After several interesting games with mixed results I felt that my meta pushes me in the direction of having a backup plan, since stax is getting more prevalent here. Gleeock mentioned his MLD aproach earlier on which I feel could be the mid/endgame plan to buy more time to get the last opponents out of the way. The latest update - posted on the top - will handle the changes I made to get this implemented. It might not be optimal yet, therfor I want to test it out and ofcource I am looking forward to your ideas regarding this.

A heads up... your nostalgic Land Tax does find new mid-late game life with MLD. Forces people into awkward positions and if you get that 3 basic search your suddenly way ahead of the curve again.

That card indeed recieves praise in this setup. Normally it gets garbage when drawn mid/endgame. But this is not the case!

Good observation Gleeock! Thanks for the great suggestion. I have removed Remember the Fallen for it.

Yep, it also can be pretty strong for land-filter in a Sram deck that wants to be drawing impact plays off all that excessive draw & has pretty low curve demand at that point. This is one of the times where I usually opt to draw 3 & throw the overflow in to my graveyard if I need to.

Hi! I see that your list is way more all-in on the voltron route than mine.I'll start by asking how some of your cards have performed

O-Naginata I considered this one in the past, but I don't like the fact that Sram can't wear it without help. I often play 1v1 where the first turns are crucial

Sword of Light and Shadow I can see this one in my list but in yours it doesn't seem very strong since you have very few creatures. Do you run it just for protection (it's probably the best sword for that, admittedly)?

Batterskull How does this one perform in EDH? I feel like the lifelink is not that relevant and when the germ dies it becomes very inefficient

Bloodforged Battle-Axe, Trepanation Blade, Golem-Skin Gauntlets, Conqueror's Flail, Sword of Vengeance I don't like these ones, they seem too weak. The first two are too gimmicky and unreliable in my opinion. The gauntlets require too much effort to be relevant, the Flail can be good but I did cut Grand Abolisher in the past and I don't regret it, although I can see that your gameplan relies more on the big swings with Sram and you don't like to be interrupted. The sword is just inefficient, half of the keywords that it provides don't really matter most of the times.

Leonin Abunas I often consider this one, but every time I decide that it is unnecessary. With the amount of equipments that you have, you sholdn't be scared by targeted removal, since you should have a flow of card-draw superior to your opponents anyway. I could see it if its cmc was lower, but in my opinion 4-cmc slots should be taken by cards that immediately bring a presence on the board. However, if it permorms well for you, maybe you should consider Indomitable Archangel to have more redundancy of the effect in the deck(?)

Cultivator's Caravan I tried this one but I didn't like it. The cantrip is nice but I found that most of the times it ends up being just a mana rock, and I really don't like 3-cmc mana rocks. You don't really want Sram to tap for letting your mana rock attack or block usually..

I like Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip and Empyrial Plate, maybe I'll try to find room for them in my list.

I'm also interested in your pseudo-storm package: Semblance Anvil, Cloud Key, Gonti's Aether Heart and in your land destruction package, which I'd really like to find room for.

I also like your mana base but I don't quite have the budget for it now. We agree on the 33-land count though.

IMO that is a pretty good critique of some of the stuff you question. It is not my deck, but my all-in voltron is similar enough that I take interest in this deck as well.

• Sword of Light and Shadow has primarily been for the protection (black/white targeted), impact play, and occasional chance that a key creature needs returning. Not the most imperative sword, but if you have it - it has shown value to the 99 regardless of lifegain or graveyard synergy being near non-existent.

• Sword of Vengeance is a bit clunky, but has personally won me a game when it was one of 2 equips on Sram & I had hit an early MLD. Keyword soup + a buff can be very strong on Sram after you make yourself public enemy #1 and you know everyone's remaining permanents will be coming at you. I don't have Batterskull but I'm sure it is useful in the same way.

• Bloodforged Battle-Axe & Trepanation Blade - with trep. blade being kindof a fun gamble card in a deck that is often a little boring on the variable front :) just adds different dimensions to the deck & never really seem to be too much of a detriment.

• the others I can't really say much one way or the other because I don't run many of them, except a couple of the ones with positive critiques. I can tell you that Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip and Empyrial Plate have been worth it for me every time I see them. Gonti's Aether Heart just won me another game as well.

• The others

I see. I can understand the occasional boredom with a voltron deck. In fact, while the voltron kill is my plan A, at the same time it's also the least enjoyable type of victory and I am excited if the opponent pushes me to go wider with the midrange strategy. So, in a way, I already avoid that issue.

Last time I forgot to ask about one card: what's your opinion about Godsend guys?

I just recently cut it and it took all my mental strength to do it. On one hand, I love the card. I love it for flavour reasons, I love it because of the gorgeus art,I love it because of the catchy name, I love it because Elspeth is my favourite walker and because, let's be honest, the effect of the card is just cool. However, on the other hand, if I stop and look at it from a strategic standpoint... well, it's not that good. Actually, I think it's pretty bad. Its' clunky with its 3 to cast and 3 to equip, it functionally says "+3/+3 unblockable... sometimes", because no one wants to lose their fatties early, but no one will have a problem in just chump blocking with some random tokens. And when you will really need to alpha-strike someone because they threaten to kill you next turn, you'll find out that Godsend does absolutely nothing, it might as well read "+3/+3". Its also an anti-sinergy with Batterskull and Umezawa's Jitte.

Actually, it's more useful in defense to discourage attacks towards you, but you can't really play the defensive game if you go all-in voltron.

So, what do you guys think?

Hey JoeBlondie,

thank you for your honoust opinions. I always appreciate people who add something valuable to an ongoing deck discussion.

Let me respond on your points in the same order as you posted them.

O-Naginata : I can understand your point about it being 'dead' in your opening hand. But as a Voltron player it brings more than just this backdraft. For 1 mana it draws us a card and it brings us 3 extra commander damage and the trample ability to make sure that commander damage gets through. I've had several games where the extra 3 damage added midgame made a difference to reach 21 commander damage. And with double strike/damage present it is even more impactful!

Sword of Light and Shadow : I have been running it for the +3 +3 and the protection yes. But I am aware that this is the weakest of the swords in my build. Till the moment I was solely aiming for lethal commander damage without a MLD backup plan it was there since there was nothing relevant for me to pick as replacement. I feel that Worldslayer could be a interesting substitute, now that I play with MLD. Do you agree on this?

Batterskull : Its a card I have a love-hate affair with. It saved me from dying a few times because of the lifelink and being able to cast it at instant speeds as a blocker with Sigarda's Aid. But on the otherhand it can feel clunky indeed. For now I do not know what relevant replacement I would even pick.

Bloodforged Battle-Axe : It proved the use in a few games I had the opportunity to use it. My opponent went nuts when 2 versions triggered and said GG to me. With Sigarda's Aid in play gives this piece of equipment a strong Voltron feeling.

Trepanation Blade : It is a gimmicky card for sure :) But the random lottery part brings some spice to the table; do I get the fatal blow THIS turn already? ... insert evil smile

Golem-Skin Gauntlets : It's a placeholder card which performed in a few games and was lacking in other games. What would you suggest as a replacement?

Conqueror's Flail : This is mainly a meta call. Lots of blue decks are present here and they all would love to counter any of my MLD spells.

Sword of Vengeance : It's a fine card that helped me several times. I do not think that there is any other equipemnt that will fulfill a better role at this place.

Leonin Abunas : You will be surprised how many times I wished I had this card present on my battlefield. People tend to 'breakdown' my voltron equipped commander just too often, removing vital pieces from it just to stall me long enough. It would be best if it was a non creature spell, but that is not the case. Why bother with another creature with the same cmc that needs metalcraft to be active?

Cultivator's Caravan : It is a mana rock for 3 cmc and lets me draw another card when he is cast. The crew ability I never used. I feel it is a decent pick, but which manarock could replace this spot?

Godsend : You nailed it spot on! I have the exact same feeling with this equipment. I can't reason it better than you did. But the fact remains that we need a valuable substitute for this card. I will finalize my opinions regarding possible changes at the bottom....

Conclusion:

• Sword of Light and Shadow can be replaced for Worldslayer for extra MLD 'outs'

• Batterskull can be pointed at as a placeholder if something more valuable appears

• Golem-Skin Gauntlets can be pointed at as a placeholder if something more valuable appears

• Cultivator's Caravan is doing well, unless there is a rock that is superior to him

• Godsend can be pointed at as a placeholder if something more valuable appears

Also thanks for answering Gleeock. You are always truely welcome in here!

I really like Worldslayer if you can set it up semi-reliably, you probably need Shield of Kaldra as a second Darksteel Plate for that, so you can establish a devastating hard-lock and make everyone scoop. Of course the best would be doing it at instant speed with Stonehewer Giant or Sigarda's Aid. If your meta is small the trick could get old pretty quick though.I am hesitant at trying it in mine because all the cards involved are a bit slow and I don't have the mana base that you have.

For the Leonin Abunas thing, of course it's your call, if you need a second source of the effect (you say that often you wish you'd have it) you could try the angel. The metalcraft shoul be almost free in your deck and it flies which can be helpful.

The thing with the equipments is that the very good ones are few, so if you want the critical mass,like you do, of course you have to include some that are not optimal (but maybe are fun!). That being said, I see people running Quietus Spike but I don't like it very much, doesn't help with commander dmg and it's effect decreases a bit if the creature becomes larger.

Actually I think that, with the amount of stats boost that you already have, the most effective thing is to just have more double strike sources: Battle Mastery is on theme and nets you a card, Silverblade Paladin I saw that you cut him in the past, but I really like him. Sure, it doesn't cantrip, but it's functionally a Fireshrieker that does't need to be equipped. Plus, there are upsides for running a little more creatures: it's mostly a meta call and maybe you don't bother, but usually black decks are heavy on edict effects, which completely bypass your protections if you only have Sram on the field. I'm also saying this because I run much less voltron support (less than half of yours) and still I can reach lethal or near-to-lethal damage without too much effort. Inquisitor's Flail + any double strike source and a little random boost is lethal, Empyrial Plate + flail or double strike is probably close to lethal. With the amount of tutors that you have it should be pretty easy to assemble any of this combinations every game.

Of course, as you say, people will destroy your things if they cannot kill Sram. You have two options to work around this issue. Either you have a critical mass of equips that replace the ones destroyed, like you do, or you have ways to recur them. I prefer the latter option because this allow me to run only the best cards. People become pretty upset when they kill your sword multiple times but it keeps coming back. I personally recommed Restoration Specialist and Ironclad Slayer because they can bring back both auras and equips, the specialist can be also card advantage (and is a dwarf :) ). They are also targets for Sun Titan for additional value and that's why I run them and not Remember the Fallen.

Then, a card I really like is Mask of Memory, it doesn't help with damage but if you can connect with Sram, it filters the topdeck like crazy.

Unfortunately, two of my favourite equipments Skullclamp Deathrender don't fit well here.

For the Batterskull thing, I'd just keep the Loxodon Warhammer as a lifelink source to tutor if you are really desperate since it's more easy to cast and the trample helps too. But again, I don't run a Batterskull so I've never really tried it.

Finally, about Cultivator's Caravan, the reason I don't like it is that I find 3cmc rocks that only offer one mana really awkward. I usually keep hands with 2 lands because it's enough to play Sram and hopefully draw quickly into more lands, but I'm also ok having 2-lands + a 2-cmc rock and delaying Sram by one turn. The thing is that spending your 3rd turn tapping out for the caravan with Sram out and unprotected is questionable, other deck with much more ramping power by that time have finished ramping and will start to leave you behind, I think that we should focus on what we are better and establish a board position while they ramp. And even if you draw the caravan later, are you willing to slow down a turn to play it when the game is in a possibly hot phase? These are the reasons why I don't like the caravan or things like Commander's Sphere, instead I like things like Thought Vessel and Mind Stone, which I saw you cut.

But again, maybe I am overthinking it, I am a bit more driven towards 1v1 scenarios and I have a weaker mana base.. with metalwalker, the moxen, crypt and vault you probably can afford it. I would still cut it because it's weak compared to those.Also I am surprised that you don't run Ancient Tomb.

Keep Sword of Light and Shadow. It's protection from white and black offer the best survival abilities against the majority of targeted anticreatures spells in EDH.

Worldslayer destroys everything, your stuff included. Worldslayer needs a dedicated deck to works properly. Don't play it.

Godsend isn't your weaker equipment piece. The "exile" if blocked is cool, especially if your attacking creature has trample somehow. + if you had more utility creatures (Mother of Runes) you could equip them with Godsend for a good dissuasive defense.

Cultivator's Caravan: any rock at cmc 2 is better. You have so few creatures, will you equip Sram just to crew the Caravan? Will you equip the crewed Caravan for big hit, and then unequip everything when it turns back to an empty Vehicle?

It seems also that you have to many equipments. ~30 that's a lot. I would cut 5-10 of them for extra utility creatures or support spells.

Meh, I've personally enjoyed the 30+ power items & dedicated voltron aspect. I originally played this deck (actually started as Nahiri commander) with some more utility creatures, but I changed over to this format - I honestly don't miss them. The thing about a black sac. engine deck running full tilt is that a BUNCH of decks (short of full token swarm) get creature-locked against that scenario, it just happens to be sac.-more win-more type of scenario that people identify this deck being more susceptible. My thing about that though is that, that type of sac engine tends to reach 2-4 creature sacs/turn which again will lock out more decks than just this deck & if anything will make mana-expenditure on more utility creature/fodder a moot point. If anything the best counter to that strategy with this deck is to ID decks with that theme, include several token-pooping equipment/aura, include alot of double strike and go for the throat agro style on those particular opponents while pooping 0 cmc tokens for sac-fodder in the meantime.

Certainly sac-all decks are a weakness (most decks have one) but I've personally just set Sram for dmg & token builds when I've seen that scenario and swung out at those players - actually sometimes Sram will build so fast sac-black players will bargain with me to delay playing stuff so I don't swing at them.

Also, thx for the welcome, I enjoy occasionally reading some of the posts on here.

Guys whats your opinion on Grafted Exoskeleton?

Does your meta tolerate infect?

Too much risk of a 2-for-1?

Cut all the LD and mana rocks then focus your efforts on mana reduction and utility redundancy, you win by drawing your deck and playing all your impact cards for free and have more options than the board can deal with. Keep the caravan tho as it draws a card, comes in untapped, produces white mana, and artifacts can be cast for free.

Foundry Inspector

Helm of Awakening

The Immortal Sun

Inspiring Statuary

Oketra's Monument

Pearl Medallion

Personal Favorites

Ogre's Cleaver

Faith's Reward

Sword of the Animist

If you're really bored, you should check out my version of this "Option Sram" i've been talking about, I even built my creature list around a card called Heirloom Blade which I don't see many people doing with Srams. Good luck out there, my playgroup is 6+ consistently and Sram gets most of the love but he can still pop off pretty hard.

Hi JoeBlondie, it's been a while since I had the pleasure of playing this deck. But recently it was back in action and did make a serious stand. After my night of letting Sram go nuts from time to time, I headed back here to see what could be improved and I examined all the latest comments as well.

Leonin Abunas was a wasted draw in one of those games. Reading your comment changed my mind and I let it go...

The double strike suggestions are really spot on. So Silverblade Paladin and Battle Mastery found a home in this deck. Black sacrifice is becoming a thing in our meta, so your analysis of having more bodies is lifesaving indeed!

The recursion with Restoration Specialist is strong, knowing that Sun Titan is present. This is a valueble addition.

Mask of Memory seems really interesting and the filtering feels really in place. This is something I am going to give a serious try.

Ancient Tomb has been added too, together with a few other new cards. I could not believe that the tomb wasn't in this deck yet. I guess I always assumed it was in here already. Excellent catch!

Thank you very much for your indepth evaluation!!

Hello Stefouch,

the amount of voltron support feels good at the moment. However I do agree that a few cards are not good enough to warrant a spot in the deck. Both Godsend and Cultivator's Caravan have been replaced by other interesting options.

I had a few games in which Worldslayer impacted the board heavily and opponents just scooped after seeing all go to waste. I had some evasive measures that kept me partially safe. Like a Land Tax with 1 mana at the hand and a Darksteel Plate in two seperate games where I had the pleasure of excecuting the slayer's ability. Ill stick with the MLD for now... It's a fun twist in a usual linear voltron approach.

Hey! long time!!

• I'm happy you've had a similar experience with Worldslayer, I play alot of combo opponents and find that they are WAY more impacted by the removal of their game-long setups than I am, especially when they have their perfect little matrix built up and their perfect multicolored landbase... against mono white + colorless. What you said above is how it goes for me, recovery potential is high with this type of setup. MLD recovery is strong in this build - especially when you have to use it at not-so-ideal moments as often happens.

• Sigiled Sword of Valeron is a decent little token pooper if you are seeing more & more edict effects, they are going to be more useful than wasting utility creatures to sac in the long run. Throws a sudden swing wide potential into your game that opponent's don't see coming. I've done this enough times with other token poopers Sword of Body and Mind & double strike.

Hi Gleeock,

how nice to meet again! How are your games going? Played a lot of Sram the last few months? If you have good new insights based on your games, then I am curious to hear about them.

That new sword is nifty. it is not really powerful, but the edict effects make it a lot more relevant as you clearly state. Did you already used it?

I am especially curious about using Teferi's Protection in a multiplayer setting as Voltron player. I hope it will buy me the extra turn I sometimes miss....

Heavenly Blademaster is a potential alt-wincon I am willing to try. Im not sure yet, because of the cmc.

hi, i think someone already asked you but why not the kaldra equipments? sure they are a little costy but balan can equip them all for 2 and with paladin on field and 3 artifacts thats 0 equip cost

Bro... The new "Smothering Tithe".. is absolutely busted-ass / bananas / bonkers / broken here. No doubt it will become a staple in most mono-white decks- particularly with any taxes.

Hello sinister1234. The reason I do not run them is because balance in this deck is carefully adjusted. I run a 'fixed' number of cards that trigger Sram and all other categories like removal, tutor, ramp and such have their most optimized balance as well. Basically I feel that the Kaldra equipment is not good enough to be replaced for anything in the deck. In your opening hand, they are way too slow as well. I want to start triggering Sram asap and get that value engine rolling. Thanks for the comment anyway :)

Hey Ghetto-Wookie. I am not all over the moon yet about Smothering Tithe . But I am curious how it will perform in this build. So I found a spot and I am looing forward to playtest the new card. Thanks!