Commander Deck - Balan, Wandering Knight (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Commander Deck - Balan, Wandering Knight

Commander / EDH Mono-White

SnowCoveredPlainswalker

Artifact (28)

Enchantment (2)

Creature (21)

Instant (7)

Commander (1)

Land (35)

Sorcery (6)

Hey everyone! Today we're gonna take a look at one of my personal favorite decks, and that's Balan, Wandering Knight ! Balan is a great General for a Voltron style deck, I ended up with Balan after building Kemba, Kha Regent and despising how the deck played, it felt unfocused and underpowered, even compared to other Voltron decks. When Balan came off, I chose to try using him at the helm instead of scrapping Kemba, and seeing how much of a difference it made to the deck, the answer, was by a massive margain.

Whereas Kemba wanted to come out early to have equipment piled onto her to make some useless tokens, Balan is content to sit in the Command Zone until such a time comes when you have enough equipment on board to cast him, activate him, swing him and kill a player, all in the same turn, which is easy enough to do. The early game is filled with casting cheaper creature, I usuall call them "Sword Holders", and letting them deal the incremental damage and get the triggers from the Swords of Protection and Value, leaving Balan to steal the game in the edn, it's effective and tons of fun to play!

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Card Selection

Lands

Ancient Den : A simple but obvious choice, it's an artifact so it counts towards our Metalcraft count, just be wary of Vandalblast type cards later.

Buried Ruin : In mono white, we sadly can't play the far superior Academy Ruins but Buried Ruin attempts to do a reasonable impersonation for us, I find it's usually sufficient.

Eiganjo Castle : I'm sure this one seems like an odd choice, and it is. I run this purely to increase my chances of getting value off what little white card draw effects we get, namely Board the Weatherlight .

Flagstones of Trokair : It's run for much the same reason as Eiganjo Castle, but also helps build back against a pesky Wave of Vitriol , that tends to hit us harder than most.

Geier Reach Sanitarium : White needs all the card draw it can get, and with the Smothering Tithe we run, I find it does a good job. Additionally, it's Legendary so, we can grab it off a Board the Weatherlight.

Inventors' Fair : This one is simple, the lifegain effect is cute but it's here for a tutor, plain, simple and effective.

Myriad Landscape : Mana ramp in mono white is lacking a bit, so the Landscape helps us keep up.

Reliquary Tower : Despite my previous statements that white doesn't draw well, if you can get engines like Sword of Fire and Ice or Mask of Memory going on a Double Strike creature, it can draw a fair amount of cards, no sense in discarding them!

Scavenger Grounds : Graveyard decks are extremely common and usually, much stronger than Voltron, so this is to help weaken them a bit.

Temple of the False God : I've become less fond of this card over the years, but it's usually been fine here, though I am considering taking it out. Cards like this, tend to get marked with a "✔", so I know to potentially replace them later if something better comes out. ✔

Plains : I feel this needs no explanation.

Creatures

Adorned Pouncer , Auriok Edgewright , Kor Duelist , Sylvia Brightspear & Mirran Crusader : These are all here for the exact same reason, while some are better than others, they're all early game creatures with Double Strike, to help get extra value on Combat Damage Triggers.

Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist : This is easily one of our BEST Sword Holders and a decent backup to Balan herself. Ardenn is particularly good in the late game after many board wipes have gone off.

Danitha Capashen, Paragon : One of our better Sword Holders, she has a decent soup of Keywords and makes equip costs cheaper to pay.

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails : This creature is amazing, it can protect our creatures from spot removal and it's also amazing VS other Voltron decks, by turning their equipment white and giving their creature Protection from white so it falls off. Even better against Aura based Voltron lists.

Etched Champion : One of the best Sword Holders in the deck, the built in protection basically makes him immune to removal and blockers.

Grand Abolisher : Is here to help in the Control matchups, players often forget he's on the board and when it's our turn, it's too late for them to correct their misplays, often allowing us to kill them.

Knight of the White Orchid & Solemn Simulacrum : White needs all the ramp it can get and these are two of the better choices for it.

Leonin Shikari : Being able to equip at instant speed is often enough to confuse players and cause them to misuse their removal spells. Always fun to move some Lightning Greaves in response to a removal spell.

Puresteel Paladin & Sram, Senior Edificer : These two are amazing, they draw us SO many cards over the course of a game and the Paladin even allows Equipment to be moved for free, super strong effects.

Recruiter of the Guard : Tutoring for one of our best Sword Holders or something like Stoneforge Mystic, can be awesome in a pinch.

Relic Seeker , Taj-Nar Swordsmith , Steelshaper Apprentice & Stoneforge Mystic : White needs all the consistency it can get and these cards are great at tutoring up our best Equipment, when we need em most.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar : Getting in important swings is often the difference between winning and losing the game. Thalia makes it hard for opponents to swing profitably and hold up blockers after.

Artifacts

Assault Suit : Primarily in here as a way to give Haste, the pump and protection from sacrifice are also nice. The ability to give Balan to an opponent to use against our other opponents is just hilarious.

Blackblade Reforged : Good God can this thing do work. Anytime I'm looking for a damage pumping equipment, this is what I go for.

Bloodforged Battle-Axe : So this card sees tons of play in other Voltron lists, but it's not nearly in good in any of them, as it is here. Balan can just pay 2 and attach them ALL to him, making him one shot players that much faster. It's also Puresteel Paladin 's best friend.

Colossus Hammer : Okay maybe this one is a pet card but I love it, the idea of giving Balan +10/+10 for so little is just hilarious so, I wanna try it out and see how it does.

Conqueror's Flail : Turning any creature into a Grand Abolisher is just awesome. More power against Control decks.

Shadowspear : Alright so did the other voltron players out there freak out when they saw this like I did? Amazing cost to play and equip, relevant keywords, a small pump AND a way to remove protection & indestructible? Yes please!

Golem-Skin Gauntlets : Like Blackblade, this is a pure damage pumping equipment, and on a Double Strike creature, it often helps kill quickly.

Hammer of Nazahn : One of the first Equipment I tutor for every game. The Hammer is amazing protection, decent pump and cheats new Equipments equip cost.

Lightning Greaves & Swiftfoot Boots : I feel they need no explanation, they're staples.

Mask of Memory : Is a card draw engine for decks that need it, putting this on a Double Strike creature, helps us to keep up with the table.

Masterwork of Ingenuity : Ever find yourself wanting a second copy of one of your swords? Me too.

Prying Blade : A cheap sword I've been testing, I find it does a decent job of ramping us early to explode into strong plays. ✔

Commander's Plate : This card... This card is just amazing, the protection effect from this is like a Sword of Protection & Value on Adderall and I love it.

Sword of the Animist : The best piece of ramp for any Voltron deck, this sword does SO MUCH WORK! I often find that when I resolve this early, I keep up nicely with the green players.

Sword of Vengeance : A fairly basic equipment but the myriad of Keywords it provides are invaluable, especially the Haste.

Trailblazer's Boots & Prowler's Helm : A couple sources of pseudo unblockable is good enough for me to get damage through with.

Umezawa's Jitte : The Swiss Army Knife of Equipment, this thing does it all. Life gain? Check. Pump? Check. Removal of combo creatures? Check.

Sword of Body and Mind : The weakest of the Swords of Protection and Value by far, it still does a good job of helping the equipped creature dodge removal and push damage through, though milling an opponent often times just helps them.

Sword of Feast and Famine : In contrast to Body and Mind, this may be the best Sword of Protection and Value, the untapping of lands is gigantic and with Double Strike, the discard often cripples the opponent being hit.

Sword of Fire and Ice : Probably the second best of Sword of Protection and Value, the card draw and ability to shoot down small creatures is amazing.

Sword of Light and Shadow : This really should be called "Sword of Dodge Removal''. With all the Vindicate effects we have now, having ways to prevent the creature from being hit by them is important.

Sword of Sinew and Steel : Though one of the newst Swords of Protection and Value, I feel the ability to shoot down problematic Artifacts and Planeswakers will make it one of the best in time.

Sword of Truth and Justice : Also one of the newest Swords of Protection and Value, this one serves purely to pump the creature and dodge removal.

Sword of War and Peace : Often called "the worst Sword of Protection and Value", this Sword still pushes in TONS of damage against blue decks and gains us life when we need it most.

Sol Ring : No explanation needed I hope?

Marble Diamond : A fairly simple early game piece of mana ramp, solid enough when not playing green.

Sorceries

Board the Weatherlight : White gets the shaft pretty hard when it comes to card advantage, but we take what we can get. Digging through the top 5 for an Artifact or Legendary card is perfectly fine by me.

Open the Armory & Steelshaper's Gift : As I said before, tutors are vital to helping us keep up with the stronger colors.

Reduce to Memory : Easily one of the best removal spells mono white has ever gotten and a SOLID backup to Generous Gift .

Rout : I go back and forth on this card due to the cost but, when I've had the mana, the ability to use it as an Instant has saved my life.

Wrath of God : A relic of the past, I really need to swap this out for a better board wipe. ✔

Instants

Dispatch , Swords to Plowshares & Path to Exile : 1 mana instant speed removal spells are a staple of white, don't leave home without em.

Generous Gift : A newer addition to removal lineup, the color shifted Beast Within is a new staple to the color. Gaea's Cradle or Cabal Coffers on your nerves? Not anymore!

Lapse of Certainty : A pet card of mine, delaying someone's board wipe a turn is delicious.

Teferi's Protection : Also a newer staple in white's lineup, I never leave home without one.

Enlightened Tutor : As said twice before, tutors are more important to us as a mono white deck than they are to every other color, we need to keep up as best we can.

Enchantments

Sigarda's Aid : Being able to cheat the equip costs of newly played Equipments is just juicy, it lets us act much sooner than opponents planned on.

Smothering Tithe : A gift from Heliod to all white players, this gives us something we've never had before, actual good mana ramp! Also helps achieve Metalcraft.

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Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 28 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.35
Tokens	Adorned Pouncer 4/4 B, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Spirit 3/2 RW, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	#1: Current Commander Decks
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