Spider Spawning with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:
I think I discovered this deck summer/fall of 2017. Prophet of Kruphix was already banned and I definitely had to replace some of the pricey lands and some cards I didn't have. I think I may have initially put in Seedborn Muse but that wasn't terribly good without flash and the slot later became Splendid Reclamation since I wanted to see how well that did (still haven't cast it in this deck yet).
My initial changes revolved around replacing stuff I didn't have or couldn't run, mostly: Prophet of Kruphix, Craterhoof Behemoth, Ancient Ziggurat, Gaea's Cradle, Tropical Island, Bayou, Rupture Spire, and Underground Sea. I ended up choosing these replacements at the time, more or less: Splendid Reclamation, Dragon Throne of Tarkir (might still get a Craterhoof some day), Exotic Orchard, Forest, Yavimaya Coast, Misty Rainforest, Island, Sunken Hollow.If you listen to BDM talk about the deck (Command Zone May 2015; Commanderin' January 2019), it's premise is that Spider Spawning is the central card — as if it would be the commander of the deck if you could have a sorcery be the commander. I really like how this deck "goes with the flow" and manages to do something productive with almost anything you end up with in your hand, and almost no tutoring or recursion. I have indeed won with spiders a couple times, but it's also fun to just make a ton of giant squirrels.
As time has gone on, I've made a few changes to experiment with new cards of replace ones I didn't like. Genesis Hydra just never did it for me and I think eventually became a testing slot in which Journey to Eternity currently sits, having not used it yet. Joraga Treespeaker hit the field a couple times but I never leveled it, so when Stitcher's Supplier came out it seemed like a really nice 1-drop for the self-milling side. Jungle Weaver similarly did not spark joy, but Muldrotha, the Gravetide seems pretty awesome.
Underrealm Lich is currently being tested in place of Sultai Soothsayer, but there really isn't any card draw in this deck to take advantage of him. That one might end up switched back but time will tell.
The deck does have some possible weaknesses in the lack of removal or counters, possibility of graveyard getting exiled, etc. But the principle of it seems to be "keep on trucking; don't look back" and it does that pretty well if you're not emptying your hand. I may even cut back on the recursion pieces to maintain that more.
I've considered using Body Double as a form of 'recursion' for a handy creature that happened to die or be milled. This is also sortof a toolbox deck, so Prime Speaker Vannifar could be a useful value piece since the curve is pretty full — I'll need to examine what 'upgrades' are possible and if there are enough to merit more curiosity (if I were to pursue combo with her I would just build a Vannifar deck). Havengul Lich had crossed my mind, but at that point I also start getting into theft, which I don't want to do with this deck because I do it plenty in other decks. I could probably use a bit of flying.
Some deck philosophy points regarding feedback and future changes —
- I'd like to maintain this in a 75% power level, if it already is (it may be a bit beyond that?).
- Remember — I have to, too — that this deck is about being resilient and really wants to try to win with lots of spider/insect tokens, preferably made with Spider Spawning.
Update - 2019-04-17
Having listened to the newer podcast and seen some updates to his deck, I feel like I grok the premise of the deck better. As opposed to (or, in addition to?) some of the cards I'd mentioned before, I'll be considering some of these:
Having listened to the newer podcast and seen some updates to his deck, I feel like I grok the premise of the deck better. As opposed to (or, in addition to?) some of the cards I'd mentioned before, I'll be considering some of these:
- Kraul Foragers as redundancy for Gnaw to the Bone.
- Glowspore Shaman and Molderhulk BDM talked about, but these are part of his plan to recover Gaea's Cradle, which I don't own, so I might rather run World Shaper as redundancy for Splendid Reclamation.
- Quiet Speculation as a tutor since Vampiric Tutor is in another deck at the moment. Currently using Long-Term Plans and Mystical Tutor, where I think he stopped running Mystical (maybe due to the reveal).
- Possibly some other spider stuff: Hatchery Spider, Ishkanah, Grafwidow, Izoni, Thousand-Eyed (especially Izoni).
- Also possibly Path of Discovery and Krosan Restorer.