Flawless Maneuver
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed 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
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Flawless Maneuver

Instant

If you control a commander, you may cast this spell without paying its mana cost.

Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.

Shazica on

1 week ago

I have a very similar deck with Reyhan, Last of the Abzan and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker as commanders. I was looking into having Atraxa as a commander instead, but Atraxa is infamous for being a very strong creature that amasses tons of scary, unpredictable value - it is a poison deck? Is it a +1/+1 counters deck? Is it a superfriends deck? Most often, you will find that the other players have Rule 0-ed you as the archenemy before the game begins.

There are two things you can do about this. You can either rise up to the challenge, or you can change commander.

If you want to take on the challenge of constant Archenemy because you want to keep Atraxa, then you have multiple cards that are too weak. Some of which are Arcus Acolyte, the three Myojins, Pollenbright Druid, Murder, Magistrate's Scepter, Chromatic Lantern, Vivisurgeon's Insight, and Expand the Sphere for starters. There are probably 10-20 more I would consider cutting, since these are too casual for the level of play you're signaling with Atraxa. Instead, run low-mana spells like Nature's Lore, Night's Whisper, Fierce Guardianship, Heroic Intervention, Flawless Maneuver, Deadly Rollick, Mystic Remora, Cyclonic Rift, Negate, Swan Song, the WUBG shock lands with their fetches, the list goes on... This won't make your deck cEDH, this will make it more reliable, reactive, and consistent in answering most of your opponents stuff.

If you want to change commanders, you can go for Falco Spara, Pactweaver for value, Anafenza, the Foremost for aggressive, Ghave, Guru of Spores for combo, or the partner pairings of Cazur, Ruthless Stalker  Flip + Ukkima, Stalking Shadow, or Nikara, Lair Scavenger + Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel. All of these will force you to abandon a fourth color, but restriction breeds creativity...?

Side note 1: You can still run Atraxa in the 99, that is a more commonly accepted usage.

Side note 2: You have two Ivy Lane Denizen.

Mortlocke on The Queen's Egg

1 month ago

-HN-,

Hi, and thank you for posting! And They Shall Know No Fear seems interesting, but it doesn't beat Flawless Maneuver. With my commander on the field while being tapped out (pun intended) it's the ultimate bait to waste a removal spell. Despite that, I feel the deck has a pretty robust interaction suite where I feel like there isn't much need for more protection. But i'll definitely keep that card in mind for other decks though, thanks for suggesting it. Profet93, good suggestion regarding Heroic Intervention. I remember when that card was less than $5! I should have stocked up with a playset. But like I said, I think i'm good on protection and interaction - but if there's a need for change or to make room i'll definitely find a way to slot it in.

Michigone on Isshin for a Fight

1 month ago

Change Log 12-Feb-2023

Move to Maybe Board:

Add/Move to Main Board:

Crow-Umbra on Michigone

1 month ago

Hi there! I thought I'd try my best to answer the questions you left for me on my wall. I mostly play the "typical" 4-person EDH pod, with the occasional 5 person game here or there. All of my decks are built with a multi-player setting in mind. To answer your other questions as best as possible:

  • 1 - What is my win rate with Isshin? - This is something I haven't kept close track of, unfortunately. In the past year, I've played at least 20 games with the deck, so I'd have a rough guess that it's won about 25% of the games it has played, and threatened wins another 15-20% of the time, but couldn't quite close it out for one reason or another. My primer has some game logs in the long list of updates if you want to try to read through those. I tried to capture the summary of some of my more memorable games, win or lose.

  • 2 - How do you win with Isshin in multiplayer? - Damage, whether combat or group slug/drain damage. Any aggro or damage based strategy has to find a way to pump out at least 120 damage over the course of a game, or capitalize on openings made by other decks in peoples' defenses. My Isshin deck wins by making swarms of tokens, and antheming them up with Battle Cry, Melee, or some other static power/toughness boost. The times I've won with combat damage, was typically off the back of Iroas, God of Victory because I had a board that could swing away and was hard to block. This is why I also have the damage effects of Purphoros, God of the Forge, Mishra, Claimed by Gix  Meld, Commissar Severina Raine, Impact Tremors, and Brutal Hordechief. The group damage and combat damage help each other out. They both soften up your opponents and help make each other more viable. These damage effects also help you get "around" blockers.

"So what do I do? Lean more into group slug, i.e. put in Impact Tremors? Lean away from wipes and focus on ramp and draw? More protection for my creatures?"

These are all generally good ideas. Adding in more ramp and draw can help your deck with consistency, especially for staying gassed up in the mid-late game. While board wipes are helpful, I've found that sometimes it can get annoying to reset the game too many times. At some point someone has to win, and wiping the board 3+ times in a single game can make it tedious instead.

  • 3 - "Is it mean/distasteful to eliminate the player that is the biggest threat, then finish off everyone else? Am I a bully?*" - Personally, I don't think so. I guess it depends on how well you know the people you are playing with. If the "threat" you eliminated has a deck that consistently pops off if it isn't dealt with, then I don't think it's wrong for them to sit one out. I've been a similar position numerous times with Isshin where I'll eliminate the player that might be the biggest threat to me specifically or could be the biggest threat to the table. If I become archenemy of that game, then so be it. Being archenemy can be fun, and it can be a compliment. Congrats, your deck is now the Big Bad Scary Thing. This is a game, and someone has to win each match up. Yes, EDH is supposed to be a "casual format", and that means a variety of different things to players, but after all is said and done, someone has to win. Ideally it can be you.

  • 4 - "As the only deck in the meta with a robust removal suite..." - I will address the rest of the statement you left, but woof, it sounds like the group you played with this time around was maybe very casual? I found that when some of my friends first started playing EDH, they didn't run a whole lot of removal, often to their own detriment. As one friend and I like to echo, "removal wins games". I think you were correct in removing the Ghired's Anointed Procession, but left their other enchantment alone so they could have fun. Ideally, you shouldn't have to be the "Removal Police" and manage every threat you have the capability to. I typically use my removal to A) Address threats most pressing to me B) Address threats that are most detrimental to the table, but will buy me some good will and time to build afterwards. You can utilize removal for achieving parity as you see fit. In terms of this being a good strategy, I think a better question is more about was a fun game environment created? Being "Removal Police" is fun for some and not as much for others. Eventually, everyone else around the table might have to reconsider running more removal to stay relevant and interactive in games, if that's the type of play they want.

  • 5 - "Board wipes made our games longer" - Going back to what I said a couple paragraphs up "While board wipes are helpful, I've found that sometimes it can get annoying to reset the game too many times" - I personally run 2 wipe effects in each deck. Most of my removal is single target, or can hit multiple things, but isn't quite a board wipe (Wear / Tear, Dismantling Wave, Grasp of Fate, Ashes to Ashes, or Druid of Purification). This is all personal choice though.

  • 5.1 "How do I recover more quickly after a board wipe than my opponents? Do I need more card draw? Do I need more protection to keep my creatures around? " - Card draw is always more helpful. Upping the amount of card draw is typically helpful. The tricky part is tuning the type of draw utilized and finding the balance that feels right for you. For me I have about 14 effects in my deck that can draw cards in either cantrip single instances, in multi-card bursts, or in consistent but slow manners. It takes plenty of playing to see what feels right for you. I also run about 11 different effects that protect my board. I've found that Flawless Maneuver and Teferi's Protection have saved my board and kept them in tact enough to maintain momentum the times I've successfully pulled them off. Clever Concealment is a new option that is especially good in token decks. Scapegoat is another cool and cheap option for token decks, and also lets you redeploy your board strategically. I also keep my overall average CMC of my deck as low as I can, so in the event that I don't have a protection effect, but have drawn into plenty of material, I can play cheaply costed creatures and removal/interaction/protection while everyone else is still rebuilding.

  • 5.2 "when is the right time in an aggro deck to play a board wipe?" - This requires more nuance and playing IRL to determine what feels right to you. I typically board wipe when someone else is building a bigger board than me, and is out-pacing me in that regard, but I have things in hand to quickly rebuild with afterwards, or have a protection effect to spare my board from my own wipe. It also depends on the types of wipes you are playing. White has a ton of options such as Promise of Loyalty, Slaughter the Strong, Retribution of the Meek, Vanquish the Horde, Farewell, Austere Command, and By Invitation Only to name a few. I've found it can be helpful to maybe have 1 wipe that is somewhat asymmetric, usually by presenting each player a choice on what they get to keep. This is a double edged sword since.... people get a choice on what they get to keep. While this may not solve the threat you were looking to eliminate, this may at least make things more manageable. I know Ruinous Ultimatum is a popular option because of how one-sided it is, but the restrictiveness of the mana cost can be annoying. Isshin doesn't necessarily win in 1 big flashy play that seemingly comes out of nowhere, like a combo deck might, but does build up a board presence and aggro momentum over a few turns. If you can continue to build and maintain a momentum, and add in more damage modifiers or Impact Tremors effects, it may then open up the opportunity for a big alpha strike turn, or a turn where you make a bunch of tokens with krenko tin street king pin because it stuck around long enough and you also have Impact Tremors and/or Hellrider and will either make a metric ton of goblins when Krenko swings, or you already have a metric ton of goblins to swing with for Hellrider.

Ultimately this is about finding what is most fun and engaging for you to play, and balancing that out with what is fun for your group. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same definition of fun. Some people will think its unfun or boring to get token swarmed or killed with Impact Tremors, and that's okay.

Takeaways:

  • Definitely add more draw and ramp. Cut down your mana curve and on splashy, but inconsistent effects where possible.

  • Running robust removal and interaction is helpful, but don't think you have to be "threat/parity police" because of it. Other people can choose to step up their removal/interaction suites too. Less board-wipes can be a good thing.

  • A variety of board protection effects will help you maintain the momentum you are building. A lower mana curve helps you go into aggro mode faster, and hopefully rebuild more quickly after wipes. Ideally, this also helps leave a little mana leftover for your Clever Concealments, Boros Charms, and other protection effects.

  • Group Slug and combat damage help each other out and make each other more viable. You are trying to land 120 damage around the table to take out 3 other players, so ideally you should maximize your damage output and find what works best for you, and what is most fun and dynamic for you.

Best of luck and hope you continue to have fun playing this awesome commander.

Gleeock on Phyrexia: All Will Be One …

2 months ago

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor Happy to see they put Flawless Maneuver in. That was my "solution" to the original sin of putting the "free spells" in such a limited print environment when they were bound to become format semi-staples. I said, just use some set mythic spot for the "free spells" on several commander products, like with Command Tower. Sure it wastes a spot for creative design... but I think it would be forgivable to rectify the mistake.

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor on Phyrexia: All Will Be One …

2 months ago

Holy crap, Corrupting Influence looks fun. The reprints are disappointing unfortunately. Especially when compared to Rebellion Rising which has Flawless Maneuver. Still, value infect is an interesting strategy and the new cards all look powerful. Especially Norn's Choirmaster and Wurmquake.

Crow-Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

2 months ago

No prob Venoctus, glad I could be of some assistance. That exchange was easily one of the most absurd ones I've experienced firsthand in my nearly 10 years on this site. It's all good though.

Deflecting Swat and Flawless Maneuver are at their most fun when you get to surprise people with them, instead of the other way around lol. Flawless Maneuver has saved my board on a few occasions, but I haven't used Deflecting Swat as much. I think I've used it to steal Auras on the stack a couple times lol.

I think when Isshin was first spoiled, I looked at a lot of the Samurai from original Kamigawa block that have Bushido. I quickly realized that Bushido only triggers when the creature is blocked or blocking. I think there are more Warriors that have attack triggers of some kind. The few Samurai with attack triggers mostly care about solo attacking Samurai/Warriors. I've seen a few Isshin Samurai/Warrior tribal decks that also have an Exalted subtheme, which are pretty cool.

Generally speaking, I've tried the Voltron solo-attacking strategy in a couple of earlier EDH decks, and they had a hard time in my playgroup. A lot of my friends token go-wide boards, and some play Aristocrats which would absolutely eat my Voltron strats if I didn't have my Tajuru Preserver on board lol. Fun times.

Venoctus on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

2 months ago

Deflecting Swat and Flawless Maneuver are such good Cards, really heavy. And the suprice when you have no Mana but counter also....

And btw thrank you Crow-Umbra because the comment about the weird dude.

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