Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is right around the corner. By the time this article goes live, the entirety of the main set will likely have been fully revealed or at least be close to it. While I'm planning on doing a number of Commander pieces with some of the many new legends and my usual Pauper review, I thought I'd take today to do a little Classic Commander revisit to the original Kamigawa block. After all, one of the big reasons people began to retroactively fall in love with the plane so much was because of the rise of Commander, and today I wanted to go back and do a fan favorite: Isamaru, Hound of Konda.

Isamaru has long been a favorite for Commander decks. Players love having a dog as their commander and not only do they love that, but having a 2/2 for 1 mana coming down right out of the gate can be huge. It very quickly chips away at opponents' life totals and starts getting in for commander damage. The card seems innocuous if you're just going in for two points of damage a turn, but gets better when you start pumping it up after it's already on the board. That lets you really take over the game quickly.

Most times these days you'll see Isamaru done in one of two ways: Voltron or White Weenies. With the state of modern-day Magic, it's pretty easy to go either way. We've gotten tons of support on both sides and there's no shortage of ways to do either strategy. In the days of Classic Commander, however, there was quite a bit less and a lot of the offerings were a little bit middle of the road. As such, I met the two strategies somewhat halfway to come up with a sweet list. Let's check it out!

Isamaru | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Accorder Paladin
• 1 Aven Mindcensor
• 1 Baneslayer Angel
• 1 Blade Splicer
• 1 Captain of the Watch
• 1 Celestial Crusader
• 1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
• 1 Darien, King of Kjeldor
• 1 Dawnglare Invoker
• 1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Emeria Angel
• 1 Glory
• 1 Hero of Bladehold
• 1 Kabira Vindicator
• 1 Karmic Guide
• 1 Kemba, Kha Regent
• 1 Kithkin Rabble
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Kongming, "Sleeping Dragon"
• 1 Leonin Arbiter
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1 Mother of Runes
• 1 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
• 1 Serra Ascendant
• 1 Signal Pest
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stoneforge Mystic
• 1 Stonehewer Giant
• 1 Student of Warfare
• 1 Weathered Wayfarer
• 1 Windborn Muse

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Ajani Goldmane
• 1 Elspeth Tirel
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

• Instants (6)
• 1 Brave the Elements
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Oblation
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Spectral Procession

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Crackdown
• 1 Faith's Fetters
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Glorious Anthem
• 1 Honor of the Pure
• 1 Luminarch Ascension
• 1 Marshal's Anthem
• 1 Oblivion Ring

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Helm of Kaldra
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Shield of Kaldra
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strata Scythe
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Sword of Kaldra
• 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1 Sword of Vengeance

• Lands (36)
• 25 Plains
• 1 Drifting Meadow
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1 Kjeldoran Outpost
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Mishra's Factory
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Wasteland
• 1 Windbrisk Heights

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For the most part, it's exactly as I described above: part Voltron, part White Weenies. As such, all of your equipment mainstays are here: Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant, and Kemba along with the usual suite of notable equipment. Here that includes the Kaldra gear, some variations of the Sword of X and Y, and Batterskull. This was really all there was at the time, with a couple other potent cards such as Strata Scythe and Sword of Vengeance to round it out. If you want, you could add in things like Loxodon Warhammer, Basilisk Collar, Argentum Armor, and Nim Deathmantle, but by and large your options are much more limited than they would be if you were using a modern card pool.

Each of the various equipment cards work really nicely with Isamaru, allowing you to get in quick early damage with the good boy himself and then follow it up with equipment in the turns that follow. Using the weenies and general aggro strategy as well, however, it allows you to share the wealth beyond the sweet doggo. After all, if you make a bunch of tokens with cards like Kemba, Hero of Bladehold, Emeria Angel, Elspeth, and Kjeldoran Outpost, there's no shortage of critters to suit up. Even if you don't suit them up with equipment necessarily, there's still tons of sweet anthem effects to pump up the whole team.

What you get at the end of the day is a pretty simple and sweet kind of deck: play your stuff and turn it sideways. It's a very easy to build and easy to play kind of deck, so it won't appeal to everyone. If you want something simple, strong, and effective, though, it's really hard to go wrong with Isamaru and cards in this deck. Heck, even though it's Classic Commander, the card quality on display overall here is so nice that it could probably hold up reasonably well against a modern Commander list as well.

As a result, this lends quite well to upgrading the deck if you want to take it to a more modern level compared to the Classic style. You can even run the newly previewed Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful - a clear descendant of Isamaru and a Hachiko analogue - alongside him or as the actual Commander. However you play, make it your own and have a great time at your next Commander night. Make sure you pet the pupper, give him good treats, and crush all of your opponents' life totals with his aid!

Paige Smith

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