You are Over-Encumbered | Equipment Voltron

Commander / EDH* BarfQuackers

SCORE: 16 | 6 COMMENTS | 9451 VIEWS | IN 7 FOLDERS


Testing Voltron —April 6, 2017

Finally started playing at a more competitive level so I switched Sram to the command zone. With the switch I'm gunna be testing out:

+1 Sword of Light and Shadow -1 Quietus Spike, the spike was really nice when I was taking people down from 40+ but with Sram I think graveyard recurrence would help better.

+! Silverblade Paladin -1 Etched Champion, I think the double strike redundancy will be nice in place of an unblockable creature that I won't use anymore. However I will miss the indestructible blocking so maybe I might take Duelist's Heritage because of the amount of pro-white.

+1 Recruiter of the Guard -1 Plains, the deck needs Puresteel Paladin to function at its full potential so I added one tutor for him and if he's ever in the grave the added recurrence will help. I took out a land because 35 lands seems like enough but we'll see.

Edit: After playing with the voltron build here are some possible/ unlikely tests I'm trying.

-1 Silent Arbiter +1 Tenza, Godo's Maul, with the voltron change we don't have to worry about being attacked and want a more aggro strategy +3/+3 for 4 isn't bad.

-1 Ghostly Prison +1 Grafted Wargear Read above. Pillowfort strategy is out aggro is in.

-1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope +1 Bonesplitter Seems too high of a CMC to be played but it has dropped before testing out bonesplitter for higher commader damage

Daedalus19876 says... #1

cracks knuckles This should be fun! :)

One of the first EDH decks I ever played against was a Kemba voltron deck, and my pet deck has been my Judgment Day: Avacyn the Purifier EDH | *PRIMER* voltron list (which also might give you some ideas). There's a beauty in simplicity inherent in Voltron strategies. With some experience with Voltron, here are my thoughts on your list:

1) Generally speaking, it does work better to whack people with your commander, just to take advantage of that handy commander damage rule. But I understand that your non-reliance on your commander is the unique thing about this deck, so I won't suggest swapping commanders. That being said, I would test a few games with Sram at the helm, because he's one heck of a drug in this kind of deck ;)

2) Your creature base looks fine. The only major omission I see is the lack of Mother of Runes here. Ranger of Eos and Recruiter of the Guard can also be great tutors. And Silverblade Paladin is great for getting in faster damage and giving doubled Swords triggers...

3) You need a Scroll Rack to pair with Land Tax and Sword of the Animist.

4) Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun can double your mana here. Amazing ramp in many slower decks like this.

5) Scourglass is possibly better than All Is Dust here. Play them both anyway :)

6) With an average CMC of 3.4, I personally would not dare play as low as 34 lands (Maze of Ith doesn't count because it does not produce mana).

7) I would take a look through your equipment and cut the lower-impact ones. In any deck planning to win via combat damage, every single card needs to have a major impact when it hits the board. I've never found Deathrender or Haunted Cloak to do enough to justify their inclusion in my decks.

8) Double strike is your best friend in aggressive decks. I am currently loving Duelist's Heritage (though many of the best options are in boros colors alas).

9) Your primer seems like a good start! :)

Happy deckbuilding!

March 20, 2017 6:50 p.m.

BarfQuackers says... #2

Thanks for taking a look Daedalus19876 I'll be making a few changes based on your suggestions, first is Mother of Runes is now in the deck, originally I misunderstood what she did but she has now earned a spot.

Also Scroll Rack I didn't really know how to use it properly (I'd always put something on top that I wanted and accidentally tutored and shuffled it away and other various misplays) but after reading through your primer it's an auto-include for the scroll rack + land tax combo.

Most mana doublers I've tried but found they slowed me down in the past, this deck has evolved so much however so maybe Caged Sun might help. Extraplanar Lens in my meta isn't run because it's a huge target (mainly for personal reasons, I'll just say when any of my friends play it I destroyed it so they'd also be down a land and now they seek revenge.) Had to cut it from my colorless wastes deck for that reason lol.

I've considered Scourglass but it's just a meta-call, my combo friend always keeps a tutor in hand and I don't think Scourglass would make it around the table.

As for the lands I've just been testing I change between 34 to 37 lands all the time since the land base is one of my biggest weakness when deck building.

I cut Haunted Cloak and am thinking about cutting Helm of Kaldra. I only keep the helm for the off chance I have the other two pieces (or Stonehewer Giant since I'll search for both those pieces anyway) and will tutor it for an indestructible 9/9 that can't be Gilded Drake'd or Toxic Deluge'd but on it's own it's kind of a dead card. What do you think?

Duelist's Heritage and Silverblade Paladin would love a spot, I'm just bad at making cuts. I can think of one card I could cut but I don't know which to add both Silverblade Paladin can beat down on his own but if I don't have another creature he's a 2/2 and is more susceptible to removal but can be recurred with both Emeria, The Sky Ruin AND Sun Titan. Duelist's Heritage seems like the stronger of the two can be tutored with Enlightened Tutor and if I understand it correctly I can give an opponents creature double strike if they hit an opponent?? Only down side I can think of is Sword of War and Peace and Etched Champion.

Again thank you for the kind words and suggestions, I previously skimmed through your primer when building this but finally fully read it ;)

March 21, 2017 7:28 a.m.

Hybrow says... #3

Just looking through your lands and was a little surprised you didn't have a Temple of the False God. I didn't read through all the the change notes, so you may have already removed it for a reason, but just thought i would mention it

March 23, 2017 11:38 a.m.