Doubling Attack Triggers with Isshin

Posted on March 3, 2022

Hello awesome people! I hope that your day is going amazingly well today!

Today is the eighth and final day that I'll be looking at a Commander from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty or it's Commander set that debuted with it. Good bye NEO! Here are my decks for the first 7:

The first was built around Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos - Commanding Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com). This deck uses a number of 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!

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 - (Commanding Order with Naomi | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)). 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!

The third deck I created was around Tatsunari, Toad Rider. This deck played around 20 enchantments to get triggers off his cast ability to make his legendary fun, like Rhystic Study and Sylvan Library, around 15 Frogs and changelings to use his ability on like Yargle, Glutton of Urborg and The Gitrog Monster and then some Voltron-ish and unblockable elements to get some punches in like Archetype of Imagination and Whispersilk Cloak. You can check out this fun build here - (Commanding Tatsunari, Toad Rider | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com))

The fourth deck I crafted was around the Boros Samurai needs of Raiyuu, Storm's Edge. I included around 25 mostly Samurai with the trigger that Raiyuu has from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty as well as it's Commander set. I also tossed in Warriors like cards like Moraug, Fury of Akoum; Samurai loving things like Godo, Bandit Warlord; Samurai makers like The Wandering Emperor and loads more synergies. I made it feel Voltron around the leader. Enjoy it here!!! - Commanding Raiyuu's Samurai | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)

The fifth deck I built was a Mono-Black ramp and combo deck around the Nastiest of Commanders, Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion. In this build I had 6 infinite combos in Black or colorless and I leaned heavily into Nashi's Spikey exiling cards and casting them with life rather than mana. This included cards like life-loss matters things like Vilis, Brooker of Blood or deck sorting stuff like Scroll Rack. It's very strong at the kitchen table and you can check it out here - Getting Nasty in Commander with Nashi | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)

The sixth deck I built was a Mono-Blue Artifacts list built around Katsumasa, the Animator. The build focused on producing artifact tokens like Treasures, Clues, and Food to create an endless supply of targets for Katsumasa's ability. Cards like Academy Manufactor, Treasure Vault, and a small crew of vehicles are ready for Katsumasa to bring to life. You can check the list out here - Animating Commander with Katsumasa | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)!

The seventh deck I forged was around Katsumasa, the Animator. This fun card inspired a mono-blue deck with vehicles like Weatherlight and many token makers of Clues and Treasures like Confirm Suspicions to make into creatures with Katsumasa and friends like Rise and Shine. Good stuff! You can check it out here - (Animating Commander with Katsumasa | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com))

Today I am building around this popular leader who already has 1,268 decks registered over at EDHREC.com. I already built a Boros Samurai Voltron deck around the attack triggers of Raiyuu, Storm's Edge and this seems to play into that with a ton of Samurai triggers like Raiyuu and other Boros colored Samurai and Black support. That will not be this deck, although a few cards here and there will likely populate given both care about attack triggers and both share two colors. From that deck, in addition to mana rocks, I am running the combo of Sword of Feast and Famine and Aggravated Assault (I also tossed in backup Hellkite Charger); Godo, Bandit Warlord and Raiyuu himself for attack combats if a single Samurai attacks or Godo does; Moraug, Fury of Akoum; some lands like Cathedral of War; and Sublime Archangel.

Instead, I want to a different direction than EDHREC.com suggests. Note that this works for when any creature attacks, not just yours, so when someone attacks you and triggers a defensive card you also net the trigger twice, so you could play this in a Pillow Fort deck build around things like Cunning Rhetoric and Search the Premises. I am not leaning into that synergy but it's there in case you want to.

Let's add a bunch of extra attack triggers to the build around things like Aggravated Assault. When Aurelia attacks for the first time, you get another attack and untap your stuff. That additional attack has more synergy with the attack triggers triggering again so you can lean into that ability more and more, with Isshin, an extra attack trigger turns into two. Aurelia is a bit pricey at six mana, 3/4 with flying, vigilance and haste. But she's worth it.

These next two are mono-Red ways to give you more attacks. The first is a 4/4 that, when it deals combat damage to a force, you can get an extra attack step, and 4/4 for five mana is fine. I tossed in Rogue's Passage into my lands and Access Tunnel for smaller attackers like Aurelia and Whispersilk Cloak. It cannot attack that player again this turn, so you can net a few combat damage triggers each turn. The second is a bigger 5/5 flyer for 6 mana that is on curve. This one, when it attacks the player with the most life, you get a free extra attack. Nice!

There are a bunch of dorks in my colors that go wide when they swing, and getting this a few times can overwhelm a table, like this mono white duo. Adeline is a powerful 3 drop Human Knight with power equal to your creature count. She scales up in multiplayer. When you attack, (not just with her so this works the turn you drop her) for each opponent you attacked you make a 1/1 dork attacking them. You can easily attack three foes and make three 1/1 tokens each attack step, doubled with Isshin. Then the Hero is a nice four drop 3/4 that has two attack triggers. You get Battle Cry to pump your other attackers by +1/+0 and you can make two 1/1s attacking. We'll have some other fat token makers here and there as well.

More attack triggers for the doubling wins! The Giant is a nice 3/4 that, when it swings, (or becomes the target of a spell) you have two options. I like the first to burn your foe's down with that 3 damage each of them which is 6 with Isshin. Even in a 40 life game that will kill quickly. You can also Act on Impulse two cards from your library for card flow. And you can do one each, one set of new cards to cast, then you can Lightning Bolt your enemies. And then Karazikar is a powerful 5/5 for five mana. When it swings, you can tap a dork that might otherwise block, and then you goad it, so you'll get through with your future attack triggers. Also, as your foes attack each other, they (and you) will draw a card and lose a life, and with that being doubled with Isshin you could get a lot of cards drawn. Both offer card flow for the build.

As does Breena, the Demagogue and Etali, Primal Storm. Breena is nasty powerful and you could pretty quickly get a very big Isshin that can threaten Commander damage. Two triggers of that each turn is +12/+12 after one round of attacks in order for them to draw cards. Etali is a commonly played 6-mana 6/6 at the kitchen table generally and Commander specifically. You exile the top card of each library and you can cast them for free, but this staple is broken in this deck. Nice card flow for you!

Now let's turn to card answers. When Drakuseth swings, you deal four damage to one target and three divided as you choose to up to two others. That's seven damage per attack. Doubled with Isshin? Doubled with more attacks? That's a game winning amount of damage, and you can send that damage at people's dorks and planeswalkers to kill very ably. The Archon can swing (and it triggers on arrival) to force a foe to Diabolic Edict a dork or planeswalker and they discard a card and lose three life while you draw and gain life. With powerful doubling, that is a nasty amount of card advantage! It's a bit pricey as a 6/6 for 8 mana but it flies and its abilities are well worth it. Both are worth it!

I really don't have time for a bunch of reanimation because my deck is full of creatures with attack triggers, equipment, answers like Vindicates, ways of saving my team like Teferi's Protection, card flow like Ancient Craving, mana rocks, and ways of getting extra attacks. But I did manage to find space for Rakshasa Debaser. This 6/6 is on curve and when it attacks, you can Reanimate a dork from a foe's graveyard under your control. It doesn't leave either! So, it stays! Getting this multiple times with Isshin and your extra attacks and you really dominate the graveyard and its key virtual card advantage. You could really dominate a battlefield with it. It also has Encore so you can get another dose of graveyard loving fun times. Aiding its reanimation, I originally had Sun Titan in my deck, but nothing is small enough to recur so I swapped it with Grave Titan. This is one of my few cards that care about graveyards and can come back. I'll lean into this later.

Check out Combat Calligrapher from a previous Commander set. This 3/3 flyer is Phantom Monster size and cost, which is on curve. When people (including you) swing as a foe of yours, they'll make a 2/1 flying Inkling Black dork that is attacking them! Also note that they cannot swing at you with Inklings, or your planeswalkers. Pretty nice politics and awesome with Isshin doubling the Inkling making.

We need haste in this brew...a lot. Since we have a mass number of attack triggers that do our things, we don't want to waste time frumping around. This is one of three enhancements in this brew, and we've already talked about Aggravated Assault. Sure, I have equipment giving haste like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots, but we really need haste, so in went this three drop mono-Red haste enabler. It's too important here not to run.

Let's turn to some actual proper Relentless Assaults. We'll start with the Waves. They are a Relentless Assault variant that cost one more mana and are a bit easier to cast with the hybrid. You can Relentless Assault. And then they have retrace. You can discard a land (we have 39 in the deck) and recast it for another 5 mana and another Relentless Assault effect. Note that this is, along with the Debaser, my only other card that cares about the graveyard. Then we have the split card Response // Resurgence. It's here for the latter, which is also a Relentless Assault variant for another mana. In this case you give your team vigilance and first strike for the turn, making it better. It can be Response'd into a creature removal spell if that's needed.

Savage Beating is an instant combat trick that can only be cast on your combat. You can either give your stuff double strike for the turn which is a powerful way to really push the board around, or you can Relentless Assault for one more mana. And if you have two more mana and entwine this than you get both! That's a lot of damage. Really strong stuff!

Check out these two triggered ability copies. The Resonator can tap for two mana to copy a triggered ability, so you can copy an attack trigger. Ideally, you'll copy an extra attack trigger like Aurelia or Raiyuu. The Engine isn't on the EDHREC.com page for Isshin despite how good it is with him. This can also 2 mana tap to copy a triggered ability like Hellkite Charger or Solemn Simulacrum but also an activated ability like Aggravated Assault. You can also spend three mana to copy a Relentless Assault, removal spell or card drawing spell like Ambition's Cost. You can also spend four mana to copy a permanent spell like your attacking fun times dorks or your mana rocks. Good pair!

Most of my equipment is obvious like Swiftfoot Boots, but not these two. The former piece is a 2 mana to drop (cheap) but a pricey four to equip. When it swings, each other opponent gets attacked by a copy of that dork, which is pretty good. And that ramps up in multiplayer quite ably. Although we have a few dorks with ETB triggers that you can use to make two copies of for triggers (Grave Titan, Solemn Simulacrum, Archon of Cruelty) this is really here to double with Isshin to make four copies and really punch face. The latter piece of equipment is a 2 drop 2 equip +1/+1 granter, both twice as expensive as Short Sword, but when it swings you can ramp out a basic land from your library tapped and that's good for the mana needs of this brew and double triggers is nice. Good stuff!

Check out the pairing of Iroas, God of Victory with Dolmen Gate. You can swing with your team into a big defense, net all of those pretty triggers, and then you won't lose them. How does your foe block, since their creatures can still die? Rough asks. Nasty!

Let's turn to some lands.

The Grounds is here to serve as an emergency brake on graveyard abuse that cannot be answered by counters or removal. You can just sacrifice it to Tormod's Crypt everyone. I also tossed in Bojuka Bog to play a similar role. The Village is another way to give haste in this brew. You can tap it for Red mana, and then tap a red mana and it to give something haste.

I really wanted haste from my lands so I tossed in the Battlements, which taps for colorless and then, with red, can give haste just like the Village. I also tossed in the friendly Garrison with its attack trigger to make two 1/1 Human dorks when it swings that are also swinging. Both work very well in here and you could potentially meld them into Hanweir, the Writhing Township, a 7/4 dork with trample and haste that makes two 3/2 Eldrazi Horrors swinging at the person it attacks. That can win the game quickly with your Isshin's and your copy makers like the Resonator. The dork, the land, and the melder all have great synergy here!

And there we go! Let's check out my decklist!