Professional Face-Breaker

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Tokens

Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Brawl Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Professional Face-Breaker

Creature — Human Warrior

Menace

Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, creature a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with ", Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any colour.")

Sacrifice a Treasure: Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Semi-budget

1 month ago

Solid list for a budget take on Isshin, I'm digging what you have going on. I have a few quick suggestions, but I think you have a solid core here if you ever choose to make some pricier upgrades:

  • Warleader's Call could be worth a look as a potential swap with Impact Tremors. Just an additional +1/+1 static buff for 1 more White mana.

  • Signal Pest could be a potential 1 drop anthem, if you feel like you need another Battle Cry enabler.

  • Devilish Valet has the potential to 1-shot other players when combined with enough token production.

  • Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon is one of the better token producers for Isshin to drop as of late. She pairs nicely with Breena, as another means of getting counters on her. One of the upsides for Anim Pakal is that she doesn't even need to attack, as she triggers off when you attack. She's like a more budget Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.

  • Professional Face-Breaker - I think she's still under $10, mostly recommending since I saw you have Aurelia in your deck. Face-Breaker rewards you for going wide, & could be a potential swap with either Audacious Thief or Hoarding Ogre.

  • If you feel like you need some more board protection, I'd recommend checking out Scapegoat and/or Fanatical Devotion as budget options that can squeeze a bit more value out of some of your tokens.

Glad to see you already have Soul Partition! It's become one of my favorite White cards of the past year. Best of luck with your deck, and hope you enjoy playing it irl

Crow_Umbra on Director Isshin's Cut

1 month ago

I'd actually keep Hellrider. Its Scryfall rules reminder states that Hellrider deals damage to the corresponding defending player or planeswalker each of those creatures is attacking.

I think you could swap out Phyrexian Dragon engine, mostly since it doesn't really help you much on its own, and Isshin doesn't necessarily want to be utilizing discard draw. I removed the Meld options from my Isshin deck in the past few months, mostly because the Meld opportunities happened 2-3 times in the two years I've been playing the deck.

I'd recommend checking out Professional Face-Breaker as a potential replacement, especially to compliment some of the other Treasure production you already have in your deck. I play her in Isshin and Prosper respectively. Her floor and ceiling are a bit different in each deck, but I've liked her play pattern for rewarding going wide. The flexibility between mana acceleration and optional impulse draw have been great.

If you need one more cut, I think you could probably swap out Etali. I used to play it, but found the play pattern to be very boom or bust. If I didn't have a Haste enabler, it often ate removal within the turn cycle after it dropped, and never swung out.

Crow_Umbra on All out attack

2 months ago

No prob! Isshin is one of my favorite commanders, he's a lot of fun to play.

Although it is also a combat damage trigger like the Ancient Dragons, I do recommend Professional Face-Breaker. At 3 cmc, she's much more accessible, & she rewards you for going wide, which most Isshin decks tend to want to do. She compliments the Treasure production you already have in your deck.

No worries, totally understandable. My meta tends to lean more aggro & Go-Wide, so Goad stuff feels like it gets more mileage in that context. Mass Goad feels like it buy a turn by deflecting aggro away, & leaves everyone else more open to subsequent attacks since attackers are tapped out. The times I've played Breena, she tends to get huge, & the rest of the table tries to benefit from her as much as possible. Breena can also load up +1/+1 counters on Krenko and Anim Pakal.

I meant to add in my last comment, but I think Sun Titan or Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher could be potential replacements for Kroxa and Kunoros. K&K need a deeper investment into your graveyard to benefit from them.

Ankle Shanker and Vault of the Archangel could also be worth a look as death touch anthems. Ankle Shanker was replaced by Taunt from the Ramparts in my deck, but first strike & deathtouch are hard to pass up. Shanker is good on its own without needing Isshin.

Worrad75 on Pia-tiful Impulse Control

2 months ago

Keeping a record of the changes I make here.

took out Surge of Salvation for Island Sanctuary

This deck can take some time to assemble a lethal board, and we need a way to dissuade attackers. Surge is a fantastic 'gotcha' combat trick, but it doesn't do much for us if we exile it at sorcery speed. Island sanctuary allows us to trade our card for turn for security; it blocks ground creatures, we print fliers like crazy so flying attackers dont typically scare us, and islandwalk will never matter for us. The card disadvantage isn't nothing, but this deck has plenty of ways to generate advantage from exile.

took out Faithless Looting for Dragon's Rage Channeler

This is simply too much value to ignore. We have 50(!!) noncreature spells in our deck. FL is in there to help generate velocity when we get stuck with our hand, but DRC simply blows it out of the water in terms of card selection. Filling our graveyard is also semi-relevant, as we run Reconstruct History, and having an extra 3/3 flier certainly contributes to our gameplan of smacking our opponents repeatedly.

took out Cursed Mirror for Loran of the Third Path

This swap is somewhat based on goldfishing impressions, which means there's a chance it gets reverted with more reps in a real pod. Cursed Mirror gives us velocity as a ramp piece (albiet at 3 mana), while offering incredible upside to copy something like a Professional Face-Breaker, not to mention your opponents creatures. The issue lies in the makeup of our deck; as currently constructed, we have only 18 creatures, and 10 of them are legendary. This makes the Mirror's upside more of a "hope your opponents have something cool to copy" rather than it's more powerful use of "get one of your effects doubled temporarily" due to the lack of available targets on our own board. While Loran doesn't ramp us, she gives us both interaction and non-exile card draw, both areas that this deck is a bit light on.

took out Cosmic Intervention for Boros Charm

Cosmic intervention was initially included due to Pia's natural synergy with fortell cards. However, the closer you look at situations in which you are likely to need Intervention, you start to realize how next-to-useless that extra Thopter is. Additionally, one of the massive upsides to Intervention is re-enabling ETB effects, which we currently only have 2 of in the deck. Boros Charm on the other hand actually manages to save our board from damage/destroy effects, while also giving us more flexibility. We have a handful of large creatures/effects that benefit from double strike (14 points of lifegain off Sephara, Sky's Blade, anyone?), and if all else fails the 4 life can be meaningful, as this deck tends to deal death by 1000 cuts. Exiling CI off the top at sorcery speed feels like a whiff; exiling BC feels the world is your oyster.

Dropping a Mountain for Land Tax

This is a bit of an experimental swap, as it's possible we actually want to leave more lands in the deck so they can be exiled off the top. This will mean in games where we have LT in our openning hand (the ideal start), we will exile fewer lands and more nonland cards. We'll be playing the lands every turn to be able to play the extra spells, but we'll also miss out on the value of playing lands from exile. That being said, there is undeniable value to be had by being a bit greedy here.

Crow_Umbra on Alesha, Who Recycles Her Friends

2 months ago

Alesha is my OG favorite Mardu commander. I used to play her for a couple of years before converting her into Isshin, when he debuted. I've always liked how flexibly she can be built, and that each Alesha deck has its own unique twists. I'm glad you already have Inti in there, as that's a newer card I would've slot into mine if I still had it. A few things worth considering:

  • Reconnaissance - I used to run this in my Alesha deck before it found its new home with Isshin. If you're unfamiliar with the card, it can act as a pseudo Vigilance anthem, that also protects your attacking creatures due to combat step timings. This EDHRECast video and EDHREC article both explain how the timing works. Super helpful for protecting Alesha.

  • Dolmen Gate - Super helpful protection piece to keep Alesha safe(r) on attacks.

  • Loran of the Third Path - Potentially reusable removal that can be recurred by Alesha. The draw can also be used politically as needed.

  • Professional Face-Breaker- Has the right power to get recurred by Alesha, and works to help with mana acceleration and impulse-drawing.

I think you could probably cut Mardu Banner and/or Chromatic Lantern, as your curve is already fairly low, and your other ramp options are decent.

Best of luck with your deck. I hope these suggestions were helpful, and would be up to discussing further if you're interested.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Mardu Tap and Win

2 months ago

Overall very solid deck. My only recommendations would be to cut your Dragon Engine and Samurai that aren't Isshin, and to slot in Dolmen Gate to help round out the board protection suite you have with Iroas, Reconnaissance, & Teferi's Protection. The Samurai, although flavorful, are your only cards that care about single attacking Warriors/Samurai, while most of your deck wants to go wide.

Some of the following could be potential creature slot replacements:

I hope these suggestions are helpful. Down to chat through more if you're interested. Best of luck

lhetrick13 on Ognis, the Hasty Collector

3 months ago

Spell_Slam - Thanks for the upvote and the comment/suggestions!

I had never consider Rampage of the Clans before as an offensive weapon but that has potential. This deck can generate an astonishing amount of treasure tokens in a single turn depending on the board state and that could be a finishing blow. I was considering adding in Displaced Dinosaurs for a similar effect. Mixed with Bootleggers' Stash I was thinking that could be pretty interesting!

Rhythm of the Wild is good, no doubt about it. A little more options that Fervor but no potential suicide drawbacks like Mass Hysteria. I do like Urabrask the Hidden, only drawback is the 5 CMC vs 2 or 3 for the two walls I am running. Dowsing Device  Flip I am not crazy about due to limiting its effectiveness to only a single creature. It can pump but pump is not generally what this deck needs with the amount of big dragons. Song of Totentanz is very interesting...had never thought of thought particular card. Other similar cards I considered but not that one..I will likely experiment with that!

For the mana ramp, I had considered less ramp spells for more creatures but in my experience, the only way to slow this deck down is by an early board wipe. Thus, I am willing to reduce the effectiveness of the deck with Ognis for more consistency. Ognis was more of a convenient commander that gave me access to the colors I wanted that had some synergy with the deck concept rather than being the central, pivotal piece the deck revolves around.

I had considered Xorn and Jolene, the Plunder Queen but could never find a slot for them in the deck. The abilities they provide are good but what to cut?!? Similar cards like Professional Face-Breaker and Grim Hireling not only produce treasure but also give me utility via card draw potential or removal at the expense of treasures. But you are correct, so many options!

For indirect damage, I did originally have cards like Reckless Fireweaver and Nadier's Nightblade present but again cut them to fit in other cards. I have a few copies of Mirkwood Bats and I like how it triggers on entry and leaving for both lifegain and drain...Maybe I will try to add in that for some flair!

Thank you again for taking the time to comment! Greatly appreciate the thoughts and gives me something to think about! The deck is already pretty hard to deal with and has a pretty good track record but it has been a while since I have tinkered with it :)

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