need help for commander making a commander deck.

[vali0021]

i want to make a Volrath, the Shapestealer edh deck, and i am gonna need some help since this is my second commander deck i make and my first one was trash. i know that i need some boardwipes, draw, ramp, singel removal, i know what goes into an edh deck, i just need some recommendations for cards that go well with Volrath, the Shapestealer

EDIT:i am mainly thinking i want some combo stuff and infect and those kind of shenanigans to be my deck plan

[CleanBelwas]

Hey man,

If you're just looking for card recommendations, a great place to start is EDHREC.

Volrath's page can be found here:

https://edhrec.com/commanders/volrath-the-shapestealer

Has a load of excellent ideas on there.

The only thing with EDHREC is that if certain commanders have a few different strats then the synergies and recommendations can be a bit muddled. Volrath has been built with counter synergies but also has been built as an infect build, so it's something to be aware of when looking.

Personally, I'd be a fan of a -1/-1 counter theme, hampering my opponents. As such, I'd chose things like Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Archfiend of Ifnir. The latter is an amazing way to get a counter on everything if you play into the discard / cycling side of things, but I have an unreasonable amount of love for that card so it might not appeal to you.

Once you've decided on a build style you want (-1/-1 counters, +1/+1 counters, infect etc.) let us know and we should be able to give a few more direct recommendations.

Also, if you could give us an idea on budget too, that'll help with our suggestions.

Good luck and happy brewing!

[Marshstepper78]

Generous Patron is good card draw in a Volrath -1/-1 counter deck.

[vali0021]

yea thx CleanBelwas ill check that site out, and yea i totally forgot to say wich way i wanted the deck to go but i am mainly thinking i want some combo stuff and infect and those kind of shenanigans.

and generous patron is awsome thx for that!

[Marshstepper78]

Archfiend of Ifnir is a potentially amazing card, but I think it's exponentially better in a deck that wheels a lot (e.g. Nekusar, the Mindrazer).  I honestly wouldn't put it in a Volrath, the Shapestealer deck; Hapatra, however, hell yes.

[CleanBelwas]

Archfiend of Ifnir is a potentially amazing card, but I think it's exponentially better in a deck that wheels a lot (e.g. Nekusar, the Mindrazer).  I honestly wouldn't put it in a Volrath, the Shapestealer deck; Hapatra, however, hell yes.

I hugely agree with it being better in wheels decks. It's viability here depends on how much you're willing to include to facilitate it. Luckily there are a number of good cards that you might consider including that could help it. I'm personally a huge fan of the cycling mechanic so will value cards that cycle quite highly anyway (I tend to run cycle lands for each colour in my decks, plus things like Razaketh's Rite, Wander in Death, Undead Gladiator etc. because I love being able to swap them for more cards if I don't need them).

I have a Hapatra deck and I found that playing these types of cards to facilitate the Archfiend has next to no downside because they cycle anyway, and if you hit the combo it can be devastating. Plus Archfiend of Ifnir and Generous Patron can draw a huge amount of cards while simultaneously wiping all of your opponents creatures. It's one of my favourite EDH combos.

But I 100% agree that it's certainly not an auto include and might not be for everyone. I personally feel that how worthwhile it is in Volrath really depends on 2 things. The first is if you are willing to include the cards to facilitate it, and the second is if you intend to use Volrath to copy your creatures or your opponents. The Archfiend is only good here if it's the latter.

I recommended him based on how I would personally build Volrath based on what I find fun and how I like to play, but I'd totally get why someone would decide not to include him.

[Xaarvaxus]

We also had started a thread for the forum to build a Volrath deck [one card at a time] but that lost steam and stalled out.  However, it should have the beginnings of a deck to work from [though I don't think we were that budget conscious with our suggestions].

[vali0021]

i found a card on that site that is pretty awsome with volrath its carnifex demon so if you copy carnifex demon with volrath then you can just keep paying 1 black and put a -1/-1 counter on all other creatures

[Judaspriester]

I would also reccomend taking some time and read this topic:
https://deckstats.net/forum/index.php/topic,42562.0.html

The main reason to write it was helping people to trim down their decks to 100 cards, but there is also alot of information what a deck should contain, why it should contain this stuff and how much cards of different sectionds should be inside.


What would also help alot for recommendations would be a budget we are talking about, and maybe a first draft of the deck (or a list of cards you've already collected for it).