Halvar, Divine Voltron

Commander / EDH NensouHiebara

SCORE: 1010 | 1814 COMMENTS | 293190 VIEWS | IN 555 FOLDERS


dethjakal says... #1

January 8, 2013 11:24 a.m.

NensouHiebara says... #2

Tried Temple of the False God before. Didn't like it. Temple in your opening hand forces a mulligan and does nothing if you happen to miss land drops. Late game, Temple loses it's luster. Also, I'm running Ancient Tomb , which is a lot better.

Caged Sun and Extraplanar Lens net me more mana than Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo . They're not needed.

January 9, 2013 12:12 a.m.

chilbi says... #3

Pretty linear build. I'm sure you've considered Quest for the Holy Relic ? The reward is tempting but you might be a little low on creatures to make it an auto-include.

January 23, 2013 4:07 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #4

Quest for the Holy Relic is way too slow. Having to play Quest and cast 5 creatures is too much of a hassle. Also, it's horrible late game.

January 23, 2013 5:16 p.m.

floatingskull1 says... #5

Great deck!

One thing I noticed is that being able to fetch oblivion ring with enlightened tutor would be pretty great. When playtesting with this deck I found that an early trygon predator or aura shards can be really difficult to deal with and was surprised that enlightened tutor didnt have a more direct answer than karmic justice.

January 24, 2013 10:23 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #6

I don't like using Oblivion Ring because it can easily be dealt with. Opponents can destroy it to get back whatever is exiled. Also, it can end up as collateral damage from my own sweepers. It's not a permanent answer.

January 25, 2013 1:30 p.m.

RxPhantom says... #7

In my Kemba deck (which I have yet to post) ,Leonin Shikari and Puresteel Paladin are best friends.

February 2, 2013 2:53 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #8

I used to have Leonin Shikari . I took it out as instant-speed equipping is near useless.

When Kemba is out, she should be the only one holding Equipment. There should be no need to move them around. Shikari becomes a do-nothing.

In my opinion, Shikari is overrated. There are better cards.

February 3, 2013 5:30 p.m.

McMills says... #9

wouldnt lightning greaves make it so that you cant equip anything else to him?

February 4, 2013 10:39 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #10

I don't equip Kemba with Lightning Greaves for that reason. Shroud is a pain to work around, which is why I don't use many Equipment that give it.

Greaves is mainly used on my other creatures to give them haste or to protect them from spot removal.

February 5, 2013 10:06 a.m.

Amnesiac_ says... #11

Things with.double strike are wild in these decks. Look at Mirran Crusader and equipment that can do it like Grappling Hook and Fireshrieker . Awesome deck list though definite +1. Got lists for days comments appreciated essiga9.

February 13, 2013 6:42 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #12

I did consider Mirran Crusader before, but ultimately decided on Silverblade Paladin instead, as it gives double strike to another creature along with having it itself.

Fireshrieker was in my deck, but was cut for Ajani, Caller of the Pride . Would like to add it back in, but my deck is at the point where making cuts are becoming difficult.

Grappling Hook is too much mana to give one creature double strike.

February 13, 2013 8:07 p.m.

Hobes369 says... #13

card:Inquisitor's Flail. It's a dangerous move, but it can swing for huge damage especially with double strike.

February 18, 2013 1:43 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #14

card:Inquisitor's Flail could go in instead of Fireshrieker if I ever find space.

February 18, 2013 1:55 p.m.
February 18, 2013 6:37 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #17

Took it out. Leonin Shikari is overrated and generally useless. There's no real reason to have instant-speed equipping.

February 18, 2013 7:40 p.m.

How well can you protect Elspeth and Ajani? Seems like Muldrifter can shut her down if you don't have one of your seven fliers. For that reason I would suggest Kitesail , I know it's mainly seen in limited but I think flying is underrated and value it a lot. Also I don't know how often people destroy your stuff. Karmic Justice is a card I would think about cutting or upgrading to card:Martyr's Bond + sac outlet like card:Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar .

Steelshaper Apprentice is bad, I'm surprised its been in your deck for so long. You already have 4 other equipment tutors that are miles better than this. I guess you could live the dream and have Lightning Greaves, but 5 mana for a Steelshaper's Gift is not something that excites me. You should at least think about replacing it with Fireshrieker or card:Inquisitor's Flail.

Finally I love card:Cathars' Crusade and it would be the first card I put in a Kemba deck. I know you don't think of this as a token deck, but it makes Kemba bigger and gives your 2/2 cats a huge boost.

February 22, 2013 11:54 a.m.

NensouHiebara says... #19

Kitesail is bad. I'm not running a bad Equipment because fliers can give my Planeswalkers grief.

Karmic Justice is able to pick off whatever permanents ail me if my stuff get hit with removal. card:Martyr's Bond is twice the mana, can be worked around, can't hit land, can't trigger off land destruction, and isn't recurable with Sun Titan . card:Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar are do-nothings without Kemba.

Steelshaper Apprentice may be the lower end of Equipment tutors, but he's only other tutor that's repeatable. I'm waiting for a new Equipment tutor to be it's replacement.

card:Cathars' Crusade is another do-nothing without Kemba. I'm not running a 5-mana enchantment with only 'win-more' as it's purpose. I don't want to be filling my deck up with cards that only work if Kemba is out. If Kemba becomes unavailable, the rest of the deck has to function without her.

February 22, 2013 2:01 p.m.

MagnorCriol says... #20

Mirran Crusader is, in general, superior to Silverblade Paladin for much the same reason that card:Cathars' Crusade is lackluster in a deck like this: Crusader always has double strike, plus protection from a relevant color (and one somewhat less relevant); the Paladin is a very mediocre 2/2 for 3 without another dude out there. That's why I ended up choosing Crusader over Paladin for my white equipment deck - once opponents catch on to what I'm doing, they generally don't let creatures stick around if they can help it.

The real question is, why not run both? More double-strikers is better in a deck like this.

I like Karmic Justice ! I'll have to look into putting that into my deck, I think. Pretty handy that it's recoverable by Sun Titan . Not sure how I missed that guy. Pretty bamf art, too.

I think you're underrating Leonin Shikari . I've gotten a lot of mileage out of instant-speed equipping in my runs with my deck when I have a protective equipment out there.

I also think Fireshrieker is miles and miles better than card:Inquisitor's Flail. Having that first strike damage step changes a creature from strong to terrifying in combat.

Steelshaper Apprentice is a good card, I've found. It's not as good as others but all tutors are strong in EDH. The fact that it can pick up the equipment it's tutoring for is relevant as well.

I never got good mileage out of Fountain Watch . People don't seem to run too much artifact and enchantment spot removal in EDH; most of the time it's mass destroy effects like card:Akroma's Vengeance or Fracturing Gust , which Fountain Watch does nothing for. It's not a complete blank or anything, but it seems like there's lots of cards vying for a spot in this deck that are better.

Overall I like the deck. I have a soft spot for equipment decks.

February 26, 2013 10:28 a.m.

NensouHiebara says... #21

The reason I don't run both is that I don't have the space. I run Silverblade Paladin over Mirran Crusader because it supports the Voltron strategy by giving Kemba double strike.

I never found being able to jump Equipment around at instant-speed useful. When Kemba is out, all Equipment is on her and stays there. If Kemba is unavailable, someone else is holding Equipment.

card:Inquisitor's Flail stacks with double strike. Fireshrieker becomes a dead card if there's another source of double strike out.

Your meta might not have a lot of spot removal, but mine does. Equipment beatdown is the main win-con of the deck, I have to protect my Equipment from everything in any way I can.

February 26, 2013 11:29 a.m.

alexsmith21 says... #22

I haven't playtested this, but just looking at the deck list, it looks like card draw might be an issue. Have you found that to be the case?

February 26, 2013 11:50 a.m.

Archangel113 says... #23

Leonin Shikari is good becasue if you have any equipment out that gives hexproof or shroud you all of a sudden have a counterspell against "target creature" spell that only costs the equip cost. If you have a Puresteel Paladin out it's a FREE counterspell. Not to mention you swing, get your stuff blocked, then can move around equip for max damage/defense AT INSTANT SPEED before damage is dealt. At the end of their turn you can shift all your equip to the general for max tokens (I know this isn't a token deck but that's bonus blockers/zerg attackers and resources), then move it back during your turn. I believe you're highly underestimating the card in an equipment+voltron style deck.

I agree with card:Cathars' Crusade in this deck. It could turn out to be brutal depending how you move around equipment. You also have other creatures to generate counters off so it's not useless w/o your general out.

I know you said you don't care for card:Cathars' Crusade or Leonin Shikari but you're building a voltron style partial equipment deck. Both cards are great ways to make your general and all other creatures big and scarey.

Also if you're looking for a way to bump her attack fast you could run, although cheap and not great, Golem-Skin Gauntlets could give a fast power boost for little mana.

February 26, 2013 12:08 p.m.

NensouHiebara says... #24

Why would I swing with an equipped army when I can swing with an equipped Kemba and bash in for 21? This is why I don't run Leonin Shikari , there's no real reason to move Equipment around at instant-speed, or even at all. Most of my Equipment stay on one creature. That's the strategy of Voltron decks: Supercharge one creature and smash. One creature, not an army.

card:Cathars' Crusade is better off in a dedicated token deck, which can get full use out of it. In my deck, it would only work with an active Kemba. Any other time it would be a dead card. It's not something I want to be using.

Golem-Skin Gauntlets is bad. Weak pump.

February 26, 2013 2:13 p.m.

Amnesiac_ says... #25

Firstly I agree with Archangel113 on about Mirran Crusader and Leonin Shikari . These cards are both incredibly good, there is a reason they were both played heavily and dominated the standard decks when they were in set, play them. I don't see Sword of Body and Mind in here. I know it is easily the weakest of the 5 swords but it is still an amazing equipment. At its worst it still gives +3l3 and pro g & u to help fill your full 'pro color' voltron effect. If equipt creature gets double strike it mills 20 cards a turn. That is 1l5 of the deck that they have already drawn 1l5 of. By milling you are limiting peoples answers to your creature. Even if they hit a tutor the card they are looking for may not be in the deck anymore. Darksteel Forge should he in here with avacyn. They make things like Mycosynth Lattice Worldslayer and card:Nevinyrral's Disk total lock outs. Just some things to consider.

February 26, 2013 8:29 p.m.

Please login to comment