Goblin War Drums

Enchantment

Creatures you control have menace.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

Crow_Umbra on Alesha, Who Blinks at Death EDH

2 months ago

Hi there, I saw your comment on the front page feed that you were looking for some help with your deck. Alesha was one of my first favorites, but I recycled her a couple of years ago to build Isshin.

In looking at your deck and some of the stuff in your Maybe Board, I have a few suggestions:

• Generally speaking, I think you can trim down your creature base a bit more to give you a bit more room for lands, another mana rock or two, and other spells that can help your overall strategy.

• Some of the creatures I think you can safely cut are: Ponyback Brigade (you have other token creators that aren't 3 color intensive, also kinda underwhelming), Vulturous Aven (there are other similar effects on cheaper spells, at cost of not being repeatable), and Mirkwood Bats (mostly because you currently have ~10 or fewer token creating effects in deck, so not a lot of support).

• As mentioned for the Vulturous Aven swap, but Deadly Dispute, Costly Plunder, & Plumb the Forbidden are all excellent options. Plumb the Forbidden is one I've enjoyed in my aggro decks as a response to board wipes.

• Fanatical Devotion is a budget option that pulls some weight in Alesha as a protection effect & repeatable "free" sac outlet.

• Scapegoat can also be a cheap board protection effect, & means for you to return ETB creatures to hand for reuse.

• Reconnaissance - I first started playing this card in Alesha before using it in some of my current aggro decks. Helps with pulling Alesha or other creatures out of combat after they've dealt damage, since creatures are considered attacking until combat ends. This EDHREc article goes in more detail.

• Snarling Gorehound - Is a newer card & can help Alesha get some repeated Surveil to sculpt her graveyard.

• I'd recommend replacing Coldsteel Heart with something like Talisman of Conviction or Fellwar Stone. I see you recently swapped out Fellwar Stone for Coldsteel Heart, but you're losing a bit of mana velocity with that ETB tapped on Coldsteel.

• In looking at your mana, I think you can probably swap Castle Embereth with another Mountain, mostly because 6 of your 33 lands have the Mountain type. On that note, I think you could safely replace some of your lands that enter tapped with more Basics until you can your hands on something like Luxury Suite or Spectator Seating. Exotic Orchard can also be helpful.

• You can also maybe swap out Junkyard Genius for something like Goblin War Drums, if you're looking for a more reliable Menace anthem.

• I know she's in your Maybe Board, but I think Loran of the Third Path can be a potential swap with Boneshredder. The political draw she has can be really helpful.

Hope these suggestions were helpful. I'd be down to chat about additional swaps if you're up for it. Best of luck, Alesha is a lot of fun

-

Crow_Umbra on BUSHIDO, DIGNIFED

4 months ago

Hi there, happy to see another Isshin player. I've been playing Isshin since he debuted, but more so as a tokens go-wide deck. Regardless, I do have a few suggestions, based off your primer description and to try to fit your theme:

• Conjurer's Mantle could be a decent fit to both your equipment and Samurai subthemes, and also works with Isshin's attack trigger.

• Goblin War Drums or Rising of the Day could be potential replacements for Crash Through. War Drums will help give you some evasion for your attacker(s), and Rising can add a bit more speed to which you can attack.

• Since you already have them in your Maybe Board, you could maybe replace Sword of the Animist with another mana rock like Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Indulgence, or Fellwar Stone. I played Sword of the Animist quite a bit, but it felt slow for what it can do with Isshin, since you have to pay 4 total mana to cast and equip it, then attack. It requires more set up than a straight up mana rock, if you're looking for more early game velocity.

• Similarly, I think you could probably replace Commander's Sphere and/or Boros Locket with some of the mana rocks I mentioned in my bullet above. The activation cost on Boros Locket is kinda color-intensive for a 3 color deck, and at that point is essentially 7 total mana to draw 3 cards.

• I'd recommend checking out Soul Partition as a potential replacement to Dispatch. Soul Partition can hit a variety of targets, and also double as protection for one of your creatures.

• I think Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher or Sun Titan could be potential swaps for the Rakshasa, mostly because they open up your options for Recursion, and both work with Isshin.

• It's a newer card and pricier card, but Roaming Throne could be an option to get even more triggers out of Isshin and your other Samurai.

• Captain's Claws, Inquisitorial Rosette, Anduril, Flame of the West, and Anduril, Narsil Reforged are all excellent equipment options for Isshin.

• Although they are a bit group-huggy in certain regards, Breena, the Demagogue and Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant are both pretty fun draw options for Isshin. Karazikar would also be helpful to turn some attention away from you, and Breena can help grow your board.

• Lastly, Dolmen Gate and Reconnaissance are both awesome board protection effects, especially for a deck ore reliant on single attackers. Reconnaissance can protect your attacking board from unfavorable blocks, and act as a pseudo-vigilance anthem. This EDHREC article dives into a bit more detail into how the timing works for removing your creatures from combat. Reconnaissance is also discussed in a recent episode of EDHRECast.

I hope these suggestions are helpful. I'm down to discuss more suggestions if you're up to it. Best of luck with your deck and its future games.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin (Unfinished)

6 months ago

Brew discussions are one of my favorite aspects of MtG and EDH. I'll hop on Discord a couple times a month and talk with my best friend about our deck ideas. We end up chatting for a couple hours at a time as we deliberate on decisions lol.

I used to run Fervor until Rising of the Day dropped earlier this year.

• Ogre Battledriver is also a great Haste and Power boost for your creatures that ETB.

• A note with Elturel Survivors is that its +X buff is static, so that won't get doubled by Isshin. This is what allows the Myriad tokens to "see" the lands that your opponents control. So each Myriad copy will check for the number of lands its respective defending opponent controls.

• If you do want a Menace anthem, Goblin War Drums is also an option for the same CMC as Pyreheart Wolf, but is a bit more removal resistant. Hard to pass up on those death touch anthems though.

• If you like Adriana, Captain of the Guard, I'd recommend checking out Skyhunter Strike Force as a slighter CMC cheaper option, or as a redundant effect.

• The tough thing with Lightning Runner is that it still has to attack over two turns to get the full 8 energy with Isshin on the board. Without him that gets stretched out to over 4 turns. I took a quick look at Cardkingdom, and the cheapest non-foil Aurelia is about $6.99.

• The ETB group slug damage can get nasty once Isshin starts doubling up the token production on attacks, especially with Myrel. Some other budget effects are Corpse Knight and Witty Roastmaster. Purphoros, God of the Forge is still fairly out of budget, but a nice upgrade if you wanted to move that direction.

• Hellrider, Commissar Severina Raine, and Brutal Hordechief are a nice suite of group slug damage that encourage you to swing with big boards. Commissar is also like a budget Skullclamp on a stick. Speaking of which, Skullclamp is a great draw piece for all your small token creatures, and should be under $10, depending on the printing.

• I'm currently running 35 lands in my Isshin deck, along with the 3 Talismans, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Sword of the Animist, and some Treasure production in the form of Captain Lannery Storm, Professional Face-Breaker, and a handful of other Treasure producers.

As for the instants and sorceries, I tend not to suggest cuts as much there, since I think that's where more meta & playgroup specific tech decisions can be made. Generally speaking, I recommend cutting out single target sorcery speed removal, and saving those sorcery slots for board wipes & draw, Also try to make your instant speed removal be as target-versatile as possible to cut down on how many permanent-specific options you need to include. Here are a few thoughts I do have:

• I'd suggest swapping Chaos Warp with Tibalt's Trickery. It's fun to catch people off guard with a red counter spell, and White & Black have a better go at removing the permanent types that Red typically can't. I think Chaos Warp is better if you're running a Red color combo that doesn't have access to Enchantment removal.

• Terminate or Condemn can be cut or swapped with Soul Partition. Soul Partition is great since it can (temporarily) remove a troublesome nonland permanent, or save one of your own if needed. Sometimes the extra {2} can throw off an oppoent's tempo if they really need to recast whatever you exiled, & sets them back a turn or two.

• I think Vindicate can be replaced with Generous Gift and/or Stroke of Midnight. I think that making your suite of removal be as versatile as possible across a few cards can help you save multiple slots that are more specific/situational on what they can remove. The creature tokens created by Generous Gift & Stroke of Midnight are fairly low impact, & typically die in chump blocks or board wipes.

• Mortify can probably replaced with Wear / Tear as an instant speed option that hits multiple targets.

• If you want some instant speed draw, I'd recommend checking out Plumb the Forbidden. It's an excellent response to your opponents board wiping, and since you can create copies of it, the copies will dodge counter spells.

• Fates' Reversal can probably be cut. Isshin doesn't really want single target recursion, and the Venture the Dungeon is better if you have other instances of Venturing to get its benefits. Lich-Knights' Conquest is a new option for mass recursion that you can throw some creature or treasure tokens into.

• A little off track from the instants and sorceries, but I'd recommend swapping out Paladin Class and replacing it with Flowering of the White Tree. The Ward 1 can make your opponents look for easier targets to remove, & helps some of your more aggro Legends stick around.

Crow_Umbra on Neon Light Speed [Primer]

8 months ago

Thanks for stopping by KBK7101, I appreciate it. I definitely feel you on the preview fatigue lol. At the current rate, I don't think I'm really going to be buying anything new until Wilds of Eldraine. The last new deck I brewed & built was my Zimone and Dina deck back in March? I bought a handful of stuff from the LotR set for upgrades, but none of the new commanders really did much for me.

Ninjutsu builds are cool, just not my cup of tea from having played against them enough times in my local meta haha. Cover of Darkness is a cool card, and one I have a copy of. I definitely considered it for this build, but chose to leave it out for now since Dragons are already fairly evasive with Flying. It felt a bit redundant. If I did include another keyword anthem, I think I'd be more likely to include something like Goblin War Drums.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin for a Fight

9 months ago

I think one easy swap that you could make that also potentially helps with the dilemma of adding in Chivalric Alliance is swapping either Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire or a basic Plains for Minas Tirith.

I've been okay so far at 35 lands. I can understand running Mass Hysteria for the mana efficiency, but giving your opponents' creatures haste runs the risk of benefiting other aggro strats, and activated tap abilities. Rising of the Day gives 17 of your 29 total creatures (including Isshin) that little additional buff.

My quick suggestions for cuts or swaps:

• Swap either Brave the Sands or Fervent Charge for Flowering of the White Tree. Again, 17 of your 29 creatures get a couple decent buffs, and all your other creatures get a consistent +1/+1. Fervent Charge only buffs when you attack.

• I think you can cut Revenge of Ravens for similarly stated reasons as Emberwilde Captain. Or, you could flat out swap with Marchesa's Decree if you really want to keep the effect, but still squeeze in another draw opportunity.

• You can likely cut Vampiric Rites as you were thinking, especially if you end up adding Minas Tirith, which feels like a middle ground to Vampiric Rites & Chivalric Alliance in terms of getting the draw. Idk what land destruction is like in your meta, but Minas Tirith is also a bit more removal resistant.

• Painful Truths can be a potential cut, or perhaps swap with Professional Face-Breaker. Face-Breaker is a combat damage trigger, but is still something you can benefit from since you want to go wide & hit face anyways.

• More of a meta call, but you can maybe cut Vandalblast and/or Damn. I've been cutting back on board wipes in my more aggro decks in favor of more targeted removal, draw, or creatures.

• Inquisitorial Rosette could be another cut. I've personally moved away from this card & Captain's Claws. I think they got phased out for additional creature slots. If you like it as a menace anthem, then Goblin War Drums is also an option. Ultimately up to you though.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin for a Fight

1 year ago

Reconnaissance is such a great card in this deck, glad you're finally giving it a try. I see you already have Gruesome Realization in the 99. I recently had a game a couple of weekends ago where a friend played his Krenko, Mob Boss deck. I drew with a fairly removal heavy hand, one of the pieces being Gruesome Realization. I used it fairly early, and was able to kill off Krenko's 5 Goblin tokens it already managed to create.

If you're looking for more evasion and anti-token tech, I'd also recommend checking out Legion Loyalist and Goblin War Drums. Rakdos Charm can also be a pretty cheeky way to punish token strategies that outpace you on board establishment. I also recently subbed in Urabrask the Hidden as another Haste anthem and stax piece to slow down board rebuilds after board wipes. Kismet is another decent stax piece to hinder what your opponents are rolling out.

Slaughter the Strong is a board wipe that Isshin can dodge, and forces your opponents to slim down to only the most crucial stuff they can afford to keep.

Lastly, Soul Partition is pretty versatile as a removal piece that essentially adds another instance of Commander Tax to a removed opponents' commander, or can be a protection piece for one of your own things. I used it that same game to get rid of Krenko for essentially the rest of the game.

Crow_Umbra on Alesha, who keeps playing cards

1 year ago

Sorry to spam another response, I just read your updated deck description, and I think your gut feeling on removing the +1/+1 counter sub-theme is correct. If you want your creatures to connect, you could use stuff like Spirit Mantle or equipment with Deathtouch or "unblockable", like Basilisk Collar or Whispersilk Cloak to help sneak damage through. Key to the City is a piece of tech used by many Alesha lists as a means to push damage through and also get cards into the yard.

Mark of Asylum could also potentially be a swap for The Wanderer. A bit more resilient to removal.

Another fun subtheme I played around with is to recur creatures that punch very heavily if they connect, like Virtus the Veiled, Raving Dead, and the infamous Master of Cruelties. At one point, I had a Menace subtheme with stuff like Goblin War Drums, Sonorous Howlbonder, and Labyrinth Raptor.

Alesha has a lot of tech available to her, to the point of being a bit overwhelming. I think by the time I retired my Alesha deck, I had tried out like 3-4 build variations. Towards the end, I realized the deck worked better (for me), when Alesha wasn't the primary aggro and reanimation option.

Pheardemons on Mishra's Relentless Horde

1 year ago

Crow-Umbra - First off thank you very much for the comment, as well as looking back through old comments to see if things have already been mentioned. Definitely appreciated when someone is willing to do that.

Second, not sure if you meant that joke to be as funny as it was, but I definitely laughed loud enough where people were looking at me haha. Honestly, I truly believed I had Professional Face-Breaker in the deck. Not sure what kind of dream that was, or maybe I meant to put him in and forgot. I remember setting it aside to try and make the cut. He's not even in the maybeboard. Not sure what happened there.

Brazen Cannonade is a thought. I think I remember considering it but I believe I went with Kardur, Doomscourge instead since it was a body that can attack. "Hoping" that the creature dies isn't the most efficient strategy but not one to completely take out of the running. It is a thought thank you.

Fervor may not completely be out of the running but it isn't a priority. I get your meaning on the less steps than Anger, but also it is one of those cards that I could say "enter combat" and they respond by destroying it. I feel like the extra loops with Anger makes it a little better since it is harder to get rid of (in theory). Question though, in your deck as well as here, isn't Hammer of Purphoros strictly better? It gives the options of making creatures. Thought for both of us.

Goblin War Drums is not a bad thought, but I feel like I might choose War Cadence over it. I've actually been trying to find a place to put War Cadence in the deck as of recently.

Inquisitorial Rosette I didn't know existed; I like it though. That is definitely a thought. Captain Lannery Storm is one I put behind Professional Face-Breaker but you're probably right. They both deserve a spot for the ramp since the deck is a little higher on the CMC cost. Zhentarim Bandit I think is behind both of them so I'm not sure I'll consider that right now.

With these thoughts, what do you suggest I take out for Professional Face-Breaker, War Cadence, Captain Lannery Storm, and Inquisitorial Rosette?

Of note, I have been debating on switching out Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs with Great Unclean One since most people simply won't attack me with Kazuul out, wait until the token doesn't affect their attack, or he'll just bait a kill spell. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser is also on the maybelist. He's there for me to get around infinite life. Taking their cards isn't bad either, but at least there is an option. I haven't playtested this deck enough to gauge whether he's a wasted spot or not.