Updated my deck list. What does everyone think of it now?
Potential additions from Avacyn Restored:
Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Making everything indestructible is nice. Silverblade Paladin: Double strike for everyone! Terminus: Tucking the board for W is great, but tucking Kemba is not. Moonsilver Spear: Creating 4/4 fliers every turn can interesting.
I'm not too big on Door of Destinies and Coat of arms. Door needs cards to be cast (and this deck isn't tribal). Coat will have me killed as there's an Azusa deck with a heavy token theme and a Rhys deck being built in my meta.
Vengeful Archon wouldn't do a whole lot, specially since my mana is mostly used up on Equipment.
Blazing Archon is too expensive (mana-wise) for my liking.
Endless Horizons is good. It's mainly used as "Land Tax #2" to guarantee land drops. Thinning my deck of 10+ cards is neat too.
I'm experimenting with Ring of Thune right now. If it doesn't work out, the slot would be used for another Equipment. I think I'll cut Mind Stone instead.
Hey Jake, thanks for the comments on my Kemba build!
A few comments and questions about your list:
- In my experience, it is not really worth switching Condemn with Banishing Stroke unless you can really abuse miracles (aka, you are playing Scroll Rack).
- Has Everflowing Chalice been good in your list? I had it in an earlier build but I would either do it turn two for a single charge or latter for an unnecessary amount of mana that would never be actually used. I don't use Armageddon effects though, which may change our perspectives on the card but Marble Diamond and even Coldsteel Heart (which is snow, so you might even enjoy using it with Scrying Sheets) have been better.
- Is the Kaldra-tron worth the inclusion? Except for when the tron is assembled, I'd usually would rather have some other equipment on the board. If the tron is not cutting it for you, I might suggest Tatsumasa, the Dragon Fang instead of the sword and Darksteel Plate instead of the shield.
- I have Trading Post in my Bosh and it has been a nice addition to me, but is it good enough in Kemba equipments? I do play Springjack Pasture in my deck mostly because of Goldmeadow (we play Planechase commander a lot), so I definitely want to try this one out.
- Whether you are using token generators or not, Skullclamp is a card you want to play. It's draw 2 every turn with Elspeth or Trading Post and really punishes your opponents for chump blocking Kemba to death.
- How about Inkmoth Nexus and othermanlands for carrying swords in those post-wrath situations? Personally, token-generator lands have been great in my list for whenever I go against someone who wraths the board away every other turn, but I do have a tokens theme going on my build though. Also, Skullclamp.
What I'm liking about Banishing Stroke is that it can tuck more things than Condemn. Also, Condemn only hits attackers, which does matter. (And I have a Scroll Rack on it's way in the mail.)
Everflowing Chalice has been very good. It's a very flexible mana rock, but I feel I need more quick mana so it is being cut for Mana Crypt (when it arrives in the mail).
I have some crazy affinity to theKaldra-tron. I almost never have all 3 out and even then I don't usually use Kaldra unless I need to, but they're still good on their own. Kaldra is a back-up option. I've been debating whether to add Tatsumasa or not, but I don't have the space for another high-costed Equipment. I am already running Darksteel Plate.
I like Trading Post mainly for it's 3rd ability. Very handy. It's 4th ability can also act as a sac outlet in case of spot removal. Goats are fine too. Post and Springjack Pasture sounds like a fun way to produce mana.
I'm not using Skull Clamp because I can't fully abuse it. Without [CARDElspeth, Knight-Errant]Elspeth[/CARD] or Trading Post on the board to create X/1 critters, it just a +1/-1 effect. Also, my deck is more heavily focused on Voltron than tokens. I don't have enough X/1 producers and 2 cards isn't going to be enough.
Man lands take up slots for other utility lands. No interest in them for this deck.
My creature base has been given an aggressive boost. When Kemba becomes unavailable, I need something more efficient in combat than low-power utility dorks. Wurmcoil Engine is an amazing beater. 'Survives' sweepers and is extremely synergistic with Trading Post. Transcendent Master becomes an absolute beast if not removed right away. Loxodon Gatekeeper has been cut becasue it didn't work out the way I hoped. It was either play it early or become a dead draw late game. Steelshaper Apprentice has also been cut as I needed the space. I was saving Apprentice's slot for a future Equipment tutor, but another tutor might not be created for a while and there is no point in waiting.
Sword of Vengeance has been re-added. Sword of War and Peace was dropped because protection from White gives me problems. If Kemba has pro-White form one of the Swords, my Planeswalkers and Mother of Runes can't target her and moving Equipment around is costly and can leave her open to spot removal. Also, War an Peace isn't as great as the other three Swords I'm running.
Aura of Silence is an awesome hate card. When played early it completely screws up opponents, especially their mana rocks. It also combos very well with Sun Titan. Blind Obedience was dropped for the same reason as Loxodon Gatekeeper.
Ghostly Prison has been added to keep attackers off me. Some players in my meta tend to single me out. Lightning Greaves has been dropped because I hate shroud and having to work around it. I also needed the space.
Forbidding Watchtower has been added to provide me with another emergency attacker. Windbrisk Heights has been dropped as my deck doesn't generate three attackers consistently anymore nor do I attempt to attack with an army anyway.
No cards in Dragon's Maze made the cut, but that's to be expected in a heavy multicoloured set with no Equipment. The only worthwhile card is Renounce the Guilds, but aside from sniping Commanders my meta doesn't have decks filled with multicoloured permanents. Renounce would end up a dead card most of the time and is also completely dead against monocoloured decks.
Kemba, Kha Regent has been replaced with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. When I originally built this deck with Kemba at the helm, it did have ways to utilize the tokens she produced. That token support has since dwindled to nothing in complete favour of Voltron.
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a good fit for Voltron. He protects his Equipment while also making himself unblockable.
New Equipment
I'm trying out Haunted Plate Mail. Having Equipment that can become creatures are great to have to quickly rebuild after a sweeper.
Other Changes
Steelshaper Aprentice has been re-added. Every tutor I can put in my deck helps and I wanted it back in. I was going to use Windborn Muse instead, but Equipment Tutors are more important.
My meta is full of powerful Commanders, among other strong creatures in the 99, which Cataclysm and Divine Reckoning don't stop effectively. With that in mind, I have replaced the aforementioned sweepers for Day of Judgment and Wrath of God. I have also added Sunblast Angel to give the deck another sweeper. Keeping the field clear is important to this deck, as it can't deal with armies through combat.
Graveyard hate in my meta is almost nonexistent, allowing graveyard-based strategies the opportunities to completely take over games. I originally added Relic of Progenitus to combat such strategies, but the one-shot grave purge isn't cutting it, as they can just refill the graves and keep going. Rest in Peace has replaced Relic as it's a more potent answer.
Mistveil Plains has been re-added. It was in the deck before and I've decided to give it another try.
Heliod, God of the Sun is very good. Indestructible lets him survive most removal. Mass vigilance keeps my defenses up. His tokens can chump block, hold swords when necessary, and are force-sacrifice fodder. If I'm in a poor position, having an endless army of vigilant of 2/1s helps. Being tutorable with Enlightened Tutor adds to his usefulness. Sunblast Angel wasn't working for me, as it not hitting untapped creatures became an issue.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is the new monocoloured staple. Not else needs be said. My devotion is somewhat diluted with all of the artifacts I run, but with almost half of my landbase not producing White mana, having at least 2-3 devotion gives me decent colour filtering. Forbidding Watchtower was dropped because I never really used it.
Other Additions:
With the additions of Heliod and Nykthos, giving a boost to my overall devotion is ideal. True Conviction has been re-added as it offers three points of devotion while also being a complete blow out. Haunted Plate Mail was dropped as it wasn't as good as I thought it was. I never tutored for it and it's animation ability gets completely nullified way too easily. If I want an Equipment that can become a creature, I have Batterskull. Also, the Equipment released in recent sets have been very lackluster and the ones shown in Theros implies it isn't going to get better anytime soon, so there's no real reason to keep this slot for Equipment
Ajani, Caller of the Pride has been lacking for me lately. Unlike Elspeth, Knight-Errant, he's too dependent on having a creature on the field. He's also not very exciting to see in my opening hand, especially after mulligans. I've replaced Ajani with Gideon Jura to give him a try and I like the utility he offers. His +2 in particular has great synergy with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. With both out and enough mana I can forcibly tap out an opponent's army, or keep annoying Commanders like Sigarda, Host of Herons in a combat lock.
Petrified Field has been added to give the deck another option to recur the utility lands I use. Scrying Sheets got the boot as it hasn't been as good since I added Thawing Glaciers. Fetching my basics is a lot better than occasionally gabbing them of the top. My basic count is also lower than it used to be, so grabbing them off the top has become less likely.
Unexpectedly Absent is a great new catch-all tucking removal spell. Obviously great in response to a shuffle effect, but still good to pay a bit of mana to rid the field of something annoying for a few turns. I dropped Sculpting Steel, as it was the most situational card out of the few I was willing to cut.
Expedition Map is back in my deck. I run 16 nonbasic lands. It's a mistake not to run it. I cut Extraplanar Lens because my mana base has a rough time supporting it ever since I dropped down to 20 basics. Sometimes I have enough basics out, sometimes I don't. I also hate seeing it in my opening hand, as I never know for sure if I'd get enough basics and it's pretty much a dead card early game.
A regular at a local Commander League built a BUG Goodstuff deck that has a quite a lot of one type of card: Planeswalkers. Fighting several Planeswalkers at once is straining, especially if they're backed up by a Contagion Engine. All Is Dust is the only card in my deck that can eliminate this board state on the spot. If I don't see it, I have a hard time. I have added Planar Cleansing to give this deck another sweeper that can hit Planeswalkers. It being another reset button doesn't hurt either. True Conviction was dropped because it has the same CMC as Planar Cleansing and for the same reason it was cut before: This deck doesn't rush. True Conviction is more suited for deck that can produce armies.
Homeward Path is finally in the deck. I had three games where the aforementioned Goodstuff deck stole Avacyn, Angel of Hope. In three different ways. Not fun. Creature theft and reanimator aren't nice to fight against and Homeward Path hurts those strategies. Mouth of Ronom was dropped because it was the only utility land I was willing to cut and I'm not going below 20 basics.
Rather than using Gideon to lock out Voltron commanders, have you considered Story Circle, Circle of Protection: White, or Rune of Protection: White? They go nicely with your general, and Uril, Sigarda, Zur, and Rafiq (some of the most dangerous voltrons) are all white to begin with, so you don't have to target them with 8.5 Tails.
Nice deck, by the way. You've given me some ideas for my Kemba deck (for which I'd be grateful to here your opinion).
Private Mod Note
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I'm always open to suggestions for my decks. Thanks in advance.
Rather than using Gideon to lock out Voltron commanders, have you considered Story Circle, Circle of Protection: White, or Rune of Protection: White? They go nicely with your general, and Uril, Sigarda, Zur, and Rafiq (some of the most dangerous voltrons) are all white to begin with, so you don't have to target them with 8.5 Tails.
Nice deck, by the way. You've given me some ideas for my Kemba deck (for which I'd be grateful to here your opinion).
Not a fan of Story Circle and friends. They burn up space for other needed cards and are pretty meh if 8.5 isn't on the field.
Fated Retribution is a card I've been waiting for: a sweeper that hits only creatures and Planeswalkers. It's a bit expensive than what I would like it to be, but instant-speed and a potential scry 2 are welcome attributes. Planar Cleansing has been dropped as Fated Retribution is the better card for what I intended.
Duplicant is no longer needed. It was originally added to this deck when I first built it because monocoloured decks have a difficult time dealing with Iona, Shield of Emeria. But Iona is almost never played in my meta, almost 1/3 of this deck is colourless, and I have other colourless removal options. In it's place is Angel of Serenity. It still performs the role of creature removal (albeit temporary), but also offers creature recursion, mild grave-hate, and high devotion to fuel Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
Argivian Archaeologist is a card I completely forgot about. It's a great artifact recursion engine and a gem from the early days of the game. Fountain Watch is the cut for it. While protecting my Equipment from removal is great, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Leonin Abunas, and Karmic Justice still provide this and I needed the extra recursion option.
Staff of Nin is a great card draw engine, but it's a bit expensive in comparison to the others. 6 mana can sometimes be rough when holding back mana for Eight-and-a-Half-Tails and my other card draw engines are cheaper and easier to tutor for. I thought of adding another mana rock in Staff's place, but re-added Sculpting Steel instead.
Serra Ascendant is a powerful one-drop. Everyone dreads the 6/6 flying, lifelink monster on Turn 1. Drawing it later in the game is bad either, as long as I keep my life up, it's still a scary play. As a 1/1, it still has lifelink and can bring my life back up to 30 with Equipment. It's also recurrable with Sun Titan and Reveillark. Wurmcoil Engine was dropped for Ascendant. This deck needs the early-game threat more than another late-game.
This deck runs too many lands that don't tap for White mana. I absolutely hate it when my opening hand has a bunch of colorless utility lands, which forces aggressive mulligans to get White mana. I dropped two utility lands for Secluded Steppe and Drifting Meadow to give my mana base two more White mana sources and to give this deck added filtering.
Heavenly Blademaster -> Cavalier of Dawn
Stonecloaker -> Apostle of Purifying Light
Basilisk Collar -> Colossus Hammer
Modern Horizons Additions:
Key to the City -> Giver of Runes
Single Combat -> Winds of Abandon
Unexpectedly Absent -> Generous Gift
Commander 2019 Additions:
Remember the Fallen -> Sevinne's Reclamation
Other Additions:
None
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War of the Spark Additions:
Urza's Ruinous Blast -> Single Combat
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Ravnica Allegiance Update
Ravnica Allegiance Additions:
Wayfarer's Bauble -> Smothering Tithe
Other Additions:
Armory Automaton -> Restoration Specialist
Remorseful Cleric -> Stonecloaker
Masterwork of Ingenuity -> Basilisk Collar
Tithe -> Noble Templar
Petrified Field -> Scavenger Grounds
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guilds of Ravnica Update
Guilds of Ravnica Additions:
Karn, Scion of Urza -> Dawn of Hope
Other Additions
Solemn Simulacrum -> Wayfarer's Bauble
October 26, 2011 - July 23, 2013
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
July 23, 2013 - February 3, 2017
Sram, Senior Edificer
February 3, 2017 - November 30, 2017
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1 Balan, Wandering Knight
Creatures - 22
1 Apostle of Purifying Light
1 Argivian Archaeologist
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Cavalier of Dawn
1 Danitha Capashen, Paragon
1 Devoted Caretaker
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Giver of Runes
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Leonin Abunas
1 Mother of Runes
1 Noble Templar
1 Puresteel Paladin
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Restoration Specialist
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Sram, Senior Edificer
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Sun Titan
1 Weathered Wayfarer
Equipment - 16 (out of 21 Artifacts)
1 Argentum Armor
1 Batterskull
1 Blackblade Reforged
1 Champion's Helm
1 Colossus Hammer
1 Conqueror's Flail
1 Hammer of Nazahn
1 Inquisitor's Flail
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Expedition Map
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mind Stone
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
Enchantments - 4
1 Dawn of Hope
1 Grasp of Fate
1 Sigarda's Aid
1 Smothering Tithe
Sorceries - 8
1 Austere Command
1 Cleansing Nova
1 Hour of Revelation
1 Open the Armory
1 Sevinne's Reclamation
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Winds of Abandon
1 Wrath of God
Instants - 7
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Generous Gift
1 Oblation
1 Path to Exile
1 Return to Dust
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Protection
Planeswalkers - 1
1 Nahiri, the Lithomancer
Land - 36 (16 + 20 Basics)
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Buried Ruin
1 Command Beacon
1 Desert of the True
1 Dust Bowl
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Field of Ruin
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Kor Haven
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Rouge's Passage
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Thespian's Stage
20 Plains
Suggestions are appreciated.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite won me a multiplayer game also.
Potential additions from Avacyn Restored:
Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Making everything indestructible is nice.
Silverblade Paladin: Double strike for everyone!
Terminus: Tucking the board for W is great, but tucking Kemba is not.
Moonsilver Spear: Creating 4/4 fliers every turn can interesting.
Further comments and suggestions welcome.
Mirror Entity
Door of Destinies
Coat of Arms
Archons of the Blazing or Vengeful variety
How's Endless Horizons working out for you?
PS: Nice decision on that Cat-aclysm
Konda's Banner and Mirror Entity were in an earlier build, but were taken out for other cards. Banner also messes up Mentor of the Meek. I may put Mirror Entity back in, but I have no idea of what to cut.
I'm not too big on Door of Destinies and Coat of arms. Door needs cards to be cast (and this deck isn't tribal). Coat will have me killed as there's an Azusa deck with a heavy token theme and a Rhys deck being built in my meta.
Vengeful Archon wouldn't do a whole lot, specially since my mana is mostly used up on Equipment.
Blazing Archon is too expensive (mana-wise) for my liking.
Endless Horizons is good. It's mainly used as "Land Tax #2" to guarantee land drops. Thinning my deck of 10+ cards is neat too.
I'm using Cat-astrophe, not Cat-aclysm, though I have been thinking of using Cat-acysm.
Odric and Scroll Rack would be lovely. No idea what to take out for them.
I use Steelshaper Apprentice because it is a repeatable tutor. It's not Stonehewer Giant #2, but I like it.
I'm experimenting with Ring of Thune right now. If it doesn't work out, the slot would be used for another Equipment. I think I'll cut Mind Stone instead.
A few comments and questions about your list:
- In my experience, it is not really worth switching Condemn with Banishing Stroke unless you can really abuse miracles (aka, you are playing Scroll Rack).
- Has Everflowing Chalice been good in your list? I had it in an earlier build but I would either do it turn two for a single charge or latter for an unnecessary amount of mana that would never be actually used. I don't use Armageddon effects though, which may change our perspectives on the card but Marble Diamond and even Coldsteel Heart (which is snow, so you might even enjoy using it with Scrying Sheets) have been better.
- Is the Kaldra-tron worth the inclusion? Except for when the tron is assembled, I'd usually would rather have some other equipment on the board. If the tron is not cutting it for you, I might suggest Tatsumasa, the Dragon Fang instead of the sword and Darksteel Plate instead of the shield.
- I have Trading Post in my Bosh and it has been a nice addition to me, but is it good enough in Kemba equipments? I do play Springjack Pasture in my deck mostly because of Goldmeadow (we play Planechase commander a lot), so I definitely want to try this one out.
- Whether you are using token generators or not, Skullclamp is a card you want to play. It's draw 2 every turn with Elspeth or Trading Post and really punishes your opponents for chump blocking Kemba to death.
- How about Inkmoth Nexus and other manlands for carrying swords in those post-wrath situations? Personally, token-generator lands have been great in my list for whenever I go against someone who wraths the board away every other turn, but I do have a tokens theme going on my build though. Also, Skullclamp.
RRR Like a Bosh!
WUB Sharuum Solar Flare
UBR Thraximundar Zombie Beatdown
Everflowing Chalice has been very good. It's a very flexible mana rock, but I feel I need more quick mana so it is being cut for Mana Crypt (when it arrives in the mail).
I have some crazy affinity to the Kaldra-tron. I almost never have all 3 out and even then I don't usually use Kaldra unless I need to, but they're still good on their own. Kaldra is a back-up option. I've been debating whether to add Tatsumasa or not, but I don't have the space for another high-costed Equipment. I am already running Darksteel Plate.
I like Trading Post mainly for it's 3rd ability. Very handy. It's 4th ability can also act as a sac outlet in case of spot removal. Goats are fine too. Post and Springjack Pasture sounds like a fun way to produce mana.
I'm not using Skull Clamp because I can't fully abuse it. Without [CARDElspeth, Knight-Errant]Elspeth[/CARD] or Trading Post on the board to create X/1 critters, it just a +1/-1 effect. Also, my deck is more heavily focused on Voltron than tokens. I don't have enough X/1 producers and 2 cards isn't going to be enough.
Man lands take up slots for other utility lands. No interest in them for this deck.
What does everyone think?
Vesuva -> Thespian's Stage
Other Additions:
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails -> Sculpting Steel
Indomitable Archangel -> Fountain Watch
Mentor of the Meek -> Relic of Progenitus
Phyrexian Rebirth -> Terminus
Updated my list.
What does everyone think?
Kusari-Gama -> Fireshrieker
Mana Vault -> Quietus Spike
True Conviction -> Blind Obedience
Banishing Stroke -> Staff of Nin
Snow-Covered Plains -> Inkmoth Nexus
Snow-Covered Plains -> Mouth of Ronom
Updated my list.
What does everyone think?
Equipment Count - Am I running too many? Am I running too little? What do you think?
Aura of Silence - More artifact and enchantment hate.
Open the Vaults - Mass artifact and enchantment recursion. It's universal, but my deck would benefit more than most others.
Homeward Path - Anti-creature-theft tech.
None
Other Additions:
Loxodon Gatekeeper -> Wurmcoil Engine
Steelshaper Apprentice -> Transcendent Master
Sword of War and Peace -> Sword of Vengeance
Lightning Greaves -> Ghostly Prison
Blind Obedience -> Aura of Silence
Windbrisk Heights -> Forbidding Watchtower
'Cards I'm Considering' List:
Homeward Path - Anti-creature-theft tech.
--------------------
My creature base has been given an aggressive boost. When Kemba becomes unavailable, I need something more efficient in combat than low-power utility dorks. Wurmcoil Engine is an amazing beater. 'Survives' sweepers and is extremely synergistic with Trading Post. Transcendent Master becomes an absolute beast if not removed right away. Loxodon Gatekeeper has been cut becasue it didn't work out the way I hoped. It was either play it early or become a dead draw late game. Steelshaper Apprentice has also been cut as I needed the space. I was saving Apprentice's slot for a future Equipment tutor, but another tutor might not be created for a while and there is no point in waiting.
Sword of Vengeance has been re-added. Sword of War and Peace was dropped because protection from White gives me problems. If Kemba has pro-White form one of the Swords, my Planeswalkers and Mother of Runes can't target her and moving Equipment around is costly and can leave her open to spot removal. Also, War an Peace isn't as great as the other three Swords I'm running.
Aura of Silence is an awesome hate card. When played early it completely screws up opponents, especially their mana rocks. It also combos very well with Sun Titan. Blind Obedience was dropped for the same reason as Loxodon Gatekeeper.
Ghostly Prison has been added to keep attackers off me. Some players in my meta tend to single me out. Lightning Greaves has been dropped because I hate shroud and having to work around it. I also needed the space.
Forbidding Watchtower has been added to provide me with another emergency attacker. Windbrisk Heights has been dropped as my deck doesn't generate three attackers consistently anymore nor do I attempt to attack with an army anyway.
No cards in Dragon's Maze made the cut, but that's to be expected in a heavy multicoloured set with no Equipment. The only worthwhile card is Renounce the Guilds, but aside from sniping Commanders my meta doesn't have decks filled with multicoloured permanents. Renounce would end up a dead card most of the time and is also completely dead against monocoloured decks.
Kemba, Kha Regent -> Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
M14 Additions:
Sword of Vengeance -> Haunted Plate Mail
Other Additions:
Angel of Serenity -> Sunblast Angel
Transcendent Master -> Steelshaper Apprentice
Relic of Progenitus -> Rest in Peace
Aura of Silence -> Remember the Fallen
Cataclysm -> Wrath of God
Divine Reckoning -> Day of Judgment
Snow-Covered Plains -> Mistveil Plains
Snow-Covered Plains -> Thawing Glaciers
--------------------
Commander Change
Kemba, Kha Regent has been replaced with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. When I originally built this deck with Kemba at the helm, it did have ways to utilize the tokens she produced. That token support has since dwindled to nothing in complete favour of Voltron.
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a good fit for Voltron. He protects his Equipment while also making himself unblockable.
New Equipment
I'm trying out Haunted Plate Mail. Having Equipment that can become creatures are great to have to quickly rebuild after a sweeper.
Other Changes
Steelshaper Aprentice has been re-added. Every tutor I can put in my deck helps and I wanted it back in. I was going to use Windborn Muse instead, but Equipment Tutors are more important.
My meta is full of powerful Commanders, among other strong creatures in the 99, which Cataclysm and Divine Reckoning don't stop effectively. With that in mind, I have replaced the aforementioned sweepers for Day of Judgment and Wrath of God. I have also added Sunblast Angel to give the deck another sweeper. Keeping the field clear is important to this deck, as it can't deal with armies through combat.
Remember the Fallen has been added to give the deck a bit more recursion.
Graveyard hate in my meta is almost nonexistent, allowing graveyard-based strategies the opportunities to completely take over games. I originally added Relic of Progenitus to combat such strategies, but the one-shot grave purge isn't cutting it, as they can just refill the graves and keep going. Rest in Peace has replaced Relic as it's a more potent answer.
Mistveil Plains has been re-added. It was in the deck before and I've decided to give it another try.
Thawing Glaciers offers another way to ensure land drops and is another shuffle effect to reset the top of my library for Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack.
Steelshaper Apprentice -> Burnished Hart
Sunblast Angel -> Heliod, God of the Sun
Forbidding Watchtower -> Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Other Additions:
Haunted Plate Mail -> True Conviction
Ajani, Caller of the Pride -> Gideon Jura
Scrying Sheets -> Petrified Field
--------------------
Theros Additions:
Burnished Hart is a great new ramp option. The colourless, easily recurrable Explosive Vegetation helps to keep up with green decks. It also helps fuel my mana doublers and get Emeria, the Sky Ruin online. Steelshaper Apprentice gets the boot again for space.
Heliod, God of the Sun is very good. Indestructible lets him survive most removal. Mass vigilance keeps my defenses up. His tokens can chump block, hold swords when necessary, and are force-sacrifice fodder. If I'm in a poor position, having an endless army of vigilant of 2/1s helps. Being tutorable with Enlightened Tutor adds to his usefulness. Sunblast Angel wasn't working for me, as it not hitting untapped creatures became an issue.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is the new monocoloured staple. Not else needs be said. My devotion is somewhat diluted with all of the artifacts I run, but with almost half of my landbase not producing White mana, having at least 2-3 devotion gives me decent colour filtering. Forbidding Watchtower was dropped because I never really used it.
Other Additions:
With the additions of Heliod and Nykthos, giving a boost to my overall devotion is ideal. True Conviction has been re-added as it offers three points of devotion while also being a complete blow out. Haunted Plate Mail was dropped as it wasn't as good as I thought it was. I never tutored for it and it's animation ability gets completely nullified way too easily. If I want an Equipment that can become a creature, I have Batterskull. Also, the Equipment released in recent sets have been very lackluster and the ones shown in Theros implies it isn't going to get better anytime soon, so there's no real reason to keep this slot for Equipment
Ajani, Caller of the Pride has been lacking for me lately. Unlike Elspeth, Knight-Errant, he's too dependent on having a creature on the field. He's also not very exciting to see in my opening hand, especially after mulligans. I've replaced Ajani with Gideon Jura to give him a try and I like the utility he offers. His +2 in particular has great synergy with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. With both out and enough mana I can forcibly tap out an opponent's army, or keep annoying Commanders like Sigarda, Host of Herons in a combat lock.
Petrified Field has been added to give the deck another option to recur the utility lands I use. Scrying Sheets got the boot as it hasn't been as good since I added Thawing Glaciers. Fetching my basics is a lot better than occasionally gabbing them of the top. My basic count is also lower than it used to be, so grabbing them off the top has become less likely.
Sculpting Steel -> Unexpectedly Absent
Other Additions:
Extraplanar Lens -> Expedition Map
True Conviction -> Planar Cleansing
Mouth of Ronom -> Homeward Path
Snow-Covered Plains x20 -> Plains x20
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Unexpectedly Absent is a great new catch-all tucking removal spell. Obviously great in response to a shuffle effect, but still good to pay a bit of mana to rid the field of something annoying for a few turns. I dropped Sculpting Steel, as it was the most situational card out of the few I was willing to cut.
Expedition Map is back in my deck. I run 16 nonbasic lands. It's a mistake not to run it. I cut Extraplanar Lens because my mana base has a rough time supporting it ever since I dropped down to 20 basics. Sometimes I have enough basics out, sometimes I don't. I also hate seeing it in my opening hand, as I never know for sure if I'd get enough basics and it's pretty much a dead card early game.
A regular at a local Commander League built a BUG Goodstuff deck that has a quite a lot of one type of card: Planeswalkers. Fighting several Planeswalkers at once is straining, especially if they're backed up by a Contagion Engine. All Is Dust is the only card in my deck that can eliminate this board state on the spot. If I don't see it, I have a hard time. I have added Planar Cleansing to give this deck another sweeper that can hit Planeswalkers. It being another reset button doesn't hurt either. True Conviction was dropped because it has the same CMC as Planar Cleansing and for the same reason it was cut before: This deck doesn't rush. True Conviction is more suited for deck that can produce armies.
Homeward Path is finally in the deck. I had three games where the aforementioned Goodstuff deck stole Avacyn, Angel of Hope. In three different ways. Not fun. Creature theft and reanimator aren't nice to fight against and Homeward Path hurts those strategies. Mouth of Ronom was dropped because it was the only utility land I was willing to cut and I'm not going below 20 basics.
With Extraplanar Lens and Mouth of Ronom cut, I have no real reason to keep Snow-Covered Plains in the deck. So, I pimped my deck with Dragon's Maze prerelease Plains.
Nice deck, by the way. You've given me some ideas for my Kemba deck (for which I'd be grateful to here your opinion).
Captain Sisay - Efficient Toolbox Control
Kemba, Kha Regent - Equipment & Mini-stax
Not a fan of Story Circle and friends. They burn up space for other needed cards and are pretty meh if 8.5 isn't on the field.
Planar Cleansing -> Fated Retribution
Other Additions:
Duplicant -> Angel of Serenity
Fountain Watch -> Argivian Archaeologist
Wurmcoil Engine -> Serra Ascendant
Staff of Nin -> Sculpting Steel
Ancient Tomb -> Secluded Steppe
Homeward Path -> Drifting Meadow
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Fated Retribution is a card I've been waiting for: a sweeper that hits only creatures and Planeswalkers. It's a bit expensive than what I would like it to be, but instant-speed and a potential scry 2 are welcome attributes. Planar Cleansing has been dropped as Fated Retribution is the better card for what I intended.
Duplicant is no longer needed. It was originally added to this deck when I first built it because monocoloured decks have a difficult time dealing with Iona, Shield of Emeria. But Iona is almost never played in my meta, almost 1/3 of this deck is colourless, and I have other colourless removal options. In it's place is Angel of Serenity. It still performs the role of creature removal (albeit temporary), but also offers creature recursion, mild grave-hate, and high devotion to fuel Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
Argivian Archaeologist is a card I completely forgot about. It's a great artifact recursion engine and a gem from the early days of the game. Fountain Watch is the cut for it. While protecting my Equipment from removal is great, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Leonin Abunas, and Karmic Justice still provide this and I needed the extra recursion option.
Staff of Nin is a great card draw engine, but it's a bit expensive in comparison to the others. 6 mana can sometimes be rough when holding back mana for Eight-and-a-Half-Tails and my other card draw engines are cheaper and easier to tutor for. I thought of adding another mana rock in Staff's place, but re-added Sculpting Steel instead.
Serra Ascendant is a powerful one-drop. Everyone dreads the 6/6 flying, lifelink monster on Turn 1. Drawing it later in the game is bad either, as long as I keep my life up, it's still a scary play. As a 1/1, it still has lifelink and can bring my life back up to 30 with Equipment. It's also recurrable with Sun Titan and Reveillark. Wurmcoil Engine was dropped for Ascendant. This deck needs the early-game threat more than another late-game.
This deck runs too many lands that don't tap for White mana. I absolutely hate it when my opening hand has a bunch of colorless utility lands, which forces aggressive mulligans to get White mana. I dropped two utility lands for Secluded Steppe and Drifting Meadow to give my mana base two more White mana sources and to give this deck added filtering.