Pointed Discussion

Not sure how to think about this card, since it somewhat invalidates Karn as a commander. I like the effect combinations, but still, it's quite irksome.

I wouldn't say it completely replaces Karn, as it's much easier to ramp in colorless decks than it is in esper, because you can play all the mana rocks and never worry about color fixing.

That being said, this general is still insane. I wished Wizards would've printed an esper general that didn't draw all the hate in the game, besides Dakkon Blackblade.

Mycosynth lattice: blow up ALL the lands (your opponents control).

March of the Machines was the first thing that popped in my mind. Then I thought of all the Shards of Alara Esper rares (Sharding Sphinx, Salvage Titan, Ethersworn Canonist)

Before everyone gets bright ideas with Akroma's Memorial; remember that among other things, that card grants protection from red and... black. Having a Memorial on the field prevents Sydri from using her second ability on creatures you control.

That being said... a 7/7 with the Akroma suite is pretty neat stuff.

Combos with Salvaging Station, Seat of the Synod, and Disciple of the Vault or Leonin elder.

Also with, Caltrops, her first ability then in conjunction with her second can create an instant speed killer that your opponents never guessed that just so happens to give you life.

That aside, they said they would never reprint Karn, Silver Golem, wizards sure is cheeky

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science!" — Agatha Heterodyne

Arcum Dagsson: Sydri, my dear, I hope you don't mind but I traded in your old, animated Heavy Mattock for a Darksteel Forge! Happy birthday!

They should have not allowed this to animate opposing artifacts. As is, it kind of craps on Karn. It's not strictly better, but for EDH, I think this will most likely be better as the commander.

I had an odd moment when this was spoiled: should I switch up my Karn deck? or maybe my Arcum deck? or maybe just make a new deck just for her??? Eventually I just decided to do nothing and was much happier...

The appeal of this over Karn? An excuse to run with Rod of Ruin. Not a good one, but you could get away with it well enough to troll people a bit!

1.put training grounds on the field.

2.animate your basalt monolith.

You now have a 3/3 vigilant giant stone pillar generating infinite colorless mana.

3.In comes mycosynth lattice, marath, doubling season, whatever else (somehow).

Proceed to terminate your opponents by bashing them with your giant stick, slowly tapping and untapping them to death (well, marath burns them, but picture the pillar doing the job).

I now dream of the day that her long lost sister Hanna, Ship's Navigator, gets reprinted with the Terese Nielsen art from Duels of the Planeswalkers.

This does not invalidate Karn, Silver Golem as a commander, because Karn still provides the interesting deck conundrum of building a deck with only nonbasic lands that produce colorless mana (at least until WotC design's Barry's Land). And since such a colorless deck asks for almost all artifacts, I would rather push a theme under Karn than have just a random goodstuff deck with an Eldrazi legend. Sydri doesn't provide that interesting aspect.

At first I didn't like this card, because Sharuum the Hegemon already existed and is quite popular. Although if I were to create an Esper artifact deck, it wouldn't be a combo deck, so Sydri probably provides a good alternative that might tell your opponents that you aren't about to combo them out. At least until a bunch of players build combo decks with her and ruin her reputation too.

A lot of people are just saying combos with non-creature artifacts, but she works just fine with artifact creatures

For Example
Sydri, Galvanic Genius + Volatile Rig = 50% chance of a board wipe while gaining 4 life for each other player and each creature on the battlefield.

My opinions of the 2013 Commanders were informed only by theory, not practice, until as of a couple hours ago.

Sydri and Oloro in my opinion are interchangeable in the Esper Artifact deck. That deck mainly wants one thing to happen and one thing only:

For Life points to be gained to trigger Stuff happening. This my opponent was able to do just fine, and Cradle of Vitality is one of the most dangerous cards in the deck when it goes up against any deck that tries to be just as/or more Tricky & Political than just Outright Violent.


I don't think Prossh or the Shatterbang Goblins would have had any of the problems my Nekusar Deck had against Sydri, but despite being in the most Control and Creature-less Friendly color combinations, this deck can probably play one of the most Badass Threats in any of the 5 Precons if you don't edit them:

Sphinx of the Steel Wind. There's not a lot that most of the other decks can do to *really* interact with Steel Wind, besides hope they draw one of their more narrow (by that I mean Special) Removal spells, or a Board Wipe....but the kind of mana you need to get those spells 'open' is a little hard to achieve in 1v1, and if the opponent summons Steel Wind relatively quickly (before 12th Turn) you're probably pretty much just done. Also, adding Swiftboot Boots to it is a breach of the social contract, lol. Just kidding.

But no, for real, I think the Esper Deck is the best, because I observed that it mattered very little to have a plan or to do something complicated, since the cards synergized Very Well with each other, much better than I was able to get my deck to synergize with Nekusar. Of course, postgame Editing can easily make any general you want into a Super Powerhouse, but I thought it was worth mentioning what a straight-out-of-the-box game went like.


Do any of you think the other decks have a more powerful Battle Plan than Sphinx Beatdown?

Also, the Bant Deck might have a decent game against Sphinx, because the Protection from Green matters a little less against it than the Protection from Red does against Grixis.

Either Grixis or Bant are the only decks I would say could be put up against Steel Wind.

Thraximundar can try Racing and having the advantage of being in the Command Zone instead of needing to be drawn, and the Bant deck's White Spells are useful at getting rid of Artifacts. Nekusar dies so hard to Artifacts that Gain Life though lol it's pathetic and sad. :( I DID have the Crosis Charm an Grixis Charm but there were too many targets and not enough answers in my hand.

Finally a way to get rid of Darksteel Citadel. Well, one you don't control, of course. :3

Interestingly, you don't need much artifact-removal in her deck. What you can do is turn their artifacts into creatures, and then play a Boardwipe/kill spell. By any chance, did you know Go For the Throat is a bad card for this deck? huh...

She enforces a defence style which is reactive rather than proactive, similar to someone like Ertai, Wizard Adept. The question she poses is: "Is it okay to do this?". You'll most likely have many artifacts on the field, and even a 1-cost artifact (eg: Elixir of Immortality) can kill even the biggest creatures.

generals have always been tricky (Sharuum, Sen Triplets, Zur the Enchanter), and Sydri's no exception.

Second ability is okay but not many people will use her for it. Think:

t3 Sydri
t4 Voltaic Construct
t5 Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith/Thran Dynamo/Gilded Lotus turn them into a creature, get infinite mana, kill everyone with Razor Boomerang.

She also happens to have pretty much every card that can search for an artifact in her colors (Demonic Tutors in black, Fabricates and Tinkers in blue, transmuters in both of them, Enlightened Tutor in white...)

I love a commander that only costs {W}{U}{B} that also turns all my dudes into minature Wurmcoil Engines for only {W}{U}{B}.

Interestingly can be used to animate a Skullclamp...allowing you to equip a Skullclamp...with a Skullclamp.

It makes me sad that this will likely never occur in EDH due to the deck construction rules.... I guess it could happen if you somehow cast Magnetic Theft.

Hermione?!

She kills anybody with her trusty staff of nin.

GLEEMAX TO THE RESCUE

Two cards I've really enjoyed using in my Sydri EDH deck are the Spine of Ish Sah and the Colossus of Akros.

As far as Spine of Ish Sah goes, it can be transmuted into a decent beater, and if it dies you can just cast it again, destroying permanents every time.

And I don't know how much needs to be said about Colossus of Akros. 20/20 Indestructible Trample Deathtouch Lifelink? The timmy in me leaps for joy.

Karn trained her?

Gorgeous artwork. Fun card mechanics.
Nine thumbs up.

*Sigh* Another card that completely hoses my Supercat deck (by turning my equipment into creatures to unnatach them before my upkeep). And it's being marketed specifically toward Commander players.

We'll just put this in the pile (alongside Karn, Silver Golem, Tower of the Magistrate, Null Rod, and Stony Silence) of reasons why you shouldn't build your deck entirely around one extremely narrow theme of a giant cat carrying every weapon ever and charging into battle with an army of kittens in tow.

Arcum Dagsson gives Sydri a bit of a ladyboner in EDH.

A commander that animates artifacts and isn't Karn! Gets my vote.

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Use with Liquimetal Coating, and then on turn four, you can start destroying your opponents lands...

@SerGarlan: Well, looks like your wish was granted...