Sisay, Weatherlight Captain Commander Deck Guide

Sisay, Weatherlight Captain | Illustration by Anna Steinbauer

5-color commanders offer players a unique opportunity. Removing color restrictions lets brewers choose whatever cards they think are the best for their strategy or power level. You don’t have to play Dimir () and wish you could remove an artifact, or stare at that indestructible threat your Gruul () deck can’t smash.

The trade-off typically comes at the expense of, well, interesting strategies. Many 5-color commanders lack mechanically interesting abilities, falling into general good-stuff strategies themed around multicolor permanents or legends.

Today, I’m working to build a disruptive legends deck that does more than plop general value pieces into play. Let’s check it out!

The Deck

Captain Sisay | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

This deck leans into the legendary archetype with its commander Sisay, Weatherlight Captain. Since most legendary permanents are creatures, I wanted to maximize that strategy. What are legendary creatures known for? Having powerful abilities. The goal of the legendary supertype wasn’t just adding flavor and story significance to cards. It was for balance. Since you could only control one legend with the same name, R&D could print abilities that would be too strong to have on multiple creatures. Imagine playing against multiple copies of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben at once!

In fact, Thalia isn’t the only legendary creature with a disruptive ability. So, the deck was born: lots of disruptive, interactive legendary permanents that slow your opponents down while you attack them. Collecting a suite of silver bullets works incredibly well with this commander.

The Commander: Sisay, Weatherlight Captain

Players brewing 5-color legends have three prominent choices: Jodah, the Unifier, Esika, God of the Tree, and Sisay, Weatherlight Captain. I went with Sisay because it synergizes best with the disruptive game plan thanks to that gorgeous activated ability.

The activated ability would be amazing grabbing value pieces like Jodah, the Unifier or Eldrazi, but imagine the possibilities when you can tutor the perfect answer to your opponents’ spells! Get Anafenza, the Foremost in response to Entomb, drop Ertai Resurrected to kill or counter a threat, or find Narset, Parter of Veils in response to a player tapping The One Ring. The utility as a control piece attracted me to this commander over the others.

Disruption

The disruptive cards hold the deck together. I’m including my interactive creatures under this category; it contains every answer Sisay finds.

Narset, Parter of Veils doesn’t have many hits in this creature deck, but this blue planeswalker is practically a counterspell in response to a card draw spell. It’s a shame you can’t run Leovold, Emissary of Trest…. If shutting off draws doesn’t look appealing, you can find Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

I’m always surprised how little I see Ashiok, Dream Render. It’s remarkably efficient as a graveyard hate piece and tutor disruptor.

Teferi, Time Raveler ranks among the most obnoxious planeswalkers ever printed. You can grab it on the end step so your opponents can’t use countermagic on your turn or in response to cascade triggers to deny a card. You can use Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar as an alternative to protect your turn.

The terrible planeswalkers don’t stop there as Oko, Thief of Crowns sneaks into the list to shut off opposing creatures and artifacts. I’ve won games of Vintage Cube with Oko alone and have often wondered if it could solo a pod.

Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard and Boromir, Warden of the Tower give you powerful answers to non-exile boards wipes. Ratadrabik of Urborg serves a similar purpose. Keen-eyed readers might note the infinite combo with Boromir and Ratadrabik; this deck doesn’t have a payoff for it. They’re just here as protective pieces. The last protective legend is Pippin, Guard of the Citadel.

Loran of the Third Path kills off any threatening artifacts and destroys enchantments. Ertai Resurrected fills in the gaps by getting planeswalkers, creatures, or spells. Éowyn, Fearless Knight takes out creatures with the potential to enable big attacks.

Treasure tokens are obnoxiously strong. Yasharn, Implacable Earth stomps them into submission with the bonus of stopping powerhouse commanders like Korvold, Fae-Cursed King and Teysa Karlov.

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade isn’t effective against every deck but destroys decks that fall under its jurisdiction like cascade and artifact ramp.

If you want to handle graveyard decks at instant speed, Kunoros, Hound of Athreos ensures the dead stay buried while Anafenza, the Foremost prevents them from causing trouble in the first place.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar doesn’t disrupt specific strategies but hampers your opponents’ development and prevents them from blocking.

The Value Grabs

While I love the disruption package, playing five colors without some value would be ridiculous. These are the proactive Sisay targets.

It wouldn’t be a legends deck without Captain Sisay. This iteration of the character can’t put creatures into play, but it draws them for free and has the same utility of finding the perfect answer.

Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff has proven to be one of Lord of the Rings’ best legends. It takes very little for this card to produce two or three Treasure tokens a turn cycle, proving crime does pay.

Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Kellogg, Dangerous Mind prefer more proactive means of raising money. Magda’s second ability does nothing in this deck, but Kellogg can be an excellent answer to enemy commanders.

I really love Halana and Alena, Partners. It buffs Sisay, Weatherlight Captain to help cheat in larger creatures quickly or help your aggressive strategy.

Dihada, Binder of Wills can act as a protective piece in a pinch, but you really want to use that -3 ability to generate a ton of mana and draw a card or two in the process.

Reki, the History of Kamigawa and Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain draw bundles of cards as you unite legends from across the Multiverse.

Omnath, Locus of All provides another source of card advantage. You don’t have many cards with enough colored symbols to add mana, but you can play Sisay on turn 3, Omnath on turn 4 for the best possible buff, and it’s still a personal Howling Mine with upside.

Sisay greatly benefits from multicolored legends to grow its power, so this deck has more gold than King Midas’s palace. Aragorn, the Uniter reaps the rewards as well. It’s an overwhelmingly powerful card that’s rarely wrong to grab with Sisay if you don’t need an answer.

Aragorn pops up again, this time as Aragorn, King of Gondor. Becoming the monarch gives you plenty of card draw, but this also acts as a potent finisher. Grabbing it on the end step before your turn lets you untap with Aragorn to prevent blockers without giving your opponents a chance to take the crown.

Jodah, the Unifier doesn’t give your legends trample, but the sheer size of its buff outweighs that. Yes, your opponents can just chump—but how many turns can they chump every creature you control? This doesn’t even factor in the legendary cascade ability.

Doric, Nature's Warden provides nice little Overrun for your legends. Even if it doesn’t stick around to attack, this green creature finds a triome for fixing and ramp.

The absolute best finisher is the esteemed Jetmir, Nexus of Revels. It’s just Craterhoof Behemoth. Since Jetmir doesn’t use an attack trigger, you can often attack with mana up then blow your opponents out with a Sisay activation. You lose out on vigilance, but your opponents will block very differently than they would if Jetmir were already in play.

The Odds and Ends

These cards hold the deck together, most notably a few interaction spells and a bit more protection.

Since the creature base interacts heavily, you don’t have as much instant/sorcery–based removal. You can’t deny Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile as some of the game’s best interaction. Swan Song and An Offer You Can't Refuse provide countermagic that’s not mana or color intensive.

Urza's Ruinous Blast won’t kill opposing commanders or support pieces, but it handles the chaff. Winds of Abandon and Cyclonic Rift push games in your favor.

Good creature decks pack plenty of protection. Mother of Runes handles all manner of spot removal. To keep the entire board safe, Teferi's Protection and Clever Concealment ensure even board wipes that exile the world can’t hurt you. Flawless Maneuver saves you from the terrible dilemma of playing a cool legend or holding up protection.

The Mana Base

I’m a big proponent of using MDFC lands and spells to add additional value to your mana base, but that becomes progressively harder the more colors you add, as those typically add mono-colored or colorless mana. 5-color mana bases have no room for fluff, though two of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty‘s channel lands, Boseiju, Who Endures and Otawara, Soaring City still found their way in.

The core of this mana base are the Triomes, specifically the green ones. You have the full suite of fetch lands and shock lands, but Three Visits and Nature's Lore might be the most important elements of the mana base. Ramping while finding a Triome means casting one of these almost always results in perfect mana. Farseek gets in on the action, too.

The Ring Goes South was a slam dunk. It takes the average deck very little work for this to get two lands, the going rate for a 4-mana ramp spell. In this deck? You’ll end up with more mana than you know what to do with.

Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder do incredible work in 5-color decks. I don’t need to be in five colors to justify Birds of Paradise, but it sure feels good here.

The Strategy

This deck wants to flood the board with creatures. It’s straightforward: Dump a bunch of legends into play and follow them with a finisher that buffs the team. The most complex part of the deck is remembering your tutor lines, so you know what to grab with Sisay, Weatherlight Captain and when.

The biggest consideration should be when you want to pressure your opponents and when you want to disrupt them. Jodah, the Unifier or Aragorn, the Uniter make sense; they’re certainly stronger than many disruptive legends. But can you back them up? When you play threatening cards, players will respond. It might be best to hold the big, splashy plays until you get Boromir, Warden of the Tower or another protective piece.

Finally, watch out for Voltron commander lines! Any commander that buffs itself has some potential to win with commander damage. Once you have five colors worth of legends, it only takes three hits for Sisay to take somebody out of the game. Jodah, the Unifier, Jetmir, Nexus of Revels, and Halana and Alena, Partners can make that two.

Combos and Interactions

This deck doesn’t have infinite combos. You have access to the Boromir/Ratadrabik combo, but that doesn’t really do anything without an outlet except keep your board safe for multiple turns. The primary interactions use Sisay’s activated ability to respond to threats. This straightforwardness makes this deck great for beginning Commander players!

Rule 0 Violations Check

This deck should clear the average Rule 0 conversation. It has some stax-adjacent elements with Teferi, Time Raveler and Narset, Parter of Veils shutting down cards and strategies, but it doesn’t mess with mana enough to be truly obnoxious. There’s no fast mana or cEDH staples, so it should play well at any casual table.

Budget Options

Let’s begin the budget discussion by considering how to trim the mana base’s cost.  Fetches, Triomes, and shocks cost a bundle. How can you handle cutting them? First, make your peace with lots of budget lands. Keeping the Nature's Lore effects matters, so you want tapped lands with land types; Kaldheim and Dominaria United have entire cycles, plus you can use tango lands (Canopy Vista) and cycling lands (Sheltered Thicket).

You could also go for a Gates theme with your budget mana base, allowing for cards like Circuitous Route and Explore the Underdark to supercharge your ramp and fixing.

As for other individual cards, Oko, Thief of Crowns sits at $15. Other planeswalkers that destroy permanents like Ob Nixilis Reignited, or Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury can work here.

Bloom Tender provides all the mana you could want, but other 2-drop mana dorks can provide acceleration on a budget. I like Sylvan Caryatid since it has hexproof.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse stops a lot of nonsense, but there’s no sense in choosing between a card and a tank of gas to get to your LGS. Notion Thief fills a similar role, though Sisay can’t tutor it.

Captain Sisay hasn’t seen a proper reprint since Invasion, so it costs a pretty penny. Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor can provide a stream of card draw, even if it doesn’t tutor.

I don’t know why Doric, Nature's Warden costs $30, but there are plenty of substitutes. You could play the classic Overrun; if you still want the legendary synergies, Garruk Wildspeaker can do this with a little prep.

Teferi's Protection has the price tag you’d expect of the format’s best protection spell. Heroic Intervention or Boros Charm can take its place, with the later opening more Voltron lines.

Other Builds

One alternate route to take Sisay, Weatherlight Captain is as a superfriends commander. You can find any number of busted planeswalkers as well as support pieces like The Chain Veil and Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider.

Another path would be the enchantress route, specifically with shrines. It might seem strange to play Sisay over Go-Shintai of Life's Origin, but there are perks. Not all shrines are equal; Honden of Infinite Rage and Sanctum of All are significantly better than say, Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom or Sanctum of Tranquil Light. Sisay increases the odds of seeing your best shrines every time for a more consistent game plan.

Commanding Conclusion

Jodah, the Unifier | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

There are firm arguments to be made for 5-color commanders like Sisay, Weatherlight Captain offering so much value they stifle creative deckbuilding in favor of good stuff soup, but I like this deck. I feel like it reflects my controlling tendencies and enjoy the toolbox aspect, which leverages Sisay’s ability as a more complex game action than finding the biggest, dumbest thing I can grab.

What do you think of 5-color commanders? What are your favorite interactive legends? Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!