Sidisi’s Sibsig Ceremony: a toolbox secret commander budget deck
https://archidekt.com/decks/12014886/sidisis\_sibsig\_ceremony
Like many others, when I first saw the spoiler for [[the sibsig ceremony]], I knew I had to make a deck for it. It’s such an interesting card design which we don’t see much of in most sets, and I love that it instantly makes you think about ways to max out its potential. After a great deal of playtesting and editing, I’m proud to show off a budget friendly secret commander deck which is incredibly fun to play.
For my commander, I decided to go with [[sidisi undead vizier]]. I thought that mono black would be a fun restriction, I wanted a tutor in the command zone so I didn’t have to find other ways to get the ceremony, and I thought she was very thematic. Plus, if you get the ceremony through other means, there’s plenty of other stuff you’ll want to tutor for later.
The game plan for this deck usually follows this path. Turns 1-4, you’ll be playing some cheaper enchantments, creatures, and ramp. Turn 4 or 5, you’ll exploit a creature and tutor for the Ceremony. Then you’ll play it and try to just get out as much value as you can off of creatures etbs/ltbs.
My favorite thing about this deck is that there are 3 different ways this deck can win. The first option is zombies. Play whatever creature you want, make a lot of zombies, play an enchantment which buffs them and go wide. If you get [[gravecrawler]], it turns into “pay 1 black, get 2/2” which is just really fun value. Next is theft/reanimate. With cards like [[afterlife from the loam]] [[sepulchral primordial]] and living death, you can just cover the board in strong bodies punch through. Finally there’s drain. This can come through aristocrat effects like [[bastion of remembrance]] or creatures with etb effects. The absolute goat of this section, and this deck entirely, is [[gray merchant of asphodel]]. This card is responsible for 75 percent of my wins, instantly bringing everyone down and giving you so much life. Worst part about him is that in comparison, nothing else feels as good to cast.
Because of its nature of being a secret commander, the Ceremony is definitely vulnerable to removal. It’s a little harder because it’s an enchantment, but you should still be prepared. To mitigate this, the best thing to do is just have a few turns so explosive that you go from zero threat to maximum, and if they remove the Ceremony it’s too late. Bargaining is another option, cuz come on, that doubling season over there looks way more threatening, doesn’t it? If all else fails, there’s a few quite bad recursion options, such as [[skull of orm]] but often you’ll just want to adjust your game plan on the fly.
A core part of this deck is knowing what to tutor for/what the best cards in your deck are. Like I mentioned earlier, Gary is probably one of the best picks. Gravecrawler is probably next, and then some form of recursion. [[oversold cemetery]] is super cheap and easy, and [[grave venerations]] does a bit of everything, with card draw and drain as well. Removal options are almost all tacked onto creatures, with cards like [[lamentation]] for spot, and [[massacre girl]] for mass. The biggest risk is that you really can’t respond at instant speed.
This deck sits at a nice high bracket 2 to 3, but can definitely be upgraded more. Better lands are a no brainer, urbog+coffers, and MDFCs would definitely help. More rituals to get out your commander early would be good as well, but balancing them and other cards is a little too finicky for my taste. A lot of the game changers would be good, especially necropotence. [[grave pact]] is great if you want no friends, since every creature you play is removal. [[massacre worm]] and both meathook massacres would also be nice. Finally, if you’re fine spending two hundred dollars, [[xiahou dun, the one eyed]] is the best enchantment recursion available, but I’d suggest just proxying him.
A final note, pricing is hard to tell, since I made this with a lot of cards I already owned, but you can definitely do it for under a hundred dollars. Few nonbasic lands and not many cards over 2 dollars really helps keep it cheap. Hope you enjoy the deck or are inspired to make your own version!