Chishiro, the Shattered Blade leads the Upgrades Unleashed precon from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Kristen reviews the new cards and offers some pointers for upgrading the deck and taking it in new directions.
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade
Let’s take a look at what Gruul has to offer before we get to “modifying” this precon. Ahem.
Chishiro is reasonably costed as a four-mana 4/4 with some nice rules text. When we play Auras and Equipment, we’ll get 2/2 red Spirits with menace. We also get to dump +1/+1 counters on each modified creature we control at the end of our turns. Modified creatures are those with counters, Equipment, or Auras attached. Seems easy enough, so what’s the payoff?
Well, being in Gruul gives us access to many ways to put +1/+1 counters into play, for a start. Gruul is also pretty great at granting Overrun effects, which play well with creatures that have menace. But is the payoff worth the effort needed to pull it off?
Upgrades Unleashed Deck Review
First up, the alternate commanders for this deck are Kaima and Kosei. We have a tale of two cities here, with Kaima really not offering much to the deck in its base configuration. It’s a cool card for sure, just not one we’re too interested in. Kosei, on the other hand, is an extremely powerful payoff, and one I’m excited to see in decks featuring mutate, infect, and other shenanigans. It’s not impossible to make it work, and when it does work, it’s fantastic.
This deck has two of the strongest Commander-exclusive cards this time around, and some other hits besides. Silkguard is effectively a second copy of Heroic Intervention in a lot of cases, and One with the Kami can draw you all of the cards with Skullclamp and a mana-producing altar.
What’s fun about this precon is that the new cards have broad appeal. Zoning in on individual cards, it’s easy to imagine them excelling in different archetypes. Akki Battle Squad is great for go-wide Voltron like Akiri, Fearless Voyager, for example, while Smoke Spirits’ Aid can draw a bunch in an Enchantress deck.
If you were wondering how the deck fares out of the box, I’d say it’s a decent offering, but not without issues, minor though they are. The selection of cards in the deck is pretty good, with some solid reprints in Bear Umbra, Rhythm of the Wild, Mirage Mirror and Mage Slayer.
If you’re looking to dip into green decks for the first time, or you have a smaller collection and need a copy of Bear Umbra, this is a fantastic option, and you’ll be happy with what’s included. What lets the deck down a little, though, is that the synergy isn’t quite as tight as some previous offerings. There are only twelve Auras/Equipment in the precon, and the counters offerings also come up short. This deck is committed to neither, and can sometimes have issues with drawing the right cards for a situation. When a deck is promoting both Voltron and go-wide/counters, it’s tough to fit it all in on a budget.
When current precon power levels are set by Undead Unleashed and Aura of Courage, with their wide range of synergy tools and powerful new cards and reprints, it’s hard to come away feeling like Upgrades Unleashed can sit down at the same table.
Coupled with this is the fact that to truly make the deck sing, you’ll have to shell out a lot of dollars on some premium cards like The Great Henge, Sword of Truth and Justice, and Kodama of the West Tree. Even Avenger of Zendikar is back up at one-fifth of our $50 budget for upgrades, and so took up a fair chunk of our available space.
I have, however, put together a list of some great cards to add that help this deck jam some games at the average table.
UPGRADES UNLEASHED $50 BUDGET UPGRADE
My goals with upgrading this precon are to increase the consistency at which we make tokens by playing cheap Auras and Equipment, and to give us some more finishing power.
Where possible, card draw and ramp has been concentrated in Auras and Equipment also, in order to give us a better chance at triggering Chishiro. Auras like One with Nature and Wild Growth help us ramp, while Zephyr Boots and Skullclamp give us cards.
Modifying our Spirit tokens is a big goal for the deck, and cards like Renata and Toggo can help us make this happen. We also run Ring of Kalonia and Sai of the Shinobi to help keep our creatures modified with minimal input.
Given we already make a bunch of counters between Taurean Mauler and Forgotten Ancient, Slippery Bogbonder helps us get Chishiro within commander damage range and, more importantly, makes them hexproof. Goro-Goro works on a similar axis – we make mana with Tanuki Transplanter and Bear Umbra, so getting to use that mana to make 5/5 Dragons is sweet. I added Grand Warlord Radha to help with that, too.
We do need to close games, though, so Avenger of Zendikar and Kessig Wolf Run give the deck the punch it needs. Halana and Alena acts as a mini-Xenagos, too, and Witch’s Clinic buys us some time by allowing us to gain life from Chishiro’s attacks.
Protecting our investments is also key to ensuring we survive to the late game, so jamming a bunch more protection into the deck goes a long way. Inspiring Call also draws cards, which is super useful.
To view the final upgraded decklist, check here.
Further Thoughts
Adding the cards we’ve covered today will give your Chishiro deck a much-needed power boost, but in order to truly refine the deck, you’ll need to decide which aspect of Chishiro brings you the most joy.
I’ve built many a Voltron deck, and if that’s the direction you’d like to go down, check out my articles on Auras and Equipments. I also have a piece on underrated Voltron cards, and a guide of sorts for playing Voltron in casual settings.
If that’s the path you’d like to go down, I’d definitely recommend Living Weapons like Kaldra Compleat and Batterskull, which will enjoy +1/+1 counters.
If you’re set on using Gruul colors to live your Voltron dreams, then I’d advise you to roll with a commander that has gone a little out of fashion recently: Uril, the Miststalker. This precon is a great starting point for an Uril deck, and you might enjoy more success going down this route. I myself am a big fan of adding white to Auras decks, as it unlocks more card draw options such as Sythis, Harvest’s Hand and Satyr Enchanter. My deck of choice for Auras these days is Sigarda, Host of Herons. Much like Uril, she is hard to interact with, which helps a lot with building up a deadly creature.
If the +1/+1 counters are more your thing, and Voltron is less important, I’d consider switching the main commander over to either Grumgully, the Generous or Halana and Alena, Partners. They offer a more competitive edge than Chishiro, and a lower floor to get going. It’s also arguably cheaper to build a +1/+1 counters deck than a Voltron deck, generally speaking – aside from The Great Henge and Doubling Season, most counters stuff is a lot more affordable than the suite of Equipment you’d need to make Voltron competitive.
The Upgrades Unleashed precon might not be as powerful as the similarly named Undead Unleashed, but it’s a great starting point for many different builds. It has plenty of strong new cards and a few standout reprints like Bear Umbra that make it an attractive purchase. How are you upgrading yours? Let me know on Twitter.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.