I need some help assembling budget options for putting a Voltron deck together (namely the cards to enable such a strategy, AKA the equipment/auras/etc.) as well as some advice/feedback
If you want to skip straight to recommendations: Budget is no more than $15 a card, name anything good that comes to mind under the price cap, with colors being Bant or Orzhov (undecided between the two, though if I go Orzhov it will be newer Teysa. Maybe you guys can sway me one way or another)
Im new to this strategy, so I have two concerns:
1. Whats my backup in case my General fails/is shut down?
2. How much is my performance hindered by going budget? I know its not quite gonna compare to a deck with access to all the Sword of X&X series and Stoneforges etc For tutoring
I've got an Uril, the Miststalker tron EDH that wins consistently and costs about 20$ if you bring your own Uril, is that what you mean? If so I'll look at the list and try to tighten the belt another five bucks. If you mean no budget, just no cards above 15$ then that's not much of a hindrance at all really. Although that said, in your parameters, go with Karlov of the Ghost Council as the general - I've written Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts lists for people before and she falls on her face as a tron. Needing seven mana to get started is a big issue because you should never assume you'll have good acceleration, so you're basically saying "here's a deck that waits around for seven turns, then plays a creature, then starts trying to deal 21 damage with that creature".
Im at MOST willing to spend $15 Per card. And to do so it has to be very very good. Obviously there will be cheaper options which is what Im looking for here
I set no max limit as this is something money will trickle slowly into over time, like all my decks. However I dont have money to spend all at once for top tier stuff (and if I did Id rather upgrade multiple decks). So thats why I start down at the bottom, so I can actually have a deck up and running, at a fraction of a cost. Safer this way too in case I find I end up not liking whatever it is
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How am I an Ascended Mage? I only play tabletop casual, and I dont even know if I'm playing the game correctly
Might I suggest Sram, Senior Edificer? Just grab all the equipments and auras you like, keep dropping them to draw into more of them, then use Puresteel Paladin and Leonin Shikari to create a monster. It can be made more expensive if you go for the pricey equipment but it's not needed.
Some good cards that shouldn't run you over 15 bucks a pop:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Recent sets have had lots of potentially good cards for this sort of strategy. In addition to Lou's recommendations, above, Open the Armory and Restoration Specialist are good choices for the sort of deck you're talking about.
A lot of perfectly serviceable equipments and auras are cheap and readily available. If you do decide to go Orzhov, consider Gift of Orzhova. It may not be on par with Batterskull, but it grants evasion, lifelink and a power/toughness boost and probably costs a quarter or less at your local game store. Chariot of Victory is an often-ignored card that grants both haste and trample, with the latter often being an important component to getting general damage through blockers, and first-strike, which keeps your equipped general from dying to random deathtouch creatures.
Is voltron is a strategy you want to play for the foreseeable future? If it is I would suggest trying to acquire the Swords of X and Y in the long term. I don't know your situation but if youre willing to use heavily played versions of the cards you can get the good swords for 60-70$. The power they will add to your build is measurable. They're super fun and give you great inevitability.
If you would like to focus on equipment and leave the auras behind, Puresteel Paladin and Leonin Shikari can become one of the toughest things to deal with. Short of boardwipe you can literally make sure no spells target them (or any creature you control) so long as you have 3 artifacts and something to protect them (Swiftfoot boots, Whispersilk cloak, Lightning Greaves)
If your budget was larger I would also suggest all the SwordsofXandY
Voltron sounds cheap but not really.
Now if you want to go the enchantment rout, I suggest killing two birds with one stone and Use Daxos the Returned Since your suped up creature will cause you to lose all enchantments on him when he is killed. Te mass of EXP counters can allow you to get some heavy beaters. Of course you can also use Daxos of Meletis or the best option for enchntments is Uril, the miststalker
If you're okay with shaving the G off a Bant color identity, then Bruna, Light of Alabaster is my recommendation for a budget Voltron EDH deck. Yeah, she isn't very good in a tuned metagame, but she's extremely cheap, which is good for Voltron, as the extreme linearity of the archetype means that gameplay quickly becomes stale.
Basically, there are 7 things you need to collect:
-Impactful auras. Luckily, these are cheap as all hell because Enchant Creature cards not named Splinter Twin aren't particularly competitive. Auramancer's Guise, Sage's Reverie, Spectra Ward, Battle Mastery, and Corrupted Conscience are the big hitters on a budget, all being pretty much bulk. If you have them sitting around, or feel like wasting money, throw in Eldrazi Conscription or Celestial Mantle, though splashy as they may look, they really don't add that much to the deck.
-Mediocre auras to power up your bigger ones and protect Bruna. Things that grant untargetability are great, as are any auras that can double as removal of some sort (e.g. Vow of Duty) or draw you cards.
-Aura support. The great thing about auras sucking in competitive settings is that most of the auras-matter cards are dirt cheap. Boonweaver, Three Dreams, Retether, etc. won't break the bank in the way that more general Enchantment goodies like Enlightened/Idyllic Tutor or Rector/Replenish will.
-Protection. Ideally some of your Auras will double as this, but boots help out, as do counters. Get the cheapest (monetarily speaking) mana-efficient countermagic: Thwart, Foil, Misdirection, good 'ol Counterspell, and round it out with things like Swan song. Yeah, Force would be nice, but one could probably build 3 (or more) Bruna decks on that card's price alone.
-Haste. Mostly in the form of Boots/Greaves, Hall of the Bandit Lord, and Winding Canyons. Perhaps the most difficult section to make budget, but one of the more important ones, and these are pretty solid EDH staples anyway.
-Removal and sweepers. Bruna's a little on the slow side, so you might want to play a slightly more controlling early game. Wraths and kill spells help.
Fill in the manabase with some budget U/W lands and rocks, and you're ready to Voltron it up for the 5-10 games before it becomes boring for you or your playgroup.. All without the sting of regret of having dropped dozens/hundreds on cards.
Have you considered Hope of Ghirapur? Since all the good cards you will use are all equipments and mana rocks. Getting out on turn 1 every game to start the commander damage is pretty sweet. I played my Voltron build tonight and made the table cry both times. One rage quit. A lot of the equipment is less than $2-3 so you can spend the rest on the Swords.
A quick bit of background on why Im looking into this. My two current decks lean towards combo and control, so I wanted to build something more aggro orientated. So before considering a straight up beat face deck (like Boros) I wanted to try Voltron, since Commander damage is obviously something unique to the format. I also want to play white in the colors, since all the decks I have ever owned never had white so far. Long term use I guess will depend on how well this works out I suppose
From experience do you guys find equips or auras to be more effective? I suppose it depends on the general, but personally Im inclined to run a healthy mix of both if possible
After looking around a bit more the commanders Im considering are:
1. Rafiq: generic posterboy, I know, but he looks badass and thats what matters to me
2. Jenara: Angels! My problem with her is the art/appeal. But on the other hand she gives one more color over the next option
3. Sigarda: aweome card and commander I imagine. Only issue is I dont know what strengths to play for in this color pairing
4. Teysa 2.0: I imagine shes the better of her two variants for this style of play? She looks nice to say the least, my gripe is her casting cost though
5. Daxos: nice recommendation from above. I only saw him as an enchantress (enchanter? Since hes a dude, whatever) due to his ability. But now that you mention it, beating face with a dead dude with a sad face mask would be pretty funny
Still open to ideas though, so keep em coming
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How am I an Ascended Mage? I only play tabletop casual, and I dont even know if I'm playing the game correctly
Karlov of the Ghost Council also works well as a voltron general. He's cheap to cast and if you play him with a few lifegain effects, he gets big on his own pretty quickly, so tossing equipment and auras into the mix makes him hit for lethal early in the game. His built-in removal ability can also be useful, giving you something in return when he does get taken out by a boardwipe. Throw in things like the Soul Sisters, Pristine Talisman and a mix of lifelink creatures (who also make good alternative users for the equipment and auras) and Karlov is kinda crazy, honestly. All the lifegain can also feed into card draw (and keep in mind, Necropotence is within your stated budgetary limits), which draws you more equipment and auras. My own Karlov build is only semi-voltron (it includes only three relevant auras and five relevant artifacts, with only one truly premium card [Jitte] among them), and it still often starts taking people out with general damage on turn 5. Dedicated Karlov voltron could be sick effective.
Rafiq is, of course, insane as a voltron general. Sigarda and Daxos 2 are also fine choices, and Jenara is a very popular and effective choice (though not nearly as strong as Rafiq). I'd skip Teysa 2, though, because honestly, she's just too darn slow.
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If you want to skip straight to recommendations: Budget is no more than $15 a card, name anything good that comes to mind under the price cap, with colors being Bant or Orzhov (undecided between the two, though if I go Orzhov it will be newer Teysa. Maybe you guys can sway me one way or another)
Im new to this strategy, so I have two concerns:
1. Whats my backup in case my General fails/is shut down?
2. How much is my performance hindered by going budget? I know its not quite gonna compare to a deck with access to all the Sword of X&X series and Stoneforges etc For tutoring
How am I an Ascended Mage? I only play tabletop casual, and I dont even know if I'm playing the game correctly
Modern
GStompyG/UBNinjasUB
Legacy
UPhasenoughtU
EDH
RNorin the WaryR
UBRThraximundarUBR
Im at MOST willing to spend $15 Per card. And to do so it has to be very very good. Obviously there will be cheaper options which is what Im looking for here
I set no max limit as this is something money will trickle slowly into over time, like all my decks. However I dont have money to spend all at once for top tier stuff (and if I did Id rather upgrade multiple decks). So thats why I start down at the bottom, so I can actually have a deck up and running, at a fraction of a cost. Safer this way too in case I find I end up not liking whatever it is
How am I an Ascended Mage? I only play tabletop casual, and I dont even know if I'm playing the game correctly
Modern
GStompyG/UBNinjasUB
Legacy
UPhasenoughtU
EDH
RNorin the WaryR
UBRThraximundarUBR
Some good cards that shouldn't run you over 15 bucks a pop:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
A lot of perfectly serviceable equipments and auras are cheap and readily available. If you do decide to go Orzhov, consider Gift of Orzhova. It may not be on par with Batterskull, but it grants evasion, lifelink and a power/toughness boost and probably costs a quarter or less at your local game store. Chariot of Victory is an often-ignored card that grants both haste and trample, with the latter often being an important component to getting general damage through blockers, and first-strike, which keeps your equipped general from dying to random deathtouch creatures.
Random thoughts:
Go bant! I love me some bant.
Rafiq of the Many with Butcher's Cleaver seems wild.
Hero's Blade seems cool in any voltron deck.
Sword of the Animist is cool. Gives some ramp and can be put on smaller creatures to be less threatening.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
If your budget was larger I would also suggest all the Swords of X and Y
Voltron sounds cheap but not really.
Now if you want to go the enchantment rout, I suggest killing two birds with one stone and Use Daxos the Returned Since your suped up creature will cause you to lose all enchantments on him when he is killed. Te mass of EXP counters can allow you to get some heavy beaters. Of course you can also use Daxos of Meletis or the best option for enchntments is Uril, the miststalker
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Basically, there are 7 things you need to collect:
-Impactful auras. Luckily, these are cheap as all hell because Enchant Creature cards not named Splinter Twin aren't particularly competitive. Auramancer's Guise, Sage's Reverie, Spectra Ward, Battle Mastery, and Corrupted Conscience are the big hitters on a budget, all being pretty much bulk. If you have them sitting around, or feel like wasting money, throw in Eldrazi Conscription or Celestial Mantle, though splashy as they may look, they really don't add that much to the deck.
-Mediocre auras to power up your bigger ones and protect Bruna. Things that grant untargetability are great, as are any auras that can double as removal of some sort (e.g. Vow of Duty) or draw you cards.
-Aura support. The great thing about auras sucking in competitive settings is that most of the auras-matter cards are dirt cheap. Boonweaver, Three Dreams, Retether, etc. won't break the bank in the way that more general Enchantment goodies like Enlightened/Idyllic Tutor or Rector/Replenish will.
-Draw and mill. You don't need great card draw with Bruna. Stuff like Careful Study, Frantic Search, and Read the Runes do fine, drawing deeper into your deck and binning auras for Bruna. If you want to go crazy, run Traumatize, Mirror-Mad Phantasm, and Tunnel Vision to mill yourself and give Bruna plenty of pretties to wear.
-Protection. Ideally some of your Auras will double as this, but boots help out, as do counters. Get the cheapest (monetarily speaking) mana-efficient countermagic: Thwart, Foil, Misdirection, good 'ol Counterspell, and round it out with things like Swan song. Yeah, Force would be nice, but one could probably build 3 (or more) Bruna decks on that card's price alone.
-Haste. Mostly in the form of Boots/Greaves, Hall of the Bandit Lord, and Winding Canyons. Perhaps the most difficult section to make budget, but one of the more important ones, and these are pretty solid EDH staples anyway.
-Removal and sweepers. Bruna's a little on the slow side, so you might want to play a slightly more controlling early game. Wraths and kill spells help.
Fill in the manabase with some budget U/W lands and rocks, and you're ready to Voltron it up for the 5-10 games before it becomes boring for you or your playgroup.. All without the sting of regret of having dropped dozens/hundreds on cards.
BWREDGAR MARKOV VAMPIRESBWR
A quick bit of background on why Im looking into this. My two current decks lean towards combo and control, so I wanted to build something more aggro orientated. So before considering a straight up beat face deck (like Boros) I wanted to try Voltron, since Commander damage is obviously something unique to the format. I also want to play white in the colors, since all the decks I have ever owned never had white so far. Long term use I guess will depend on how well this works out I suppose
From experience do you guys find equips or auras to be more effective? I suppose it depends on the general, but personally Im inclined to run a healthy mix of both if possible
After looking around a bit more the commanders Im considering are:
1. Rafiq: generic posterboy, I know, but he looks badass and thats what matters to me
2. Jenara: Angels! My problem with her is the art/appeal. But on the other hand she gives one more color over the next option
3. Sigarda: aweome card and commander I imagine. Only issue is I dont know what strengths to play for in this color pairing
4. Teysa 2.0: I imagine shes the better of her two variants for this style of play? She looks nice to say the least, my gripe is her casting cost though
5. Daxos: nice recommendation from above. I only saw him as an enchantress (enchanter? Since hes a dude, whatever) due to his ability. But now that you mention it, beating face with a dead dude with a sad face mask would be pretty funny
Still open to ideas though, so keep em coming
How am I an Ascended Mage? I only play tabletop casual, and I dont even know if I'm playing the game correctly
Modern
GStompyG/UBNinjasUB
Legacy
UPhasenoughtU
EDH
RNorin the WaryR
UBRThraximundarUBR
Rafiq is, of course, insane as a voltron general. Sigarda and Daxos 2 are also fine choices, and Jenara is a very popular and effective choice (though not nearly as strong as Rafiq). I'd skip Teysa 2, though, because honestly, she's just too darn slow.