Deck Goals

Toolbox

One of the guys in my pod once ran an Athreos 'Tool box' commander deck, which he described as "always having the right tool for any situation." Considering that was the first deck I ever ran (as I borrowed it), I'd like for this to be something of an homage to it, but more political than his was. That's why there's so much removal as a political tool (see below), and the Group Hug section.

Political Group Hug

The hope for this deck is to use Shadrix to get really political and keep wheeling and dealing and keeping the table talking. Every turn Shadrix is out, when you go to combat, you can do threat evaluation, and say "I'm going to (often times, put a +1/+1 counter on Shadrix), who wants to draw a card for 1 life? What's it worth for me to give you a card?" People will make all kinds of interesting offers, and then you pick the best option - don't be afraid to give out free things to the person in last place. That earns good will.

Also, best advice I can give, draw your own cute little tokens. I drew about 8 different Inklings and gave them all different coloured berets (hats). "What colour hat do you want?" drives even adult men to a joyous frenzy - "Look at his cute hat!" - and is way more valuable than it has any right to be.

Some of the card draw also fits the theme, with a bit of monarch (shadrix can almost always reclaim it), temple bell and Wishclaw Talisman, plus a temple bell. Shout outs to Spectral Searchlight for being weirdly relevant every time I draw and play it. Keep that untapped and don't think of it as self ramp, offer it to the table. "What's it worth to me if I give you a mana?", and you can get back more than the 3 mana you invested in it by having someone else spend a card and their other mana to remove one of your problems. That said, I have definitely helped someone develop into the arch nemesis when they dropped a problematic enchantment - still, more hate not coming my way I suppose!

Removal as a Political Tool

This deck currently has 15 pieces of removal. 3 of the board wipes don't kill Shadrix (Crux of Fate, Feast of Succession (which is under Monarch), Tragic Arrogance), which is cool. Being political in this case means "Don't hit me or you'll regret it", and having lots of removal is a way to deter attacks. I include Opposition Agent and Aven Mindcensor under removal, because it stops the problems before they become problems in general. They could just as easily live with Other Bits & Pieces where Dauthi Voidwalker is, but that's neither here-nor-there.

It's a bit blackmail sure, 'you blow up my sword and I blow up all of our boards / take out your key piece', but that's sometimes what you need. And the swords of X & Y draw a lot of fear and removal. Granted, this deck version isn't running Sword of Fire and Ice or Sword of Feast and Famine because they're a bit out of the price range of the rest of the dice. And I get a lot of use out of the otehr pieces, Blackblade Reforged is a genuine finisher with white ramp, and the other pieces work really well.

Voltron / Board State

I recently won a copy of Umezawa's Jitte in an online auction, so I've put in a few other pieces that will make Shadrix an effective voltron commander. After initial testing, the deck hasn’t won yet by going wide with tokens, but instead being lethal with commander damage due to using equipment and exploiting the native double strike. The lack of trample is occasionally problematic, albeit the two Sword of X and Y’s have been invaluable for getting around blockers. If you’re looking to upgrade the deck, remove the budget Sword of the Banshee and probably the haste boots (Silverquill triggers when you go to combat, not on attack). The haste is nice, but if you want more swords, like Body & Mind, Feast & Famine, Hearth & Home, they might be worth the swap.

I wrote the above piece on Voltron a year ago, and since then, this deck has become one of my favourites. As far as voltron goes, flying + double strike is near perfect. It's evasion in the air, and it allows a lot of cards to stack more than their intended effect. A simple +2/+2 effect on a Sword of X & Y is now dealing an additional 4 damage. The keyword Shadrix is missing is really vigilance, to stop the attacks on the crack-back. As I noted above, the Swords and other pieces that trigger on damage are great value. Keep in mind that Hearth & Home plus War & Peace have protection from white, so if you have Astral Robe attached to Shadrix, it'll become unequipped because pro white removes white permanents already attached to Shadrix.