or creatures entering/being on the battlefield. The deck’s three filtering options give plenty of opportunity to weed out what’s needed in short order. Last but not least, four tutoring options (aside from Yisan) allows to directly select stuff from the deck’s creature toolbox. All-in-all very respectable for a green deck.

Overall speed: 4

Lightning fast? Well, it sure can be. Due to some cheap-to-cast mana-, ramping- and draw options, this deck has a very decent chance of becoming quite effective very early on in the game (sometimes even from turn 1 onwards). This scenario is also made likely, because most non-land cards in this deck features a CMC of three or less.

Combo: 4

The untap enablers in this deck synergizing with its commander and a ton of mana-dorks, allow for more actions per turn (especially early in games) than most single-color decks. On top of that, a number of methods have been included to generate an infinite amount of mana (which can be fed into tutoring or an increase in army attack power).

Army: 5

A mass of creatures, some quite powerful, resides within the bowels of this deck. Together they form an army that is relatively cheap to summon while still packing a punch. Especially when considering the six very powerful boosting options to turn it into a nigh unstoppable force.

Commander: 3

It’s sure helpful to have Yisan on the field as an enabler of this deck’s toolbox. However, this deck is perfectly capable of winning games without his presence; mostly due to the abundant presence of card-advantage options it features, as well as cheap-to-cast creatures with a high, positive impact on its board-state.

Interaction: 2

Including some destruction/disabling of opposing permanents in the deck doesn’t hurt. It’s user. Some of these options can only be used during the deck’s own turn (six) while others can be used during any turn (four).

Resilience: 3

As Yisan is a cheap-to-cast repeatable tutor, he makes it easy for this deck’s controller to find appropriate options to deal with the opposition. It’s therefore more capable at bouncing back from a wipe that brings everyone back to greenfield, than the average deck.

Spellpower: 1

Not green’s strong suit. Only a few inhibition options have been included.

Total power score: 33

A great score to reach for a single-color deck. It has excellent speed, plenty of resources, a strong army, some combo-potential and most of all, is very versatile. It is also predictable due to its card-advantage options which allows for pattern-play.

General strategy

This deck aims to accelerate and keep moving quickly throughout games. It enables the availability of lots of value fast, and therefore easily outpaces other decks. Most notably, this deck will not stop running during other people’s turns. Many cards have been included to untap its own permanents, in some cases multiple times per round. In a nutshell, this deck wins by utilizing lots of cheap-to-cast ramp, draw/filtering and inhibitive cards combined with some strong attackers to take the field. For the most part, Yisan enables the selection of these card-types whenever they are required, which really fine-tunes the dynamics of the whole thing.

Starting hand

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a Sol Ring). It is recommended not to start a game without this hand (even if one has to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand would also contain some acceleration in the form of additional land-drop options or untap enablers. Some low-cost draw and filter options would also be desirable in a starting hand.

Early game

The first objective is to get Yisan's tutoring going asap. It requires energy to bring him out and make him do that. So, let’s start with good old ramping. Excellent options include Burgeoning, Exploration and the elven dorks (like Elvish Mystic). Cheap draw/filtering can be just as good. Looking for options like Mirri's Guile, Sensei's Divining Top and Sylvan Library is recommended. Next, get Yisan on the field and start tutoring. Try to first get creatures on the field who can untap Yisan, making it possible to use him multiple times per turn. Some great options are Quirion Ranger, Scryb Ranger and especially Wirewood Symbiote. The deck also contains some non-creature ways to untap Yisan, like Benefactor's Draught, Instill Energy, Quest for Renewal and Umbral Mantle. To prevent him from dying too soon, he ought to be equipped with something like Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots.

Mid game

With Yisan becoming available, a myriad of options present itself with which one can proceed. Depending on the board-state, utilize him to either bring combo pieces to the field, or more direct means to deal with the opposition. The first option would involve cards like Priest of Titania, Karametra's Acolyte, Marwyn, the Nurturer and Temur Sabertooth. All of these, as well as some of the early-game unsummon enablers, can participate in some great infinite (-mana) combos. The result of these can be pumped into cards like Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Joraga Warcaller or Genesis Wave for some earth-shattering powerplays. The second option would involve grabbing cards like Manglehorn, Nullmage Shepherd, Reclamation Sage and Ulvenwald Tracker, to remove threats in a more direct way.

While trying to combo-off and/or going for a death-blow kind of card, solidify the board-state with some useful permanents. Asceticism makes the deck’s creatures harder to get rid of. Then there’s a card like Mycoloth that can create a small army by itself, while cards like Elder Gargaroth, Lifecrafter's Bestiary and Soul of the Harvest can increase card-draw options.

End Game

Games can be drawn to a close by casting a very large Finale of Devastation or Genesis Wave and attacking with the result. Then there is the possibility of using some individual powerhouses combined with an army of weenies to finish the job. The most obvious choices are Allosaurus Shepherd, Craterhoof Behemoth, Joraga Warcaller and Pathbreaker Ibex. A well-timed casting of Regal Force can also be enough to end games.

Combos and synergies

This deck includes several ways in which an infinite amount of can be created. Some ways can even be tutored for just by using Yisan:

Card Choices – mainboard

Lands

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

Ancient TombGC: helps to get some important cards onto the battlefield a little earlier, at the cost of some life.
Evendo, Waking Haven: a sleeping planet that with enough power around can be turned into a second Gaea’s Cradle.
Gaea's CradleGC: in a creature-based deck, this is just a beast of a land.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: staple land in a single-color, permanent-rich deck, in which it is easy to reach high levels of devotion to the deck’s color.
Reliquary Tower: having an unlimited hand-size never hurts.
Misty Rainforest/Verdant Catacombs/Windswept Heath/Wooded Foothills: filtering lands that helps getting to the meat of the deck faster.
War Room: every bit of draw helps.
Wirewood Lodge: a cheap way to untap Elves.
Yavimaya Hollow: low-cost resource that can keep expensive-to-summon creatures alive.

Mana

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

Burgeoning: one of the best starting-hand cards ever when this deck is played in a group, as it will allow for multiple lands to be played in the first turn.
Circle of Dreams Druid: CradleGC in creature-form.
Elvish Archdruid: generates mana based on the amount of Elves on the field, which is useful in some combos. Then it boosts them to boot.
Elvish Mystic/Fyndhorn Elves/Llanowar Elves: cheap mana dorks that can help provide some extra mana, which is especially helpful in the early-game phase.
Exploration: helps to accelerate land-drops, but unlike Burgeoning is not dependent on whether opponents drop lands (which makes it more useful during the mid-game phase).
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: druid mana-dork generator, artifact/enchantment destroyer and draw enabler; all abilities that are useful in this deck.
Karametra's Acolyte: lots of mana, equal to devotion to green (which easily becomes high with this many permanents).
Marwyn, the Nurturer: when pumped, this too can be used for generating large amounts of mana.
Nyxbloom Ancient: triple mana from everything AND a bad-ass to boot.
Oracle of Mul Daya: a living Exploration that also acts as a filter; one of the best self-sufficient accelerators ever made and key to making this deck go faster.
Priest of Titania: there’s several Elves in this deck that can be used to draw power off of, for the generation of mana with this creature.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: an option to land-fetch that can be tutored for with Yisan.
Sakura-Tribe Scout: great for some additional land drops.
Sol Ring: a CMC1 artifact that comes into play untapped and grants 2 colorless when tapped; almost the best turn 1 start-up card anyone could wish for.

Untappers/Unsummoners

Cards that enable that which is tapped to be used again in the same turn:

Benefactor's Draught: the perfect instant for this deck; untaps everything (enabling more acceleration) and grants at least one card draw.
Instill Energy: grants whatever creature this is attached to, to be tapped twice per turn, for free. That means two uses of tapped abilities, or an attack and one use of a tapped ability; nice.
Quest for Renewal: an enchantment that functions like a card:Seedborne Muse once it’s activated.
Quirion Ranger/Scryb Ranger: these combine well with the acceleration options this deck has; use a creature’s tap ability, return a land to hand to untap the creature and then play the land again.
Saryth, the Viper's Fang: makes the deck’s combat force a lot more terrifying and untaps Yisan when his tutoring is needed.
Seedborn MuseGC: how about tutoring with Yisan during every opponents’ turn?
Seeker of Skybreak: sometimes you just need that one extra defender or mana dork untapped.
Temur Sabertooth: the bread and butter of several infinite mana combos involving unsummoning and haste enablers.
Umbral Mantle: equipped to a mana-dork that delivers more than one mana per tapping, with enough initial mana at hand this thing alone can be enough to swing a game in the deck’s favor.
Wirewood Symbiote: this deck has plenty of Elves in it; occasionally returning one to hand to untap something else (like Yisan) can be beneficial.

Draw, Scry and Tutor

The mechanisms that provide card advantage:

Beast Whisperer/Soul of the Harvest: nice draw enablers in a creature-heavy deck; also fun to combine with Wirewood Symbiote or Temur Sabertooth; un- and re-summoning creatures helps to draw more.
Elder Gargaroth: this is one over-powered creature at CMC5; and in here mostly for the draw potential it generates.
Fauna Shaman: discarding a useless creature to tutor a useful one; sounds like a great deal!
Genesis Wave: casting a significant part of the library in one go can end games (if it is not responded to).
Green Sun's Zenith/Worldly TutorGC: superb, cheap-to-use tutors for any creature in the deck.
Mirri's Guile: free filtering during every one of the deck’s upkeeps.
Regal Force: time the casting of this well, and one can draw a crazy number of cards in a single go; fun to combine with re-summoning options.
Sensei's Divining Top: filter and draw at negligible costs.
Soul of the Harvest: draw on another creature’s ETB.
Surrak, Elusive Hunter: this guy ensures targeting the deck’s creatures for termination or other shenanigans will most likely lead to new threats presenting themselves.
Sylvan Library: additional draw at the cost of some life; great in a pinch, especially since you are allowed to look at what you draw first.
The Great Henge: a utility card that grants so many boons; mana, draw and even life.

Disruption

The way in which I say ‘No!’ to opponents:

Acidic Slime: versatile destruction and a nice blocker.
Cankerbloom: several utilities from this, destruction probably being the most used.
Krosan Grip: wipes out an enchantment/artifact without a chance for the opponent to counter.
Lignify/Song of the Dryads: beautiful ways to disable commanders.
Manglehorn: inhibits by destroying and tapping permanents.
Natural State: great removal value for very little cost.
Reclamation Sage: destroy a hostile artifact/enchantment upon ETB and an Elf to boot.
Scavenging Ooze: graveyards can be emptied with this bit of living slime.
Ulvenwald Tracker: forcing other creatures to fight my (strong) creatures is a great way to remove them; it’s also a relatively hard removal method to counter.

Boosters and Other Utility

Adds the finishing touch to the army:

Allosaurus Shepherd: the deck’s spells cannot be countered, and its Elves can gain some dinosaur mounts to become incredible powerful.
Asceticism: makes the deck’s creatures a lot harder to kill; especially with individual spells/abilities.
Concordant Crossroads: will benefit all at first glance but is also the enabler of the deck’s most devastating combos.
Craterhoof Behemoth: an amazing insta-booster that grants its power based on the deck’s army-size; easy to make powerful in this creature-rich deck.
Eternal Witness: nice to recover whatever was lost, if it wasn’t exiled.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: an Overrun incarnate, with a regeneration option as an aside for Elves.
Finale of Devastation: pump it to the extreme and watch foes fall in the face of an unstoppable attack.
Heroic Intervention: does not protect against exile and wither effects, but pretty much everything else.
Joraga Warcaller: combine with a decent amount of mana to give this Elf one hell of an entry; fun to use when you already have some other Elves and a great utilizer of mana-combos.
Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots: this deck functions best with Yisan available, so let’s make sure he’s not going anywhere.
Mycoloth: creator of armies, especially fun with Yisan’s tutoring ability. At the end of the last opponent’s turn (before you), search this creature and sac whatever you can to boost this Mycaloth’s power. Then during upkeep, immediately create a nice number of tokens.
Ouroboroid: it takes very few turns to distribute a whole bunch of +1/+1 counters across all creatures in the deck’s army, thereby making them much scarier.
Pathbreaker Ibex: at minimum, attacking with this boosts all the deck’s attacking creatures to 4/4 tramplers.

Card Choices – Sideboard

Some cards that occasionally make the cut, when the situation calls for it:

Avenger of Zendikar: good card; occasionally it will replace Nyxbloom Ancient.
Bane of Progress: sometimes included as a replacement of Soul of the Harvest, when facing artifact/enchantment-heavy decks.
Carpet of Flowers: used to mess with blue players; exchanged for Natural State.
Runic Armasaur: useful when facing commanders that use activated abilities; will most often replace Lifecrafter's Bestiary.
The Ozolith: can be used in exchange for Divining Top when the deck faces a ton of (creature) removal.

Notable exclusions

This deck is still evolving. The following cards were considered but not added (yet):

Beastmaster Ascension: bit slow compared to faster boosters in this deck.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary: not bad but the fact that draw costs an additional mana is a bit of a downer, hence the reason it got replaced with Garruk's Uprising.
Nullmage Shepherd: its ability is great, but it’s also terribly expensive to use as this deck doesn’t create many tokens and it uses up four creatures’ potential to be used elsewhere during a turn.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: the use of this card is not appreciated in some of the pods for which the deck was created. Therefore, it’s been decided to (temporarily) shelve this card. It’s been swapped for Vigor until further notice.
Woodland Bellower: nice, but a bit redundant. Also, not that powerful considering its cost.

Thank you for reading!

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

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Casual

91% Competitive

Revision 5 See all

(3 months ago)

+1	Evendo, Waking Haven	main
-1	Forest	main
-1	Lifecrafter's Bestiary	main
-1	Nullmage Shepherd	main
+1	Ouroboroid	main
+1	Surrak, Elusive Hunter	main
+1	The Great Henge	main
-1	Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger	main

Date added	8 years
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.86
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elf Druid 1/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	Cheati Big Stuff, Commander, Cool, Decks, Commander deck ideas
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