Volrath, the Shapestealer - Clones

[WizardMN]

Here are my thoughts regarding March of the Machine, March of the Machine: Commander, and March of the Machine: Aftermath. I am also potentially including cards from Warhammer 40k Commander since I got behind a little:

Blue Cards

Faerie Mastermind - Cloning this can easily break the symmetry of giving everyone a card with the ability. I don't know how much I need it here but it seems like one of the more powerful cards in the set that I might try it anyway. This is one of two decks where I think it might not be needed though.

See Double - Another Instant timing Clone is great and one that also has some versitility is even better. I am sure I can find some room for this as it fits the theme of the deck perfectly and looks to be a pretty powerful card in the right circumstances.

Vesuvan Drifter - This is an interesting card, especially in the context of the more recent discussion with trying to get more attack triggers. The main question is whether there are enough creatures worth copying and I believe the answer is no. For all the Pathbreaker Ibex and Elder Gargorath that I could copy, there are a lot of clones and things with ETB triggers. So, I don't think this is quite the card for this deck.

Black Cards

Necron Deathmark - Another good creature to clone and having Flash allows for a few different options. Flashing it in when needed and then cloning it on my turn helps clear up some of the board. 5 mana is tough to do but I think it is worth it to get some additional destroy effects.

Green Cards

Invasion of Ikoria - This looks to be a better Green Sun's Zenith. Sure, it costs 1 more mana but can also grab things out of the graveyard and is not limited by color. It can't find Humans but that is not that big a deal. And the back side is pretty powerful if it sticks around and can just win games. If nothing else, I think a straight swap makes sense but I could also see finding room to add this to the tutor suite.

Multicolor Cards

Callidus Assassin - This just looks like a cool creature. 6 mana is a lot but a Flash clone and a potential ETB destroy effect is nice in one package. I don't know where it would go but it seems good for the deck.

Zimone and Dina - This looks pretty powerful. I don't think I have a lot of traditional sac fodder but there are likely things that make sense to sac to not only get the effect here, but to then reanimate or clone to get more ETB triggers. And they fit into the curve pretty well at 3 that I think it makes sense to try out.

[WizardMN]

Here are a few changes I am thinking of:

5/19/2023

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

CUTS

1 Kederekt Leviathan

1 Hullbreaker Horror

1 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Evacuation

1 Prime Speaker Zegana

1 Bramble Sovereign

1 Glasspool Mimic

ADDS

1 See Double

1 Necron Deathmark

1 Invasion of Ikoria

1 Callidus Assassin

1 Zimone and Dina

1 Black Sun's Zenith

1 Bribery

Approximate Total Cost:

After the last game, I wanted to change the focus of the deck a little bit. I tend to play far too defensively and while this deck is a midrange deck, I need to do more to actually commit to the board a bit more. So I want to cut out a couple mass bounce spells to try to move the game towards an actual end. I am fine with some actual wraths that people need to rebuild from but mass bounce is just not enough. I am adding in Black Sun's Zenith as another wrath option but it also gets me ways to put counters on things (if they don't die) so Volrath can copy them.

Horror was talked about earlier and I realized this is just not the deck for it. It is expensive and takes a lot of commitment to make work and it doesn't always pan out to get me back into the game. Toxrill, the Corrosive is close to this as well but it does give a way to wrath (slowly) and works with Volrath that I am willing to keep it in for now.

GSZ is just a straight swap for Invasion as I like Invasion better. GSZ might still make sense but I think I prefer getting nongreen cards here. Bramble Sovereign is one that doesn't seem to work out as great in practice as I thought it would. And Glasspool Mimic is one that I have been looking to remove for a while and now makes sense.

See Double and Callidus Assassin are other clone options and Deathmark (with Assassin) can be reasonable creature destroy effects. Invasion seems like a mostly better GSZ, Zimone and Dina can help me ramp or draw cards or get some dies triggers when needed. BSZ is another wrath option that can work with Volrath a little bit and Bribery is more of a fun addition that helps get me a big creature out to copy. I am not sure how it works in a real game but it is something to try.

[shifthappen1]

Just saw Pirated Copy as a card that's also a bit of a draw engine for copies. I don't remember you mentioning it yet. Not sure how good it can be, but a copy + draw sure sounds fun!

Also starting to think about Aboleth Spawn a bit, as its not a clone per say, but as far as cloning / copying goes, its a funny one, that we can use for double duty if we have volrath copy it in response to a trigger. Maybe worth. If not worth, at the very least very fun to think about.