When you read about Commander, one of the things you'll encounter is "Voltron isn't for winners". Voltron - the title we have for building a deck around the Commander where the idea is to make the Commander bigger using Equipment, Auras, or other effects - has been around for a long time, but it's widely considered to be not strong enough to win reliably.

I think it's possible we can turn that on its head.

I saw this and basically fell immediately in love. For five White pips, we get a 5/5. Okay, but those abilities though. The first one could absolutely be the basis of an absurd reanimator deck in Mono-White. Figure out a way to dump a bunch of your library into the 'yard and cast Anti-Venom to reanimate, I don't know, Avacyn, Angel of Hope or Iona, Shield of Emeria on the cheap. Could be fun.

But that second ability? That's my focus here. Because the second I saw that, I thought of this:

I want to stick Pariah on Anti-Venom and dare people to attack me. Let's see what we've got.

Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Armored Skyhunter
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1 Mother of Runes
• 1 Phyrexian Vindicator
• 1 Puresteel Paladin
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Sram, Senior Edificer
• 1 Stoneforge Mystic
• 1 Stonehewer Giant
• 1 Zamriel, Seraph of Steel

• Instants (10)
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Gideon's Sacrifice
• 1 Loran's Escape
• 1 Martyrdom
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Rebuff the Wicked
• 1 Restoration Magic
• 1 Stroke of Midnight
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Valor Made Real

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Cut a Deal
• 1 Mass Calcify
• 1 Open the Armory
• 1 Ravnica at War
• 1 Single Combat
• 1 Wave of Reckoning

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Entangler
• 1 Forge Anew
• 1 Guilty Conscience
• 1 Lightmine Field
• 1 Pariah
• 1 Saving Grace
• 1 Sigarda's Aid
• 1 Super State

• Artifacts (23)
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Argentum Armor
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Buster Sword
• 1 Celestial Armor
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Commander's Plate
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Genji Glove
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Haunted Cloak
• 1 Hourglass of the Lost
• 1 Infiltration Lens
• 1 Inquisitor's Flail
• 1 Leyline Axe
• 1 Marble Diamond
• 1 Mithril Coat
• 1 Nemesis Mask
• 1 Pariah's Shield
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots

• Lands (41)
• 29 Plains
• 1 Arena
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1 Ishgard, the Holy See
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Monumental Henge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 War Room

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We're basically ignoring Anti-Venom's first ability here; it might be useful at some point, but really we're just trying to stick the guy and attack with him.

He's five mana, and 40 Lands gives us a better than 60% chance of hitting our drops through turn five, so 40 it is. Most of them are Basic Plains - we don't actually need much more - but there are a few additional Lands worth running. Rogue's Passage is great, War Room, Bonders' Enclave and Minas Tirith all draw us extra cards (Minas Tirith is less common for us, but still is worth it), and Karn's Bastion lets us turn extra mana into more power for Anti-Venom. Monumental Henge digs for Artifacts for us. And Arena is awesome here, since we can kill something and make Anti-Venom bigger all at once.

Knight of the White Orchid is one of the reasons to play Mono-White. That card is super strong. It's great on turn two, and it remains relevant through much of the game. But that's not our only ramp. We've got Archaeomancer's Map, Bonder's Ornament, Commander's Sphere, Marble Diamond, Hourglass of the Lost, and Sword of the Animist all set to move things along, and Solemn Simulacrum will at least get us one extra. This is a lower amount of ramp than I normally like, but in this case we actually don't have much that costs a lot, so it's fine. If you really want to race to Anti-Venom, throw in Arcane Signet and Fellwar Stone so you hit him turn four more often.

By leaning into Voltron pieces, we can actually leverage some good card draw, starting with Puresteel Paladin. Sram, Senior Artificer works similarly, actually drawing for our Auras, too. Buster Sword is a great one equipped to Anti-Venom, and Infiltration Lens will probably keep things flowing since Anti-Venom will end up getting blocked sometimes to avoid taking the Commander damage. Mangara, the Diplomat will often wind up only giving us a card when people cast their second spell; Anti-Venom plus Pariah will make people not want to attack us quite a bit. Cut a Deal will normally be a three-mana draw-three; it isn't perfect, but Mono-White is limited here.

Our threat is Anti-Venom, suited up to the nines with tons of cool stuff we'll go over later. Just know we don't really have any other way to win, except for Phyrexian Vindicator, which is kind of our Anti-Venom number two. At four mana for a 5/5, it's a slightly better price. It doesn't get bigger but it does throw the damage somewhere else. We've got some tricks we can use to make this happen. Just know most likely you want to get Anti-Venom out and start attacking quickly, since that's the best way to win the game.

We've got a decent slate of removal - White is really good at that, of course. Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares, of course, but we've also got Generous Gift and Stroke of Midnight. Mass Calcify is a shoo-in here, as is Ravnica at War, which will often get at least opposing Commanders. Single Combat will almost always help us more than others. But the best one here is Wave of Reckoning, which will wipe most of the board and leave us with a bigger, tougher Anti-Venom ready to attack in.

While we're at it, we should talk about Lightmine Field. This is a tough card to use sometimes, but it's great at preventing token decks from getting out of hand, and in this case, it just helps us. It will often only give us one counter, but it's worth it for the security it gives us if we don't have Pariah out.

We also have some tricks to help Anti-Venom out, like Guilty Conscience and Saving Grace - these are kind of our Pariah-lite options. Gideon's Sacrifice and Martyrdom work the same way; no Pariah, but someone attacks you for 32 or something because they're scared of Anti-Venom, then suddenly Anti-Venom gets 32 counters. That's great, but even more fun is using these on the Vindicator, because now they're removal spells. That same person just took 32 damage thanks to Martyrdom targeting Phyrexian Vindicator. Nice.

In support roles, we've got Entangler, which lets Anti-Venom block however many Creatures we want, plus a bunch of Equipment like Champion's Helm, Commander's Plate, Haunted Cloak, and Chariot of Victory, things like that. Power buffs are nice (it doesn't take much to get him to 7 power, meaning he kills in three hits), but really we want to give him Vigilance and Trample, maybe Haste. First Strike is sometimes not as good, because it means he doesn't take damage and get bigger, but it's fine. Genji Glove gives us Double Strike which can be amazing, plus it gives us an extra attack step. Inquisitor's Flail is the perfect piece of Equipment for him, because not only does he hit harder but he gets hit harder, earning more counters. Nemesis Mask should be a good time, and Mithril Coat is one of a few ways to make Anti-Venom indestructible, which is key to having him not die to stuff like Murder or Wrath of God.

Pariah's Shield is basically Pariah in Equipment form - it's pricier, but it sticks around and easier for us to hunt using Stoneforge Mystic or Stonehewer Giant. Open the Armory can find either, and Idyllic Tutor is limited to finding Pariah but is worth it; it can always find something else if we don't have Pariah anymore.

Finally, we have Super State and Argentum Armor as ways to win more. Anti-Venom doesn't actually need either of those cards, but stick one and it'll likely be game over; if everyone doesn't concede, they'll lose soon enough.

Not gonna lie, there are some pricey cards in here. Replace Stoneforge Mystic with Steelshaper's Gift for a less-good-but-way-less-expensive way to do it to save some scratch, and many of the Equipment can be replaced with much more common pieces like Loxodon Warhammer. If you have a random Sword of X and Y kicking around, those would be great, but really just buff up his power, give him Trample, and you're good to go. He'll hit hard no matter what, and it doesn't have to be super expensive.

This guy is going to be a powerhouse.

Thanks for reading.