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| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Sword of Body and Mind
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from green and from blue. ((Remember the acronym debt.) This creature can't be damaged, enchanted, equipped, blocked or targeted by anything green or blue. Anything green or blue attached to this creature immediately falls off.)
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, you create a 2/2 green Wolf creature token and that player mills 10 cards. (They put the top ten cards of their library into their graveyard.)
Equip (: Attach this to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery. This enters the battlefield unattached and stays on the battlefield if the creature this card is attached to leaves the battlefield.)
rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with me …
3 hours ago
Welcome back to another episode of Build a Deck with Me. In the first two episodes I focused on a couple decks that want to go infinite and combo out. I realize that playing infinite combos is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but one of the things I enjoy is finding cool interactions/ways to break cards. So today instead of finding ways to break cards, I’m simply going to start with a card that is already broken and build a deck around it. That card is Voja, Jaws of the Conclave. Ok, so maybe it isn’t broken, but you have to admit, you see this good boy on the field and you need to find a response quickly.
Research
In the last episode, I had some comments that suggested I talk about some of the general research that goes into deck-building. One thing to keep in mind is that when you’re building a deck there are general archetypes that exist and are fairly well known. These can often serve as models when thinking about what cards to use, although relying too heavily on them long term can diminish creativity. If you’re just starting out though, by all means run over to EDHRec and find what cards usually go into a counters deck or a tribal deck (spoiler alert that is what we’re building here). One of the things that I do that helps my deckbuilding is watching youtube channels that play commander. This includes: The Command Zone, Tolarian Community College, Commander at Home, and Elder Dragon Hijinks. There are many others out there, but these are the ones that I’ve watched more than a couple episodes of. As I’m watching an episode, I find myself thinking, “Wow I want to build something like that” or “I really liked the interactions with that”. For instance, there was a Commander at Home game where I got to see the interaction between Dihada, Binder of Wills and Odric, Lunarch Marshal and now they’re sitting on my desk, waiting to be built. Today’s episode is the result of one such instance. I watched The Command Zone episode that covered Murders at Karlov Manor. In that game, the Voja deck was a beast. It was fast, it made huge creatures, it drew tons of cards, and it just couldn’t be stopped, oh and the commander was a big puppy dog (wolf, puppy same thing).
To start building, I went into Gatherer and just began looking for a few things like Wolves, Elves, and Changelings. I started to realize that there are very few changelings and the wolves out there really aren’t that great outside of a few like Hollowhenge Overlord. So I turned back to the Command Zone for some help. They post their decklists on the videos and I began scrolling through it and much to my surprise, the list was similar to the ones that I had found, but wasn’t sure about like Ferocious Pup and Universal Automaton. These aren’t good cards unless you have something that really wants creatures on the field. And that’s when things started to click. The support for Voja didn’t necessarily need to be super strong in their own right, it just needed to enable him to do more.
Changelings
First of all, Voja is an interesting card because it wants both Elves and Wolves on the field. Most tribal decks want just one tribe so it almost feels like you have to make a choice between one or the other here. Well I don’t like choosing between two good options. It’s like deciding between chicken nuggets or a chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A. I say both! (I also might need to reconsider some life choices, but oh well)
Changelings are great because they have all creature types which means any tribal deck can use them. Some are extremely powerful, while others just have an interesting creature type. In this deck, however, we want to focus on low cost creatures. If they do something cool, bonus!
Realmwalker is awesome because it is every creature type but it can also cast creatures from the top of your library which instantly gives you card advantage, we will likely choose elf as our creature type when it comes in because they generally are going to be our lower cost creatures, our mana dorks, and likely the more prominent tribal type in our deck.
Remember any changeling on the field will trigger both aspects of Voja’s triggered ability so a Universal Automaton becomes a 1 drop enabler for both adding counters and drawing cards. Irregular Cohort provides two 2/2 bodies both of whom are changelings and give us more counters and cards.
Of course there are two cards here that are just amazing. Maskwood Nexus which makes all your creatures all creature types, and Shields of Velis Vel which does the same thing in instant form. Both are game changers with voja.
Elves
When it comes to elves, we generally want to have mana dorks. This is going to ramp us out quickly, but also allow us to have bodies out there to add counters to. A couple standouts besides the normal ones like Llanowar Elves are:
Gyre Sage who is going to get huge thanks to Voja.
Beast Whisperer will draw you lots of cards because we are going to be a creature heavy deck.
Yeva, Nature's Herald is also helpful in being able to get your cards out on your opponent’s turns.
All the versions of Tolsimir are great because they often come with a wolf token in tow.
Finally there is Shalai and Hallar… When you’re adding counters to every creature on your board equal to the number of elves you control, this card can take out an opponent.
Wolves
There are a few wolves out there, but its surprisingly fewer than you would think. Hollowhenge Overlord is really good, and so is Ferocious Pup. You play it and suddenly you have two wolves which means two more cards when Voja attacks. Another great wolf is Roaming Throne. I know what you’re thinking, “it’s a golem.” In this deck, it’s a wolf… trust me. Roaming throne will double all of Voja’s triggered abilities and now you’re thinking “Voja only has one triggered ability.“ Actually, Ward is a triggered ability. Which means now in order to target him, your opponents need to spend 6 mana!! So you swing with Voja, let’s be conservative and say that you have just llanowar elves, Voja, and roaming throne, you add 2 +1/+1 counters to everything and you draw 4 cards. Speaking of doubling that trigger: Annie Joins Up. A super underrated card so far and triggers on Voja, Shalai, and Tolsimir.
Other fun stuff
There are a couple other things that help support Voja as well. Counter multipliers and additional combat steps are all good things for this deck. You don’t want to put too many of those in though because when push comes to shove you’re likely going to just want a creature to play instead of another counter multiplier. I have Kami of Whispered Hopes in the deck, because it adds counters, but it also produces a crazy amount of mana which I can use to empty my hand of creature cards. Hardened Scales is fine and even Branching Evolution feels worthwhile, but I chose not to add any others.
For additional combats I added only two cards, one was Relentless Assault and the other is Great Train Heist. The latter is great because it has more versatility, is an instant, and costs the same as relentless assault for its first ability. Both of these cards can win the game pretty easily.
There are also wolf producers like Howling Moon which I’ve played in Arena with great results. (also pairs well with Tocasia's Welcome). Sword of Body and Mind produces wolves, gives protection, and mills your opponent. Arlinn, the Pack's Hope Flip is another powerful card since it produces wolves, but can also give you flash on your creatures.
Finally, there is a card that I’m proud to say I noticed before it became super popular. Silver Shroud Costume. I remember playing it in the dogmeat deck and thought, this is good, I’m going to put a copy into voja. At that time it was $5. It has since surged to $20 and there is a reason. It can flash out and attach to Voja, who is now hexproof, (in case ward 3 wasn’t enough) and unblockable gg.
Card Draw, ramp, interaction
Don’t forget your interaction. Just because Voja has ward 3 and is hard to spot remove, doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to be protected. Flawless Maneuver, Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection etc. will help keep him and the rest of your creatures safe.
As far as ramp goes, Voja wants creatures which means a lot of ramp is going to be in the form of mana dorks not mana rocks or traditional green ramp spells. I still added a few green ramp spells, but its definitely fewer than some of my other green decks.
Card draw is also a little different here. We’ve got Beast Whisperer and Tocasia's Welcome already and they work really well with the deck since the Beast whisperer is also an elf and tocasia’s welcome triggers with all of our mana dorks which we can flash out on other turns as well. Voja of course is the main card draw engine (seriously a commander who draws cards is just waiting to be abused). Other good cards here are Inspiring Call and Rishkar's Expertise.
About Card Draw
One quick note on card draw that has recently changed the way I think about it. I used to separate card draw into two different categories. Card draw engines which are ongoing effects that will give me cards as long as they remain on the field. The other is simply cards that draw more cards. Previously, I assumed that the former were excellent cards and the latter were well… not great. But as I was listening to The Command Zone they started talking about cards and the amount of triggers you can expect to get in a single game. This changed the way I thought about it. A card like Rhystic Study is great because you are likely going to get some cards from it, but your opponents can pay the 1 or they can remove it. The idea is to think about your card draw engines in terms of the average cards you get from it. This helped me starting think about the usefulness in a card like Inspiring Call which is likely to give me 4-5 cards when I play it, at least. Rishkar's Expertise similarly will net me upwards of 7-10 cards and play a spell from my hand. Meanwhile, rhystic study, which is a great card, will likely get me 5-6 cards before being dealt with, sometimes only a couple. It helped me shift my thinking and made me consider other cards that I had previously dismissed.
Lands
Not a lot of utility lands are needed in this deck, I did like Rogue's Passage, because a lot of times Voja is swinging for lethal commander damage. Making him unblockable is great.
Here is the final form: Voja, the good boy
And by final form, I mean the form I’m currently playing, but likely will change because decks are always being updated and changed. As always, hope you enjoyed the article and if you have any commanders or interactions that you want to see built, let me know in the comments.
DemonDragonJ on Ranking the Swords of X …
1 year ago
It has been almost a month since my previous post in this thread, but I now am ready to post my new list, to include the final sword, as follows:
10: Sword of Forge and Frontier
First, I ranked the final sword, Sword of Once and Future, as ninth place out of ten, because its abilities are so narrow that it requires that a deck be built specifically to take advantage of them, a trait that it shares with Sword of Forge and Frontier; if it surveilled more than two cards or could cast a spell with a mana value higher than 2, I believe that it would have been far more versatile. Second, I switched the places of Sword of Body and Mind and Sword of War and Peace, because I now realize that SoBaM is nearly as conditional as are the two lowest swords, as very few decks focus on both milling and creating tokens, where as SoWaP is actually more versatile and not nearly as conditional as I originally judged it to be.
What does everyone here think of my new rankings?
Sleepysherlock on
Knight Deck Baby
1 year ago
Level with me how many SWORDS would you put in this deck given the chance?
Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of War and Peace, Sword of Body and Mind, Sword of Hearth and Home, Sword of Sinew and Steel, Sword of Forge and Frontier
DemonDragonJ on Ranking the Swords of X …
1 year ago
With the upcoming release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One, I have added Sword of Forge and Frontier to my list, as seen, below:
9: Sword of Forge and Frontier
I put the new Sword of Forge and Frontier at the bottom of the list, not because it is weak, but because I feel that it is too risky and unpredictable to be reliable, and Sword of Hearth and Home is far better at giving the player additional lands than is the new sword. I also switched Sword of Sinew and Steel with Sword of Light and Shadow, which greatly pained me, as Sword of Light and Shadow is my favorite sword in this cycle, but it simply does not have sufficient impact on a game for me to keep it higher in the ranking; if only it had an ability other than gaining life, I could have ranked it higher.
Gleeock, if Sword of Sinew and Steel destroyed creatures, rather than planeswalkers, I likely would have ranked it as third, but, as prevalent as planeswalkers have become, creatures still outnumber them quite severely, so I cannot rank that sword any higher than I have currently ranked it.
KnightCrawler on
Mardu Knight Voltron
1 year ago
» Removed Sword of Body and Mind in favour of Thrilling Discovery - More card draw the better. TY JD
» Removed Demystify in favour of Disenchant - extra CMC but offers variety
DemonDragonJ on Ranking the Swords of X …
1 year ago
Crow-Umbra, that is not too bad, but not exactly game-breaking, either, which I imagine was a deliberate decision by WotC.
It is far too early to add sword of forge and frontier to this list, so I shall wait until I have had time to see it in action, firsthand. I also am very glad that the sword is pointing upward in the artwork, maintaining Sword of Light and Shadow's status as the only sword that is pointing downward in its art.
However, I need to make another revision to this list, since I have, indeed, decided to make the change that I considered, above, so my list is now as follows:
I switched the places of Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of Hearth and Home, because, as much as I like the former sword, it simply does not have sufficient impact on a game for me to rank it any higher, whereas I have realized hos good the latter sword is; putting an additional land on the battlefield is always good, and, even if the creature that is "flickered" does not have a triggered ability, the flickering can still remove unwanted auras and counters from it. I am sad that my favorite sword is now at only fourth place, but fourth out of eight (soon to be nine) swords is still fairly impressive.
DemonDragonJ on Ranking the Swords of X …
1 year ago
I just realized that I put the wrong numbers on my list, above, so the proper numbering is now as follows:
I am very sorry for that mistake, but I have now corrected it.
| Have (2) | metalmagic , gildan_bladeborn |
| Want (3) | sstarbuck24 , zachi , OrcishMetal |