Is Voltron good?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 11, 2015, 8:45 p.m. by MindclawShaman
I am curently trying to make a Voltron EDH deck staring the new Dragonlord Ojutai as the commander. He's got the hexproof and vagilance isn't hard to achieve. He gives a free Anticipate when he connects which adds awesome consistency. However I have never built a Voltron deck before. Is Voltron good? Is Ojutai good for Voltron?
MindclawShaman says... #3
SaberTech, I like Bruna, Light of Alabaster but she seems to draw a lot of board hate. I tend to play in 4 man groups so it seems like you're right about voltron being weak in multiplayer. Is there any form of Voltron that's good for multiplayer? Or should i just go another direction with Dragonlord Ojutai? (he's one of my favorites at the moment)
April 11, 2015 9:48 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #4
If you really want to do voltron in azorius, Geist of Saint Traft is the best for it. Not only does he have the low cmc of only three, he always has hexproof, and the sooner you get a voltron out, the sooner you can put the stuff on it, which truthfully isn't always necessarily auras.
April 11, 2015 10:18 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #5
Oh and as for voltron decks, yes they are good if you have three things:
- Hexproof or vigilance on the commander
- Maaaany ways to add the other one, because YOU WILL NEED BOTH
- Lastly, you need to get the commander out FAST, so the cheaper, the better
April 11, 2015 10:20 p.m.
Since you are in U/W colours what you could do is build your deck to be a control deck. Dragonlord Ojutai's ability does help dig for the cards you need and since you can't hit him with spot removal when he isn't tapped he can sit on the board and act as a deterrent to keep people from attacking you while you try to take control of the game. My advice is focus on the deck first, make sure you have one or two solid methods to win built in, then just throw in some choice equipment cards so that you can use Dragonlord Ojutai as a backup plan for taking someone down as the game goes late and life totals get low. A couple ways to give Dragonlord Ojutai double strike, like Silverblade Paladin, wouldn't hurt either since that would allow his ability to trigger twice.
I'm not going to lie, there will probably be a more competitive commander that Dragonlord Ojutai for any U/W deck archetype you try to build. The more comments you happen to get on this thread the more alternate recommendations that are going to come your way. But you know what? EDH is the best format there is for being able to play the cards you want to play. So if Dragonlord Ojutai is a favourite for you then go for it. All the decks that I've built thus far I've built just because I thought the commander was awesome for one reason or another. Uril, the Miststalker was the commander that got me into playing EDH, and go figure, the deck was a voltron deck.
April 11, 2015 10:34 p.m.
If you want to do Voltron, Geist of Saint Traft is the best Voltron commander in Azorious commanders, followed (quite a few tiers down) by Bruna, Light of Alabaster. Dragonlord Ojutai seems bad to me, but I'm sure he'll find a place eventually thanks to his ability to set up Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace without having to spend for tutors; however, Sensei's Divining Top does his job better.
April 11, 2015 10:57 p.m.
MirranTitan says... #8
I'm in the same boat as O/P, Ojutai is my favorite dragon.
So as for the voltron concept, the strongest voltron generals are evidently ones that have built in evasion or an effect that is so damn powerful it hurts, like, literally hurts. (both? both. BOTH. BOth is good)
Uril, the Miststalker is good because he benefits from the very things you attach to him, and he has hexproof, which is a pain.
Rafiq of the Many is another popular voltron general due to his efficient damage.
naturally, voltron decks have weaknesses, and with dragonlord ojutai, the moment you attack without vigilance is a window of opportunity to remove it.
But as was stated before, ojutai could be a good commander for a normal azorious deck, and you could just play slow control with powerful draw and destruction coupled with efficient removal, and voltron could very well be a sub-theme. Commander damage as a win condition is still a win condition, and In my azorious deck, I play stuff like Righteous Authority to get there with my commander
April 11, 2015 11:49 p.m.
geezerfetus says... #9
Geist of Saint Traft is seriously awesome as a voltron. Since you have blue as an option you can run peel to keep him safe(cheap on recast) at instant speed. Once you're able to hexproof him you can focus that peel on the enemy. Just the fact he comes out so fast makes him hard to answer.
April 12, 2015 12:26 a.m.
rob_shifflett says... #10
There are more than enough creatures with triggered and activated abilities in blue/white. Just run it creature heavy, mostly fliying. I assume you already know the necessary white voltron cards, so I will not include those or the other Azorius cards already mentioned(though you should use them) in my suggestions.
Pillow FOrt!..: Ghostly Prison Propaganda Norn's Annex Angelic Arbiter Blazing Archon Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer Isperia, Supreme Judge Palliation Accord Meddling Mage Island Sanctuary(which your Commander is perfect for) Thoughtweft Gambit & Illusionist's Gambit(these two cards have won me the game countless times).
Glorius Azorious offers so much for the deck you are creating: Isperia the Inscrutable Ith, High Arcanist Rasputin Dreamweaver Brago, King Eternal Daxos of Meletis Venser, the Sojourner Hanna, Ship's Navigator Archon of the Triumvirate Armored Guardian Azorius Guildmage Drogskol Reaver Godhead of Awe Council of the Absolute Mistmeadow Witch Guiding Spirit Sovereigns of Lost Alara Iridescent Angel Jhessian Balmgiver Chromatic Armor Cloud Cover Detention Sphere Hindering Light Render Silent Worldpurge Æthermage's Touch ... so much good stuff.
Extra Turns seem like a logical strategy for multiple opponents...: Medomai the Ageless Beacon of Tomorrows Capture of Jingzhou Plea for Power Savor the Moment Temporal Manipulation Temporal Mastery(which you can Mystical Tutor) Time Stretch
SaberTech says... #2
Dragonlord Ojutai's hexproof is a definite boost in his role as a voltron commander but he is also the same colours as Bruna, Light of Alabaster, which is pretty much designed to be a voltron commander. Ojutai is one mana cheaper and has build in hexproof but that is competing against Bruna's ability to dump cards like Eldrazi Conscription on to herself for free, even if she has Lightning Greaves on her. She also has the ability to reclaim auras that are in the graveyard, so you don't have to worry about the card loss if she gets taken down by a wrath spell or something.
Voltron strategies are viable in EDH, but the more people that are playing in the game the harder it is to run well. There are lots of wrath effects in EDH and the more players there are the more wraths there are. You also have to watch out for cards like Grave Pact that can really rain on your parade if you only have your commander out most of the time.
EDH decks that rely on their commanders to function at maximum capacity are fragile. Voltron decks generally hope to trade resiliency for speed, but that means that most of the deck becomes focused around optimizing and protecting your commander. The more opponents you have the slower your deck functions because you can only kill one opponent per turn with combat damage (in most cases anyway). The longer you take to beat everyone, the more time they have to find an answer to your commander our outpace you with their own win strategy. A voltron deck works best in 1v1 games.
April 11, 2015 9:22 p.m.