(Cao Ren, Wei Commander | Art by Junko Taguchi)

Dynasties of Old

Good day, friends! Welcome back to Commander Fusion, the series where we scratch that ol’ Simic Biomancer itch and see if we can combine two random commanders into one (semi)coherent deck, using EDHREC data!

Today, we’re headed east- east to the ancient dynasties of China, east to the Japan-inspired plane of Kamigawa, and east to…well, no spoilers from me yet.

Our commanders we have the privilege to fuse today are Cao Ren, Wei Commander and Kentaro, the Smiling Cat! Neither of these commanders are likely winning any popularity contests anytime soon, but can their unique styles inspire us to create something entirely new? Read on and find out!

Don't Have a Cao

First up today is a commander that many of us who don’t have a history degree may never have heard of before now. Cao Ren, Wei Commander comes to us from Portal Three Kingdoms back in 1999. This set is based on the Three Kingdoms of Ancient China, and is mostly known now for a very unique keyword that appears on our commander today…horsemanship!

A creature with horsemanship can only be blocked by another creature with horsemanship, making it very similar to flying. However, due to the rarity of the keyword outside of this set, the likelihood of your opponents having a horsemanship creature on board is usually next to nil.

Although it is MAYBE starting to make a slight comeback (shoutout to Herald of Hoofbeats,) practically this means horsemanship creatures are usually unblockable. So, for those building Cao Ren, what strategy does this seem to lead towards? Here are the most synergistic cards to be found in a Cao Ren deck, straight from his EDHREC page:

1. Vorpal Sword
2. Fireshrieker
3. Sword of the Animist
4. Blackblade Reforged
5. Lashwrithe
6. Wei Strike Force
7. Wei Scout
8. Sword of Hearth and Home
9. Gix's Command
10. Commander's Plate

What better to do with an almost-unblockable commander than to suit it up with Equipment! Fireshrieker, Sword of the Animist, Blackblade Reforged, Sword of Hearth and Home, Commander's Plate…all staples of Equipment decks looking to make sure your commander is hitting as hard as possible and will be protected all along the way.

Vorpal Sword and Lashwrithe are more unique equipment that can only be found in black decks; Vorpal Sword is a fun win-con and Lashwrithe shines in a mono-black deck that is going to have a lot of swamps on the field.

Wei Strike Force and Wei Scout are both flavorful includes that can also be suited up since they share the horsemanship ability with Cao Ren.

Finally, Gix's Command is a wonderfully flexible card that functions not only as removal and recursion, but can also put +1/+1 counters on Cao Ren to make him hit even harder.

Cao Ren leads only 31 decks on EDHREC as I’m writing this, and I think it’s pretty easy to explain. First, he’s missing red and white in his color identity, which are arguably the two most important colors for the average Equipment deck.

To add to this, cards from Portal Three Kingdoms are some of the rarest to find today, because they were released almost exclusively in Asian markets.

Cao Ren’s price tag typically fluctuates between $85-$110, a price that (I think wisely) not too many players are willing to pay. I mean, come on, he’s not Edgar Markov.

A Cheshire Grin

We leave Ancient China now for the still Asian-inspired but also very fictional plane of Kamigawa to meet our next commander. Making his appearance in 2005’s Betrayers of Kamigawa, Kentaro is a Samurai also known as “the Slayer of the Dishonored,” meaning he is probably a lot of fun at parties.

While much of the set is focused on Ninjas, Kentaro comes to us as a mechanically-unique Samurai kindred commander. He has the Bushido ability, another fairly uncommon ability that means he’ll get a power and toughness boost whenever he blocks or becomes blocked.

In addition, he allows you to pay X for all your Samurai spells, where X is that spell’s mana value. Sort of unintuitive at first read, this basically means you can spend mana of any color to cast your Samurai, and makes cost reducers even more effective. Let’s take a look at Kentaro’s synergistic cards:

1. Devoted Retainer
2. Sensei Golden-Tail
3. Selfless Samurai
4. Araba Mothrider
5. Konda's Hatamoto
6. Hand of Honor
7. Cloud Key
8. Inner-Chamber Guard
9. Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo
10. Semblance Anvil

We can definitely see a gameplan here. Lots of low-cost Samurai, especially ones with Bushido, that can be played out easily, especially with cost reducers such as Cloud Key and Semblance Anvil. Pretty simple, but also…not super impactful.

There doesn’t seem to be a clear way to finish out a game here, as most of these Samurai are pretty low-power, but no anthems or impactful ways to buff them up in sight. Don’t take this the wrong way, but in today’s Commander climate, Samurai are a pretty weak kindred on the whole; notice how even in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty the Samurai identity is tied into the Warrior identity as well, mainly to try to get some impactful creatures into decks to help the Samurai out.

Take a look at Raiyuu, Storm's Edge from that set, who boosts the Samurai identity with an incredibly powerful extra combat effect to help balance out their weaknesses. Isshin, Two Heavens as One, currently ranked as the 11th most popular commander, is also a Samurai, and it seems that some players are using his trigger-doubling ability as a buff to Samurai kindred strategies as well.

But look at Kentaro! He doesn’t let the fact that he only leads 220 decks get him down. He’s still smiling. What a cool guy.

A Samurai Stands Alone

Ok, time for a fusion! Combining Cao Ren and Kentaro’s color identifies gives us access to white and black mana, a combo also called Orzhov (). Are there any Orzhov commanders that synergize Equipment and Samurai strategies together? Let’s take a look…

1. Frodo, Sauron's Bane
2. Amalia Benavides Aguirre
3. Naomi, Pillar of Order

Quite a short list today. But, you know, I think we might just be able to make this work. Frodo has occupied quite the niche since his release last year as an Orzhov Equipment commander, suiting up to get in combat damage as often as possible.

Samurai care an awful lot about attacking alone, which is also exactly what Frodo wants to do. Without further ado, let’s add some fuel to the “weirdest fan fictions ever” pile and see if Frodo can master the art of the blade and lead his Samurai to victory!

The Fellowship of the Seven Samurai

“Quinn,” you might be saying, “you’re missing something really important: Frodo isn’t a Samurai!” And I would say, you are exactly right. While this Frodo does in fact have four creature types listed in his rules text, Samurai is not one of them. Well, time to give up and go home, I guess.

Wait! This is Magic: The Gathering, of course there is a way (actually more than one) to turn Frodo into a Samurai. Let’s look here first: if Frodo is going to lead a Samurai kindred deck, how can we make him a Samurai to benefit from the “Samurai attacking alone” synergies?

Two creatures and a few artifacts can help us get this job done. Mirror Entity can give all your creatures every creature type for a turn in addition to boosting their power and toughness. Like we learned earlier, most Samurai are pretty low power, meaning it doesn’t take much mana for Mirror Entity’s ability to start becoming a boost.

Sensei Golden-Tail, who we saw earlier in Kentaro’s most synergistic cards, actually cares about turning other creatures into Samurai, too! You can pay and tap him to put a training counter on Frodo, which will give him Bushido 1 and make him a Samurai permanently!

Maskwood Nexus is probably one of the most well-known and reliable ways to make Frodo a Samurai, but a few other Equipment cards can also get the job done. Amorphous Axe and Runed Stalactite provide Frodo a nice power boost in addition to making him every creature type.

Honestly, though, one of the best cards to accomplish this for Frodo comes straight out of Doctor Who. Psychic Paper not only provides protection in the form of Ward (always great for a Voltron commander), but also makes him unblockable, in addition to allowing you to change Frodo’s creature type to Samurai. A word of warning: make sure you equip Psychic Paper only AFTER you have activated Frodo’s final ability.

Because Frodo’s own abilities are contingent on him being a certain creature type (Citizen for the first and Scout for the second,) you must make sure you don’t remove those creature types, or else you can’t activate those abilities. Not an issue with cards like Maskwood that give every creature type, because he would still have those types, but Psychic Paper actually would make Frodo lose every creature type other than the one you pick.

Now, how can we make sure we’re reliably able to make Frodo a Samurai every game? Tutors! Usually, I intentionally avoid tutors in decks, as they can often make a deck fall into a very linear play style where you’re trying to make the same thing happen every time. But in this case, when a card is key to our strategy but not in the command zone, they become necessary.

Search for Glory can pull up Sensei Golden-Tail, while Open the Armory and Steelshaper's Gift can grab Amorphous Axe, Runed Stalactite, or Psychic Paper. Enlightened Tutor also gives us an instant-speed option to grab Maskwood Nexus, too.

Ok, so we’ve proven we can in fact make Frodo a Samurai. What now? Well, whether Frodo is a Samurai or not, his gameplan remains the same: we want him connecting with combat damage as often as possible, so the Ring can tempt us as often as possible, so we can start making our opponents auto-lose whenever we connect with Frodo.

As a Samurai, Frodo can benefit from unique Samurai buffs, such as a reduced cost and instant-speed equip for Ancestral Katana, and a free regeneration if he’s equipped with Oathkeeper, Takeno's Daisho.

On the creature side, Eiganjo Exemplar can buff Frodo’s power and toughness temporarily, Imperial Subduer can help him get through by tapping down your target’s problem creature, and Norika Yamazaki, the Poet can recur an enchantment out of the graveyard, of which we have a few.

Nothing overwhelmingly powerful, for sure, but Frodo is not built for power, necessarily; with his ability and the way “the Ring tempts you” can essentially give Frodo skulk, we’re not trying to win with commander damage, just connect.

With that being said, am I gonna stop you from slapping an Eldrazi Conscription on Frodo and going to town? Absolutely not. Unquestioned Authority and Spirit Mantle will help Frodo get through as well.

Normally, this is the part of the show where I come out and tell you how to close out the game. I don’t think I have to, though, since Frodo tells you right on the card- once you’re able to connect with him enough times, your opponents will start dropping like flies!

Frodo will likely be target for removal at this point, but his low casting cost helps to get him back out. Plus, once the Ring tempts you four times, you’re golden. Just level Frodo back up and he’s back to swinging for lethal.

Samurai or Samwise?

That’s it for this fusion! I hope you’re feeling refreshed and inspired in your own deck building process. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. See you next time, and remember, Tolkien always intended Frodo to be a samurai, and no, I don’t have any sources for that, thank you for asking.