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Skittles: Defender of the Universe

Commander / EDH Mono-Black Voltron

jwhitehorn


Maybeboard


Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is my general.

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The strategy here is Voltron with infect - bring out Skithiryx (aka Skittles), equip a sword (or four) and swing. Ten posion counters is death, even in EDH, and rarely do you encounter Leeches or Melira, Sylvok Outcast.

If Skittles gets shuffled in, or two expensive to cast, you can always equip a sword to Phyrexian Obliterator or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre.

Being a Voltron deck, it is light on creatures, so heavy aggro or decks that make a $hit ton of tokens can get dangerous. To help keep that in check, the creatures it does have mostly have deathtouch or annihilator. Maze of Ith keeps other Voltron decks in check, and with Tectonic Edge, Strip Mine, Encroaching Wastes, and the previously mentioned annihilator abilities of Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre you can typically get around an opponent's Maze.

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Cheat Sheet

Draw/Filter:

Necropotence, Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Solemn Simulacrum

Sweepers:

Black Sun's Zenith, Damnation, Decree of Pain, Nevinyrral's Disk & Oblivion Stone

Tutors:

Liliana Vess, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Diabolic Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Solemn Simulacrum, Vampiric Tutor, & Cruel Tutor

Spot Removal:

Sever the Bloodline, Karn Liberated

Recursion:

Beacon of Unrest, Reanimate, Stitch Together, Yawgmoth's Will, Volrath's Stronghold, Sheoldred, Whispering One & Crucible of Worlds

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Game Play

The win condition is simple, playing the deck is more nuanced. Quick ramping into Skittles with swords puts a huge target on your back, and in multiplayer groups you're liable to be ganged up on - instead focus on political gaming early on.

Early Game*

Early game should also be focused on building your mana base. Cabal Coffers, Reliquary Tower, Sol Ring, & Mana Crypt are your targets here. When the game advances, you'll want to keep as many of your cards as possible and cast as many during one turn as possible - these lands are the backbone of that strategy.

Cards like Phyrexian Obliterator, Dread, and Maze of Ith are best used defensively. Don't forget that Maze can be used politically - save a table mate's bacon when they're on the receiving end of an attack, and gain an ally.

You will have to make a judgement call here, based on how far behind your board state is, but don't rule out using a tutor to fetch a cornerstone land, defensive creative, or your maze during the early game.

Mid Game

Mid-game should be focused on getting your general out, and acquiring (but not necessarily casting) any swords (e.g. buffing equipment, not strictly/only Sword of and ). Cast Trailblazer's Boots, and Swiftfoot Boots if these were not already cast during the early game.

This is also the point in the game to get threats out there like Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, Scroll Rack, & Sensei's Divining Top - we want to go fast if needed. I'd recommend not gassing it until a threat becomes obvious, otherwise you become that threat - but simply having the option on the table sends a clear message.

Late/End Game

By the late game you should have more than enough enough mana to cast multiple pieces of equipment during the same turn, and enough tutoring/ramp (thanks to mid-game outlays of arena, necropotence, et al) that you should be holding onto enough equipment to turn skittles into a 1 turn threat. Do it.

With the thanks of your boots (both Trailblazer's Boots & Swiftfoot Boots) your general should be untouchable and unblockable, but that doesn't mean it cannot be deflected. Your opponent can bounce one of your boots, or sweep the board, or any of a number of ways of dealing with hexproof baddies. This is when it is important to be flush with mana, and have plenty of card advantage.

When things go sideways

If playing this deck were as simple as the above overview made it sound, you wouldn't need any more tips. Fortunately games are never that boring. Skittles is going to get tucked, someone is going to strip mine your coffers, or steal/counter/shatter your equipment - something always gets messed up.

Here are some tips & alternate tech that can save your bacon.

You'd think with nearly 40% of this deck being land, and it being mono colored to boot, that land screw wouldn't happen. But it does - just the luck of the draw (pun intended). This is why cards like Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and Thawing Glaciers are in this deck. The former two help filter out the basic lands - essentially making this a 98 card deck. The latter does the same, but on steroids.

It sucks, but sometimes when this happens you just need to tutor for Thawing Glaciers. This assumes you have both a tutor and enough mana to cast it.

Revisions

2022-10-06:

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Date added 11 years
Last updated 1 year
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

16 - 0 Mythic Rares

41 - 0 Rares

16 - 0 Uncommons

3 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.64
Tokens Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Wolf 2/2 G, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders EDH/Commander Decks
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