A View of Fort Putnam by Thomas Cole (1825). Goblin War Drums by Wayne Reynolds.

Today's column is one of those wonderful commanders who brings together a bunch of things I've grown to love in Commander. He's mono-Green. He draws cards. He has a straightforward game plan but also presents something of a puzzle to solve as a deckbuilder. Today's deck is going to find itself going in a lot of different directions but if things go well those will all come together to let us beat up one of our tablemates, push damage out to the rest of them, and draw a bunch of cards in the process.

What's not to love?

Kosei wants us to play a voltron strategy where we suit him up with equipment, auras and counters and swing for the win. This might not seem like a very complicated plan, but the fun part will be finding the right pieces to make this deck not just viable but powerful.

Being stuck in mono-Green is a real drawback, but there are interesting cards in that color that we can play with Kosei to make this deck work. There will surely be games where we simply don't draw all of the pieces we need and we never manage to draw those precious cards and hit everyone at the table for damage, but there's no reason this can't be a fun deck that can occasionally punch above its weight.

Two out of Three Ain't Bad

If Kosei wants to be equipped, enchanted with an aura, and have at least one counter, it makes sense to try to find cards that will cover two out of these three categories at once. An aura or equipment that will put a +1/+1 counter on the creature would be perfect.

These auras are all going to check two of Kosei's boxes fairly easily. Curse of Predation just needs Kosei to attack. Predatory Hunger needs an opponent to cast a creature spell. Forced Adaptation triggers on my upkeep. I'm also running Hydra's Growth, which will give Kosei a +1/+1 counter and will double his counters on my upkeep. I'm even running Ordeal of Nylea, which will get sacrificed when the enchanted creature has three or more +1/+1 counters on it, but I'm running enough other auras to make up for that.

There are a few pieces of equipment that can also tackle two of the three things Kosei needs. Armory of Iroas cares about attacking, which Kosei is likely to do a lot. Ring of Kalonia gives trample and will give him counters on my upkeep. Sword of Hours gives me another attack trigger but can also double my counters if I'm lucky with my die roll. I'm also running Blade of the Bloodchief, which cares about creatures dying.

Not all of my auras and equipment give +1/+1 counters, and not all of my counter sources are from auras and equipment, but getting to check two of these boxes with a single card is pretty good for this deck.

It is worth noting that there are cards that look great at first glance, but which put counters on the aura or equipment, not on the creature itself. Momentum is an old aura from Urza's Destiny that gets growth counters and gives the enchanted creature +1/+1 for each growth counter on it. Banshee's Blade, Opaline Bracers, Sigil of Distinction and Umezawa's Jitte are all pieces of equipment that get charge counters and give +1/+1 for each charge counter on it. In these cases these counters are not on the creature and will not help Kosei to draw cards and push damage out to all of your opponents.

Evasion Matters

I don't have enough auras or equipment that grant +1/+1 counters to not run additional cards in all three of these categories. Instants and sorceries that generate +1/+1 counters are easy enough to find in green. Biogenic Upgrade, Blessings of Nature, Expanded Anatomy, Visions of Dominance and Increasing Savagery all join the party, with those last two sorceries castable out of the graveyard with flashback. I've got a few instant speed +1/+1 counter cards as well, so the real question is what I should be running to fill out my aura and equipment slots.

My answer to that comes from years of building and playing voltron decks. I want evasion. I want to be able to swing at somebody without having to worry about my creature taking damage. If nothing else, that means more damage will get through to my opponent and I'll draw more cards if I've hit that sweet spot of having an aura, an equipment and a counter on Kosei.

Hot Soup is both wonderful and terrible. Just think about it. If it's served up to your table and you get to cool down a spoonful before tasting it, you might love your hot soup. If you're carrying your scaldingly hot soup through a busy restaurant, someone bumps into you and you spill it all over yourself, you might be in a world of hurt. This equipment is great for making a creature unblockable, but if you're in a meta or at a table with decks that run a lot of pingers, watch out. One point of damage and you have to destroy the equipped creature. Hot soup is high risk, high reward and chock full of flavor!

Because I need to be able to target Kosei, I won't want to run Executioner's Hood, as it gives shroud. I don't want the Lightning Greaves headache of having to move that equipment back and forth any time I want to target Kosei. Fortunately, I'm able to run Prowler's Helm, which only hits a wall if your opponent is running Walls, and Trailblazer's Boots, which are easily the boots I'd want to wear if I ever did a MtG cosplay. I wouldn't even need a character - I'd just wear the boots... and clothes. I would wear clothes, but the cosplay would be my sweet, sweet boots.

Not being in Blue, I don't have quite the same access to auras that make my creature unblockable. I still have a couple of options. Canopy Cover not only gives hexproof, it also makes the enchanted creature unblockable except by creatures with flying or reach. Dryad's Favor gives forestwalk, which will usually let me swing at someone freely and which pairs really nicely with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth.

Suspicious Bookcase is a delightful little Wall that just happens to be a creature for some reason. It can block fairly well, but the real reason it's in this deck is to pay 3 mana, tap and make Kosei unblockable. Rogue's Passage can do the same thing and if Kosei isn't over 3 power, Access Tunnel can also serve this same function.

I'm a bit torn about Access Tunnel, but there will be times when I'll be happy to swing with Kosei as a 3-power threat to draw 3 cards. I might even have an instant speed trick to play before the damage step. Berserk in this list and I'm not above using it on my commander if it means more card draw even if the creature I used it on gets destroyed at the beginning of the end step.

Voltron Kosei

This list has a bunch of fairly standard voltron cards but is only running the Sword of Truth and Justice, as it puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature. The others are great and can provide evasion by giving protection from two colors, so if you've got them you might want to run them. My favorite oddball pump aura in this list is probably Blanchwood Armor, which gives the enchanted creature +1/+1 for each Forest I control. The other really great pump card in the list is Nettlecyst, an equipment that makes a 0/0 Black Germ and which gives +1/+1 for each artifact and/or enchantment I control. It's a legitimate blocker when it hits the field and can equip to Kosei when I'm ready to send him into the fray.

Voltron Kosei | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kosei, Penitent Warlord

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Anara, Wolvid Familiar
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Caustic Caterpillar
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Guardian Augmenter
• 1 Karametra's Acolyte
• 1 Manglehorn
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Scrounging Bandar
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Suspicious Bookcase
• 1 Tanuki Transplanter
• 1 Timeless Witness

• Instants (9)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Berserk
• 1 Burst of Strength
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Nature's Claim
• 1 Return to Nature
• 1 Snakeskin Veil
• 1 Stony Strength
• 1 Vastwood Fortification

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Biogenic Upgrade
• 1 Blessings of Nature
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Increasing Savagery
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Vastwood Surge
• 1 Visions of Dominance

• Enchantments (14)
• 1 Blanchwood Armor
• 1 Canopy Cover
• 1 Curse of Predation
• 1 Dryad's Favor
• 1 Forced Adaptation
• 1 Grafted Growth
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Hydra's Growth
• 1 New Horizons
• 1 One with Nature
• 1 Ordeal of Nylea
• 1 Predatory Hunger
• 1 Snake Umbra
• 1 Spider Umbra

• Artifacts (15)
• 1 Armory of Iroas
• 1 Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1 Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1 Hot Soup
• 1 Manifold Key
• 1 Nettlecyst
• 1 Prowler's Helm
• 1 Ring of Kalonia
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Hours
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1 The Great Henge
• 1 The Ozolith
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots

• Lands (37)
• 26 Forest
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Blighted Woodland
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Tyrite Sanctum
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Buy This Deck Export text format

I don't think this deck has the kind of ceiling that would warrant investing a ton of money into fast mana. You're not likely to be scraping up against the lower end of the cEDH tiers of our wide and ranging format, and it might be a real challenge to even get this commander built as a high-powered deck. There are just too many hoops to jump through. It'll be a fun casual voltron build with a unique little puzzle to try to assemble in each game. If you succeed and manage to get some damage through with a fully tricked-out Kosei, you'll draw some cards, and you might manage to kill a few tables but this isn't going to be a world-beater of a deck.

A Road Not Traveled

There is a Kosei build that I was very, very tempted to put together for this column. I didn't end up building it, but I wanted to share the idea with you.

The concept is very simple. Instead of building towards a three-pronged effort to put out equipment, auras and counters onto Kosei to maximize your chances of being able to draw cards and damage the whole table, the auras and equipment in the list would purposely avoid putting counters on Kosei.

You would attempt to appear less scary to the table when you first attack with Kosei and he's equipped with some aura and equipment, one of which would probably make him unblockable. No counters means no draw, no damage to the table, nothing to worry about, right?

Wrong. The trick with this version of the deck would be that all cards in the deck that could give +1/+1 counters would be instant speed spells.

There are plenty of low mana instant speed cards that can put +1/+1 counters on a target creature, and there's a lower chance your opponents would go out of their way to deal with Kosei if he doesn't have all three boxes checked when he goes to attack. You can even helpfully point out that he doesn't have counters on him, but before the damage step you'll whip out one of these cheap instants so that you can draw and you can ding the whole table for a bit of damage.

I'm running a few of these instants in today's list but I think the idea of having all +1/+1 counter placement be at instant speed is really intriguing. I love combat tricks. I love surprises, especially when I'm the one casting them, and I think going all in on instant speed counter tricks could be a lot of fun.

The problem with a deck that runs these kinds of tricks is that they are usually only a surprise the first time they happen. After that, your tablemates will expect that if you're swinging with Kosei and you have both an aura and an equipment on him, they will assume you've got an instant speed spell that will put a counter on him.

Final Thoughts

I love building in Green and I have a fair amount of affection for building voltron decks, but I'll be the first to admit that it isn't the strongest of strategies. When you put a bunch of eggs into a single basket, some tablemate is going to want to knock that basket out of your hands and there are only so many copies of Heroic Intervention you can run in your deck. That would be one, of course. We're playing a singleton format. The cold hard truth is that the more cards we devote to protecting our assets, the fewer assets we'll have.

I think this is a pretty good first draft and I'd be happy to play it in a casual game, but its weakness is the weakness of many a casual deck. It is essentially playing a very fair game. It's hanging out, hoping to do its thing, draw some cards, and maybe just maybe squeak out a win - possibly with commander damage.

The inclusion of Grafted Exoskeleton, which gives infect, is more of a nod to the fact that Kosei can push damage out to all of my opponents than an attempt to push this deck up into the highest tiers of EDH play. Infect is scary to some players and Grafted Exoskeleton should be taken seriously, but this pretty much represents the best case scenario for this deck. Get Kosei up to 10 power with at least one aura, equipment and counter on him, and swing unblocked to kill the table. It won't happen often, but if it ever does, you'll probably always remember that game.

If you see any glaring omissions from today's list, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

I tried to hit a good balance between all the things Kosei, Penitent Warlord cares about. Because Commander games see so much variance from deck to deck and game to game, I think it's quite likely you'll have the occasional game where you never really get your plan together. That happens, and the more games you play, the more you'll accept that there will be good games and not-so-good games. At least in lower powered games, it's hard to avoid the ups and downs of Lady Luck.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!