The Commander
Bushido 1 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
If there are exactly two permanents named Brothers Yamazaki on the battlefield, the "legend rule" doesn't apply to them.
Each other creature named Brothers Yamazaki gets +2/+2 and has haste.
Guide
Gameplan
Brothers Yamazaki is a mono-red aggressive samurai commander that wants to attack early and often, leaning on Samurai/Warrior tribal beatdown backed by combat tricks and burn. You curve out fast, push damage through bushido and haste, and close games with explosive attacks or direct burn before the table stabilizes. The two-copy clause is a cute novelty (only the four real printings exist) but the deck's real engine is wide, evasive red aggression.
Strengths
- Cheap 3-mana commander that comes down early and applies pressure immediately
- Fits perfectly as the head of a focused Samurai/Warrior tribal aggro build
- Mono-red gives access to the format's best burn, haste enablers, and combat tricks
- Bushido makes him annoying to block and decent in racing situations
- Low to the ground, so it rebuilds quickly and is hard to disrupt with single removal
Weaknesses
- Mono-red lacks card advantage and recovery once it runs out of gas
- Vanilla-ish commander; provides little real value or protection on his own
- Folds to board wipes and lifegain since it relies on a fragile board
- No ramp into haymakers means it struggles against grindy or defensive tables
- The two-copy gimmick is essentially irrelevant in normal singleton games
Key Cards
- Konda's Banner — Pumps and protects your samurai/legendary commander, turning a wide board into a lethal swing.
- Goblin Bombardment — Sacrifice outlet that converts attackers into reach and a backup burn-based win condition.
- Fervor — Grants the whole team haste so every creature you cast attacks immediately.
- Embercleave — Cheap finisher in a go-wide attacking deck that ends games out of nowhere.
- Shared Animosity — Snowballs damage with each attacking Samurai/Warrior for explosive tribal alpha strikes.
- Coat of Arms — Massive anthem for a tribal board that quickly turns small bodies into lethal threats.
Upgrade Path
Lean fully into one plan: add efficient haste enablers (Hellraiser Goblin, Hammer of Purphoros), more tribal payoffs (Door of Destinies, Vanquisher's Banner for card draw), and red's best card advantage (Outpost Siege, Theater of Horrors) to fight mono-red's flood-out problem. Include cheap protection and reach like Lightning Greaves, Deflecting Swat, and burn finishers, plus a few free combat tricks to punch through blockers. To raise the ceiling, prioritize fast mana (Jeska's Will, treasures) and a low curve so you out-tempo the table before it stabilizes.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Wide tribal alpha strike buffed by anthems like Coat of Arms and Shared Animosity
- ▸Voltron damage through Embercleave or equipment on an evasive attacker
- ▸Direct burn and Goblin Bombardment to push the last points of damage
- ▸Haste-fueled go-wide pressure that overwhelms before opponents set up
Archetypes
- Samurai/Warrior Tribal — He naturally heads a bushido-themed go-wide tribe with anthems and tribal payoffs.
- Aggro/Voltron — Cheap commander plus equipment like Embercleave and Konda's Banner can carry concentrated damage.
- Burn/Spellslinger lite — Mono-red lets you supplement combat with direct damage to finish stalled boards.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
