Breena, the Demagogue

Legendary Creature — Bird Warlock

Flying

Whenever a player attacks one of your opponents, if that opponent has more life than another of your opponents, that attacking player draws a card and you put two +1/+1 counters on a creature you control.

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
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

Crow_Umbra on Isshin (Unfinished)

1 week ago

Hi there, welcome to Isshin brewing! He can be a blast to play, especially once you get hone in on what you want to focus on. Since you're still trying to cut down to your final 100, I was wondering if you have a general theme you wanted to try out for Isshin, and what your general budget overall/per card is? Isshin is a lot of fun as a go-wide tokens build, but his wording also allows for forced combat control.

In looking at your build, I do have a few suggestions for cuts:

• First of all, make sure to list Isshin as your Commander in the edit view by labeling with CMDR with an asterisk on either side of ""CMDR". The edit feature also has some formatting guides to help.

• I think you can cut Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. I love her as a commander, and used to run her before converting her into Isshin about a year ago. Based off how her ability & Isshin's trigger interact, you would have to pay for her ability for each additional time Isshin triggers her.

• Akroan Hoplite and/or Alpine Houndmaster could both be potential cuts. Their buff is board dependent to pop, and they lack Trample or Menace to really connect with their big damage.

• I'd recommend swapping Glint-Sleeve Siphoner with Breena, the Demagogue. Glint-Sleeve is kinda slow and unreliable to get the draw. Although Breena can benefit your opponents, they may be less likely to attack you if they can benefit, meanwhile Breena will help grow threats on your board. She's def gotten huge in a few of my games and helped me close them out.

• Shakedown Heavy is a card I was initially excited for, but soon realized that it can be removed from combat on its initial trigger. Also a kinda awkward means to draw 1 card.

• I'd recommend swapping Plasma Jockey with Hammers of Moradin. Hammers of Moradin put in work, and the Myriad trigger pops off an additional time with Isshin, meaning you tap down 2 creatures per board, and make an additional Myriad token for opponents not defending your OG Hammers of Moradin.

• Bane of Bala Ged is on the higher end of the curve and could potentially be cut. From playing Isshin for over a year now, I think ideally his curve should top out at 6cmc. It makes it more ideal to pop off multiple spells per turn in the mid-late game, instead of 1 bomb-y creature that might eat removal.

I hope these handful of suggested cuts are helpful to get you started. Would be happy to chat through some more potential cuts if you're interested. Best of luck with your deck, Isshin is a lot of fun!

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Double Attack Trigger

1 month ago

Welcome to tappedout and to Isshin brewing! Great choice for a first deck, he's definitely one of my favorites of the past year. I have a few suggestions to consider as you continue to tune the deck:

• I think you can replace like 3 of your equipment with a few more mana rocks like Talisman of Indulgence and the others in Mardu colors. I mostly suggest this because your deck isn't as Equipment focused, and some of the equipment are mana intensive to cast and equip,

• Reconnaissance is one of the best cards out there for any Isshin build variant. This EDHREC article better explains how Reconnaissance is basically a pseudo-Vigilance anthem, and can prevent combat damage that would be dealt to your creatures. A bit pricey though, but worth it.

• Dolmen Gate - Another excellent card for pretty much any Isshin build. Also a bit pricey, but has had a recent reprinting.

• Breena, the Demagogue - She can be a fun draw engine in Isshin, and has helped me win a few games with how much she can grow threats. Because opponents can benefit from her, they may be less likely to remove her until it's too late.

• Aurelia, the Warleader or Karlach, Fury of Avernus can potentially replace Raiyuu. Raiyuu doesn't have haste like Aurelia, or triggers off you attacking outright like Karlach.

• I think you can maybe replace Chaos Warp with some other removal options that are a bit more versatile, like Generous Gift, Anguished Unmaking, or Wear / Tear.

I hope these suggestions are helpful starting places for potential changes. Let me know if you would like some additional feedback, as Isshin is one of my favorite commanders. Best of luck with your games and brewing!

Michigone on Isshin for a Fight

1 month ago

Crow_Umbra, what are your thoughts on Audacious Thief? Does he often draw you more than 2 cards per game, or does he get chumped blocked to death the first time you swing with him? Are you even able to swing with him usually, or is the idea that he is basically combat tribute for his card draw? Would Etali, Primal Storm be more impactful? I know having your protection get hung out to dry in exile when you don't want it to could be a major bummer, but it's only two cards from your own deck. What about Horn of the Mark? Have you played around with that card at all? Also, I'm thinking about cutting Breena, the Demagogue. I feel like the 4 +1/+1 counters don't really benefit me as much as the two cards my opponents get to draw benefits them. I am thinking of cutting Breena pretty hard, and Audacious Thief feels like it may need to go too, but I don't want to go too creature light in the deck, as it really is about combat with creatures. Anyway, thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin, King of the castle

3 months ago

Nice build! To go along with your pillow-fort strat, I have some recommendations for your consideration:

• Angel's Trumpet - Another means of forcing combat, if you need one.

• Breena, the Demagogue is an excellent draw source for Isshin decks. She is one of my favorite creatures in my Isshin deck, as she can get pretty huge. She incentivizes your opponents to swing at each other instead. My meta leans a bit more aggro, so she tends to stick around until she gets big and can one-shot people.

• Call for Aid - Can be useful against other aggro or token strategies, and temporarily steal their board.

• Taunt from the Rampart - Potentially excellent lead into an Alpha Strike, if you have enough of your own aggro pieces online, then force your opponents to attack each other.

Best of luck with your build and piloting it. It looks fun

-

Crow_Umbra on Welcome to art class, time to draw. (Suggestions)

3 months ago

In regards to cuts as a general rule of thumb, I'd recommend re-examining your cards above 6 cmc currently in your deck, and any cards with a heavy investment (3 or more pips) in a single color. You want to increase your likelihood of being able to play the stuff you draw into. I think of all your heavier cmc spells, Vanquish the Horde makes the cut and Emergency Powers is on the bubble, but the rest can likely be trimmed out. It's hard to justify the inclusion of some cards with both a steep cmc and heavy color investment in a 3 color deck.

I'd also generally suggest re-examining any cards that require you to jump through hoops for a potential pay-off.

Breena, the Demagogue can be an awesome draw option that your opponents will benefit from, but she will in turn get huge and can snipe people if not dealt with.

Mystic Remora is an excellent option for draw, and should be cheaper due to recent reprinting. Plumb the Forbidden, Deadly Dispute, and Village Rites are all potential instant speed options that you could utilize, especially in response to someone trying to remove one of your creatures. Beat them to the punch, draw, then punish them for it.

You could also add some draw into your mana base with stuff like Silent Clearing, Geier Reach Sanitarium, and Mind Stone.

Lastly, I'd suggest reconsidering all of your copy enchantment effects. Cut 1-2 of them, since those are all dependent on having something else out worth copying. Otherwise, they just kinda sit in your hand doing nothing. That was something I discovered when I used to play Tuvasa the Sunlit lol.

Best of luck!

awesomedude20 on Di-Had-a'nuf or you hungry for more?

4 months ago

Thanks for popping by my take on the deck, as you asked, I'll give a few opinions :P

Honestly, looks pretty good, not gonna lie! Good selection of varied legendary spells to mess with, got removal and boardwipes.

The only things I think I could recommend is firstly swapping Anointed Procession for Mondrak, Glory Dominus. Obviously being a creature, it has its downsides, but it can be fetched by Dihada's -3. I imagine there's nothing worse than milling the Anointed haha. That being said, keeping Anointed and taking something else out for Mondrak is probably a solid idea too, the more the merrier lol.

Also, I can't see Anafenza really pulling her weight around all that well. Cheap cast, which is good, but Bolster in commander tends to be kind of meh in my experiences with it, at least, without fully building a deck around it. Not too sure exactly what to slot in in place of it, especially if you want to keep the CMC low for the sake of Teshar, but if you can find something that has a more immediate and/or larger effect, I think you'd be better off for it. For one suggestion, Breena, the Demagogue functions as solid card draw, and gets huge, on top of being a flier. Works kinda similarly to Gix really, where it can give everyone card draw. BUT, more importantly, like Gix, it keeps people swinging at other people, instead of you, while also making people NOT want to blow it up because it gives them cards.

Crow_Umbra on Obi-Wan Budget

4 months ago

The recent Aurelia Multiverse Legends reprint is such a huge benefit to budget decks. I know your overall budget is $75, but do you have a budget per card? I have a few suggestions within budget that I think could push your deck a little more without breaking the bank:

• I think you can probably cut Heiko Yamazaki, the General and Raiyuu, Storm's Edge you currently have 5 Warriors & 3 Samurai in deck. From playing Isshin extensively this past year, you definitely want to be attacking with more than one creature per combat haha. Solo attacking usually only happens in early game or after recovering from board wipes.

• Since you already have Duke Ulder Ravengard and Hammers of Moradin, you could lean a bit more into Myriad. Hammers of Moradin is one of my favorite cards in my list, and usually punches above its weight. Some other Myriad creatures you could include are Genasi Enforcers and Elturel Survivors.

• To pair with Myriad and your creature token production in general, I'd recommend getting in some ETB damage effects like Corpse Knight, Impact Tremors, and/or Witty Roastmaster. This helps get some damage in "around" defenses, and softens up opponents even further for when your creatures connect.

• I think Delina, Wild Mage could be an eventual swap/upgrade to Flamerush Rider. Yes, you can Dash out the Rider, but the copies that Delina makes are not Legendary, which can have a higher ceiling on doubling up those triggers you typically wouldn't be able to.

• Karlach, Fury of Avernus could be a budget-ish (less than $10) swap for Raiyuu if you want another extra combat effect. Karlach doesn't even need to attack, she just checks if you are attacking.

• Breena, the Demagogue or Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant could be potential swaps with Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. Both are a blast, and add some fun political wrinkles to games while helping you (and opponents) draw cards. They're high risk/high reward. Breena can help grow herself or your other threats, and Karazikar can help deflect aggro away with Goad.

• Lastly, I'd recommend Gruesome Realization as a swap for Faithless Looting. Yes, Looting is cheap & has Flashback, but it isn't super helpful in this deck since you're not utilizing your graveyard as a resource. Gruesome Realization has helped me cut down other opposing creature token boards in a few games, or drawn me cards if I wasn't playing against those types of strats.

I hope these suggestions are helpful. Overall your deck has decent synergy, but I think a handful of the suggested swaps can get it a bit more honed in. Hope you have fun with Isshin, he's a blast.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin, Two Heavens As One - Eiganjo Uprising v1.2

5 months ago

Another solid round of updates! Your deck is looking more and more refined with each new update. I haven't added anything from MOM/MOC into my 99 yet, but I've kept stuff on my radar.

I think it might be worth revisiting Breena, the Demagogue and/or Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant. You could possibly replace Welcoming Vampire, as 8ish of your cards in the 99 have power 2 or less, some of which are token producers so have more extended synergy.

I'm a bit biased since Breena won me my last few games. My meta leans aggro, so she tends to stick around since people can benefit, but she gets huge as a result, or can grow other threats on our side of the board. In those last few games she was at 20+ power both times, and was 1-shotting people by that point in the game. Karazikar even for 1 turn rotation is super helpful for deflecting aggro.

Breena and Karazikar are both high risk/high reward in their own respects, but I think each has a higher ceiling than Welcoming Vampire for both drawing and finishing potential.