Primarily designed to be a fast, aggressive deck with a lot of damage-boosting effects and supporting equipment artifacts.
The Samurai archetype revolves around attacking with one, massive, untouchable beast. This threw me off quite a lot as I was half expecting something similar to the "Bushido" mechanic from the original Kamigawa sets, meaning an emphasis on defensive play and having creatures blocked for damage boosts.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the new direction. It is possible to do enormous damage while stopping opponents from blocking at all and some of the archetype-specific cards in this deck are stunningly powerful when used in combination. In competitive games, I have seen up to 45 damage per turn from one attacker through the use of cards like Asari Captain and Isshin, Two Heavens as One
As with all my builds, I have listed some key synergies and a few niche strats below in order to properly explain the playstyle.
The Wandering Emperor
I'll start with this deck's only planeswalker for one reason. She's kind of nuts.
She's got flash so play her whenever she's most convenient to you, like at the end of your opponent's turn so you immediately refresh your mana and boost her loyalty, or as your opponent declares blockers to cause disruption. Her +1 +1 effect is a counter, not a temporary effect so you can get an instant +2 +2 on any creature by playing her at the end of your opponent's turn and activating her first ability immediately, then again.
- She starts with 3 loyalty so all her abilities are instantly available and even using her most expensive effect won't kill her off.
- She can buff an attacker and give it First strike on command to save it or increase its damage.
- She can create Samurai tokens to block or be used to further improve the effect of Asari Captain
- She can instantly exile a tapped creature. This can make attackers disappear, remove problem effect cards or just annoy your opponent by exiling an essential combo piece.
All at instant speed. As I said, she's good.
Asari Captain + Raiyuu, Storm's Edge
This could also be Eiganjo Exemplar + Raiyuu, Storm's Edge
but I chose Captain as it's the most egregious damage boost I've seen in a while.
Captain's damage boosting effect procs on every one creature attack and lasts until the end of your turn. Raiyuu allows you to attack again so if Captain boosted your attacker by +4 and the attacker survived to attack again it will get another +4. With multiple Captains on the field and a Selfless Samurai available to keep the attacker alive you can create some truly horrific damage numbers. This can be DOUBLED AGAIN if Isshin, Two Heavens as One is in play.
Using token generators like Naomi, Pillar of Order and The Wandering Emperor, Isshin, and Raiyuu in one game I was able to attack for 82 with trample and menace.
That's... not ok.
Imperial Subduer + Isshin, Two Heavens as One
Almost any "Single creature attack effect" card could substitute for Subduer but it's an excellent example of just one of the many ways to force your attacks by disrupting your opponent's blockers. Every Subduer on the field is a tapped blocker when you chose to attack and with Isshin out that doubles. With all 4 on the field, you can render up to 8 creatures incapable of blocking or using tapping effects with no cost. This also can stop your opponent from tapping creatures to crew vehicles.
This applies to cards like Asari Captain and Eiganjo Exemplar too, doubling their damage boosting potential.
Peerless Samurai + Tempered in Solitude
While on the surface this combo may appear situational or simply pointless I have had a great deal of success abusing it.
Essentially, attacking with one creature will proc the effects of both these cards, exiling a card and making it cheaper to play said card all at once. This can function almost as a second draw in some situations and the effect of Peerless means that you are far more likely to have enough mana to cast whatever you may exile. This also applies to land, so if you are struggling for mana and you exile a land you can play it from the exile pile, potentially helping you draw into something more useful next turn.
This can be a gamble however as it is possible to exile cards that cannot be played or land on a turn when you have already played one so It's best to consider the risk-reward ratio of any play involving Tempered in Solitude.
Norika Yamazaki, the Poet + The Shattered States Era
Another more sneaky way of removing your opponent's blocking abilities and potentially stealing a key component of their board.
Enchantment and artifact destruction is rampant at present and having graveyard recovery for either kind of card is especially helpful.
Norika's twin Heiko Yamazaki, the General does the exact same as her sister for artifacts and has trample to boot, but I'll get to her.
With Norika on the field and Shattered States in the grave, your attack turns into a stolen creature. If your opponent can't destroy it in 2 turns it becomes a trample samurai that can benefit from all effects in the archetype and if they do destroy it and Norika is still out you can just steal a creature again. Cards like Selfless Samurai make keeping Norika alive much easier and Peerless Samurai's cost-reducing effect applies to the grave-bound card too, making it even easier to get out.
If you want to force the destruction of Shattered States after its transformation you can simply attack with it and use Wanderer's Intervention on it and put it back in the grave. It won't always work as some card effects will push its toughness above 4 but it's
still a possibility.
If Shattered States is not in the graveyard Norika's effect can be used to recover any dead Eiganjo Exemplar you may have lost.
There's a lot more to this build but I've covered a few of the more choice combos and a general overview of the gameplan.
Suggestions are always welcome. I've probably missed something somewhere or not worded something correctly.
Have fun.
