- I like the direction you're going with regarding the static abilities from the planeswalkers from WAR. Really an interesting idea.
- Pump Sisay is certainly one of the things I'm grappling with regarding her as a general. Yes you can pump her from other things, but are they just narrowly being used to pump her? That would be wasteful, imo. So you have to structure the deck for those cards to be relevant in other areas.
- As for the flash and other answers, again I like this idea but I think it might be drifting too far from the superfriends theme. You only have 99 cards, so you really have to balance out how you want to approach superfriends. What you're suggesting sounds more like a deck that is built around Sisay and includes some plnaeswalkers. I would be interested in taking a look, because it does sound pretty interesting. Less of superfriends, more of a legends-matter deck. Which honestly doesn't sound bad, something I may consider myself.
- Flash I think overall doesn't work the greatest for planeswalkers, for the exact reason you pointed out.
The thing about the Flash idea is that I'd want to have something to do with that mana if I don't tutor a Planeswalker. Holding up WUBRG "just in case" an opponent does something that needs countering via Planeswalker tutoring is wasteful unless there's something else that could be done with that mana. I suppose you could just tutor in any Planeswalker appropriate to the game state, even if it wasn't one of the War of the Spark ones, but you're not getting the best use out of them then.
Perhaps Legends Matter would be a better use rather than Superfriends, but I just really want to try and make Superfriends work with her.
I've been planning a Superfriends deck for years, but never gotten around to actually building it. The plan was always to use Sliver Queen as the Commander as she could pump out token blockers to help protect my Planeswalkers (as espoused in the primer, here), as well as possibly get infinite mana off of Mana Echoes. I never really liked the idea all that much as she didn't seem to synergize all that well with Planeswalkers (other than producing blockers) but I couldn't really see a better alternative.
With Sliver Queen having jumped in price recently, I'm tempted to sell my copy off and change the deck's Commander to someone else. With the recent spoiler, I looked at Sisay, Weatherlight Captain and wondered if she could be used as a decent Superfriends Commander in place of Sliver Queen. Looking here, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who's given thought to that.
My main thought of why Sisay could be good in this role is that she could be used to tutor to the battlefield one of the War of the Spark Planeswalkers with a static effect in response to an opponent casting a particular spell or using a particular ability in order to counter it. Specifically:
The Wanderer in response to damage-based removal spells, and,
Tibalt, Rakish Instigator in response to massive lifegain effects (though it has since been pointed out to me that Erebos, God of the Dead potentially does this better, Tibalt is cheaper (and, thus, easier to tutor) as well as produces token blockers for all Planeswalkers).
As has already been pointed out in the discussion in preceding posts here, the deck would need to have ways to pump up Sisay's power, and I think you'd need to include ways beyond just having Legendary permanents to do so. Perhaps it might be worth revisiting looking at some Planeswalkers that pump power, particularly all of the Ajanis that give +1/+1 counters as well as those that otherwise boost power and/or looking at non-Planeswalker ways to boost her power (Day of Destiny is both tutorable as well as a decent pump, for example).
Additionally, I feel that Sisay helps out a lot because she could tutor a non-Planeswalker Legendary permanent to the battlefield that could deal with The Immortal Sun which would otherwise shut down a Superfriends deck (especially those that rely on their Planeswalkers for their Naturalise effects). Things like Joven, Legacy Weapon, Mangara of Corondor, and/or Zacama, Primal Calamity could all work.
Is it also worth looking into being able to Flash in spells? If you're going to take a bit more of a reactive role at times (what with wanting to leave mana up in order to respond to opponents casting spells by tutoring the appropriate counter-Planeswalker from your deck) then you're going to not want to waste that mana. Though you don't get the best use out of Planeswalkers in this way (unless you have Teferi, Temporal Archmage's emblem in play), being able to react accordingly and, if you don't need to, still use your mana seems like a good plan. Alchemist's Refuge, Emergence Zone, Leyline of Anticipation, Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage, and Vedalken Orrery could all help with this. Seedborn Muse could also do a lot of good work here, allowing you to tutor stuff on each of your opponents' turns if you wanted to.
Does anyone have any further thoughts on my ideas? I'm looking to brew a deck up, but am having a difficult time getting a firm grip on what I need to include in it.
I think that having cards solely to pump Sisay is wasteful, just as you say. However, cards that both pump Sisay as well as an army of tokens generated by your Planeswalkers serve double duty. There are some really cheap Anthem effects out there, including Flowstone Surge (more for Sisay than for 1 Toughness tokens, admittedly), Gaea's Anthem, Glorious Anthem, and Spear of Heliod. More expensive ones like Marshal's Anthem and Mirari's Wake could also do well, too. You could also focus on Soldier tokens (as created by several Elspeth Planeswalkers), and go for Soldier tribal anthem effects like Shared Triumph, Etchings of the Chosen, and/or Radiant Destiny. Alternatively, go by colour and use Crusade, Honor of the Pure, Divine Sacrament, and/or Hall of Triumph.
The thing about the Flash idea is that I'd want to have something to do with that mana if I don't tutor a Planeswalker. Holding up WUBRG "just in case" an opponent does something that needs countering via Planeswalker tutoring is wasteful unless there's something else that could be done with that mana. I suppose you could just tutor in any Planeswalker appropriate to the game state, even if it wasn't one of the War of the Spark ones, but you're not getting the best use out of them then.
Perhaps Legends Matter would be a better use rather than Superfriends, but I just really want to try and make Superfriends work with her.
I've been planning a Superfriends deck for years, but never gotten around to actually building it. The plan was always to use Sliver Queen as the Commander as she could pump out token blockers to help protect my Planeswalkers (as espoused in the primer, here), as well as possibly get infinite mana off of Mana Echoes. I never really liked the idea all that much as she didn't seem to synergize all that well with Planeswalkers (other than producing blockers) but I couldn't really see a better alternative.
With Sliver Queen having jumped in price recently, I'm tempted to sell my copy off and change the deck's Commander to someone else. With the recent spoiler, I looked at Sisay, Weatherlight Captain and wondered if she could be used as a decent Superfriends Commander in place of Sliver Queen. Looking here, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who's given thought to that.
My main thought of why Sisay could be good in this role is that she could be used to tutor to the battlefield one of the War of the Spark Planeswalkers with a static effect in response to an opponent casting a particular spell or using a particular ability in order to counter it. Specifically:
As has already been pointed out in the discussion in preceding posts here, the deck would need to have ways to pump up Sisay's power, and I think you'd need to include ways beyond just having Legendary permanents to do so. Perhaps it might be worth revisiting looking at some Planeswalkers that pump power, particularly all of the Ajanis that give +1/+1 counters as well as those that otherwise boost power and/or looking at non-Planeswalker ways to boost her power (Day of Destiny is both tutorable as well as a decent pump, for example).
Additionally, I feel that Sisay helps out a lot because she could tutor a non-Planeswalker Legendary permanent to the battlefield that could deal with The Immortal Sun which would otherwise shut down a Superfriends deck (especially those that rely on their Planeswalkers for their Naturalise effects). Things like Joven, Legacy Weapon, Mangara of Corondor, and/or Zacama, Primal Calamity could all work.
Is it also worth looking into being able to Flash in spells? If you're going to take a bit more of a reactive role at times (what with wanting to leave mana up in order to respond to opponents casting spells by tutoring the appropriate counter-Planeswalker from your deck) then you're going to not want to waste that mana. Though you don't get the best use out of Planeswalkers in this way (unless you have Teferi, Temporal Archmage's emblem in play), being able to react accordingly and, if you don't need to, still use your mana seems like a good plan. Alchemist's Refuge, Emergence Zone, Leyline of Anticipation, Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage, and Vedalken Orrery could all help with this. Seedborn Muse could also do a lot of good work here, allowing you to tutor stuff on each of your opponents' turns if you wanted to.
Does anyone have any further thoughts on my ideas? I'm looking to brew a deck up, but am having a difficult time getting a firm grip on what I need to include in it.