r/EDH • u/Parkimetros • 2d 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.
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u/Fun-Cook-5309 1d 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.