Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite, the series that looks at some of the strongest commanders in the format, how they work, their strengths, weaknesses, and ultimately how to beat them. With the release of the Playstation Secret Lairs, we've seen some spicy commanders hit the wild. One of these is Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima, which brings a new twist on an old staple commander. But is this new version worth the hype? How bad can it be for us? Let's take a look.

The Commander: Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima

Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima is a commander that cares about combat damage. This can come from smaller creatures with combat damage triggers or from loading Jin up with equipment for a voltron approach. Either way, this commander wants to be in the red zone. Whenever a creature Jin Sakai controls attacks, if no other creature was attacking that player, that creature becomes either unblockable or gains double strike. Both abilities are incredibly powerful, and being able to choose between them is huge. Still, this isn't the first time we've seen something like it in these colors. Kamiz, Obscura Oculus from the Obscura precon in New Capenna offers similar abilities. The main difference is that both effects can be granted, but the double strike creature has to be smaller than the unblockable creature. Kamiz also gives us a little connive action for hand sculpting. So why does this matter?

The Deck

When we look at Kamiz and Jin Sakai decks, we see a lot of overlap. Naturally, both commanders would fit into each other's lists, but we also see many shared card choices. There are differences, like Kamiz leaning into discard synergies, but the overall structure still overlaps heavily. Kamiz likes to trigger early combat damage with cards like Shadowmage Infiltrator, and Jin Sakai plays the same way. That seems to be Jin's main gameplay loop. The deck wants cheap and efficient creatures to chip in with combat damage, then it drops a bigger threat later to close the table. It's not impossible to beat, but if tempo and control threats can consistently connect, like Mistblade Shinobi, it becomes hard to keep a boardstate. Here is an example of a Jin Sakai deck you might run into at your local game store.

Jin Sakai EDH | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Archpriest of Shadows
• 1 Ashling, the Extinguisher
• 1 Baleful Strix
• 1 Cloud, Midgar Mercenary
• 1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Fallen Shinobi
• 1 Grim Hireling
• 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1 Kamiz, Obscura Oculus
• 1 Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
• 1 Medomai the Ageless
• 1 Mistblade Shinobi
• 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1 Psychic Frog
• 1 Puresteel Paladin
• 1 Rev, Tithe Extractor
• 1 Silent Hallcreeper
• 1 Silent-Blade Oni
• 1 Squall, SeeD Mercenary
• 1 Stoneforge Mystic
• 1 Unstoppable Slasher

• Artifacts (18)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Buster Sword
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Genji Glove
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Oathkeeper, Takeno's Daisho
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Steelshaper's Gift
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 The Key to the Vault
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Enduring Curiosity
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Impostor Syndrome
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Sigarda's Aid
• 1 Smothering Tithe

• Spells (15)
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Damn
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Void Rend
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Summon: Primal Odin

• Lands (37)
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 6 Island
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 5 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Vault of Champions
• 1 Watery Grave
• 5 Swamp

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Strengths

The biggest strength of this deck is that it doesn't need much to perform. Once Jin Sakai is cast for four mana and there are a couple of small creatures ready to attack, the deck takes off. It can land some dangerous combat damage triggers by making creatures unblockable that have no business being unblockable, like Unstoppable Slasher. If a player can't get blockers out, Jin can choose double strike and hit even harder. The deck is also fantastic for Ninjutsu thanks to its built in unblockable creatures. What starts as an unblockable 1/1 might end up being an unblocked 6/5 that steals the best card from our hand.

Weaknesses

The biggest weakness is its restriction. Jin Sakai can only trigger his ability when attacking a player with a single creature. This makes closing the game slow, and the deck isn't great at politicking since the Jin player has to attack everyone at some point. The deck also relies heavily on small creatures to get work done, so a mono Green deck can trade blows and outmuscle it quickly. The list can also feel stretched thin. Between equipment synergies, early game creatures, and late game closers, there are phases where the deck draws the wrong half and feels clunky.

Cards to Look Out For

• Sword of Feast and Famine

  This card is always a problem, but here it's brutal. If someone is in Golgari and can't block, Jin chooses double strike, untaps lands twice, and makes that player discard twice. A couple of hits like that and they're in top deck mode.

• Unstoppable Slasher

  Being able to cut a player's life total in half is no joke. If there are no blockers and Slasher gets double strike, a player goes from full to one quarter in one combat. It's nasty.

• Grim Hireling

  Two treasures for each player hit is incredible value in a deck full of unblockable creatures. That's up to six treasures per turn, and if something swings with double strike and connects twice, that number can jump to twelve.

• Medomai the Ageless

  This might be the nastiest card in the deck. Giving Medomai double strike to take two extra turns each rotation is absurd. It's a huge finisher for Jin.

• Enduring Curiosity

  We want to limit their options for combat damage triggers, so Enduring Curiosity drawing three to six extra cards per combat is terrifying. The deck runs several of these effects, and they all put us on red alert.

Ghosting Jin Sakai

Against this deck, we want to create a narrative that attacking us is bad for the Jin player's health. This could be holding up removal for creatures that swing at us, presenting a strong crackback, or even fogging. Either way, we want Jin attacking everyone else. We can even make deals to encourage it. Since the deck takes time to win outside of a voltron strategy, steering attacks away from us is always productive. With luck, our opponents will chip away at Jin Sakai or remove his threats. Once their life total is low enough, we can finish the job with one big attack.

Commander Kryptonite

If you're still having issues with Jin Sakai, consider adding these cards.

• Propaganda

  We want the idea of attacking us to become complicated. Making opponents pay two mana for each creature slows them down in the early game and might discourage early swings.

• Silent Arbiter

  Jin Sakai already has restrictions, and we push that even further by allowing only one creature to attack each combat. Jin might have a board full of combat damage triggers, but they won't matter if nothing can swing.

• Tower of the Magistrate

  To deal with equipment, Tower of the Magistrate is perfect. Giving a creature protection from artifacts drops all equipment off it. If we time it right on a double strike creature, we might even let the defending player block and kill it.

And that's how you ghost Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima. If you have a commander you'd like to see covered on Commander Kryptonite, you can email us at thoughtvessel@gmail.com. Happy gaming!