Oh Tendershot, never thought of this bad boy and that loyal drake looks alot better than the other one.

Awesome build and primer EVENcast! I have a specific question about gameplay. I’ve been wanting to build Volo but I keep hesitating. I only have one simic deck, (aesi landfall). It’s fun for me but the turns take too long and annoy my meta. How is the average turn speed on your volo deck… like where does it fall on a scale between 90 second turns and playing solitaire with an audience? Thanks

Araxleon - I think finale of devastation is a great finisher for most creature-based decks, but in Volo I prefer our mass-pump effects to be printed on creatures, not sorceries. I suppose we could run this to tutor out craterhoof, assuming we only need one copy of it to swing for victory… but overall it seems a bit too mana hungry… espescially if we want Finale’s other pump ability too. It could definitely be good, It’s just a bit off-theme for my taste. Thanks for the suggestion!

Dangerwillrobinson79 - Thanks for the upvote and comment! In my experience the turn length in Volo is much quicker than most other Simic decks I’ve played. In an average hand, we can clearly see the line of play, which means fewer choices to slow down the turn. Also, unlike Aesi, there aren’t very many effects triggering during our turn, other than Volo’s ability and maybe some card-draw off creatures entering. I almost always have my next turn mapped out during my opponents turns, and it’s pretty rare that a turn takes longer than 2 minutes. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the response! I was hoping you would say that. Time to buy some cardboard.

Loyal Drake is the bomb. Much better choice than other drake.

So the newest set came out and saw Kura, the Boundless Sky and i needed this in the deck so i took out Primordial Sage. This deck has enough draw card abilities.

rwn1971 I’ve been considering swapping the Primordial Sage for Keiga, the Tide Star. Of all the spirit dragons I think this one has the most utility for Volo. I’ve been looking at a lot of other potential swaps lately too. Have you had much luck with Junk Winder or Deadwood Treefolk? These look good on paper but I haven’t had much luck with them. I’m working on a big update with these and a few other swaps.

Junk Winder i have not used him once cause it does nothing for me. Deadwood Treefolk i have used a few times (even last night). Thing about Kura is it gets you 3 lands not basic but any 3 lands which i find very good. Tried him last night first time couple games. Got lands in one game and other game got a big boy token. One other card i am thinking of adding to this deck is Triumph of the hordes...your thoughts? Do not get me wrong Keiga is freaking amazing and you do get a creature right away. I would have to test Keiga out to see which of the 2 is better.

rwn1971 I think Triumph of the Hordes is great in all creature based decks... but I'm stubbornly trying to keep all of my overrun-style effects on creatures rather than sorceries. Ultimately, that may not be the wisest decision... I'm frequently tempted to run Overwhelming Stampede, and I could see Triumph being just as good or better.
Have you had much luck with the landfall sub-theme? Ruin Crab, Wayward Swordtooth, and even Scute Swarm have only had minimal success in the games where I've played them. Scute is probably the best of the three, and works will even without the swordtooth... but I wonder if Hornet Queen is a better insect for us. I'm leaning towards cutting the Junk Winder for Myr Battlesphere, which I've seen on other Volo lists but I haven't tested it in this deck yet. I'm also looking at swapping Man-o'-War for another counter spell, as my playgroup agressively goes after Volo now.

I find Ruin Crab to be useless and really makes me a big target lol. I was playing FNM last week and had 50 insects and my opponents scooped lol. Swordtooth i really like for the extra land and has helped me quite a bit. Hornet Queen is nice but if u doing that and Battlesphere that is 2 7 drops. I do run 3 counterspells.... Counterspell, Negate and Dissipate. I do not own a Fierce Guardianship yet and reason i added Dissipate is that it is a good way to get rid of them creatures that get shuffled into library when they hit graveyard or to get rid of cards that run on graveyard recursion. Once i do get a Fierce i will swap with Negate. What about switching Ruin Crab for an eldrazi type? I have tested Oblivion SOwer cause its my favorite Eldrazi creature plus i didn't own a SPhinx( btw it came in the mail today finally).

Okay i need to take out Ruin Crab, Junk Winder and Deadwood Treefolk as i am finding these cards basically useless. Reason for each is easy. 1. Ruin Crab comes out early and i am generally a target right away. 2. Junk Winder i just never use and when i do i am generally paying the full mana for it. 3. Deadwood is not good when you got Uso in graveyard and really Uso is soooooo good in this deck and also Uso and Wayward are good together when you multiple lands also with scute. This is the reason i am liking Kura is that it works great with Wayward/scute out on the battlefield as i have been generally going for the 3 lands. Now i got to decide wat is the best replacement for these 3 cards.

If you are worried about your creatures being countered why not take out Lotus Cobra for Prowling Serpopard as i am thinking of testing this out.

Update for my deck Ruin Crab , Junk Winder , and Deadwood Treefolk are out and Keiga, the Tide Star , Prowling Serpopard and Scavenging Ooze are in. Keiga as you said is to good. Prowling is just an amazing and Ooze is my graveyard hate.

rwn1971 I'm still trying to stick to one of each creature type, so the fact that Scavenging Ooze and Prowling Serpopard share types with Lotus Cobra, Temur Sabertooth, and Acidic Slime means they're off the table for me, but they're all fantastic cards for sure. I've only made two swaps recently, cutting a basic forest for Boseiju, Who Endures, and finally cutting Junk Winder for the awesome New Capenna card Shield Broker. I'm keeping my Ruin Crab for now, as it distracts and draws the hate away from my commander. I'm also keeping Deadwood Treefolk around. It's true that it's sometimes a dead card, but when its good its VERY good, and as the only piece of recursion, it's staying for now. The next card on my radar for a potential cut is Alchemist's Refuge because i don't think I've ever used it's ability in a game. This list is mana hungry, so while this card is good in theory (especially with Pathbreaker Ibex, which I'm still running), it hasn't done anything for me in games so far. I'm also keeping Primordial Sage, despite how tempting those Spirit Dragons are... I might change it up later, but the sage has saved me a few times now.

OMG Shield Broker is amazing. Yeah i have never used Alchemist's Refuge once. Would you take out Alchemist's Refuge for an island or have you got a special land in mind??

rwn1971 I’ll probably swap Alchemist’s Refuge for Reflecting Pool, which just got reprinted in Baldur’s Gate.

So new set comming out. What do you think of Silverback Elder ?

rwn1971 oh it’s going in for sure! It’s the perfect card to Replace either Deadwood Treefolk or Pathbreaker Ibex.

I am probably going to remove Deadwood Treefolk as i find Pathbreaker Ibex to be a much better card and a bigger threat.

Have you considered Overgrown Battlement for the wall slot? I feel like it’s a great early card to make sure you can get Volo back out after hes

richarmander Thanks for the suggestion! This deck hasn’t had too much trouble with ramp or running out of mana to recast Volo. Card draw is just so insanely important, and the ceiling on Wall of Blossoms is crazy high in a Volo deck. With volo out, it’s draw 2 for 2, if we have Twinning staff it’s draw 3 for 2, if we have 2 beast whisperers out it’s draw 4 for 2, and it can get much crazier under the right circumstances. Card draw guarantees we hit our land drops, and I’ve got other mana dorks to help with ramp as well. That’s what’s so cool about Volo though, there are so many combinations of possible creature types to use, and you can shape the deck to fit your meta.

Deadeye Navigator is doing the trick for me.

Hi, have you considered Awaken the Woods for the deck? you have 3 (maybe 4 if you change Mulldrifter for Avenger of Zendikar in elemental slot) landfall creatures and with this card you could make Ruin Crab and Lotus Cobra really strong if they are on the battlefield.

Sandwitcher I could see Deadeye Navigator being awesome in some Volo lists, but only about half of the creatures on my list have ETB effects, and Volo is already doubling those… plus my utility cards focus on copying Volo’s cast-trigger rather than copying the effects of my other creatures. The fact that navigator is a 6 drop (8 if you want to use it the turn you cast it) means it’s too slow and too “win more” for the way I’ve built Volo. I’d be curious to check out your list to see what direction you’ve taken it!

Roritrox There aren’t enough landfall cards on this list to warrant including Awaken the Woods. I do think Volo could definitely be built as a landfall deck, (and I’d love to see one!) but I play plenty of games where I don’t see a single landfall card, and this would end up as a dead card in hand. Thank you for the suggestion!

Hey, thanks for explanation! Here is my list, feel free to have a look https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/12-10-22-wololo/?cb=1673267434