I spend a lot of time thinking about Magic decks, which should probably come as very little surprise. That takes a lot of angles, but one of the interesting subjects is the different types of decks out there. Aggro, Voltron, Control, Aggro/Control, Tempo, Midrange... the list goes on and there are lots of different ways to do them.

Control Is Hard In Commander

Control is interesting in Commander, though. A Counterspell can be awesome in heads-up Magic, because your only opponent is hamstrung by a well-placed counter. But when you have three or more opponents, that single Counterspell goes a lot less far. Sure, you countered that Cyclonic Rift, but that left someone else able to cast that Farewell or whatever and now everyone is sad.

Doesn't keep us from trying, though, does it? Run enough and politick correctly and you can be the guy who always has a counter when you need it.

Today's Commander seems to want a Kindred deck based on Merfolk. But I argue - why? I think this Commander can be something else entirely.

I get why you'd run Merfolk with Sygg. But all I saw was a way to sneak big Creatures through and, when we can't sneak them, use them to draw cards. Here's what I came up with.

Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Adept Watershaper
• 1 Aerial Extortionist
• 1 Ancient Gold Dragon
• 1 Ancient Silver Dragon
• 1 Angel of Destiny
• 1 Battle Angels of Tyr
• 1 Bladegriff Prototype
• 1 Blinding Angel
• 1 Dazzling Sphinx
• 1 Dragonlord Ojutai
• 1 Iymrith, Desert Doom
• 1 Master of Predicaments
• 1 Medomai the Ageless
• 1 Research Thief
• 1 Sharding Sphinx
• 1 Sphinx Ambassador
• 1 Sturmgeist
• 1 Zeriam, Golden Wind

• Instants (23)
• 1 Absorb
• 1 Amazing Acrobatics
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Deprive
• 1 Disallow
• 1 Disappearing Act
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Disruption Protocol
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Ertai's Scorn
• 1 Flare of Denial
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Hindering Light
• 1 Keep Safe
• 1 Negate
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Rebuff the Wicked
• 1 Render Silent
• 1 Saw It Coming
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Three Steps Ahead
• 1 Urza's Rebuff

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Doomskar
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Sygg's Command
• 1 Time Wipe

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Ebony Fly
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Haunted Cloak
• 1 Lavaspur Boots
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (40)
• 10 Island
• 10 Plains
• 1 Abandoned Air Temple
• 1 Celestial Colonnade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Floodfarm Verge
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Meticulous Archive
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 1 Wanderwine Hub

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The Basics

This deck does a few things, but the key is getting Sygg online with something that can sneak through, which is why every Creature but two can fly. I find, in most games, there's someone without a flying blocker you can use to draw that extra card. But first, as always, mana.

The Mana

Our Lands mostly fix, but I really like Abandoned Air Temple here. We'll leave mana up till the last minute a lot with this deck, and something like this is a good use of it when you don't use a counter. Rogue's Passage can be a useful little tool if everyone has flying blockers. And Celestial Colonnade can be a wrath-surviving attacker.

We also have a few mana rocks, most in the two-mana range. Why? Because we don't play Sygg on turn two most of the time. We're going to wait to cast him until after we have something else out, and we want to leave mana up to counter things. That means going for cheap options where possible.

Note Ebony Fly can also attack. The exception is Decanter of Endless Water, because the expanded Hand size is worth it. Why no Sol Ring? Because we're going for Bracket 2, and I think Bracket 2 shouldn't have Sol Ring. So there.

Drawing Cards

That draw trigger from Sygg is our primary draw engine, but it's not the only one. Aerial Extortionist, Ancient Silver Dragon, Battle Angels of Tyr, the list goes on. Plenty of our fliers have their own draw triggers. Once we're rolling, we shouldn't have any trouble keeping cards flowing to our Hand. Bident of Thassa will likely help, too!

Threats

The other thing is most of our fliers are actually big, serious threats. A Dazzling Sphinx, made unblockable turn after turn and constantly giving us free spells plus drawing us cards, backed up with counter magic, can close out a game all by itself. Fortunately, though, it won't be alone. Watch how quickly it happens with Iymrith, Desert Doom or Sharding Sphinx backing it up!

The key for us is restraint; we shouldn't play out all our threats and get walloped by a Wrath effect we can't counter. Keep a threat or two in Hand for just that occasion and control the board with counters and removal.

Answers

We have 20 Counterspell variants. That's a fifth of the deck. Use them. We also have a couple of point removal spells and three Wrath effects. Doomskar is worth Foretelling as soon as possible. Sygg's Command is just a good all-around spell; we only have one Creature we could copy (which doesn't actually do much), but the rest of the abilities all have functions worth including.

Synergy

We are running five Equipments which grant Haste, which is a questionable choice, I feel, for Bracket 2. Probably not - a 5/5 flier attacking the turn it lands won't end the game most of the time - but still, if you're looking to power this deck down, this is the first place I'd start. Anyway, the Equipment should help make the deck work even faster. With a Chariot of Victory on the 'field, you drop your Blinding Angel, then play Sygg and hit that turn, drawing the card for your trouble.

Adept Watershaper will hopefully help keep our Creatures alive through a destruction-happy opponent we can't keep up with. And it's worth mentioning Angel of Destiny can surely be a game winner for us. Sygg's Command could make it so someone's game is over in a hurry.

Some Ideas On How to Play the Deck

I don't normally tell you how to play the deck, but this is probably worth going over. The idea here is to do very little for the first few turns. You'll drop a rock, counter something early to stop someone from jumping ahead, and play your Lands out. If you get a Haste-enabler, play that too.

When you have the mana, drop your first big Creature, ideally backed up with a Counterspell of some kind, but that may or may not be possible. Hopefully someone else is threatening enough to draw attention.

Then you play Sygg and draw your first card(s) off your attack. From then on, flip Sygg every turn. It is more important to keep flipping Sygg than it is to play out another threat. Keep up Counterspell mana at every possible opportunity, even if you don't have one. Just tell everyone to wait, look at the board state and your Hand, then say "I'll allow it". Always make them think you have it. And flip Sygg. Every turn.

And be strategic! In one game, I had Angel of Destiny and Ancient Gold Dragon out. I used the card draw effect from Sygg on the Angel to draw two cards (yay Double Strike!) and the protection effect on the Dragon to make as many Faeries as possible.

I had a Zeriam, Golden Wind and Sphinx Ambassador in my Hand lest things went sideways. Don't overcommit, always represent the counter, and wrench every bit of value out of the deck you can. It should be a blast to play.

Thanks for reading.