Somebody really needs to do an annotated visual
spoiler, so there's someplace we can go to think
about the fact that this guy's mana cost and
first triggered ability mimic the famous Spider
Spawning from the original Innistrad block. Of
course, I'm not sure that's the first thing that
struck everyone who read his text box - a lot of
players simply threw their fist up in the air
and shouted "Spider tribal!" in a triumphant
tone. If you know of a format named Tribelander,
I think that deck basically builds itself; if
you play Commander, it might be a little harder
with only one each of Ishkanah, Spider Spawning,
and Arachnus Spinner (plus Arachnus Web), but
it'll totally be worth it.
Spider players had cause to rejoice, for they
finally got the long-awaited legendary Spider
for their Commander decks. She was pretty
clearly designed for Commander players and their
Spider Tribal decks, but Ishkanah is pretty good
outside of that.
Ishkanah does rely a bit on delirium being
active to really work, though. Without delirium,
she’s a fairly good blocker with reach that’s
maybe a bit behind the curve for green (although
only one green mana might contribute). With
delirium, though, you get Ishkanah and three
more spiders. 5 mana for four bodies and a
combined 11 toughness is a very good rate of
return. Her other ability isn’t anything too
amazing on the surface, but it is repeatable:
having the option of paying seven mana each turn
to bleed your opponents is an excellent way to
end a stalled game in short order.
As with most mythics, Ishkanah is a Limited
bomb, and she’s also good for Commander and
other multiplayer formats. I think she’s maybe a
bit underwhelming for Standard, but I’d love to
be proven wrong.
