Volrath Plus & Minus Counters

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai)

tribal-kai

Land (37)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cave of Temptation
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 3x Snow-Covered Forest
• 2x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Creature (26)

• 1x Altered Ego
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Blighted Agent
• 1x Cephalid Constable
• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Foe-Razer Regent
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Generous Patron
• 1x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
• 1x Hydroid Krasis
• 1x Invisible Stalker
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Master Biomancer
• 1x Merfolk Skydiver
• 1x Phyrexian Crusader
• 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1x Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
• 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1x Tetzimoc, Primal Death
• 1x The Haunt of Hightower
• 1x Viridian Corrupter
• 1x Winding Constrictor
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Instant (8)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Contagion Clasp
• 1x Contagion Engine
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Tezzeret's Gambit
• 1x Three Visits

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Doubling Season
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Mirri's Guile
• 1x Nest of Scarabs
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Zendikar Resurgent

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Volrath, the Shapestealer

The basic premise of the deck is to throw around + & - counters so we can make our commander a copy of powerful creatures and either get infect or commander damage onto our opponents.

To do that, we either need to play creatures to copy ourselves or hope our opponents play something for us to copy.

Without relying on our opponent's creatures too much we can craft our own board state much more effectively.

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But which creatures would we like to copy? Well, it depends on the victory we're going for.

Infect creatures include:

Blighted Agent , Phyrexian Crusader , Viridian Corrupter & Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon . Notice how most of the infect creatures have more than 1 toughness. That's just in case we need to put a minus counter onto them with our commander in order to be able to copy them. Blighted Agent is an exception here because it has unblockable, which could make it invaluable.

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But, in that instance, if we want to copy our Blighted Agent then we'll need to dump a plus counter onto him. Luckily we have a myriad of means to do that:

Merfolk Skydiver , Generous Patron , Managorger Hydra , Rishkar, Peema Renegade , Bow of Nylea , Champion of Lambholt , Nissa, Voice of Zendikar , Sword of Truth and Justice , Forgotten Ancient , Master Biomancer , Kalonian Hydra , Roalesk, Apex Hybrid , The Haunt of Hightower , Prime Speaker Zegana , Foe-Razer Regent & Altered Ego are all in here specifically for their plus counter abilities.

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But, as well as our commander, we don't mind buffing other creatures either. Be it infecters or creatures with other strong abilities:

Invisible Stalker can just smack an opponent for a ton and there's not a lot they can do about it. Cephalid Constable can return a bunch of our opponent's permanents to their hand, including their lands! And Cold-Eyed Selkie can draw you a heap of cards, especially against a blue player.

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As well as plus counter shenanigans, we also have some minus counter fun built in too. Outside of infect that is:

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is a cool commander in her own right. And throwing around the minus counters to get death touching snakes to block with is really useful.

Then, if we've got Nest of Scarabs in play, we get a bunch of insects too. 1 insect per minus counter applied that is. So if we swing in with a big infecter or have Doubling Season in play with our commander or Hapatra, then there's going to be plenty of insects to block with.

Nest of Scarabs & Black Sun's Zenith are a match made in heaven too. With a board full of creatures you only need to put 2 -1/-1 counters on each creatures and you'll get a million tokens. Which, at least, buy you some time.

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Another noteworthy card is Tetzimoc, Primal Death . Oftentimes I don't even play this card, I just use it to put prey counters onto creatures so Volrath can copy them. No buffs. No debuffs. Just a counter that we can use to copy said creature. And then, if we're really desperate, we can actually use this card to blow up some creatures. This card is an auto-include and very, very versatile.

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As played on The eedi-H Channel:

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Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.24
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 B, Plant 0/1 G, Snake 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G w/ Deathtouch