@Stefouch

Smuggler's Copter doesn't have to worry about summoning sickness after the turn it's played, can also trigger off of blocking, gives my utility creatures the option to "attack" without putting them in danger, and is an evasive body to divebomb Planeswalkers.

Mask of Memory is completely overshadowed by Sword of Fire and Ice. Mask of Memory also offers absolutely nothing outside of card draw. No P/T boost and no keywords? No thanks.

Not interested in Heirloom Blade. Equipment with death triggers will almost never trigger off of a Commander's death, the creature types in this deck are too varied, and the lone +3/+1 boost is... boring.

Wowowow! Hey! Remember me!? Probably not. I still run 8.5. I am very new to your change to SRAM! A few questions:

What do you consider your starting game plan with Sram? Let's say you have a few equipment tutors, what equipment do you search for and what order? You mentioned with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, you search for Swiftfoot Boots first or Sword of the Animist if you are short on lands. Did this change for Sram, Senior Edificer?

No! You chopped Ghostly Prison? And the 2/3 flyer with the same effect? What did you replace them with and why!? (If you can remember.)

How did Grasp of Fate make the cut? I thought you did not like Oblivion Ring-esque effects? Does multiple targets make t worth it? Why not run Quarantine Field at that point? Too much mana? A chance for more targets on the same opponent also though.

What did you cut for Forsake the Worldly? If you can remember.

Last question, ever think about switching back to Eight-and-a-Half-Tails? Sure, he does literal nothing early, but you become SO invulnerable in the late game, which you can reach pretty easily considering you are playing with 3 other players. Do you ever miss it? Or are you 100% satisfied with the change? I do like the touch of keeping him in your deck. How did your play group/meta respond to the commander change? With relief? I can imagine Sram, Senior Edificer often gets under rated at first glance.

@gzusvictory

The starting game plan is to drop Sram, Senior Edificer on Turn 2 and ride the card draw. An early Equipment tutor is usually spent on the either one of those two. In fact, Sram, Senior Edificer makes Sword of the Animist better as he's a consistent early game body to equip.

Ghostly Prison and Windborn Muse were replaced with Grasp of Fate and Armory Automaton respectively. I needed space for Armory Automaton and leaving Ghostly Prison by itself wasn't going to be that effective anymore.

Grasp of Fate is an exception as it hits multiple permanents. No interest in Quarantine Field. It's way too expensive and doesn't work with Sun Titan.

I cut Karmic Justice for Forsake the Worldly. Quality exiling removal is constantly being printed, which erodes Karmic Justice's effectiveness.

Never switching back to Eight-and-a-Half-Tails and I absolutely don't miss him in the Command Zone. Sram, Senior Edificer's been amazing since the change. Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is only still in the 99 due to the lack of Leonin Abunas variants without shroud. He still has his issues in low mana situations.

My Commander is mostly irrelevant. It's the crazy plays I sometimes perform that cause groans. I got extremely lucky once with Argentum Armor and a Masterwork of Ingenuity copy both equipped on Turn 5.

Though I'm been happy with Sram, Senior Edificer, his days in the Command Zone may be numbered. Balan, Wandering Knight from the Commander 2017 decks has my complete attention right now. The Cat hits like a truck with little set up.

I find it surprising that you would be willing to trade the card draw from Sram and the early game presence he gives for a 4CMC 3/3 with first strike that needs 2 more mana to do something relevant. I think Balan should be in the deck, don't get me wrong, but I don't think he should be the commander when Sram seems much more useful to get things going. I think the same logic you apply to not running 8.5 as the commander anymore can and should be applied to Balan.

Hi Voltron Fans

I'm a huge friend of Balan as well. He does so well with the new Bonesplitter-Like axe. Once he hit with double strike he gets 2 more axes he can equip straight away by paying 2 mana. You can basically do this turn 4 - 5 (don't forget he can equip himself with things like Swiftfoot Boots).

@Noctem

Balan is the kind of Commander I've been waiting for since I first built this deck in 2011.

This deck's primary strategy is to defeat all opponents with Commander Damage though boosts from Equipment. Balan has a better base body than previous Commanders, benefits from being equipped, and circumvents equip costs. He's able to be a 2-Turn clock with minimal set-up and can bounce back from creature removal fairly easily.

True, but Sram gives you early game presence and functions as a card engine for doing what you would be doing anyway. He lets you draw into your win conditions which imo makes you more competitive vs other decks. This might be a difference in perspective. That's ok, playtesting will tell us more.

@NensouHiebara - you and I definitely diverged a bit over the past couple years with card choices. Likely due to meta and playtesting (I have 13 decks now...). But I believe that we're in sync on Balan, Wandering Knight being the best thing since sliced bread for equipment commanders. I opted for Gisela, the Broken Blade for a time for the keyword soup. It's nice to have an option that doesn't get double punished for commander tax and equip costs and is more than viable as a threat himself. Very much looking forward to him taking Gisela's place.

Hammer of Nazahn is another welcome piece to the arsenal. Can't wait to make use of it.

Hey I basically copied this deck minus a few of the more expensive cards (looking at you batterskull and Petrified Fields) was an absolute ton of fun to play. Sun titan with stripmine is just nasty . I love the amount of recursion you can work between the swords, titan and revilark.

It's a great deck and looking forward to playing with it for a while .

Hello good sir/ma'm, I have been in love with this deck since it was Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. With your recent changes you are testing... Do you think Silverblade Paladin still finds a home in the list, I only ask because I see you cut Fireshrieker for Inquisitor's Flail (which is absolutely absurd with Balan, Wandering Knight... DOUBLE STRIKE DOUBLE DAMAGE!)? Next, I see you swapped Darksteel Plate out for the Hammer, but the Hammer isn't indestructible itself, and I feel that to be a little unsettling with catch all board wipes like Hour of Revelation be played where the plate would survive. Also, is Reliquary Tower still being considered now that we lost the draw engine of Sram, Senior Edificer? I feel the hand will empty pretty quick now without him at the helm. Your response is greatly appreciated, this deck is amazing and I appreciate any and all feedback to my comments.

@Kurisuto

Silverblade Paladin is another card I'm planning on replacing, but with what is still up in the air. I'm waiting until after the full Ixalan spoiler before I start finding potential additions.

Hammer of Nazahn is an immense upgrade over Darksteel Plate for Equipment Voltron. The power boost and free equip trigger is well worth the loss of Plate's own indestructibility.

Having to discard cards due to a overloaded hand is a significant annoyance, and Sword of Fire and Ice's mandatory card draw trigger can fill my hand faster than I can empty it. Reliquary Tower is something I'm playing with to see if its inclusion is necessary.

Are you not changing your commander to Balan, Wandering Knight? I am playtesting him now. He takes a little longer to get out and less card draw, but more power. His activated ability makes his resilience very strong after getting removed. I may consider more 2-cost mana rocks to get him out a turn or 2 earlier, even considering that artifact hate will hit harder on us. I would also prefer to keep mikokoro rather than Reliquary Tower since we lost that card draw when changing commanders. Also, will Sram stay in the deck. What will you take out for him if he does? Thoughts?

Silverblade Paladin for Knight Exemplar? Then again, Bastion Protector exists.

Ever consider Fountain Watch? Or Ogre's Cleaver

@gzusvictory

Balan, Wandering Knight will become the Commander when I next update the deck. I don't change things the instant new cards come out and keep the deck on a set update schedule. The next update should be sometime in October.

Additional Mana Rocks - Not going that route. I don't need to rush Balan onto the battlefield, so the early game will be designated to preparing the board like it was with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails as the Commander. Additionally, Sword of the Animist is my first choice from an early tutor.

Reliquary Tower - It's currently an experiment, pairing it with Sword of Fire and Ice to keep me from discarding when the Sword overloads my hand.

Sram, Senior Edificer - Will probably still have a place in the deck. Waiting for Ixalan to be completely spoiled first.

Knight Exemplar - This is a Tribal card. It's not suited for Voltron.

Bastion Protector - Tried it when Commander 2015 came out and didn't really like it. It doesn't do anything if Balan is out of commission and its 3/3 body doesn't allow it to work with Reveillark and Recruiter of the Guard.

Fountain Watch - I don't like shroud for Voltron. At all. Most notably, it completely shuts off Armory Automaton.

Ogre's Cleaver - Too dull. I prefer Equipment that have some form of additional utility beyond P/T boosts. Equip is also a pretty high for what it does.

I am not convinced that Balan > Sram for the Command slot.

The card-advantage brought by Sram help a lot the deck to recover from mass destruction.

Please, don't hesitate to share your tests with this change!

PS: Your decklist and your explanations convinced me to play (almost) the same deck! Usually, I am following your advices.

I am still playing with Sram on the helm. Having a tough time to hand in the card advantage.

But my deck has more different choices. But I like the reasoning he puts up. Good for thought!

I also was curious about either Sram or Balan is the right choice to be the Commander in this deck. I fi ally decided to run Balan because i really don't like these low-cost but low-impact equipments many players like to run to get the draws from Sram. I think each equipment should be impactful and worth equipping. How do you think about this?

For THIS deck I do see Balan being a good choice. I already took my shot long ago at saying to go "all in" on Sram's draw ability. But I don't think 16 equip + 1 aura out of 99 cards was really all that dedicated to what Sram does best, so with that ratio - I say, what the heck, Balan probably is a better choice.

I agree that 16 equip is poor.. good point!

BUT Flickering Ward is extremely powerful with Sram!

This is... interesting...

Balan is a she.

@NensouHiebaraOh yeah! That card is hilarious. I love it!

@TeysaforeverDid you just assume Balan's gender?!

@TCG-Player

Balan is indeed female.

Oh yeah you're right. The german name is Balan, Wandernde Ritterin.

Do we need another Maze of Ith in the form of Thaumatic Compass?