Commanding Tatsunari, Toad Rider

Posted on February 8, 2022

Hello happy people! I hope that your day is going incredibly well! Today I am going to hit up the next Commander in a pre-release Commander build for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. I have already hit up two of these:

The first was built around Hidetsugu. This deck uses several big cost cards that have cheaper play costs like Blasphemous Act, the evoke-ing of Mournwhelk, the delve of Tombstalker and the suspend of Greater Gargadon to get big damage triggers and then be castable that turn. Love it a lot!

2. The second deck I built around was an Orzhov enchantments and artifacts-matter build around uncommon newcomer, Naomi, Pillar of Order. (You can find it here). I tossed in tons of artifacts, enchantments, and creatures that counted as one or the other, like Esper Sentinel and Agent of Erebos. Then I used those types for removal of stuff like Dispeller's Capsule, Duplicant and Seal of Doom. Then I tossed for, for game winning, the powerhouse of Nettlecyst and other similar pumping effects for a Commander damage win if needed. Check it out!

And now we have my third deck being built around a three-color identity dork that really appealed when it was spoiled on Wizards.com.

Check out the Rider of Toads!

Tatsunari can give himself and target Frog unblockable for the turn save by flyers and reachers - that's where you get the other two colors in his identity. When you cast an enchantment spell, you get a free 3/3 Black and Green Frog to ride named Keimi, which is legendary so you can only do that once. That means there is no need to run a deck that is deep in enchantments to the detriments to the deck since you cannot use the trigger while you control Keimi. The ability does require a target Frog to make himself pseudo-unblockable but Keimi will provide that. I definitely see myself adding enough enchantments and Frogs to the deck to make this fun, and then take advantage of a flying Frog and maybe add the occasional Voltron elements here and there to get in that Commander kill. Also note that this is a Ninja for those cards that care...

Luckily, Tatsunari isn't on EDHREC.com yet, so I get to build this deck without leaning on that tech.

Ready?

There are only 34 Frogs in the game according to Gatherer (you can find them here).

Which ones are in my colors and playable in Commander? I found 7. Two of them aren't the sort you'd want to make unblockable(sorta) for a turn. One taps for an ability. The other four are decently sized or want to swing.

Let's start with this pair. Grolnok made a new Simic-colored "Frog-Matters" brew that Tatsunari adds Black to. This Frog is Standard-legal and from the last set. When your Frogs attack you mill three and then you exile permanents, and you can play spells and lands from exile. That's a nice amount of card drawing in Commander, and then we have everyone's favorite Glutton of Urborg. This vanilla creature created quite the storm when it was printed, and it's a Frog, so that Tatsunari can make this 9/3 essentially flying for the turn. Good card for the beats, as a 3 toughness cannot swing easily.

Check out these five-mana Green Frog Horrors! The former Frog Horror is a trample, haste 4/4, which is pretty good for the cause. It can swing out of nowhere for the love of friends and fun times. Haste is better in multiplayer. When it deals combat damage to a player, you can exile that many cards from their graveyard and then put +1/+1 counters on this for dorks and gain life for non-dorks. With a combat damage trigger this is great for Tatsunari's ability. The latter one is a 6/6 with deathtouch. In your upkeep you have to sac a land and then you can play another land each turn, which is good for things like the extra lands you get from Grolnok or card flow. Then as your lands die you draw a card, so you can keep up the extra card flow. Good combo!

Then we have these two Fog Frogs. The Haze one has flash, and when it arrives to the party, you can Fog other combat damage for the turn. Not itself though, so you can kill a 1 or 2-toughness dork that swung your way. You aren't likely to swing with this, or the Spore one either, which is a one drop 1/1 that can sacrifice to Fog away. Good duo!

Alright, next up, a few changelings to round things out. There are 29 dorks with that keyword in my three colors. I am adding in some including these:

Check out Chameleon Colossus! As you can see this 4-drop 4/4 protection from Black is on curve. You can double it up from there, so this could be an 8/8 in the mid game or a 16/16 in the late, and that is ideal for the activation of your Ninja leader.

Check out these two changelings. The first is a 5-drop from Kaldheim that can copy any permanent on the battlefield that you control. Examples of cards you might want to copy include several ETB support cards like Rune-Scarred Demon or Acidic Slime or Timeless Witness. Or maybe the card drawing fun times of Consecrated Sphinx. You get the idea. If you copy a dork, you get two +1/+1 counters and changeling. It's also legendary and snow, in case that matters. Basically, it's an on-theme tribal Clone effect. Then we have the second one. This is a 2-drop 1/1 changeling that can become the copy of any target dork (including your foe's) for the turn. Use that copy ability to copy popular things like creatures with deathtouch to play keep away or to copy a big beater like Akroma, Angel of Wrath or a protection thing like Avacyn, Angel of Hope. It's awesome here.

And then we have the Walker of Realms. This 2/3 for three mana will call out Frog on arrival. You can cast your Frogs from the top of your deck. But just looking at the top card is valuable knowledge prior to doing things. You may have the answer coming to a nasty group of things that you may not want to swing with Grolnok into. Good card!

I also tossed in some changelings that aren't about swinging but instead have useful ETB abilities. Inspired by the deathtouch comment I also tossed in Venomous Changeling to play keep away or to copy with Shapesharer.

Let's add in some enchantments. If I can find between 15-20 enchantments, then that will be fine and dandy, just like candy. Note that Tatsunari is a "Cast trigger" not an "enters the battlefield" one so things that recur an enchantment to the battlefield won't be here in this list.

Let's start with some...sorta...removal. Each of these Auras can enchant most threats. Lands are hard to answer, just like enchantments, so this is a pretty good removal spell for things that you don't want to kill and bring back, like nasty opposing Commanders. The Song will enchant anything but makes a worse land in a Forest that can tap for Green. I prefer it to the Moon, but both are very strong removal effects in Commander.

Here's another duo of removal. The Saga is a powerful card that, on arrival, will destroy a non-land that your foe controls. Nice! And then you can search your library for a Forest and ramp it. Then you can give your stuff deathtouch for the turn and swing all day long into bigger bodies who won't want to trade down since it's a one-time effect. The Massacre is an admittedly expensive option in price on the secondary market and it's X'ing. But you get a sweeping removal spell that answers indestructible stuff. It's also good at punching life here and here for your foes and gaining some life yourself.

I also tossed in removal king Pernicious Deed. The Deed and Massacre are my sweeping removal options, which every deck needs.

Now let's turn from removal to synergetic cards. These two Leylines began with just the Blue one. A deck loaded with permanents like dorks, artifacts and enchantments is going to need flash a lot to interact well with stuff. This can be free! The other Leyline was added in to brake graveyard abuse which is rife in this format. I also tossed in Agent of Erebos and Bojuka Bog.

Next up, check out Unnatural Growth! At the beginning of each (yours and your foes) you'll double the power and toughness of your stuff. Imagine Tatsunari with a Nettlecyst on him now doubling. That's a quick clock. You also double Chameleon Colossus that will start doubling at 8/8 and becomes a 32/32 after two activations. Good stuff! For your ramp stuff, once you have a single Swamp and Island (and two Blue mana overall for your counters), move to extra Forests so you can cast this.

To have enough enchantments, I leaned into enchantment versions of normal things. Need a Naturalize? How about a 2-mana enchantment you can sacrifice? Need a ramped land? How about a Font? This stuff is also great to recur and recast easily with things like Eternal Witness and Timeless Witness for another cast trigger. Good pair!

Let's look at one more enchantment.

Check out my final addition. I finished my decklist on Monday, and then, at night while I was trying to sleep, I remember this card exists and I woke up and swapped it in for Adaptive Automaton, which is a Frog, and pumps your Frogs but I prefer this synergy. This is a 3/2 that gives your team flying and then pulls it from foes. This is a bit pricey at 6 mana, but it's a massive addition to the build. It's an enchantment. It gives your team flying without needing to pump a Frog. And it removes flying from blockers so now only reach stuff can stop it. Inspired by this, I also tossed in Sun Quan, Lord of Wu, another 6-drop that gives your team unblockable with horsemanship. Good pair!

Let's leave behind enchantments.

Let's turn to counters. I have six hard counters and Jwari Disruption. These two are good examples of what I am trying to do. As you can see, the first spell will counter anything that you need to. Counter a dork or artifact? Great! It arrives to your battlefield for free. The latter spell is a powerful counter on a body, and it's pretty nice. A 6-drop 1/1 with flash that can counter anything and then grows in size to be a big threat. Nice!

Let's move to some lands!

Check out these two dorks. Cavern of Souls is pretty good for your Frogs as they will be uncounterable. That will work for changelings as well. Good Cavern! It doesn't arrive tapped so it's not a tempo loss. The creature land also arrives untapped, and it can produce a 2/2 Frog when you spend a mana and that's a pretty nice group of stuff.

Just like I love Anticipation in here, I also love the Refuge! Imagine casting Archetype after you are attacking by an air force and then you drop them and smash them and kill them in combat. Good stuff! The Mirrorlake is interesting. It taps for Blue, and it can sacrifice for 5 mana. When it does you get a free Clone effect that arrives with another +1/+1 counter. That's really strong here but you can only do it at sorcery speed.

Alright, now let's turn to five more cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

Let's start with channel lands. Each of this pair can arrive to the battlefield untapped and ready to tap for colored mana. The Green one can channel for two mana and destroy, at instant speed, an artifact, enchantment or nonbasic land and then they can ramp out a sort-of basic. This is one of the most high-profile new cards from the set and the non-foil is going for $30 on some sites just a few days after being previewed. It's probably worth it. It's strong removal from a land source in this build that needs it, while the Blue land can channel for four mana and bounce an artifact, creature, enchantment or planeswalker back to the owner's hand. That emergency instant speed bounce can help, and you can bounce something that broke past your counter shield to recast it. Enjoy this awesome pair!

The first is a 1-drop 1/1 Spirit that has an enchantment cast trigger just like your leader. As you cast enchantments you can toss a +1/+1 counter on a dork, might I suggest Tatsunari for the swinging with his ability? I also love this art and how it reminds me of the powerhouse 1/1 uncommon Spirit called Hana Kami. We have 17 non-creature enchantments in the brew in addition to creatures...like the Shrieker of Gloom! This three mana 2/1 has menace to get in a swing. When it arrives to the battlefield it can basically Eternal Witness a permanent, which is good for things like Seal of Doom and then you get another cast trigger. It's also an enchantment for things like the Visitor. Good pair that works well together. Enjoy!

This card was Sakura-Tribe Elder in my first deck list, but I pulled it for this. This has channel for three mana and will ramp a basic land from your library to the battlefield, so it's just one more mana than the STE. But you can cast it if your mana is fixed, and you can net a 6/5 cast that is an enchantment and gives you a nice sized 6/5 trampler for your time. I love this swap a lot.

And there we go! Ready for my build? Sure thing!