Tuesday Night Takeover
Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin
EDH July 24, 2026

Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin Voltron

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Commander Overview

Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin is a commander that does a lot for not a lot of mana; they are absolutely perfect for a Voltron commander. They can come down early and, most importantly, get bigger and better every single time we equip them, which in this deck is extremely often. This is a Voltron deck that packs a bit more of a punch because we have a commander that comes down quickly and immediately starts putting in work. Our opponents may not think much about two to four commander damage in the early game. Still, when we start getting out stronger equipment like Brotherhood Regalia or Silver Shroud Costume and they can’t stop us, that commander damage really matters. If you enjoy Orzhov or killing opponents with commander damage, this is a great option for you!


Bracket 2 Voltron Orzhov Commander-Focused
Command Zone

Winter Soldier, Icy Assassin

Legendary Creature — Human Assassin Villain
$424.42

Creature 16

1 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist $5.64
1 Armored Skyhunter $0.39
1 Bastion Protector $0.23
1 Blade of the Oni $1.50
1 Brass Squire $1.52
1 Cid, Freeflier Pilot $0.38
1 Cloud, Midgar Mercenary $21.52
1 Codsworth, Handy Helper $24.40
1 Danitha Capashen, Paragon $0.87
1 Peggy Carter, Secret Agent $0.27
1 Puresteel Paladin $2.38
1 Ronin, Shadow Stalker $0.14
1 Squall, SeeD Mercenary $0.75
1 Sram, Senior Edificer $0.90
1 Stoneforge Mystic $31.63
1 Whiplash, Vengeful Engineer $0.18

Instant 10

1 Anguished Unmaking $1.26
1 Battlefield Improvisation $9.37
1 Dawn Charm $2.52
1 Dispatch $0.29
1 Fracture $0.35
1 Generous Gift $0.71
1 Inkshield $5.18
1 Path to Exile $1.23
1 Swords to Plowshares $1.31
1 Take Up the Shield $0.15

Sorcery 7

1 Damn $2.02
1 Feed the Swarm $0.20
1 Fix What's Broken $0.28
1 Night's Whisper
1 Open the Armory $2.38
1 Single Combat $0.54
1 Steelshaper's Gift $9.61

Artifact 26

1 Adaptive Omnitool $2.14
1 Basilisk Collar $5.65
1 Blackblade Reforged $1.98
1 Bloodforged Battle-Axe $2.33
1 Brotherhood Regalia $8.35
1 Captain America's Shield $1.11
1 Celestial Armor $0.43
1 Champion's Helm $3.44
1 Colossus Hammer $1.92
1 Commander's Plate $43.53
1 Cranial Plating $0.36
1 Genji Glove $12.56
1 Hammer of Nazahn $15.89
1 Leyline Axe $2.70
1 Loxodon Warhammer $2.46
1 Mithril Coat
1 Rogue's Gloves $1.14
1 Silver Shroud Costume
1 Sol Ring $1.43
1 Swiftfoot Boots $2.04
1 Sword of the Animist $6.90
1 Swordsman's Steel $15.07
1 Thran Power Suit $0.95
1 Trailblazer's Boots $3.40
1 Vibranium Energy Daggers $0.18
1 Whispersilk Cloak $1.53

Enchantment 7

1 Authority of the Consuls $4.67
1 Duelist's Heritage $1.97
1 Forge Anew $5.63
1 Mantle of the Ancients $9.57
1 Phyrexian Arena $4.31
1 Sigarda's Aid $18.53
1 Super-Soldier Serum $0.93

Land 33

1 Ancient Den $1.06
1 Bojuka Bog $1.22
1 Evolving Wilds $0.27
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats $33.09
14 Plains $1.13
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse $34.67
10 Swamp $1.97
1 Terramorphic Expanse $0.27
1 Vault of Whispers $4.82

Tokens Used 3

Copy
Elephant
Inkling

EDH BRACKET

1
Exhibition
2
Core
3
Upgraded
4
Optimized
5
cEDH
Bracket 2 // Core

The average current preconstructed deck.

  • No Mass Land Denial
  • No Chaining Extra Turns
  • No 2-Card Infinite Combos
  • No Game Changers
  • Few Tutors

How to Play the Deck

Playing the deck is extremely straightforward, as most Voltron decks tend to be. There aren’t a ton of complicated interactions or lines of gameplay in the deck. We almost always drop Winter Soldier on turn two, and from there, buff them up as much as we can and start being pretty aggressive. Swinging is the only name in our game, and something we do as much as we possibly can, even if Winter Soldier is not equipped; if we have a free attack, getting two commander damage on an opponent is absolutely worth it. This is not a deck I would give to a brand new player for their first game, but I think it’s a wonderful option for a player who has a good understanding and a couple of games under their belt, as it is pretty much buff up and swing for the entire game.

Synergy’s in the deck

Our only real synergy in the deck is with our commander; cards like Mantle of the Ancients and Sigarda's Aid are great support pieces for our deck. While we don’t have any sub-packages within the deck, we do have a lot of great synergy with our equipment and our commander.

Phases of the Game

Early-Game: The early-game is quite simple for us, there are very few times where we don’t want to cast Winter Soldier on turn two and we pretty much always do, from there we play out our equipment and and equip them to Winter Soldier as quick as we can, while its typically just one creature we are pretty aggressive with Winter Soldier we wont make attacks that cause us to lose the soldier but if we see an early opportunity to tack on some commander damage we will.

Mid-Game: The mid-game is really just more of the same: keep buffing up the soldier, getting down support creatures like Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist or Brass Squire, and keep on swinging. We do typically need to rely on protection pieces like Take up the Shield or Dawn Charm to ensure we can keep Winter Soldier on the field.

Late-Game: The late-game is where we really rely much more heavily on cards like Whispersilk Cloak or Brotherhood Regalia as a way to deal the final points of commander damage we need to close out a game. There isn’t a ton of change in the late game, and our overall game plan remains the same.

Card Breakdowns

Ramp

While we don’t ramp a lot we do have cards that give us inherit mana advantage which helps us save our mana for our best stuff, one of the best examples of this is Brass Squire which allows us to free attach any equipment which is especially useful with cards like Colossus Hammer which provides a big buff at the cost of having a high equip cost. Forge Anew is a very similar effect and is a great way to get Winter Soldier equipped with no mana cost. While free equipping isn’t something we always do, we have a lot of effects that allow us to do that and save our mana for removal or protection.

Card Draw/Card Advantage

Being in Orzhov allows us to have some great card draw spells like Night's Whisper as well as some nice card advantage spells like Steelshaper's Gift. We don’t draw a ton of cards in this deck, but we do have some options and ways to keep our hand full. We are aggressive but not a super fast deck, so drawing a ton of cards is not super necessary for us.

Removal

This is a very strong aspect of our deck, we have quite a few ways to remove our opponents best stuff with cards like Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares as well as Generous Gift and Anguished Unmaking if an opponent has a problem and has a problematic creature or permanent we are easily able to take care of it.

Protection

We primarily want to protect Winter Soldier and ourselves. Protecting ourselves is pretty easy with cards like Inkshield, which can not only protect us but also give us a tremendous creature advantage and often allow us to swing for lethal right after we cast this. Dawn Charm is a best-of-both-worlds spell for our deck; we can regenerate Winter Soldier or ourselves, or cast a Fog] a two-mana spell that provides a lot of advantage for our deck. Lastly, we have [[Take up the Shield, which buffs up Winter Soldier and, most importantly, gives them indestructible. Cards like Commander's Plate give us protection from non-Orzhov colors and are another great option for the deck.

Utility / Support

Let’s highlight some of my favorite cards in the deck! I really loved Authority of the Consuls in the deck; it comes down early, slows down aggressive opponents, and gives us some very easy passive lifegain for the deck. While it’s not the most flashy card in the world, it provides a great advantage for very little mana investment. Adaptive Omnitool is a great piece of card advantage for our deck and also gives Winter Soldier a buff, which is great for the deck. Being able to dig through and grab more equipment is perfect for our deck. Winter Soldier having vigilance actually matters quite a bit in this deck, and cards like Captain America's Shield make Winter Soldier a blocking machine. We also have some cards that help us when we attack alone, like Squall, SeeD Mercenary or Duelist's Heritage, which can both give Winter Soldier double strike, which is really nice and can allow us to rack up commander damage very easily.

Mana Base

We have a strong mana base, but outside of Shizo, Death's Storehouse we don’t have any interesting nonbasics. Shizo is awesome and allows us to make Winter Soldier nearly unblockable cheaply. We are easily able to end opponents’ whole careers in the late game with this card.

Win Conditions

Our primary win condition is commander damage, because of this our opponents are effectively at twenty one life, if needed we can use any of our other creatures and buff them up to finish off opponents but we typically close out games through commander damage.

Strengths of the Deck

Our commander gets passively bigger just by doing our expected game plan.

We have many different ways to make our commander unblockable, allowing us to guarantee commander damage hits.

Weaknesses of the Deck

If the Winter Soldier keeps getting called, it can be very tough to recover, and we lose a lot of punch.

It can be tough for us against heavy artifact hate decks.

Deck Testing/Matchups

I tested this deck against three different decks

Game 1: Vs Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. Matchup Record: 2-2

Skullbriar is a deck that is just as aggressive as us, and this matchup is truly a race. If we get out of the gate faster, it’s a pretty good matchup for us, but if they come out aggressive, it can be a bit tough for us to stop. Killing Skullbriar is the best option, and we do it as much as we possibly can.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Inkshield, Puresteel Paladin and Generous Gift.

Game 2: Vs Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector. Matchup Record: 3-1

This is a great matchup for our deck; we pack a lot more of a punch than they do. If they can get their commander out, they can hit pretty hard because they are evasive and have a decent amount of lifegain, but we are typically a lot quicker out of the gate and can just run them over.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Brass Squire, Adaptive Omnitool and Leyline Axe.

Game 3: Vs Illuminor Szeras. Matchup Record: 3-1

Illuminor Szeras is a pretty good matchup for our deck. We are favored in this matchup, but we certainly can’t underestimate them; they can get out some huge creatures like Razaketh, the foulblooded and get a ton of advantage. Keep your removal ready and hit them hard. Cards like Brotherhood Regalia and Whispersilk Cloak shine in this matchup since we don’t get much usage out of Shizo, Death's Storehouse.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Brotherhood Regalia, Peggy Carter, Secret Agent and Dispatch.

Conclusion

Thanks so much for reading to the end! Winter Soldier has been a really fun deck to test and build. While it is just a Voltron deck getting passively bigger and buffing up your commander, it still feels really fun. While this isn’t a deck that I could see myself playing every week, it’s a lot of fun that has been making it into my regular rotation. I hope you all enjoyed this.

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