Ah Sultai, the Best colours in Magic.
I'm sure someone said that especially where EDH is concerned. A lot of very powerful Commanders are in this colour combination; with access to some of the most efficent combos, tutors, protection, card draw and ramp, you can see why it is so good.
Sadly you won't find many of those card here......ok maybe the card draw and ramp parts...sort of. I wanted to build a fun Voltron deck that wasn't like the more powerful versions of the deck. I forced myself to keep the cost down and play cards I wouldn't normally use.
Our Game Plan
Cazur, Ruthless Stalker and Ukkima, Stalking Shadow are a Partners With pairing that for me gives an interesting Voltron/+1/+1 Counters theme with Ukkima, Stalking Shadow being the star of the deck and the main kill condition with Cazur, Ruthless Stalker maybe showing up but more often then not just being here for his colour.
We will be using (and abusing) Ukkima's Leaves the Battlefield (LTB) trigger plus beating face. It's not unusual to do over 20 points of damage in a turn through combat and flicking Ukkima.
Failing combat we've got a couple of Combo lines with Naru Meha, Master Wizard and a flicker spell or Aluren and Cloudstone Curio.
Why Play This Deck?
- You know Sultai is the best wedge.
- You like +1/+1 counters.
- You enjoy Voltron decks.
- You like the combat step and combat tricks.
- You like decks that are low to the ground.
- You like having the option to combo off if needed.
- You want a Cazur/Ukkima deck that doesn't rely on Food Chain.
Why NOT Play This Deck?
- You want an all in combo deck.
- You prefer more control based decks.
- Voltron and combat aren't you're jam.
- You dislike counters and don't want to keep track of them.
- You'd prefer a stronger deck (though I wouldn't call this jank).
- You want counter spells (I opted to not run any).
Deck Stats
- Average Converted Mana Cost of 2.43
- 17 Creatures
- 8 Artifacts
- 4 Sorceries
- 18 Instants
- 19 Enchantments
- 32 Lands
Budget Cuts
At $701.31 this is definately a cheaper deck for me. I own most of the pricey cards already but respect that some people don't so what can we cut to get the cost of the deck down you ask? Well the most expensive cards are Mana Crypt, Aluren, Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta, Verdant Catacombs, Ancient Tomb, Chrome Mox and Cloudstone Curio. Cutting these will shave a couple hundred or more off the deck and not effect it too much, though you will lose the Aluren combo lines.
Our Commanders
I think this is the first time I've done a primer with Partner Commanders....oooh. I think we all know who we are looking at first.
Ukkima, Stalking Shadow is a 2/2 Legendary Creature - Whale Wolf for with the best mechanic ever who reads:
Let's analyze this shall we: First off the Partner With triggered ability is a may so you can search your library and fail to find thus needing to shuffle your library. This can be good to if you are mana flooded or screwed so rememeber to keep that in mind.Partner with Cazur, Ruthless Stalker (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Cazur into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Ukkima, Stalking Shadow can't be blocked.
When Ukkima leaves the battlefield, it deals X damage to target player and you gain X life, where X is its power.
The second line of text is what makes our Commander so good and why I built the deck, Ukkima, Stalking Shadow can't be blocked. Having this mechanic stapled onto our Commander is huge. We have to waste zero slots on evasion because it's built in.
Lastly we come to Ukkima's awesome Leaves the battlefield triggered ability. This is a spicy one, it triggers regardless of how he leaves. Someone exiles him? Dome them for his power and gain that much life. Flicker him? Bounce him? Board Wipe? Regular old targeted removal? Someone is having some damage dealt to them and you are gaining life. The only time this wouldn't trigger is with something like Toxic Deluge because it gives him negative power thus no damage and we gain no life (Pro Tip: Flicker or bounce in response) Please do remember (unlike me in the first game I played) the ability targets a player.
Cazur, Ruthless Stalker is a 3/3 Legendary Creature - Human Warrior for who reads:
Again we have the Partner With ETB Trigger so we can shuffle our library if we see fit.Partner with Ukkima, Stalking Shadow (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Ukkima into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.
His second ability lines up with Ukkima by buff his power he does combat damage to a player. This is where the idea of +1/+1 counters came from for this deck. While he's not as strong as Ukkima, Cazur certainly will see play once in a while. He can provide a decent sized blocking body or even attack himself.
Together these Commanders have proven to be a fun and interesting Partner pairing.
Stalking Whale Wolf
Approximate Total Cost:
I'll edit this into something nicer later but finally got some games with this deck last night and is it ever fun. One high light was casting Berserk on Ukkima hitting an opponent for 12 and then burning him for 12 again when he left the battlefield. Sadly I drew the wrong half of my deck and was getting no ramp even with a Selvala Explorer Returned deck at the table.