low-cost, extra annoying, tutor your heart out!

Commander / EDH Budget Enchant Enchantment Voltron WUB (Esper)

WhatInTheWhoNow

Land (31)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Esper Panorama
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 6x Island
• 7x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Shimmerdrift Vale
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Removal (9)

• 1x Detention Sphere
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Minimus Containment
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Prison Term
• 1x Reprobation
• 1x Seal of Cleansing
• 1x Touch the Spirit Realm
• 1x Witness Protection

Recursion (6)

• 1x Brilliant Restoration
• 1x Crystal Chimes
• 1x Faith's Reward
• 1x Mantle of the Ancients
• 1x Open the Vaults
• 1x Sun Titan

Rock / Free Money (15)

• 1x Azorius Cluestone
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Heraldic Banner
• 1x Marble Diamond
• 1x Obelisk of Esper
• 1x Orzhov Cluestone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sky Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sol Talisman
• 1x The Birth of Meletis
• 1x The Restoration of Eiganjo  ^Flip

Buff (13)

• 1x All That Glitters
• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Battle Mastery
• 1x Blessing of the Nephilim
• 1x Bonds of Faith
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Demonic Embrace
• 1x Edge of the Divinity
• 1x Ethereal Armor
• 1x Face of Divinity
• 1x Michiko's Reign of Truth  ^Flip
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Phyresis

Zur Protection (3)

• 1x Curator's Ward
• 1x Timely Ward
• 1x Vanishing

Commander (1)

Pillow Fort / Annoyance (14)

• 1x Ashes of the Abhorrent
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Dance of Many
• 1x Desolation
• 1x Energy Field
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Pariah
• 1x Rule of Law
• 1x Solemnity
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Stasis
• 1x Story Circle
• 1x Underworld Dreams
• 1x Web of Inertia

Draw (6)

• 1x Curse of Verbosity
• 1x Ever-Watching Threshold
• 1x Staggering Insight
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Verity Circle
• 1x Wizard Class

Board wipe (2)

• 1x Out of Time
• 1x Winds of Rath

Maybeboard

Decent Choice (20)

• 1x Betrayal
• 1x Blight
• 1x Dance of Many
• 1x Dimir Cluestone
• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Empyrial Armor
• 1x Energy Flux
• 1x Grim Guardian
• 1x Hatching Plans
• 1x High Ground
• 1x Kasmina's Transmutation
• 1x Mortal Obstinacy
• 1x Sigil of Sleep
• 1x Sleeper's Robe
• 1x Soul Barrier
• 1x Telepathy
• 1x Terra Eternal
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Vivid Meadow

Not (as) useful / Better Card Choices (19)

• 1x Arcanum Wings
• 1x Banishing Light
• 1x Blanket of Night
• 1x Daily Regimen
• 1x Deadly Tempest
• 1x Hissing Miasma
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Ordeal of Heliod
• 1x Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1x Psychic Surgery
• 1x Public Enemy
• 1x Radiant Grace  ^Flip
• 1x Security Bypass
• 1x Slash the Ranks
• 1x Sol Grail
• 1x Spectral Steel
• 1x Teferi's Care
• 1x Tenuous Truce
• 1x War Tax

Kind of Expensive (16)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Dromar's Cavern
• 1x Flickerform
• 1x Force of Despair
• 1x Mana Breach
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Monologue Tax
• 1x Nomad Mythmaker
• 1x Oubliette
• 1x Phyrexian Unlife
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Shielded by Faith
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Suppression Field
• 1x Tainted Remedy

"Not Budget Friendly" / Way too Expensive (11)

• 1x As Foretold
• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Daybreak Coronet
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Greater Auramancy
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Karmic Justice
• 1x Replenish
• 1x Retether
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Smuggler's Share

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Welcome to Zur voltron! This deck's main focus is to buff Zur the Enchanter with auras and crush your helpless opponents! Halt bothersome opponents by tutoring a Reprobation on this commander and a Rule of Law on that combo player (My personal favorite is Stasis: Everyone stops playing while you continue to play cards with Zur!).

THIS IS A BUDGET DECK. A big goal is to keep cost at a minimum, say, under $100. The lower the better. Thank you!

The strategy is as follows:

Step One - Protect Zur

A big trouble with running voltron is that it only takes one removal to destroy all your work, so we need to protect Zur ASAP. There aren't many enchantments under 3 cmc to choose from, but we'll only need three (especially since we can tutor them with Zur before combat damage is dealt); Indestructible with Timely Ward, Hexproof with Curator's Ward, and Phasing with Vanishing will do the trick.

Step Two - Protect Yourself

Of course, part of being annoying is that your opponents can't do anything to you. Unfortunately, there aren't that many traditional pillow fort spells to choose from under 3 cmc, but the few there are happen to be quite powerful: Aura of Silence, Ghostly Prison, Pariah, Story Circle, Web of Inertia. These spells did drive up the price a bit, but I think they are definitely worthwhile. If that wasn't enough, because of the lack of instants, sorceries, and creatures in this deck Energy Field will turn you into a literal gigachad.

Step Three - Choke The Opponent

We can abuse Zur's ability to tutor cards that punish players for playing cards from hand, and avoid the aforementioned downsides with the same ability. Cards such as Desolation, Rule of Law, and Stasis will do. I added quite a few single removals similar to Banishing Light because of their general low-price and effectiveness against big creatures. Although unlikely, I chose to add removal like Seal of Cleansing in case I got a taste of my own medicine.

Step Four - Win

Now that Zur and us are safe from harm, we can buff him and win! A good strategy will be to cast buffs from hand (e.g. All That Glitters, Blessing of the Nephilim) while we use Zur to tutor our protection. Phyresis will be an absolute champ in reducing the amount of damage needed to kill an opponent by 11! This in combination with previous buffs should make life at this point a cake walk.

Side Notes / More Detail

• There is a nice convenience with Zur, in that his ability can pass over shroud as well as opponents' hexproof (placing an aura on the battlefield does not target, so permanents with shroud and hexproof are fair game). However, I chose not to use shroud auras to protect Zur (e.g. Robe of Mirrors) because we don't want to remove the option of casting auras from hand onto Zur.

• Admittedly this is a slow deck, but there should be no trouble while we take our time during setup to win the game due to our outstanding protection spells. Unfortunately, enchantment removal is unavoidable without Greater Auramancy. I feel like this won't be that much of an issue, considering most decks can't run extensive amounts of removal without being a detriment to themselves.

• There are many expensive 3 cmc buffs that just aren't necessary such as Daybreak Coronet and Felidar Umbra. Cards like Daybreak provide higher +/+ which is great and all, but we will need extra time to protect Zur and ourselves using his ability (three turns to protect Zur, and one or two turns for ourselves) so there will be plenty of time to increase his power with cheaper +1/+1 and +2/+2 auras; not to mention the cheaper varieties that already do the same / better job such as All That Glitters and Edge of the Divinity. As for Felidar and the like, many cheaper auras already provide run of the mill abilities (e.g. lifelink, flying etc.) while totem armor isn't necessary having already protected Zur.

• I included a couple board wipes incase things go south. Winds of Rath and Out of Time will not destroy Zur, though that shouldn't be much of an issue anyway. It is my personal philosophy not to play like you're going to lose, so two makes me feel plenty safe.

• In this case, I have the same opinion as above for recursion. However, there needs to be enough recursion cards that we will not completely lose hope if our protection spells waltz into the graveyard. Therefore I did not want to invest in expensive cards like Retether and Replenish. I figure six should be enough.

• Any experienced player knows the importance of draw, and although this deck's schtick is tutoring with Zur we can't rely on just that. There are plenty of good draw spells that we can use with Zur incase we need it. Fortunately I was able to choose some draw spells that doubled as pillowfort / annoyance such as Curse of Verbosity and Ever-Watching Threshold.

• Again, this is a budget deck designed to be as low-price as possible. As a student, I would like to say I understand the money struggle quite well, however, I also understand that some with more financial flexibility would like to know what other cards could work well. I've included many of the cards I considered in the maybeboard listed by why I left them out. Note that I did not have a hardcap on any individual card's price, but rather considered its' value in context of how integral it was to the success of the deck. This is why you may see more expensive cards left in, while less expensive cards are left out.

• If you have made it this far, please consider leaving a "Yooo!!!" below, and perhaps a suggestion. I'll be sure to comment back!

  Yooo!!!

Deck Edits

• 5/3/22 - Slash the Ranks for Out of Time; Mirrormade for Teferi's Care; Opal Palace for Ash Barrens; Sol Grail for Darksteel Ingot
• 5/4/22 - Radiant Grace   for Plains; Dance of Many for Swamp
• 5/6/22 - Brave the Sands for Radiant Grace  ; Ashes of the Abhorrent for Daily Regimen
• 5/14/22 - Obelisk of Esper for Dimir Cluestone

Top Ranked	Achieved #45 position overall 4 days ago Achieved #36 position in Commander / EDH 4 days ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Enchant 1 week ago
Date added	3 weeks
Last updated	3 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 30 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.76
Tokens	Copy Clone, Spirit 1/1 C, Wall 0/4 C
Folders	Potential First Decks, Would like to try, possible zur edits, Maybe buy