“This blade never gets any lighter.”
Art:Disciplined Duelist
by Josu Hernaiz
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Disciplined Duelist is a very cool Voltron commander with built-in protection and double strike for only three mana. This deck is no doubt a glass-cannon strategy, but we do have some additional pieces of protection to protect our Duelist. From counterspells, a ton of ways to draw, and some of the most powerful enchantments in the format, I have been having a blast with this one and have found it to be an absolute blast to play. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Disciplined Duelist Aurast!
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Why Disciplined Duelist?
Disciplined Duelist is the perfect Voltron commander; not only do they come with built-in protection in the form of a shield counter, but they also come with double strike for only three mana. Now, let’s be realistic. There is a caveat to that since it does cost Bant to cast, and we need to ensure that our hand that we keep can cast that; a stronger six that can cast Duelist on turn three is almost always better than a seven that can’t until four or five.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have a very low creature count, but all of them are quite impactful; one of my favorites is Transcendent Envoy
, which reduces the cost of a large part of our deck. Sunscape Familiar
is another card that also reduces the cost of many cards. If we can’t keep duelist on the board, we have three backups in Aura Gnarlid
and Gnarlback Rhino
and Yavimaya Enchantress
. Taunting Elf
is an amazing way to guarantee a hit with Disciplined Duelist. Heliod's Pilgrim
is an awesome tutor to grab the best auras in our deck.
Instants:
To start off, we have a few strong ways to protect Disciplined Duelist like Turn Aside
, Avoid Fate
, and Loran's Escape
, which are all amazing one-mana ways to protect Disciplined Duelist. We also have traditional counterspells like Counterspell
, Arcane Denial
, and Essence Scatter
, which are all amazing ways to shut down opponents or can be used to Disciplined Duelist. Hunger of the Howlpack
is a very cool card that can be a cheap way to give a huge buff to our duelist and make them a very threating attacker, the condition for three counters is also very easy to fulfill. We have traditional removal like Generous Gift
and Crib Swap
, as well as artifact removal like Nature's Claim
and Return to Nature
.
Sorceries:
We have a bunch of cards that make Disciplined Duelist unblockable, like Artful Dodge
, Slip Through Space
, and Distortion Strike
which are all amazing and cheap ways to go for a kill or just hit our opponents with a lot of commander damage. Atraxa's Fall
is a strong removal spell that also allows us to hit flying creatures which is a weakness that green typically has. To round out our sorcery package, we also have Ponder
and Preordain
, which are awesome pieces of one mana card draw.
Artifacts:
We only have mana rocks, and the main goal of these is to help us establish our colors and be able to cast Disciplined Duelist on turn three. We have the on-color signets like Selesnya Signet
, Azorius Signet
, and Arcane Signet
, which can help us establish all of our colors early. Bonder's Ornament
which is an expensive mana rock but does offer supplemental card draw.
Enchantments:
There are a ton of enchantments so I am going to showcase my favorites! To start off, we have some defensive auras like Lignify
, Witness Protection
, and Journey to Nowhere
, which are awesome ways to take out any creature with a lot of abilities or commanders as well. Security Bypass
and Aqueous Form
which make Duelist unblockable so we can guarantee hits. Now for our offensive enchantments like All That Glitters
, Ethereal Armor
, and Ancestral Mask
, which make Disciplined Duelist scale-like crazy and can almost guarantee one-shots. We also have a trio of sweet enchantments in Steel of the Godhead
, Favor of the Overbeing
, and Shield of the Oversoul
which when on Disciplined Duelist all of these will be active for both abilities and are extremely strong for not a ton of mana.
Land Base:
Since we are a three-color deck, we need many more “fetches” to grab all our colors. Because of this we have Obscura Storefront
, Maestros Theater
, and Brokers Hideout
as well as Evolving Wilds
and Terramorphic Expanse
which is an amazing way to establish all of our colors. We also have a bunch of on-color dual lands and every on-color gate, which allows us to have a strong and efficient mana base, with the most important attribute of it being that we cast Disciplined Duelist on the third turn consistently.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Because of the general gameplan, our opponents are effectively at 16 health.
- Disciplined Duelist has built-in protection, and we have more on top of that.
- We have a ton of auras that do broken things like All That Glitters
and Ethereal Armor, as well as one of the best in the format in Armadillo Cloak which can help us end the game quite quickly.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We are built to stop this with a decent amount of, but we need to aggressively mulligan to ensure we have all three colors by turn three to establish Disciplined Duelist for the board.
- We are a glass-cannon deck; we do have protection, as does Disciplined Duelist, but against heavy removal decks, they can absolutely get through our protections.
- We are decently weak against aggressive strategies because we don’t have many creatures and rarely usually have more than one blocker up.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck; we end the game through combat, and more specifically, we do it through commander damage. Winning through commander damage makes us susceptible to removal, but we can effectively have an opponent enter the game with only sixteen life.
Conclusion:
Disciplined Duelist is a very fun bant commander who protects himself and comes packed with double strike. Combine this with a color combination in Bant, and we have an absolute ton of amazing enchantments that are hugely pushed, like Armadillo Cloak
and Steel of the Godhead. Combine those amazing auras with a bunch of protection and control, and we have a strong, albeit a little, glass-cannon deck. I hope you enjoyed this list and breakdown, and if you like what we do, check us out on our socials and check out some more stuff on the site!