Like anyone who's been playing Commander since it was EDH, I'm wary of major changes to the way the format functions. In my book, there have been some pretty serious missteps (having effects happen while your Commander is in the Command Zone is a great example), but some of the changes have grown on me. Partner is one such example.

At first, the idea of having two Commanders was off-putting. It fractionally makes your Library a bit thinner, which seems unfair, and it's yet more information to track, since you have two Commander taxes and such. But over time, I've really enjoyed looking at the different ways the pairings can work and effects they can have. And when you're trying to do Simic () without doing +1/+1 counters, going with Partners is a great way to go.

Which leads us to today's offering, a pair which rarely go together but probably should more often. I present to you: Siani and Halana's Flying Monsters!

We get a lot by pairing these two up. Card selection is excellent, and when you can reliably scry several cards a turn you can make sure you're hitting your land drops and getting the answers you need with ease. Even if the removal is limited to the power of the creatures you're casting, having built-in removal every time you do something you want to do is really useful as well, and can help ensure your ability to get in with your team.

We also get focus, because we really want our creatures to fly, hence the flying monsters. Though, not everything we do is going to be huge. Let's take a look.

Our 40 lands are, as per usual, mostly there to help us make our colors. We have some strict color requirements, especially at the top of our curve, so we want to be able to make reliably, as well as have early on. That means a good amount of dual lands. We also have Reliquary Tower, useful when it's likely we'll draw a bunch of cards, and a couple of lands which either make flying tokens or turn into flying creatures. Lumbering Falls is the outlier, but it's a dual and those creature lands can be extremely helpful, if for no other reason people often forget they're there!

Because we have Commanders each with a Mana Value of four, all our ramp hits on turn two or earlier. Sol Ring is the only way to get a turn-two Siani (which is almost always the one to cast first), but Arcane Signet, Thought Vessel, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Rampant Growth all bump our mana on turn two, allowing for a turn three Commander. We also have some high mana value cards in our deck, Halana's ability has a cost, and we have some activated abilities which don't require a tap, so having plenty of mana in this deck will be a good thing. The ramp will never be dead.

There are times when draw should be a one-time deal. My Talrand, Sky Summoner deck makes great use of Instants and Sorceries which draw me cards one time. Sometimes we're in colors which require it, too; a card like Soul's Majesty is fantastic in Green. However, in general, I think the best kind of draw is repeatable. Often times, when you have access to Blue, one of the best things you can do is build in ways to draw cards over and over, even if it costs you some mana. Faerie Formation is a great example in this particular deck. We get a beefy flier that makes other fliers and draws us cards. This is perfect for us. Smuggler's Copter loots instead of draws, but still, worth it - it flies, it's cheap, and we can stack it so we Scry with Siani before we loot. We also have things like Bident of Thassa and Curiosity Crafter, which cares about when creatures do damage to opponents. We smash in with our flying team, we deal some damage, and we draw cards. And again, we Scry before we draw, so even better, since we can guarantee the right mix of lands and spells. Windreader Sphinx draws us for our attacking fliers (it'll be a bunch), and Military Intelligence just wants us to attack with two or more creatures, which should reliably be not a problem.

We'll win the game on the battlefield, but we should have complete air superiority. It is unlikely even a Dragon or Angel tribal deck will be able to compete, because we're going to make a lot of different fliers. We'll start with some tokens, using cards like Ojutai's Summons and Talrand's Invocation. Tezzeret, Artifice Master spits out flying 1/1s, as does Whirlermaker and Whirler Rogue (who is also a Rogue - more on that in a minute). Efficient Construction will likely make us a couple of Thopters over the course of its time, and Fable of Wolf and Owl just wants us to play spells to make Birds. And of course, Thopter Spy Network pumps 'em out and draws us cards. Sharding Sphinx drops Thopters all over the place, too. Hangarback Walker seems like a good fit here, and a place to dump some extra mana when we have it.

Alrund's Epiphany is a six-mana make-two-tokens Sorcery, but of course buys us an extra turn. There are plenty of things to replace this if your playgroup (or you) aren't into extra turns. On that note, Notorious Throng is really here for the tokens, because we'll often do a fairly large amount of damage and therefore create a good number of tokens for four mana. However, we have Whirler Rogue and Enigma Thief, both of which are Rogues, which means if we can sneak in a hit with either of them, we can actually Prowl Notorious Throng for another extra turn. (We also have some other Sphnix Creatures, so we might be able to Prowl in Enigma Thief as well.)

Then we've got our big hitters. I went for effect over fat, but there's nothing wrong with running something like Triplicate Titan. Stormtide Leviathan, though, is a great example of something we want, because it makes our team the only team that can reliably attack, and with 8 power to boot. Sphinx of Magosi draws us cards and is huge, Old Gnawbone helps us with our mana, and Diluvian Primordial hands us some free spells. Chronozoa isn't huge, but if we can get it to start rolling it can wind up getting fairly out of hand. Sphinx Ambassador should be easy to abuse, too.

We'll handle creatures with Halana's ability mostly, though we have a few ways to bounce stuff back to hand and the like. Among other things, we're unlikely to care all that much about other's battlefield strength, because we'll be pretty far ahead pretty quickly, and should be able to rebound from a board wipe decently as well. We've also got a couple of counters in Draining Whelk, Geist Snatch, and Access Denied, all of which leave behind a flier (or several) for their trouble.

A couple more specific things to note. Combine Chrysalis alone doesn't make a huge difference to us, because all our tokens fly. But if we're sitting on a counter or are just feeling strong, we can sac our dudes and make bigger dudes, and because of the Chrysalis they fly too. A 4/4 flying Beast is a lot bigger than a 1/1 Thopter, and can close out a game fairly quickly. Archetype of Imagination is more there because it grounds our opponents; in the event of another flier deck (or just someone who pumps out Angel tokens or makes all their Zombies fly) we can drop this and alpha strike. Additionally, I find few things draw attention like the Archetypes; the world will respond, giving you time to enact another part of your plan. Sphinx of the Second Sun is mostly there as fat and as card draw, but having our mana available again is never a bad thing. And Esix, Fractal Bloom lets us turn our Thopter token from Thopter Spy Network into another Tidespout Tyrant or whatever, which seems like fun. Oh! And Thousand-Faced Shadow will probably only get one good hit, but can also make us a token of another big Creature.

Siani and Halana's Flying Monsters | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commanders (2)
• 1 Halana, Kessig Ranger
• 1 Siani, Eye of the Storm

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Aspiring Aeronaut
• 1 Chronozoa
• 1 Curiosity Crafter
• 1 Deepfathom Skulker
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Enigma Thief
• 1 Esix, Fractal Bloom
• 1 Ethereal Investigator
• 1 Experimental Aviator
• 1 Faerie Formation
• 1 Hangarback Walker
• 1 Inspired Sphinx
• 1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
• 1 Old Gnawbone
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sharding Sphinx
• 1 Sphinx Ambassador
• 1 Sphinx of Magosi
• 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
• 1 Stormtide Leviathan
• 1 Thousand-Faced Shadow
• 1 Tidespout Tyrant
• 1 Whirler Rogue
• 1 Windreader Sphinx

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Tezzeret, Artifice Master
• 1 Access Denied
• 1 Geist Snatch
• 1 Hunter's Insight

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Alrund's Epiphany
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Hunter's Prowess
• 1 Notorious Throng
• 1 Ojutai's Summons
• 1 Open into Wonder
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Stolen by the Fae
• 1 Talrand's Invocation

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Efficient Construction
• 1 Fable of Wolf and Owl
• 1 Leafdrake Roost
• 1 Military Intelligence
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission
• 1 Skywise Teachings
• 1 Thopter Spy Network

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Combine Chrysalis
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Moonsilver Spear
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Smuggler's Copter
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Whirlermaker

• Lands (40)
• 15 Island
• 5 Forest
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway
• 1 Botanical Sanctum
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Faerie Conclave
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Foundry of the Consuls
• 1 Gargoyle Castle
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Lumbering Falls
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rimewood Falls
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Thornwood Falls
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
• 1 Woodland Stream

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This deck will be surprisingly powerful. It's strange to me how often Flying is neglected, and you'll see when you build a deck of predominately flying Creatures how strong it is. You can make it a bit more friendly by dropping the two spells which grant you extra turns, of course; more interaction or token generation would be great there.

What's your favorite unusual Partner combination? Anything I missed? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for reading.