Sygg, Wanderwine WisdomSygg, Wanderwine Wisdom | Art by Justin Gerard

Fan favorite Merfolk Sygg returns in the upcoming set Lorwyn Eclipsed, as we revisit the much beloved plane in January. What better way to celebrate than by building a brand new Commander deck for him?

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's take a look at the freshwater ferryman that'll be leading our 99. As Lorwyn Eclipsed is set in a plane where the very nature of the world changes from day to night, Sygg has two faces which we can transform between to represent him in both Lorwyn and Shadowmoor.

On the front face, Wanderwine Wisdom, we have an unblockable 2/2 Merfolk Wizard that can't be blocked. Whenever Sygg enters or transforms back into his Wanderwine form, we can target any creature we control with a CuriosityCuriosity style effect. For the rest of the turn, if they hit an opponent or one of their planeswalkers in combat, we draw ourselves a card.

For this brand new set, transformation doesn't require us to meet any special conditions. Instead it's a repeatable paid ability that triggers at the start of every main phase. If we pay one we'll flip Sygg over to his Wanderbrine side.

Sygg's Shadow

Whenever Sygg flips into Sygg, Wanderbrine ShieldSygg, Wanderbrine Shield we get to suit up one of our creatures with protection from every color. That makes whatever creature we choose with our ability very difficult to interact with.

As Sygg's abilities are tied to his transformations, it can make him a little tricky to build around. Most transforming creatures will stay transformed once it's happened. But with this new flipping mechanic from Lorwyn Eclipsed, Sygg can technically flip back and once on every turn. It's similar to Day & Night from the most recent Innistrad sets, but in this case we have much more direct control over the process.

Making Sure We’re Equipped for Combat

As Sygg's rather strange ability seems to want us to make something de facto unblockable like himself and swing in for combat damage-tied card advantage, we should build a deck that wants to get stuck into combat. But as Sygg only targets a single creature with his ability, we really want to be focusing on a single attacker.

Luckily, with the protection that Sygg gives us, we'll be able to make sure that our chosen creature gets in for combat damage. What we now need to provide that creature is some buffs so that we can present lethal damage to our opponents, as well as a bevvy of combat damage triggers to make sure we get as much bang for our buck as we can from one big hit.

For that reason we're going for a sort of Voltron strategy in which we cram loads of buffs and triggers onto one single creature. And as Sygg will provide our creature with protection from all colors, we want those buffs to be colorless or else the protection will cause them to fall off.

That's why we're taking an Equipment focus with this build! And as Sygg's Shadowmoor self was a sort of swashbuckling sellsword, it makes sense that we'd suit up our swingers with an assortment of swords. Sibilance!

Sellsword Sells Swords

For those not aware, the Sword of X and Y cycle is a collection of ten Equipment cards, each one linked to one of the ten color pairs in Magic. They provide the bearer protection from both of those colors and give a +2/+2 buff. That's a pretty good benefit on its own for three mana, but what really makes them sing for our deck is the combat damage triggers they provide.

Whenever a creature deals combat damage to a player whilst equipped with one of these Swords, we get two triggers. One representing each of the two colors on the sword. The Sword of Feast and FamineSword of Feast and Famine, for example, gives us some hand hate against our opponent and allows us to untap all our lands, effectively doubling the resources we have access to each turn.

The Sword cycle is notoriously powerful, and for good reason. When you load up enough of them onto a creature you'll get a wild amount of value out of just one swing. Not to mention that combined they give a total +20 to your creature's power.

The plan is very simple: We go big, and then we bring it home! We present lethal combat damage attached to creatures that can't be blocked or interacted with.

So how do we make it work?

Finding Our Weapons

First up we'll need some card advantage. This plan is all well and good, but what if our swords are still sitting in our deck? Our attacks aren't going to look very impressive.

First of all, we can look to some basic card draw.

Sram, Senior EdificerSram, Senior Edificer and Puresteel PaladinPuresteel Paladin are classics for Equipment decks as they refill our hand whenever our Equipment enters the field. Shimmer DragonShimmer Dragon provides some repeatable, instant speed card draw by allowing us to tap two swords for a card. As Equipment doesn't do any tapping on its own, it's effectively free.

StarwinderStarwinder is a little more top end but will give us crazy card draw after a big swing - not to mention we can warp him in on the cheap on big turns. We can also take advantage of Equipment tutor effects like Stoneforge MysticStoneforge Mystic to root through our library for the swords we need.

Suiting Up

The key feature of Equipment cards is that they trade the Aura's one time use for a repeatable equip cost. But that equip cost can start to rack up once we've got enough Equipment on board. With effects like Brass SquireBrass Squire and Codsworth, Handy HelperCodsworth, Handy Helper we can circumvent the equip costs to keep prices down.

Cards like Danitha Capashen, ParagonDanitha Capashen, Paragon however will reduce costs over all. And the fantastic Forge AnewForge Anew will not only provide a one time discount but also allow us to equip our swords at instant speed. That turns them into repeatable protection effects against enemy spells when we need them.

Forge Anew also allows us to recur important Equipment from the graveyard when opponents inevitably try to remove our swords. We need to protect the things that are giving us protection, after all.

Redundancy for Sygg

Speaking of protection, it's worth noting that Sygg's effect is a little slow. We only get it once every other turn and we're forced to do it right at the start of our main phase. To make sure we have enough of a wall between us and our opponents' spells, we should plan some backups.

Luckily we're in white, which gives us a load of options - the premier color for keeping our warriors safe! Mother of RunesMother of Runes is a staple for this type of effect, giving us instant-speed protection from a single color.

Pippin, Guard of the CitadelPippin, Guard of the Citadel can also provide protection from the card type of our choice. Either something like instants to ignore interaction or just creatures to make us unblockable.

To get around the turns in which Sygg will transform back to his less exciting CuriosityCuriosity effect, we can take advantage of flickering! Using cards like EphemerateEphemerate we can have Sygg re-enter the battlefield in our upkeep to give his regular blue effect, then allowing us to transform him to his white side again for the protection.

With cards like ArchaeomancerArchaeomancer and Mnemonic WallMnemonic Wall that effect can become repeatable as we pick back up our flicker spells.

Finding the Right Attacker

The only piece left of the puzzle is to find a decent creature to connect with our opponents. For that we want to seek out slippery creatures with great evasive skills or ones that hit extra hard. Creatures like Geist of Saint TraftGeist of Saint Traft who's not only hexproof but rewards us with a free extra attacker with every swing.

Wraith, Vicious VigilanteWraith, Vicious Vigilante is unblockable even without protection effects, and she's also blessed with double strike, giving us double the damage and double the combat damage triggers from our swords!

The aforementioned Danitha has some great keywords, like lifelink to keep us kicking, and vigilance allowing us to save her as a blocker for our opponents' turns. Ayesha Tanaka, ArmorerAyesha Tanaka, Armorer however will find us artifacts from the top of our deck.

A List to Start With

With all those elements combined you could have yourself a pretty powerful Equipment-focused deck. Just be sure to brush up on the rules for protection! As it's a symmetrical effect you can put yourself in some sticky situations in you're not careful.

For example, when Sygg gives multicolored protection to your creature, make sure it doesn't already have protection from white! Otherwise you won't be able to target it.

I've put together a list below that provides a look at how a deck like this might be constructed. Feel free to either put it together yourself or use it as a basis to build up your own Sygg list. Are you excited to play with this brand new version of a classic character? Let me know in the comments below how you're planning to build him!

Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom Commander Deck List

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