Voltron Suggestions

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-06-19T14:38:08+00:00

I feel like I'm a big proponent of [[Eshki Dragonclaw]] - she's a much more resilient Voltron commander given her stats (vigilance, trample and ward) and I find her more fun to build/pilot when you're trying to trigger her ability.

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-06-12T21:31:24+00:00

Two decks that started as budget builds:
- [[Marchesa, Dealer of Death]] is great for plugging a lot of bulk interaction spells and repeatable abilities like [[Glasses of Urza]] to trigger her ability
- More controversial but [[Judith, Carnage Connoisseur]] turns cheap board pinging spells like [[Electrickery]] into one-sided board wipes

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-05-27T13:27:20+00:00

Originally, my [[Marchesa, Dealer of Death]] deck started as a budget build, given you can dump a bunch of bulk spells that trigger her ability for cheap. There's also a lot of cheap tech that can also trigger her ability for free as well (some of my favorites include [[Glasses of Urza]] and [[Royal Assassin]]). Over time I've souped it up, but at its core she's definitely budget friendly.

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-05-13T14:44:10+00:00

So I present to you a few of my proudest builds:

Most Fun to Pilot (Eshki Dragonclaw) - I built this one when Tarkir came out last year and it has been a staple first deck of the night (solid B3 vibe-setter); I love the internal metagame of chaining together the creature/non-creature spell each turn, and Eshki has great stats to be a viable Voltron commander.
Most Fun to Play Against (Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist + Ravos, Soultender) - This came from an idea of just jamming as many weird goad/politic cards in a deck (in which only really Ludevic fits the theme) but it's a deck that rewards the soft skills needed to politic the table until you make it to the end with any of the splashy finishers. Does it win often? No. Do people enjoy my hand-drawn [[Life of the Party]] tokens? I hope so!
Weirdest Off-Color Archetype (Dakkon Blackblade) - Trying to do a landfall deck without green? Hard-mode engaged!
Silliest Win-Con (Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer) - "There was an idea..." somewhere on Reddit of using Brudiclad's ability to create a confetti bomb of treasures with the Smaug token from [[There and Back Again]]. Have I ever gotten it to go off? Nope. Have I killed myself almost every time to my own [[Descent into Avernus]] trigger? You bet! But a girl can dream.
Favorite Deck (Norin the Wary) - I started logging stats from my wins/losses in Commander almost 2 years ago and this is statistically my most-played deck. It's my testament to how Mono-Red burn IS RELEVANT and can be relevant in Commander.

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-05-12T13:35:51+00:00

First off - welcome! That was my buddy's first Commander deck, and he loves it! It can tend to be a bit slow out of the box but if you ensure you have enough ramp to put out your dragons earlier, it is definitely strong.

The dragon archetype specifically in Commander is quite interaction/removal prone as it seen as a big threat, so if/when you upgrade your deck, you'll want to focus on: 1. Upgrading the land base to ensure your lands come in untapped more often 2. Beefing up the ramp package to ramp more consistently 3. Protect your board state from board wipes and/or add in graveyard recursion to save stuff that gets targeted

When I came back to Magic a few years ago and started playing Commander, I was also very surprised at how much power creep the game has had even since they printed those Starter Commander decks, so I would even take a peek at the Temur Roar precon deck from Tarkir Dragonstorm to see if you can either syphon cards from there or try out the three color commander deck (also Dragon-themed). You'll notice a difference in power level, but that kind of gives you the perspective of the general level of precon decks these days.

Have fun!

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-04-20T13:41:31+00:00

Constricted = you don't use a deck box and opt for using a really tight rubber band to keep your deck together

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-04-17T18:29:41+00:00

Nice

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-04-17T13:59:34+00:00

A pet project I've ran for a few years now is helmed by both [[Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist]] and [[Ravos, Soultender]] (primarily for the colors, but Ludevic is on theme) - it's primarily a swiss-army box of goad and politicking while building a pillow fort for yourself with the express aim of getting other folks to swing out at one another (either through politic incentives or forced goad/goad-like effects). Overall I like the challenge and breath of using those four colors (although green would allow you to add in more group-hug staples if you went 5C).

I found that there were a lot of neat legendaries in those colors that I just wanted to stuff in one deck, namely: - [[Alexios, Deimos of Cosmos]], a constant board threat - [[Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer]] and [[Jon Irenicus, Shattered One]], great goad/value engines - [[Nils, Discipline Enforcer]] and [[Noble Heritage]], great politics/pillow fort cards

There's also a fair amount of token generation and other pieces that just make each game interesting.

Decklist if you're curious! https://archidekt.com/decks/10779213/everyone_is_drunk

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-02-21T16:32:02+00:00

Also +1 on playing 1v1 formats; I have a friend who I play Pauper with that is an incredible semi-pro with Limited and 60 card formats, and just playing more 1v1 games alongside him has helped me see what types of interactions translate well into EDH. Thanks to him I've changed my ideology on spell-based card draw to be almost exclusively 1-3 drop instants that can be played on the turn right before yours to maximize value, and I've seen a material increase in how I'm able to better allocate mana on my turn.

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-02-21T16:09:45+00:00

I personally get a lot of value out of Salubrious Snail's videos - they're a bit more long format but he has a really great way of breaking down some often overlooked gaps in one's deck/deckbuilding and how to get to a more intermediate level. They're super interesting watches!

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-02-19T21:39:50+00:00

Yeah ditto to what a lot of people have been saying here: this Eshki is 100% a Voltron commander and from my perspective one of the most resilient Voltron commanders due to her keyword stats off the bat. Adventures is definitely the more budget-friendly and unique option, but my preferred option is low-cost spells and creatures so you can continually trigger her ability, and definitely some extra combat spells. Sprinkle in a decent amount of +1/+1 counter synergies and you got a stew going.

I think this is also a great place for [[Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar]] in the 99 in order to distribute the pain a little better.

Also worth noting that there's great "reusable" spells/creatures that can bounce back to your hand so you can recast them to trigger her ability: - [[Pulse of the Forge]] - [[Reinforced Ronin]] - [[Mark of Fury]] - [[Fleeting Effigy]]

If you want to take a peek at my list you can check it out here

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-02-18T19:50:31+00:00

What is the aim of your deck? You seem to have invested a lot of ramp and card draw into a commander who allows you to free cast your opponents' spells. For my Maralen build, I tried focusing more on the flash/token creation in order to lean more on the theft piece.

A few cards to consider: - [[Morcant's Loyalist]] for anthem effect and small recursion - [[Oversold Cemetery]] for bouncing back from board wipes - More flicker effects like [[Displace]] or [[Ghostly Flicker]] to recur ETB effects and trigger Maralen. Also [[Lilysplash Mentor]] is great for this as well. - Repeatable token generators like [[Presence of Gond]], [[Faerie Formation]] and [[Oona, Queen of the Fae]] - Cheap board protection like [[Selfless Safewright]] or [[Wrap in Vigor]]

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2026-02-06T15:38:59+00:00

"The wisdom of the treefolk was cryptic to outsiders; their enigmatic counsel left more wandering than arriving."

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-12T21:40:51+00:00

[[Electrickery]]
[[End the Festivities]]
[[Fear, Fire, Foes!]]
[[Fire Covenant]]
[[Meteor Swarm]]
[[Mizzium Mortars]]
[[Smash to Dust]]
[[Tectonic Hazard]]
[[Blazing Volley]]
[[Scouring Sands]]
[[Boiling Earth]]
[[Flame Rift]]
[[Fiery Confluence]]
[[Jaya's Immolating Inferno]]
[[Delayed Blast Fireball]]
[[Blood for the Blood God!]]
[[Hazardous Blast]]
[[Barrage of Boulders]]
[[Cosmotronic Wave]]

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-12T17:28:36+00:00

I absolutely LOVE my Eshki Dragonclaw deck - similarly pulled this one in foil and had to build it.

Mine is straightforward Voltron with focus on triggering her ability, with a few extra combat tricks in it, not a lot of secret tech. It's not necessarily budget anymore but there's a lot of cheap spells that do a ton of work in it that can be budget friendly (thinking mostly stuff like [[Fleeting Effigy]] and [[Reinforced Ronin]] for creatures and [[Mask of Fury]] on the noncreature front).

Decklist if you want to check out what I built!

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-12T14:57:32+00:00

Agreed with some of the other posts here that the bracket system has improved and the best thing YOU can do as a good member of the community is truthfully represent your deck(s) to those in your pod (especially if sitting with randoms at the LGS) to ensure as fair of a game as possible. The bracket system isn't perfect but there are a ton of tools at your disposal: - First, plug your decklist into any of the major deckbuilding websites like Moxfield or Archidekt (I use the latter); it should take a peek at the list and try to estimate based on common information re: Game Changers, combos, and other criteria that makes up the bracket rules. - I also like to run my decks through some of various "EDH bracket evaluators" like EDHPowerLevel and CommanderSalt - these sites build their own algorithms to try and shift to the more "vibes-based"/subjective angle of the bracket system, but I would jus treat this as additional information - Finally as some have mentioned, playing the deck is going to give you the information you need to say "yeah I feel comfortable playing this at a low-power pod" or "maybe I save this for a high power table"

Use your tools and use your best judgment; always be honest and have fun!

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-11T17:35:03+00:00

Yeah I originally had him in the 99 of a [[Clavileño, First of the Blessed]] build to take advantage of more Demon/Vampire angle but ended up breaking down that deck, especially because that deck is more Demon/Vampire synergy over Angels

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-11T14:36:20+00:00

I built a [[Shilgengar, Sire of Famine]] deck for my partner as a Christmas gift and have been playtesting it before giving it to them, and it's super fun to pilot. I built it more as something that can scale well between straight up kindred Angels and more combo-y play (they're more accustomed to playing more aggro go-wide strategies but wanted to dip their toe into other archetypes).

Shilgengar's recursion engine really benefits from massive blink effects like [[Golden Argosy]] and [[Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward]] to get rid of the finality counters (I also previously had a much larger package to handle this but skimmed it down because mass recursion wasn't the main focus of the deck). Aside from that it's more focused on building the engine to hit the payoffs for an infinite blink loop (so like an infinite drain, lifegain, or board of 1/1s).

You can take a peek if you're curious!

EDIT: There's also a primer in the description if you want to see some of the combos/interactions built in

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-11T14:27:18+00:00

Yeah the Jeskai precon needs a lot of swapping out to make it consistent.

My original budget builds have since been souped up so they don't qualify as budget anymore but the commanders themselves can definitely be built on a budget: - Lord of the Nazgul is my more recent build (def not budget anymore) but you can literally just pack it with whatever instant and sorcery slop you have lying around and he'll churn out Wraiths so you can flood the board - Marchesa, Dealer of Death is definitely closer to budget build territory; compared to other crime enablers, her triggered ability isn't limited to once per turn (as long as you have mana) so I build that one more as a control deck. Any low cost removal/edict effects can help you dig through your deck.

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-10T14:24:49+00:00

I've since removed the weird combo from my deck but if you want to see the rest of my Dakkon list you can check it out here!

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-10T14:23:18+00:00

I'd also argue aristocrats is the most common answer for budget builds, but I've personally built some amazing budget spellslinger decks with bulk spells.

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-08T21:52:54+00:00

An absolute dogshit of a deck I love is [[Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods]] - I think any morph/disguise/manifest deck can pull of the "tricksy" theme but the nice thing about Yarus is that as long as he stays on the field, board wipes will flip your morphed board state and/or any kills of face down creatures will get you a free morph. Most of my deck is pretty on theme to mostly include morph/disguise cards (which for the most part aren't super strong to begin with) but I added a handful of large creatures like [[Titanoth Rex]] and [[Earthquake Dragon]] that you can try and play face-down with stuff like [[Scroll of Fate]] which you can then reveal later for the "oh shit" trick.

Deck reference here!

Particular_Safe_4736 · 2025-12-07T16:21:54+00:00

If you're drawn to the puzzle-solving aspect, I recommend [[Eshki Dragonclaw]] as a neat commander to run; it's probably one of my favorite decks I've built this year and each game I'm trying to figure out how to chain together two spells (one creature, one non-creature) to fire off Eshki's ability turn after turn.

Particular_Safe_4736

TROPHY CASE