I Devoted Myself to Melding BRISELA in Pioneer | Against the Odds | Magic: the Gathering (MTG) 

Imagine having Urza planeswalker and Brissela in the field at the same time, that would be the ultimate victory

Brisela is my favourite MTG art of all time. The image is absolutely brutal in it's depiction of body horror, made even more memorable by it's haunting flavour text.

A+ for the thumbnail

I don't think there's a pair of cards that put me on tilt more than the Brisela pair, because it makes the Timmy part of me squeal in joy, but the Vorthos part of me is weeping in the corner.

sometimes (a lot of times) I can't help but laugh at Seth's reactions to winning but not getting to go off. "Yea, we won, I guess thats cool." lol Never change Seth!!!

18:10 Hearing bear in the background gives me life haha

Way back when Magic Duels was a thing, I had a deck with both Bruna and Gisela. Since that game restricted you to one copy of mythic rares in your deck, pulling off the meld was incredibly difficult but amazing when it actually happened.

Ok, the thumbnail was next level! props to the artist. Also my boomer magic heart is so happy that Brisela came back. I was around since og zendikar, and I loved eldritch moon, as thats when magic story telling was at its height. Always loved bricela, both becase of how she came to be in the lore, and because meld is such an awesome mechanic! Its underpowered as a spiky mechanic because there are MANY two card combos in magic that just win. But that's exactly why I love meld. It allows Wizard to print these amazing "broken" timmy bombs like Bricela, or Urza Planeswalker. Cards that are actual depictions of the power of the character in the lore. But since its a meld, WotC doesnt has the risk of printing another Emrakul or Griselbrand (I love me some big flying spaghettis monster, but we dont need more than one in magic)

I wonder if this deck would be better as a straight up angel deck using things like Giada to help you ramp out your big angels

If memory serves me right, white decks in Standard would run Gisela the Broken Blade because it was still solid, with like one copy of Bruna the Fading Light because it was so expensive - but if you DID manage to meld them, you got a nice Brisela combo that wreaked havoc on so many decks.

I remember back in Magic Duels I tried so hard to get the Brisela meld, because Magic Duels limited your deckbuilding by rarity so you could only ever have one Gisela and then it's gone. Only time I could get it to work was when the opponent quit and I could fight the never-surrender AI instead.

I think the advantage of urza and Mishra is that they are overall lower CMC than Brisela and in better colors than strictly mono white. Brisela is hard to pull off cause bruna is a fat 7 drop and you only really have white to work with since they are double pipped. It'll still be awkward but I could see Azorius control based around Urza Planeswalker being a thing.

Now this one is one I was very much looking forward to. Gisela was one of the first few cards I pulled(With Emrukul) when a few friends of mine got me into magic. She became a staple in my white red deck, and then when I finally pulled a Bruna she went into the deck almost immediately. The meld was incredibly hard to pull off, but it is, as you said, basically a gg unless they have removal that's over 3 mana. 10/10 would nostalgia again.

6:55 lure us into a... dream den

Yes! I saw this on the poll and I was so excited! Happy everybody else seems to like this deck too

That dominaria angel reminds me of when Angel of grace was so speculated on and tanked.

I still have a Boros Meld deck from Shadows Standard. It's pretty janky, but fun when it pays off!

I think meld is a cool mechanic, i hope wotc does it justice

14:53 That's gotta be the most disappointed Seth "sweet, sweet" I've ever heard.

Mono red was such an impacful match that Seth decided to change his shirt

I would love to have that Gisela and Bruna fusing art 😂

35:24 You have six mana for Gisela if you activate Nykthos for white. In fact, you could even play the Portable Hole first, which would set you up with seven devotion in case you draw Bruna, the only card that can really get you into the game.

Absolutely love this video! Thank you Seth as this was my suggestion lol.

I play a brisela commander angel deck, which is fun...

ngl I really wanna play this deck in paper now, although I am a fan of angel tribal so I might lean more into that direction. very cool, and surprisingly not too terrible

Aw man I was hoping to see Nahiri the Harbinger here too.

Ha 28:05 you can see Seth winding up the punch for his opponent😂

Could maybe be better as a Giada deck with the devotion plan to cast the big ones while synergizing with their types.

Thumbnail art has me dying XD

53:18 Seth, you could have saved hearse from the command because it says non creature and if you crew it it becomes a creature, so it fizzles. yell yell yell xD Great video anyways

18:15 What was that sound? Did you meld Brusella is real life?

Can't wait for 5 color Meld when Brother's War releases

A scoop in fear definitely counts.

Seth when they target Hearse with Witherbloom command. You should have made it a creature to fizzle the command.

32:50 Just a FYI you can still get lands back with restoration when runestone is out.

Bear in the Background : '' whoo whoo whoo '' xD

53:33 I'm pretty sure you could have left up Settle here - your devotion to white is 4, so Nykthos makes 2 mana net, letting you leave up 2 lands and the new Nykthos that can then be used to cast the sweeper with.

So, I actually made a Brisela deck back when it came out and it was one of my favorites for a long time. (Had to sell my collection so I don't have it anymore.) And I know people were homebrewing the rule to give Bruna and Gisela partner with, but I decided to go with another path. I decided to go with a self mill strategy with Bruna at the helm. Now, this actually solved an issue fairly consistently with trying to find both pieces. With the added mode of mill I could get back Gisela at the same time as casting Bruna. The thing is, even with my build this was rare. not just that but it wasn't always the correct play. But Bruna on her own was exceptionally strong and the deck used Ashnod's Alter and Nyxthos along with a few other means to reduce costs or generate a lot of mana to recast Bruna over and over again. It wasn't uncommon for Bruna to be cast 4-6 times a game from the command zone. And with this I'd frequently set up reanimation chains such as Bruna into Angel of Glory's Rise to return a dozen or so humans and create a tone of tokens. And I'd even loop that with sacrificing of Bruna and tokens to recast her again to bring back Glory's rise again and again. I could get away with that in commander because of how the format works. I think in Pioneer you don't have nearly the time to set up and Bruna is just too expensive. If She was 5 mana then we could see it work, but 5 vs 7 might as well be a million..

Bro Bear’s barking was hella scary haha

Great thumbnail, good reference fusionnnnnn power

Omg loved the art for the video lol

That thumbnail is the best.

Knight of White Orchid is really good with Lotus Field.

Idk if this is the same person, but I also encountered someone named Darthkid on Arena playing standard and they also took a LONG time during turns

I used to have a very similar white angel devotion deck with brisela in Modern, with the border posts and Avacyn. Was a lot of fun but getting the Brisela win was rare

Brisela might be the more fun meld, but Hanweir Battlements/Garrison was one of my favorite brew cards for standard. Wish it got more love.

Props for the thumbnail and those who get it

Me shouting at my phone during the greasefang match. SETH ANIMATE THE HEARSE

At 46:17 you had letal isn't? crewing with the targeted aparation then using the one plains left to cast march for 0 on the spirit token, 12 exact damage.

I love to use final parting to help assemble this combo

Opponents that stop at every phase should be roped faster especially in area.

Was anyone else disappointed that it didn’t meld into a giant card?

I played a ton of sealeds, draft and standard at the time of melding, and I have never ever been able to meld two cards together, I also don't remember to have ever been on the opposing side of a meld

Seth I want to see you to do a punishing aristocrats style deck with dingus staff in the deck later on like in modern or in another format while also giving your opponents tokens or creatures at the same time just in case if you haven't seen the comment yet and later on I want you to do a deck around jester's cap and with ways to bring it back while also exiling every single card in the opponent's deck and maybe add pull from eternity if jester's cap gets exiled? For the dingus staff deck maybe add massacre wurm and yawgmoth to it for some more fun?

Thumbnail power level over 9000.

God I FELT that bant spirits player constantly stopping for no reason

At about 25 minutes in, would you want to bring in spyglass against greasefang? You can name a vehicle to keep them from crewing

My favorite commander combo. That I never got to meld....

Does anyone know if there is an Against The Odds with Spirit Of The Night?

The double queue disrespect. 😂

Lol the cube draft at game 1

Couldn't you have crewed Hearse on 53:20 so that Witherbloom Command fizzled?

That mono-red player better go buy a lottery ticket.

Yes!!!

Looking at the comments, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the lack of Giada

v happy i have my paper copies from back in eldrich moon Gisela the broken blade becoming quite expensive

yuuuus, my MonoW Commander is getting some love!

21:43 when you get beat by mono red: Just go mono red yourself xD

What's the win rate for on the play in Pioneer? It feels a bit worse than what I'm used to.

Lurrus -> Sleep is a pretty legit combo

Can this deck be good in modern or it will be good in pioneer only?

Hey, since Yorion is banned, every battle of wits player cries every each night. So you should do Battle of Wits with Lutri!!

I like meld. Cool concept

I feel like the biggest obstacle this deck has to overcome is Solitude, and Supreme Verdict. If you can't answer those cards effectively, I don't know why you'd want to spend 1.5-2 cards and at least 7 mana to get this to happen.

I once won a standard game day by playing a deck that was made to use Thalia’s lancers to meld brisela

Just realized, brisela is basically banding with a minor upside

Seth quickly went to prison between match 2 and 3

The irony of seth calling others slow, anyone playing him during livestreams have the same experience ^^'

54:40 If they killed the Gisela earlier they most likely would have would have won since you had to use Nykthos in order to cast Bruna. Sure you could have cast ECD to get Gisela back/ give you the devotion you needed but then you still wouldn't have the life gain for a turn or 2 so they would just out race you at that point.

Nice thumbnail :)

At 12:32 how does he March away a 2 mana creature with X being 1 ?

57:00 *ASTOR HAMMER*??????? Hammertime returning to the channel soon???????!!!!!!! PLEASE

Wrong, the OG meld ability was BFM.

At least I am not the only one that faces Mono Green Devotion 3 times per league. The deck is a problem.

I hope that opponent in Match 1 gets stuck at every red light

I’m contractually obligated to like the video on account of the thumbnail

I melded them once...in draft of all things.

I ended up making a gisela edh deck after the spike of the meld cards

Why are you running Weathered Runestone over Grafdigger's Cage? I don't play a lot of pioneer.

10/10 thumbnail

I wish this would be playable in modern... But modern have so many removals, it would be nearly impossible...

@18:13 uhmmmm Seth.... the guy locked in ur basement wants to get out now LOL! but seriously... wut the hell was that noise??

Top teir thumbnail

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Rolls v.1.1 play this in legacy pls ;) looks soo awesome dice stompy

I have corrupted Gisela and Bruna as I call them in my Kalmene Boros angel commander deck. I’ve only gotten them melded one time, but that one time was a victory. You better believe I went full Yami Yugi voice when I did it. :)

First opponent is the quintessential example of a bad sport/someone nobody wants to play games with. Rushes through their turns so they can swap over to whatever else they're actually focused on, and then makes their opponent wait minutes to start their own turn. Top it off with two early scoops at the first sign of trouble and their choice of deck favoring non-games where they try to tempo/evade their way to victory and you can tell they're just trying to win quickly or not play at all. Their play shows a complete lack of respect for the other person's time, as if you're saying "I'm the only person who gets to play this game, if I'm not in control then nobody else gets to be and I'm off to the next sucker"

The changing of the shirts threw me

Nice thumbnail but for Brisela the Fullmetal Alchemist "mixture" seems more appropriate :')

I think I like The Birth of Meletis better than Knight of the White Orchid. It’s not as good for devotion, but it gives you an endless stream of lands, blockers, and life when combined with Restoration of Eiganjo.

...link to thumbnail pic? I need to send some DBZ loving friends to it