In this experiment, we sing and summon a stream of sylvan synergy.

The downside, if it could be called that, is having to build around him, which means playing creatures at every mana cost. Sure, we could skip some mana costs, but that means losing the value, and since Yisan gains a verse every time he activates, we can’t just choose to sit at, for example, 3 verse counters.

One route I considered was to use Yisan as a sneaky way to virtually play a different creature as my commander. Notably, I’ve felt that Anthousa, Setessan Hero doesn’t make too interesting of a commander, but Hero of Leina Tower could have inspired an alternate green Commander archetype. Sure, it would be Voltron, but it would play unlike any other deck. Were the card names and supertypes of Anthoussa and the Hero swapped, I’d be happier with the world. As it is, we have to resort to Yisan to fetch our Hero.

Now, I decided not to go that route, but I imagine filling a deck with lands, ramp, pump spells, Hero of Leina Tower, and perhaps a 2-drop and a 3-drop to sequentially fetch with our actual commander would make for a very interesting Yisan, the Wanderer Bard Commander deck.

Instead, I decided to find as many ways as I could to repeat Yisan’s song and activate him multiple times per turn cycle, thus fetching useful creatures and ramping up his card and mana advantage.

Untapping

It’s not something we can pull off early, but I want a chain of creatures that can ramp up Yisan’s verse counters and start bringing out the big stuff.

Scryb Ranger – Time Spiral’s take on the Ranger gives us a repeat of the ability at 1 higher on the mana-cost stairwell. If we have 9 mana, we can grab the Quirion Ranger, the Scryb Ranger, and then something at 3. Note that a flyer with flash and protection from blue can occasionally be relevant as well.

Seeker of Skybreak – The Seeker is an alternate 2-drop that lets us reuse Yisan, but she’ll only work with haste or after we wait a turn—or with Thousand-Year Elixir.

Krosan Restorer – She can untap three permanents, though they all have to be lands. Perhaps she’s a bit off-topic here, but immediately following Seeker of Skybreak, we can generate infinite mana with seven cards in our graveyard and Wirewood Lodge.

Seedborn Muse and Quest for Renewal – Always quite powerful, the Muse is very applicable here as well, letting Yisan go from potentially 0 up to 4 or so, depending on the number of players, in just one turn cycle. And since we start untapping right after we cast her manually on our fifth turn, the Seedborn Muse can spiral things out of control relatively early in a Commander game. Quest for Renewal is like a powered-down Muse that requires some charging up, but its effect on the game is similar if we summon some mana-producing creatures.

Emerald Charm, Vitalize, Mobilize – These three are all one-shot effects that let us surprise our opponents and grab something useful in a pinch. If we tap Yisan on one opponent’s turn, further opponents won’t expect the second activation. We can even just use one of these spells at the end of our last opponent’s turn to fetch Seeker of Skybreak and Krosan Restorer against opponents who might have known what was up—but who now have no time to respond. And while using a spell like these would normally generate card disadvantage, because Yisan’s ability grabs us cards, it all evens out.

Illusionist's Bracers, Thousand-Year Elixir, Umbral Mantle – These are all artifacts that will allow us to activate Yisan multiple times. The Elixir lets Yisan function as though he had haste, which is quite useful later in the game on our third or so Yisan iteration. Umbral Mantle lets us benefit from infinite—or superfluous—mana. Illusionist's Bracers is a bit odd in that it doubles the ability, but rather than give us a 1 and a 2 (for example), it will just double up the 1 since adding a verse counter is part of Yisan’s ability’s cost. Also, the Bracers with Seeker of Skybreak can generate infinite mana, so that’s useful. If only the Bracers were a creature so we could search it up!

Adding and Subtracting

We have a lot of creature cards in our deck at various costs, but sometimes, we’ll need something specific—or we’ll just want to go big. Perhaps it’s just too cute, but here are a couple cards that we can use to manipulate Yisan’s verse.

Power Conduit – In that vein, this card will keep Yisan at a constant value—or even lower it. The Conduit can reduce the verse to make Yisan—or another creature—bigger, and when Yisan activates again, he’ll go back up to where he was. Thus, we can grab a 3 (for example), use the Conduit, and then grab a 3 again the next time. And if we need to go lower, we can just activate the Conduit more than once before we activate Yisan again. Let’s just hope we have Seedborn Muse for a bunch of extra untaps so we’re not wasting too much time trying to go small.

Value

Here are some creatures in the deck worth special note for their potential roles.

Joraga Treespeaker – As for an early 1-drop to fetch, this is probably a prime candidate, helping us ramp into the midgame.

Scute Mob – Perhaps the most exciting of 1-drops, it can become massive quickly later in the game.

Magus of the Library – With all the creatures we can fetch for card advantage and all of the board presence we can potentially generate just with Yisan, we can hope to be able to hoard a bunch of cards in our hand. Thus, Magus of the Library will be at its prime here. And even if we can’t use him for draws, he’s not terrible as an accelerator.

Nurturing Licid – This one’s interesting, as it is technically a creature but can function as an Aura once it’s activated. We can use the Licid to help protect Yisan.

Nightshade Peddler – This makes for an exciting surprise for an unexpecting attacker. Similarly, if we just have the Peddler sitting out, opponents will know that anything we fetch can potentially have deathtouch.

Wirewood Savage – I stocked the deck with several Beasts starting at the 4-drop slot so that we can curve from the Savage into them, netting ourselves a bunch of card advantage as we go.

Gurzigost – This little guy’s trigger is nice, as we can move guys from our graveyard back into our library, ready to be refetched by Yisan.

Yisan Stairwell ? Commander | Andrew Wilson

• Commander (0)

• 1-Mana Creatures (8)
• 1 Quirion Ranger
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
• 1 Scute Mob
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Druid Lyrist
• 1 Scavenger Folk
• 1 Spore Frog
• 1 Ulvenwald Tracker

• 2-Mana Creatures (8)
• 1 Seeker of Skybreak
• 1 Scryb Ranger
• 1 Magus of the Library
• 1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
• 1 Nurturing Licid
• 1 Nightshade Peddler
• 1 Myr Retriever
• 1 Wall of Blossoms

• 3-Mana Creatures (6)
• 1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Krosan Restorer
• 1 Wirewood Savage
• 1 Hornet Nest
• 1 Reclamation Sage

• 4-Mana Creatures (3)
• 1 Roaring Primadox
• 1 Nullmage Shepherd
• 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt

• 5-Mana Creatures (5)
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Gurzigost
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Thragtusk
• 1 Seedborn Muse

• 6-Mana Creatures (5)
• 1 Realm Seekers
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Paleoloth
• 1 Soul of Zendikar
• 1 Soul of New Phyrexia

• 7-Mana Creatures (3)
• 1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
• 1 Regal Force
• 1 Elderscale Wurm

• 8-Mana Creatures (2)
• 1 Patron of the Orochi
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth

• 9-Mana Creature (1)
• 1 Artisan of Kozilek

• 10-Mana Creature (0)

• 11-Mana Creature (1)
• 1 Worldspine Wurm

• Instants (3)
• 1 Emerald Charm
• 1 Vitalize
• 1 Mobilize

• Ramp (3)
• 1 Hunting Wilds
• 1 Ranger's Path
• 1 Boundless Realms

• Utility (10)
• 1 Sylvan Scrying
• 1 Bow of Nylea
• 1 Magewright's Stone
• 1 Umbral Mantle
• 1 Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1 Quest for Renewal
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Power Conduit
• 1 Credit Voucher
• 1 Contagion Engine

• Lands (40)
• 1 Wirewood Lodge
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Encroaching Wastes
• 1 Mystifying Maze
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 34 Forest

Buy This Deck

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is another card that can only become more powerful as more Magic cards are released. Perhaps one day there will exist a complete chain of creatures that Yisan can summon, all with the ability to untap him for the next activation, and perhaps even giving us the mana back through some kind of futuristic synergy.

For now, if you just love the kind of synergy and toolbox-style play Yisan can create—or if you just want to use him to summon your Hero of Leina Tower—give this deck a try. Oh, and if you want to play on the verse-counter theme, don’t forget War Dance and Midsummer Revel.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com