Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Shanna, Sisay’s Legacy!

Shanna is a two mana 0/0 that can’t be targeted by abilities your opponents control and gets +1/+1 for each creature you control.

Shanna has some minor in built protection against abilities and benefits from you going wide. Now interestingly we can make a use of both going wide and by going tall simultaneously with Shanna.

So the game plan is for us to mix a Voltron strategy with a go wide back up strategy.

The first thing that we need to consider are creatures that make creatures when they enter the battlefield.

While Guarded Heir is a higher mana cost, the fact that it makes two 3/3 Knight tokens is not something to overlook, especially for the late game.

Geist-Honored Monk is also a creature that benefits from controlling a lot of creatures, but also makes two 1/1 Spirit tokens that have flying, and if we combine that with a creature like Torens, Fist of the Angels which makes a 1/1 Human Soldier with training whenever we cast a creature spell then we get even more creatures in play.

There is also King Darien XLVIII which is a lord that gives all of our creatures a +1/+1, can put counters on itself while also making a token, and gives all of our creature tokens hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

We can also make use of Maja, Bretagard Protector which is also a lord, but makes a 1/1 Human Warrior token as a Landfall ability, which we can make do if we play even a couple of ramp spells.

If we manage to get a ton of tokens then Jaheira, Friend of the Forest can make them all mana dorks so we can cast bigger spells, Arasta of the Endless Web makes Spider tokens whenever our opponents cast instant or sorcery spells, and Emmara, Soul of the Accord creates a 1/1 Soldier whenever she becomes tapped.

Our noncreature spells should also make use of the fact that we have a lot of creatures, especially if they have an additional utility.

Sundering Growth is and example that not only allows us to destroy an artifact or enchantment, but also allows us to populate, which means that we can make an additional creature token to make Shanna bigger.

Rootborn Defenses is a way we can protect our creature by giving them indestructible while having first populated, March of the Multitudes is a Convoke spell that makes X 1/1 Soldier tokens with lifelink, Druid’s Deliverance is a fog that also populates, Fungal Sprouting which makes X 1/1 Saproling tokens where X is the greatest power among creatures we control, and Charge of the Mites is a modal punch spell or makes two 1/1 Phyrexian Mites with toxic 1.

There are also spells like Camaraderie which gains us X life and draws us X cards where X is the number of creatures we control while also giving all creatures we control +1/+1.

If we manage to buff our creatures then we can also play Shamanic Revelation, which not only draws us a card for each creature we control, but gains us 4 life for each creature we control with power 4 or greater, which can help us either stabilize or put us ahead against more aggressive decks.

As for how we close the game, there are a couple of paths we can take with that.

If we manage to get a huge number of creatures onto the battlefield then we can cast Overwhelming Stampede to give our creatures +X/+X and trample where X is the greatest power among creatures we control, which if we have even a decent sized Shanna then it can be more effective than a Craterhoof Behemoth, which this deck can also use if you have access to one.

There is also Overrun as the classic option, Triumph of the Hordes as a way to get surprise poison wins against players with extremely high life totals, and Rishkar’s Expertise to draw a bunch of cards and cast any spell with mana value 5 or lower for free.

We can also go the route where Shanna is the primary damage dealer and we win via Commander Damage, through things like All That Glitters which makes Shanna bigger and pair it with something like Rancor which gives Shanna trample and comes back to our hand if Shanna is destroyed.

Sigil of the Nayan Gods is also something to look at for an effect that makes Shanna bigger by the number of creatures you control while also having Cycling for either a white or a green mana.

Pollenbright Wings would give Shanna flying whole also giving us 1/1 Saproling tokens whenever she deals combat damage to a player which is equal to the amount of combat damage done, which makes Shanna even bigger and gives us more creatures we can use.

Shanna is a Commander that allows us a little bit of flexibility despite the simple abilities. With the intent of the deck going wide, we can also make use of Shanna getting bigger the wider we go, which allows us to go for a Voltron strategy as well. While her protection is only against abilities, it isn’t nothing which is more than can be said of some other combat based Commanders.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual