Grasp of Fate

Combos Browse all Suggest

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

Rules Q&A

Grasp of Fate

Enchantment

When Grasp of Fate enters the battlefield, for each opponent, exile up to one target nonland permanent that player controls until Grasp of Fate leaves the battlefield. (Those permanents return under their owners' control.)

Crow_Umbra on Attack Attack!

1 month ago

It looks like you might have a 2nd copy of Isshin in your 99, & you're at 101 cards. Other than that, I'd say you're definitely on the right track with your documented edits so far.

If you're looking for any feedback, I'd generally suggest to trim your 4cmc slot a bit more, & maybe bumping up to 35-36 lands.

  • I'd recommend checking out Soul Partition as a swap for Utter End. The times I've played Partition, opponents rarely recast whatever it exiled.

  • I think you can swap one of your board wipes for either Grasp of Fate or another instant speed protection effect like Unbreakable Formation or Clever Concealment. Either way, Isshin thrives off keeping his board ad intact as possible.

Best of luck with the deck. I hope you have a blast with it once all your pieces come in.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Semi-budget

1 month ago

No prob, happy to help! Do you have a general budget per card? I wanted to make sure that the stuff I recommended generally stuck within the budget the rest of the list seemed to have. Is there anything you have in mind for the type of effect you were looking for the 4 drop?

I'm generally a fan of keeping the curve trim for Isshin. I think most of what the deck wants tends to be mostly in the 2-4 cmc range. A few different 4 drop options:

  • Bronzebeak Foragers - Basically a Grasp of Fate on a body that can be copied by Delina, Wild Mage

  • Firemane Commando - Also complimentary to Breena & rewards you for attacking around the table.

  • Mishra, Claimed by Gix  Meld - I wouldn't even bother with the Meld aspect. Mishra can be a pretty solid finisher option for group slug shenanigans.

  • Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser - Newer tech from MKC. Can compliment the Breena you have in your 99 & be another draw source.

  • Ogre Battledriver - Another haste anthem can be helpful for an aggro deck. The other benefit is getting that +2/+0 power buff for when creatures ETB, so it can definitely add a bit more punch to your tokens that ETB tapped & attacking.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin in the Red Zone

1 month ago

That's totally understandable regarding the price tag on Reconnaissance. The Brave the Sands you have is a pretty solid alternative. Would you say your general budget per card is like $10 max?

I think Goblin Bombardment definitely could work for turning some of your token production into spot removal like you mentioned. From my experience, the group slug ETB really makes the aggro strategy a bit smoother, since you're softening up the entire table. Generally makes it a bit easier to deal that 120 damage needed to take out 3 other players lol. Group slug and combat damage compliment each other by taking some pressure off of each other.

If you're looking for cuts, a few I'd suggest:

  • I don't really run more than two cards that are 6cmc or more in my Isshin deck. Most of my curve is in the 2-4 cmc range. Keeping things in that range makes for smoother aggro deployment, or quicker board rebuilds after board wipes. I've found that by the time I can play 6-8+ mana, I generally want to be able to play multiple spells as opposed to 1 big bomb.

  • Etali can likely be a cut. I played it in an earlier iteration of my deck, & it felt very boom or bust. Plenty of fun the times it boomed, but it felt like it whiffed enough that it wasn't worth it. If I didn't have some kind of haste enabler on board, Etali often ate removal in the turn rotation after it hit the field.

  • Drakuseth can probably be a cut. Very heavy single color investment with 3 red pips in a tri color deck, & it lacks any built in Haste to help.

  • Argentum Armor can definitely be a cut. It's 12 total mana to cast and equip it to something. If you're looking for more removal, I'd recommend stuff like Generous Gift, Stroke of Midnight, Swords to Plowshares, Grasp of Fate, & Anguished Unmaking (if it's in your budget).

  • Your other more expensive equipment like Nazgul Battle-Mace & Hexplate Wallbreaker could potentially be cuts at 8 & 9 total mana respectively to cast & equip.

I'd also recommend getting in some cheap board protection to help maintain aggro momentum. Scapegoat, Unbreakable Formation, & Fanatical Devotion are all fairly budget options. The more you can keep your board intact & attacking, the tougher you become for the table to deal with.

Crow_Umbra on Solphim

3 months ago

Unless your opponents are playing something like Disciple of Caelus Nin, all of your phased out permanents should phase back at the beginning of your next upkeep. Here's a wiki entry for Phasing if you wanted to review the rule details.

Understandable regarding Krenko. Mostly suggesting creature token creators that are pretty commonly utilized in Isshin token decks, and since you have Isshin in the 99.

I don't mind if you're not running the ramp stuff. I'm mostly suggesting running more ramp to avoid getting mana flooded, since you're not playing a strategy like Landfall, which can play more than 1 land per turn. Having some mana rocks can act as like an extra land drop in your early turns.

A few suggestions regarding your removal options, but I think that Generous Gift, Swords to Plowshares, Stroke of Midnight, Wear / Tear, and Grasp of Fate could all be alternatives to Archangel of Wrath, Banishing Stroke, and Bone Splinters. All of these options have minor drawbacks, but are a bit faster and more versatile than the options you're currently running.

All that being said, it's no big deal to me if you use anything I suggest or don't. Your enjoyment of your deck on your own terms is what matters most.

Crow_Umbra on Where in the world is Carmen

4 months ago

I saw your forum post, and figured I'd leave my suggestions here:

  • Scapegoat - Can help with board protection for stuff you wouldn't want to die (mostly Carmen).

  • Bartolome del Presidio - Kind of like another Carrion Feeder. Helpful to have another free sac outlet that can also grow into a threat.

  • Plumb the Forbidden - Maybe can replace Village Rites or Corrupted Conviction. Excellent draw, especially when used in response to board wipes. One of my favorite uses was using it in response to a Living Death lol.

  • Fanatical Devotion - Another free sac outlet that can help you protect key creatures.

  • Curse of the Restless Dead - Could be another means of getting creature tokens to sac, even if you enchant yourself with it. I think this or Fanatical Devotion could replace Monologue Tax, which felt very underwhelming each time I played it.

  • Loran of the Third Path - Another helpful ETB removal with some upside for political draw.

  • Chittering Witch - ETB token creator with a bit of removal

  • Bronzebeak Foragers - More ETB removal that can be repeated with Carmen. Kind of like a Grasp of Fate on a stick.

  • Luminous Broodmoth - Helps recur your sacrificed creatures and turns them into more effective attackers/blockers, assuming they didn't already have flying.

  • Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz - A value engine that cares about you sacrificing permanents.

  • Lich-Knights' Conquest - Could be a means of doing a "surgical" version of Living Death, and get back some of your ETB removal like Fleshbag Marauder and crew.

I think you have a solid start so far in terms of trying to balance out sac fodder creation and sac enablers. Every meta is different, but I think with how prevalent Treasures and similar types of tokens are now, Carmen should get some incidental growth from other players, but will definitely require some testing in your local metas to determine that. I think having a decent amount of Free Sac Outlets to let you control your own sacrificing at instant speed should be helpful too, especially if some of those effects can help you protect Carmen, or at least replenish resources if she is removed.

DreadKhan on Merieke Esper Control

5 months ago

I had a longer post but it got lost in the shuffle. Anyways, I like what you're doing here and hope some of these janky ideas will work!

I like Grasp of Fate in a deck like this. If you know who is able to remove it you can make a point of not targeting anything too serious of theirs, in some metas it's not hard to keep this out (lots of decks without Green or White). Stroke of Midnight is another reasonable removal spell with a high level of versatility.

Since you run a lot of wipes and removal I feel like Kothophed, Soul Hoarder is a pretty solid include. As long as he kills what he blocks he'll draw a card each time, any removal that sends stuff to the graveyard is much better, and your wipes can easily feel like Decree of Pain, obviously not great if everyone is on infinite creature combo (in which they don't win that turn as well) but if people have ~10 creatures out you'll get a new hand. Kothophed also draws cards vs things like Fetchlands and Treasure/Clue tokens, I think he's more risky if you don't have a good counter package.

Have you thought about something like Sakashima the Impostor to copy Ioreth? If you have your Commander out she can kill off the entire table except the best thing, which you can keep.

Liliana, Death's Majesty is a nice fit in cards that like the idea of a wipe but might already have several, this Liliana makes tokens and can reanimate stuff in a pinch, but it's the wipe that's extra spicy.

War Tax is a janky card that can be used to protect your planeswalkers, but it can also be used politically, though it suffers a lot of people don't keep their word, the way I like to use it is to make deals with people, they agree either to not send at me (or send less at me), and if they do I don't tax, if they don't I either tax or remove stuff of theirs as punishment. It's really good if the next player is the most aggressive, and the effect is worse if you have 'better' things to do with your resources, but this is a mana sink that people really sleep on.

NV_1980 on Raine Death upon Your Enemies

6 months ago

Hi,

This looks nice. I would point out though, that your 2nd method of winning (attacking with Raine) is made more difficult because of the following:

  • You've only included two spells (three if you count the wipe) that can deal with taxes/restrictions on your attacks (Ghostly Prison, No Mercy, Propaganda, Sphere of Safety, Ensnaring Bridge etc.). Considering such taxation is rather popular amongst players AND the lack of tutors in the deck to find your destructive spells, this will probably be an issue. I'd therefore recommend to add more stuff that can deal with these cards like Heliod's Intervention, Banishing Light, Grasp of Fate, etc. In case you don't run into any taxes, these spells are all great to use against other stuff too, so they won't be wasted slots in any way.
  • There's no protection for Raine in the deck. So every attack he does against players that have blockers, you can pretty much guarantee that he will be a primary target and will get killed. Adding some cards that ensure his survival during attacks therefore wouldn't hurt. Specifically, I'm thinking Bastion Protector, Reconnaissance, Dolmen Gate or maybe just something like Darksteel Plate.

Hope this helped, good luck with the brew.

Regards, NV_1980

Crow_Umbra on

7 months ago

Yo, I saw your post on Reddit & thought I'd leave my feedback here. Overall pretty solid start, but there are a few spots that are worth re-evaluating. I have a few suggestions for additions & swaps:

  • I think you could stand to use a bit more instant speed removal like Anguished Unmaking, and you can probably swap Vandalblast for Wear / Tear. Dismantling Wave and Grasp of Fate are also options that can hit multiple targets without necessarily being a wipe. I think Vandalblast can be more of a meta-dependent call.

  • As the person stated on Reddit, I second that Reconnaissance, Dolmen Gate, and Rising of the Day are all additions that should be made to the deck.

  • I'd suggest swapping out Cathars' Crusade with Flowering of the White Tree. Cathar's Crusade can be annoying to track, especially with the amount of tokens Isshin can pump out. Flowering is lower to the ground and offers some additional blanket protection to all your legends. I've played Flowering of the White Tree in my Burakos and Isshin decks, and have really enjoyed how well it performed in both.

  • I'd suggest swapping Phyrexian Arena for Plumb the Forbidden, especially as a response to board wipes, and because you're already running Necropotence.

  • Minas Tirith could be a decent addition to your mana base, and the Temple of ___ cycle can likely get swapped out with more of the Battlebond cycle like Spectator Seating. As the person on Reddit stated, I second replacing the Snarl Cycle, and as many of your lands that ETB tapped. Canyon Slough and Sunbaked Canyon can be potential additions, especially since they offer some additional utility if you don't really need them.

  • I think it could be worth while to add in Talisman of Hierarchy and Talisman of Indulgence to round out your ramp a bit more.

I hope these suggestions are helpful. Down to bounce ideas for any other swaps if you're interested. Best of luck with brewing and playing Isshin, he's a lot of fun!

Load more