Hi there, I saw your comment on the front page feed and figured I'd leave some suggestions. Before I get more specific, I was wondering if you have a general budget or budget per card in mind, and if you have had a chance to play-test the deck irl yet?

I've been playing Isshin for almost 3 years now, and have had a lot of fun with him. The suggestions I'll initially make will be pretty broad & general to start off:

• I think some of your Artifact, Creature, and Land slots can probably be repurposed for some Instant speed removal and protection effects. Stuff like Swords to Plowshares, Generous Gift, & Anguished Unmaking will be super helpful. Depending on your budget, stuff like Clever Concealment & Flawless Maneuver can all help as well.

• In terms of creature cuts, I typically suggest cutting from the top end of the curve first. Everyone's play group and preferred play styles are different, but I've personally found that Isshin is at his best when most of his creatures are in the 2-4 mana range, with very few creatures at 5-6 mana or beyond.

• Since you are already running all of the Talismans and equipment with attack trigger ramp, I think you can probably cut all of the Signets for other more helpful spells.

• Lastly, I'd recommend asking yourself which attack triggers or play style are most fun or interesting to you, and really focusing on those types of triggers and supporting that theme. I see you have a lot of the creatures for a Tokens and Go Wide Group Slug theme, and other stuff like both Aleshas might not be as helpful here. I love both Aleshas, but I think Isshin thrives more from proactive board protection like some of the instant speed options I mentioned in my 1st bullet.

I know these suggestions are fairly broad, but I'd be happy to offer more specific feedback or suggestions if you have some in mind that you are looking for.

Have you seen The Mindskinner? It's a new and kinda goofy take on mono blue Mill. One of my friends recently put it together, but I haven't had the opportunity to play against it yet. Here is a pretty recent gameplay video from MTG Muddstah if you're interested in seeing it in action.

Thanks for checking out my new Alesha deck and potentially cycling it (?)

I think I'm good on Haste anthems for now Profet93.

I do have token creators like Mogg War Marshal, Chittering Witch, Siege-Gang Lieutenant, and Sling-Gang Lieutenant on my radar. Minus Siege-Gang Lieutenant, they were tech I used in my OG Alesha deck when it was a bit more tokens/Aristocrats focused. Pretty sure I had Yawgmoth and Skullclamp in that version of the deck as well.

Those are all familiar options I've used before for OG Alesha. If I decide to retool the deck to be more token oriented, those will all be some of the first things in consideration for addition. For now I'm going to keep play testing my current iteration, and eventually put it together IRL to really get those reps in.

...And by "rimestaff", haha, well. let's justr say. My peanits.

I forgot to mention yesterday, but I love the deck name.

Yeah, unfortunately the way the rulings are currently set up, hybrid mana also counts as its other color. Here's an article in case you'd like to read up more on it. Ognis is a fun commander, I'd recommend checking her out though. I used to run her for a bit, but felt it was a bit similar to another deck I currently have.

No prob! Do you have a general budget in mind for the deck, and have you played your deck irl at all yet? I have a few broader suggestions, as someone that plays a non-Samurai focused version of Isshin:

• Your creature count at 45 is kind of high. If this is how your playgroup typically functions, then maybe it's not as big of a concern, but I think some of your creature slots can maybe be swapped out for more lands and other supporting spells.

• The land count at 29 without much ramp is also a tad bit low. If possible, I'd recommend bumping up your land count to at least 34-35.

• I know your deck is Samurai themed, but you may want to reconsider some of the Samurai that have Bushido or care about creatures attacking alone. Bushido cares about if a creature is blocked or is blocking. If you want to stick with flavor and theme, then keep them. Unfortunately, most existing Samurai creatures aren't that great with Isshin, ironically enough.

• Related to my last point, I think it's worth examining if you prefer to go wide and attack with lots of swarming creatures, or if you would prefer to invest in big single attackers. Once you determine which is more fun for you, you can swap out the less relevant creatures with either "go wide" or "single attacker" focus and swap in more of the relevant stuff.

• Brilliant Restoration looks like it could be a pretty simple place to swap for Etali. Brilliant Restoration is very white heavy, and is tougher to cast in a 3 color deck. Additionally, you don't really have a big enough concentration of Artifacts and Enchantments to make it worth running here.

I hope these suggestions are helpful even if they are kind of broad.

New Elenda seems like a lot of fun. Voltron/Lifegain seems like a fun mix that can also build you a decent buffer to crack backs, even without some of the other bells and whistles, or Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond shenanigans.

One of my friends in my main group recently started adding more lifegain to his decks as a means of buffering against the group slug and aggro heavy shenanigans of our group. So in turn, the rest of us added to existing decks or built The Lord of Pain lol. Playing with Lord of Pain in the 99, and against it this past weekend were a blast.

Totally understandable! Big life moves take priority over hobby stuff until you're both more settled in. Doesn't hurt to keep getting test reps in until you think you could put it together.

Ahh that makes sense KBK7101. I don't think Alesha needs to be a strictly +1/+1 counter deck, but she definitely will benefit from those existing synergies & tech. I think she could also be a decent recursion piece in aggro decks like Isshin and various Mardu Legends Matter type builds.

New Elenda is cool too. Lol I briefly checked her out, since I haven't done a straight up Voltron build in a while. I liked Alesha better, and figured one of my friends that like life gain strats might enjoy Elenda more than me.

Lmao KBK7101, when one of the spoiler teasers was "A character from a popular Magic story is returning", I was really hoping that it was going to be Alesha. You should still build her!

It's gonna be a bit before I put her together in paper irl. I'm still getting reps in with my (mostly proxied) Laughing Jasper Flint deck; one of my friends gave it to me over the weekend. I typically try not to run multiple commanders in the exact same color combo, but I can make an exception for Alesha lol. My wife and I are going to be moving to a new place in the next couple of weeks, so new cards are taking a back seat until we're all settled in.

I regret to inform you that Ognis, the Dragon's Lash can't be used in this deck, because her hybrid mana cost technically has Green in it .

Other than that, let me know if you're looking for more specific feedback or suggestions for your deck. Best of luck with Isshin

If Angels lay eggs, does that also mean that their bones are hollow?

One suggestion I can think of off the top is maybe replacing Resplendent Angel and some of your life gain dependent stuff with some lower curve goodies, like maybe a couple of mana dorks? Not the most exciting suggestion, but I didn't see a whole lot of life gain in your deck beyond a handful of effects.