Halfdane (MTGO Variant)

Commander / EDH Voltron WUB (Esper)

glunders

Creature (17)

• 1x Colossus of Akros
• 1x Divinity of Pride
• 1x Dread
• 1x Frost Titan
• 1x Halfdane
• 1x Horobi, Death's Wail
• 1x Hunted Horror
• 1x Hunted Lammasu
• 1x Hunted Phantasm
• 1x Isperia, Supreme Judge
• 1x Puresteel Paladin
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Stonehewer Giant
• 1x Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer

Land (36)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Esper Panorama
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 3x Island
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 3x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rupture Spire
• 1x Skycloud Expanse
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Transguild Promenade
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Vivid Meadow

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Vow of Duty
• 1x Vow of Flight
• 1x Vow of Malice

Artifact (26)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Darksteel Forge
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Grappling Hook
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x O-Naginata
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Sword of Vengeance
• 1x Trailblazer's Boots
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Instant (5)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Oblation
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Planar Cleansing
• 1x Recurring Insight
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift
• 1x Supreme Verdict

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope

Enchantment (1)

• 1x No Mercy

Artifact (1)

• 1x Darksteel Forge

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Overall Strategy

Create an overwhelming individual "Voltron" force with powerful equipment to deal lethal damage to an opponent. Halfdane is, of course, a great choice for this objective: He wins with the commander damage rule, so he only has to deal 21 damage in total, and the deck is specifically set up to make him strong quickly. (Hunted Horror, for example, might seem like a dumb choice until you consider that it can make Halfdane a 7/7 between turns 3 and 5, depending on how you've ramped.) However, I've won with a decked-out Puresteel Paladin after Halfdane became the victim of Condemn, so the strategy has some flexibility.

Some notes:

Hunted Cycle

These are three creatures with high power and toughness for a low mana cost that come with the drawback of giving an opponent creatures. They are: Hunted Lammasu, Hunted Phantasm, and Hunted Horror. They're here because they can make Halfdane rather powerful early on in the game--and since this is built with multiplayer in mind, you can gift the creatures to one player and smash another. They're also just fun: You won't stand out as a significant target at first because you're playing these goofy dudes that give creatures to other people, which, I've noticed, can help you sneak by without drawing lots of attention to yourself. If you wanted this deck to be a very competitive build, or plan to play it 1v1, you'd probably want to take these guys out.

Vows

Another cycle you don't see much of, Vow of Duty, Vow of Flight, and Vow of Malice emulate the purpose of the Hunted cycle by being fun AND beefing up another creature that Halfdane can copy the power and toughness of. They also function somewhat as threat removal: These cards have saved my tail from a very powerful creature or even something like Thada Adel, Acquisitor before, but do keep in mind that creatures that can't attack you will still defend against you. If you're very close to winning, you can also slap these on your Voltron. Again, if one were to tweak this deck for more competitive play, these could go, but they do serve a purpose in addition to being enjoyable to play.

Stabbing Implements

For the most part, these require no explanation. I've found that I most often tutor up Sword of Fire and Ice first--they're useful colors to have protection against, and the effects are excellent--followed by Whispersilk Cloak or Grappling Hook. Any of the equipment cards featured here will help, though.

Horobi

Horobi, Death's Wail is interesting in that it will turn Halfdane into a killing machine--he targets at the start of each upkeep, so you can explode any problematic creatures (provided they don't have hexproof, indestructible, or shroud). The downside is that Halfdane won't gain their power and toughness afterwards. Still, this is a great move in a pinch.

Possible Improvements

I don't necessarily have the best tutors or card draw here, simply because I don't own them on MTGO and don't want to pay the money for them. Seek out Demonic Tutor, Necropotence and any of the other usual suspects as necessary. (For what it's worth, I've never particularly been in want of these--and this deck has won many times--but it's hard to deny their value.) You might also want to throw in powerhouse cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Grafted Exoskeleton, etc.

Date added	11 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 45 - 0 Rares 33 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	101
Avg. CMC	3.48
Tokens	Centaur 3/3 G w/ Pro Black, Goblin 1/1 R, Horror 4/4 B, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders	Three-Color Generals (EDH)