Again, thank you for the reasonably-timed response. Tell me your thoughts on these cards

Crucible of Worlds: Recurring land destruction if you want to get mean for once. Somewhat a pricey card though.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence: Shuts down so many things in a one-sided manner, I consider this a staple in my deck regardless of what anyone says. Stops mana abilities, out of bolt range, and evasion so it can hold sword/equipment well.

Celestial Crusader: Uncounterable anthem? It may work in the favor of your opponents though.

Mistveil Plains: How has this card worked for you in game? I had the card, but the entering into play tapped gets annoying for me.

Runed Halo: Has saved me from their biggest dude and increases your chance of winning considering that they have do direct that guy to the other players. Sure, it only stops one creature, but a lot of times it involves some huge commander. You can recur it with Sun Titan to reset the card, adds to Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx mana pretty easily and searchable with Enlightened Tutor.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope: You say no high CMC's, but I see this one. How has she worked out for you? Bribery happens to frequently in my meta to run her, even if we have Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares. Have you ever thought of using Deathrender to cheat her and other creatures into play?

Marshal's Anthem: I know you said you are pretty set on recursion, but this can reanimate and provide a boost? Does it seem too oriented to a token deck?

Commander Eesha: Sweet unblockable goodness, but untargetable by 8.5's effects. Not interested?

Prison Term: A movable pacifism. Pretty sweet, but I am guessing white has better removal. Thoughts?

Dawn Elemental: Evasion, survives big beaters, and definitely adds to Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . Seems a little underpowered at 3 power though, huh.

Grafted Wargear: lol dude, 0 cost to equip. I like it a lot, but the drawback can get nasty. What do you think?

Angel of Serenity: Talk about changing the board state with one card. Does the CMC seem too high? means extra Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx mana! lol

@gzusvictory

Crucible of Worlds - No interest. It's not worth a spot in the deck if its main use is to machine gun Strip Mine effects and make everyone miserable.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence - No current interest. I prefer to have more synergy for my main strategy instead of filling my deck with hate cards. I'd consider using Linvala if creatures with problematic activated abilities becomes more widespread.

Celestial Crusader - No interest. This deck can't use anthems effectively.

Mistveil Plains - It's a fun utility land. It has great synergy with Equipment tutors, especially Stonehewer Giant. Tuck the Equipment from the grave and tutor it back. It also keeps other players from stealing cards from my graveyard. Since it's a Plains, Eternal Dragon and Knight of the White Orchid can grab it and it counts towards Emeria, The Sky Ruin's ability.

Runed Halo - No interest. I can see it being very effective against certain Commanders, but it would be a massive pain if I needed to reset it.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope - She's completely worth using even with the 8 CMC. She protects my Equipment (along with everything else) and is a standalone threat I can rely on. I don't see her Bribery'd that often. Someone else usually has a more 'interesting' target, like Eldrazi. :P

Deathrender - No interest. It doesn't offer anything for Voltron and I'm not going to use it for the very few high CMC creatures I have.

Marshal's Anthem - No interest. Anthems in general are better in token decks. They flood the field with bodies and can get the most out of the mass +1/+1 boosts.

Commander Eesha - No interest. Too small to do anything by itself and has no utility.

Prison Term - Don't sell it short. It's not a movable Pacifism, it's a movable Arrest! This is the only Aura-based removal option I would ever consider using, mainly because of its ability to move to a new creature. And the new SOI tutor, Open the Armory, makes it more appealing.

Dawn Elemental - No interest. Like Commander Eesha, it's just a low P/T creautre that doesn't do anything. The devotion is wicked high, but not worth adding just for that.

Grafted Wargear - No interest. Aside from the crippling downside, the P/T boost is too small by itself.

Angel of Serenity - Used it before. I mostly used its ability to grab creatures from my grave. Dropped it for the same reason as Karmic Guide.

Crackdown and Aurification: Seems like good one-sided annoyances, and even Batterskull has vigilance so it normally does not get tapped. Seems like an excellent defensive card that wards attackers away similar to your Ghostly Prison.

Karn Liberated: I like exiling a permanent, and you may get to do it again if it survives, and if it does not, then it saved you from taking some damage.

Worldslayer: A big combo with your Darksteel Plate and Bastion Protector. Pretty expensive play/equip though, but Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Stonehewer Giant, and Puresteel Paladin can cheat around those costs. Thoughts?

Basilisk Collar: Too underwhelming? It has a cheap play and equip on it.

Empyrial Plate: Deadly early game, but seems bad late. Land Tax seems like a good way to keep this running at full cylinders, but maybe too conditional?

Soltari Visionary: Unblockable and Demystify on a stick? Seems good, no?

Glory: Sweet combat trick that gets easily forgotten in the grave and not too bad for a creature. Thoughts?

Preacher: More like a fun card than anything else. Do you not like controlling things, or maybe too many token decks in your meta? It can act like removal at times.

Gideon Jura: If you +2 him, then use 8.5 to give him pro white and make the attacking creatures white seems like a repeatable fog. Did you try him before?

Condemn: Cheap and effective removal, but only works on the defensive. I took this out because it does not stop the annihilator triggers off of my opponent's eldrazi.

Razor Hippogriff: Seems like an okay recursion for your equipment. does seem like a hefty price compared to your Remember the Fallen and does not hit creatures.

@gzusvictory

Crackdown - No interest. Other White decks are unaffected. I don't like cards that easily end up completely dead.

Aurification - No interest. Doesn't actually stop or hinder attacks. Opponents will have no issues attacking with expendable creatures or with an alpha strike.

Karn Liberated - No interest. Like with Ugin, Karn is unneeded in White.

Worldslayer - No interest. Not a Voltron Equipment. It's only purpose is to slow games to a painful crawl.

Basilisk Collar - Always on the fence with it. On one hand, it has great utility. On the other hand, it doesn't help 8.5 with Commander Damage kills or protect him from removal.

Empyrial Plate - No interest. With White being the worst at card draw, Plate is too inconsistent.

Soltari Visionary - No interest. Enchantment-only removal is way too narrow.

Glory - No interest. Thought about it once, but it's an underwhelming creature by itself and it's too cumbersome for this deck to get it into the graveyard.

Preacher - No interest. Anything that involves an opponent's choice is bad. It will always backfire.

Gideon Jura - Used him before for that reason. Wasn't impressed. All of Gideon's cards have the same problem: Lackluster abilities without a worthwhile ultimate to build up to.

Condemn - No interest. Completely outclassed by all of the stronger removal available.

Razor Hippogriff - No interest. Too much mana to recur an artifact, regardless of the 3/3 flier the effect is attached to.

Ever considered Silent Arbiter since it supports Voltron play?

It will be targeted more easily than an enchantment most of the time, but you have the options in your deck to get it out of your graveyard with cards like Argivian Archaeologist and Remember the Fallen

@PartyJ

Not a fan of Silent Arbiter. A deck that necessitates an increased use of artifact removal is an unfitting place for a utility artifact creature. It's also not as effective as Ghostly Prison effects. It stops armies, but lone, powerful creatures are unaffected.

No Earnest Fellowship?

@Larkit

Earnest Fellowship is too detrimental.

• It ruins all of my targeted removal spells against other White creatures.
• Red decks get one-sided damage sweepers, such as Blasphemous Act.
• 5-colour decks laugh with their nigh-untouchable Commander.
• It makes Godsend a completely dead card.

It causes too many headaches for what little benefits it may give.

My play group consists of mostly control decks with huge late game cards. Normally a good timed Cyclonic Rift gives them enough tempo to win the game as it is normally followed up with Tooth and Nail or a similar card in power level. Is there anything you could recommend to help me stand a better chance?

@SIash

There's nothing anyone can do about Cyclonic Rift (or any other mass bounce spell) aside from also using Blue for counterspells. White can't interact with the stack well and the few counterspells it does have won't help. The best option would be to focus on the Blue player before they're in a position to win off of casting Cyclonic Rift.

As for Tooth and Nail, if you know one is going to be cast, hold back a spot removal spell for the best creature they tutor for, especially if they frequently tutor 2-card combos.

White has an answer with Ghostway or Eerie Interlude, but these cards are mostly only suitable in so few situations like with Cyclonic Rift that it's not worthy giving them a slot in your mainboard.

Hello, I also enjoy seeing discussion around mono white decks. I'm an avid Lin Sivvi player myself. As such, I have very limited knowledge of an 8.5 tails deck outside what I have played against. I noticed the deck requires a lot of mana. What were your thoughts on mana rocks?

I found all I was doing with eternal dragon was searching for a plains. I switched it for a plains. Never looked back. Having a 1-2 land hand with Eternal dragon felt horrible. A plains was always better.

Lin Sivvi often holds up mana as its not a tap out deck. I'm not sure about 8.5 tails. As such, counters work great in my deck. Mana tithe is awesome. As commanders always get re-cast there is always an opportunity for a timely mana tithe. I'm assuming if you are a voltron deck, a memory lapse affect would be great as you may just need 1 more attack. (ie. stopping a cyconic rift for 1 turn before you kill them). Another underrated counter is warping wail.

curious on your thoughts,James

@Jamesbrine

Mana Rocks - Since this deck naturally attracts artifact removal, I keep mana rocks to a minimum and use more land ramp options instead. I don't need artifact sweepers blowing up my win-cons and my mana base.

Eternal Dragon - This guy is one of my favourite utility cards ever. I never have any issues with it and it's always good whenever I see it.

• It's a Plains tutor that doesn't cost coloured mana.
• It can tutor for Mistveil Plains.
• It's a shuffle effect on demand to refresh the top of my library for Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack.
• A 5/5 flier is a great base creature to hold Equipment.
• Self-recurring. Makes tutoring Plains and shuffling repeatable and a 5/5 that can never be fully removed without exiling it. A bit expensive to do so, but it's available if I need it.

I'm not a fan of White's counterspell options. They're way too conditional for my liking.

• Mana Tithe looses it's surprise factor very quickly once opponents realize you use it. And it will almost never work against Green players.
• Lapse of Certainty is too situational. Delaying a spell for a turn doesn't do anything most of the time.
• Warping Wail is too narrow and underwhelming. Threatening creatures can't be removed by it. Most spells worth countering are instants (ie. other counterspells). Producing a single Eldrazi Scion feels like a complete waste of a card.

Can I ask what happened to Trading Post? I swear you used to run it.

@Anorak

I dropped Trading Post for Sword of the Animist when Origins released. I only ever used half of its abilities consistently and there's better artifact recursion available that doesn't require a creature to sacrifice every time.

Thoughts on these cards?Mass calcifyInfiltration lensScuttlemuttPalisade giantEldrazi conscription

@Nxzz

Mass Calcify - No interest. 7 mana for a creature-only sweeper is terrible. It also backfires against other White decks.

Infiltration Lens - No interest. Your opponents have all the control over it drawing cards.

Scuttlemutt - No interest. 8.5 doesn't need help in turning cards White. Mana creatures in Commander are risky, as they'll end up dying in the next sweeper.

Palisade Giant - No interest. There are much better ways to keep damage off of creatures and yourself.

Eldrazi Conscription - I have absolutely no interest in Auras. I don't have the support cards nor space in the deck for them. Conscription also costs too much mana for my liking.

Thanks for the comments on those cards, I'm quite on a budget so i don't have many of the cards listed but still the deck is quite solid and threatening!

I mean, this might be me being nit-picky but why Eight-and-a-Half-Tails for Voltron? Particularly if you don't want cards that rely on the Commander to work. It's not hard to make a creature unblockable.
Hot Soup - If your Creature also has Hexproof, then this isn't much of a downside.
Prowler's Helm - In EDH no one plays nothing but walls, so they could probably block you once and you'd kill their creature. If you have Trample this should also be no big deal.
Trailblazer's Boots - Who doesn't play at least one Non-Basic Land in their EDH Deck?
Vorrac Battlehorns - Forces your opponent to ether take damage, or kill one of their creatures. If you have trample, you'd still make it through.

I almost feel like a better Voltron Commander would be some of these:
Jareth, Leonine Titan - Like Eight-and-a-Half-Tails but better. He does cost more as a creature, but it's going to be very difficult for anyone to remove him once he gets on the field. You don't even play Eight-and-a-Half-Tails right away so while you build up what you need, you'd be building up Mana, and the card cost tends to matter less. It also cost less to protect him, and you can protect him from any color as needed, at most you'd ever pay 5 mana to keep him protected, Vs Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, where you'd have to pay 2 to give Eight-and-a-Half-Tails protection from white, then pay 1 for each and every thing he needs protection from. At Most, this can become a lot more than 5.
Gerrard Capashen - Does a thing when he attacks that can protect you, and also gains you life. He's p.decent for multiplayer.
Isamaru, Hound of Konda - because why not? It's funny.

Also I know you said no Sword of War and Peace, Circle of Protection: White, Rune of Protection: White, & Story Circle but honestly, it cuts down on Eight-and-a-Half-Tails costs if you are only using his ability to make him unblockable. It isn't so much a "I don't want cards that only work with my commander" point of view that you're currently having compared to a "How can I get a cheaper way to make him unblockable so I can be more efficient at getting out more of what I need and attached to him ASAP." point of view that you should have. That and if you are using him to protect other things, it becomes a lot cheaper in the long run Mana cost wise to do this.

I mean, if you're using Eight-and-a-Half-Tails to protect your equipment and things of that nature as well, then it isn't a bad Idea to throw him into the deck as part of the 99, but I feel as if your going for Voltron, then Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a waste for a commander and you could do better.

@Lunyka

I chose Eight-and-a-Half-Tails as my Commander because he's pretty much the best Commander White has to offer for Voltron. Mono-White doesn't have a proper "Equipment Matters" Commander. The only Mono-White Legends in the game that have "Equipment Matters" abilities are Kemba, Kha Regent and Raksha Golden Cub. Both of them are more centered around Cat tribal than Equipment. Kemba, Kha Regent was originally this deck's Commander because her ability involved Equipment, but I eventually switched to 8.5 because I cared little for her Cat tokens and wanted a Commander that was more focused on dealing Commander Damage.

8.5 making himself unblockable is more of a convenience than a major trait. There's plenty of Equipment and other sources that offer some form of evasion. His unblockability comes in handy if the current Equipment on hand are lacking. I mainly use his abilities to keep targeted removal at bay.

Hot Soup, Prowler's Helm, Trailblazer's Boots, and Vorrac Battlehorns are too low-impact for my liking. Each Equipment needs to offer a significant amount of utility and/or raw power to be worth a slot in my deck. I don't waste slots on Equipment that barely do anything.

Jareth, Leonine Titan - His higher mana cost is too much of a problem. He'll end up costing a ton of mana to recast him and even more after that to equip him.

Gerrard Capashen - He's a horrible example of a Legendary creature. He's a 5-mana 3/4 that does absolutely nothing until you untap with him... and what do you get? A bit of lifegain and an overcosted and conditional creature tapdown ability. Not Voltron material... or Commander worthy in general for that matter.

Isamaru, Hound of Konda - He's outclassed. Kytheon, Hero of Akros  ^Flip is a much better 1-drop Legend. If he never flips, trading 1 toughness for indestructibility on demand and better creature types is well worth it. Even so, I still prefer 8.5's utility for the additional .

I'm not looking for ways to get a discount on 8.5's abilities. That just leads to bad cards and awkward compromises. I don't use Sword of War and Peace because I hate how mediocre and boring its abilities are. I don't use Circle of Protection: White and it's cousins because they're narrow cards and they offer nothing for a Voltron strategy.

8.5 is my Commander because I can't do better. Name a Voltron-worthy Mono-White Commander that's superior to one with a low mana cost, can invalidate targeted removal on any permanent, and can make any creature you control unblockable. You can't. I'll only consider replacing 8.5 if Wizards creates a capable "Equipment Matters" Commander that actually cares about Equipment. But I feel like that creature being created is a long ways off, if it ever arrives at all.

How happy are you right now?

Sigarda's Blessing

@Anorak

Absolutely!

Flash and free equipping for a single ? What a deal! Who would turn that down?

What to take out for Sigarda's Blessing?

I'm thinking Elspeth doesn't make enough impact on the board. The most useful ability is the ultimate, which takes 5 turns.

@wtfmidun

I'm taking out Profound Journey. The Vancouver Mulligan makes it awkward for high CMC cards in the opening hand and I already have plenty of recursion in the deck.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant offers a boost and evasion for 8.5, bodies to chump block or hold Equipment, and is always building towards her fantastic ultimate. She's not going anywhere.

Fair enough. I prefer Profound Journey because opposing removal is more of my playstyle, and the card is definitely a late game bomb. Elspeth, Knight-Errant has an excellent ultimate, but she get's hit a lot in practice. Needless to say, the strongest deck at the table gets hit, a lot. I guess for a meta where every deck at the table is a crazy strong combo or combo-control, Elspeth would be ignored more readily.