Kefnet, the Budget Mindful Voltron (EDH / Commander)

As with most Voltron builds, the game plan is simple and straightforward; have our commander, Kefnet, deal twenty-one points of combat damage to each of our opponents. Kefnet has some distinct advantages in terms of being a Voltron commander. He is evasive (flying), has built-in protection (indestructible), and a low CMC (2U). The 5/5 stat line isn't bad, but we will be looking for a way to give Kefnet at least +2/+0 so that it only takes three 'swings' in order to eliminate an opponent through combat damage.

There are other considerations as well. As with all the gods introduced in the Amonkhet block, Kefnet has a specific hurdle to clear before he can be used during combat. For Kefnet to do his thing, we need to have at least seven cards in our hand. This means that in order to keep Kefnet 'online', we need to prioritize a build that emphasizes both card replacement and card draw.

Kefnet himself can help us achieve our goal with his 3U activated ability to draw a card and then, if we want, return a land we control to our hand. This means we can have four cards in our hand before our turn, activate Kefnet's ability, and then draw into a seven-card hand. But we don't want to rely upon Kefnet himself to do the heavy lifting. Luckily, one thing about brewing a Mono-U budget deck is that it has card draw in spades.

I elected to go for a more creature-based card draw package over the group-hug nature of sorcery and artifact-based card draw. Creatures either provide card draw themselves (Arcanis the Omnipotent, Jushi Apprentice), or facilitate card draw via combat (Zndrsplt, Deepfathom Skulker). Zndrsplt deserves special mention here, as the potential card draw trigger occurs when you begin combat. You don't have to declare any attackers in order to start flipping coins and seeing if you can draw cards via Zndrsplt. As a bonus, if you draw up to seven and want to utilize Kefnet, you can resolve the Zndrsplt trigger and then declare the newly 'online' Kefnet to be an attacker. Or, conversely, you can just see how many cards Zndrsplt will let you draw and then declare zero attackers and end the combat phase. Sure, flipping coins is no guarantee that you will draw cards. But even winning one flip replaces Zndrsplt, and winning more just provides additional value that few other cards in the deck can potentially match.

Enchantments like Dictate of Kruphix and Well of Ideas also help provide card draw, albeit on terms favorable to your opponents as they get to draw more cards as well. Kumena's Awakening at least allows you to cut your opponents out of the card draw goodness once you have Ascended, but since the idea is to keep cards in our hand it will take longer for our deck to get the necessary ten permanents required for the City's Blessing. Sorceries like Minds Aglow and Skyscribing let everyone draw cards, but the recursion allowed by forecasting Skyscribing makes it more valuable than other one-shot card draw variants and Minds Aglow can be cast on a turn when you can best take advantage of having open mana.

The control package included in the deck is definitely slower and clunkier than even other budget-U brews, but most of the counters in this deck replace themselves with a cantrip effect. The best part is that if you hold up four mana for a counterspell and don't find a worthy target during your opponent's turns, then you can just dump the mana into Kefnet and draw a card.

Speaking of Kefnet, it's probably a good idea to talk about how we can go about making him more lethal. Blue has few auras that work as effective creature buffs, so the burden of making Kefnet more robust falls upon equipment. Empyrial Plate synergizes with our card draw strategy, and Inquisitor's Flail effectively grants Kefnet double his power with none of the downside thanks to his indestructibility. Avarice Amulet is especially good with Kefnet; it gives him +2/+0 and lets us draw an additional card during our upkeep. The Amulet does have a potential downside in that it must be given to an opponent if the attached creature dies, but since Kefnet is indestructible and exile effects avoid the graveyard altogether, it is unlikely that Kefnet will ever 'die' and thus activate the donation trigger. (Lookout for -1/-1 counters or -X/-X effects, however) Speaking of being indestructible, Kefnet also makes an ideal candidate for equipping the Pariah's Shield in order to provide yourself absolute protection from any source of damage.

Trailblazer's Boots, Rogue's Passage, and Deepfathom Skulker provide a means of making Kefnet unblockable, and O-Naginata gives any equipped creature trample. Helm of the Host is probably overkill, but the idea of making copies of Kefnet- or any of our other card draw creatures- just sounds delightful for a deck that wants to create a board presence with the minimum use of actual cards.

There you have it- Kefnet, the Budget Mindful Voltron.