Ebondeath Voltron. Mono Black Control
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:07 pm
It looks like a third deck is joining the prestigious ranks of my perm decks. I've been playing this deck a lot and man is it fun! reminds me of why I enjoy voltron strategies so much.
So why Ebondeath, Dracolich for voltron? Many people when making a Voltron deck look for the most aggressive commander possible, Uril, the Miststalker, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Zurgo Helmsmasher, etc. But I've found the most success with slower voltron decks that don't just fold when someone kills your commander. Instead, you play a control game, your commander will kill everyone eventually if you can just hang in there long enough. My original voltron commander of choice was Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, and he's a great option, but he needs a lot of support cards like Titanoth Rex and Unexpected Fangs in order to function.
The thing about Ebondeath, Dracolich is that he's a beast all on his own, he's hard to kill (permanently), he can be flashed in in order to not take a turn off smashing when he gets removed, and his stats are focused where they are important, power, blocking is for chumps. 5 is also a really sweet power, sure it means he can kill someone in 3 hits with a sword, but I've already killed a surpring number of players 5 points at a time.
Also, I just think he's badass (Seriously, I started brewing this deck cause I thought he was cool and it's a lot easier to keep interest in a deck that you find both mechanically and thematically comelling)
So yeah, it's nothing special, just mono black control with some equipment. I will talk for a second about the equipment and creatures I'm running.
So the rule for equipment in this deck is that it has to increase power by at least two and it has to provide some form of card advantage (either directly in the case of Sword of Fire and Ice or, more likely, in a less concrete form, such as Sword of Sinew and Steel or Whispersteel Dagger. The only exception to this rule is Batterskull, I like having a giant equipment to tutor up when I need to bash and Lifelink and Vigilance are both huge in a deck that often doesn't have any blockers up.
I am running Lucille (boooo, hissss) I don't like the UB products very much, but when push comes to shove, I'll play with cool cards, even if I don't like their origin and man is Lucille good in this deck, wish it was MV 4 with equip 2 instead of the other way around, but you can't have everything.
Speaking of which, let's talk about creatures. It's a good idea to run a couple aristocrats like Reassembling Skeleton because otherwise an opponent might try to get smart by not letting you kill any of his creatures, with Reassembling Skeleton you can just sac your own creature and that will allow you to recast Ebondeath, Dracolich.
Originally I ran the usual suspects, Reassembling Skeleton, Bloodghast, etc. however, these creatures are useless most of the game, to be honest, usually your opponents will have plenty of creatures for you to kill (or they'll even die on their own) so you don't really need them.
However, I didn't like the idea of being stone cold to creatureless decks, and I was having a bit of trouble with crackback when playing the deck. That's when I remembered Bladewing's Thrall and Boneyard Scourge were a thing. Sure they are less reliable, but they are big buts to put in front of of enemy creatures. I've only played 2 games with the more beefy aristocrats that you see below, but Bladewing's Thrall put in work both times, so I think they are here to stay (plus they also fulfill the coolness factor). Looking forward to putting Poxwalkers in as well.
So why Ebondeath, Dracolich for voltron? Many people when making a Voltron deck look for the most aggressive commander possible, Uril, the Miststalker, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Zurgo Helmsmasher, etc. But I've found the most success with slower voltron decks that don't just fold when someone kills your commander. Instead, you play a control game, your commander will kill everyone eventually if you can just hang in there long enough. My original voltron commander of choice was Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, and he's a great option, but he needs a lot of support cards like Titanoth Rex and Unexpected Fangs in order to function.
The thing about Ebondeath, Dracolich is that he's a beast all on his own, he's hard to kill (permanently), he can be flashed in in order to not take a turn off smashing when he gets removed, and his stats are focused where they are important, power, blocking is for chumps. 5 is also a really sweet power, sure it means he can kill someone in 3 hits with a sword, but I've already killed a surpring number of players 5 points at a time.
Also, I just think he's badass (Seriously, I started brewing this deck cause I thought he was cool and it's a lot easier to keep interest in a deck that you find both mechanically and thematically comelling)
So yeah, it's nothing special, just mono black control with some equipment. I will talk for a second about the equipment and creatures I'm running.
So the rule for equipment in this deck is that it has to increase power by at least two and it has to provide some form of card advantage (either directly in the case of Sword of Fire and Ice or, more likely, in a less concrete form, such as Sword of Sinew and Steel or Whispersteel Dagger. The only exception to this rule is Batterskull, I like having a giant equipment to tutor up when I need to bash and Lifelink and Vigilance are both huge in a deck that often doesn't have any blockers up.
I am running Lucille (boooo, hissss) I don't like the UB products very much, but when push comes to shove, I'll play with cool cards, even if I don't like their origin and man is Lucille good in this deck, wish it was MV 4 with equip 2 instead of the other way around, but you can't have everything.
Speaking of which, let's talk about creatures. It's a good idea to run a couple aristocrats like Reassembling Skeleton because otherwise an opponent might try to get smart by not letting you kill any of his creatures, with Reassembling Skeleton you can just sac your own creature and that will allow you to recast Ebondeath, Dracolich.
Originally I ran the usual suspects, Reassembling Skeleton, Bloodghast, etc. however, these creatures are useless most of the game, to be honest, usually your opponents will have plenty of creatures for you to kill (or they'll even die on their own) so you don't really need them.
However, I didn't like the idea of being stone cold to creatureless decks, and I was having a bit of trouble with crackback when playing the deck. That's when I remembered Bladewing's Thrall and Boneyard Scourge were a thing. Sure they are less reliable, but they are big buts to put in front of of enemy creatures. I've only played 2 games with the more beefy aristocrats that you see below, but Bladewing's Thrall put in work both times, so I think they are here to stay (plus they also fulfill the coolness factor). Looking forward to putting Poxwalkers in as well.
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost: