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 Neon Light Speed [Primer]

1 month 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

2 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

6 months 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

8 months 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

8 months 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.

Crow_Umbra on Mishra's Relentless Horde

8 months ago

I did a quick check through your comment archive and Notable Exclusions to make sure I wasn't listing something already covered in one of those.

I am a bit surprised you don't have Professional Face-Breaker. Kinda like a mono-red Tymna the Weaver if you squint hard enough lol.

Although you are excluding ETB and Aristocrats damage producers, Brazen Cannonade might be of interest. Adds an additional wrinkle for your opponents to decide on blocks, plus gives you some additional card advantage.

This a personal preference of mine I developed when playing Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, but I like Fervor as a Haste anthem a bit more than Anger. Mostly saves a couple extra steps to get the Haste online. Goblin War Drums is also an option if you wanted a generic Menace anthem. There's also Inquisitorial Rosette for menace and creature token creation.

Lastly, Zhentarim Bandit and Captain Lannery Storm are a couple more mana accelerants that work with the aggro elements of your deck.

Crow_Umbra on Attack-harmonicon

8 months ago

No prob, Worrad75 , happy to help. Lol yeah, I've been playing and play-testing Isshin a lot since he was initially spoiled.

I figured you might get a bit more mileage out of Through Investigation with the other Venture stuff in your 99. I think Tocasia's Welcome really shines in decks that are more creature token focused. The Clue tokens are helpful for getting that cantrip in a pinch.

Emberwilde Captain is a fun one too. I had him in earlier versions of my list that had some of the other pillow-fort effects like Revenge of Ravens & Marchesa's Decree. For me, they were effective deterrents at first, but my regular play group would just remove Isshin, and tank through the standard triggers as needed. It's part of what eventually caused me to shift to including more creature token creation. Druid of Purification and Dismantling Wave are removal regulars in the group as well.

Inquisitorial Rosette is a cool one. It replaced Captain's Claws in my list. I liked the Menace from Iroas, so figured I'd get a bit more in the deck. I also had Goblin War Drums in for a bit.

Hammers of Moradin is underrated for Isshin lists. The double Myriad opens up some politicking opportunities for how to direct the attacks.

My meta has a lot of token go-wide strats, and any of the token decks running Red usually feature some combination of Impact Tremors, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Goblin Bombardment, and now Witty Roastmaster. I can see how it would be win-more, but for us the ETB damage from consistent token creation can help close games without having to spread attacks out as much. It helps our token strats by letting them focus the player with the softest board presence, and still "punch" the other two players to some degree. Definitely a meta call for sure.

Although Mishra doesn't have draw stapled on like Severina Raine, I like that Mishra doesn't have to attack for his trigger. Severina is cool and all, but she needs a bit more investment from a decent board and preferably some Haste enabler.

Crow_Umbra on Mardu Samurai Tribal

9 months ago

I've really liked Atsushi, the Blazing Sky in the various decks I've played it in.

Although they're not from Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, some simple enchantment anthems like Brave the Sands, Fervor (not super budget, but helpful), and Goblin War Drums can really help aggro strategies with swinging early, keeping blockers up, and evading blocks on opposing boards.