Commander Deck Tech: Isshin, Two Heavens as One

Can you think of something cooler than doubling your creatures' attack effects?

Ever since Isshin, Two Heavens as One was released in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, he has stood out to players, both as a commander and one of the 99 cards.

In this article, we'll show you two lists with Isshin as the commander. The first one is full of effects that trigger when your creatures attack. The second, a Mardu list centered around tokens, uses many Mobilize cards.

Let's start with our commander.

Before the Emperor disappeared, Isshin worked for an Imperial statesman in rural Kamigawa. However, after that happened, he was dismissed and had to wander through the countryside doing odd jobs.

While working for a blacksmith in Sokenzashi, Isshin learned of the Asari Uprisers, a group dedicated to overthrowing the Imperials and putting the government into the hands of the people. Now, he fights alongside them hoping to bring freedom to the land.

As a creature, Isshin, Two Heavens as One is a 3/4 Mardu commander who puts fear in the hearts of anyone who reads his effect: with Isshin in play, if a creature attacking causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.

So, Isshin is not tied to his deck and interacts a lot throughout the game, which makes him quite cool and dynamic.

With such a cool effect, our main list couldn't be anything else besides centered around combat triggers.

Nonetheless, this is an aggro list. Every card in it will interact with combat and deal damage in different ways. They'll mainly interact with the combat phase, create tokens, draw cards, and even put lands directly on your side of the board.

Let's go through something that is critical in any Mardu deck: the mana base.

Creating Mana

Mardu colors are not known for putting lots of lands in play or creating a lot of mana. Overall, these colors rely a lot on enchantments like Land Tax and artifacts, as well as Treasure tokens.

Isshin wants to get ahead as soon as the match starts. To make up for not playing Cultivate, we added lots of mana rocks:

Apart from Bender's Waterskin, all these mana rocks cost less than 3. That's on purpose. If you prefer, you can use any Signets you have lying around, like Boros Signet, to create mana instead of the Talismans above.

As we mentioned before, this list plays other cards that give you mana and resources.

Land Tax is useful at any point of the game because, with it, you won't miss a single land drop. In some cases, its effect will also allow you to filter through the top cards in your deck. You'll set basic lands aside and increase your chances of drawing a decent card.

With Isshin as your commander, Captain Lannery Storm is a lot cooler. Whenever this legendary card attacks, you'll create two Treasure tokens that you can then sacrifice to buff it until the end of the turn.

The same goes for Goldspan Dragon. You might not be able to buff it with Treasures, but with it in play, these artifacts will give you twice as much mana each time you sacrifice them.

Another card that creates Treasures is Black Market Connections, which also draws cards and creates 3/2 Shapeshifter creature tokens.

Tokens

Our alternative list centers around tokens, but this mechanic is so cool and fits this strategy so well that we added some of the most fun token options to our main list as well.

Myriad might be a side character in this list, but we invested a critical slot in The Master, Multiplied, a villain that disables the "legend rule" for creature tokens you control. Master is great with Blade of Selves, but it works by itself as well because it has Myriad.

Our Warrior, Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, is known for making opponents think twice before getting into combat with you.

When they attack you, they may pay 3 mana to prevent you from creating a 3/3 Ogre. As this is considered an "attack trigger", Isshin will most definitely double it and create two tokens on your board if your opponents don't pay up.

Myrel, Shield of Argive is protection, whereas Firebender Ascension creates a token when it enters play. You can use Windcrag Siege to create 1/1 Goblin tokens or use it as "another Isshin" in this list, as it will trigger your permanents more times.

Fun Effects

As Isshin doubles any ability on your permanents that triggers when a creature attacks, we can say this is a "pseudo" toolbox deck. To save some time, let's see a few effects that go really well with this commander.

Extra Combat Phases

Aurelia stands out because of her effect, which creates an extra combat phase and, as such, is quite useful in this list. Other cards similar to it are Karlach, Fury of Avernus, Aggravated Assault, and Great Train Heist.

Card Draw

Obviously, the card draw below also centers around the combat phase.

Both Laelia, the Blade Reforged and Etali, Primal Storm exile the top card in your deck and let you play it that turn. The difference from one to the other is that Etali is stronger and costs twice as much mana. It also lets you cast that top card for free and exiles the top cards in the opponents' decks.

Glimmer Lens and Pip-Boy 3000 draw cards when the creatures they are attached to attack.

Isshin is definitely not the most diplomatic character in the game, but that's alright because we added Mangara, the Diplomat to this list.

This humble Cleric interacts with enemy attacks. With it in play, you'll draw a card if a player attacks you with two or more creatures. Furthermore, just like Trouble in Pairs, Mangara draws cards when an opponent casts their second spell each turn.

Dealing Damage

Obviously, we had to add Caustic Bronco. It draws cards and also makes opponents lose life points if it's saddled.

We also added Brutal Hordechief, which drains enemy life points. Its activated ability interacts with enemy blockers and lets you pick how they block your attacks.

Ulamogs

Ulamog definitely deserves a few paragraphs all to itself.

Overall, Eldrazi effects are incredibly strong and affect nearly all matches.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, for instance, has a pretty cool ETB effect that exiles two target permanents.

When this hungry Eldrazi attacks, the defending player must exile the top twenty cards in their deck.

You can copy it with Mardu Siegebreaker to exile cards every turn. If The Master, Multiplied is in play, your copies won't be sacrificed because of the legend rule, so you'll end up with a small, scary Ulamog army.

Another powerful version of this creature is Ulamog, the Defiler. Its ETB forces opponents to exile half their deck. Then, Ulamog will enter play with +1/+1 counters equal to the greatest mana value among cards in exile.

When it attacks, it Annihilators X, where X is the number of counters on it. As such, its blocker will have to sacrifice X permanents.

This ability is perfect with Isshin, Two Heavens as One.

Mardu has always been great at creating tokens during combat. Then, Tarkin Dragonstorm gave us Mobilize and Zurgo Stormrender, so this strategy got even more support.

If you'd like to see how you can upgrade Mardu Surge, the Zurgo Stormrender precon, click here!

Some creatures that will fill your board during combat will be:

Because this deck will put many creatures in play, we added enchantments that burn enemy life points when that happens, like Impact Tremors and Warleader's Call. We also added Within Range, which makes opponents lose life equal to the number of creatures that are attacking them.

As a commander, Isshin, Two Heavens as One is exactly what it is supposed to be. He supports his strategy and offers you many ways to win. If you're creative, you'll never be bored with this commander.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!