Commander is one of the many ways to play Magic: The Gathering. It is a special format that is multiplayer, intended to play with four or more people (though can be played with more or fewer players). Decks are built with 99 cards and no more than one copy of each card (except basic lands).
Commander decks also have a commander that is in the command zone that you can cast whenever it is legal to play a creatuer. All the cards in your library must match the color identity of your commander. Since you always have access to your commander, decks built around your commander are very common.
What Is Voltron?
Voltron is a name based on the franchise of the same name where multiple pieces of a gigantic robot come together to form a much more powerful one. In Magic terms, this refers to loading up a single creature with a ton of Equipment and Auras to make them massive threats. The creature used in Voltron decks that are loaded up on is often your commander as, it is easy to get onto the battlefield, and you almost always have access to it.
Many, and maybe even most, of the cards in the 99 are Equipment and Auras that give protection and powerful abilities. The win condition of most Voltron decks is commander damage – which is damage done to your opponents by your commander. If someone takes 21 or more damage from a single commander, they lose the game. Voltron decks protect themselves, buff themselves up, and make their commander unblockable in order to more easily achieve this.
What Are The Best Voltron Commanders?
There is no specific color that is better than others for Voltron. Most of the strongest Voltron cards are colorless Equipment, giving you free rein on the colors you can play. However, there are some commanders with powerful effects based on various triggers that greatly benefit the Voltron game plan. Boros (white/red) is often among the most common pairings for Voltron decks, but there are plenty of others to choose from.
Galea, Kindler Of Hope
As previously mentioned, Auras and Equipment are what make Voltron function. Galea, Kindler Of Hope is a great choice because it automatically equips an Equipment spell to a creature when it enters the battlefield. Many powerful Equipment spells are hampered by a large equip cost, but Galea gets around that quite easily.
Galea, Kindler Of Hope has the added bonus of being Bant (green/white/blue) which allows for ramp to be played to easily get lands on the battlefield so you can always be casting spells. If you have a way to control the top of your library, you can cast your Auras and Equipment without needing to actually draw them.
Killian, Ink Duelist
Killian, Ink Duelist is less about the Equipment side of Voltron and more about the Aura side. This is because Auras target a creature to enchant them – meaning Killian discounts that spell by two mana.
Orzhov (black/white) has plenty of strong Auras, many of which cost a fair bit of mana. Luckily, Killian makes them much cheaper and more realistic to cast. Killian itself has both menace and lifelink to give it an extra layer of strength for Voltron strategies.
Narset, Enlightened Master
A weakness of Voltron strategies is that since they rely on one creature removal can be backbreaking. Narset, Enlightened Master comes with hexproof to help get around that weakness. Jesaki (blue/red/white) has no shortage of powerful Aura and Equipment support cards.
As an added bonus, Narset can cast noncreature spells for free. If you have ways to control the top cards of your deck then you can guarantee these will all be castable spells you can take advantage of.
Wilson, Refined Grizzly
Wilson, Refined Grizzly is a commander that can be paired with any Background to let you pair it with any other color. Wilson is simple, and will almost always hit the battlefield as it can’t be countered. Afterward, it comes with a plethora of keyword abilities that make it easier to get in for damage.
Though there is no shortage of options, one of the best is Raised By Giants which will make Wilson a 10/10 creature with trample. When this is mixed with other Voltron cards, Wilson is capable of easily taking out a player with just one attack.
Nahiri, Forged In Fury
Nahiri, Forged In Fury is focused on Equipment spells. It comes with affinity for Equipment, which also helps pay for the commander tax to make it easy to cast at any point in the game. It won’t be uncommon to be able to cast Nahiri for just one red and one white mana.
In addition to that, you can cast Equipment spells for free if you exile it off of Nahiri’s attack trigger. Since most of your deck is going to be Equipment it will frequently come up. Even if you don’t hit an Equipment spell you can still play the spell you exiled.
What Are The Best Voltron Cards?
Outside of commanders, Voltron’s 99 cards consist of support cards for Equipment and Aura cards as well as Equipment and Auras themselves. These often include ways to cheat around casting and equip costs and ways to search them out directly from your deck.
Open The Armory
Open The Armory is one of the best tutors for Voltron decks. It can search out any Aura or Equipment card and put it right into your hand. There are many cards you want on the battlefield as soon as possible as they give protection that makes it much harder, if not impossible to remove your Voltron creature.
It only costs two mana as well, and it is possible to cast it as early as turn one with the right hand. Since you only have a small chance to open the cards you want, Open the Armory adds some much-welcomed consistency.
Silent Arbiter
Silent Arbiter acts as both a support for Voltron and a Stax piece on its own. Since you generally only have a small number of creatures, Silent Arbiter keeps you safe from a large field of creatures swinging at you.
On the other side of the equation, it helps to guarantee you get in for damage since only one creature can block. This means if your attacking creature has menace it is impossible to actually block it.
Puresteel Paladin
Equipment spells are a large backbone of most Voltron decks, and Puresteel Paladin is one of the best ways to support them. So long as you have three artifacts – which all Equipment permanents are – all equip costs are zero.
Voltron can struggle with card draw but Puresteel Paladin turns all of your Equipment spells into card draw that replace themselves in the hand when they enter the battlefield.
Trailblazer’s Boots
When it comes to Voltron decks, you want to ensure you can always get in for damage. Trailblazer’s Boots almost always guarantees you will. Practically every commander deck runs nonbasic lands, even mono-colored decks.
There is no way to interact with nonbasic landwalk outside of removal – but if you have protection this becomes almost impossible.
Sigarda’s Aid
Sigarda’s Aid is one of the best Voltron support cards ever. You can cast it at nearly any point as it only costs one mana. Normally, you can only cast Auras and Equipment on your turn at sorcery speed, but Sigarda’s Aid lets you cast it whenever. It even gives you a free equip when an Equipment hits the battlefield.
Depending on the colors you are in, Sigarda’s Aid allows you to hold up mana for interaction, and then once you no longer need to do so, cast your Aura and Equipment at the end step before you actually start your turn.
All That Glitters
An Aura created with Voltron in mind, All That Glitters turns all your Aura and artifact permanents into extra stat boosts. It counts more than just Equipment, meaning your utility artifacts like mana rocks also give the enchanted creature a boost.
All That Glitters can be combined with similar cards that also give boosts based on how many enchantments you have such as Ethereal Armor. The boosts from All That Glitters can be enough to be able to take someone out of the game with just on swing.
Gift Of Immortality
Gift Of Immortality is a way to ensure your creature stays on the battlefield. It makes your Voltron creature much more annoying to get rid of as it recurs itself at the end of the turn.
The only permanent way to get rid of Gift Of Immortality is to destroy the Aura itself. Protection of your main creature is the most important aspect of Voltron decks, so Gift Of Immortality is a must-include if you have access to white.
Commander’s Plate
In Voltron decks that use fewer colors, Commander’s Plate is one of the best cards you can be playing – especially in Mono-Colored Commander decks. Even without the protection, a +3/+3 stat boost is nothing to scoff at.
If your commander doesn’t share a color with any other colors in a game, Commander’s Plate makes it so the equipped creature can hardly be interacted with. Protection makes it so the equipped creature can’t be targeted, blocked, or dealt damage from anything except for colors in your commander’s color identity, which lets it get in for much more damage.
How To Win With Voltron
Voltron decks are combat-based ones. Despite this, you often aren’t winning through traditional combat. Instead, games are often won by slowly taking everyone out through commander damage. Voltron decks often don’t play many creatures and are instead focused on stacking up your commander with boosts.
Generally, you want to wait to cast your commander until you can start loading it up with Auras and Equipment. If you jump the gun, it will simply get removed before you get a chance to start boosting it up.
Wait to cast your commander until you have protection for it. This allows you to ensure your commander sticks to the battlefield, and you can push for your win condition safely.
The main way to win is to take out players who are the biggest threats to you first before focusing on the rest. Since Voltron decks often make their main creature unblockable, you can swing at them freely. There is no shortage of stat-boosing cards to hit the commander damage threshold easily.
Alternatively, you can enchant your Voltron creature with Phyresis or Glistening Oil to give them infect to make it even easier to take them out of the game.
In addition, if you have ways to gain extra combat steps you can take everyone out in just one turn. There are plenty of ways to accomplish this such as Relentless Assault and Seize The Day. Voltron’s win condition is combat, so having ways to gain multiple combat steps is key to making it harder for your opponents to stop you before it’s too late.
Biggest Threats To Voltron
Since Voltron relies heavily on just one creature, removal is the biggest threat by a wide margin. Most Auras don’t stick around if a creature gets removed, and since those are an important tool in Voltron, losing them can be devastating.
Luckily, Voltron decks have a plethora of ways to protect themselves. If you have access to counterspells, that can stop board wipes or targetted removal from getting rid of your primary creature. Alternatively, there are Auras and Equipment that give it protection such as Swiftfoot Boots, Snake Umbra, and Darksteel Plate.
Giving a creature protection from a color will also remove all Auras and Equipment on it if they have that color in its identity, so be careful when giving a creature protection from specific colors.
The other biggest weakness of Voltron is a lack of board presence. Because you generally only have a few creatures, since you are focused on just one, it makes you susceptible to attacks from the rest of the players in the game. Since Voltron decks quickly become obvious, you constantly have a target on your back since you can easily take someone out of the game.
As such, it is common for the other players to team up on you to take you out before you take them out.
This is why many Voltron builds have a backup Stax strategy built in to slow your opponent down. Silent Arbiter and Dueling Grounds help to slow everyone else down while acting both offensively and defensively for you. Propaganda and Ghostly Prison make it harder to attack you as it also requires mana payment to do so for each attacking creature.
This is also what makes board wipes so good in Voltron – so long as your Voltron creature is protected from them – as it evens the playing field back in your favor.