mdbook wiki

Sythis, Harvest's Hand

6 min read

Sythis, Harvest's Hand

At a glance

  • Commander: Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
  • Colors: Selesnya
  • Archetype: Selesnya enchantress card-advantage
  • Power tier: mid-high

Cards

Commander

Sythis, Harvest’s Hand — Legendary Enchantment Creature — Nymph (2/3)

Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, you gain 1 life and draw a card.

That’s the whole card, and it’s the whole deck. Every aura, every enchantment, every enchantment-creature you cast off the command zone is a Divination stapled to a life gain. The printed text matches the scout’s paraphrase exactly — no discrepancy. Build is around the real ability: load the 99 with cheap enchantments so each cast refills the hand, then convert the card flood into board state and an enchantment-scaled beater.

Gameplan

  1. Land Sythis turn 2. From there the deck plays “free” — most enchantments cost 1-2 and immediately replace themselves via the trigger, so casting them is card-neutral or better while still building the board.
  2. Ramp with aura-rocks. Wild Growth / Utopia Sprawl / Fertile Ground / Overgrowth turn lands into 2-for-1 mana sources; the cantrip-ramp auras (Abundant Growth, Urban Utopia, Nylea’s Presence, Karametra’s Favor) draw on entry and trigger Sythis, so they double-dip.
  3. Grind. Each enchantment cast = +1 card, +1 life. Constellation creatures (Nexus Wardens, Oakheart Dryads, Pious Wayfarer, Captivating Unicorn, Humbler of Mortals) convert that same flow into life, pumps, taps, and trample.
  4. Close. Pick an enchantment creature (Sythis herself works) and bury it in enchantments — Ethereal Armor / All That Glitters / Ancestral Mask scale with your enchantment count, which is enormous by mid-game. Swing for lethal commander damage with trample from Nylea’s Forerunner / Humbler of Mortals.

Win condition

Enchantment-scaled voltron. Ethereal Armor / All That Glitters / Ancestral Mask each grant a bonus per enchantment you control; in a deck running 50+ enchantments these routinely add +8/+8 or more. Slap one on an evasive/trampling enchantment creature (or Sythis) and connect for lethal, backed by relentless card advantage so the table can’t keep up on removal. Pseudo-inevitability: you out-card the table, they run out of answers, the suited-up body ends it.

Role breakdown (counts)

  • Lands — 36: 13 Forest, 11 Plains, Command Tower, Command Bridge, + 10 GW duals (Selesnya Guildgate, Blossoming Sands, Radiant Grove, Arctic Treeline, Tranquil Expanse, Botanical Plaza, Kyoshi Village, Suburban Sanctuary, Birnin Zana Plaza, Thornglint Bridge).
  • Ramp — 10: Abundant Growth, Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, Urban Utopia, Nylea’s Presence, Fertile Ground, Verdant Haven, Gift of Paradise, Sheltered Aerie, Overgrowth. (All enchantments → all trigger Sythis. Four also cantrip on entry.)
  • Card advantage — 10: Karametra’s Favor, Spirited Companion, Frog Tongue, Angelic Gift, Chosen by Heliod, Setessan Training, Sheltering Boughs, Hobble, Pentarch Ward, Bequeathal — plus Sythis herself turns the whole deck into draw. (Aura Blast also replaces itself.)
  • Spot removal / interaction — 11: Journey to Nowhere, Banishing Light, Cooped Up, Pacifism, Compulsory Rest, Planar Disruption, Trapped in the Tower, Oppressive Rays, Bonds of Faith, Utopia Vow, Sigarda’s Imprisonment. (Every one is an enchantment → triggers Sythis.) Plus naturalize-style: Aura Blast, Break the Spell, Revoke Existence, Atraxa’s Fall, Broken Bond, Nature’s Claim.
  • Mass/pseudo-wipe — 0: GW has no commons board wipes. Compensated with a deep spot-removal suite (11 enchantment removals + 6 naturalize effects), constellation tap-down (Captivating Unicorn locks an attacker each turn), and the card-advantage lock as the inevitability plan.
  • Payoffs / enablers — the rest: Constellation crew (Pious Wayfarer, Setessan Skirmisher, Nexus Wardens, Oakheart Dryads, Harvestguard Alseids, Captivating Unicorn, Humbler of Mortals), enchantment-creature bodies (Heliod’s Pilgrim — aura tutor, Transcendent Envoy — aura cost reducer, Hopeful Eidolon, Leafcrown Dryad, Observant Alseid, Nyxborn Wolf, Golden-Tail Disciple, Grasping Longneck, Jukai Preserver, Fang of Shigeki), anthems (Nylea’s Forerunner, Fortifying Provisions, Spidersilk Armor), recursion (Sentinel’s Eyes), and the voltron suite (Ethereal Armor, All That Glitters, Ancestral Mask, Moldervine Cloak, Reach for the Sky).

Key synergy lines

  • Cantrip-ramp double dip: Abundant Growth / Urban Utopia / Nylea’s Presence each draw on entry AND trigger Sythis’s draw — two cards from one 1-mana enchantment, plus permanent mana fixing/ramp.
  • Heliod’s Pilgrim → All That Glitters / Ethereal Armor: tutor up the exact voltron piece you need to convert a stalled board into lethal.
  • Constellation cascade: every enchantment you cast post-Sythis fires constellation. A single Banishing Light becomes: exile a threat + draw + gain 1 + gain 2 (Nexus Wardens) + tap an attacker (Captivating Unicorn) + a +1/+1 pump (Oakheart Dryads).
  • Transcendent Envoy makes every aura cost less, accelerating the whole engine.

Pilot notes

  • Sythis is the engine, not a beater — but protect the engine. If she’s a removal magnet, you can still grind with the constellation crew, but recast her early and often; her trigger is the deck’s entire card economy.
  • Sequence cantrips first when you have Sythis out: cast the draw-on-entry auras to dig, then deploy threats.
  • Don’t over-commit auras to one creature into open removal — the voltron payoffs (All That Glitters etc.) read your board enchantment count, not auras on the creature, so spread enchantments out and only suit up for the kill swing.
  • Hold a naturalize (Nature’s Claim, Aura Blast) for opposing pillowforts/key artifacts; in a pinch they still trigger Sythis.

Weaknesses

  • No board wipes. Go-wide aggro and big token decks can outpace the grind before voltron comes online; lean hard on Captivating Unicorn taps, Pacifism-effects, and Spidersilk Armor blocks to stabilize.
  • Aura 2-for-1 risk. Suiting up a creature into instant-speed removal loses two cards. Sythis’s draw engine softens this, but be disciplined about when you commit the voltron pieces.
  • Sweepers from opponents hurt — much of the board is creatures. The deep card flow is the recovery plan; rebuild faster than they can answer.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

Graph View

Backlinks