Commander Deck Tech: Isshin, Two Heavens as One
Kudos to Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty! So far the set has been great and has had quite the impact on Commander. It does seem like most new standard sets have had some impact on Commander. I'd say that during the first two months of a new Standard set there's quite the excitement and rush to build certain theme Commanders from that set. Then just as it started the next new set is spoiled or releasing and it's time for that next tribe or theme to begin. For this week's article I decided to do another multi-color deck in Isshin, Two Heavens as One.
Isshin is a three drop 3/4 that states: “if a Creature attacking causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time”
With Isshin's unique ability we are going to want to play Creatures that have a triggered attack ability. This could be something as simple as a Sun Titan which would get 2x three converted mana costs permanents back if Isshin is in play when Sun Titan attacks. This would work the same for pretty much any of the titans and I did opt to also play Inferno Titan.
Keep in mind that Isshin's ability won't just trigger your attacking Creatures, but any permanent that triggers when a Creature attacks. The unique permanents that will trigger twice off of Isshin that are in the deck are: Cunning Rhetoric, Curse of Opulence, Duelist's Heritage, Fervent Charge, and Mardu Ascendancy. These can potentially trigger two times when your opponent's attack or are being attacked depending on the situation. There were several more choices for cards like these that would trigger Isshin, but I also wanted to have tons of fun with my own Creatures attacking and getting triggers for multiple effects.
The spot removal in the deck consists of: Anguished Unmaking, Crackling Doom, Despark, Mortify, Path to Exile, Terminate, Utter End, Damn, and Vindicate. This is just a mish mash of different types of removal but there is definitely tons of room to switch cards in and out depending on your metagame or budget. We are also running some board wipes with Damn potentially counting, but we also have Farewell and Ruinous Ultimatum which can be game changing late in a game.
The deck also runs a few non-Creature spells that help take extra combat steps in Waves of Aggression and Aggravated Assault. The deck also had Relentless Assault but I took it out when I cut down to my final 100 cards. It's a great card, but Aggravated Assault can be activated every turn, and Waves of Aggression can be Retraced and cast more than one time. We are running a few tutors in Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. There are also a couple of options for extra card drawing in: Phyrexian Arena, Painful Truths, and Esper Sentinel.
Since the deck relies on triggering your Creatures attacking abilities, the deck also needs some sort of protection for them and your Commander. I did add both Teferi's Protection and Akroma's Will to the deck to help keep your Commander and attackers alive. The deck can be even more powerful if you can get those triggers going without having to wait from being summoning sick. The deck also runs Fervor, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Hanweir Battlements, and a newcomer in Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei.
Pretty much all the Creatures in the deck are a spot removal distraction or a Creature that when attacking will gain card advantage and/or add to your board state. You're going to want to get ahead while doubling triggers and then eventually finish off your opponents by taking some extra combats, or just aggro-ing really well. I'm sure there are tons more combinations of different Creatures that can be used. This build leaned a little more to the red side within the colors. One card that I threw in just for the hell of it was Unburial Rites. I thought that it might come in handy late game if by chance you run into too many removals and wrath effects. I also think playing a random Reanimate might not be that bad either. At one point my build did have a Deflecting Swat and Tibalt's Trickery which are very fun cards you might consider.
The last part was the mana base which in most three color decks is pretty crazy. This one is running dual lands, shock lands, fetch lands, and all the different types of fast lands. If you are running a more budget friendly build you'll definitely substitute the dual lands for pain lands. There are plenty of different options for lands in the Mardu colors at lower price points. The deck seems pretty straight forward with keeping Creatures off your opponents board while eventually trying to get your horde ready for a big attack. It will be pretty interesting to see what kind of damage the deck can do with multiple triggers of Relentless Assault or other effects on the stack. I'd be sure to do some playtesting and also looking up how some of the card interactions work when stacking. I think this will lead to an easier time down the road when they come up during a game.
I hope this gives you a good starting point at building your own trigger happy Isshin build, and if you see any crazy combos I may have missed please drop a comment below!
Until Next Time,
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