You can probably cut Empyrial Plate since cars draw isn’t one of white’s strong suits.

Aegis of the Gods only gives you Hexproof not your creatures and permanents so it’s not that great.

Helm of the Host is a maybe since I don’t know why would want multiple of this commander since he is pure voltron. I understands you have utility creatures like Sun Titan but I think the purpose is to hit really hard.

I’m more surprised you are running only 33 lands and roughly 7 sources of ramp. I’d try to figure out how to up the land count to 35 at least.

Joe_Ken_Great suggestions, I think I can do without them. Good suggestion on the ramp, though I think more ramp is the answer over more lands. My average cmc is 2.5, so 1/3 of my deck should be lands. I'm considering explorer's map currently and looking to get a couple more cheap ramp cards (in looking to get the total to 10). Any suggestions for land ramp are welcome (including more lands which isn't a bad suggestion)

Wayfarer's Bauble is pretty cheap to pick up and you are mono color so it’s decent ramp.

Burnished Hart is a good card that I like to use in my Boros decks.

Mind Stone and Sword of the Animist are good cards as well.

Joe_Ken_ not a bad suggestion. I was considering wayfarer's bauble. I need to update the list. Burnished Hart is one of those cards I overlooked, but once I have Foundry Inspector it would look a lot better. I do consider my cost reduction cards to be mana rocks too in a way, if they reduce a cost they essentially produced that mana. Mind stone is cool, but it's kinda weak tbh. If I'm going to add another mana rock it would be Thought Vessel or something crazy. Knight of the White Orchid is also on my list, because it's a staple. I still have a large wish list, but I want this one to represent my physical collection. Still, it's a deck with about 180 cards and 3 commanders Kemba, Kha Regent, Sram, Senior Artificer, and the star is balan (in this version). I use proxies in the other 2 versions, but this one is pretty dangerous. It's great to represent what is thought of as a weak color (white in commander), by supplementing its weaknesses with artifacts. Can't wait to get it down to 100 for now.

Giver of Runes creates some good protection redundancy. The swords of cycle are great, especially with double strike, but are pretty expensive. Same with scary cards like Enlightened Tutor, Stoneforge Mystic, Teferi's Protection, and Umezawa's Jitte. Again, they are good, but pricey. Scythe of the Wretched, Inquisitor's Flail, O-Naginata, and Nim Deathmantle are all great with Balan. Finally, Leonin Abunas protects your artifacts without having to turn on metalcraft.

DankMagicianD I'm glad to hear the only thing not included is the top end cards. The tutor and The mystic will be added as budget allows, and I might not ever spring for protection because it's dumb expensive. I actually have an original jitte I use in the deck, it's very solid. inquisitors flail is in the next batch of cards I order, it's a good one. I don't run nim because it's a flavor break, I hate that it turns your creature black. Thank you for your suggestions

A few suggestions - food for thought.

Kismet > Imposing Sovereign. It's higher CMC so it doesn't come out as fast, but it's also harder to remove. Does more work / better late game draw.

Conqueror's Flail is great. Redundant with Grand Abolisher and harder to remove.

Kusari-Gama is awesome in voltron decks; puts the defending player in a bind - chump block and lose all their creatures, or don't block and lose the game... (For this or the flail, I'd prob remove Golem Gauntlets. By the time you have enough equipment out for it to matter, Balan will already be a 1-shot.)

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. Mono-white staple. So good.

DerektheRed thank you so much for the suggestions. I will consider kismet, though the reason I want imposing sovereign is BECAUSE it's a creature. In almost all the games I've played it, it gets blown up... But that's not a bad thing really. Having creatures to eat removal early slows opponents down either way, and has on multiple occasions taken the bullet for Balan. Conquerer's flail is on my wish list, should see it pop up in a couple weeks. Kusari-gama is an interesting card that I am currently considering, though I'm just not certain how I would fit it in lol. Eight 1/2 is awesome and I actually hadn't considered it. It's definitely going on my list. Can't wait to have the rune sisters and him for protection

You should consider Cathedral of War :)

You can't call him one punch man if he has to punch twice.

When Balan hits the field, he kills an opponent right then and there. The next turn he kills the second player, then the third. He only needs to get to 11 power to be lethal, or 5 power for infect. There's a bunch of ways to make him unblockable, or you can use deathtouch and trample for the same effect. I don't cast Balan until I can kill with 1 swing, because you can never let that player retaliate. It's extremely reliable by turn 4-6.

Yeah but he has double strike so he punches twice.

if your doing voltron having double strike is a must, not only do you do twice as much damage but stuff like Bloodforged Battle-Axe triggers twice.

casual_competitive Balan, Wandering Knight has essentially built in double strike. Any of the double strike options for it would only be good with other equipment, and if it has at least 2 equipment then it has double strike. Typically I don't play her till I have at least 2 equipment and 6 mana open. Bloodforged Battle-Axe in particular is amazing because if you can deal damage with the first strike, you can use Balan's ability to equip the copy axe at instant speed and give it double strike. It's an amazing combo that is exemplary of why I use the battle-axe to begin with. Balan is great because she can gain double-strike on her own, freeing you up to focus on utility and the huge power-up type equipment

Balan is actually a woman, apparently :D

^ got me confused to

Wow, I love seeing a deck run some of the newer white value cards, like Drannith Magistrate, Verge Rangers, and Cartographer's Hawk!

Think you could slide in an Aven Mindcensor or Linvala, Keeper of Silence? They are sweet one-sided hate pieces that both hold a sword really well and are just efficient threats!

+1, love the list!

MechaTigrex, casual_competitive according to her lore yes. There's only about 1 paragraphs worth but it does clearly state that she's a woman lol. I am meaning to update the title of the deck to reflect it, but that's honestly a messy process lol. I Did update the deck description though. I used to think Balan was a study buff cat dude but not according to her lore lol.

SynergyBuild I've got to be constantly evolving my commander decks, especially mono-white. The new commander decks and ikoria gave me a couple of really decent tools to work with. Even Double masters let me afford Stoneforge Mystic, Path to Exile, and the soon-to-be-added Batterskull, as well as Sword of Feast and Famine when I can afford it lol. Both of your suggestions are definitely on my short list, though Linvala, Keeper of Silence is a bit outside my price range at the moment until it gets a reprint lol. My goal atm is going to be getting swords, getting Land Tax, and getting Teferi's Protection with a few budget cards thrown in too. I don't have a budget per se, but this is my physical list for the deck and I usually won't spend more than 50$ a month on it, so it's a steady work of art that will eventually be "complete" (I'll always be open to adding more cards lol)

Personally here, I'd get Weathered Wayfarer before Land Tax, but that may just be me. Yes, Wayfarer isn't necessarily as powerful, but tutoring any land, rather than basics is busted, I mean, getting a Buried Ruin or even a later game Arch of Orazca/Emeria, The Sky Ruin could just be the winning play.

It's also a super cheap card after it's reprint, but was about double that before, just a recommendation!

SynergyBuild that's a great suggestion. Weathered Wayfarer is a great creature for this deck and I'll definitely be adding it as soon as I can. Land Tax is just one of my dream cards because of the command zone on YouTube

Super awesome list, still so stoked you cracked down and got the Sword. My only question is: why are you running Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite ? I mean, don't get me wrong, Ellie's a beast, but she doesn't fit the strategy of the deck as it were. And as a 7-drop... I'd much rather have the mana to play and equip something, which for that much you can definitely do.

Omniscience_is_life well Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite has a number of uses a) it's a one sided board wipe, anything that survives is greatly powered down, and it clears out all the chump blockers that might be stopping me. It shuts down any deck that relies upon making a swarm of small creatures/ tokens B) it powers up my team, including Balan, and is a big enough target to occasionally eat single target removal before my beloved commander. C) it's a pet card, I paid 20$ for it a long time ago when the deck was helmed by Kemba, Kha Regent.

I agree with you though for the most part though. I mostly wait to cast it as a last resort, or if I'm out of equipment to cast. As far as they go though, I'm running somewhere between 25-30 equipment already which is more than plenty. When I get more swords that'll change though, you can't have enough swords lol.

I appreciate the feedback and I'll definitely consider taking elesh norn out to build a deck around her.

Hi There, pretty solid deck! +1. If I may suggest a card, although an aura, it is Flickering Ward. Great way to protect Balan and others. You already run Sigarda's Aid, those two synergize pretty well.

FounderX thank you for the upvote! I appreciate the suggestion, though I don't know what I'd take out to slot it. I kinda use Sanctuary Blade in the same role this card would fill. It's a decent suggestion, but I don't really think it goes well with my theme and it doesn't get Balan any closer to having double strike. Still, I'll definitely consider it thank you