There has been much written about why the particular sets of tribes are stationed on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eival for the blessings and curses. None of the approaches suggested have been generally accepted. Here's my take.
I assume that the selection must be fairly straightforward and comprehensible based only on the preceding narrative in the Torah. What we find here is that all the tribes assigned to the blessing are "l'chatchila" sons (exception noted and explained below). That is, they are not sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, who were born only due to attempts to manipulate "fate" on the part of Rachel and Leah. They also are not sons of the second round of Leah's childbearing, initiated by the mandrakes. Shim'on, Levi, Yehudah, Yosef and Binyamin are all conceived in accordance with Hashem's will (and thus, blessing), without any manipulation. Believing that you can tamper with Hashem's will borders on idolatry (we won't get into the question of prayer here).
But, according to this explanation, Reuven should have been there, too. That would meet the implicit requirement for six and six. Yet we see that Reuven is with the tribes assigned to the curse, and, in his place, Issachar is with the tribes of blessing. Doesn't this demonstrate that my explanation is faulty?
No, and here's why: Reuven is the symbol of problematic manipulation par excellence. He attempts to manipulate his brothers into releasing Yosef (he doesn't tell them that this is what he's planning when he says, "throw him into the pit"), he issues the extravagantly outrageous offer to his father, "you can kill my two son's (Ya'acov's GRANDSONS!) if I don't bring Binaymin back", he finds the magical mandrakes and brings them to his mother, Leah, and, most critically, he lays with his mother's competing maidservant-wife, Bilhah (according to Chazal, he rearranged the beds), to avenge his mother's dishonor. Especially in light of the content of the curses, "cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law", there is no way Reuven can be included in the blessing group. Literally, he has lost his standing.
So, instead, a stand-in, Yisschar, the first-born of the second round, and the one whose birth, ironically, was enabled by Reuven's magical mandrakes, takes his place.
All blessings are straight from Hashem, all curses are distortions, rebounds, and ricochets. And yet, the Midrash tells us that Reuven is the master of Teshuvah, thus his descendant, Hoshea, is the one who so prominently exhorts Yisrael at this time of the year, "Return, O Israel, all the way to Hashem, your G-d, for you have stumbled in your sin".
We've only stumbled, we can get up, we can turn curses into blessings, we can become the whole implied when six tribes unite with six tribes, and the Kohanim in their midst add one, thirteen in all, who is like you, Israel, one people upon the land?
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