I threw together a Daxos of Meletis Commander deck a couple weeks ago from cards I already had. With little direct Voltron experience and a 2/2 commander who's closer to Thada Adel, Acquisitor than to Uril, the Miststalker, I didn't expect immediate results.

But I've won several games with an untuned Daxos deck, and I'm enamored with the deck's lines of play and the way Daxos inverts opponents' priorities in their board state. My partner in Homestar Runner references Eric Levine took a bounce-and-steal approach with Daxos; I've gone into what I call Smalltron—assembling just enough Voltron to push through damage:

"Smalltron Daxos"

• Commander (0)

• Mana Sources (45)
• 18 Plains
• 18 Island
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Star Compass
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Azorius Cluestone
• 1 Azorius Keyrune

• Smalltron, Assemble (10)
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Ring of Thune
• 1 Ring of Evos Isle
• 1 Empyrial Plate
• 1 Vorrac Battlehorns
• 1 Strider Harness
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Magebane Armor
• 1 Sword of Vengeance

• Reveillark and Friends (12)
• 1 Reveillark
• 1 Nova Cleric
• 1 Intrepid Hero
• 1 Soltari Visionary
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 1 Void Stalker
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1 Gomazoa
• 1 Cryptoplasm
• 1 Master Thief
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Augury Adept

• Other Creatures (16)
• 1 Flickerwisp
• 1 Dearly Departed
• 1 Sunblast Angel
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Luminate Primordial
• 1 Serra Avatar
• 1 Frost Titan
• 1 Jace's Mindseeker
• 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
• 1 Colossal Whale
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Sphinx Ambassador
• 1 Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
• 1 Medomai the Ageless
• 1 Drogskol Reaver

• Other Things (16)
• 1 Relic of Progenitus
• 1 Dolmen Gate
• 1 Phyrexian Splicer
• 1 Crystal Ball
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Mindlock Orb
• 1 Wash Out
• 1 Divine Reckoning
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Oblation
• 1 Faith's Reward
• 1 Mnemonic Nexus
• 1 Traumatic Visions
• 1 Time Stop
• 1 Mirrorweave
• 1 Vanish into Memory

Buy This Deck

Not that I knew going in, but there are a couple of theories that work great for Daxos and don't work much anywhere else. Those theories will make the most sense while discussing the cards, so I should shut up on this topic and talk about the cards instead. As the person writing this article, I have complete power to do this, so why am I not doing it right this moment?

Mana Sources

Forty-five mana sources might seem excessive for a 3-mana commander, but they've been necessary so far. First, you want to cast Daxos on turn three every time and then cast him as often as is safe afterward. Second, you want enough mana to equip Daxos whenever you cast or recast him. Third, you want enough mana to protect Daxos and cast opponents' stuff, whatever it is and however much it costs. If Daxos nabs an awesome spell, you have that turn to do something with it, so being 1 mana shy leaves egg on your face.

Smalltron, Assemble

Normally, opponents become nervous about Voltron strategies and want to deal with them ASAP, and normally, I am one of those opponents. So, the art to equipping Daxos is to keep him slightly bigger than the things that would block him while protecting him enough to keep him out.

The principles just outlined imply that shroud is more important than buffing, though if you can combine the two, you're golden. Despite the geographical anomaly, Ring of Evos Isle suits Daxos perfectly, as the hexproof deals with spot removal and the +1/+1 counters help defeat red sweepers. Vorrac Battlehorns forbids small creatures from ganging up on Daxos; I have yet to see that be an option outside mass token production, but it's a concern all the same. I'm trying Empyrial Plate on the theory that I'm casting more things from other people's libraries than I am from my hand. When my wife played this deck against me recently, Plated Daxos swung for 6 on turn four; that's pretty good. Swiftfoot Boots and Strider Harness give critical haste bonuses; if there's an empty board in the late game, you want to take advantage by casting Daxos and swinging with him.

Obviously, various mythic Swords would look nice on Daxos, but I don't know how much of a target they make him and you; that probably varies by the playgroup. Because of how Daxos likes to run, the protection is more relevant than the pump, and at that point, it's easier to run shroud/hexproof or haste.

Reveillark and Friends

And there's a mashup of creatures for Reveillark to throw down. Soltari Visionary is one of my favorite utility creatures, and it makes perfect sense in Daxos. Not only does it eliminate problematic enchantments easily, its evasion means it thrives with Equipment. Nova Cleric is probably filler utility, but as the deck has no enchantments, it's one-sided. Intrepid Hero is as fragile as the rest of the deck, but he certainly doesn't lack for targets in Commander, and equipped with shroud/hexproof, he's fantastic.

Phantasmal Image and Cryptoplasm are my current Clone effects. I might put in actual Clone at some point, but I don't yet know how good these are in my deck just because I can recur them. (This deck might want a Sun Titan.) If nothing else, Clone effects are on-theme for living off opponents' good graces, as is Master Thief. Gomazoa and Void Stalker are some of my few rattlesnakes, necessary for how much I'm relying on Daxos's life-gain in the early game. And if you didn't expect to see Mulldrifter with Reveillark, I don't know what you expected. This deck has few ways to draw extra cards at the moment, and Mulldrifter lives (or dies very shortly after living) to draw extra cards.

Other Creatures

The other creatures tend to be stock inclusions. Sphinx Ambassador continues Daxos's and Thada Adel's theme of mooching off opponents. Isperia's either defense or card-draw, and this deck needs both. Drogskol Reaver is card-draw when Daxos or Augury Adept are doing their things. And Colossal Whale ups its playability from the shroud/hexproof of the various Equipments than any other creature in this category. Against a Glissa, the Traitor deck trying to reestablish its combos with Executioner's Capsule and so on, Colossal Whale kept exiling Glissa to the command zone every turn; Glissa eventually cost 17 mana to cast. More of that sounds like a good thing.

Other Things

My primary discovery about utility spells for Daxos is that he can't use sorceries very well. Precombat, you don't like to do much other than equip so you can save mana for what you nab off a library. Postcombat, if the spell isn't useful, you still don't want to cast much other than defenses, which in W/U is cards in hand and open mana. And Daxos is good at having cards in hand because he uses others' spells first. So, instants are great and sorceries aren't, and what sorceries are in the deck should have precombat value in case they need to clear the way for Daxos.

In the world of instants, Oblation continues Gomazoa and Void Stalker's work. Faith's Reward is an anti-sweeper effect since the deck can't run too many sweepers; it's especially important to retain Equipment. Traumatic Visions can function as a counterspell or a guarantee of casting Daxos on turn three; Time Stop does whatever it needs to.

Vanish into Memory's best outing was in Daxos's debut game. Thanks to Roon's Dual Nature, Oloro's 50/50 Serra Avatar came with a token. On my turn, I exiled the token for fifty cards and no drawback—a fine investment of 4 mana. I enjoy Mnemonic Nexus as a surprise graveyard hoser; it annoys the reanimators and Eternal Witnessers while giving gifts back to the other players. And I don't know how good Mirrorweave is in Commander, but I'm eager to find out.

The last six slots go to artifacts. Reveillark aside, I do little with my graveyard, so Relic of Progenitus is fine; the same goes for library-search and Mindlock Orb. Crystal Ball and Mimic Vat give me more instant-speed value. I like putting Phyrexian Splicer into any deck with shadow, and Soltari Visionary with the Splicer lets me make Daxos all shadowy. Dolmen Gate lets me swing Daxos fearlessly at more people. And that's ultimately what Daxos wants: the chance to use his sword to make sliced library.

Things I Want for This Deck/Conclusion

All told, this has been among my favorite Commander decks to build. W/U Voltron commanders existed before Daxos, but Geist of Saint Traft has only one dimension, and Bruna, Light of Alabaster shops for her pants at a different store. Daxos has a depth of play that I'm in love with, and being able to cast opponents' spells gives him a high replay value over consecutive games, as the other decks changing means what you cast changes with it. If three-colored decks like Commander (2013 Edition)'s offerings aren't your thing right now, try building with Daxos; he's total fun to play with.