Vietnam Flashbacks

Commander / EDH* Spellslinger Toolbox

Skooma_Puma

Instant (38)

• 1x Bile Blight
• 1x Cling to Dust
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Cremate
• 1x Crypt Incursion
• 1x Dark Betrayal
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Darkblast
• 1x Darkness
• 1x Deadly Dispute
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Defile
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Entomb
• 1x False Cure
• 1x Force of Despair
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Hatred
• 1x Heartless Act
• 1x Hellish Rebuke
• 1x Hero's Demise
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Liliana's Triumph
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Necrologia
• 1x Pharika's Libation
• 1x Snuff Out
• 1x Soul Shatter
• 1x Succumb to Temptation
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Tendrils of Corruption
• 1x Tragic Slip
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Village Rites
• 1x Vona's Hunger
• 1x Withering Boon
• 1x Word of Command

Land (32)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 18x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Damnation
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Scheming Symmetry
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Illness in the Ranks
• 1x Necropotence

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Commander (1)

Creature (9)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Dread Presence
• 1x Forsworn Paladin
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Tormod, the Desecrator

Artifact (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Shadowspear

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For the Reddit ToshiBro's that requested my current list.

**Please note that this deck is manicured specifically for my meta which is cEDH heavy with efficient creatures, heavy graveyard use, combo centric opponents, lots of tutors and reaction etc.

Also please do visit https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/serial-killer/ They have a pretty solid primer for a general use Toshiro deck.

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HOW IT PLAYS: This is my mono black "Draw Go" type of deck that can play low to the ground and efficiently/ extremely risky and explosive/ attrition based with board denial.

EARLY GAME - the game will normally start with "play land and pass" while taking out efficient creatures with kill spells. (this starts to fill your grave for later use) - cast efficient creatures to gain small advantages over the course of the game and establish hand size and board state. - stop early reanimation attempts and disrupt explosive turns by killing mana dorks or casting Karn, the Great Creator to remove/stop mana rocks.

MID GAME - Start bringing out Toshiro and making use of the graveyard and utility spells. - Formulate what pieces/threats are available to you and work your way to take out threatening opponents.

LATE GAME - Heavily utilizing the graveyard can help attrition people out of the game, especially with taxing creatures like Voidwalker and Opp. Agent. - Level peoples life totals with Kokusho and Volrath's Stronghold. - Use other creative ways to kill opponents (I will teach you some through my tech).

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THE TECH Okay people, this is the stuff I love brainstorming on and what makes all Toshiro decks different from one another. I will point out notable cards and why they are in my deck, as well as interesting synergies that make me enjoy the deck and allows it keep throwing punches at all stages of the game.

Hellish Rebuke - Newly released card that shows a lot of promise for me. First, it's an instant, which means we can recast it. A chaos player in my group likes to play group slug with lots of R/B enchantments that ping every turn while also stopping life gain. Hellish rebuke forces the sacrifice of all permanents that deals damage to you which means this also hits indestructible non activated Gods that ping. I also enjoy this as a counter to go wide strategies (I would just use a lifegain spell in response to try and survive the hit if lethal).

Illness in the Ranks - an enchantment for a single pip that deals with Thopter/Soldier/Spirit/Goblin/Faerie/Elemental/Insect/Locus/Devil/Assassin/Vampire/Plant/Servo/ Myr/Devil/Human/whatever else that are 1/1 tokens. It also cuts damage from the remaining tokens by 1 which can be life saving, especially since life is such a valuable resource to mono black players. If your opponent has an army of Thopter tokens, dropping this enchantment with Toshiro Umezawa out gives you that many triggers to allow you to cast multiple instants from your graveyard. Tech Alert When Illness in the Ranks is paired with Forbidden Orchard, you are able to tap Forbidden Orchard, give an opponent the spirit, immediately kill the spirit with Illness and gain instant access to your graveyard with Toshiro Umezawa out.

Darkblast - This is a meta pick thanks to all the small mana dorks and efficient creatures like Esper Sentinel. This also allows me to sift more instant spells into my graveyard for later use.

Deadly Dispute - Newly released card. Currently playtesting, but I am very interested in the idea of casting it in response to removal of my commander or one of my creatures like Kokusho. Afterwards you can save the treasure that it produced and use it again sacrificing the treasure instead of one of your creatures. Village Rites also falls into this category of creature protection for later use in the graveyard.

Dread Presence - This card is pretty innocuous on the surface, but is actually one of my win cons. Along with providing you draw, its second ability can be used defensively to take out efficient creatures and help buffer your life total. Tech Alert Dread Presence paired with fetchlands/Myriad Landscape, can kill with 3 swamps entering the battlefield and Tainted Strike. - Dread Presence is a 3/3. Attack. - If they let Dread Presence through, cast Tainted Strike before damage. Tainted strike gives +1/+0 making Dread 4/3 with infect. - Play land for turn and crack Myriad Landscape/2 fetchlands or any combination of the 3 to bring in 3 swamps. - Dread Presence ability triggers 3 times. Since the ability states that Dread is doing the damage, infect applies and deals 6 further infect. - Opponent gains 10 total infect. This play is extremely hard to see and can be disguised with using Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to draw off suspicion of why you're not cracking your fetches.

Bolas's Citadel - This is a no brainer and should be accompanied by cards like Necropotence, Sensei's Divining Top, and Aetherflux Reservoir for kill potential. I enjoy this card in the Toshiro deck simply because most of the deck is comprised of instant speed spells, meaning we can leave up the top of our deck as an extension of our hand. This can cause for some very explosive turns. Fetch lands/tutors/draw spells can all help reorganize the top of deck for new chances at spells. - Opening a hand with Bolas's Citadel, Lake of the Dead, and 2 Swamps can allow for a turn 3 Citadel and put you well ahead of everyone if you're able to top something really good, such as a Kokusho.

Pithing Needle - Mainly to stop problem commanders and Planeswalkers.

Word of Command - Very interesting card to either bait out counterspells or force an unwanted play. This card ignores timing restrictions and you control the opponent you targeted until the spell you cast from their hand is completely resolved.

Karn, the Great Creator - Stops mana rocks and combos. He is also a way to activate Toshiro by animating a 0 CMC rock like Moxes and Mana Crypts. Also gives the deck a way to target artifacts since it turns them into creatures.

Corpse Dance - This card is insane in the deck considering you have the mana for the play. Tech Alert - You can cast this from your hand without the buyback cost and let it go to the grave. You can then cast it from the grave via Toshiro and pay the buyback cost to put it back into your hand, avoiding the exile clause per Toshiro's ability. - This card is extremely good with Kokusho in response to a board wipe, etc. - This card can be used as anti tutor tech when you have Opposition agent in the graveyard. - This card is very powerful with Dauthi Voidwalker. If you have exiled cards with Voidwalker, you can bring it back at instant speed with Corpse Dance. Since Corpse Dance grants Haste, you may activate Voidwalkers ability immediately and sacrifice itself, avoiding the exile clause from Corpse Dance and playing any cards with its ability.

Withering Boon - For countering some Eldrazi or Sigarda.

False Cure - This is a silver bullet to life gain decks and other black decks that like to play spells like Gray Merchant/Kokusho. Tech Alert This card stacks with itself. It makes for players to lose 2 life for every 1 life gained. Casting it again from the grave makes players lose 4 life for every 1 life gained. This can end up killing infinite life combos way quicker than they can kill all opponents/ it can also make an opposing Gray Merchant really hurt.

Tainted Strike - This card is extremely flexible. Slap it on another opponents power 9 creature and make it lethal for someone else. As stated before, use with dread presence. Tech Alert I have in very rare instances used this card to save my life. Most of my games, I touch the life total of 1-3 life. Some people will usually send a pity attacker at me in attempts to take me out. You can cast tainted strike on anything with power 1-8 and survive a little longer since it replaces damage with infect counters.

Crypt Incursion - Please please please give this card a try, especially in creature meta's. I have consistently gained 20 or more life with single casts of this spell while at the same time, preventing Muldrotha/Chainer/Lurrus/reanimator decks from going out of control.

Sangromancer - Another way to bring us back from the brink of death. Goes hand in hand with our kill spells. Tech Alert Sangromancer pairs very nicely with Geier Reach Sanitarium since even with hellbent opponents, it forces the draw first, then the discard. This interaction gains is a steady flow of 9 life with each Geier Reach activation while also helping us sift through the deck.

Tormod, the Desecrator - Another win con in the deck. He makes every instant spell cast from the graveyard bring a zombie as well. Insanely good defensive card against alpha strikes as you can kill big threats with graveyard instant spells, and block with the provided zombies. Also works with Volrath's Stronghold/Corpse Dance/reanimation spells etc. Can literally make a small army to close out attrition games.

Shadowspear/Sudden Spoiling/Arcane Lighthouse - Removes protection from creatures. Arcane is a must have since it can remove Shroud in particular. Sudden Spoiling doubles as a one sided fog. Shadowspear along with removing hexproof and indestructible provides lifelink which is very important. Tech Alert Shadowspear attached to Dread Presence and using his second ability with a bunch of fetch lands/Myriad Landscape can cause for a nice life buffer. You will deal 2 damage per land, gain 2 life from life link and 2 life from the ability. (These small incremental life gain strats seem non important, but it can be whether you draw an extra 3 cards from necropotence, whether you can cast a kill spell while playing life, whether you can cast an Imp's Mischief in response to something.)

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There you have it Reddit ToshiBro's I hope you can use this list to help you start your own Toshiro Deck. From past experiences for more general builds, I would remove a few draw spells/kill spells/utility spells and replace them with big mana generators and big spells or add more threats to not feel like you're policing the board. Also, if you have a meta with someone that likes holding 30 counter spells, add Thought Distortion/Boseiju to wreck them.

Please also note, that the deck revolves on reusing one for one spells. Threat assessment is the key to making this deck able to keep up answers for important targets. Baiting out counterspells and playing cheap, but irritating threats to get through peoples defenses. Even letting Toshiro through once could spell out death with the help of Hatred and Tainted Strike. Be sure to use your words most of all. Deals or even friendly threats reduces the need to actually cast our spells.

Really hope this helps and remember, use kill spells responsibly.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Exclude colors	B
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.44
Tokens	City's Blessing, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Saved Decks, Toshiro, Deck Ideas, Deck ideas