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Foxinator ... MAXIMIZE!! *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Bracket 3 Enchant Equip Mono-White

NV_1980

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Enchantment (29)

Sorcery (3)

Land (35)

Artifact (10)

Commander (1)

Commander: Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice

Creature (16)

Instant (6)

Welcome to Foxinator … Maximize!

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this mono-white, foxy, aura-Voltron deck; commanded by Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice. She’s furry. She’s fluffy. She gives you a serious stare while waggling half a dozen tails in silent contemplation. She gives an impression of being a thinker, not a doer, but that’s all a ruse lulling you into a false sense of security. Our foxy friend is deadly. Very … very … very deadly. She sees you as a threat, you have about three seconds before she analyzes your capabilities, casts an entire web of defensive and offensive enchantments on herself and then proceeds to pounce on you like there’s no tomorrow. This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hopefully you will enjoy it!

This wonderful being allows the tutoring for an aura whenever one is cast onto the battlefield under the wielder’s control and then attach the aura to her for free. This is a ridiculously strong ability because it’s amazing value for mana and it doesn’t require all that many auras to make her almost invincible. Now consider that white offers by far the best auras a creature could possibly wish for as well as offensive auras that disable opposing creatures (or players as a whole) and you’ve got a winning combination.

The following ten parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).

  • Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
  • Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
  • Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
  • Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
  • Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
  • Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
  • Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
  • Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
  • Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
  • Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

Mana: 3

Though the average CMC of this deck is low, it still contains an average amount of mana resources. This is because when the deck can make a lot of moves during the early game, it will be very hard for opposing decks to maintain pace. Hence it was decided to include six cheap-to-cast rocks, a cheapener and an enchantment that creates treasure-tokens when opponents draw.

Ramp: 1

No actual ramp has been included, as white’s ramping options are usually one-shot deals without any other uses and it would be a waste of deck slots. What HAS been included are two land-fetching mechanisms, which is not ramping perse, but land-availability-enhancers are considered part of this category too.

Card Advantage: 5

Light-Paws herself is a tutoring enabler. There’s some back-up tutoring options available as well. Since this deck will be casting lots of enchantments, draw triggered by enchantment-ETB works wonders. Four of such cards have been included. To that, more regular draw engines have been added as well as a couple of one-shot draw deals that help out in a pinch.

Overall speed: 5

This deck gains traction fast; mostly due to its very low average CMC, but also due to enough mana, ramp and card-advantage resources available to kick things off quickly. It’s absolutely feasible to have an enchanted fox available doing some considerable harm as early as turn 3. Due to the kind of auras Light-Paws can tutor for, it’s also easy to have her penetrate defenses and put opponents on the defensive; thereby also gaining an advantage in terms of completing objectives.

Combo: 1

Though the deck doesn’t feature any infinite combos, there are some nice synergies one can make use off with a heavily enchanted being. This includes obtaining nigh invulnerability, creating a humungous creature or drawing large numbers of cards at once.

Army: 4

Foxy-Voltron can adapt in detail to her environment while also gaining strength in the process. This allows her to smash some serious face during combat and in some ways become almost unstoppable. Token generators (based on enchantments (-ETB’ing)) provide her with some backup.

Commander: 1

Not gonna lie; without Light-Paws this deck’s strategy is doomed. This is why it is filled to the brim with methods to keep her from being harmed as much as possible. Aside from auras she can tutor to keep herself safe, support-creatures and equipment have been added to help in this regard as well. Fortunately, Light-Paws’ casting cost is not high, so recasting her (especially the first few times) will not prove difficult.

Interaction: 3

The deck’s toolbox contains three options to disable opposing creatures/permanents, as well as four options to outright remove them. A few ways have been included to benefit from actions made by opponents, such as them tutoring or drawing cards

Resilience: 5

Though most of the deck is focused on its commander, its staying-power should not be underestimated. A lot of measures have been included to protect Foxy from harm, including but not limited to seven mechanisms to significantly increase her power/toughness, four cards that make her (temporarily) indestructible, five cards that grant her protection from colors and/or creatures and a few options that allow her to flash or phase when she’s in trouble. Against opponents that go wide, the deck can tax attackers and life loss can be compensated for through the use of four life-link options. Also, let’s not forget the three solid options to recur permanents/enchantments to the field.

Spellpower: 4

The deck features some very powerful protection- and recursion spells/auras; some of which allow its wielder to survive full blown wipes unscathed. Some of the auras meant for Light-Paws give her such an edge that under most circumstances they are enough to disable opponents (or their armies) completely.

Total power score: 32

White is an awesome color. Voltron-themed decks are the bomb. This beauty came into being very recently but it’s been tested out a few times and it performed very well. Overall, it’s very fast and Light-Paws has a lot of staying-power, which helps out in needing few resources to re-cast her all the time.

The goal of this deck is to win by applying commander damage to adversaries. The way in which this can be accomplished is by creating a version of Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice that can do this effectively with impunity in as short a time as one can manage. Foxy lady needs to be summoned early (turn one if possible) and become the beneficiary of enchantments early. This allows for the use of her triggered ability, which is key to victory. It’s very effective at finding auras that disable opponents’ ability to cause harm to Foxy. Then she can be strengthened with win-more-enchantments to finish the opposition quicker. The end.

At least three cards in your starting hand ought to be lands or two lands and a Mox Amber. Two lands and a Land Tax, Sol Ring or Weathered Wayfarer would also be ok. This is basically a must-have requirement; it is recommended not to start a game without this hand (even if one has to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand would also contain some CMC1 or CMC2 auras and/or early opportunities for card advantage.

A bit of resource build-up is nice to start a game with. Some early land-fetching or a cheap mana rock can really accelerate the game plan. Other high priority castings within the first few turns, are cheap card-advantage enablers like Esper Sentinel, Kor Spiritdancer, Mesa Enchantress, Sensei's Divining Top and Sram, Senior Edificer. Last, but certainly not least, are non-aura cards that help to protect Light-Paws, of which some favorites are Commander's Plate, Giver of Runes, Grand Abolisher, Mother of Runes and Swiftfoot Boots.

Once a few resources are in place, it’s time to activate the deck’s commander and start causing some serious havoc. To do this effectively, one wants to make her more durable right after her arrival on the battlefield. Best way to accomplish that, is by summoning her and casting an aura on her straight away. This activates Light-Paws’s triggered ability and helps to search for an enchantment that best suits tactical needs. Some great examples that can be fetched early are Mask of Law and Grace, Shield of Duty and Reason and Spirit Mantle. Once her presence has been established and some of her staying power has been implemented, the mid-game phase begins.

During the mid-game, the most important objective becomes to eliminate the most dangerous opponent. This would probably be the one that can either still stop Light-Paws (even with her magic enhancements) OR it’s the opponent that’s most capable at outpacing the deck’s wielder for value. While doing that, one needs to stay alive long enough to deal with the other opponents. This can be achieved by slowing them down through the raising of taxes (Ghostly Prison, Smothering Tithe, Sphere of Safety) or by taking out key components to their strategy with removal spells (Heliod's Intervention, Path to Exile, Sheltered by Ghosts, Swords to Plowshares) or auras that reduce them to complete uselessness.

Victory can only be achieved through combat, so foxy needs maximum strength. Really good auras/equipment to achieve that would be Daybreak Coronet, Ethereal Armor, Thran Power Suit and Armored Ascension. Then there are auras that will make her more versatile, like Spirit Link, Battle Mastery, Katilda's Rising Dawn and On Serra's Wings. Equipping her with Helm of the Gods will also help.

Finally, it’s possible to provide Light-Paws with some aid by summoning additional creatures, which can be obtained by summoning additional auras. Cards that can be used for this include Ajani's Chosen, Archon of Sun's Grace, Hallowed Haunting and Sigil of the Empty Throne.

Once the most dangerous adversary is out of the way and other opponents are contained, it’s time to mop up. By now one should have a thoroughly terrifying fox at one’s disposal. Should someone manage to get rid of her in the meantime, there are ways to get her AND her auras back easily. Sun Titan can bring stuff back with every attack, and then there’s more expensive means to get everything back in bulk, with spells like Retether and Replenish.

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

  • Adagia, Windswept Bastion: one of the best possible recently released utility lands for this deck, as it totally depends on its exquisite selection of powerful auras that could do with a good bit of copying.
  • Ancient Tomb: considering that this deck easily recoups life loss in most circumstances, paying some life for two instead of one colorless mana is a small price to pay. Just about the most ideal starting land.
  • Arid Mesa/Flooded Strand/Marsh Flats/Windswept Heath: the lands used to filter through the deck, which enables the finding of cards that matter to its strategy quicker.
  • Emeria, the Sky Ruin: an exceptional recursion resource that returns something to the battlefield for free (provided one controls seven plains, which should be obtainable by the mid-/late-game).
  • Hall of Heliod's Generosity: very suitable piece of recursion in an enchantment-themed deck like this.
  • Minas Tirith: though this is not a white weenie deck, the chance it will be able to effectively attack with two or more creatures is likely which in this case yields some much needed draw.
  • Mistveil Plains: a recursion option for any card, which is even better when compared to other options like Emeria and Hall. Combined with Light-Paws, enchantment-recursion to the battlefield can happen very fast (provided one has a new enchantment to cast first).
  • Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: white, non-token permanents really help this land to generate massive amounts of white mana.
  • Reliquary Tower: considering the deck contains a few ways to draw a multitude of cards at once, it behooves to include some measures that prevent one from having to discard.
  • Sanctum of Eternity: excellent way to prevent the necessity of commander-tax.
  • Serra's Sanctum: about the strongest mana-source in an enchantment-focused deck.
  • War Room: wonderful mana-sink for additional draw.

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

  • Arcane Signet: the most basic of mana rocks, in that it’s cheap to cast and provides any colored mana one requires; should be in the vast majority of EDH-decks, like Sol Ring.
  • Land Tax: possibly the only non-green enchantment that can tutor enough lands to keep up with most green ramping capabilities. Its only downside is that it doesn’t grant its user to play additional lands.
  • Mox Amber: dependent on the presence of the deck’s commander, but that’s not a deal-breaker because Foxy can be summoned cheaply.
  • Pearl Medallion: cheapens the vast majority of the deck’s spells by 1, so it made a lot of sense to include!
  • Smothering Tithe: one of the most over-powered resource enchantments ever. During early/mid-game, no one will pay the tax for drawing, which basically guarantees the deck that manages to deploy this a sick resource advantage.
  • Sol Ring: a card most EDH decks should not be without.
  • Weathered Wayfarer: a tutor for all lands, including some very powerful non-basic lands, like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Serra's Sanctum.

The mechanisms that provide more (or better) cards:

  • Archivist of Oghma: opponents regularly search libraries, which makes it likely that investing a spot for this little guy is worth it.
  • Endless Atlas: in a mono-colored deck, it’s relatively easy to meet the requirements to allow this artifact to provide additional draw.
  • Enlightened Tutor/Idyllic Tutor: bread-and-butter for an aura-focused deck (and some nice redundance for Light-Paws’ tutoring ability).
  • Esper Sentinel: taxation is what white’s good at, and this is just one of multiple tax-requirement permanents within this deck that opponents will be confronted with, and who will really go so far as pay tax for this deck’s draw?
  • Kor Spiritdancer: can become a bruiser in a pinch and provides more opportunities for draw based on aura-casting.
  • Mesa Enchantress/Sram, Senior Edificer: bound to provide some useful draws in a deck filled to the brim with auras and enchantments.
  • Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor: combined with the deck’s commander, she provides almost guaranteed additional draw every turn. The discount on auras is considered gravy.
  • Sage's Reverie: fun to cast in the mid/late-game because of the very high draw-potential.
  • Sensei's Divining Top: an awesome filter- and draw package for just a single mana; next to Sol Ring really one of the greatest cards to start games with.
  • Sigarda's Aid: having this enchantment on the field makes Foxy much harder to predict, as all of a sudden one can start enhancing her during opponents’ turns, which can come as a nasty surprise when opponents think they can attack her controller without having to worry all that much about her (because she’s not at an appropriate strength (yet)).
  • Trouble in Pairs: the opposition either chooses to slow down its game significantly OR this deck gets to draw significantly more cards per turn when this enchantment hits the field.

These spells will stop stuff in its tracks or get rid of it all together:

  • Darksteel Mutation: included to make an opposing commander weak, unable to attack or defend without discernable powers. More importantly said opposing commander can’t be destroyed, effectively banishing it from play until it can be sacrificed (or perhaps withered).
  • Flawless Maneuver: a perfect card to protect the deck’s forces from either a wipe or maybe targeted destruction.
  • Ghostly Prison: every tollgate that needs to be passed is another one that prevents opposing decks to move against this one.
  • Grand Abolisher: the best way to stop counterspells from messing with the deck’s enchantment arsenal.
  • Heliod's Intervention: just because this deck’s enchantments are awesome, doesn’t mean others get to enjoy their own. In case killing these (or opposing artifacts for that matter) off is not necessary, there’s still a whole bunch of life one can gain with this.
  • Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares: some opposing creatures can’t be removed through combat or in other easy ways; so in exchange for a slight boon, it’ll just be exiled.
  • Sheltered by Ghosts: an excellent removal aura that grants a strength-, life-link- and ward bonus to the enchanted creature.
  • Sphere of Safety: in a deck built around enchantments, the amount of tax this demands can get crazy quickly.
  • Teferi's Protection: there’s no way anything will harm its caster, nor will it get rid of its permanents. Perfect to get a painstakingly crafted battlefield presence out of harm’s way.

The stuff that enchants the fluff:

  • Armored Ascension: as this deck is mono-white, it’s quite easy to provide a massive power/toughness bonus just by applying this one enchantment; not to mention the capability of flight!
  • Battle Mastery: woven onto Foxy, this enchantment can easily ensure fatal commander damage can be inflicted through a single attack onto an opponent.
  • Celestial Mantle: another excellent bonus to power/toughness scores, but more importantly massive potential to increase one’s life-point total.
  • Daybreak Coronet: the bonuses provided by this enchantment are numerous and provide great utility for Foxy. They also come very cheap if one tutors for this enchantment upon casting another.
  • Flickerform: a great combo piece that allows one to benefit from enchantments entering the battlefield. Works exceptionally well with Ajani's Chosen, Archon of Sun's Grace or Sage's Reverie.
  • Gift of Immortality: great way to keep Foxy around; opponent will have to get rid of the enchantment instead of Foxy, which is much harder to do.
  • Katilda's Rising Dawn: she starts out as a powerful creature, but should opponents be foolish enough to dispose of her, she can come back as a similarly powerful enchantment on Foxy herself.
  • Light of Promise: combined with enchantments like Daybreak Coronet, On Serra's Wings, Spirit Link and especially Celestial Mantle, this enchantment can turn Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice into an almost unstoppable behemoth.
  • Mask of Law and Grace/Shield of Duty and Reason: protection against most magic colors, which allows Light-Paws to bypass opposing defenses.
  • On Serra's Wings: not the cheapest enchantment to cast but provides some solid abilities to make Foxy more versatile at handling different threats.
  • Pariah: when one combines this with an aura that provides indestructibility (like Shielded by Faith or Timely Ward), it makes the creature’s controller almost impervious to harm.
  • Shielded by Faith/Timely Ward: the best ways to turn the deck’s commander completely impervious from most conventional methods of harm.
  • Spirit Mantle/Unquestioned Authority: these ensure that no matter what creature-like barriers the opposition erects, the deck’s Foxinator will push through to put the hurt onto its opponents directly.
  • Spirit Link: a simple aura that grants one of the most useful benefits to its creature’s controller: life. Considering this deck can’t go wide or stop major damage-casting, any buffer it can create to absorb such damage is welcome.
  • Triclopean Sight: though it’s not the only aura that can grant Foxy vigilance, what makes this one special is that it can provide a nasty surprise to anyone who thought she had tapped out during the deck’s last attack.

Some additional benefits that come with running this aura deck.

  • Ajani's Chosen/Archon of Sun's Grace: tokens based on enchantment ETB can really make a difference against decks that come at this one with loads of weenies.
  • Commander's Plate: in a mono-colored Voltron-deck, this card is almost mean. Granting its commander protection from all colors except its own severely reduces opposing options to stop it.
  • Hallowed Haunting/Sigil of the Empty Throne: these tokens are only generated when one casts enchantments. Shouldn’t be a big deal, considering the deck has almost thirty of those bad boys.
  • Holy Avenger: not quite the oomph that Foxy herself provides in terms of bringing new enchantments onto the field, but still spectacularly powerful, especially when one also considers the double strike.
  • Replenish/Retether: the answers to the question: How does one return one’s enchantments from the graveyard with a single spell?
  • Sun Titan: helps with the recursion of enchantments/auras and is a great combat creature to boot!
  • Swiftfoot Boots: this ensures opposing spells will not be able to hit Foxy and enables her to attack upon entering the battlefield should this artifact hit the field first.
  • Thran Power Suit: a Helm of the Gods on steroids! Even grants protection against opposing spells.
  • Umbra Mystic: every enchantment is a shield against fatal damage.

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer! Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

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93% Casual

Competitive

Revision 6 See all

(3 months ago)

+1 Adagia, Windswept Bastion main
-1 All That Glitters main
-1 Blast Zone main
+1 Flickerform main
-1 Flickering Ward main
+1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity main
-1 Helm of the Gods main
-1 Plains main
+1 Sheltered by Ghosts main
+1 Sigarda's Aid main