The Commander
Bushido 2 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
, Sacrifice a Samurai: Samurai creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Iizuka the Ruthless is a mono-red Samurai/Voltron-aggro commander: flood the board with Samurai and Warriors, attack hard, then activate his ability to give all your Samurai double strike for a massive alpha strike. Sacrificing a token Samurai to power the ability is nearly free, letting you push lethal commander or combat damage out of nowhere. Turn to turn you curve out cheap creatures, buff with anthems and equipment, and race opponents before they stabilize.
Strengths
- Repeatable, instant-speed double strike that doubles your whole team's combat damage for cheap
- Bushido 2 makes him hard to block profitably and brick-walls attackers
- Mono-red gives consistent mana and access to the best aggressive ramp and burn
- Token generators feed the sacrifice cost essentially for free
- Low curve closes games fast before slower decks set up
Weaknesses
- Mono-red lacks card advantage and grinds out badly in long games
- Heavily reliant on the commander; he draws removal and his ability is useless without bodies
- Board wipes and mass removal are devastating to a go-wide plan
- No protection or evasion built in—blockers and fogs slow you down
- Limited interaction outside of burn and artifact destruction
Key Cards
- Kataki, War's Wage — Strong Samurai that taxes artifact-heavy tables while fueling your tribal synergies.
- Godo, Bandit Warlord — Tutors equipment and grants extra combat steps, turning Iizuka's double strike into a kill.
- Krenko, Mob Boss — Floods the board with Goblin bodies you can convert with anthems and sacrifice fodder.
- Shared Animosity — Snowballs your tribal board into game-ending power before double strike even triggers.
- Door of Destinies — Repeatable anthem that scales every Samurai or Warrior you cast.
- Skullclamp — Mono-red's best card draw, turning expendable Samurai tokens into fistfuls of cards.
Upgrade Path
Tighten the curve and add the best mono-red tutors and combat enablers like Godo, Bandit Warlord, Aggravated Assault, and Sword of Feast and Famine for extra combats and protection. Improve card flow with Skullclamp, Outpost Siege, and Wheel of Fortune so you don't run out of gas, and add fast mana (Ragavan, Jeska's Will, Mana Crypt) to deploy threats ahead of curve. Round out with targeted protection like Heroic Intervention substitutes (Boros Charm) and recursion to rebuild after wraths.
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
- ▸Alpha strike with a wide board granted double strike
- ▸Commander/Voltron damage from a single equipped, doubled Samurai
- ▸Overrun-style anthems plus extra combat steps via Godo
- ▸Burn and aggression chipping opponents to lethal
Archetypes
- Tribal Aggro — He anchors a Samurai/Warrior go-wide swarm that ends games with double strike.
- Voltron — His ability plus equipment makes a single buffed Samurai deal lethal commander damage.
- Tokens — Token makers provide bodies to attack with and sacrifice to his activation.
- Aristocrats-lite — Sacrificing Samurai to the ability pairs with death-trigger payoffs and recursion.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
