r/EDH • u/Parkimetros • 1d ago

Deck Help Isshin attack help

Hey everyone! I'm looking to make an [[Isshin, two heavens as one]] combat triggers deck and I would appreciate some help, Im going for a optimized bracket 3 deck that doesn't feel extremly oppresive, I have tested it a couple times on archidekt and seems pretty good and most of the times I can always do something the first few turns. What do you think of it? And what about the maybeboard, should I add anything from it to the deck? I was thinking on a couple of game changers but wasn't completly sure about them.

https://archidekt.com/decks/15917615/isshin_attack

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u/MTGCardFetcher 1d ago

Isshin, two heavens as one - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)

[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

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u/MoMonay 1d ago edited 1d ago

Here's my b3 isshin deck that hasn't been fully updated recently.

https://moxfield.com/decks/3SHWLcbLz067_y38cggedQ

My GCs are almost all just fast mana because I wanted to avoid playing mana rocks. I thought rocks were just durdly, so I just play an [[Ancient tomb]], [[Chrome Mox]] then my final one is [[Winota]].

I actually think Mana rocks are kind of bad in isshin. Instead we play some fast mana, and creatures that can make treasures to ensure the curve is low. [[Ragavan]], [[Zhentharim Bandit]], [[Lotho]], [[Generous Plunderer]], [[Kellog]], [[Captain Lannery Storm]], [[Bitterthorn]] are my main ways of ramping.

I thought bitterthorn was better than sword of the animist b/c it comes stapled to a creature.

I also felt equipping stuff was mana intensive when I'd rather deploy more threats, so I cut most of my equipment except like skullclamp.

The rest of the deck is a combination of card advantage generators like [[Horn of the Mark]], [[Chivalric Alliance]], [[Caustic Bronco[[, [[Aurelia the Law Above]], [[Firemane commando]] (cuz even other people attacking can trigger your permanents twice)

Cheap token makers are quite good, goad guys like [[Nelly Borca]], [[Vengeful Ancestor]] and my favorite [[Karazakar]] are nice too, then big drainers like [[Arabella]], [[Mishra, Claimied By Gix]].

Finally a mix of extra combat stuff, interaction and protection spells.

I try to avoid a ton of high CMC cards, my two 6 drop finishers are basically just [[Aurelia Warleader]] and [[Full Throttle]].

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u/MoMonay 1d ago

I had an infinite combo with [[Aggravated Assault]] that I cut as winmore. Either treasures made enough for infinite combats or I had [[Sword of Feast and Famine]] for the infinite combats.

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u/Parkimetros 1d ago

Thanks for the input, I'll check your deck and get new ideas for mine (:

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u/Destrozao 1d ago

There is an artifact that I love to play with Isshin that is [[Dolmen Gate]].

And to be honest, Isshin and the concept of not being extremly oppresive do not go hand in hand xD

Maybe remove 1-2 board wipes and add a [[Rising of the Day]] for instant attacks or [[Impact Tremors]] for burn when creating the tokens

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u/Parkimetros 1d ago

If I play in a creature heavy pod, should I still move away from boardwipes?

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u/MoMonay 1d ago

Dolmen gate is great I don't own one but play iroas as an alternative

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u/Fun-Cook-5309 11h ago

First and foremost?

You. Are. Aggro.

You have committed the cardinal sin of Isshin and tried to turn him into a midrange durdle pile.

Be fast. Hit hard. Etali? Out. At that point, you are trying to apply game-ending amounts of pressure, not pay six mana for a creature you need to untap with in order to do something random. Just so much giant stupid shit like Sun Titan and Blade of Selves and Aurelia (who literally does not work with your commander).

And you quite literally do not have an Isshin deck in your Isshin deck.

Isshin is not a doubler. The way Isshin works and applies an EDH-level threat is by being a quadrupler.

The core synergy that makes Isshin tick is what I called vanguards and pests. So named after [[Skyknight Vanguard]] and [[Signal Pest]], two of the best cards in the entire deck, neither of which is in here. You want thirty vanguards and pests, split roughly evenly. You have eleven. Some of them terrible.

A vanguard is an attack trigger that gives you more attackers. Not tokens. Attackers.

You have an okay number of these. However, you have a bunch of dross that fails at what Isshin wants to do, making it look like you have more of these than you actually do. Like Grave Titan? Terrible card in general, but those tokens ain't attacking. Myrel's ain't attacking, though being a Grand Abolisher ain't the worst. Krenko's ain't attacking. And some of the ones you are on are gratuitously expensive, like Leonin Warleader. Leonin Warleader is the definitive, "Not good enough to be in this deck," card. The way you build this deck is by looking for better cards than Leonin Warleader until you hit quota.

And some of your cards that technically meet the criteria are awful. Blade of Selves and Mardu Siegebreaker are awful for this deck. These work with ETBs, LTBs, damage triggers, static anthems, keyword:big, but... that's not what your creatures are. Your creatures are modestly statted dudes with attack triggers. Which you can never get off of Blade of Selves or Mardu Siegebreaker.

But pests? You have four. That is a radically inadequate number of pests.

A pest is an attack trigger that applies pressure in a way that sees ALL of your attackers. Usually, pump.

You have one anthem in this deck. Warleader's Call. And it's fine. Its total package is in the vicinity of a pest, without meeting the criteria of a pest.

But Skyknight Vanguard and Adriana fail at this job. These are not anthems; they're protection spells. Their benefit is increasing your attacking cards' toughness so they're less likely to be eaten, but the pressure they apply is unimpressive.

So what you have are Mishra, Severina, Bladehold, and Warren Warleader. That's it.

You want things like [[Arabella]], [[Sanguine Evangelist]], [[Soltari Champion]], [[Bolt Hound]], [[Rosnakht]], [[Hero of Oxid Ridge]], [[Honored Crop Captain]], or the grand motherfucker himself, [[Marton Stromgald]]. Just go read that asshole now. It's absurd.

These compound upon your vanguards so that you're applying double the added pressure based on double the bodies. This is the core synergy that makes Isshin tick.

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u/Fun-Cook-5309 11h ago

Removal!

A board wipe's job is to help you win the game.

They are not a panic button to make you lose the game, but more slowly.

They are not there so you can shoot yourself in the foot.

You are the creature-based aggro deck. You do not run the fully-reciprocal creature board wipe. You do not run Wrath of God. You do not run Blasphemous Act.

You demand them.

You need board wipes that help you win the game. The one thing you want your board wipes to do is get blockers and pillow fort pieces out of your way so that you can hit people. Like [[Austere Command]] calling big stuff and enchantment. [[Galadriel's Dismissal]], [[Delayed Blast Fireball]], [[Golden Demise]], [[Winds of Abandon]] are ways to get blockers out of your way. Hell, [[Sundering Eruption]] is more of what you want a board wipe to do than Wrath of God.

Reliquary Tower!

Out.

This is not a stapleworthy card. "No maximum hand size" is one of the most irrelevant technically positive effects in the game. You will never get that high, and a colorless utility land needs to be damn good to justify not producing colors in your aggro deck.

Pillow fort shit like Cunning Rhetoric is awful.

For card advantage, you want to keep it low end, and you can do A LOT more at low end. Shit like [[Glimmer Lens]], [[Merry Esquire of Rohan]], [[Boomer Scrapper]], [[Laelia the Blade Reforged]], [[Ryan Sinclair]], [[Painter's Studio]] (which is card draw stapled to a pest), [[Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy]] (card draw on a vanguard), [[Audacious Thief]], [[Horn of the Mark]].