Ogre Battledriver

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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
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Ogre Battledriver

Creature — Ogre Warrior

Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn. (It can attack and this turn.)

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 All out attack

2 months ago

Pretty solid deck! Have you had a chance to play this deck irl? I have a few suggestions for potential edits:

  • I think it might be worth swapping out some of your creature slots at the 5-8 cmc range for stuff that's lower in the 1-4 range. From having played Isshin for almost 2 years, I don't think the deck needs many top-end bombs.

  • If you do trim off the top-end, I'd recommend swapping out: Witch-King of Angmar (might not deter boards that go-wide), the Ancient Dragons can probably be swapped since they're combat-damage based, and either of your 8 drops could probably be cut.

  • Ogre Battledriver is a cool haste & power anthem. Could be helpful for giving you another haste option if you keep some of your higher end creatures.

  • Breena, the Demagogue and Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant are both excellent draw for Isshin, & can compliment the Firemane Commando & Aurelia, the Law Above that you already have in mainboard.

  • Taunt from the Rampart could replace one of your board wipes, maybe Cleansing Nova, & compliment the cards from the previous bullet.

-Legion Loyalist, Signal Pest, & Reconnaissance are all excellent 1 drops for Isshin. Reconnaissance can essentially be a pseud0-vigilance anthem that saves your creatures from combat; this EDHREC artcle explains how the timing works.

I hope these suggestions were helpful. Down to chat through additional suggestions if you're up for it, if not, no worries. Best of luck with the deck

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Mardu Tap and Win

2 months ago

Overall very solid deck. My only recommendations would be to cut your Dragon Engine and Samurai that aren't Isshin, and to slot in Dolmen Gate to help round out the board protection suite you have with Iroas, Reconnaissance, & Teferi's Protection. The Samurai, although flavorful, are your only cards that care about single attacking Warriors/Samurai, while most of your deck wants to go wide.

Some of the following could be potential creature slot replacements:

I hope these suggestions are helpful. Down to chat through more if you're interested. Best of luck

Last_Laugh on Token Legion

3 months ago

Iroas, God of Victory is another dolmen gate effect that gives menace. I also recommend Dolmen Gate. These 2 along with Reconnaissance, which you already run, are a trifecta I can't recommend enough here.

Ogre Battledriver is a nice haste enabler that buffs your tapped and attacking tokens and helps them trade up or survive a lot better in combat.

Mardu Ascendancy can spit out massive amounts of tokens and the toughness boost can come in handy in a pinch.

Hall of Heliod's Generosity would be nice here since you run 19 enchantments and a lot are pretty impactful.

Vault of the Archangel is expensive to activate but effects combat in your favor even if you don't. Just the unspoken threat of potential activation will get small attackers past big blockers. Hold up the mana, be committed to using it if needed, and cast stuff on your 2nd main if your dudes stay unblocked.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin, Two Heavens as One

5 months ago

Hi there, welcome to Isshin deck brewing! Isshin is a blast to play if you haven't had the chance to do so already. If you're open to suggestions, I have a few ideas in looking at your already pretty solid list:

  • I think you can swap out Goblin Traprunner. I've played coin-flipping as part of that coin-flip pre-con, and it can be a very boom or bust strategy. Additionally, having to go through each flip can be kind of time consuming to do or sit through.

  • Skyhunter Strike Force or Ogre Battledriver could be potential swaps for Goblin Traprunner. Skyhunter is basically like a mini Adriana, Captain of the Guard, and Battledriver is a helpful combo of Haste anthem & power boost.

  • If your budget allows, I'd recommend checking out Dolmen Gate and Reconnaissance as protection effects. Isshin thrives on keeping his board as protected as possible to maintain aggro momentum. Reconnaissance acts as like a pseudo-Vigilance anthem that can also save your creatures from combat damage. This article helps detail how that timing makes that work.

  • On the topic of board protection, I'd recommend checking out Unbreakable Formation and Clever Concealment, if your budget allows, as instant speed protection options. Your tokens can help convoke cast Clever Concealment, essentially making it free in some instances.

  • Lastly, I think you could swap Chaos Warp with either Stroke of Midnight or Soul Partition. Stroke of Midnight is basically like another copy of Generous Gift, but doesn't hit lands. Soul Partition pulls double duty as "temporary" removal, or as a single target protection effect.

I hope these suggestions are helpful. I'd be happy to chat through more if you're open to it. Isshin is a commander I've enjoyed playing since he made his debut, so you're in for a fun time.

Lightningbolter on Isshin (Unfinished)

5 months ago

Ogre Battledriver is kind of nice I may add him.

I did know that about Elturel Survivors, thanks for letting me know how that works tho.

I'll stick to deathtouch rather than menace, as I said Pyreheart Wolf Was really just filler lol.

Skyhunter Strike Force is nice I'll keep that in mind.

Yeah I pretty much made the decision to cut Lightning Runner as we were speaking as I thought the same, also thanks for checking the price.

Corpse Knight and Witty Roastmaster are good adds, I didn't even think of taking advantage of the tokens with things like them and similar effects lol.

Hellrider and didn't even see that effect of Commissar Severina Raine but they are both good for the same reason.

I'll take the lands into account, Captain Lannery Storm is quite nice with isshin.

I'll keep Tibalt's Trickery in mind but for now I'll keep chaos warp for overall budget reasons lol.

I missed Soul Partition in the brothers war set, it's quite nice.

Generous Gift and Stroke of Midnight are definitely nice cards, kind of forgot about Generous Gift lol.

As for now I like Mortify a bit better as there's currently no really threatening Artifacts, but Wear / Tear will be noted tho.

I love Plumb the Forbidden lol.

Fates' Reversal is really just for the times isshin gets killed a lot and he becomes too expensive to cast again, the idea I have is just let him go to the graveyard and bring him back if it gets stopped it's no big deal as that would be my last effort before complete death, that's really all Fates' Reversal is for lol.

I did see Flowering of the White Tree But don't have it for money reasons.

Crow_Umbra on Isshin (Unfinished)

5 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 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 Totentanz, Kazoo Kid

6 months ago

I agree with lhetrick13, that you could likely focus the majority of your cuts in your creature section. I think another area of focus for potential cuts would lower impact reanimation effects, mostly because this deck wants to make lots of rat tokens. Since you will be making lots of disposable bodies, you don't really need to invest much in single-target reanimation effects.

Also, I think you might want to swap Talisman of Impulse for Talisman of Indulgence. Probably just a mix up in the card selection menu.

Suggestions for potential cuts:

  • Gnat Miser - Reducing opponents' hand size by 1 isn't super impactful in the grand scheme of a game, especially with how commonly (over)played Reliquary Tower & Thought Vessel can be, depending on metas.

  • Persistent Specimen - Basically another Reassembling Skeleton, which it looks like you might've also removed from the list.

  • Burnished Hart - Yes, it can self sac to grab you 2 basics, but that costs 6 mana total to cast & activate. Could maybe even be replaced with another 2 mana rock like Mind Stone, or maybe even Cursed Mirror, which can copy one of your rats for additional utility.

  • Murderous Rider - Doesn't really fit the theme of the deck beyond being a removal spell. Could likely be replaced with another instant like Infernal Grasp or Baleful Mastery if you needed the additional removal.

  • Unearth - Single target reanimation. Doesn't seem like it will do too much, especially since you want to mostly sac rat tokens, and already have a fairly high creature count.

  • Phyrexian Reclamation - Similar line of reasoning as Unearth. It feels like you have more than enough creatures to keep casting, so trying to reanimate doesn't make as much sense here.

  • Grave Pact - Great card, but feels overly redundant with Dictate of Erebos, which has the benefit of surprising opponents with Flash.

  • Diabolic Tutor - I think you can probably replace this with Pact of the Serpent

Those are the most obvious cuts I can suggest at the moment. I think it would be helpful if you take some time to tag the cards in your deck, and what roles they play. Tagging helps me better visualize my categories and helps me decide on cuts and swaps.

If you want to aggro swarm your opponents with Rats, I'd suggest considering Rising of the Day as a haste anthem so your swarms can, well, swarm ASAP. I'd also recommend checking out Cover of Darkness to give all of your little Rats some Evasion, otherwise they will get chump-blocked to death. Ogre Battledriver might also be worth a look, especially since it can buff up your 1/1 rats, and give them haste. Ogre Battledriver has made itself at home in a couple of my aggro token decks for that reason.

My final suggestion is to hone in on if you want this to be an Aggro deck first, with the option to combo out, or if you want this to primarily be a combo deck with Aggro as a "Plan B" to fall back on. Determining that primary focus for yourself will also help guide some of the cuts you make.

Best of luck!

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