Hello! No, I have not given up. In fact, I have created a slew of decks since my last post. I just haven't found the time to post until recently. Let me start with the updates:

Completed:
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (pro-white / turn everything white)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (Rogue tribal)
Sedris, the Traitor King (self-mill / Unearth-Sundial combo)
Kresh the Bloodbraided (sacrifice / kill theme)
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Grim Monolith / Power Artifact combo with flashback)
Adun Oakenshield (CITB creature recursion)
Skyfire Kirin (stealy Spirits / Arcane)
Kasimir the Lone Wolf (Exalted Voltron... because, you know... Lone Wolf)
Baru, Fist of Krosa (Mono-green Landfall)
Ayumi, the Last Visitor (Power 5+ / slight voltrony)
Gwendlyn Di Corci (Discards and Draw 7s with Megrim and Underworld Dream effects)
Starke of Rath (Mono-R threaten effects: steal and sacrifice!)
Glissa, the Traitor (B/G artifact recursion)

Started:
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
Heidar, Rimewind Master

There are a couple other piles of cards with interesting interactions that I am still looking for good generals to take advantage of, too. My completed decks now stand at 91, and I am hoping to hit at least one hundred by the new year.

Inventories of important cards are starting to run down. Some of my more recent decklists have certainly been lacking in certain cards that could make them better. The decision on whether or not to switch cards out from older decks to put them to better use in later ones is a tough one, and I have done it on a few occasions. This has had the effect of averaging the power level of my decks somewhat. I think at some point down the line I may have to do a comparison; it would be an interesting thing to look at.

Here's a decklist that I typed up for something else. It's Asmira, Holy Avenger, who was deck #55, back when I still had Eternal Witnesses and such to use.
Asmira, Holy Avenger

Land
27 Forest
10 Plains
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Selesnya Sanctuary

Creatures
Birds of Paradise
Spore Frog
Fauna Shaman
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Lotus Cobra
Melira, Sylvok Outcast
Viridian Emissary
Qasali Pridemage
Wood Elves
Spike Feeder
Yavimaya Elder
Eternal Witness
Kitchen Finks
Dauntless Escort
Lumberknot
Stonehorn Dignitary
Ravenous Baloth
Heartmender
Radiant's Dragoons
Juniper Order Ranger
Archon of Justice
Woodripper
Kithkin Spellduster
Aerie Ouphes
Acidic Slime
Mitotic Slime
Nacatl War-Pride
Duplicant
Wurmcoil Engine
Twilight Shepherd
Krosan Tusker
Woodfall Primus

Instants
Fracturing Gust
Momentous Fall
Beast Within
Fresh Meat
Krosan Grip
Swords to Plowshares


Sorceries
Green Sun's Zenith
Make a Wish
Genesis Wave

Enchantments
Night Soil
Greater Good
Ooze Garden
Gutter Grime
Sylvan Library
Fecundity
Cream of the Crop
Abundance

Artifacts
Marble Diamond
Birthing Pod
Whispersilk Cloak
Talisman of Unity
Cauldron of Souls
Culling Dais
Dreamstone Hedron
Mind Stone
Darksteel Ingot
Skullclamp

Planswalkers
Garruk Wildspeaker


That's all for now. Maybe another decklist (probably Starke) later on.

Busy busy! Thanksgiving here in the USA, so just a quick updating post. I have a longer post on aggressive strategies that I'm working on, but it needs tweaking still. Here are my current additions:

Completed:
Joven (blowing up artifacts and turning things into artifacts)
Sharuum the Hegemon (fairly typical Sharuum deck, though no infi-combos)
Zur the Enchanter (fairly typical Zur deck, with a few more auras)
Ertai, the Corrupted (Esper tokens)
Chorus of the Conclave (1CC Proclamation of Rebirth)
Kodama of the South Tree (spirit beatdown)

Update!

Just a quick update today, bringing us to 72 completed decks:

Completed:
Phage the Untouchable (survive casting Phage)
Silvos, Rogue Elemental (Voltron / big green)
Zirilan of the Claw (dragon search and re-use)
Seton, Krosan Protector (tribal druids)
Malfegor (flashback / madness)
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Light from Within / White beatdown)
Celestial Kirin (spirit destruction / CMC 4 deck (no spirits at 4 save the general, all non-spirit stuff at 4 so it survives))

Started:
Blind Seer (Vorthos mono-U Urza deck)
5-Color Allies (general to be determined)
Glissa the Traitor (cheap artifacts and creature kill)
Adun Oakenshield (just good Jund creatures plus good sac outlets)

Midterms are due tomorrow so I can't go into too much detail today. Suffice it to say that I have more time coming up, so I hope to post a decklist or two soon, as well as some deckbuilding thoughts. I have a bunch of notes on themes that I want to organize into a longer post. I'm also setting a little mini-goal: I want to have my first 100 decks done by the new year. I think it's totally do-able at this point, since that would 6.5 weeks, needing an average of just under 5 decks a week to reach, and two of those weeks are vacation weeks for me.

More musings and a few decklists later this week, I promise! Let me know if there's a general on my list you want me to go into detail on, because I can totally do requests!

Weekly Update

Another slow week, since we are still moving stuff around the house and I don't really have a deck workspace at the moment. Still, progress is being made:

Recently Completed:
Darien, King of Kjeldor (Soldiers)
Mistform Ultimus (Blue Lords)
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born (umm... Zombies)
Garza Zol, Plague Queen (Grixis Vampires)

Begun:
Chorus of the Conclave (1CC / Proclamation of Rebirth deck)
Seton, Krosan Protector (Druids)

Work, work, work... I haven't run out my binders of decent stuff yet, so I still have plenty of good stuff going in these decks. Decent mana bases have been tougher to do, but so far they are still workable (though I swear it seems that everything that wanted to go into Garza had to have at least two colored mana in its cost *grumble*). I'm running pretty low on a couple of really nice cheap staples: Bojuka Bog and Crib Swap. Crib Swap has fit into a lot more themes than I had originally thought it would, thanks to that very nice, searchable tribal spelltype. I'm out of sleeves for decks that need them, too.

I'll post some actual thoughts on some things later this week. Just wanted to show that I'm still going!

Late Update

This week has been rather busy with life stuff. We've been rearranging the house, so I've been needed for furniture moving and such. In addition, last week was the first week back from break, as well as a major project week for my students. Oh yeah, and there was Halloween to get ready for and celebrate.

So following are this past week's updates, as well as the basic route I took in building them.

Completed:
Verdeloth, the Ancient (tokens)
Volrath the Fallen (Voltron / reanimation)
Horde of Notions (5C Elementals, duh)
Sivitri Scarzam (oddball theme: U/B Ladies)

And since I haven't gotten as much done to talk about, here's my first decklist posted here! In the spirit of Halloween, I've chosen my Rashka the Slayer Buffy-themed deck!

Protagonists:
Rashka the Slayer (Our Heroine)
Aysen Bureaucrats (Xander Harris, the Zeppo)
Amrou Kithkin (Willow, High School Geek)
Doubtless One (Willow, Empowered Wicca)
Trap Runner (Faith, Rogue Slayer)
Kazandu Blademaster (Spike, Demon-killer)
Martyr of Sands (Tara, also there)
Veteran Armorer (Rupert Giles)
D'Avenant Archer (Cordelia Chase)
Squire (Andrew, Tucker's brother)
Revered Elder (Joyce Summers)
Benalish Trapper (Primal/First Slayer)
Crowd Favorites

Bystanders:
Monk Realist (Principal Snyder)
Unruly Mob
Angry Mob
Doomed Traveler
Icatian Crier
Intrepid Hero
Glory Seeker
Expendable Troops
Mausoleum Guard
Ication Town

Baddies:
Hand of Emrakul
Pathrazer of Ulamog
Ulamog's Crusher
Skittering Invasion

Weapons and Accessories:
Wooden Stake
Sharpened Pitchfork
Blazing Torch
Adventuring Gear
Trailblazer's Boots
Demon's Horn
Ogre's Cleaver
Butcher's Cleaver

The Chosen One:
Repel the Darkness
Martyr's Cause
Vow of Duty
Hope Charm
Armageddon
Righteous Cause
Dawn Charm
Circle of Protection: Black
Quest for the Holy Relic
Spare from Evil

Moves / Spells:
Narrow Escape
Devouring Light
Mighty Leap
Temper
Diversionary Tactics
Moment of Heroism
To Arms!
Gallantry
Reinforcements
Timely Reinforcements
Off Balance

Other:
Afterlife
Guardian Angel ("Is he even still on this show?")
Renewed Faith
Bonds of Faith
Righteousness
Humble
Sunlance
Aura of Silence ("Hush")

Lands:
Buncha Plains


This is quite a poor deck, actually. There are likely far better choices for this deck, but many cards were chosen for their art or their name, and all were chosen to be cheap. Many also have quotes or lines in Sharpie written on them. Hope you like it!

This week's updates

The following had been added to the list at right, but I hadn't actually pointed them out as completed yet. So here are the decks that have been finished in the last week:

Completed:
Rhys the Redeemed
Sisters of Stone Death
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
Hakim, Loreweaver
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Patron of the Moon
Sek'kuar, Deathkeeper
Uril the Miststalker
Doran the Siege Tower
Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Asmira, Holy Avenger
Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
Homura, Human Ascendant

Newly Started:
Joven
Zirilan of the Claw
Verdeloth the Ancient
Maralen of the Mornsong
Child of Alara

Fifty-seven down! I'm at less than 400 to go! :-]

Forming the Head: Part 2

So in my last Voltron post, I went through the things that I thought can make a good Voltron commander. So far in the 54 decks I have built, 5 have been solid Voltron decks, with another few having major parts being Voltronish in nature. If that rate keeps up (and looking at the criteria I went through last time, there are plenty of viable Voltrons out there), I’m looking at somewhere around 45 or so decks that will be committed to hitting people in the face with their general.

Yeowch.

As I’ve said before, I’m not going to be spending an excess of money on this quest. This means that I’m not going to have three dozen Swords of Fire and Ice or Umezawa’s Jittes available to make these decks as good as they can be. Heck, I may not even be able to get that many Loxodon Warhammers and Lightning Greaves with my budget. This means that I’m going to have to look at alternate options when it comes to my equipment and aura selection, and loading up on some sub-par budget heroes. It’s still early in my quest, but I’ve already begun re-evaluating some cards and I thought I’d share my thoughts. Here are some oft-overlooked cards that, while they may not be what most decks are looking for, are certainly serviceable in a pinch:

Auras
First of all, any of the return-to-hand auras is worth considering, so even though I only list a few of these in this section, don’t forget the others like Launch, Brilliant Halo, False Demise, Sleeper’s Guile, and Undying Rage. I liked these cycles.

Blessing of Leeches, Fortitude, Gaea’s Embrace, Savage Silhouette, Skeletal Grimace, Trollhide – Regeneration helps boost that whole “resiliency” issue quite nicely, but you usually only want to play ones that also grant power and toughness. Still, Blessing of Leeches’ 0-cost regen and Fortitude’s hand-returning ability make for a certain amount of playability.

Canopy Cover, Shielding Plax – Hexproof! These certainly will be used in Voltron decks I make in the future, as Hexproof is certainly one of the more powerful abilities to grant. Being immune to targeted removal but still targetable for your pump sounds pretty good to me.

Aspect of Mongoose, Alexi’s Cloak, Diplomatic Immunity, Pemmin’s Aura, Zephid’s Embrace – These are decent as capstone cards, auras you put on once you’ve loaded up your creature with what you want already, since they all grant shroud and you can’t put more on after these. The blue ones are all currently starring for me in my Hakim, Loreweaver deck, which while not really a Voltron deck can become a fairly decent approximation when necessary. Hexproof is better, but sometimes shroud will do, especially on nice evasive guys.

Rancor- Rancor has been one of my favorites since its release back in my high school days. The +2 power for one mana is nice, but what really makes it powerful is the reusability and the trample. I probably didn’t even need to mention Rancor, because it actually gets respect in most circles, but since I actually have large numbers of this card, you will see me lean on it for any green-based aggressive deck quite often.

Instants/Sorceries
Instants and sorceries are often ignored by most voltron decks, as they tend to give temporary bonuses that cannot be relied on to carry you through the game. They can even be nullified completely by instant-speed removal, which is enough for most folks to write them off for good. I don’t really have that luxury here, so I’ll go into a few that I have found to be worth re-evaluating.

Elvish Fury, Seething Anger, Haze of Rage – Ah, buyback. Now there is an ability we will never see in print again. While there are many strong buyback cards in EDH, most of the ones that anyone plays are blue, by which I mean Capsize. Elvish Fury is a simple +2/+2 boost at instant speed for one green. This is normally nothing that would come anywhere near an EDH deck, but the ability to be bought back makes me take a second look at it. Four colorless mana is a piece of cake to most green decks, even cheap-o budget ones like mine, and I could see this potentially being a blowout finale card against many people. I’m currently trying one out in my Autumn Willow Voltron, to see how it works. I have good feelings here. Haze of Rage and Seething Anger are less useful due to their sorcery speed, but I could see using them in the right kinds of decks.

Predator’s Strike, Sylvan Might, Wildsize, Colossal Might – I’m lumping all of these together because they serve the same basic purpose: granting more power and the ever-important trample. Sylvan Might and Wildsize may serve better than the others also due to the slight card advantage you get with each.

Fury Charm – I LOVE THIS CARD. I discovered this one as I was searching for cool red stuff to put on an Isochron Scepter, and this is EXACTLY the sort of thing I need to find more of for this quest. It’s cheap to acquire and is versatile, covering something that every deck needs to do (kill artifacts) but can be used as creature pump / evasion-granter when it has to be.

Might of Oaks – This one doesn’t give the almighty trample, but it does give seven power and seven toughness. Not good enough for a typical EDH deck, but good enough for me.

Consume Strength, Agony Warp – Not… horrible, at least. They can boost one guy and weaken/possibly kill another. These two probably won’t get played only because they are two-colored, and there probably will be only a few decks that they could fit in logically, and there may be better options available.
Daring Leap, Leap of Flame, Mighty Leap – This card and others like it are also possibilities, as they grant flying in addition to P/T. Again, whether or not they are used will likely depend on the specific decks/generals that they could logically fit into.

Equipment
Equipment is definitely the main go-to card type for Voltrons. Most of the best stuff that people like slapping onto the generals is equipment, as the ability to stick around when the creature dies is certainly nice. Here's a list of pretty much all the equipment that I've found to be both helpful for Voltrons, and also low in price. Some you know, many you may laugh at, but my point here is to dig really deep for things that can work well that some people may never have considered before.

Whispersilk cloak - Probably the best equipment available for a low, low price, the cloak offers both the ever-important shroud and the wonderful inability to be blocked. An absolute staple for Voltrons, even when budge is not an issue.

Neurok Stealthsuit - For any deck using blue, this is a viable substitute for lightning greaves / whispersilk cloak as a shroud enabler. The extra bonus of being able to move it at instant speed can be incredibly helpful as well

Horned Helm - Also transferable at instant speed, this is good for green generals that don’t already have the pseudo-evasion ability of trample. Not the greatest, but workable enough to get by in many instances.

Trailblazer’s Boots - Good for most decks as a redundancy to the cloak, since this will essentially mean “unblockable” against 99% of decks out there.

Grafted Exoskeleton - This one turns heads when it is played. Even the most benign general starts looking quite scary when he or she has been granted infect. A very solid choice that can be had for not much money, but don’t expect it to stay in play long.

Darksteel Axe - Seriously underestimated by many. The ability to stick around through numerous board wipes and immunity to other “destroy effects” makes it definitely useable, and the cheap cost to cast and equip means that that +2 damage can be present easily and may go a long way towards the required 21 damage.

Fireshrieker - Double strike! Not as cheap as some on this list, but many people who played during Mirrodin block have tons of these lying around. Alas, I was out during that time, but I have picked up a few since my return.

Grafted Wargear - Three to cast and zero to equip for +3/+2 isn’t shabby. Who cares if you have to sac your guy if you unequip? Why would you want to equip this to someone other than your general? Just watch out for Tower of the Magistrates…

Infiltration Lens - Though this doesn’t directly help you do 21 points of general damage, when it becomes obvious that you’re trying to do that, you will be blocked. So get some advantage from it!

Mask of Avacyn - A newcomer, but yay for hexproof! And a little bit of power boost as a nice bonus, too.

Specter’s Shroud - If your general of choice already has some evasion, this can help keep an opponent’s resources low for a cheap casting and equip cost, but beware reanimation decks.

Strider Harness - This is on here solely for being the cheapest haste-granting equipment around, and sometimes haste is incredibly important. Swiftfoot boots are better though.

Swiftfoot Boots - Obvious choice is obvious? Cheap for now, so pick up a bunch if you can. Though not better than greaves (because you can’t equip them as soon as you have the ability to cast your general), they are certainly excellent.

Vorrac Battle horns - More trample, for a low equip cost and a bonus of being unable to be gang-blocked.


The last parts of this post were written on far too little sleep, so I apologize if they aren’t phrased as well as they could be. I could probably list dozens more in each category that are serviceable, but I figure that most people aren’t going to be digging quite as I am, so this should cover for most people. When I find a truly good gem, I may post about it later.

Until then, happy deck building!