“Behold the glory of a new sun!”
Art:Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance
by Cynthia Sheppard
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Saheeli is a fun CEDH commander that has taken a little longer than I expected to start seeing some CEDH play; Saheeli’s ability naturally lends itself to be pretty strong in CEDH, whether we use it for combos or just to copy creatures or mana rocks it’s extremely strong. While we are in Izzet and don’t have access to some of the best tutors in the format, this deck is still strong and an absolute blast to pilot. I have been on quite the kick-in Izzet within CEDH these past couple of weeks, and I have been having a ton of fun with it. While we are not as quick as the fastest decks in the format, we have enough counterspells that we can stop them, and we have a pretty decent matchup against a lot of the best decks in the format. I am very excited to showcase this one today; without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance Combo Pile!
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Why Saheeli, The Sun’s Brilliance?
Saheeli is a pretty big part of our deck and, thus is quite the removal magnet from our opponents. Luckily, we have quite a few ways to protect Saheeli. Saheeli naturally has some combo implications, especially with cards like Timestream Navigator
. While this is a great way to get infinite turns, we can also get a ton of value out of Saheeli through conventional means like simply copying a mana rock for additional mana or copying a strong ETB creature like Spellstutter Sprite
or Dockside Extortionist
. Saheeli is just a great commander for the deck.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck! The infinite combos and loops in the deck are listed below in the “Main Win Conditions” Section.
Creatures:
Aether Channeler
is one of my favorite creatures in the deck to copy with Saheeli since we get to bounce a non-land permanent opponent, which is strong against pretty much any strategy in CEDH. Ghostly Pilferer
, Faerie Mastermind
, and Ledger Shredder
are all great ways to draw cards off of common things that our opponents do. Imperial Recruiter
and Spellseeker
are strong tutors that only get better when we keep copying them with Saheeli’s ability and begin tutoring an absolute ton. They are just a great pair for the deck that helps us find combo pieces. If we are against another deck that relies heavily on their commander, we can use Gilded Drake
to steal them and bring them over to our side. Gilded Drake is a format staple for a reason, and this card is extremely good. Some Saheeli decks don’t run Quicksmith Genius
, but I think it is very strong and an amazing source of card draw for the deck and allows us to get to our combos quicker.
Planeswalkers:
Dack Fayden
is a very interesting card, but since we are in Izzet we need every little piece of advantage that we can get; I love Dack in this deck because he can come down very early provide some nice card draw and most importantly steal an artifact from an opponent, I absolutely love stealing Mana Crypt
and Mana Vault
s with Dack and it is great, I tested over twenty games and have never even come close to ult-ing Dack, but it is certainly not a bad ult. Narset, Parter of Veils
slows down many decks within the format and can just be a strong nuisance for our opponents and not affect us at all. Narset also provides us with a decent amount of card selection, which allows us to find combo pieces or protection pieces more easily.
Instants:
We have an absolute ton of counterspells, which are all great ways to protect ourselves and stop our opponents from comboing off. I really like Mindbreak Trap
in the deck, which is a great way to hose any of the storm-based strategies or just decks that love cantripping and casting a ton. Since Saheeli is quite cheap and we try to have her on the board as much as possible, we get a ton of value out of Fierce Guardianship
and Deflecting Swat
, which are both great spells that are free and can protect us. We also have a couple of other free counters like Pact of Negation
, Mental Misstep
, and Force of Will
which are great ways to stop opponents even when we have no resources, having this flexibility allows us to be quite strong even on turns where we exhausted our resources. Muddle the Mixture
is a counterspell that we pretty much just transmute to grab Isochron Scepter
when we are ready to combo off with Dramatic Reversal
.
Sorceries:
Gamble
is an example of a not-that-great Izzet tutor; luckily, it’s not too devastating if we discard a card, but if we have a hand with combo pieces, Gamble can be a dead draw. Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass
is a great way to deal with commanders and creatures from our opponents, and since we typically have a lot of mana, we can kill almost anything. Transmute Artifact
is really nothing more than a card that we use to grab Isochron Scepter, but we can grab better rocks as needed.
Artifacts:
We have a ton of strong mana rocks like Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Mox Diamond
, as well as a ton of others that are quite strong. Coveted Jewel
is a great card for the deck, and we can copy it and get a ton of supplemental card draw and get some strong mana; while we do give it to our opponents, we get to copy it so we get the cards, just a great mana source for the deck. Memory Jar
is pretty busted and is a great source of card draw for us and a card I love to use with Narset on the field, even without her resetting opponent’s hands, and gameplans can be pretty strong as well. Most of our artifact package focuses on rocks and these are all great to copy with Saheeli.
Enchantments:
Underworld Breach
is nothing more than a combo piece for the deck. Do your best to protect this from cards like Praetor's Grasp
as much as you can, and never play this until it’s time to combo off. We absolutely had to include both Mystic Remora
and Rhystic Study
, which are amazing card draw engines and can help change the game on their own.
Land Base:
We are only a two-color deck, but speed is the most important aspect of our landbase, so we, of course, have all the best duals from Volcanic Island
to Steam Vents
which give us some nice speed. I also really like Fiery Islet
which can be a great source of supplemental card draw if we need it. Minamo, School at Water's Edge
is arguably one of the most important lands in our deck since we can get a reactivation of Saheeli on the same turn, which is wonderful for the deck. There isn’t a ton to say about our landbase, and we are quite quick and almost always have our colors established very quickly; this is of course, greatly helped by our mana rocks, which are great sources of mana as well.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are quite adaptive with our combos and can go off and end the game in many ways.
- Our commander has combo implications but also is quite strong in non-combo ways like copying a mana rock for a turn and getting extra mana or copying a creature.
- We have quite a bit of interaction within the deck, allowing us to protect ourselves when we combo off and stop our opponents from comboing off.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Izzet does not have a ton of great tutor options, while we do have some strong ones like Imperial Recruiter
and Spellseeker, but we don’t have really any cards that are on par with Demonic Tutor. - We can be pretty weak to Collector Ouphe or Null Rod because we rely heavily on supplemental mana from our mana rocks.
- We can be fast depending on our hand but are certainly not as quick as some of the fastest in the format; because of this, we need to be quite aggressive with our mulligans. A strong six is way better than an ok seven.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
This is CEDH, so of course, we have multiple ways to end the game through our infinite combos. We are a highly adaptive combo deck with a ton of different lines and ways to go off. Below are all of the combos in the deck explained:
Requires:
Dualcaster Mage must be in hand. Twinflame must be in hand. At least one creature on the battlefield. Mana needed: 2RRR
Steps:
- Cast Twinflame by paying 1R.
- Holding priority, cast Dualcaster Mage by paying 1RR.
- Dualcaster Mage enters the battlefield, copying Twinflame.
- Resolve the Twinflame copy, creating a token copy of Dualcaster Mage.
- Repeat from step 3.
Results:
Infinite creature tokens with haste. Infinite ETB. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Dualcaster Mage
+ Heat Shimmer
Requires:
Dualcaster Mage must be in hand. Heat Shimmer must be in hand. You control at least one creature. Mana needed: 3RRR
Steps:
- Cast Heat Shimmer by paying 2R.
- Holding priority, cast Dualcaster Mage by paying 1RR.
- Dualcaster Mage enters the battlefield, copying Heat Shimmer.
- Resolve the copied Heat Shimmer, creating a token copy of Dualcaster Mage.
- Repeat from step 3.
Results:
Infinite creature tokens with haste. Infinite ETB. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond
+ Wheel of Fortune
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Lion’s Eye Diamond must be on the battlefield. Wheel of Fortune must be in the graveyard. You have at least six other cards in hand and/or graveyard.
Steps:
- Activate Lion’s Eye Diamond by discarding your hand and sacrificing it, adding RRR.
- Cast Wheel of Fortune from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling 3 cards from your graveyard.
- Resolve Wheel of Fortune, causing each player to discard their hand and draw seven cards.
- Cast Lion’s Eye Diamond from your graveyard for its escape cost by exiling 3 cards from your graveyard.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers. Infinite looting. Infinite looting for opponents. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach + Jeska's Will
+ Wheel of Fortune
Requires
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Wheel of Fortune must be in the graveyard. Jeska’s Will must be in the graveyard. You have at least six additional cards in your graveyard, plus an additional six cards between your hand and/or graveyard. An opponent has at least six cards in hand. Mana needed: 2R
Steps:
- Cast Jeska’s Will from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard, adding at least six R.
- Cast Wheel of Fortune from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard, causing each player to discard their hand and draw seven cards.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers for all players. Infinite looting for all players. Near-infinite magecraft triggers. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Brain Freeze
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Lion’s Eye Diamond must be on the battlefield. Brain Freeze must be in the graveyard. You have at least six other cards in hand and/or graveyard.
Steps:
- Activate Lion’s Eye Diamond by discarding your hand and sacrificing it, adding UUU.
- Cast Lion’s Eye Diamond from your graveyard for its escape cost by exiling three cards besides Brain Freeze from your graveyard.
- Cast Brain Freeze from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 1U and exiling three cards from your graveyard.
- Brain Freeze’s storm ability triggers, creating at least one copy of Brain Freeze targeting yourself, and any remaining copies targeting an opponent.
- Resolve each Brain Freeze, causing yourself to mill six cards and, if applicable, an opponent to mill three cards for each Brain Freeze remaining.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite self-mill. Near-infinite colored mana. Near-infinite magecraft triggers. Near-infinite mill. Near-infinite storm count.
Unctus, Grand Metatect
+ Aphetto Alchemist
Requires:
Unctus, Grand Metatect must be on the battlefield. Aphetto Alchemist must be on the battlefield. Aphetto Alchemist does not have summoning sickness.
Steps:
- Activate Aphetto Alchemist by tapping it, targeting itself.
- Aphetto Alchemist triggers, causing you to loot.
- Resolve the Aphetto Alchemist trigger, untapping it.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers. Infinite looting. Infinite self-discard triggers.
Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance + Timestream Navigator
Requires:
Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance must be on the battlefield. Timestream Navigator must be on the battlefield. You have the city’s blessing. Mana needed: 2UUUR each turn
Steps:
- Activate Saheeli by paying UR and tapping it, creating a token copy of Timestream Navigator with haste.
- Activate the Timestream Navigator token by paying 2UU, tapping it and putting it on the bottom of your library from the battlefield, causing you to take an extra turn after this one.
- Repeat each turn.
Results:
Infinite turns.
Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter
Requires:
Dramatic Reversal must be in exile (exiled by Isochron Scepter). Isochron Scepter must be on the battlefield. Nonland permanents you control can tap to produce at least 3.
Steps:
- Activate all mana-producing nonland permanents you control by tapping them, adding at least 3.
- Activate Isochron Scepter by paying 2 and tapping it, casting a copy of Dramatic Reversal without paying it’s mana cost.
- Resolve Dramatic Reversal, untapping all nonland permanents you control.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite magecraft triggers. Infinite mana nonland permanents you control can produce. Infinite storm count. Infinite untap of nonland permanents you control.
Conclusion:
I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did. Saheeli is a very fun commander and powerhouse, and it is just really fun to play. I love having non-traditional and different commanders within CEDH because it helps diversify the format and debunk the claims that many make that all CEDH tables just feature a few select commanders. As someone who loves different stuff and is just interested in CEDH commanders, I have been having an absolute ton of fun with this one.