Hey Macaronigrill5150, thank you for the suggestions! I'm glad you've found this deck primer to be helpful.

I like your suggestions and think they could be fun in Isshin builds, but don't think they all quite fit my personal preferences for inclusion. I thin Cavalcade and Restoration of Eiganjo have potential. Since you are newer to MtG, I'll walk you through my thoughts on each suggestion a bit:

• Haazda Marshal - I got excited when I saw a 1 Drop that can create tokens on attack. It lacks the Battalion keyword like Frontline Medic, but triggers in a very similar fashion. While Haazda Marshal has the potential to create a couple tokens per combat with Isshin, it has the hoop to jump through of needing to attack with at least two other creatures to make a token(s) in the first place. I don't think Haazda Marshal is bad, but I personally don't like the extra hoop to jump through. I like my effects to be as immediate as possible, or needing minimal setup to pop.

• Chainflail Centipede - I think this would work a bit better in an Isshin build that is more equipment/Voltron focused. A +4/+0 buff with Isshin on board is nothing to scoff at, but I think that token strategies function better with anthems that affect the entire board vs 1 creature.

• Cavalcade of Calamity - This is a cool one, and one I've considered for my deck given all the creature tokens it can produce. I think I opted to not include it (yet), and instead included Impact Tremors. I've seen Impact Tremors pull plenty of weight in my playgroup, and have both beat my friends with it and died to its effect. In a similar line of thought for excluding Chainflail Centipede, I chose to exclude (for now) Calvalcade because not many creatures in the 99 have power 1 or less, and about 5-6 produce tokens. Impact Tremors is a bit more low-risk than Calvalcade, because the damage hits the whole table just for the creature entering the battlefield. In the right decks Impact Tremors is an infinite combo piece. I like the potential for Calvalcade, but I opted for Impact Tremors due to seeing the potential its capable of firsthand.

• The Restoration of Eiganjo  ^Flip - I honestly kind of forgot about this card during spoiler season. When it comes to Saga effects, I try to think of the timing, and how does that timing feel in best or worst case scenarios based on ramp. Most ideally, this gets played on turn 2 (Turn 1 Plains + Sol Ring) and ramps a bit, Isshin turn 3, then this transforms on turn 4 to swing away with Isshin. I think if this gets played on Turn 4, it would still be okay since it gives some mid game gas with upside to maybe recur a small creature, enchantment, or mana rock that was destroyed earlier. I do like that the flipside can make tokens when it blocks as well. I'll definitely keep tabs on this one!

Crow-Umbra, I appreciate the feedback a lot, it has definitely given me a new perspective on my cards, and even which cards would be best to use, and suggest. for example Haazda Marshal

. Haazda Marshal forcing yourself to attack with three creatures for one token is very risky and not quite worth it.

. and especially with Cavalcade of Calamity, Impact Tremors does not have nearly as much risk as Cavalcade of Calamity has. Because you deal damage just by creating tokens, instead of attacking and then possibly losing all your tokens.

Have you considered Torment of Hailfire

Macaronigrill5150 - No problem! Thank you for taking the time to engage in some discussion. The nuance involved in finding what works for deck strategies is like half the fun for me. You'll definitely get a feel for these things the more you play and see what it's like when cards may have to jump through hoops to pop off.

Hi Harbard, I haven't considered Torment of Hailfire for this deck. Torment of Hailfire is a good card, but I don't think it really fits the theme here.

I currently run it in my Prosper deck, Triple Six, Five, Forked Tongue [Primer], since that deck can consistently churn out Treasures to dump into the X cost.

I think that most Isshin decks should do just fine in terms of winning through combat damage.

does Brutal Hordechief get a trigger for each attacking creature?

I keep coming back to this list for more hints to improve my list. Marton Stromgald?? That's a card? I keep learning about all these obscure old cards lately like Fervent Charge or Arcum Dagsson (for my Urza list)

Oh! I do recommend Grand Abolisher for the list, My Isshin list came out of a Ghired list (I got tired of the list and Isshin seemed to work better for what I wanted to do) that kept getting blown away by AEtherize and Aetherspouts like cards, counterspells keeping a finisher off, etc. Grand abolisher can keep those in check.

Hey IndependentMeta, it looks like Brutal Hordechief will trigger for each creature, according to its Rulings Page on Gatherer.

DawnsRayofLight- There are a lot of really cool cards that synergize with Isshin, especially some of those deeper cuts. My Moxfield version of the decklist has about 150 cards in the considering section.

To be honest, I think Grand Abolisher is more of a meta call. I used to run it in my Awkward Eye Contact with Death deck, before I converted it into Isshin. Grand Abolisher made more sense in Alesha, since she was much more combo-focused.

I've only run into Aetherspouts a couple times in my playgroup, but it's not as common anymore.

so that plus ur commander equals to 2x triggers how cool

Just a couple cards to consider. Anointed Procession for your tokens? I also feel Etali, Primal Storm could be a good one to top out at. It doesn't help with Go-wide but could steal some serious stuff, especially with your haste enablers, and the fact it seems your pod is normally pretty big.

Love your deck though. It gave me a bunch of good ideas for an Isshin deck of my own. I've been trying to decide between go-wide, forced combats, or extra combat steps and your changelog confirmed some of my thoughts about a couple cards I was unsure of. Do you mind if I link to yours as inspiration in the final copy I end up settling on?

Thanks you for the suggestions adt630. I'm glad you've liked the primer and found it helpful. My primers usually start off as ramblings for myself to organize my brewing ideas, but I've had a lot of fun updating my changes with this one. I'd be honored if you cited/linked mine as inspiration.

I wanted to share a few thoughts on your suggestions:

• Etali, Primal Storm : She was actually in one of the earliest drafts of the deck, and I think I might've documented her cut in one of the earliest change logs. She is an incredible card and pretty impactful to pull off. I have played her in a couple other decks, but she was usually removed each time I played her, and more often before she could swing in combat. I got tired of her being removal bait without Lightning Greaves, or waiting a whole turn rotation for her to pop off if I didn't have some other Haste enabler. I opted to include some other 4-5cmc card, I don't even remember what at this point. If anything, I kinda want to try to find a slot for Mezzio Mugger, since it has some similarities to Etali.

• Anointed Procession : I don't own a copy in my collection, and wanted to see how the deck could function without it before seriously considering purchasing it. I've seen Anointed Procession firsthand in my own playgroup and how powerful it is for non-Green token decks. After playing enough games with this deck, I don't think it really lacks in capability to spit out tokens. Anointed Procession is good, but it feels a bit "Win-More" to me, and would mostly just be a redundant effect if Isshin is removed. Anointed is a great card, but I personally don't feel I need it right now. That can always change the more I play this deck.

Hope this is all helpful and you have fun playing your own Isshin deck!

I saw Witty Roastmaster is up for consideration. Would you try out Corpse Knight at all? I recognize it's more color intensive but it is a 2 drop. Also causes loss of life instead of damage

Thank you for the suggestion knightofzero21. It's kind of funny that I forgot about Corpse Knight, since I used to run it in my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck as a combo piece.

I do like Corpse Knight and don't mind the 2 color intensity. In my experience a 2 color 2 drop is about the same level of on-curve play as a 1 color 3 drop. Having played this deck numerous times already, I don't think I've ever felt mana screwed by color balance/fixing.

My current issue is figuring out what slots I want to change up. I haven't played with my friends in about a month. As much as I want to change 1-3 slots to test stuff out, I also kind of want to wait knowing that Commander Legends 2 is somehow already around the corner.

Since it's getting a much needed reprint in CBL, thoughts on Blade of Selves? Apologies if this has been brought up before.

No worries KBK7101. I think someone asked about it a couple months back, but those comments were likely archived in one of my updates.

Prior to the reprint I wasn't really a fan of Blade of Selves due in part to the price tag. I wonder how much the reprint will move the price. I'm still feeling iffy on it though. I'm not a fan of the 6 total mana to cast and equip it. I think Blade of Selves can really shine in a deck with creatures that have ETB or Combat Damage triggers to really get the most out of it.

In my personal preference/play style, I like to keep my spells below 6 cmc, so once games get north of Turn 6-8, I can rebuild my board and leave enough mana up for protection or removal. Blade of Selves can help with that "army in a can" aspect to rebuilding post boardwipe. As-is, I think most of the creatures in my deck are fairly cheap and efficient, and can bounce back pretty well after wipes.

I'll keep an eye on how the reprinting affects the price and I'll likely pick up a copy for my collection at the very least.

Just wanted to drop a note of appreciation for your build here. I've been keeping pretty close track of it as soon as you started it, as well as used some early iterations on building my own Isshin deck - also gave you props in my build that I've posted here on TappedOut, 'cause that's the right thing to do :P So far I've only gotten two playtests, but the playgroup looks to be active this coming weekend - hoping for some action and at least one win on the day!

I'm particularly excited for CL2, because I completely agree that Battle Angels of Tyr is going to have much better synergy and value compared to Herald of the Host. I took a little bit of a vacation tho, so, I haven't been able to dig too much into New Capenna - although there does seem to be some promising things in there, so I might need to dig some more and perhaps convince my bank account that I don't hate it. =)

Thank you for your kind words & checking in cptinsaneoman. Wishing you the best of luck on your games this weekend! I'm hoping my play group will get together in the next couple of weeks. I've wanted to figure out what other edits I want to make aside from the obvious Battle Angels of Tyr over Herald of the Host.

I've had a lot of fun updating this primer, and responses like yours definitely motivate me to keep things up to date on my build and editing process, and also some of my own decision making for selections. It's cool seeing people's iterations for their own groups and metas.

There's been a pleasantly surprising amount of stuff for Isshin between New Capenna & CL2. Hopefully a few more games played will give us both answers for the next round of edits and swaps.

Some suggestions from the recent sets that may have flown under your radar:

Burakos, Party Leader: You'll at least cause an opponent to lose 2 life and you create 2 treasure tokens, there are a few "party" cards in my Isshin list so sometimes I get some more bang for my buck out of him.

Elder Brain: this card has just been hilarious. It may be high on the CMC but with the treasure tokens made you can still run it out fairly quickly.

Archon of Cruelty: not so new, and high CMC, but I haven't had issues getting it out and it flat out wins games. (I had one game where I discarded Archon to Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  ^Flip, brought it back with Olivia, Crimson Bride, next turn put out Isshin and used the mirror breaker to copy Archon and it was game over. mind you this was in about the first 5 turns.

Black Market Connections and Smuggler's Share have become staples in most of my decks. Highly recommend.

Greatsword of Tyr: bonkers in Isshin

Mysterious Limousine: seems janky but has been an all-star

Hammers of Moradin fall is a similar vein to greatsword of Tyr

Urabrask, Heretic Praetor: I did not like this card when it was spoiled, I decided to test it as a means to counter control decks and give some more card draw and it has been surprisingly good. It doesn't seem like it is amazing when you're using it, but being on the other side of it playing control or a combo deck it was a nightmare.

Thanks for the suggestions DawnsRayofLight, I just made a few more changes this morning after getting some games in last night. I was going to do another brief update write-up.

Some of the stuff you suggested, I do have on the Considering List for my Moxfield Version of the deck. The Considering/Maybe list is much deeper there:

• Burakos, Party Leader - They're definitely a cool one. Ngl, I thought of making a janky Party Isshin list with Burakos in the 99. As for my current deck, I have 1 Cleric, 3 Rogues, 2 Warriors, and 0 Wizards. That kind of spread just isn't currently consistent enough for me to want to include Burakos.

• Elder Brain & Archon of Cruelty - I have copies of both cards and they're both very cool. I just don't really want to play anything north of 5-6 cmc in Isshin. I've found that in times when I do have 6+ mana available in mid-late game, I prefer to do board rebuilds and leave mana open for interaction/removal, as opposed to playing 1 big creature that's a lightning rod for removal, and feel bad if it doesn't survive the full turn back to me.

• Hammers of Moradin - This is a cool one. Definitely something I'm looking for a slot for in my current round of edits.

• Black Market Connections - I recently picked up a copy, but I put it in my Anhelo, the Painter deck, since I thought it would get more mileage there as an engine for the spellslinger needs, as well as creating tokens for Casualty 2

@CrowUmbra: Burakos, Party Leader triggers at least off of himself. 2 damage and 2 treasure, assuming Isshin is out, seems super solid.

I flat out had to pick up like 6 copies of Black Market Connections for all my decks that run black given how strong it is.

Regarding CMC: I do not know how your games are going, I usually don't have many issues casting stuff. I re-designed my Isshin list to run more midrange. I spend turns 1-4 usually playing rocks and support stuff and spend the rest of the game keeping my opponents constantly on the ropes. I tried an aggro (lots of 1-3 drops) approach and it was constantly losing. aggro in that manner doesn't run as well in EDH/cEDH because it usually lacks the ability to finish the games. In every deck I make I have at least a few high end bombs. Hope this helps!

DawnsRayofLight, I agree that Burakos seems solid, I just think it will shine more in a dedicated Party list. The 4 drop creature slot is pretty crowded for Isshin, and probably the creature slot that I'm mulling over the most. It's on my radar though.

I did a quick update write up after some games last night. Generally Isshin has done well, and even won about 3-4 of the 10+ games I've played with it at this point. I think the games last night were just some of the worst so far due to match-ups and luck on draws. I usually hit fairly well on my early game set up and don't have issues there.

In my playgroup, high end bombs tend to be lightning rods for removal and tend to get dealt with pretty quickly. For us, removal and rebuilds after boardwipes tend to win games more so than big splashy creatures. Part of why I'd rather have a decent selection of creatures in the 3-5 cmc range that I can quickly rebuild with after board wipes, and still have some mana open for spot removal/interaction.

Sometimes luck on shuffles aren't in my favor in addition to the match ups and that's just EDH lol.

Hi Crow-Umbra! This deck is super badass. I have a couple ideas on the manabase and am curious on your thoughts

First of all, Slayers' Stronghold can give a creature some bonuses (most importantly haste) for a red and a white. Could be great with your four drops like Hero of Bladehold, Leonin Warleader, or outright deadly paired with Elder Brain or Grave Titan. Saw you already had Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld so figured I'd suggest this one as well but I understand if you have it for the Meld dream.

Have you considered running the Kamigawa Neon Dynasty Legendary lands? Might be a little slow/expensive but the flavor is excellent for Musashi and I think Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance could be a great add if you just need a couple more tokens with haste. 3 cmc (with Isshin out) isn't great for 2 haste tokens maybe but you can always play it as a land.

• Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance - Seems the most applicable to your deck of the three listed
• Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire - may not be needed if you are focused on tokens
• Takenuma, Abandoned Mire - doesn't hurt to add some of those bigger creatures back in

Thanks for all your help again - looking forward to reading your next edits here and hearing how the deck refines