Reyhan&Ishai | Where Unstoppable Meets Immovable!

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Battlecruiser Counters GWUB Multiplayer Primer

AkaAkuma

Land (37)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 4x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Hadana's Climb  ^Flip
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Indatha Triome
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 2x Island
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Krosan Verge
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Murmuring Bosk
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Strip Mine
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Zagoth Triome

Protection (4)

• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Gift of Immortality
• 1x Octopus Umbra
• 1x Teferi's Protection

+1 Counter (16)

• 1x Abzan Ascendancy
• 1x Basri's Lieutenant
• 1x Branching Evolution
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Corpsejack Menace
• 1x Doubling Season
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Master Biomancer
• 1x Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
• 1x Mirror Mockery
• 1x Mycoloth
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Verdurous Gearhulk
• 1x Woodland Wanderer

Removal (7)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Knight of Autumn
• 1x Retribution of the Ancients
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Tragic Arrogance

Card Draw (5)

• 1x Fathom Mage
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise

Finishers (4)

• 1x Blade of Selves
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Walking Archive

Commanders (2)

Acceleration (11)

• 1x Crystalline Crawler
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Ordeal of Nylea
• 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tempt with Discovery
• 1x The Great Henge
• 1x Traverse the Ulvenwald

Aristocrats (5)

• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Recurrence (5)

• 1x Eerie Ultimatum
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Find / Finality
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Together Forever

Heralds (4)

• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Hagra Constrictor
• 1x Tendershoot Dryad
• 1x Zegana, Utopian Speaker

Maybeboard

Recently removed (17)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Cazur, Ruthless Stalker  ^Flip
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Myth Unbound
• 1x Sakashima the Impostor
• 1x Selfless Squire
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Song of the Dryads
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Ukkima, Stalking Shadow
• 1x Vorel of the Hull Clade

Other (5)

• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Ghave, Guru of Spores
• 1x Karametra, God of Harvests
• 1x Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1x Simic Ascendancy

Land (1)

• 1x Windswept Heath

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This deck is an endless Work In Progress! Feedback, suggestions and upvotes are always appreciated.

Reyhan, Last of the Abzan, a gifted Dragonscale General, took a short lived lead to the remnants of Abzan after Daghatar surrendered to the Dragonlord Dromoka. She rallied her clan to a last resistance, with a strength not from numbers but individuals.

While in the midst of a meeting between Khans, Reyhan had her final act in rescuing her fellow Khan from the Dragonlords Ojutai and Sulimgar. Here Reyhan created a diversion to stall Silumgar but only to be intercepted by Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, the personal attendant of Ojutai and former Jeskai Windscout.

Cornered & outnumbered each Khan surrendered to the dragons resulting to an end of the Khan period.

But here, in a parallel universe where Ishai sided with Reyhan rather than Ojutai, a duo rose no Dragonlord nor Khan stood a chance to!

As this is where the unstoppable force meets the immovable object!

Reference: No end and no beginning, Khanfall and The great teacher's student

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Introduction

"To suffer a defeat and yet lose none of your strength." That's what Abzan stands for. This piece of flavor translates beautifully into Reyhan's ability to keep your power on board even if creatures fall!

Now have you ever heard of rule 704.K, the infamous legend rule?

legend rule Show

If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule".

Well of-course you did, otherwise we'd only run clones in EDH. But have you ever considered using the rule to your benefits? Because Reyhan is a good example of one. As of yes! She and her "clones" their ability all trigger simultaneously if one dies.

So here you have it. I've build an Aristocrats themed deck resolving around Counters. And a great aspect to this strategy is to clone Reyhan for creating allot of counters.

Aristocrats Show

Aristocrats is a term born when creatures as Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat came to existence. It is a strategy where low costed creatures are sacrificed so greater effects can be made.

But as far as Golgari or even Abzan goes with +1 counters, this strategy begs for blue to be in her color identity also. Which is where Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker comes in. While looking like an underwhelming Managorger Hydra that can commander-damage and fly, Ishai provides us blue for that simic synergy while also letting us splash white for cards like Eerie Ultimatum, Gift of Immortality and the all fittingly Together Forever.

Deck's key strengths:

But why Reyhan, Last of the Abzan with Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker instead of let’s say an Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Ghave, Guru of Spores or any other partner?

• Reyhan or Ishai are almost always a guaranteed turn 3 drop since we only need 2 out of 4 colors to play them!
• Is your magic group limited to no infinite's? Can't you play your Ghave to your fullest because of said rule? Ever made 90 counters with just your general and one other card? Well make way Ghave, because Reyhan can!
• The cost penalty upon commander-zoning a general is not shared between partners.
• Even though commander-damage is not shared between partners, we will most likely be able to shift any power from one general to another may one of the two leave play. Suck on that, Kresh!
• Reyhan is very good one vs. one while Ishai is very good in multiplayer making this deck good to play in any edh format.
• "Partner" EDH decks start a game with "nine" instead of eight cards. We also care less about having a hand with no creatures, I mean we already start with 2!
• A Reyhan or Ishai on the field does not look as scary as casting a Atraxa, so they won't be removed as quickly. That until it's too late of course.
• And by all means I think Ravos, Soultender and Tana, the Bloodsower hold great synergies with Reyhan on different views. Thrasios, Triton Hero has proved himself as tier 1 general and if I could choose I kind of wished I had red over white in this deck's color identity (but except for the sub-par card draw even a potato has more synergy with Reyhan than Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist or Kraum, Ludevic's Opus). Now what makes Ishai so great is the fact that she's a flyer that holds true to that counter synergy. And personally I think Reyhan really needs that blue for cards like Rite of Replication, Prime Speaker Zegana and Deepglow Skate.

Deck's weaknesses:

This deck of course does not come without cons.:

• This deck is, like any +1/+1 counter deck, is weak to blink, bounce and exile effects.
• we can Make a Stand if our boardstate gets partially removed, but full wipes can be our lock down.
• This deck does not fare well against super-fast aggro EDH's like Omnath, Locus of Mana, cruel control and the likes of Roon of the Hidden Realm.
• The likes of Solemnity, Vampire Hexmage or Suncleanser just shut us down completely.
• Prime Speaker Zegana, I love her. But don't play her with a 123/123 Reyhan on the field. If only her ability said target player...

"Power level":

Following the command zone's guideline for power levels on edh decks, this deck would be graded an 8/10.

This deck lacks the turn 4 win options to be fully competitive and reyhan or ishai can't obtain infinite resources with just one another card.

However Reyhan, and this deck alike will constantly apply pressure to the board. A boardstate is quickly made and can be very difficult to remove. It has allot of toolbox options and different winning conditions.

Power levels explained Show

- power lv. 1/2: jank decks. These are usually decks made out of scrap cards and random cards laying about.

- power lv. 3/4: casual decks. Usually precon decks fall under the category. They have a theme but not everything is optimal towards reaching that goal.

- power lv. 5/6: focused decks. These decks have a clear focus and are lead by a decent general. But can be inconsistent.

- power lv. 7/8: optimized decks. Powerful general's leading consistent decks with allot of winning strategies. Consistent even without the use of tutors or land destruction.

- power lv. 9/10: competitive decks. We're talking any disgusting way in order to win or lockdown as fast as turn 4.

The Strategy

Here I will show you the charm on which is Reyhan. Most people will build Reyhan solely on her counter aspect, but as said before, it is the Aristocrat path I walked down.

My strategy on deckbuilding with Reyhan and Ishai is derived in four pieces.

Acceleration:

Now the issue to this deck is not the amount of mana we need to get it rolling, but the four mana to get our maximum potential. I suggest starting a game with 3-4 land, as we start with 2 creatures in the command-zone anyway. Because of this, the ramp cards included are meant to give as much profit after Reyhan is placed.

• 37 land are included to the deck, which is 33 excluding utility and quest lands, but most of our creatures are small so that’s fine. As long as our coverage is good.
• 8 acceleration spells like Ordeal of Nylea and Cultivate
• 3 mana-dorks Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds will supply us with anything we need to go off explosives.

Tempt with Discovery should be used wisely. Most people cannot resist ramping a free land which leaves you with a potential 4 lands for 4 mana! However, because cards like Maze of Ith or Gaea's Cradle can also be searched by opponents i suggest holding a Strip Mine or Ghost Quarter behind in case people searches these up. My strategy is to always search up something innocent like mosswort bridge before playing big guns like Field of the Dead or earlier mentions.

Krosan Verge can fetch a Breeding Pool, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain Irrigated Farmland, Indatha Triome, Murmuring Bosk, Overgrown Tomb, Sunken Hollow or a Zagoth Triome.

Ordeal of Nylea should've been called Ordeal of Reyhan, this and Hadana's Climb   are designed to perfectly match Reyhan. Easy ramp with a counter.

Counters & Clones:

Actually I can fork this section into 3 new categories as there are Counter Suppliers (e.g. Verdurous Gearhulk), Counter Heralds (e.g. Herald of Secret Streams) and Counter Modifiers (e.g. Corpsejack Menace). Each should be considered carefully when building a counter deck.

Counter suppliers are very self-explanatory. They bring counters to the table. Reyhan and Ishai do this both. Kalonian Hydra and Managorger Hydra do this, but also Master Biomancer belongs to this list.

Counter Heralds brings benefits to your board state whenever a creature has a counter. There are a ton of these cards in the form of evolve Fathom Mage, in the form of outlast and adapt Abzan Battle Priest/Skatewing Spy or persist Cauldron of Souls. And to some extent even ferocious See the Unwritten or raw power Prime Speaker Zegana.

But now to the interesting category!

Counter modifiers not add but double counters. Corpsejack Menace, Doubling Season and Solidarity of Heroes are strong contestants. But not half as strong as Mirror Mockery, Rite of Replication, Phantasmal Image or card:sword of selves in combination with Reyhan. Whenever a second Reyhan enters the battlefield, one will be sacrificed and this causes both of the Reyhan to trigger their abilities simultaneously.

Aristocrats and Recurrence:

Now the Aristocrats strategy works so well in this deck because Counter modifiers exist in Magic. While midst in our attack we can shift power from blocked to unblocked creatures and sacrificing creatures usually comes with benefits to our aristocrats.

Our aristocrats:

Yahenni, Undying Partisan is actually our only true aristocrat. Not only can he infinitely sacrifice to our hearts desire, but he also shares that greedy undertone in the sacrifice ability. This is great as with boardwipes he even protects our counters!

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Greater Good, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and to some extend Ghoulcaller Gisa each fulfill different roles while doing the same thing. Over 2500 sources create or are of the Human creature type, so a free swing with Yawgmoth is also not unlikely to happen.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, if there is power on your board then you've won. This card is usually a 7 to 10 mana win and that can make Jarad very boring in the long run. Boring but incredibly stong.

But if we would only sacrifice, there would eventually be no creature left on the board right? Well good observation Timmy! But that is why we also recur. Together Forever, Eerie Ultimatum and Journey to Eternity   play the part here. And funnily they can in turn also recur Eternal Witness so any other card can be brought back also!

It's a never ending cycle!

Protection & Removal:

There is actually allot of interesting options here. Allot of protective cards still bring our creatures in a short "dead" state (e.g. Gift of Immortality or Cauldron of Souls). This in turn triggers Reyhan's ability! So killing our boardstate can actually punish opponents.

Living Death, Necromantic Selection or Phyrexian Rebirth are boardwipes that protects our counters also. In case you need a educative reminder:

The Stack: Show

When an effect happens or card becomes played this is put on top of an imaginary stack.

However when a card is in the middle of being resolved, any new effects cannot take place until the card is done. So Reyhan's ability can only be placed on the stack when Living death is resolved.

Thus, Reyhan can choose new targets for all the counters that would've been lost otherwise!

!!Take in mind however that triggered abilities as with Abzan Ascendancy or Basri's Lieutenant do not work in the same fashion!!

Also Bestow like Nighthowler are good ideas for protecting counters. Would there be a boardwipe with Nighthowler enchanting something, Reyhan can legally target Nighthowler to copy your boardstates counters onto.

Achieving Victory

Winning Conditions:

Let's talk Shenanigans, what's wins us games?

• Reyhan, Last of the Abzan + Kalonian Hydra: Absolute gamemaker and feared by many, this Hydra is a must have!
• Reyhan, Last of the Abzan + Blade of Selves: put Reyhan sideways and swing for 21.

• Reyhan, Last of the Abzan + Rite of Replication: put 90 counters on whatever is evasive and swing

• Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker: I might not have talked about Ishai much enough, but this bird gives the word!

• Walking Archive: Possibly the most fun win-condition. See how people draw themselves to dead!

• Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Basically a 7-mana i win at the end-game.
• Simic Ascendancy: easiest alternate win-con to achieve. It's so easy, i exclude it in my current setup..

• Basri's Lieutenant + Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest + sac outlet for infinite power!

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician: Sacrifice outlet with evasion.

• Prime Speaker Zegana: This card is bonkers, but be careful it won't backfire when your creature it's number is higher than that of your libraries...
• Yahenni, Undying Partisan: the underdog of games. Very tedious to get rid of and the protector of counters.

Notable Exclusions:

• Krav, the Unredeemed: Together with his partner Regna, the Redeemer they have been under my radar for quite a while. But I don't play the lifegain they thirst for.
• Pir, Imaginative Rascal: Together with his partner Toothy, Imaginary Friend are potent creatures, but they want different strategies. Think about Windfall followed by a Essence Flux. It doesn't belong here.
• Korozda Guildmage: Under performes to Ayli.
• Elenda, the Dusk Rose: possibly as strong as Chasm Skulker, but not nearly as reliable.

• Varolz, the Scar-Striped: A slightly worse Yahenni. His scavenge ability is a missed opportunity here, but regeneration still does the job!

• Sage of Hours: Ehh people do this, but why? What's the fun with just hogging all the playtime?

• Forgotten Ancient: Now I already thought I'd forgot something.. But I cannot have 101 cards. I suggest using him if you play more with outlast or adapt.
• Hardened Scales: Very good! But so is The Ozolith, Doubling Season, Branching Evolution, Corpsej...
• Winding Constrictor: Is great with Ishai and all, but we deserve better.
• Death's Presence requires counters and a death for its ability to function on top of a 6 mana cost. There are better options!
• Vorel of the Hull Clade: Yes, but no. Amazing on paper, but very awkward because he requires a . Politicly he's fine however, people like to remove it so you can play better stuff later. Try Orzhov Advokist or Master Biomancer instead.
• Anything Outlast or Adept related make great Anthems to this deck. Think of Abzan Falconer, Tuskguard Captain or Bramblewood Paragon. My only concern is that they themselves add little to your board, their just weenies.
• Butcher of Malakir, Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos are strong options in combination with sacrifice outlets, but very oppressive.

Delete players as soon as turn three

I love 3 v 1 "archenemy" games. Be that Nicol Bolas player where at some point three opponents have to team up and stop me! A turn 3 player annihilation does not fit this picture, but this deck has a turn 5 win possible and apart from the correct land we only need a Sol Ring + Blade of Selves in our opening hand to set it in play! Easy huh?

Turn one:

• Play a Swamp or Forest + Sol Ring + Blade of Selves.

Turn two:

• Play land + Reyhan, Last of the Abzan.

Turn three:

• Equip Reyhan with blade of selves, attack and place 6 x 3 counters on Reyhan. When the two Reyhan copies enters the battlefield, two will be sacrificed and this causes all three of the Reyhan to trigger their abilities simultaneously.

From here we can shift power to ishai or win someway else hopefully.

Token and counter cheat sheet:

This deck can become a mathematical mess and whenever you make more Reyhan tokens, the more difficult the equation about placing counters becomes. But even if you're bad in math and don't know the way the stack works, then don't worry! I made a small cheat sheet.

How weird this might be Mirror Mockery, Blade of Selves and Rite of Replication are this decks base mass +1/+1 counter spells as tokens play the important aspect. The fist rule on placing counters with these cards are "Amount of Reyhan's (R) x Amount of Reyhan Token's (T) x amount of counters each dying creature has (C)". Let's start off easy:

Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo:

• Enchanted on Reyhan and attacking, Reyhan creates one copy of herself that dies instantly and both the copy as the original Reyhan their ability trigger. The amount of counters we can place are (2 x 1) x 3 = 6 +1/+1 counters.

Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo:

• Equiped on Reyhan and attacking Reyhan creates two copies (4man game) of herself that die instantly and both copies plus the original Reyhan their ability trigger over both copies. The amount of counters we can place are (3 x 2) x 3 = 18 +1/+1 counters.

Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo:

• Targeting Reyhan, she gets up to five copies of herself that die instantly and all the copies plus the original Reyhan their ability trigger over each copy! The amount of counters we can place are (6 x 5) x 3 = 90 +1/+1 counters.

Note that with Rite of Replication we place 18 x 3 counters! And not necessarily we need to place all 90 counters on one specific target creature. Now let's go over three piece combo's:

Bramblewood Paragon: This triggers on any copy it's enter the battlefield. Our fist rule will now be R x T x (C+1).

• Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo: 2 x 4 (8) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo: 6 x 4 (24) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo: 30 x 4 (120) +1/+1 counters

Hardened Scales: This triggers on any copy it's enter the battlefield and every time a ability places counters. Our fist rule will now be R x T x (C+2).

• Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo: 2 x 5 (10) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo: 6 x 5 (30) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo: 30 x 5 (150) +1/+1 counters

Master Biomancer: Our fist rule will now be R x T x (C + MB's power), C will be 3 + the power of Master Biomancer.

• Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo: 2 x C (10+) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo: 6 x C (30+) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo: 30 x C (150+) +1/+1 counters

Cathars' Crusade: Our fist rule will now be R x T x (C + T), don't forget to place a counter on all other non-Reyhan Token's for each copy also!

• Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo: 2 x 4 (8) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo: 6 x 5 (30) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo: 30 x 8 (240) +1/+1 counters

Corpsejack Menace: Double counters on any copy it's enter the battlefield and every time a ability places counters. Our fist rule will now be R x T x ((C x 2) x 2).

• Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo: 2 x 12 (24) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo: 6 x 12 (72) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo: 30 x 12 (360) +1/+1 counters

Doubling Season: Like corpsejack menace but also on tokens! Our fist rule will now be R x (T x 2) x ((C x 2) x 2).

• Reyhan + Mirror mockery combo: 6 x 12 (72) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Blade of Selves combo: 20 x 12 (240) +1/+1 counters
• Reyhan + Rite of Replication combo: 110 x 12 (1320) +1/+1 counters

Footnote and special thanks:

Thank you for your interest in my take on Reyhan and Ishai! I hope it inspired you in your own commander brews. Lastly I'd like to include a special thanks for the following people who helped building the deck:

• Feyamius: For some solid suggestions.
• Weepet: For correcting my story on the way the stack works.
• noshadowkick: Brought Greater Good up.
• ZendikariWol: Turned my idea of the deck into the aristocrat direction it is today!
• KibaAlpha & Last_Laugh: If you've gotten inspired by my page, definitely also check out Reyhan and Ishai's Counterattack & Little Rey of Ishine (Reyhan/Ishai 2.7 cmc)

Top Ranked	Achieved #4 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Primer 1 year ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	4 hours
Exclude colors	R
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 67 - 0 Rares 9 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.68
Tokens	2/2 Zombie, 1/1 Squid, 1/1 Saproling, Copy Clone, City's Blessing, 1/1 Spirit, 2/2 Knight, Treasure
Folders	Main Decks, decks i like, Interesting EDH, EDH, Decks to beat, plans to build, Commander, Neat Decks, Cool stuff, EDH, See all 51