MTG Salvation

Even though I've read a lot of things that say that Sigarda isn't a great commander, she's my favorite of any of the other options in GW, and I really want to make this work and be competitive, at least among my playgroup of rather skilled folks.

Here's the idea: Sigarda as a 'voltron' with mostly enchantments going for commander damage wins, with an angel and enchantress subtheme.

First thing's first! I need help cutting this from 111 102 to 100.

Here's my 100:



The primer gave me tons of great ideas, but I'm having trouble getting it down to 100.

As a follow-up, do you think Sigarda is competitive? For some reason my mind needs soothing that I won't be 'wasting' money collecting the cards I need for this deck.

Thanks in advance everyone! I really appreciate this community!

Updated May 9, 2016.

Market Festival and Dawn's Reflection fit the theme and have synergy with the rest of the decks pieces, but Cultivate seems odd as a random one of ramp spell in the sorceries.

Luminarch Ascension is powerful and cool, but it doesn't help with what your deck wants to do. Other than some cards like Sphere of Safety your deck doesn't appear to want to fort up so much as it wants to beat opponents down with Sigarda. It may not get live very quickly if at all in a multiplayer game if the deck isn't designed to defend heavily.

Aura Shards is one of the most powerful enchantments in the list, but it doesn't actually forward your game plan and the decks isn't trying to produce enough triggers to take advantage of it. It's value, but it looks like it might slow down what the deck is trying to accomplish.

My last suggestion, which could very well be wrong, is to cut both Archangel of Thune and Akroma, Angel of Wrath. Most of the other creatures serve a purpose and you already have 'back up' commanders in the form of Thrun, the Last Troll and Avacyn, Angel of Hope. These other two just seem like extra attackers that will slow the deck down.

This is just what I see on a quick pass over the deck. I also really like Shield of the Oversoul from the maybe board, but again I wouldn't know what else to cut for it. I recommended Savage Summoning to a poster earlier last week and I think it could help here against counter magic if you find it to be troublesome in your meta. Hope this helped a bit

Add as much fast mana you can afford. You want her early on board and ready to attack asap.

Quote from TheDesacrator »

Add as much fast mana you can afford. You want her early on board and ready to attack asap.

I played Uril, the Miststalker a while back, and this was incredibly true. Getting your voltron base out turn 3 is incredibly powerful.

Quote from TheDesacrator »

Add as much fast mana you can afford. You want her early on board and ready to attack asap.

Good point! Do you think the mana ramp I have is enough? If not, what sorts of suggestions could you make for ramping?

Not really. I'd play the unfair mana rocks like Sol Ring and Mana Vault, and depending on you budget Grim Monolith or Mana Crypt.

If your meta adjusts to you it may help to add another hexproof creature or two to voltron up. Thrun is great, but one in the 99 usually isnt enough. I've seen a few voltron lists that make sure to have backups if their commander is hated out. I don't know how competitive your meta is, but voltron is def one of the easier decks to adjust to controlling. Sigarda does eliminate the fear of Edicts, but you have to build quite the board for her to be the threat you want. You already havesome pretty big drops that I dont think you really need.

PS in my experience, Femeref Enchantress has too narrow of a window to be all that effective.

Quote from Welgo »

If your meta adjusts to you it may help to add another hexproof creature or two to voltron up. Thrun is great, but one in the 99 usually isnt enough. I've seen a few voltron lists that make sure to have backups if their commander is hated out. I don't know how competitive your meta is, but voltron is def one of the easier decks to adjust to controlling. Sigarda does eliminate the fear of Edicts, but you have to build quite the board for her to be the threat you want. You already havesome pretty big drops that I dont think you really need.

PS in my experience, Femeref Enchantress has too narrow of a window to be all that effective.

Yeah, I think she's getting the cut. What big drops do you not think I need? What cards will others sideboard in to use that I should try to defend against?

In my opinion Avacyn, Krond, Heliod, and Iona feel a tad out of place. They're good cards, don't get me wrong, but they may not be the best choices for voltron (making a broad sweep at the deck archetype, if they're good meta cards keep them by all means) Krond seems like he could stay, but one issue is that he begs for removal and with a hexproof leader, single target removal is a bit more likely to still be in your opponent's hands. Heliod could fit if board wipes are a huge issue, chucking out a token to suit up. The issues with the others is that their abilities, at least in my experience with competitive, don't merit their costs if you'll be hardcasting them, especially with how little ramp you have. Tapping out for either of those on t7-9 is going to be far too little far too late.

I think lowering the curve entirely would help. I'd consider trying to look at any card that costs 5 or more and ask yourself how impactful it is and then how valuable it is when you're behind. These are the cards that will clog your hand as you pay the mana to start enchanting your voltron. Every "Competetive" commander deck is stuffed full of fast mana like dorks and mana rocks to make sure their plan is a turn or two ahead. That may be a good place to go to next.

Thanks for the tips, Welgo. I'm going to be cutting cards like Iona and Baneslayer (although it makes me sad). I'll be updating the first post momentarily.

Ya, I know your feeling, I went through the same thing as I made my Sharuum flicker deck into a competitive combo deck. It'll hurt to watch your favorites go, but it'll be worth it when you see how fluid the deck can run. Changes look good, test it as is now and see if you need more early ramp or whatever your meta calls for. I think you'll bounce around with new cards, but you made solid cuts which is what really matters.

A couple other mana rocks you can include that work particularly well with the sol ring you already have is Talisman of Unity and Selesnya Signet.

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you think I should cut a mana dork for one of those? Maybe the Arbor Elf since it only targets Forests? And what are the other useful green ramp spells that I should consider? Trying to find a spot for a Cultivate.

The two rocks mentioned are great, Birds of Paradise is probably the first dork you want. In really competitive tables I think you want to be paying 0-2 mana to ramp once. For me Cultivate doesn't cut it competitive , but I've never played GW (competitively) so it may be better than I make it sound.

Thanks for all of the advice! I've updated the OP with the latest incarnation, and I'd love feedback!

Thanks for the suggestions! I cut Crystal Chimes because it costs 6 mana, a card slot, and then I still have to recast them. I have Replenish and Retether in there to help deal with the Enchantment hate. I think Emeria Shepherd is great, just a bit unreliable I guess? I'd need to see it in action to tell how useful it is.

Also, does Sigarda just lose to Glaring Spotlight/Arcane Lighthouse/Archetype of Endurance/Bonds of Mortality? I guess it makes sense that hexproof isn't just a win by itself.

There's also Toxic Deluge, I suppose.

Sudden Spoiling shows up here or there (for me) but Toxic Deluge is hands down the most common wipe but those are gonna hit any kind of leader. It sucks you lose to them, but that window is so very narrow in comparison to if you didn't have it.