How about a spirit mantle ?

@Cocanine132

Sun Titan already fills the same role Auriok Survivors would. I want to keep the amount of 6+cmc cards in the deck as low as possible.

@Littlepoot

Swiftfoot Boots, Champion's Helm, or Hammer of Nazahn. Keeping removal off of Balan is important.

With slower/land light opening hands, I'll likely burn the first tutor on Sword of the Animist.

@Ninja_skin

This deck doesn't want Auras. They don't give Balan double strike and they don't play well with protection.

I consistently come back to this deck to read your explanations on cards coming out in new blocks. I run mono white too but not voltron. Still the way you decide how to pick whats added and whats drop and reasoning for doing so is of great insight to me so thank you. I've been needing more artifact and enchantment hate your additions have helped me as well. What are your thoughts on Aura of Silence? I find this card so great at the start of games. Still a good pull mid or late game as people want to deal with it before putting out their combo pieces which you still get to use if targeted anyways.

Also Serra Ascendant and Sensei's Divining Top are banned in 1v1 commander. Not sure if you take those out if you 1v1 or even 1v1 at all. Serra Ascendant is just so cheesy. I would put it on the chopping block for anything else. The top is still awesome but again banned in 1v1. Just trying to throw ideas out there on what to cut.

Boscogn, not dual commander, French Dual Commander, Dual Commander has the same banlist as normal EDH.

@Boscogn

Aura of Silence can be an effective card if your meta has a significant number of decks that are heavily designed around artifacts/enchantments. Decks that rely on casting artifacts/enchantments frequently will really feel the sting from that taxing ability than most others. Pairs well with Sun Titan to remove major annoyances while keeping the taxing ability up.

If a proactive solution is what you prefer, Aura of Silence won't let you down.

This deck is exclusively for traditional Commander. There's no interest in any of the 1v1 variants in my area.

Serra Ascendant is the best mana-efficient threat in the format, and I like a Turn 1 6/6 lifelink flier. Not planning on cutting it anytime soon, if ever.

Amazing deck, I'm really liking all the card choices.

Say, if card price was not a concern at all, would you have made any changes to the current decklist? I know it's already quite expensive, but I'm curious if there's anything you would've still wanted to add.

Also, what equipment do you usually in the average game fetch in the early game for?

@SurpriZe

I can't think of any individual card I'm missing out on due to cost concerns.

Swiftfoot Boots, Champion's Helm, and Hammer of Nazahn are the go-to early tutor targets. Keeping removal off of Balan is important.

If my opening hand is slow or land-light, Sword of the Animist will likely be tutored for instead.

Awesome deck!

Nice list bro, been looking a voltron commander for my deck and balan seems quite nice even tho its mono white which sometimes gets stuck mana wise was wondering why not run extraplanar lens? You could switch from regular plains to snow covered plains and sacrifice one then only you or anybody that runs snow covered plains(frankly nobody does unless they doing the same thing) can tap it for double mana and you got decent land tutoring to upset the sacrificed land and it comes at a cost 3 so even if gets blow sun titan can bring it back etc etc

@sinister1234

I prefer land ramp over mana-based ramp for this deck. Mana doublers are difficult to keep on board with five hard sweepers and my Equipment already incentivizing higher amounts of artifact hate.

Any experience with Isolated Watchtower and/or Endless Atlas

@HerrDunk

Endless Atlas didn't make the cut. Every other draw engine in the deck has a secondary function in case I end up with multiples. Atlas doesn't have that luxury.

Isolated Watchtower's 'two more lands than you' restriction is a significant problem. This deck focuses more on land-based ramp than mana rocks. Being behind a couple of lands is too uncommon.

Is there a way to see the deck's price without foils? Or, if there isn't, do you know how much the deck costs without foils and masterpiece versions of cards? Thanks in advance.

@Jonnymeboy

A non-foil version of this deck would cost around $900. Lower if you shop around for deals.

Dropping the more expensive cards, like Argivian Archaeologist and Mana Crypt would decrease that price even further.

Hello NensouHiebara!

What's your opinion about Gift of Immortality, All Is Dust and Helm of the Host?

NensouHiebara has stated that this deck is entirely equipment based and addresses why the deck doesn't use Auras in the Notable Exclusions section in the description. This section also address why All Is Dust is no longer in the deck.

Helm of the Host doesn't really serve a purpose here with this strategy since Balan wants to win with commander damage.

@rikmatias

Balan is all about Equipment, so I chose to exclude Auras from this deck and focus solely on Equipment.

Another reason why I abstain from Auras is Sword of Light and Shadow. I had Godsend and Flickering Ward (for the brief time Sram was the Commander) in this deck before. SoLaS' pro-White caused significant issues when them. Auras would have the same problem.

All Is Dust was in this deck before and was replaced with Hour of Revelation to fill in gaps this deck's removal package had. It needed more mass artifact removal.

This deck doesn't care about Equipment that don't benefit Balan is some way. Equipment that don't give her relevant keywords or increase her Commander Damage clock are pretty much worthless.

Helm of the Host is one of those Equipment.

NensouHiebara and DangoDaikazoku

Thanks for the answers!

About the Helm of the Host, I've been playing with Balan a few days, and I've made some good plays with Balan, Wandering Knight.

When I attack with Balan, Wandering Knight and her clone, I can switch the equipments between those two.

Others questions...

How do you deal with Cyclonic Rift and sacrifices? Like Meren of Clan Nel Toth? I'm having problems with my meta.

for cyclonic rift you need stuff like teferis protection and there was another instant that brings everything back from a boardwipe

@rikmatias

Cyclonic Rift can be annoying, but it's not a complete gut punch. Everything's back in the hand, not destroyed. If it's being cast to slow you down and not secure a win, you should have an opportunity to rebuild.

There are also a few cards that are effective at keeping Blue Mages at bay:

• Grand Abolisher and Conqueror's Flail prevent Blue Mages from casting Cyclonic Rift during your turn.
• Teferi's Protection phases your permanents out to dodge Cyclonic Rift.

Meren of Clan Nel Toth is a Graveyard deck. Applying some Grave-hate will put a stranglehold on her entire gameplan:

• Rest in Peace is the bane of a Graveyard deck's existence.
• Crook of Condemnation can directly exile the creature card Meren targets.
• Remorseful Cleric combined with repeatable recursion, such as Sun Titan or Sword of Light and Shadow, is another option to completely void Meren's graveyard.

Do you think kaldra's set would fit in your Balan's list? Have you tried it before?

@MDKcommander

The Kaldra Set was a part of this deck from the beginning until early 2015. Improvements to Equipment since creating this deck have antiquated them:

• Sword of Kaldra's P/T boost is greatly outpaced by Blackblade Reforged, and Godsend has a much cleaner exile trigger.

• Shield of Kaldra compares incredibly poorly to the cheaper Darksteel Plate and the auto-equipping Hammer of Nazahn.

• Helm of Kaldra is even hit with this by Chariot of Victory and Sword of Vengeance.

The major nail in the coffin is the inconsistency in having the entire set together at once. Burning tutors isn't a real solution, as grabbing relatively mediocre Equipment in the hopes to have fun with an essentially immortal 9/9 isn't that efficient.

Have you tried Mask of Memory yet? It seems like a good choice as a form of card draw in this deck.

@Agent_Fire

I dislike how Mask of Memory forces a discard. It also doesn't provide a P/T boost, which is very important for Balan.