Just came back to commander after a four year hiatus when my group stopped playing, in the old days the 2014 commanders came out and I liked the idea of the mono white one, but of course it seemed to be lacking something (mainly draw!!, but also threats) so now that a few cards have come out I think the time is ripe to try to pull off my idea, so here goes:
Commander (1) Sram, Senior Edificer: I loved this guy at a first glance, he is cheap to drop and can get you a HUUGE card advantage, he screams value.
Artifact (45)
Argentum Armor: This thing is menacing even on Sram, the added destroyed permanent is great, one of the few threats while also being draw fuel with Sram on the board.
Batterskull: Not as Threatening as Argentum Armor but will still be draw on a stick, bonus points for being able to bounce it back and drop it again if you somehow lack creatures.
Blackblade Reforged: Can get huge in the lategame and...thats it, not totally sold on it ATM, Equip costs are huge but hopefully Puresteel Paladin can offset that.
Blade of the Bloodchief: Its cheap and can get bigger if you dump some 1/1 with Batterskull....the deck changed a bit since I added this card, might not make the cut now or I might have to add some sort of token creation to have this make sense.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe: This can get out of hand fast if not addressed and its a quite cheap threat, I have to test it out but it has a lot of potential IMHO.
Caged Sun: Expensive and can interfere with Mentor of the Meek, effect on plains is nice but it might not make the cut and I might end up adding a Thran Dynamo.
Chrome Mox: Cheap ramp/mana stone, not a fan of the card disadvantage but dropping the commander on turn 1 is kind of required, might consider a Lotus Petal instead but for now it stays.
Cloud Key: Cheaper equipments and ARTIFACTS..didn't have a chance to test it, but getting equipments down cheap is the key to draw and getting artifacts down can help ramping into fat dudes...will have to test it but I have high hopes.
Conqueror's Flail: Pretty crappy in mono color, but the ability helps protect your creatures while attacking.
Darksteel Plate: Get on your fattie or commander and he will hopefully stay in game for the rest of it..hopefully, pretty straight forward.
Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale: Real easy to flip in multiplayer and you get a perma-Black Lotus land, in addition to the land you already dropped that turn, (hopefully!) the kind of ramp we love.
Elixir of Immortality: A bit of a ***** choice but in case the board gets wiped too often we can get back in the deck some swords to swing again another day.
Everflowing Chalice: I kind of like this card, it offers two options: if you get extra mana you can invest into it and turn it into an overpriced Thran Dynamo or otherwise its a trashy Mind Stone, its all about options!
Explorer's Scope: Kind of like Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale would be 10x better with some form of Scry in the deck or with Brainstorm effects but oh well...pretty neat if you have a land on top else its useless.
Flayer Husk: Dude on a stick...might cut him out or not...if Mentor of the Meek and Sram are in play you get to draw two!
Forebear's Blade: A nice equip, even Sram can become a threat with this on, Trample means no Chump and Vigilance helps defend, the free reposition is a nice addition.
Godsend: A bit like argentum armor, a bit cheaper thou, gets rid of nasty blockers or nasty attacking fatties, might be worth adding Arcane Lighthouse to get rid of Hexproof creatures.
Lightning Greaves: Hast is always nice, Shroud is also a boon, especially if you want to keep your commander safe early on.
Loxodon Warhammer: Recent addition, trample helps against chumping and lifelink keeps you in the game.
Masterwork of Ingenuity: Argentum Armor is nice, but what about two Argentum Armor?? amazing if you have a good equipment to duplicate, useless if you don't have any nice equipment to clone (even if your opponent has it), still its very cheap and should let you draw a card with the commander in play.
Mind Stone: Classic cheap mana rock, nets you a card if you don't need it anymore or are that desperate.
Mox Amber: As soon as you drop your commander or Danitha Capashen, Paragon is a regular Mox, not ideal but not terrible either, at least won't give you card disadvantage.
Mox Diamond: Like Chrome Mox at least its just a land you are tossing away and not another card, goes in the graveyard too...not exiled.
Mox Opal: Two more artifacts since this one counts as one..we run both artifact lands and you aim to drop as many equipments as possible, might not help you get your commander in Turn 1 but will ramp nicely on turn 2 or 3.
Nim Deathmantle: Some evasion and some protection in case the board gets wiped or your creature bites the dust. Nice package!
O-Naginata: Its cheap and 3 extra damage for 1 is not that bad, you can get past the limitation by sticking something else on the creature before you give it O-Naginata.
Paradise Mantle: Free draw and some kind of ramp if you need it or don't get any offensive equipments down.
Rogue's Gloves: Extra card draw, you need to hit your oppo with it and its not cheap too...might be gone soon.
Sigil of Distinction: Meh...nice to have if you have mana to dump on it or (most likely) just a useless equipment.
Sigiled Sword of Valeron: Ok equipment, the extra 2/2 Knights running around make it a bit better.
Skeleton Key: Cheap and extra cards if you connect, not bad since it gives you a bit of evasion (sort of)
Skullclamp: Again it might work best with some sort of 1/1 token source but its not a terrible equipment since it gives a nice card advantage should your creature kick the bucket.
Sol Ring: Classic mana rock/ramp IMHO its an auto include in almost any EDH deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice: Extra card draw and Shock on a stick if you connect who needs Umezawa's Jitte...Plus protection from nasty-stealy Red and Bouncy Blue means you keep your creature on the board safe.
Sword of the Animist: This thing is crazy if you can attack every turn, will get you basically double the lands each turn, might be worth adding more Plains just because of it.
Sword of Vengeance: Haste is always nice, trample>chump blocking, vigilance is nice to have and first strike for added bonus.
Eiganjo Castle: Might help save Sram's life in an occasion, worth to keep around.
Emeria, The Sky Ruin: while it does need a LOT of plains to work, it can help keep us in the game in the long run.
Flagstones of Trokair: Great if facing land destro but since in our group its a kind of a no-no its just there for flavour...
Gemstone Caverns: Can get your commander down in turn 1 or its just a land..you choose.
Homeward Path: Yeah we don't want anyone stealing our creatures so we keep this close.
Inventors' Fair: Not a fan of tutors but this is a land with crappy life gain first..then a tutor..can live with that, still might help fetch a threat late in the game.
Karoo: I like these lands, not sure if we can afford to run it in this deck, will have to test it.
Zhalfirin Void: Scry is amazing, that is if you actually know what you need, but still I like to know what is on top of the library, some synergy with Explorer's Scope, would love to get more in the deck.
Enchantment (1) Sigarda's Aid: Free equip is always nice, good to have in case Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx ever makes it into the deck, oh and dropping a batterskull to ninja block is nice too.
Creature (13) Balan, Wandering Knight: Sadly he has already first strike or else he could have done some nice shenanigans with his ability, double strike when equipped is the best part, can become quite a threat with two equipments on it.
Foundry Inspector: Cheaper artifacts means cheaper equipments that means...
Heavenly Blademaster: Recent add, a bit too expensive for my taste, will have to test it
Kemba, Kha Regen: Slow burn threat, not entirely sold on it since the deck doesn't run many Glorious Anthem effects...will have to try it.
Leonin Shikari: Did I mention how awesome it is to equip as an instant? No? Well its awesome!
Mentor of the Meek: Ok if Sram wasn't the commander this guy would be, one of the few reliable white sources of draw, he could only be better if he cost 2 mana instead of 3 and if you could pay 1 to draw when he comes into play, 80% of the creatures in this deck trigger his ability, works with tokens too, only cons is that he doesn't work well with Glorious Anthem-like effects.
Mother of Runes: This gal right here is amazing at keeping your creatures alive or keeping them almost unblockable, for 1 mana it is so much utility.
Puresteel Paladin: Double down on the draw, this fella with some acceleration in the opening hand a hopefully a few cheap equipments can make you a ton of draw combined with our commander. Sweet sweet cherry on top if you have 3 artifacts your equip costs are down to 0 on ANY equipment.
Stoneforge Mystic: As I said before I'm not a fan of tutors, I'm a fan of value thou, and the value of looking for any equipment in the library and possibly playing it for Two mana is too damn high!
Stonehewer Giant: Ditto as Stoneforge Mystic, a bit more expensive but you can declare attack with it and look for the equipment and stick it on him so if that isn't the definition of value I don't know what is.
Sun Titan: We have a lot of stuff that costs less than 3 that might get destroyed and we might want back in the field, starting from lands to dead Puresteel Paladins
Unexpectedly Absent: For creatures tougher that yours, pesky planeswalkers and other nasty non-destructible stuff, the more you spend the later you will have to deal with it again, or wait till the use a fetch or a tutor and you will most likely not see it again.
I have most of the cards. I'm just missing a Mox Amber and a Masterwork of Ingenuity that are on the way by mail, maybe I need a few cheap-o creatures but I can get them no problem.
I looked at the other decklists with as commander Sram but noone seem to go for my theme, I was going for a sort of aggroish-midrange deck, not all out aggro since I don't want to be a target and have me or other players and have sit-out for the rest of the game, also I don't want to have too much cheese such as drawing a million cards just for the sake of it (most of the 0 cost equipment are sort of useless for my needs) or infinite combos, also I don't want to be a slow burner.
Now that I have all the cards together (run these tests before buying the cards kids! lol) I'm starting to notice some problems:
-Threats: There are no big threats and not many threats in number, the few creatures I have are slow burning threats like Kemba, Kha Regent that would take at least two upkeeps to get a decent amount of cats out, and not running many Glorious Anthem like effects they are not really menacing (running them would mean Mentor Of The Meek was just a waste of space).
I was looking to find more creatures to add that fit the theme since 13 seems a ridiculous number for an aggro-ish deck, in the case of Heavenly Blademaster and Raksha Golden Cub they come quite costly and from the low cost stones that I run I might have trouble getting them on the board and getting them in early, the Cub might have some nice interaction since he gets double strike and boosts the other cats if equipped but he is a bit on the weak side and doesn't have evasion like the blademaster. I was thinking about adding a beefy angel like Avacyn, Angel of Hope or the new dino Zetalpa, Primal Dawn but still the cost is no joke and there is no other way of getting them on the board if not by paying.
-Consistency: I ran a few tests on tapped out and when you can land a few equipments and a Puresteel Paladin you can get the board flooded with equipments and go to town, that is if you draw well.
If you don't get something cheap to drop you can slow down to a grind for even 3-4 turns in "land-go" and that is not ideal given the fast nature of the deck, ideally. Sadly white doesn't have many draw options and I had to take some out like Rogue's Gloves and if you can't profit of Mentor Of The Meek or Sram's ability you can stall quite hard.
-Acceleration: Accellerating or ramping with mana rocks, the mox are a nice addition and can get your commander out in turn one which is ideal but the other hand bigger mana rocks like Gilded Lotus or Thran Dynamo IMHO slow the deck too much early on, they could still be usefull to drop bigger badder dudes, like dino-dude or Avacyn but I'm not sold on the idea yet, it would change the way I thought the deck too much, I will have to tinker out a bit, planning on cutting out the Worn Powerstone.
-Colors: Looking for similar decks I noticed that better versions of course have more colours, like Green-White for example, that could help a lot with ramp, dropping extra land would be awesome, Blue-White that can draw cards like crazy and offset the biggest negative of White, even Red-White could add more creature options and a bit of draw and I love Black-White cards like Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking and Utter End (not so sold on the commanders).
I was hoping to avoid going bi-color to avoid investing in multi-lands and fetches but I guess christmas is coming and I might have some cash to invest, if going multi-color is the way so be it, sad since Sram is really cool for the theme but whatever works best is the way.
TLDR: Check out the decklist and give me some advice pls, I think I'm lacking threats and some consistency, also not sure I can realiably drop big fatties with the current mana-base.Any Imput is appreciated
I've got my own Sram deck that I really like playing, and there are some cards - Equipment, specifically - that I think you really need in order to keep the deck fast and consistent.
0-cost Equipment: Bone Saw, Accorder's Shield, Kite Shield. The effects of these cards are nigh-useless, but with Sram out they are a free draw. Absolutely, totally worth it.
Bonesplitter family: Bonesplitter , Darksteel Axe, Trusty Machete. Cheap to play, cheap to equip. These are dumb-yet-solid cards that do really well in Stam.
I'd recommend taking out equipment you have with equip costs higher than 3. Unless they have an amazing effect, they're usually too slow to be of any use. O-Naginata and Sigiled Sword of Valeron can afford to be ditched, and personally I prefer one of the three above cards to Blade of the Bloodcheif
Brass Squire is an underrated asset in voltron. It's a good way to circumvent the high cost of some equipment. Open the Armory and Steelshaper's Gift are good tutor options as well.
I play Sram as an auras deck so I won't derail too hard but a few things I thought were worth consideration:
Monastery Mentor - most sram decks kind of storm play equipment / auras. The number of bodies and the natural pump of said tokens seems nice for this type of commander.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope - paired with the hexproof / shroud boots she can be really hard to answer. She self protects and gives the rest of your board protection.
Cultivator's Caravan - I see you are running a few other 2 mana stones. I am not sure how your games normally progress but I often play Sram at 2 mana so the idea of curving this after him and drawing a card off of casting my ramp seems nice.
I won't go so far as to say play enchantress but I think its worth looking at some of the better auras. There are several that have "draw a card" on them as they ETB which really turns a lot of them into Divination or better which for white can be quite good. Some auras I think that are worth looking at are:
You've gone out and spent some money on getting your land base, and are probably wanting to give it a whirl, but trust me after a month of playing it, you'll be like "Oh yeah, that guy was correct, I never have the mana to tap lands for their abilities, and my colorless lands are just liabilities."
Don't mean to come off like a know-it-all, but just want to save you some time on coming to this conclusion through actually losing games.
I've got my own Sram deck that I really like playing, and there are some cards - Equipment, specifically - that I think you really need in order to keep the deck fast and consistent.
0-cost Equipment: Bone Saw, Accorder's Shield, Kite Shield. The effects of these cards are nigh-useless, but with Sram out they are a free draw. Absolutely, totally worth it.
Bonesplitter family: Bonesplitter , Darksteel Axe, Trusty Machete. Cheap to play, cheap to equip. These are dumb-yet-solid cards that do really well in Stam.
I'd recommend taking out equipment you have with equip costs higher than 3. Unless they have an amazing effect, they're usually too slow to be of any use. O-Naginata and Sigiled Sword of Valeron can afford to be ditched, and personally I prefer one of the three above cards to Blade of the Bloodcheif
I'm not sold on the 0 cost equipments, while they are free draw they also take a spot in the deck that could be used in a better way IMHO, since they add almost no offensive value I would rather pass, I agree on the bonesplitter family, those are a cheap and reliable way to get both draw and extra damage and I might add them all, Blade of the Bloodchief will be gone to make space for them.
I would rather keep O-Naginata since its similar to Bonesplitter & co. and has trample, the 3 power requirement can be avoided by attaching a cheapo equipment first.
Sigiled Sword of Valeron Might not be great but eventually floods the board with knights that trigger Mentor Of The Meek draw, Still worth testing IMHO, but I will keep an open mind and might not make the cut if it does not perform.
The more expensive Equipments have to be tested but you might be right, not sure how I would drop them I might need to fit in some mana rocks or way of reducing artifacts costs.
Brass Squire is an underrated asset in voltron. It's a good way to circumvent the high cost of some equipment. Open the Armory and Steelshaper's Gift are good tutor options as well.
A 3 cost 1/3 that moves ONE equipment the NEXT turn it comes into play doesn't seem like amazing to me, might be worth considering but I'm not sure there is a spot for it in the deck.
I thought about putting back in Recruiter Of The Guard to help look for Puresteel Paladin that makes more sense to help mitigate Equip costs.
As for the tutors, I'm not a fan, they offer no card advantage if not by choosing what you need but still I'd rather draw any equipment than a tutor and Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant offer some tutoring and help getting them on the board directly, might be just me but I'd gladly skip simple tutor cards.
I play Sram as an auras deck so I won't derail too hard but a few things I thought were worth consideration:
Monastery Mentor - most sram decks kind of storm play equipment / auras. The number of bodies and the natural pump of said tokens seems nice for this type of commander.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope - paired with the hexproof / shroud boots she can be really hard to answer. She self protects and gives the rest of your board protection.
Cultivator's Caravan - I see you are running a few other 2 mana stones. I am not sure how your games normally progress but I often play Sram at 2 mana so the idea of curving this after him and drawing a card off of casting my ramp seems nice.
I won't go so far as to say play enchantress but I think its worth looking at some of the better auras. There are several that have "draw a card" on them as they ETB which really turns a lot of them into Divination or better which for white can be quite good. Some auras I think that are worth looking at are:
I agree 100% on the Mentor, Avacyn and Cultivator, was actually thinking about mentor last night in bed :D.
Nice idea with the "Draw a Card" auras, not many offer offensive options but I will keep them in mind since like you said its a Divination with extra benefits with Sram in play.
You've gone out and spent some money on getting your land base, and are probably wanting to give it a whirl, but trust me after a month of playing it, you'll be like "Oh yeah, that guy was correct, I never have the mana to tap lands for their abilities, and my colorless lands are just liabilities."
Don't mean to come off like a know-it-all, but just want to save you some time on coming to this conclusion through actually losing games.
I think you are right, luckily I already own those cards, back from a time when with 65€ I bought them all
Don't under value the ability to remove an opponents threat and draw a card. Arrest effects normally aren't that impressive but when you tag draw a card onto them I think its worth considering and playing a few of them. Soul Tithe being an aura that enchants any permanent is so completely soul crushing to pay a card's upkeep every turn its practically a 2 mana nonland vindicate with "draw a card" tagged on. Even on mana stones there are incredibly few stones that generate their own mana cost every turn with no hangups so shy of like Sol Ring it can even kill mana stones or make them irrelevant.
I am just pointing out that Arrest effects give you a control element while maintaining card advantage which is VERY unique for mono white. I think its a bad idea to overlook them given this is a very rare commander to be able to run spot removal and add card draw to doing them especially for mono white.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Don't under value the ability to remove an opponents threat and draw a card. Arrest effects normally aren't that impressive but when you tag draw a card onto them I think its worth considering and playing a few of them. Soul Tithe being an aura that enchants any permanent is so completely soul crushing to pay a card's upkeep every turn its practically a 2 mana nonland vindicate with "draw a card" tagged on. Even on mana stones there are incredibly few stones that generate their own mana cost every turn with no hangups so shy of like Sol Ring it can even kill mana stones or make them irrelevant.
I am just pointing out that Arrest effects give you a control element while maintaining card advantage which is VERY unique for mono white. I think its a bad idea to overlook them given this is a very rare commander to be able to run spot removal and add card draw to doing them especially for mono white.
Wow...you sold me on it..:D I guess I have to give up the instant speed but I get to have card advantage when "removing" threats which is pretty damn nice, I will check out more of those auras in case, thanks!
By the way I made a few mods to the deck, seems a bit more consistent now, by turn 8ish there is enough lethal damage to kill at least one player in a bad case scenario, still have to figure out the land count now that I added a few more mana rocks.
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Just came back to commander after a four year hiatus when my group stopped playing, in the old days the 2014 commanders came out and I liked the idea of the mono white one, but of course it seemed to be lacking something (mainly draw!!, but also threats) so now that a few cards have come out I think the time is ripe to try to pull off my idea, so here goes:
PS. TLDR at the bottom
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Chrome Mox
1x Coalition Relic
1x Cultivator's Caravan
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Grim Monolith
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mind Stone
1x Mox Amber
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Prismatic Lens
1x Sol Ring
1x Thought Vessel
1x Worn Powerstone
Equipment That Helps Ramp (4)
1x Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale
1x Explorer's Scope
1x Paradise Mantle
1x Sword of the Animist
Equipment Cost Reduction (4)
1x Cloud Key
1x Foundry Inspector
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Semblance Anvil
Equipment That Hits Fast (5)
1x Bloodforged Battle-Axe
1x Darksteel Axe
1x Flayer Husk
1x Golem-Skin Gauntlets
1x Skullclamp
1x Argentum Armor
1x Batterskull
1x Blackblade Reforged
1x Forebear's Blade
1x Godsend
1x Grappling Hook
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x O-Naginata
1x Sigiled Sword of Valeron
1x Sword of Body and Mind
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sword of Vengeance
1x Sword of War and Peace
Equipment That Protects (4)
1x Hammer of Nazahn
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x Swiftfoot Boots
Equipment/Artifact Jolly (1)
1x Masterwork of Ingenuity
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sigarda's Aid
Removal (4)
1x Dispatch
1x Unexpectedly Absent
1x Valorous Stance
1x Rout
Creatures (12)
1x Kemba, Kha Regent
1x Balan, Wandering Knight
1x Leonin Shikari
1x Mother of Runes
1x Danitha Capashen, Paragon
1x Puresteel Paladin
1x Monastery Mentor
1x Mentor of the Meek
1x Recruiter of the Guard
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Ancient Den
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Arch of Orazca
1x Buried Ruin
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Homeward Path
1x Inventors' Fair
1x Kjeldoran Outpost
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1x Westvale Abbey
1x Mistveil Plains
20x Plains
1x Sram, Senior Edificer
Artifact (45)
1x Argentum Armor
1x Batterskull
1x Blackblade Reforged
1x Blade of the Bloodchief
1x Bloodforged Battle-Axe
1x Caged Sun
1x Chrome Mox
1x Cloud Key
1x Conqueror's Flail
1x Darksteel Plate
1x Dowsing Dagger \\ Lost Vale
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Explorer's Scope
1x Flayer Husk
1x Forebear's Blade
1x Godsend
1x Golem-Skin Gauntlets
1x Grappling Hook
1x Hammer of Nazahn
1x Konda's Banner
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Masterwork of Ingenuity
1x Mind Stone
1x Mox Amber
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x O-Naginata
1x Paradise Mantle
1x Rogue's Gloves
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sigil of Distinction
1x Sigiled Sword of Valeron
1x Skeleton Key
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sword of the Animist
1x Sword of Vengeance
1x Thought Vessel
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Ancient Den
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Arch of Orazca
1x Buried Ruin
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Homeward Path
1x Inventors' Fair
1x Karoo
1x Kjeldoran Outpost
1x Kor Haven
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1x Mistveil Plains
1x Mystifying Maze
14x Plains
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Temple of the False God
1x Westvale Abbey // Ormendahl, Profane Prince
1x Zhalfirin Void
Sorcery (2)
1x Kirtar's Wrath
1x Rout
Enchantment (1)
1x Sigarda's Aid
Creature (13)
1x Balan, Wandering Knight
1x Danitha Capashen, Paragon
1x Foundry Inspector
1x Heavenly Blademaster
1x Kemba, Kha Regent
1x Leonin Shikari
1x Mentor of the Meek
1x Mother of Runes
1x Puresteel Paladin
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Stonehewer Giant
1x Sun Titan
1x Dispatch
1x Unexpectedly Absent
1x Valorous Stance
Commander (1)
Sram, Senior Edificer: I loved this guy at a first glance, he is cheap to drop and can get you a HUUGE card advantage, he screams value.
Artifact (45)
Argentum Armor: This thing is menacing even on Sram, the added destroyed permanent is great, one of the few threats while also being draw fuel with Sram on the board.
Batterskull: Not as Threatening as Argentum Armor but will still be draw on a stick, bonus points for being able to bounce it back and drop it again if you somehow lack creatures.
Blackblade Reforged: Can get huge in the lategame and...thats it, not totally sold on it ATM, Equip costs are huge but hopefully Puresteel Paladin can offset that.
Blade of the Bloodchief: Its cheap and can get bigger if you dump some 1/1 with Batterskull....the deck changed a bit since I added this card, might not make the cut now or I might have to add some sort of token creation to have this make sense.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe: This can get out of hand fast if not addressed and its a quite cheap threat, I have to test it out but it has a lot of potential IMHO.
Caged Sun: Expensive and can interfere with Mentor of the Meek, effect on plains is nice but it might not make the cut and I might end up adding a Thran Dynamo.
Chrome Mox: Cheap ramp/mana stone, not a fan of the card disadvantage but dropping the commander on turn 1 is kind of required, might consider a Lotus Petal instead but for now it stays.
Cloud Key: Cheaper equipments and ARTIFACTS..didn't have a chance to test it, but getting equipments down cheap is the key to draw and getting artifacts down can help ramping into fat dudes...will have to test it but I have high hopes.
Conqueror's Flail: Pretty crappy in mono color, but the ability helps protect your creatures while attacking.
Darksteel Plate: Get on your fattie or commander and he will hopefully stay in game for the rest of it..hopefully, pretty straight forward.
Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale: Real easy to flip in multiplayer and you get a perma-Black Lotus land, in addition to the land you already dropped that turn, (hopefully!) the kind of ramp we love.
Elixir of Immortality: A bit of a ***** choice but in case the board gets wiped too often we can get back in the deck some swords to swing again another day.
Everflowing Chalice: I kind of like this card, it offers two options: if you get extra mana you can invest into it and turn it into an overpriced Thran Dynamo or otherwise its a trashy Mind Stone, its all about options!
Explorer's Scope: Kind of like Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale would be 10x better with some form of Scry in the deck or with Brainstorm effects but oh well...pretty neat if you have a land on top else its useless.
Flayer Husk: Dude on a stick...might cut him out or not...if Mentor of the Meek and Sram are in play you get to draw two!
Forebear's Blade: A nice equip, even Sram can become a threat with this on, Trample means no Chump and Vigilance helps defend, the free reposition is a nice addition.
Godsend: A bit like argentum armor, a bit cheaper thou, gets rid of nasty blockers or nasty attacking fatties, might be worth adding Arcane Lighthouse to get rid of Hexproof creatures.
Golem-Skin Gauntlets: Cheap, scales well if you stick more equipments on, nice synergy with Heavenly Blademaster
Grappling Hook: Double Strike is pretty awesome, dropping Blade of the Bloodchief and adding Basilisk Collar might be worth it, still good synergy with Godsend,
Hammer of Nazahn: Like Darksteel Plate but with extra cheese on top, equipping for free is always nice!
Konda's Banner: Nice effect for cheap, not so great for Mentor of the Meek draw, will have to test it out.
Lightning Greaves: Hast is always nice, Shroud is also a boon, especially if you want to keep your commander safe early on.
Loxodon Warhammer: Recent addition, trample helps against chumping and lifelink keeps you in the game.
Masterwork of Ingenuity: Argentum Armor is nice, but what about two Argentum Armor?? amazing if you have a good equipment to duplicate, useless if you don't have any nice equipment to clone (even if your opponent has it), still its very cheap and should let you draw a card with the commander in play.
Mind Stone: Classic cheap mana rock, nets you a card if you don't need it anymore or are that desperate.
Mox Amber: As soon as you drop your commander or Danitha Capashen, Paragon is a regular Mox, not ideal but not terrible either, at least won't give you card disadvantage.
Mox Diamond: Like Chrome Mox at least its just a land you are tossing away and not another card, goes in the graveyard too...not exiled.
Mox Opal: Two more artifacts since this one counts as one..we run both artifact lands and you aim to drop as many equipments as possible, might not help you get your commander in Turn 1 but will ramp nicely on turn 2 or 3.
Nim Deathmantle: Some evasion and some protection in case the board gets wiped or your creature bites the dust. Nice package!
O-Naginata: Its cheap and 3 extra damage for 1 is not that bad, you can get past the limitation by sticking something else on the creature before you give it O-Naginata.
Paradise Mantle: Free draw and some kind of ramp if you need it or don't get any offensive equipments down.
Rogue's Gloves: Extra card draw, you need to hit your oppo with it and its not cheap too...might be gone soon.
Sculpting Steel: Like Masterwork of Ingenuity but can get you a copy of that Blightsteel Colossus or Gilded Lotus your opponent has.
Sigil of Distinction: Meh...nice to have if you have mana to dump on it or (most likely) just a useless equipment.
Sigiled Sword of Valeron: Ok equipment, the extra 2/2 Knights running around make it a bit better.
Skeleton Key: Cheap and extra cards if you connect, not bad since it gives you a bit of evasion (sort of)
Skullclamp: Again it might work best with some sort of 1/1 token source but its not a terrible equipment since it gives a nice card advantage should your creature kick the bucket.
Sol Ring: Classic mana rock/ramp IMHO its an auto include in almost any EDH deck.
Swiftfoot Boots: See Lightning Greaves, Hexproof means stick your other equipment on without having to do crazy stuff.
Sword of Fire and Ice: Extra card draw and Shock on a stick if you connect who needs Umezawa's Jitte...Plus protection from nasty-stealy Red and Bouncy Blue means you keep your creature on the board safe.
Sword of Light and Shadow: Like Sword of Fire and Ice but with recursion and a little bit of gain life and to top it off: protection from the two colors that have the most removal spells no more Swords to Plowshares.
Sword of the Animist: This thing is crazy if you can attack every turn, will get you basically double the lands each turn, might be worth adding more Plains just because of it.
Sword of Vengeance: Haste is always nice, trample>chump blocking, vigilance is nice to have and first strike for added bonus.
Thought Vessel: Like Mind Stone and Reliquary Tower, might cut the second one since our draw capability is not amazing.
Worn Powerstone: Maybe a bit too slow for this deck, not sure it really fits in.
Land (35)
Ancient Den: Helps with Mox Opal and Puresteel Paladin
Ancient Tomb: Two mana for two life? Sign me up!
Arch of Orazca: We need card draw everywhere we can get as long as it doesn't come into play tapped its good for me, a bit expensive but I'll take it.
Buried Ruin: Need that dead Batterskull?..Say no more fam..
Darksteel Citadel: An Ancient Den here to stay, too bad for colorless mana..
Eiganjo Castle: Might help save Sram's life in an occasion, worth to keep around.
Emeria, The Sky Ruin: while it does need a LOT of plains to work, it can help keep us in the game in the long run.
Flagstones of Trokair: Great if facing land destro but since in our group its a kind of a no-no its just there for flavour...
Gemstone Caverns: Can get your commander down in turn 1 or its just a land..you choose.
Homeward Path: Yeah we don't want anyone stealing our creatures so we keep this close.
Inventors' Fair: Not a fan of tutors but this is a land with crappy life gain first..then a tutor..can live with that, still might help fetch a threat late in the game.
Karoo: I like these lands, not sure if we can afford to run it in this deck, will have to test it.
Kjeldoran Outpost: Fodder for Batterskull don't think ATM we have the power to flood the board with tokens or threaten anyone with them, might consider adding Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort.
Kor Haven: Alternative Maze of Ith that actually adds mana..
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea: Card draw, everyone draws, everyone is happy..try not to make other players too happy..
Mistveil Plains: Still counts as a Plains and as said for Emeria, The Sky Ruin extra recursion always helps..sort of.
Mystifying Maze: Kor Haven numero dos...
x14Plains: We need these to fetch for Sword of the Animist
Reliquary Tower: Not sure how useful it is but no limit hand is nice...still a plains might be a better choice.
Temple of the False God: Should not be too hard getting down 4 other lands, the issue is that untill then its a wasted land drop..
Westvale Abbey // Ormendahl, Profane Prince: Tokens (expensive ones) that eventually become a threat, like the flavour of it too.
Zhalfirin Void: Scry is amazing, that is if you actually know what you need, but still I like to know what is on top of the library, some synergy with Explorer's Scope, would love to get more in the deck.
Sorcery (2)
Kirtar's Wrath: Outclassed by Fated Retribution and Phyrexian Rebirth, but I had a copy of it around so..might change it in the future
Rout: Fated Retribution might be better but I like the option of it being cheaper
Enchantment (1)
Sigarda's Aid: Free equip is always nice, good to have in case Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx ever makes it into the deck, oh and dropping a batterskull to ninja block is nice too.
Creature (13)
Balan, Wandering Knight: Sadly he has already first strike or else he could have done some nice shenanigans with his ability, double strike when equipped is the best part, can become quite a threat with two equipments on it.
Danitha Capashen, Paragon: Pretty solid for 3 mana, cheaper equipments means more equipments.
Foundry Inspector: Cheaper artifacts means cheaper equipments that means...
Heavenly Blademaster: Recent add, a bit too expensive for my taste, will have to test it
Kemba, Kha Regen: Slow burn threat, not entirely sold on it since the deck doesn't run many Glorious Anthem effects...will have to try it.
Leonin Shikari: Did I mention how awesome it is to equip as an instant? No? Well its awesome!
Mentor of the Meek: Ok if Sram wasn't the commander this guy would be, one of the few reliable white sources of draw, he could only be better if he cost 2 mana instead of 3 and if you could pay 1 to draw when he comes into play, 80% of the creatures in this deck trigger his ability, works with tokens too, only cons is that he doesn't work well with Glorious Anthem-like effects.
Mother of Runes: This gal right here is amazing at keeping your creatures alive or keeping them almost unblockable, for 1 mana it is so much utility.
Puresteel Paladin: Double down on the draw, this fella with some acceleration in the opening hand a hopefully a few cheap equipments can make you a ton of draw combined with our commander. Sweet sweet cherry on top if you have 3 artifacts your equip costs are down to 0 on ANY equipment.
Selfless Spirit: Protection from Wrath of God / Damnation / Obliterate, you name it.
Stoneforge Mystic: As I said before I'm not a fan of tutors, I'm a fan of value thou, and the value of looking for any equipment in the library and possibly playing it for Two mana is too damn high!
Stonehewer Giant: Ditto as Stoneforge Mystic, a bit more expensive but you can declare attack with it and look for the equipment and stick it on him so if that isn't the definition of value I don't know what is.
Sun Titan: We have a lot of stuff that costs less than 3 that might get destroyed and we might want back in the field, starting from lands to dead Puresteel Paladins
Instant (3)
Dispatch: A soon to be better than Sword to Plowshares or Path of Exile
Unexpectedly Absent: For creatures tougher that yours, pesky planeswalkers and other nasty non-destructible stuff, the more you spend the later you will have to deal with it again, or wait till the use a fetch or a tutor and you will most likely not see it again.
Valorous Stance: A mix between Dispatch and Selfless Spirit, whatever you need the most.
I have most of the cards. I'm just missing a Mox Amber and a Masterwork of Ingenuity that are on the way by mail, maybe I need a few cheap-o creatures but I can get them no problem.
I looked at the other decklists with as commander Sram but noone seem to go for my theme, I was going for a sort of aggroish-midrange deck, not all out aggro since I don't want to be a target and have me or other players and have sit-out for the rest of the game, also I don't want to have too much cheese such as drawing a million cards just for the sake of it (most of the 0 cost equipment are sort of useless for my needs) or infinite combos, also I don't want to be a slow burner.
Now that I have all the cards together (run these tests before buying the cards kids! lol) I'm starting to notice some problems:
-Threats: There are no big threats and not many threats in number, the few creatures I have are slow burning threats like Kemba, Kha Regent that would take at least two upkeeps to get a decent amount of cats out, and not running many Glorious Anthem like effects they are not really menacing (running them would mean Mentor Of The Meek was just a waste of space).
I was looking to find more creatures to add that fit the theme since 13 seems a ridiculous number for an aggro-ish deck, in the case of Heavenly Blademaster and Raksha Golden Cub they come quite costly and from the low cost stones that I run I might have trouble getting them on the board and getting them in early, the Cub might have some nice interaction since he gets double strike and boosts the other cats if equipped but he is a bit on the weak side and doesn't have evasion like the blademaster. I was thinking about adding a beefy angel like Avacyn, Angel of Hope or the new dino Zetalpa, Primal Dawn but still the cost is no joke and there is no other way of getting them on the board if not by paying.
-Consistency: I ran a few tests on tapped out and when you can land a few equipments and a Puresteel Paladin you can get the board flooded with equipments and go to town, that is if you draw well.
If you don't get something cheap to drop you can slow down to a grind for even 3-4 turns in "land-go" and that is not ideal given the fast nature of the deck, ideally. Sadly white doesn't have many draw options and I had to take some out like Rogue's Gloves and if you can't profit of Mentor Of The Meek or Sram's ability you can stall quite hard.
-Acceleration: Accellerating or ramping with mana rocks, the mox are a nice addition and can get your commander out in turn one which is ideal but the other hand bigger mana rocks like Gilded Lotus or Thran Dynamo IMHO slow the deck too much early on, they could still be usefull to drop bigger badder dudes, like dino-dude or Avacyn but I'm not sold on the idea yet, it would change the way I thought the deck too much, I will have to tinker out a bit, planning on cutting out the Worn Powerstone.
-Colors: Looking for similar decks I noticed that better versions of course have more colours, like Green-White for example, that could help a lot with ramp, dropping extra land would be awesome, Blue-White that can draw cards like crazy and offset the biggest negative of White, even Red-White could add more creature options and a bit of draw and I love Black-White cards like Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking and Utter End (not so sold on the commanders).
I was hoping to avoid going bi-color to avoid investing in multi-lands and fetches but I guess christmas is coming and I might have some cash to invest, if going multi-color is the way so be it, sad since Sram is really cool for the theme but whatever works best is the way.
TLDR: Check out the decklist and give me some advice pls, I think I'm lacking threats and some consistency, also not sure I can realiably drop big fatties with the current mana-base.Any Imput is appreciated
Thanks!
Sorry for the broken Engrish!
0-cost Equipment: Bone Saw, Accorder's Shield, Kite Shield. The effects of these cards are nigh-useless, but with Sram out they are a free draw. Absolutely, totally worth it.
Bonesplitter family: Bonesplitter , Darksteel Axe, Trusty Machete. Cheap to play, cheap to equip. These are dumb-yet-solid cards that do really well in Stam.
I'd recommend taking out equipment you have with equip costs higher than 3. Unless they have an amazing effect, they're usually too slow to be of any use. O-Naginata and Sigiled Sword of Valeron can afford to be ditched, and personally I prefer one of the three above cards to Blade of the Bloodcheif
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
- Monastery Mentor - most sram decks kind of storm play equipment / auras. The number of bodies and the natural pump of said tokens seems nice for this type of commander.
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope - paired with the hexproof / shroud boots she can be really hard to answer. She self protects and gives the rest of your board protection.
- Cultivator's Caravan - I see you are running a few other 2 mana stones. I am not sure how your games normally progress but I often play Sram at 2 mana so the idea of curving this after him and drawing a card off of casting my ramp seems nice.
I won't go so far as to say play enchantress but I think its worth looking at some of the better auras. There are several that have "draw a card" on them as they ETB which really turns a lot of them into Divination or better which for white can be quite good. Some auras I think that are worth looking at are:Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
With this in mind, if you wanted to go more spikey (more competitive) then depending on what you can afford, you still want more artifact mana.
Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Grim Monolith.
Obviously this is like $270 worth of cards, so some mana expensive options are;
Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus. Then you can play Paradox Engine, and the real storm element of your deck can shine.
I think the best way of leveraging mono-colored decks is by using Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power, to go along with your Caged Sun.
Now your lands are trying to do waaaaaay too much, and as I've pointed out you'll be tapping every single last one of them every single turn to cast your spells.
So it's pointless having lands like; Mystifying Maze, Kor Haven, Arch of Orazca, Kjeldoran Outpost, Westvale Abbey, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea.
Then the thing with your colorless lands with playing even just Caged Sun in the deck is that they all present liabilities. None of them get the advantage of Caged Sun.
So I would play Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power and you'll be playing an all Plains land base, except for Inventors' Fair, Emeria, The Sky Ruin, Ancient Tomb, Buried Ruin, Mistveil Plains.
You've gone out and spent some money on getting your land base, and are probably wanting to give it a whirl, but trust me after a month of playing it, you'll be like "Oh yeah, that guy was correct, I never have the mana to tap lands for their abilities, and my colorless lands are just liabilities."
Don't mean to come off like a know-it-all, but just want to save you some time on coming to this conclusion through actually losing games.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I'm not sold on the 0 cost equipments, while they are free draw they also take a spot in the deck that could be used in a better way IMHO, since they add almost no offensive value I would rather pass, I agree on the bonesplitter family, those are a cheap and reliable way to get both draw and extra damage and I might add them all, Blade of the Bloodchief will be gone to make space for them.
I would rather keep O-Naginata since its similar to Bonesplitter & co. and has trample, the 3 power requirement can be avoided by attaching a cheapo equipment first.
Sigiled Sword of Valeron Might not be great but eventually floods the board with knights that trigger Mentor Of The Meek draw, Still worth testing IMHO, but I will keep an open mind and might not make the cut if it does not perform.
The more expensive Equipments have to be tested but you might be right, not sure how I would drop them I might need to fit in some mana rocks or way of reducing artifacts costs.
A 3 cost 1/3 that moves ONE equipment the NEXT turn it comes into play doesn't seem like amazing to me, might be worth considering but I'm not sure there is a spot for it in the deck.
I thought about putting back in Recruiter Of The Guard to help look for Puresteel Paladin that makes more sense to help mitigate Equip costs.
As for the tutors, I'm not a fan, they offer no card advantage if not by choosing what you need but still I'd rather draw any equipment than a tutor and Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant offer some tutoring and help getting them on the board directly, might be just me but I'd gladly skip simple tutor cards.
I agree 100% on the Mentor, Avacyn and Cultivator, was actually thinking about mentor last night in bed :D.
Nice idea with the "Draw a Card" auras, not many offer offensive options but I will keep them in mind since like you said its a Divination with extra benefits with Sram in play.
I think you are right, luckily I already own those cards, back from a time when with 65€ I bought them all
I was thinking about taking out Caged Sun since its a pretty big investment and will pay off the next turn, you might be right on the non-basic land base, but for now I'll add some mana rocks like Coalition Relic, Chromatic Lantern, Prismatic Lens and Helm of Awakening.
I will also think about Extraplanar Lens but that means getting a hold of a few Snow-Covered Plains and that might be quite expensive too
Thanks for the advice I might finish double sleeving the deck by the end of this week and have the first live results by next!
I am just pointing out that Arrest effects give you a control element while maintaining card advantage which is VERY unique for mono white. I think its a bad idea to overlook them given this is a very rare commander to be able to run spot removal and add card draw to doing them especially for mono white.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Wow...you sold me on it..:D I guess I have to give up the instant speed but I get to have card advantage when "removing" threats which is pretty damn nice, I will check out more of those auras in case, thanks!
By the way I made a few mods to the deck, seems a bit more consistent now, by turn 8ish there is enough lethal damage to kill at least one player in a bad case scenario, still have to figure out the land count now that I added a few more mana rocks.