Stomping With $50 Siona, Captain of the Pyleas | Commander Abridged Gameplay
Today I'm bringing out one of my own paper decks: Siona, Captain of the Pyleas. I have a few personal budget decks that I keep around the $50 range and try to optimize to be as strong as possible. Of those budget brews, Siona is the strongest: this is a cutthroat Combo deck first and foremost, quickly and consistently generating infinite tokens to win the game. But what sets this deck apart from most budget Combo lists is how well-rounded it is, able to dominate the board and win the game even if our Combos get shut down. If you're interested in an in-depth guide to this deck then check out the primer I wrote not long ago.
Our deck tech begins with our commander, Siona, Captain of the Pyleas. Siona comes with two abilities: when Siona enters the battlefield, you can look at the top seven cards of your library and put an Aura card from among them into your hand. This ability digs really deep and almost always finds a useful Aura since our deck is loaded with them. Next is whenever an Aura you control becomes attached to a creature you control, create a 1/1 whie Human Soldier creature token. This second ability is a powerful token engine in our deck when used fairly, but it's also the key to our broken infinite token combos.
The first and most powerful Combo is Siona, Captain of the Pyleas + Shielded by Faith. Shielded by Faith says whenever a creature enters the battlefield, you may attach it to that creature. So when you attach Shield to any creature you control, Siona will create a creature token, which you then attach Shield to, which triggers Siona to make another creature token, creating an infinite loop of creature tokens. We then win on our next turn when we attack with our infinite army, or speed up our victory by adding a third card like Altar of Dementia for infinite mill.
Our backup combo is Siona, Captain of the Pyleas + Reins of the Vinesteed + a sac outlet like Blasting Station. When the creature Reins of the Vinesteed is attached to dies, you may return Reins to the battlefield attached to a creature that shares a creature type with that creature. So if we attach Reins to either a Human or Soldier creature, like one of Siona's tokens for example, Siona will trigger and make a Human Soldier token. Then we sacrifice the enchanted creature to Blasting Station, dealing 1 damage to an opponent. Reins then comes back attached to the newly created token made by Siona, which triggers Siona again to create a new token, which untaps the Station. We repeat this for infinite damage.
Since our combos are auras, the rest of our deck is filled out as a powerful Enchantress deck with a heavy Aura subtheme: we have Enchantress-focused ramp (Wild Growth, Transcendent Envoy, One with Nature), card draw (Sage's Reverie, Satyr Wayfinder, Setessan Champion), removal (Winds of Rath, Kenrith's Transformation, Seal of Cleansing), recursion (Crystal Chimes, Open the Vaults, The Binding of the Titans), tutors (Open the Armory, Boonweaver Giant, Three Dreams), and token generators that double as backup win conditions in case our Combo plan doesn't pan out (Archon of Sun's Grace, Dreampod Druid, Sigil of the Empty Throne). These powerful synergies make our deck super well-rounded, able to win fast or play for a long game.
Put all the pieces and you get my personal $50 list:
Next Week: Mono White Kaldra!
We're putting the budget aside for next week's gameplay video and showing off my favorite Kaldra deck, Mono White Kaldra with Sram, Senior Edificer at the helm. The games were super sweet and I can't wait to show you them!
Well, Sram Kaldra was my favorite Kaldra deck until this week at least: with Akiri, Fearless Voyager coming in Zendikar Rising this will soon change! Maybe Boros Kaldra gameplay in the near future too?
