“Piece of cake, right? *sigh* Right.“
Art:Gatherer of Graces
by Heather Hudson
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Gatherer of Graces is a very strong Voltron commander who gets a decently strong buff and, most importantly, can protect themselves from single-target removal. Being able to protect our commander while having a deck full of buffs from enchantments and artifacts allows us to have a strong and consistent board presence. Our commander has a great deal of protection, but we do like Avoid Fate
and Gaea's Gift
, which allows us to play through removal effectively. While we do have some of the general weaknesses of mono-green, like card draw, we are able to work through it by being efficient and establishing a strong board presence early. In addition to our commander, we also have a ton of great Voltron creatures that allow us to hit hard from a ton of different sources and have more attackers/blockers. This deck is the real deal and is amazing at a non-CPDH table. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
Click here to copy full decklist to your clipboard!
Gatherer of Graces Voltron!
Buy This Deck!
Buy this deck using our TCGPlayer Affiliate Link: Gatherer of Graces Voltron Pauper EDH
Why Gatherer of Graces?
Gatherer of Graces is just an amazing commander for our deck, being able to get an additional buff on top of what our auras give them and having built-in removal protection allows them to get huge quickly and most importantly stay on the field for quite a long time. Gatherer of Graces is a huge part of our deck and a card we almost always cast on a curve and protect and keep on the field for as long as we can. Commander damage certainly isn’t the only option to end games within the deck, as we have a ton of great Voltron creatures that we can buff up and get a lot of value out of.
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 quite a bit of early-game ramp to help accelerate the gameplan like Arboreal Grazer
, Elvish Mystic
and Fyndhorn Elves
are all great early-game creatures and can help us speed out our commander and get a decent leg-up on our opponents. While our commander is an amazing target for all of our buffs, they certainly are not the only one we have purposely built the deck Aura Gnarlid
is arguably the best example of this; pretty much any hand with aura gnarlid is a keep, this card is very hard for our opponents to stop. I also love Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
because it is extremely hard to block especially when it gets pushed past five or six power. Gnarlback Rhino
is a very strong attacker and blocker for the deck, but the role they often fill is supplemental card draw since they are well-stated and have trample putting a couple of auras on them and getting card draw when we need it is great. Shrine Steward
is another absolute bomb of a card; while they really aren’t great in combat, they can be ramped in extremely early and grab the best of the best enchantments; almost always I grab Ancestral Mask
or Predatory Hunger
as they are two of the best that we have.
Instants:
A good majority of our instant package focuses on fighting through removal, single-target removal is hugely popular within the format so being able to protect our creatures is the best way to fight back against control strategies or any deck that would seek to remove our board. Avoid Fate and Snakeskin Veil
are both great examples of this, but we have an abundance of these effects. Broken Wings
is another strong piece of cheap removal, and being able to take out a creature while flying can be very relevant, depending on the deck we are going up against.
Sorceries:
Broken Bond
is an extremely underrated card and can be great at pretty much any stage of the game, whether we stop someone from ramping early or take out a key piece of an opponent’s deck, destroying an artifact or enchantment and getting an extra land drop is pretty amazing. That’s also why we run Explore
, which also gives us card draw, which is extremely valuable in this deck. While Broken Bond is quite good Pick Your Poison
is cheaper and better, even being able to kill artifacts with indestructible since our opponents have to sacrifice. I also really like Rabid Bite
with our commander and pretty much all of our being decently big after just a few buffs; there isn’t much that we can’t kill with Rabid Bite; green doesn’t have the greatest removal so being able to take out a creature even at sorcery speed is quite strong.
Artifacts:
We are quite light on artifacts, but all of the ones we have are quite impactful, like Spare Supplies
and Jalum Tome
, which are both amazing sources of card draw for the deck. Vorrac Battlehorns
and Haunted Cloak
are both great equipment that help turn our creatures into keyword soup and make them very hard to block. Wedding Invitation
is by far one of my favorite cards in the format, and this deck can easily allow us to get a one-shot.
Enchantments:
We have a whole host of amazing enchantments within the deck. Ancestral Mask is arguably one of the best, and even with just a few auras on the battlefield, it can easily allow us to perform a one-shot on an opponent. Ancestral Mask is made even better because it accounts for other enchantments on the fieldAirtight Alibi
is one of the newest cards in the format and is super good; not only do we get a buff on our creature, but we also get hexproof, for only three mana this card is great whether we use it for solely buffing our commander or getting protection from removal. Green has historically had trouble blocking flying creatures; luckily, we have Arachnoform
, which provides reach a buff and every creature type; every creature type typically never matters but can help us against some cards like Victim of Night
. Elephant Guide
is one of the most efficient auras that we have +3/+3 for three is pretty good, and being able to get an additional creature out of it can be great as well. One of the few non-auras in the deck is Master Chef
. While this isn’t an aura, it makes every one of our creatures and our commander better with a buff, which is great for just three-mana. Once our creatures start getting bigger the best thing we can do is give them trample, we have quite a few strong sources of that like Rancor
, Setessan Training
and Talons of Wildwood
.
Land Base:
We have an extremely simple landbase with not a lot going on; we do, of course, have some supplemental card draw, which helps to reduce one of Green’s biggest weaknesses, which is nice, but the only downside of those lands is that they can be a little slow. There isn’t much to say about our landbase in testing I found that thirty-five was the magic number for it.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are not reliant on our commander as we have a ton of great Voltron targets.
- There are ample ways to protect our creatures from single-target removal.
- We are great at one-shotting opponents once we have a creature/board built-up.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We don’t have a ton of card draw within the deck, this can often lead us to be top-decking.
- We can struggle against control strategies.
- Very weak to enchantment hate, while we can protect the equipped creature with cards like Avoid Fate
and Gaea's Gift, we don’t have much protection for the auras themself.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a combat deck, while our commander is a great option for our Voltron damage almost all of our creatures are great options as well, it mostly depends on your hand whether you go for a commander damage kill or just regular damage. Some of the best creatures to buff up include Aura Gnarlid, Gnarlback Rhino, and Skarrgan Pit-Skulk. There is no shortage of very strong enchantments within the deck, like Ancestral Mask and Predatory Hunger, and these allow us to output an absolute ton of damage and hit hard.
Conclusion:
Gatherer of Graces is just a lot of fun. From the flavor to their function, they are just enjoyable to play. Mono-green is a color I certainly have a soft spot for, and the same is true for the Voltron strategy. This deck is just a lot of fun to play and simple. I believe this deck is an amazing introduction to Pauper EDH and is great for any player, old or new. I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did!