Hello and welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table.
This time, let’s talk about a Commander I have a soft spot for: Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. Sitting at a single quarter for a copy, Sidisi used to be about $6. I built a deck for her back in 2015 with a ton of really cool cards and synergies. I was headed to my friend’s place after a show and had the deck in my car which was broken into. All my decks, Meren, Zur, and the Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck were gone.
I haven’t revisited her because it’s a painful memory, and now with the reprint of the Sultai self mill Shaman Sidisi, it’s the perfect time for an article on her.
For 1BGU, Sidisi sits at 3/3 with a enters the battlefield AND attack trigger for you to mill three. With many, many Sultai cards being able to make great use of the graveyard, this is already incredible. However, whenever one or more creatures are put into your graveyard from your library, you create a 2/2 black Zombie token.
That means mill, but also graveyard tutors like Buried Alive, Gravebreaker Lamia, and, of course, Entomb.
Let’s shore up some spice for this Naga mamma!
Archghoul of Thraben
You make a lot of Zombies in a Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck. Zombies tend to die a ton. This means with Archghoul of Thraben is either you draw a Zombie or surveil 1 for each Zombie that dies!
Archghoul and Sidisi on the board, a Zombie token dies, you look at the top card – it’s a Gravecrawler! Send it to the graveyard, make a new Zombie token, spend a black mana, play the Gravecrawler. Do you have Tormod, the Desecrator? Boom, another Zombie token.
I expect this card to be one that people forget triggers for, to be honest. Try it out!
Split the Spoils
This card is so much better than people realize. In a deck that builds a crazy graveyard, Split the Spoils allows you to Fact or Fiction with five permanent cards from your graveyard. Your opponent picks a pile for you to bring back to hand and the other pile goes to your graveyard.
This means that unless your opponent gave you a 5-0 pile split, you’re probably going to get at least a Zombie, not to mention likely two or three permanents back to hand from your yard.
People read exile at the beginning of this text box and don’t realize that the cards go to hand or graveyard, none stay in exile! Try this one out!
Forever Young / Haunted Crossroads / Kagha, Shadow Archdruid
Put creatures back on top of your library for you to get more Zombies and to avoid decking yourself. But more importantly, set yourself up to play that Aboleth Spawn from your graveyard by putting it on top, swinging in with Kagha or Sidisi, getting a Zombie and then just casting it from your graveyard. There are lots of moving parts here, but I think they are worth it!
Sivriss, Nightmare Speaker
You will have no shortage of sacrifice-worthy creatures in your Sidisi decks and chances are, Sivriss’ ability will make you one more. Best case, this is draw three with a Zombie token or it could even be mill three, take away nine life, and get a Zombie token. If you have Tormod, the Desecrator, if an opponent doesn’t pay three life, that’s an extra Zombie token!
Zellix, Sanity Flayer
Self-explanatory include here. It’s just a new card and it counts all players, not just you, for token creation for creatures milled. It’s basically another Sidisi with an activated ability to mill you or an opponent instead of attacking with your Commander. Solid lil guy!
Taigam, Sidisi’s Hand / Doom Whisperer
Fill up that graveyard! Doom Whisperer lets your surveil twice per two life. That’s a hell of a deal. Turn your life into Zombie tokens and let them swing at your opponents. Taigam skips your draw step in favour of card selection. Now you don’t have to worry about milling yourself out of a game. This is the same reason to run Underrealm Lich, a more resilient version of this effect and more insistent one as it replaces all of your draws. Underrealm Lich sees play in 52% of Sidisi decks on EDHREC, so I’m not including it in my list, but if you’re reading this attentively, consider this a B-B-B-BONUS.
I have always really liked Taigam, but never figured out how to make him feel right as my commander. He is a very interesting card, but the control style he leans to is difficult for me to get on board with.
This artifact is built for token decks. Exile a token to reanimate a creature from your graveyard for 2B? Sign me up immediately. Mill yourself into a Massacre Wurm? Looks like that Zombie I just made is being sacrificed to the Lord of Murder and bringing back the Wurm to wreck face. Incredible card that has over-performed in all the decks I’ve seen it in. Truly remarkable!
Honorable Mentions:
Moss-Pit Skeleton in +1/+1 counter versions
This is a nice little bit of tech for those Sidisi, Brood Tyrant players looking to play with +1/+1 counters. Moss-Pit Skeleton gets back on top of your library every time a +1/+1 counter is placed on a creature you control. That means a guaranteed Zombie token when you buff Sidisi with Unspeakable Symbol and go slapping. I saw NeoRoyal at CommandFest playing this and I thought that it was fun tech for this niche version of the deck.
Araumi of the Dead Tide
You’re filling up your graveyard, might as well use it. I love Araumi of the Dead Tide. Araumi is one of my fave commanders to pull out and drudge with. Encore is a lot of fun and the ability to make use of fallen creatures while eating up no longer relevant lands and artifacts to get the job done is worth a play-test at least. Try it out!
That does it for today’s edition of A Seat at the Table. Check in again soon while I continue to cover Double Masters 2022 legends!
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