Last week I boldly declared that I thought Sidisi, Regent of the Mire was one of the most exciting and degenerate new commanders to come out of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, in no small part because of its ability to combo with Thornbite Staff. Today I'm going to test that theory by seeing if I can find a combo line or two to use with this spicy new card.

Sidisi is a two mana Zombie Snake Warlock who can tap to sacrifice a creature and pull another creature back out of the graveyard. He can't sacrifice himself and the creature he gets back must have a mana value of 1 more than the sacrificed creature's mana value. This ability can only be activated at sorcery speed.

The card I'd pair him up with is Thornbite Staff. This venerable piece of Shaman equipment costs two mana, has an equip cost of four, and brings a lot to the party. It can be attached to a Shaman creature for free when the Shaman enters play, but Sidisi isn't a shaman. It gives the equipped creature the ability to pay 2 mana, tap, and do 1 damage to any target. Those are both interesting, but the reason this card is in most decks is that it will also lets the equipped creature untap whenever a creature dies. That is a big deal.

This means that you can tap Sidisi, Regent of the Mire, sacrifice a creature, and then untap Sidisi with Thornbite Staff to do it again. It's obvious that this will give me the ability to chain through a series of creatures if I've been able to load up my graveyard enough. It's not quite as certain that I'll be able to find a way to chain creatures in a way that is self-sustaining. In mono-Black an infinite loop of sacrificing creatures can kill the table in any manner of ways.

Filling the Yard

The first thing to know is that for this deck to work I'm going to need to be able to put creatures into my graveyard.

If I'm able to start the game with a Damnation, Massacre Wurm, or Toxic Deluge in hand, I might do well to keep Sidisi back, play out other creatures, and then wipe the board as soon as things look like they're getting scary. This kind of approach can backfire, as a player with extra mana and a Boros Charm or Heroic Intervention can just dodge the wrath and get too far ahead for anyone to catch up.

Altar of Dementia is in the list both to self-mill and as a way to put one of my creatures into the graveyard. I might have included Mesmeric Orb if I were aiming for a higher-powered deck, but I tend to shy away from cards that will draw me too much hate. Sometimes players will opt for player removal instead of just removing an annoying permanent.

I'm running Entomb and a bunch of creatures that self-mill, along with Corpse Connoisseur, which can tutor a creature from my library and put it into the bin. Better than all of those is Buried Alive, which can put three cards from my library into my graveyard.

I definitely miss not being in Blue, as I'd love to have access to Traumatize, Tunnel Vision, Mirror-Mad Phantasm and other powerful self-mill cards. I am running Morality Shift, which can swap my graveyard for my library. If Syr Konrad, the Grim, is in play that could just kill the table. Syr Konrad will deal one damage to each opponent each time a creature enters or leaves my graveyard.

Recursion Payoffs

If I'm able to put specific creatures into my graveyard, I definitely need to think about what creatures will give me the chance to make powerful or even game-winning plays. Buried Alive just begs for me to line up a string of creatures to sacrifice. If I've got Thornbite Staff equipped so I'm able to run through a string of consecutive creatures with increasing mana values, there are definitely some good choices available.

Starting with Solemn Simulacrum might seem odd. I've got Ravenous Chupacabra available as an option, but "Sad Robot" will get me a land and draw me a card when he's sacrificed. I could also get Pitiless Plunderer, Tormod, the Desecrator or Crypt Ghast, but I don't really want to sacrifice any of those unless I'm getting something really good.

Depending upon my devotion to Black, Gray Merchant of Asphodel might be worth bringing back from the graveyard, even at the cost of a Crypt Ghast. "Gary" will gain me a bunch of life and will drain everyone else. If I follow it up with Kokusho, the Evening Star, I can sacrifice Kokusho to drain the table even more. It's unlikely I'll have my lone 7-drop, Rune-Scarred Demon, in the graveyard but if I do I can use that Demon's ETB to tutor something else to my hand.

Winning through sacrificing and recurring Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star is a tried-and-true wincon in mono-Black EDH, but it's hardly something shiny and new. I could always load up on Fleshbag Marauders to force my tablemates to sacrifice their creatures, but I don't love that style of play, even if it's a very common thing to do in mono-Black. Force-sacrifice generally punishes whoever is furthest behind, and the player out ahead just loses their weakest creature.

The Combo Line

I'll freely admit I have an unhealthy love for convoluted combo lines. I had hoped that I'd be able to find some seven or eight card string of sweet Black creatures that would result in a win. That might exist, and it might include both Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Kokusho, but it struck me that the best way to win is probably a lot more compact and efficient.

I often like to brainstorm how a deck might be able to win off of a single card, assuming certain other things are in place. In this case I'll assume I've got Sidisi equipped with Thornbite Staff, at least one creature token in play, and Buried Alive in hand.

Casting Buried Alive, I'll be able to bin three cards. Remember that using Sidisi to tap, sacrifice a creature, and bring back a creature from the graveyard. If equipped with Thornbite Staff, Sidisi will untap when it sees the sacrificed creature die.

If I can sacrifice a 0-mana creature token I can bring back Infestation Sage, Nezumi Linkbreaker or Nested Shambler. These three creatures each can create a 1/1 creature token when they die. I'll use Sidisi to sacrifice my 1-drop token generator to both bring back Zulaport Cutthroat and create that token creature.

If I'm feeling greedy, I can then sacrifice Zulaport Cutthroat to bring back Grim Haruspex, which will let me draw a card whenever another nontoken creature I control dies. I can always get Zulaport Cutthroat back once I have my card draw engine in place by sacrificing that new 1/1 creature token to get the 1-drop token generator back, and then sacrificing it to make yet another 1/1 token.

I don't really need to get Grim Haruspex, as I can just flip back and forth between sacrificing my Infestation Sage and sacrificing my creature token. I don't have to bring anything back when sacrificing my 1-drop, though I probably will if I've got something good in the graveyard at the requisite mana value.

To support my need to have creature tokens, I'm running a bunch of token generators. Both Tormod, the Desecrator, and Desecrated Tomb can generate additional creature tokens whenever one or more cards leave my graveyard. Ophiomancer will give me a 1/1 Black Snake creature token with deathtouch at the beginning of each upkeep if I don't control a Snake. Marionette Apprentice and Marionette Master, both of which have fabricate, are also in the list. Fabricate will let me either make a Servo artifact creature token or put +1/+1 counters on a creature as it enters play. Bitterblossom is also in the list, and can give me a steady stream of 1/1 Faerie Rogue tokens.

It's worth mentioning that any deck that wants to combo off with a single card should be running ways to get that card back from the graveyard. Both Workshop Assistant and Myr Retriever have death triggers that will let me get another target artifact card back from my graveyard to my hand. Scrap Trawler is also in the list and will let me get back an artifact card with lesser mana value when it or another artifact I control is put into the graveyard from the battlefield.

Sidisi Thornbite Combo

I think this deck belongs in mid-to-high powered pods and should be able to win games both through combo lines and through synergy and good piloting. Knowing when to sacrifice creatures and what to bring back from the graveyard is going to be really important, especially if not drawing into your combo pieces or you're not finding ways to start filling up your graveyard. It's quite possible those games will become non-games for you, as this deck isn't really positioned to turn itself into a real threat on the battlefield.

These lists should always be viewed as starting points. You could take the basic concept, load in a bunch of Fleshbag Marauder type creatures and Tergrid, God of Fright, and you'd have a very, very different (and much meaner) deck. I'm sure this can be improved upon, as building in mono Black is not my strong suit.

Sidisi, Regent of the Mire EDH | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sidisi, Regent of the Mire

• Creatures (38)
• 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1 Barrier of Bones
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1 Corpse Connoisseur
• 1 Crow of Dark Tidings
• 1 Crypt Ghast
• 1 Deathcap Marionette
• 1 Gnawing Vermin
• 1 Gorging Vulture
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Grim Haruspex
• 1 Infestation Sage
• 1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1 Leaden Myr
• 1 Marionette Apprentice
• 1 Marionette Master
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Myr Retriever
• 1 Nested Shambler
• 1 Nezumi Linkbreaker
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Returned Reveler
• 1 Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1 Scrap Trawler
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stitcher's Supplier
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 Tormod, the Desecrator
• 1 Undead Butler
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Wailing Ghoul
• 1 Workshop Assistant
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Spells (14)
• 1 Corrupted Conviction
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Entomb
• 1 Imp's Mischief
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 1 Withering Torment
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Dread Return
• 1 Morality Shift
• 1 Night's Whisper
• 1 Toxic Deluge

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Bitterblossom

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Altar of Dementia
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Conqueror's Flail
• 1 Desecrated Tomb
• 1 Jet Medallion
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Thornbite Staff
• 1 Wishclaw Talisman

• Lands (35)
• 33 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Buy This Deck Export text

While it's hard to suggest a combo list like this isn't high powered, I think this list probably belongs in bracket 3. I'm not playing a lot of powerful cards like Bolas's Citadel and I'm not running Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor. I like to provide lists that have room to upgrade as well as the chance to tune the deck down for a lower-powered meta. You might also consider adding a few cards like Orbs of Warding to give you hexproof if you're worried about getting targeted with graveyard removal.

To tune this down you would probably have to remove Thornbite Staff, and then I have to ask - what's the point? Sidisi might be a powerful recursion card but if you're going to remove his main wincon you might just want to move him over to a Dimir (UB) mill deck, or some three-color deck that has a focus on recursion. This commander is still powerful even without Thornbite Staff, but you'll probably shift your focus to recurring powerful cards like Praetors and some of the new cards out of Duskmourn rather than recurring a 1-mana creature that makes a token when it dies.

Final Thoughts

For the first time in a while, I didn't get a chance to play this list before sharing it with you. My biggest concern with this brew is that it might not be able to fill up the graveyard fast enough to get the job done. Every meta is different, and if you're facing a bunch of fast, aggressive, combat-focused decks, it may be a real challenge to set up your combo before you lose too much life.

If you play in a meta that just doesn't love combo, I would urge you to have other decks to play in addition to a deck like this. It's really healthy to have a diverse playgroup with a range of power levels and play patterns. If you run a recursion combo deck and win at a more casual table, it's just polite to switch to something else for the next game. In higher power, this isn't as big a deal, and in cEDH you have more of a "git gud" mentality, but most of us aren't playing at that level (and don't really want to).

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!