Exploiting Sidisi's Greatness

When Sidisi, Undead Vizier was spoiled I had several different emotions running through me. The tournament player side of me was excited about having such
a powerful tool available for decks that run a lot of creatures. Some of you may have noticed that I like decks that run a lot of creatures. I haven’t yet
figured out a Standard deck I like that runs Sidisi, Undead Vizier, but rest assured I’m working on it!

The Commander player side of me was worried about the format now having a tutor available on demand from the command zone whenever you wanted it, provided
you had the mana-but let’s face it, mana isn’t usually a problem in a mono-black Commander deck. But you know what? Commander has tons and tons and tons of
overpowered interactions, and while Sidisi is certainly high up on the power scale of things you can do in Commander, I’m pretty sure the format will be
just fine. The trick when playing against Sidisi is to remember that Sidisi needs to be in play when a creature is sacrificed to the exploit trigger for
the tutor effect to happen, so if you time your removal right to kill Sidisi while the trigger is put on the stack, you can fizzle the tutor effect.

Sidisi would make a darn good Commander for a mono-black tribal Zombie deck, but I actually made a tribal Zombie Commander deck from the previous
incarnation of Sidisi last fall, so to do things a bit different this time, I’m going to make a mono-black control deck.

The Demonic Tutor in the Room

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way: When you’ve got a Demonic Tutor at your disposal from the command zone whenever you want, it’s natural that
you’ll want to gravitate towards assembling some killer combos. Playing mono-black, you’re a bit restricted, but there are a few out there. The one that
immediately springs to mind is Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond, which combine with any sort of damage or life loss to produce triggers that drain all the
life from every opponent at the table. Another more “fair” one would be Dark Depths with either Vampire Hexmage or Thespian’s Stage to create a 20/20
indestructible flying death machine. I am personally not including these sorts of killer combos in my deck because I’d rather focus on controlling the
board and eventually winning with a couple big haymaker plays, but if your group doesn’t mind the killer combos, feel free to fit them in!

For this deck, I’m using Sidisi, Undead Vizier to play the long game like a true evil villain should. I haven’t broken out my evil laugh in a while, and
it’s time to rectify that situation. Let’s take a look at the elements I want to include in the deck and the cards to achieve my goals.

Born to Die

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed , Bloodsoaked Champion, Gravecrawler, Phyrexian Reclamation, Nether Traitor, Reassembling Skeleton, Butcher Ghoul, Epochrasite, Nim Deathmantle, Risen Executioner, Solemn Simulacrum

While you can sacrifice Sidisi, Undead Vizier to its own exploit trigger, I’d much rather have a large 4/6 deathtouch badass on the battlefield holding
down the fort so I can live long enough to use whatever card I tutored up to hatch my evil plots. Therefore, I need a herd of lambs ready to sacrifice
their lives for me, and luckily, since I’m playing black, there is no shortage of creatures that can do that and come back for more. Bloodsoaked Champion
is particularly nice here since you can attack with it, even into a blocker that will kill it, pay 1B to bring it back with its raid ability, sacrifice it
to Sidisi, and if you have 1B, you can pay and bring it back again.

Solemn Simulacrum won’t come back without some undying shenanigans, but if ever there was a creature born to die to five mana Sidisi, it’s four mana Solemn
Simulacrum!

Spot Removal

Tragic Slip, Go For The Throat, Hero’s Demise, Malicious Affliction, Victim of Night, Eyeblight’s Ending, Hero’s Downfall, Snuff Out, Slaughter,
Murderous Cut

While I usually put in a fair number of spot removal spells in my Commander decks when I can, for this deck I want to have even more than normal. I
basically want to have something to kill the first creature that comes my way, and then have something to kill the second. At that point I’m hoping that so
long as I have cards in hand and mana available, my opponents will be loath to send any significant creature my way for fear I will strike that one down as
well. Fear is a powerful tool for any Magician who seeks to play a control deck.

A few of these cards won’t be able to target black creatures, so I’m going to include Distorting Lens to switch colors on an offensive black creature that
needs removing. My go-to card for that is usually Scuttlemutt, but since this deck plays a lot of creature sweepers, I figured Distorting Lens is probably
a better call.

I was going to run Slaughter Pact in here as a way to have removal even if I’m tapped out, but it’s quite possible a lot of time passes between playing the
Pact and having to pay its cost on your next upkeep, and I’d hate to accidentally lose the game that way. It then occurred to me that Snuff Out can
basically do the same thing in a mono-black deck with a negligible life payment.

Rattlesnakes

Executioner’s Capsule, Basilisk Collar, Seal of Doom, Vengeful Pharaoh

Another way to put fear into your opponents is to deploy these sorts of rattlesnake cards. If you’ve got a Seal of Doom sitting there and your opponent is
trying to figure out which way to send his large non-black creature, they’ve got to know you’ll kill it if it comes your way. Rather than throw it away,
they may send it at some other opponent, at least until they can find a way to destroy the rattlesnake card-and let’s be honest, do you really want to blow
a Krosan Grip on a Seal of Doom?

Sweepers

Oblivion Stone, Sudden Spoiling, Damnation, Mutilate, Nevinyrral’s Disk, Crux of Fate, Hellfire, Life’s Finale, Massacre Wurm, Necromantic Selection,
In Garruk’s Wake

Sometimes the battlefield gets way out of hand, and when that happens, nothing beats a sweeper to bring the game back to an even keel. Black offers no end
to mass creature destruction, and even though I’m including a lot of them, I certainly don’t have them all. Necromantic Selection is a wonderful way to
tilt the scales in your direction when you sweep the board-why yes, I think I’ll take your Lord of Extinction, thanks!

Sudden Spoiling is a great little utility card that will sometimes let you stop someone from doing something with their creature that no other spell could
(Deadeye Navigator springs to mind). If you can follow it with a Massacre Wurm on the same turn, you really are living the dream.

Dead Man’s Party

Bone Dancer, Mimic Vat, Black Market, Grave Betrayal

With creatures dying left and right, I figured we could dip into a little necromancy and take advantage of it. Bone Dancer is pretty sweet when you kill a
threat that happens to be the only blocker, swing in dancing, and steal it. Mimic Vat and Black Market are classic cards to include in a removal-heavy
deck, and Grave Betrayal – while expensive – is amazing if you can keep it around for any length of time.

Card Draw

Erebos, God Of The Dead , Skullclamp, Phyrexian Arena, Skeletal Scrying, Damnable Pact

Of course, what sort of control deck would we be if we didn’t have card draw? Phyrexian Arena and Skeletal Scrying are classics, and Erebos, God of the Dead is a nice newer toy to play with, but I’m particularly excited about giving Damnable Pact a try with Cabal Coffers!

Skullclamp is ubiquitous in any Commander deck with creatures, but I think it’s particularly good in this deck with lots of creatures that die when
Skullclamp is equipped but can come right back. Attack with Bloodsoaked Champion, and then you can equip and bring it back from the graveyard to
effectively draw two cards for each 2B you spend, which is not a bad rate – especially if it’s charging up your Black Market, right?

Swamps Matter

Cabal Coffers, Liliana Of The Dark Realms, Lashwrithe, Nightmare Incursion

Since we’re playing a mono-black deck, we might as well take advantage of some of the sweet “swamps matter” cards out there. Lashwrithe is a great way to
seriously boost Sidisi if you need to kill someone with Commander damage in the lategame, and I like Nightmare Incursion as a way to strip out someone’s
deck of particularly heinous combos.

So with that in mind, here’s how the deck has shaken out as a first pass:

Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 04-24-2015

Commander

Creatures (17)

Planeswalkers (2)

Lands (39)

I tried to go easy on the non-basics to try and keep the Swamp count high, but cards like Thawing Glaciers and Myriad Landscape should help keep the Swamps
flowing. Thespian’s Stage can be something cool early in the game, but once you get a Cabal Coffers that can generate a bunch of mana, that’s a great time
to get a second copy online.

I thought Cavern of Souls might be helpful in punching Sidisi through counterspells, which might be especially helpful when you need to tutor up that
Sudden Spoiling to break up Deadeye Navigator shenanigans. Just call “Zombie” so you can use it for the handful of other Zombie spells.

So what do you think? How would you build a black control deck with Sidisi, Undead Vizier as your commander?

New to Commander?

If you’re just curious about the format, building your first deck, or trying to take your Commander deck up a notch, here are some handy links:

Commander Primer Part 1
(Why play Commander? Rules Overview, Picking your Commander)
Commander Primer Part 2
(Mana Requirements, Randomness, Card Advantage)
Commander Primer Part 3
(Power vs. Synergy, Griefing, Staples, Building a Doran Deck)
Commander Starter Kits 1
(kick start your allied two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 2
(kick start your enemy two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 3
(kick start your shard three-color decks for $25)