It’s been a while since we last set foot on Tarkir, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering’s tri-colour triumph of a Plane, but its influence can still be keenly felt in the texture of the game today. From clan names 🐷like Abzan and Jeskai, to fan-favourite characters like Narset, Tarkir’s legacy is plain to see no matter where you look in modern Magic.
The Plane proved so popular, in fact, that it warranted𒁃 new characters in supplemental products, including the excellent Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker in Commander 2016. While middling in terms of power level alone, the partner mechanic allows her to bring a buddy into battle.
Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
Before we get moving with the main list, let’s ꦓquickly recap Ishai herself. As a 1/1 flyer for four mana, She may seem like a terrible investment at first glance, but Ishai’s strength lies in her passive ability: every time an opponent ca🌃sts a spell, she receives a +1/+1 counter.
It’s an incr⛄edibly simple effect, but one that ꦏhas huge potential upside, even in a four-player Commander pod.
Since it triggers off of every spell type, whatever your opponents do they’ll be building up Ishai’s strength. Factor in her natural evasion, and she becomes a powerf꧟ul threat that will never be far from your opponents’ minds.
10 ༒ Bruse🐼 Tarl, Boorish Herder
A great way to play Ishai is to lean hard into the likely outcome that she becomes a huge flier after just a single round in play, using 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a Voltron-style build to capitalise on that power for quick commander damage-fueled wins. Bruis🐓e Tarl is a perfect partner for such a build, not only doubling Ishai’s damage output for the turn but also conver🐠ting any damage dealt into extra life for you.
His abil๊ity triggers not only when he enters play but when he attacks too, letting you potentially wipe out a player every turn if no one came packing removal. He also opens up red as a colour optio𝓡n for the deck, giving you access to many powerful combat tricks and double-strike sources to complement the Voltron playstyle.
9 ꦅ Ikra Shidiqi, The Usurper
As a fellow resident of Tarkir, Ikra Shidiqi provides an excellent partner for Ishai in both mechanical and flavourful terms. By granting all of your creatures a bizarre form of toughness-dependent lifelink, she can help you build up some truly monstrous reserves of life over the course of a ൩few combat steps.
This matches up nicely with Ishai’s endlessly-scaling toughness via her ability, allowing you to create huge life swings that can put victory out of reach for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:aggressively-minded opponents at the table. Ikra’s black/green colour identity, high toughness, and evasion in menace are all welcome additionalꦗ sprinkles on the cake.
8 ⛎ Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus
Not only does Kraum curve perfectly with Ishai, coming down for five mana after she comes down fꦜor four, but he also lets you double down on the ‘punisher’ aspect of her ability, making your opponents seriously consider things before they cast any number of spells on their turn.
Ishai already rewards you for every spell an opponent casts, but Kraum lets you draw a card if they cast a second, giving you a consistent stream of passive value in most scenarios. Even if your opponents play around these abilities, deliberately playing just one spell a turn, their loss of momentum will be enough to propel you into an advantageoღus position regardless.
7 ﷽ Reyhaꦿn, Last Of The Abzan
Since Ishai has no built-in protection, the very real possibility of her ‘dying to Doom Blade’, in Magic parlance, always hangs over her head. Reyhan lets you address this issue, and if Ishai dies while Reyhan is in play, you can simply move all of tꦑhe +1/+1 counters she has accumulated over onto another creature.
This lets you retain the bulk of Ishai’s stats even after death, either on Reyhan herself or on another creature, then swap them back t🐠o a freshly-cast Ishai via sacrifice to continue with your scale-up game plan. It also opens up a world of +1/+1 counter synergies, which work particularl𒅌y well with a commander who can gain them multiple times a turn.
6 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist 📖
One of the best ways to leverage Ishai’s tremendous stat-scaling 💟capabilities is to pile up as many keywords and protections on her as possible, via auras and equipment. Ardenn is the ideal partner for a strategy centred around this, letting you deploy your buffs in advance, and then shift them over to Ishai later for no cost.
This is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:particularly important for equipment, as it circumvents their often-prohibitive equip costs, but it’s handy for auras too, letting you gather them all together where they’ll have the most impact: on your huge, infinitel🐲y-scaling flyer. Make sure you include a healthy mix of stat buffs and protection effects, and your victory train will be nigh-unstoppable.
5 Jes🦂ka, Thrice Reborn
If you’re the type to go all-in on a single hand, then Jeska, Thrice Reborn is the partꦦner for you, letting you leverage Ishai’s potentially huge power into instant wins by t▨ripling up the damage she deals each turn. Since commander damage wins only require 21 damage, you only need to get Ishai to 7/7 in stats, easily achievable in a single turn cycle, in order to knock a player out.
Jeska’s minus ability is less powerful, mostly due to her loyalty being based on how many commander casts you’ve made during the game, but it can still be used to sweep up blockers to let Ishai through laterღ on.
4 Esior, Wardwing Familiar ไ ꦉ
Esior may not be the most high-impact partner out there, but the protection she offers to both herself and Ishai can pay huge dividends in the long run. It’s easy for opponents to pick off Ishai with burn spells before she’s scaled up, or with hard removal after that, but both scenarios are much les🦋s likely when they come with a three-mana tax attached.
In addition, Esior is also a flyer herself, meaning you can build a deck themed around flying syner🉐gies, or go down the Voltron route and use Esior as a backup host for your buffs if Ishai gets priced out of the game due to rising comma🌞nder tax.
3 ✤ Kediss, Emberclaw 🙈Familiar
What’s better than hi✱tting one opponent for huge damage with an Ishai swing? Hitting all of your opponents for huge damage with an Ishai swing, of course. That’s exactly what Kediss offers as a partner, dealing additional damage to each other opponent after Ishai gets through to one of them.
Thi꧑s damage isn’t ♈combat damage, so you can’t win an immediate commander damage victory with a single swing, but it still puts the rest of the pod on a serious clock. Kediss’ ability also applies to the damage he deals as well, meaning he makes a nice backup attacker when kitted out with buffs.
2 Siani, Eye Of The Storm 🧔
While less eye-catching than her stat-scaling ability, Ishai’s flying is well worth bearing in mind. Not only does it increase the chances of her getting through for damage with her often-formidable stats, but it also opens up a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:range of flying synergies, such as ⭕those offered by Siani, Eye of the Storm.
Siani offers tremendous card selection potential with every attack, letting you scry one card for each attacking creature with flying. With a selection of cheap flyers, alongsid𒊎e Ishai and Siani themselves, you can easily access whatever tools you need.
1 Slurrk,🐬 Al🅰l-Ingesting
Ishai gives you a t🦂onne of +1/+1 counters to work with, which makes a deck built around counter synergies a more than viable option. In such a build, Slurrk is a powerful partner, letting 𒅌you build up a lot of counters across a wide board if your opponents decide to remove any of your creatures.
With staple support pieces like The Ozolith and creatures with innate counters such as those with modular or evolve, you can easily turn a moderate board into a serious threat with Slurrk, playing a balance o🐎f wide and tall to great effect.