Partner is an interesting new mechanic from Commander 2016. They have had one special commander-related … thing each year, but this is by far the most interesting. I don’t know how many we’ll have, but I imagine 10, one for each color pair, which are the main commanders for the this series.

I’m going to be working with [scryfall]Silas Renn, Seeker Adept[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix[/scryfall] here, because they are the ones spoiled in “my colors” thusfar.

Admittedly, the synergies between these two aren’t exactly obvious at first, so I’ll have to figure something out. Gladly, they both do things which have plenty of synergies with strong cards throughout the games history, although neither is straightforward.

Kydele requires lots of mana to use, unless you can somehow draw cards without mana. [scryfall]Necropotence[/scryfall] won’t do that, because you just put those cards into your hand, not actually draw them. Something like [scryfall]Teferi’s Puzzle Box[/scryfall] could be extremely powerful here, although a bit more chaotic than one might want. [scryfall]Forgotten Creation[/scryfall] does pretty much the same without giving the added benefit to the other players (but of course, being more fragile as well).

Silas, on the other hand, doesn’t have real evasion, so he’d need some of that to work. On the other hand, he’s in a color combination, that wants to generally do something different in EDH. Evasion is something common to these two colors, because they are seen as the stealthy colors, but we’ll see how we’ll approach this.

One way to abuse Partner, is to just use one of the commanders to gain access to extra colors, maybe even fake some of the colors you’re using, but I don’t think that’s something I’d like to do, at least not this time, but it is a concept I might be willing to return to in the future.

The library size is 98 if you use Partner (which is good from the standpoint of sleeves, if nothing else).

So, what should we use here…

First, the best card in the deck might very well be [scryfall]Courier’s Capsule[/scryfall].

The use of its ability is pretty free, if you control Kydele and you can replay it with Silas’s ability. [scryfall]Aether Spellbomb[/scryfall] is in way lesser version of it, but versatility is always strong, so lets use it as well. [scryfall]Coercive Portal[/scryfall] is another interesting choice, because it will either let you have more mana on top of the card each turn, or you can get it back with Silas. Eventually.

Of course, one particular, different kind of cycle does a lot as well:

Other artifacts to sacrifice for the benefit of Silas include…

There’s plenty more, but this is a start, at least.

Next, what to use to draw cards with little or not mana, to get the best benefits from Kydele:

Okay, that’s 41 cards and we can’t possibly play all of them. One clear cut is to take out all the cards dependent on creatures, because we want be running that many of them. I’ll definitely keep all the creatures though, because they are a good constant source of both cards and mana, although they’ll probably die pretty fast.

Finally, we should probably figure out what to do with all this.

So, we’re drawing a lot of cards. Here’s some ideas on what to do with that:

Since we’re making plenty of mana, we can use that as well:

Throw in some ramp, some removal and lands and done.

[deck]
[commanders]
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix
[/commanders]
[creatures]
Seizan, Perverter of Truth
Kruphix, God of Horizons
Arcanis, the Omnipotent
The Gitrog Monster
Damia, Sage of Stone
Prime Speaker Zegana
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Consecrated Sphinx
Overbeing of Myth
Lifeblood Hydra
Sire of Stagnation
Burnished Hart
Solemn Simulacrum
Sylvok Replica
Laboratory Maniac
Forgotten Creation
Psychosis Crawler
Sturmgeist
[/creatures]
[artifacts]
Teferi’s Puzzle Box
Courier’s Capsule
Aether Spellbomb
Coercive Portal
Mind Stone
Hedron Archive
Dreamstone Hedron
Armillary Sphere
Wayfarer’s Bauble
Expedition Map
Commander’s Sphere
Executioner’s Capsule
Horizon Spellbomb
Memory Jar
Nihil Spellbomb
Whispersilk Cloak
[/artifacts]
[spells]
Helix Pinnacle
Ancestral Vision
Visions of Beyond
Brainstorm
Enter the Infinite
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Recurring Insight
Sylvan Library
Treasure Cruise
Damnation
Cyclonic Rift
Counterspell
Arcane Denial
Negate
Life’s Finale
Crux of Fate
Decree of Pain
Doom Blade
No Mercy
Go for the Throat
Hero’s Downfall
Hero’s Demise
Cultivate
Kodama’s Reach
[/spells]
[lands]
Opulent Palace
Watery Grave
Breeding Pool
Overgrown Tomb
Choked Estuary
Sunken Hollow
Polluted Delta
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Bloodstained Mire
Flooded Strand
Flooded Grove
Sunken Ruins
Temple of Deceit
Temple of Mystery
Temple of Malady
Dimir Aqueduct
Golgari Rot Farm
Simic Growth Chamber
Blooming Marsh
Botanical Sanctum
Darkslick Shores
Drowned Catacomb
Hinterland Harbor
Woodland Cemetery
Mage-Ring Network
Bojuka Bog
Dreadship Reef
Blighted Woodland
Rogue’s Passage
Reliquary Tower
2 Swamp
2 Island
5 Forest
[/lands]
[/deck]

Okay, many things feel off here, so let’s call this a “first draft”. The manabase is awkward and the curve seems horrendous. Its quite different and therefore pretty difficult to ascertain simply by reading through it, as well.