WhiteLegendary Creature — Human SamuraiTakeno, Samurai General
Mana value6Rank#16,846
The Commander
Bushido 2 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
Each other Samurai creature you control gets +1/+1 for each point of bushido it has.
Guide
Gameplan
Takeno turns a mono-white Samurai tribal board into an aggressive go-wide attack, pumping every other Samurai based on its bushido count. You deploy cheap Samurai, accelerate with white ramp and anthems, then swing with a buffed team backed by combat tricks and protection. Most games close out through repeated commander-damage and Bushido-fueled alpha strikes.
Strengths
- Strong, focused tribal payoff that scales your whole board for free
- Mono-white gives consistent mana and access to powerful anthems and protection
- Bushido synergizes naturally with combat, making blocks dangerous for opponents
- Cheap to assemble an evasive, hard-hitting Samurai team
Weaknesses
- Six-mana commander that does nothing if removed before you have Samurai
- Mono-white struggles with card draw and ramp compared to other colors
- Vulnerable to board wipes given its reliance on a wide creature base
- Bushido only triggers in combat, so the buff is situational and slow vs. interaction-heavy tables
Key Cards
- Konda, Lord of Eiganjo — A bushido Samurai that becomes a huge indestructible threat and stacks Takeno's pump on the rest of your team.
- Kentaro, the Smiling Cat — Cheaper Samurai commander option and tribal lord that supports the same go-wide plan.
- Door of Destinies — Compounding Samurai anthem that makes the tribe overwhelming over a few turns.
- Coat of Arms — Massive team-wide buff that pushes a board of Samurai into lethal range fast.
- Eight-and-a-Half-Tails — White protection engine that shields your attackers and Takeno from targeted removal.
- Smothering Tithe — Premier mono-white ramp/card advantage to fuel a fast, mana-hungry tribal deck.
Upgrade Path
Lean into the best mono-white ramp and card advantage (Smothering Tithe, Land Tax, Esper Sentinel, Welcoming Vampire) so you recover from wipes and keep deploying threats. Add evasion and finishers—Coat of Arms, Door of Destinies, mass haste, and trample anthems—to convert a wide board into lethal in one swing. Protect your investment with Teferi's Protection, Heroic Intervention-style white answers (Flawless Maneuver), and recursion so a single board wipe doesn't end the game.
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 buffed, evasive Samurai team
- ▸Commander damage from a pumped, equipped Takeno
- ▸Overrun-style finishers like Coat of Arms or Triumph of the Hordes
Archetypes
- Tribal Aggro — Takeno directly buffs every other Samurai based on bushido, rewarding a wide, dedicated tribe.
- Voltron — Bushido 2 plus equipment makes Takeno itself a quick commander-damage threat.
- Tokens/Go-Wide — White token and anthem support widens the board so Takeno's pump and Coat of Arms-type effects snowball.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (W), by popularity.
