Some of the most exciting parts ofMagic: The Gatheringis taking your favorite legendary creature, putting them at the head of a commander deck, and then finding all sorts of weird and fun ways to break that card.
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Isshin, Two Heavens as One is an incredibly fun commander to build around. With Isshin out in play, if a creature attacks and causes a trigger of a card you control to go off, that trigger happens an extra time. A deck like that has a few different ways you can build it, so let’s take a look at some of the best.
5Voltron
Based on powerful enchantments and artifacts,Voltron-style deckstake one creature and load it up with all sorts of effects to overwhelm your opponents with Commander Damage. Once Isshin gets a few enchantments or equipment attached to him, he can be an unstoppable machine in the face of your opponents.
For equipment, you have your usual suite of protection like Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves, but it’s important to make sure you can push damage through. Cards like Trailblazer Boots and Whispersilk Cloak will make Isshin unblockable, helping to deal Commander Damage directly to your opponents without any pesky blockers.
One of the best enchantments you may play with Isshin is Angelic Exaltation, which gives a creature +X/+X when a creature you control attacks alone, with X being equal to the number of creatures you control. Since it’s a combat trigger, Isshin will trigger it twice, giving him a massive boost in power.
4Legends
Building adeck around legendary creaturesprovides a unique challenge for you, bringing out powerful creatures with battlefield-warping abilities, all of which get to happen twice if it’s a combat trigger.
In this style of deck, you’ll want to be playing cards that boost or protect legendary creatures, like Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge, which gives your legendary creatures menace, and Ratadrabik of Urborg, which creates token copies of your legendary creatures when they die.
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Then you’ll need a healthy number of legendary creatures with powerful combat steps. Cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar will fill your board with tokens, two for each opponent if you have Isshin out.
Another powerful addition to the deck can be Otharri, Suns' Glory, which grants experience counters every time it attacks, then creates 2/2 tokens for each experience counter you have, with Isshin doubling the counters you get each time.
3Vehicle
Another unique take on Isshin is to build him with a focus on vehicles. These artifact creatures often have a combat trigger with them, making them a natural fit for this commander. One of the best vehicles you can run in this deck is the Parhelion II, a massive ship that creates two 4/4 Angel tokens tapped and attacking when it attacks.
Since Isshin doubles combat triggers, you’ll have four of those Angel tokens swinging in the first time you attack with it.
Past the Parhelion II, you have vehicles like the Weatherlight, which will let you dig ten cards deep, grabbing two historic cards from your deck with Isshin in play. Another subtly powerful card to include is Raiders' Karve, a common Vehicle that looks at the top card of your library when you attack, and if it’s a land, puts it into play tapped.
2Treasure
If there’s one Commander theme that’sbound to reward you, it’s Treasures. These little artifact tokens can be tapped to add mana of any color to your mana pool or even be used for other effects. With a huge influx of mana from these Treasure tokens, you’ll be able to drop larger and larger spells to overwhelm your opponents.
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Great Treasure cards include Goldspan Dragon, which lets your Treasures tap for double, and Dockside Extortionist, which is the premiere Treasure maker in Commander. The pirate Captain Lannery Storm creates a Treasure token when it attacks, making it the ideal creature to pair with Isshin, getting two Treasures from each attack.
1Extra Combat Steps
One thing that red, white, and black Mardu decks are good at is taking extra combat steps, and with Isshin, you can take tons of extra attack steps to overwhelm your opponents. As it turns out, many combat triggers happen when a creature of yours attacks, making them copyable with Isshin’s ability.
If you’re looking to attack a ton then you’re going to want cards like Aurelia, the Warleader, which grants you an extra combat step the first time you attack with her, untapping all your creatures while she’s at it. Combat Celebrant is another popular choice, letting you exert it to take an extra combat step.
Then it’s a matter of making the most of your attacks with triggers that drain life or deal damage when creatures you control attack. Commissar Severina Raine and Brutal Hordechief drain your opponents of life equal to the number of attacking creatures you control, both triggering twice when you attack on each of your combat steps.
