Isshin, Two Heavens as OneIsshin, Two Heavens as One | Art by Yamada Rokkaku

Ed. note: Evan Moss is a guest writer on EDHREC, here to provide us with a fresh take on one of his favorite commanders: Isshin, Two Heavens as One.

As far as Aggro decks go in Commander, few can compare in versatility to Isshin, Two Heavens as OneIsshin, Two Heavens as One. With a mere three mana, Isshin is a commander that serves as a value engine that wants you to attack, and it's really hard to compete with when every creature that attacks gives you more value on each combat step.

Isshin decks tend to run pretty similarly — attack, create tokens, ramp, attack some more. So much more can be done with this commander that it's a shame most of the decks we see in the wild run nearly identically.

So, let's see if we can fix that.

Isshin Deck Tech

Firstly, we want to keep as much of the aggressive gameplan as we can. Isshin, Two Heavens as One heavily encourages it, so if we weren't playing aggressively, we would probably be better off playing another commander for the colors, such as Caesar, Legion's EmperorCaesar, Legion's Emperor or Queen MarchesaQueen Marchesa.

Secondly, we still want to take advantage of our commander's value engine, so we will still want a lot of powerful attack triggers. It's important to note as well that despite the deck playing differently, we will still want to include pieces that many Isshin, Two Heavens as One decks normally play, for card advantage and ramp.

Now, how do we want to change the deck?

Where most Isshin, Two Heavens as One decks go for an all-out assault, let's break the mold by building one that not only uses our commander for damage, but for control as well, changing our gameplan from an aggro one to more along the lines of tempo. We can't go full control, however, or else we would probably be better off using another commander.

So, what is a way we can generate tempo with our attack triggers? How can we slow down our opponents while advancing our board?

Simple: Eldrazi.

One of the keywords Eldrazi make use of is known as Annihilator. It's an attack trigger that forces your opponents to sacrifice permanents, allowing us to steamroll the game once we get two or three triggers on board at the same time. However, there are a few issues we need to overcome.

First, there are not many cards with this ability. This we can solve with some card-advantage attack triggers, such as Audacious ThiefAudacious Thief and Caustic BroncoCaustic Bronco. There are a lot more we can utilize, but we'll want to focus on repeatable card draw that triggers on attack and costs three or less mana. On our later turns, we'll want to focus on playing our main threats.

Secondly, Eldrazi are expensive, so we'll need lots of ramp. I recommend at least 12 sources, though probably 14-15 is a safer bet. If we use cards such as Captain Lannery StormCaptain Lannery Storm and Goldspan DragonGoldspan Dragon, we can utilize our Treasure production on attack to rapidly ramp and play expensive threats very quickly.

Lastly, Eldrazi become targets very often. So, we'll want to play lots of protection spells such as Flawless ManeuverFlawless Maneuver and Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat to make sure we can get our Annihilator triggers off.

Ideally, we get a big Annihilator trigger off and copy it, forcing our opponents to sacrifice most of their boards and maybe even a few lands, making it less and less likely for them to be able to remove our threats. Other than our Eldrazi, what else do we use as payoffs?

Well, we still want a few token generators, mostly to create blockers and help defend us when our opponents start attacking. Cards like Krenko, Tin Street KingpinKrenko, Tin Street Kingpin serve this purpose well enough, though a few cards like Ghostly PrisonGhostly Prison and Kazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsKazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs to shut down combat wouldn't go amiss, either.

Finally, we want just a couple of extra-combat attack triggers. Karlach, Fury of AvernusKarlach, Fury of Avernus and Thundering RaijuThundering Raiju, among others, serve as great extra-combat triggers, with our commander doubling them on attack. Cards like Aggravated AssaultAggravated Assault are incredibly helpful for this purpose, even if our commander doesn't double the activated ability.

Game Changers

Up until now, I have made a point not to discuss Game Changers recommended for the deck. Personally, I think Tergrid, God of FrightTergrid, God of Fright serves as an incredible synergy piece for the late game, Teferi's ProtectionTeferi's Protection can always serve as a near-perfect emergency button, and Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor can find you anything you need at the moment you need it.

The Deck List

Conclusion

Overall, I feel as if Isshin, Two Heavens as One's flexibility as a commander goes underutilized. There are so many different kinds of attack triggers, and you can build almost any type of deck with him as the commander.

I hope this inspired you to look at commanders in a new light, and to ask how you could do something new with them.

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