This Week: I explore the viability of a Colorless deck in EDH. I lean into Commander damage initially but explore other avenues for dealing direct damage to soften up opponents.
Some weeks ago I posted about an equipment deck in Sultai colors. If you didn't catch it, here's the link. Because the deck is equipment focused there are a ton of colorless cards in it. In my discovery process, I started to feel there was potential for a colorless equipment deck. I even mentioned it in the previous article. Today I go nuts and explore how viable this is. Colorless decks have gotten a lot of tools recently which makes all of this a little more viable. Specifically, an entire precon deck. Those tend to generate a lot of similar styled decks. That coupled with an increased number of staples, I could expect to find in a niche strategy, I was a little turned off at times in the process. Was there still room to do something new, to get weird with such an idea? Of course, there is. Did the same 3 rules I learned with my Sultai deck still apply? Why wouldn't they?
Those 3 rules for equipment decks boiled down to having enough equipment, having enough creatures to equip, and reducing equip costs. There are certainly standouts for equipment. Blight Sicle is a little power bump but those counters can end a hard to deal with creature. Brass Knuckles doubles up the threat my creatures pose, twice. Quadruples up? Never mind. Mask of Avacyn is great at protecting my big threat and Darksteel Plate isn't far behind. Something like Bloodforged Battle-Axe makes more equipment so I can always suit someone up.
As far as having enough creatures to equip, I found good candidates. Really good in some cases. Hangarback Walker was an easy include. It's good when it's alive, better when it dies. Myr Battlesphere is high cost for sure and equipping the tokens to attack can be at odds with tapping them to pump the sphere. However, I found it beneficial to suit up the Battleshpere and use the tokens to further pump it. Once it dies to removal then go wide with the equipped tokens. The last heavy hitter is Phyrexian Triniform. This didn't make my first build due to the cost, but a reprint helped immensely. I've yet to live the dream and make 3 copies then let them die for 3 more tokens each. I'm even struggling to remember using the Encore ever.
To finish out my self imposed rules, I have plenty of ways to save on equip costs. Brass Squire just throws someone an equipment, no need to pay. Armory Automaton and Myr Adapter both snap up equipment for free making them sizeable threats with little setup. I also learned how important things like Goldvein Pick, Sword of The Anamist, and Prying Blade are with the Sultai deck so it was an easy lesson to carry over. I can use the mana produced to pay for equip costs in the future or other spells if I happen to need to.
Looking at all that I would have been very bored. It's so straightforward. I had to break out of the mold and do something exciting. For that, I used the most predictable commander. Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is the most predictable artifact commander. He also has a powerful liability. Not untapping automatically means I could be stuck with an unusable voltron piece if he can't attack. I already mitigate that by being able to move equipment around cheaply. Rule 3 be praised. I said powerful liability before. The powerful portion comes from the untapping when I cast a historic spell. That mostly means an artifact for me. I can use and abuse this in the right circumstances. Paradise Mantle lets me tap Traxos to make a mana which I can spend to play an artifact and untap my commander. If that artifact happens to cost 0 I'm banking mana in my pool for a larger spell. Powerful indeed.
I could do better. Untapping is a powerful effect. What else could be done with it? I went through pages of equipment to start. The first thing to stick out was Wolfhunter's Quiver. It's a very silly card that works best against werewolves, not even wolves. People love pingers. They're ok in my book but if I could get 5 taps per turn I'm on the right track. I remembered an old artifact I got years ago in a mystery box at a convention, 2 really, that fit this theme. Heavy Arbalest was a more viable option. The equip cost is lower so that's a win for rule 3. It deals twice as much damage as the quiver, except to all those werewolves running around. The downside, the creature not untapping, was no downside for Traxos.
The last equipment that deals damage is a little less straightforward. Hankyu has a ton of potential. I store up aim counters doing my tap and untap shenanigans with Traxos. Then when it's viable I unload all those counters at a single player. I've never thrown them at a creature. That's too small for my game plan. What I like about Hankyu is the counters. If I can't untap Traxos I'm not stuck, I have plenty of Proliferate options out there. Karn's Bastion is robust because it's a Land. Contagion Engine is a slow rolling board wipe and even Contagion Clasp works as removal. Thankfully Blight Sickle also adds counters for me to Proliferate. Speaking of Proliferate on an Equipment, I added in Sword of Truth and Justice. The +1/+1 counter I get is nice and can quickly grow a threat. With all the Proliferate effects I can get a fair enough number of Aim counters on Traxos.
This was a good start. I wanted to keep pushing. I had all these damage dealing equipments but I could do more with them. When I say I can do more, I mean my opponents can do less. My secret is Neko-Te. This gem from Kamigawa offers a unique ability where the creature dealt damage doesn't untap. That's no good if my beefy trampler attacks and runs over a blocker or two. But if I give a creature a pinging equipment and Neko-Te I can lock creatures down almost indefinitely. There's another Equipment worth mentioning here that adds a fun interaction. It's a trick I only tend to pull off once in a game before people get wise to it. Kusari-Gama throws damage around to all an opponent's creatures if my creature damages one of his blockers. I don't need to be on the attack though. With my pinging equipment I can wait until someone else gets attacked and blocks.
There are things Kusari-Gama does, and there are things it doesn't do. If I ping a blocker, while equipped with both, I get to deal that much damage to each of the defending player's creatures. That can be a one sided board wipe with the right damage dealing equipment. What Kusari-Gama doesn't do is tap all of the defending player's creatures just because I have Neko-Te equipped. That's because Kusari-Gama does the damage, not the creature. That's because Kusari-Gama deals the damage. That line of play might be worth pursuing if I had a Rune in the deck, but that's not happening in a colorless deck.
One last equipment to highlight in the deck. I resisted it when I first saw it because it doesn't play nice with my rules about saving on equip costs. Surestrike Trident is very powerful. I can throw a lot of damage at an opponent for just a tap. With Traxos I can do it more than once a turn cycle if I play another artifact and pay 4 to reequip the trident. I've certainly done it more than once. I've played around with some flash artifacts and they make the surprise shot from a seemingly tapped Traxos a constant worry for the table. I really put people under the gun once his power is up around 10 or if Traxos has vigilance. Being able to attack, shoot then shoot again is a power play for the equip cost and 1 artifact. One day I'm going to end my turn with my biggest creature untapped and unequipped with the trident, then move it when proved with Brass Squire and knock out the guy attacking me.
With any voltron commander protecting it is key. There are some good and available equipment options out there that fit that category in a variety of ways. I have some nontraditional options as well. Soul of New Phyrexia protects my board whether its there too, or in the graveyard. Artifact creatures are a little more fragile with the dual super type so I fully expect to lose my commander at any given moment. I keep around cards like Myr Retriever to recur my commander.
know I have to round out draw, ramp, and removal People love those parts of a deck. I really like Eye of Vecna. It puts me under a little bit of pressure so I don't just wait around to get aggressive. It might pair well with Cosmos Elixir but I haven't made that leap yet. Solemn Simulacrum fits into 2 of these camps so it was an easy add in since I'm running so many Wastes. Pristine Talisman is also here for ramp purposes. Even if I don't use the mana in a turn cycle I'll gain the life. Darksteel Ingot seems like an odd choice since I don't care about colored mana. If anything a rock that makes colorless specifically would be even better but the fact that it's indestructible makes it an include for me. I'm very vulnerable to the wrong kind of board wipe, so leaving behind anything is key. Turn 2 ramp is my friend here so cards like Thought Vessel and Liquimetal Torque are appreciated to ensure I get Traxos out on turn 3.
As far as removal, the options are well traveled. All is Dust tends to be pretty one sided in my favor. Nevinyrral's Disk is a little slow since it comes in tapped and puts a bit of a target on my back. I couple it with Manifold Key to make it a little more threatening and keep opponents at bay. Steel Hellkite is an evasive threat that punishes permanents at the wrong CMC. These cards all answer threats to me in a broad way but I still have more surgical options. Meteor Golem takes care of whatever I need it to. As a creature, I can also recur it for repeated effect. I also have Introduction to Annihilation and Scour From Existence for single target problems. They are both pricey but sometimes I just need to deal with a single problem.
I'm going to cut it off here so it doesn't turn into a glorified list of cards in the deck. You can see the whole list below. Check it out
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
Armory Automaton Introduction to Anhiliation Wolf Hunter's Quiver Myr Adapter Nevinyrral's Disk Heavy Arbalest
Brass Squire Meteor Golem Hank-Yu
Nettlecyst Contagion Clasp Blight Sickle
Foundry Inspector Contagion Engine Sword of Truth and Justice
Jhoira's Familiar Scour From Existence Mask of Avacyn
Workshop Assistant Soul of New Phyrexia Kusari Gama
Myr Retriever All Is Dust Paradise Mantle
Scrap Trawler Heart Seeker Neko-Te
Junk Diver Steel Hellkite Surestrike Trident
Ugin, The Ineffable Mind Stone Thran Powersuit
Solemn Simulacrum Cloud Key Darksteel Plate
Filagree Familiar Thought Vessel Key to The City
Ceremonial Knife Pristine Talisman Myr Battlesphere
Eye Of Vecna Darksteel Ingot Hangarback Walker
Bonder's Ornament God-Pharoh's Gift Phyrexian Triniform
Goldvein Pick Volatic Servant Strider Harness
Prying Blade Sword Of The Animist Executioner's Hood
Captain's Claws Liquimetal Torque Loxodon Warhammer
Warping Wail Manifold Key Blood-Forged Battleaxe
Bone Hoard Blackblade Reforged Brass Knuckles
Batterbone
Glimmerpost Radiant Fountain Bonder's Enclave
Cloudpost Arch of Orazca Blast Zone
Zhalfirin Void Buried Ruin Scavenger Grounds
Ghost Quarter War Room Rogue's Passage
Darksteel Citadel Field of Ruin Tyrite Sanctum
Karn's Bastion Waste x19
My initial instinct was spot on. Colorless Voltron is very viable. It's playable as a straight up combat focused deck but there was enough there for me to be less conventional. I enjoy being able to pair a combat strategy, really a commander damage strategy, with a complementary plan of attack. I can focus all that combat damage on one opponent then untap and deal direct damage at another. I keep my power high and keep untapping to drive my plan forward and it's very effective. I don't think I have anything else in the way of equipment coming out in the future. But when I do, don't expect it to be in Boros.
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