Ever since I've been introduced to EDH format I've always thought voltron was (in my opinion) the most productive way to play the format. But when I was putting together my first EDH deck all I've ever heard was that Uril, the Miststalker , Sigarda, Host of Herons and Thrun, the Last Troll are the absolute best voltrons and I should just build a deck around them to start off. I never really understood that thinking. I personally see those cards as fairly weak (Uril may be an exception) when compared to several others I've been playing with/considering as the top voltron commanders:
Bruna, Light of Alabaster - I built a $50 deck around her and despite my inexperience (been playing for a few months) I have yet to lose once with this deck playing friends who have $500+ decks. None of my cards are amazing - bunch of enchantments, some card draws, some equipment and of course the mandatory tutors and mana ramps. If you can get some sort of hexproofing on her the turn you pull her out and she actually lives to block or attack in my experience she just absolutely decimates and can in most cases do 21 comm. damage the first time she attacks. Yet I see VERY few people even considering her.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - I want to build a deck around her and she seems absurdly powerful and will work with so many different win cons. Does anyone have any experience with her?
Narset, Enlightened Master - My friend plays this in an enchantment (non-aura) and burn spells/tap permanents deck, but it seems if you build around her as opposed to just abusing her on-attack ability she could be a very powerful voltron in her own right.
Those three make the ones I mentioned in the first paragraph seem like trash. Am I missing something? I honestly would like to know why people think Uril matches up in any way against say Bruna when hexproofing/shrouding (shroud doesn't prevent you attaching auras onto her) in commander format is so incredibly easy. I want to make sure I'm not missing something because the most common choices for voltron decks seem misguided to me.
Mostly because built-in protection means two things:
1. You don't have to play/draw/protect a source of hexproof/shroud. Yes, there are lots of ways to protect a general, but they are fairly narrow and come at a significant cost. Playing one with built-in protection means more slots/draws that can be something else (interaction, draw, other better pump, etc...). And it means that someone can't just blow up your Boots to drop your shields.
2. There is never a shields-down moment in which the creature doesn't have hexproof while you attempt to equip/enchant it. Unsurprisingly any good player who sees a voltron deck/general is likely to try and save removal for it. Not having built-in protection means having to do more work in playing around that removal.
IMO there is nothing wrong with any of your choices, all viable and IMO all look like more FUN than the first three you are trying to dismiss, which is what really matters. But in terms of just building a stronger deck there are definitely very good reasons to pick the first three.
This thread seems like it should be titled "I like to play Bruna Voltron and so should you".
Uril is a house because he's in a very powerful shard. Red for haste, green for ramp and white for the enchantments. Uril is insane. Built in hexproof means no worrying about targeted removal, at all.
Sigarda I've never seen as voltron, so you got me there.
Thrun regenerates, has hexproof and can't be countered. If you can't see why that's incredibly powerful as a voltron general I don't know what else to tell you. He can't be removed outside of terminus - oh wait LOL no more tuck. Thrun is crazy good.
So, as I said in the beginning - you can enjoy Bruna, she's insane too. Like you, I've had great experiences with her but to say the other 3 are trash is both silly and very shortsighted.
[EDH] It's built to be a casual format and to a specific vision, and if you don't like the vision, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not going to change to accommodate everyone. Big tent is not a goal.
As you've already noticed, the first three commanders you mention each have hexproof. However, unlike Narset, all of them also have an ability that directly benefits a Voltron strategy if they're already enchanted. Uril gets buffs, Sigarda requires non-sacrifice-based creature wipes to kill, and Thrun survives many standard creature wipes.
Gisela and Bruna are fine in their own right, but both are vulnerable before being enchanted/equipped and also during any attempts to grant them those abilities.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
There are no divisions: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28
As you've already noticed, the first three commanders you mention each have hexproof. However, unlike Narset, all of them also have an ability that directly benefits a Voltron strategy if they're already enchanted. Uril gets buffs, Sigarda requires non-sacrifice-based creature wipes to kill, and Thrun survives many standard creature wipes.
Gisela and Bruna are fine in their own right, but both are vulnerable before being enchanted/equipped and also during any attempts to grant them those abilities.
Good points, I suppose I tend to overlook built-in hexproof. For my deck specifically, I have enough effects that either give artifacts or enchantments hexproofing as well that I've just never had an issue with Bruna dying. Of course, even if she does she gets all of her goodies back the next time she does anything.
1. You don't have to play/draw/protect a source of hexproof/shroud. Yes, there are lots of ways to protect a general, but they are fairly narrow and come at a significant cost. Playing one with built-in protection means more slots/draws that can be something else (interaction, draw, other better pump, etc...).
sure, it does indeed save you card space but considering you have to actually cast enchantments on him means you're probably just going to stick more mana ramp or aura/artifact gravedigging anyway, which bruna of course does not need. Moreover, the fact that Uril lacks any sort of built-in evasion seems to me at least an inherent flaw.
Zur hands down. Tutor what you need, tutor instant win combos, tutor out board locks/spot removal/creatures/etc etc etc. he's the one stop shop to answers and wins.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Legacy
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Zur hands down. Tutor what you need, tutor instant win combos, tutor out board locks/spot removal/creatures/etc etc etc. he's the one stop shop to answers and wins.
Zur is another one I've been looking at. The tutor ability seems pretty OP. I guess the only caveat is that you can't tutor the more powerful enchantments that would end the game or save you in 1 turn (eldrazi conscription or celestial mantle).
the question you should be asking it why not uril?
In my own experience, because I've obliterated every uril deck i've faced with my pocket-change bruna deck, even when making strategic mistakes that would normally be game-ending. If that makes my opinion inherently short-sighted, then so be it.
Perhaps when I beat a deck worth 12-15 times more than my own played by players FAR more experienced/better than me I start to doubt the commander it is built around, because I'm nowhere near as good as them or even consider myself an intermediate player by any means. Maybe I've just been tainted by that experience.
the question you should be asking it why not uril?
In my own experience, because I've obliterated every uril deck i've faced with my pocket-change bruna deck, even when making strategic mistakes that would normally be game-ending. If that makes my opinion inherently short-sighted, then so be it.
Perhaps when I beat a deck worth 12-15 times more than my own played by players FAR more experienced/better than me I start to doubt the commander it is built around, because I'm nowhere near as good as them or even consider myself an intermediate player by any means. Maybe I've just been tainted by that experience.
the question you should be asking it why not uril?
In my own experience, because I've obliterated every uril deck i've faced with my pocket-change bruna deck, even when making strategic mistakes that would normally be game-ending. If that makes my opinion inherently short-sighted, then so be it.
Perhaps when I beat a deck worth 12-15 times more than my own played by players FAR more experienced/better than me I start to doubt the commander it is built around, because I'm nowhere near as good as them or even consider myself an intermediate player by any means. Maybe I've just been tainted by that experience.
That's a very good point. Perhaps I should just try him. I have some cards I think could make a serviceable deck with him, and give him a go. It will be nice to not have to devote so much of my deck towards removal, I suppose.
I have yet to lose once with this deck playing friends who have $500+ decks.
If that's actually true, then it probably means your friends are terrible at building and/or playing their decks. No voltron deck should have 100% win rate against any multiplayer table.
I have yet to lose once with this deck playing friends who have $500+ decks.
If that's actually true, then it probably means your friends are terrible at building and/or playing their decks. No voltron deck should have 100% win rate against any multiplayer table.
Not saying it won't happen eventually, but so far played at least 10 games with this deck and never lost, always in a 3-6 player game. They all play EDH almost exclusively, and all have been playing for YEARS and have closets full of cards. In other words they're fanatics. Mind you they've all got into a habit of targeting me every time I pull that deck out.
What usually happens is I pull one of my many tutors prior to turn 5 and tutor the exact auras I need. By turn 6 bruna comes out she's at the very least unblockable, shrouded/hexproof, a 15/15+ with lifelink and typically also has Celestial Mantle and either indestructibility or immunity to sac. If I pull one of my many artifact tutors I'll get Silent Arbiter and then I'm fairly safe. None of them have even considered building a deck around her which is why I made this thread.. I would've thought she would be one of the most popular generals to build around but was surprised to find out she's so fringe that it's difficult to even find any guides on her.
Bruna has a lot of weak points that make her a mid-level voltron general at best - high CMC, no built-in protection, mediocre evasion, no haste, etc. Once she's been removed once or twice she's prohibitively expensive to win with. You largely have to get lucky or have a control lock on the board to win with her in my experience.
Sounds like your friends need to work on:
1) Threat assessment
2) Playing more answers
My experience lately has been that all of the voltron generals are pretty vulnerable to removal, even with hexproof, due to the various anti-hexproof tech and sweepers. My vast preference has been toward generals who are either very cheap, have haste, or both. I've been a lot more successful with Skullbriar and Jenara than I ever did with Sigarda, who needed firm control of the board to win due to her CMC.
In my opinion the overall strongest voltron general (by a ridiculously huge margin) is probably Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon; he's only got to count to 10 and brings his own haste, evasion and protection, which are much stronger abilities than Hexproof in the grand scheme of things.
Not saying it won't happen eventually, but so far played at least 10 games with this deck and never lost, always in a 3-6 player game. They all play EDH almost exclusively, and all have been playing for YEARS and have closets full of cards. In other words they're fanatics. Mind you they've all got into a habit of targeting me every time I pull that deck out.
What usually happens is I pull one of my many tutors prior to turn 5 and tutor the exact auras I need. By turn 6 bruna comes out she's at the very least unblockable, shrouded/hexproof, a 15/15+ with lifelink and typically also has Celestial Mantle and either indestructibility or immunity to sac. If I pull one of my many artifact tutors I'll get Silent Arbiter and then I'm fairly safe. None of them have even considered building a deck around her which is why I made this thread.. I would've thought she would be one of the most popular generals to build around but was surprised to find out she's so fringe that it's difficult to even find any guides on her.
No offense to your friends' abilities, but bruna shouldn't get the opportunity to get ANYTHING because they should be removing her before she gets the chance to attack or block. Frankly it's kind of baffling that you say people "target you every time" yet somehow you're getting to attack with Bruna. If no one is playing spot removal, then sure, she's better than Uril (or other hexproof commanders) in that environment, but that's a really weird/bad environment. If that's actually the case, I'd go Zur, since he'll start winning the game on turn 4, and lock the game down by turn 5, if they let him live - or, more likely, they'll wise up and play more removal.
The best Voltron commanders are (IMHO) as follows:
1) Uril, the Miststalker - I admit I'm a bit biased on this one as Uril is my Voltron commander of choice, but the combination of Hexproof with a bonus for being enchanted makes him a poster-child for the archetype.
2) Bruna, Light of Alabaster - Any Bruna deck can just outright win on the back of something as simple as Intuition, and its in two great colors for otherwise controlling the board and protecting Bruna.
3) Narset, Enlightened Master - I've seen all levels of Narset deck just dominate a game once pumped by a Sword or two, especially given multiple Relentless Assault and/or Time Warp effects to get so much bonus value.
4) Zur the Enchanter - A lot of Zur decks go the enchantment lockdown route, but its also good to just fetch up some powerful auras and kill with a huge Zur
5) Rafiq of the Many - Double-strike plus Exalted plus Equipment or Finest Hour can make Rafiq deadly in a hurry
7) Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - The pseudo-Double strike in combination with the two best colors that play well with Equipment and Gisela can get lethal fast.
8) Kemba, Kha Regent - This may end up getting supplanted by Nahiri, the Lithomancer as the white 'equipment matters' general of choice, but either way Kemba makes a great inexpensive way to abuse lots of equipment.
9) Geist of Saint Traft - Hexproof again makes this really good, but its nice that its in UW and it brings along a 4/4 friend to help kill your other opponents while you commander-kill someone else.
If your friends are losing this badly... no offense but you need to find a a better play group. There is NO reason that a 3+ person pod should be losing to the same deck over and over. Regardless of cost, cards they own, money spent. It sounds like they need to learn to play magic.
My current voltron general is Akroma, Angel of Fury. I run things like Earthquake to deal with pests and utility creatures. I am barely at a 40% win rate at a table, but she adds so much to group games. "Best" in this game is a spectrum, especially with playgroups around the world and we can all post on the internet. Yes, Uril is amazing. Yes, Bruna is so cool as a general. But we have to keep in mind the flow, and speed, and budget, and other things that can come up in a game. Objectively, Rafiq, Zur and Uril are the top voltron generals. Red Akroma is middling compared to them. But I am a firm believer that almost any idea can be viable in the format. You might have to think outside the box.
That was the whole point of avoiding the most common voltron generals
In my opinion the overall strongest voltron general (by a ridiculously huge margin) is probably Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon; he's only got to count to 10 and brings his own haste, evasion and protection, which are much stronger abilities than Hexproof in the grand scheme of things.
That's interesting.. he looks really, really good. What would you put in your deck though, considering he's mono black? Not many enchantments in that color that aren't meant to debuff enemy creatures, at least that I know of.
That was the whole point of avoiding the most common voltron generals
In my opinion the overall strongest voltron general (by a ridiculously huge margin) is probably Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon; he's only got to count to 10 and brings his own haste, evasion and protection, which are much stronger abilities than Hexproof in the grand scheme of things.
That's interesting.. he looks really, really good. What would you put in your deck though, considering he's mono black? Not many enchantments in that color that aren't meant to debuff enemy creatures, at least that I know of.
I feel obliged to say think outside the box because I know from experience I can forget to do that. There can be a HUGE amount of flexibility in builds if you ask for opinions or just proxy up a pile. It is way too easy to do the "most logical" plan of attack. I'm guilty of that. But I can rant all day about how you can be your biggest killjoy in a game.
With Skittles, you should run Hatred. One of the most awesome kills I have done as many others did too. Run your tutor effects, Dark Ritual, and BAM. Death to who opposes you!
What usually happens is I pull one of my many tutors prior to turn 5 and tutor the exact auras I need. By turn 6 bruna comes out she's at the very least unblockable, shrouded/hexproof, a 15/15+ with lifelink and typically also has Celestial Mantle and either indestructibility or immunity to sac. If I pull one of my many artifact tutors I'll get Silent Arbiter and then I'm fairly safe. None of them have even considered building a deck around her which is why I made this thread.. I would've thought she would be one of the most popular generals to build around but was surprised to find out she's so fringe that it's difficult to even find any guides on her.
Does no one counter anything? How is she coming out on turn six like a boss? I would love to see this decklist.
Question for the OP Do you have any combo or control decks in your play group or are they all aggro. Combo should strait up blow you out of the water with generals like animar oona sharuum and arcum. They also don't play removal they are probably precons that are mono colored or something let us know what your meta is because only about 10% of all edh decks that are currently built are more than 500 $. this means they have mana crypt mana drain or dual lands if you edh deck is worth more that 500$ honestly
So tell us what decks are in your meta i have played bruna and she was horrible i put 200$ into her and only won 1 game out of 15 in a multiplayer environment because they know t target me and i play against some pretty cutthroat decks in my play group
but now i am building a 3000$ melek deck
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
[center][color=Blue]
U/R Delver
Edric Spy and die
Azami the lady of the draw
Naya Zoo
Past decks
Orloro
sharuum the hegemond
Mono black control
splinter twin
Also we're forgetting sir Exalted much? Rafiq of the Many can be quite annoying because he's cheap and get's/give's double strike. If he ever "suits up" it's pretty much game over.
Also Uril is probably the best "fair" commander for voltron, red gives you reach/haste/removal, green ramps and pumps (and let's you run Bear Umbra :D), white enchants and protects.
The hands down best "voltron" (don't know if it quite qualifies as that) commander hat goes to Zur. I've seen some pretty broken ***** go down in a Zur shell.
That being said my Sharrum or Even my GoST deck would probably pound yours into the ground. The reason I don't play them is because my group hates not being able to play magic while I cheerio for 15 minutes.
"If fetch lands are reprinted I really believe they will be in allied colors (aka Onslaught fetches). If the fetch lands are reprinted you better believe that we'll all be fetching up basics. This would lead me to believe that the set after THS may have a reprint as the temples can't be fetched but it's pure speculation." - posted 03/22/2014 proved correct during Khans spoiler season.
"The set releases for fall 2015 (Blood, Sweat and Tears) and fall 2016 (Lock, Stock and Barrel). One or both of those 2 blocks (I'm betting) are going to contain either Fetch reprints or (more likely) Filter reprints. Filter lands still need a reprint. They are getting pretty high up there and it's been longer than ZEN so it makes a little more sense that Filter lands would see print earlier that fetches." - posted 03/22/2014 proved incorrect about filters coming earlier than fetches, still pending on filters in Origins block.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Bruna, Light of Alabaster - I built a $50 deck around her and despite my inexperience (been playing for a few months) I have yet to lose once with this deck playing friends who have $500+ decks. None of my cards are amazing - bunch of enchantments, some card draws, some equipment and of course the mandatory tutors and mana ramps. If you can get some sort of hexproofing on her the turn you pull her out and she actually lives to block or attack in my experience she just absolutely decimates and can in most cases do 21 comm. damage the first time she attacks. Yet I see VERY few people even considering her.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - I want to build a deck around her and she seems absurdly powerful and will work with so many different win cons. Does anyone have any experience with her?
Narset, Enlightened Master - My friend plays this in an enchantment (non-aura) and burn spells/tap permanents deck, but it seems if you build around her as opposed to just abusing her on-attack ability she could be a very powerful voltron in her own right.
Those three make the ones I mentioned in the first paragraph seem like trash. Am I missing something? I honestly would like to know why people think Uril matches up in any way against say Bruna when hexproofing/shrouding (shroud doesn't prevent you attaching auras onto her) in commander format is so incredibly easy. I want to make sure I'm not missing something because the most common choices for voltron decks seem misguided to me.
1. You don't have to play/draw/protect a source of hexproof/shroud. Yes, there are lots of ways to protect a general, but they are fairly narrow and come at a significant cost. Playing one with built-in protection means more slots/draws that can be something else (interaction, draw, other better pump, etc...). And it means that someone can't just blow up your Boots to drop your shields.
2. There is never a shields-down moment in which the creature doesn't have hexproof while you attempt to equip/enchant it. Unsurprisingly any good player who sees a voltron deck/general is likely to try and save removal for it. Not having built-in protection means having to do more work in playing around that removal.
IMO there is nothing wrong with any of your choices, all viable and IMO all look like more FUN than the first three you are trying to dismiss, which is what really matters. But in terms of just building a stronger deck there are definitely very good reasons to pick the first three.
Uril is a house because he's in a very powerful shard. Red for haste, green for ramp and white for the enchantments. Uril is insane. Built in hexproof means no worrying about targeted removal, at all.
Sigarda I've never seen as voltron, so you got me there.
Thrun regenerates, has hexproof and can't be countered. If you can't see why that's incredibly powerful as a voltron general I don't know what else to tell you. He can't be removed outside of terminus - oh wait LOL no more tuck. Thrun is crazy good.
So, as I said in the beginning - you can enjoy Bruna, she's insane too. Like you, I've had great experiences with her but to say the other 3 are trash is both silly and very shortsighted.
Gisela and Bruna are fine in their own right, but both are vulnerable before being enchanted/equipped and also during any attempts to grant them those abilities.
Good points, I suppose I tend to overlook built-in hexproof. For my deck specifically, I have enough effects that either give artifacts or enchantments hexproofing as well that I've just never had an issue with Bruna dying. Of course, even if she does she gets all of her goodies back the next time she does anything.
sure, it does indeed save you card space but considering you have to actually cast enchantments on him means you're probably just going to stick more mana ramp or aura/artifact gravedigging anyway, which bruna of course does not need. Moreover, the fact that Uril lacks any sort of built-in evasion seems to me at least an inherent flaw.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Zur is another one I've been looking at. The tutor ability seems pretty OP. I guess the only caveat is that you can't tutor the more powerful enchantments that would end the game or save you in 1 turn (eldrazi conscription or celestial mantle).
I might build a deck around him too
[center][color=Blue]
Edric Spy and die
Azami the lady of the draw
Naya Zoo
Past decks
Orloro
sharuum the hegemond
Mono black control
splinter twin
In my own experience, because I've obliterated every uril deck i've faced with my pocket-change bruna deck, even when making strategic mistakes that would normally be game-ending. If that makes my opinion inherently short-sighted, then so be it.
Perhaps when I beat a deck worth 12-15 times more than my own played by players FAR more experienced/better than me I start to doubt the commander it is built around, because I'm nowhere near as good as them or even consider myself an intermediate player by any means. Maybe I've just been tainted by that experience.
Well, I mean, Bruna just straight-up counters Uril, so that's not a very good measuring stick. Compare how they interact with things like Chainer, Dementia Master MBC or Prossh, Skyraider of Kher combo decks. Just because Tivadar of Thorn does really well against Krenko, Mob Boss doesn't mean he's a better general.
Basically this.
1x Uril, the Miststalker
Land: 34
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Battlefield Forge
1x Boros Garrison
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Brushland
1x Cavern of Souls
1x City of Brass
1x Contested Cliffs
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Fire-lit Thicket
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Gruul Turf
1x Karplusan Forest
1x Mana Confluence
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Rugged Prairie
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Selesnya Sanctuary
1x Stomping Ground
1x Strip Mine
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Temple Garden
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Wooded Bastion
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Forest
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Bloom Tender
1x Boros Signet
1x Burgeoning
1x Chrome Mox
1x Coalition Relic
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Exploration
1x Gruul Signet
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Selenysa Signet
1x Sol Ring
1x Talisman of Impulse
1x Talisman of Unity
Tech Dudes: 8
1x Dauntless Escort
1x Hermit Druid
1x Grand Abolisher
1x Greater Gargadon
1x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Saffi Eriksdotter
1x Terravore
Aura: 12
1x Armadillo Cloak
1x Battle Mastery
1x Bear Umbra
1x Flickerform
1x Gaea's Embrace
1x Rancor
1x Runes of the Deus
1x Scourge of the Nobilis
1x Shield of the Oversoul
1x Spirit Mantle
1x Unquestioned Authority
1x Vow of Wildness
1x Aura of Silence
1x Boros Charm
1x City of Solitude
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Life from the Loam
1x Naya Charm
1x Replenish
1x Seize the Day
Tutors/draw: 10
1x Crop Rotation
1x Eladamri's Call
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Gamble
1x Idyllic Tutor
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sterling Grove
1x Sylvan Library
1x Sylvan Scrying
1x Worldly Tutor
Land Hate: 12
1x Armageddon
1x Boom/Bust
1x Cataclysm
1x Catastrophe
1x Decree of Annihilation
1x Destructive Force
1x Devastating Dreams
1x Hokori, Dusk Drinker
1x Impending Disaster
1x Razia's Purification
1x Wildfire
1x Winter Orb
This is why Uril.
That's a very good point. Perhaps I should just try him. I have some cards I think could make a serviceable deck with him, and give him a go. It will be nice to not have to devote so much of my deck towards removal, I suppose.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Not saying it won't happen eventually, but so far played at least 10 games with this deck and never lost, always in a 3-6 player game. They all play EDH almost exclusively, and all have been playing for YEARS and have closets full of cards. In other words they're fanatics. Mind you they've all got into a habit of targeting me every time I pull that deck out.
What usually happens is I pull one of my many tutors prior to turn 5 and tutor the exact auras I need. By turn 6 bruna comes out she's at the very least unblockable, shrouded/hexproof, a 15/15+ with lifelink and typically also has Celestial Mantle and either indestructibility or immunity to sac. If I pull one of my many artifact tutors I'll get Silent Arbiter and then I'm fairly safe. None of them have even considered building a deck around her which is why I made this thread.. I would've thought she would be one of the most popular generals to build around but was surprised to find out she's so fringe that it's difficult to even find any guides on her.
Sounds like your friends need to work on:
1) Threat assessment
2) Playing more answers
My experience lately has been that all of the voltron generals are pretty vulnerable to removal, even with hexproof, due to the various anti-hexproof tech and sweepers. My vast preference has been toward generals who are either very cheap, have haste, or both. I've been a lot more successful with Skullbriar and Jenara than I ever did with Sigarda, who needed firm control of the board to win due to her CMC.
In my opinion the overall strongest voltron general (by a ridiculously huge margin) is probably Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon; he's only got to count to 10 and brings his own haste, evasion and protection, which are much stronger abilities than Hexproof in the grand scheme of things.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
1) Uril, the Miststalker - I admit I'm a bit biased on this one as Uril is my Voltron commander of choice, but the combination of Hexproof with a bonus for being enchanted makes him a poster-child for the archetype.
2) Bruna, Light of Alabaster - Any Bruna deck can just outright win on the back of something as simple as Intuition, and its in two great colors for otherwise controlling the board and protecting Bruna.
3) Narset, Enlightened Master - I've seen all levels of Narset deck just dominate a game once pumped by a Sword or two, especially given multiple Relentless Assault and/or Time Warp effects to get so much bonus value.
4) Zur the Enchanter - A lot of Zur decks go the enchantment lockdown route, but its also good to just fetch up some powerful auras and kill with a huge Zur
5) Rafiq of the Many - Double-strike plus Exalted plus Equipment or Finest Hour can make Rafiq deadly in a hurry
6) Sigarda, Host of Herons - Hexproof plus sac protection plus evasion on a good-sized body
7) Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - The pseudo-Double strike in combination with the two best colors that play well with Equipment and Gisela can get lethal fast.
8) Kemba, Kha Regent - This may end up getting supplanted by Nahiri, the Lithomancer as the white 'equipment matters' general of choice, but either way Kemba makes a great inexpensive way to abuse lots of equipment.
9) Geist of Saint Traft - Hexproof again makes this really good, but its nice that its in UW and it brings along a 4/4 friend to help kill your other opponents while you commander-kill someone else.
10) Omnath, Locus of Mana - Naturally growing as you amass mana helps a lot, as do enchantments like Asceticism and Bear Umbra.
HM) Godo, Bandit Warlord - Playing nice with equipment plus having a built-in Relentless Assault can make him a terror at some tables.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
That was the whole point of avoiding the most common voltron generals
That's interesting.. he looks really, really good. What would you put in your deck though, considering he's mono black? Not many enchantments in that color that aren't meant to debuff enemy creatures, at least that I know of.
I feel obliged to say think outside the box because I know from experience I can forget to do that. There can be a HUGE amount of flexibility in builds if you ask for opinions or just proxy up a pile. It is way too easy to do the "most logical" plan of attack. I'm guilty of that. But I can rant all day about how you can be your biggest killjoy in a game.
With Skittles, you should run Hatred. One of the most awesome kills I have done as many others did too. Run your tutor effects, Dark Ritual, and BAM. Death to who opposes you!
Does no one counter anything? How is she coming out on turn six like a boss? I would love to see this decklist.
So tell us what decks are in your meta i have played bruna and she was horrible i put 200$ into her and only won 1 game out of 15 in a multiplayer environment because they know t target me and i play against some pretty cutthroat decks in my play group
but now i am building a 3000$ melek deck
[center][color=Blue]
Edric Spy and die
Azami the lady of the draw
Naya Zoo
Past decks
Orloro
sharuum the hegemond
Mono black control
splinter twin
Also we're forgetting sir Exalted much? Rafiq of the Many can be quite annoying because he's cheap and get's/give's double strike. If he ever "suits up" it's pretty much game over.
Also Uril is probably the best "fair" commander for voltron, red gives you reach/haste/removal, green ramps and pumps (and let's you run Bear Umbra :D), white enchants and protects.
The hands down best "voltron" (don't know if it quite qualifies as that) commander hat goes to Zur. I've seen some pretty broken ***** go down in a Zur shell.
That being said my Sharrum or Even my GoST deck would probably pound yours into the ground. The reason I don't play them is because my group hates not being able to play magic while I cheerio for 15 minutes.
"The set releases for fall 2015 (Blood, Sweat and Tears) and fall 2016 (Lock, Stock and Barrel). One or both of those 2 blocks (I'm betting) are going to contain either Fetch reprints or (more likely) Filter reprints. Filter lands still need a reprint. They are getting pretty high up there and it's been longer than ZEN so it makes a little more sense that Filter lands would see print earlier that fetches." - posted 03/22/2014 proved incorrect about filters coming earlier than fetches, still pending on filters in Origins block.