The Commander
Bushido 1 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, you may cast target instant card from your graveyard. If that spell would be put into a graveyard, exile it instead.
Guide
Gameplan
Toshiro is a mono-black spellslinger-control deck that turns opponents' creature deaths into free instant recursion. You hold up removal and value instants, kill an opposing creature, then recast instants from your graveyard for huge tempo and card advantage. Grind the board to dust, leverage repeated removal and drain effects, and close with a big finisher or a recursive combo.
Strengths
- Repeatable instant recursion generates massive card advantage and value over a long game
- Mono-black gives access to the best tutors, removal, and recursion in the format
- Excellent at controlling the board and punishing creature-heavy opponents
- Cheap commander (3 MV) that's easy to recast and rebuild around
Weaknesses
- Trigger requires an opponent's creature to die, so it whiffs against artifact, enchantment, or creature-light decks
- Mono-black struggles with enchantments and resilient noncreature threats
- Reliant on instants in the graveyard; graveyard hate shuts it off
- Fragile body that dies to most removal and can't profitably attack alone
Key Cards
- Snuff Out — Free instant removal that fuels Toshiro's trigger and is recast for value, often killing two creatures in a turn.
- Bontu's Last Reckoning — A board wipe that triggers Toshiro multiple times, letting you chain instants from the yard immediately after.
- Reanimate — Cheap reanimation backbone, though note it's a sorcery—pair with instant-speed recursion to abuse Toshiro fully.
- Murderous Cut — Delve removal that's cheap to recast off the trigger and clears blockers to enable more deaths.
- Sidisi's Faithful — Bounce-on-death effect, but more importantly your instants like Cut Down and Bloodchief's Thirst chain off any opposing death.
- Bolas's Citadel — Casts your stacked graveyard-fuel and instants off the top, turning life into a torrent of spells.
Upgrade Path
Lean into instant-speed sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ashnod's Altar) so you control when opposing creatures die and can re-trigger Toshiro on demand. Add powerful free or cheap instants (Snuff Out, Deadly Rollick, Soul Spike) and fast mana (Dark Ritual, Sol Ring, Jet Medallion) to recast spells multiple times per turn. Top it off with tutors (Demonic, Vampiric, Imperial Seal) and a draw/recursion engine like Bolas's Citadel or Bloodchief Ascension to convert all that value into a definitive kill.
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
- ▸Drain the table with recast instants like Exsanguinate, Torment of Hailfire, or repeated reach effects
- ▸Grind everyone out of resources with endless removal, then win with a single resilient threat
- ▸Assemble a sacrifice/aristocrats combo to loop death triggers and instants for lethal
- ▸Voltron-lite finish with a reanimated or buffed evasive beater
Archetypes
- Spellslinger Control — Toshiro recasts instant-speed removal and value spells repeatedly, letting you control the board and out-resource the table.
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice outlets and pingers force opponents' creatures to die, reliably firing Toshiro's recursion trigger on your terms.
- Combo — Recursive instants plus death triggers enable loops, and tutors assemble two-card kills like Exsanguinate finishes.
- Reanimator — Black's reanimation suite lets Toshiro decks rebuy threats while instants control the board.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
