Simic struggles to stand out with its Legendary Creatures. Most of them all have something to do with drawing cards or boosting your mana production in some way.

Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, and Edric, Spymaster of Trest are perfect examples of the Simic Commanders that feel very similar. All three of them either draw cards or generate mana.

There have been a few new contenders for some unique design spaces for the color combination. Quandrix, the Proof gives all your Instants and Sorceries cascade. Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief creates copies of spells that target your Creatures.

But one legend stands out above the rest, and it's not because of his fancy style. Volo, Guide to Monsters is one of the coolest, most unique Simic legends.

Volo's Zoo

Volo, Guide to Monsters is a Legendary 3/2 Wizard for that copies your Creature spells. Copying spells is something that Simic does incredibly well, however, Volo makes you work for the copies. He'll only create a copy of a Creature spell you cast if it doesn't match a Creature type with one you have in play or in your graveyard.

Volo asks you to create a deck laser-focused on the various Creature types that Magic: The Gathering has to offer. If you enjoy deck brewing, this Wizard is the perfect companion for you. The joy you get from finding a weird Salamander Creature or Frog to fit the list is reason alone to start brewing with Volo.

This decklist has over 45 Creatures present and almost all of them have unique Creature types. Can you spot them all?

Anatomy of a Volo Deck

This decklist is solidly Bracket 3. With the presence of a powerful Game Changer like Consecrated Sphinx and a really aggressive gameplan, this deck can hang in higher bracket play. Also, this list contains a couple expensive bomb cards that push it into that upgraded territory.

Volo can be built on a variety of budgets. This group of cards places it right in the middle of the road when it comes to budget and Bracket.

Volo's Guide to Monsters | Commander | Nigel Kurtz

• Commander (1)
• 1 Volo, Guide to Monsters

• Creatures (47)
• 1 Aetherwind Basker
• 1 Aggressive Mammoth
• 1 All-Seeing Arbiter
• 1 Apex Altisaur
• 1 Apex Devastator
• 1 Armored Scrapgorger
• 1 Auton Soldier
• 1 Badgermole Cub
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Bloomvine Regent // Claim Territory
• 1 Bramble Familiar // Fetch Quest
• 1 Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft
• 1 Colossal Skyturtle
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Flesh Duplicate
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Giggling Skitterspike
• 1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore
• 1 Gogo, Master of Mimicry
• 1 Great Oak Guardian
• 1 Hullbreaker Horror
• 1 Hydroid Krasis
• 1 Keeper of Fables
• 1 Loyal Drake
• 1 Majestic Myriarch
• 1 Managorger Hydra
• 1 Marang River Regent // Coil and Catch
• 1 Neverwinter Dryad
• 1 Noxious Newt
• 1 Ohran Frostfang
• 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1 Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 1 Polygoyf
• 1 Priest of Titania
• 1 Rampant Frogantua
• 1 Ravener
• 1 Roaming Throne
• 1 Runic Armasaur
• 1 Silverback Elder
• 1 Somberwald Sage
• 1 Starwinder
• 1 Summon: Titan
• 1 Trygon Predator
• 1 Volatile Stormdrake
• 1 Workshop Warchief

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Oko, Thief of Crowns

• Instants (7)
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Decisive Denial
• 1 Growth Spiral
• 1 Mana Sculpt
• 1 Perplexing Test
• 1 Planar Genesis
• 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks
• 1 For the Common Good
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 City of Death
• 1 Elemental Bond
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Kenrith's Transformation
• 1 Life Finds a Way
• 1 Mystic Remora

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (33)
• 10 Island
• 14 Forest
• 1 Botanical Sanctum
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Waterlogged Grove
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

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Let's dive into some of the unique cards we get to play, especially Creatures that get out of hand when there are more than one on the battlefield.

Ramp it up

You need to keep a hand with ramp present if you hope to be a threat in a game of Commander. This is especially true for Volo. There are lots of powerful Creatures that require a bit of mana to cast. Over 16 cards produce mana in some way.

Neverwinter Dryad, Birds of Paradise, and Sol Ring make up the one mana ramp spells. Neverwinter Dryad works as a turn one Wayfarer's Bauble that also could be doubled if Volo is in play.

The goal should be to get Volo out on turn three. To get there, you will want to try and ramp on turn two to have four mana by then. Most of the rest of the ramp package is two mana for this reason.

We've got a handful of simple, two-mana Creatures that produce mana.

• Armored Scrapgorger
• Bramble Familiar
• Noxious Newt
• Ornithopter of Paradise

Armored Scrapgorger is a great piece of graveyard hate if you are sitting at a table with a Reanimate deck. Deathtouch can make combat miserable for your opponents thanks to Noxious Newt.

Bramble Familiar makes sure you have a game action to take in the late game if you end up flooded with Lands.

Priest of Titania and Badgermole Cub are the strongest ramp pieces in the deck. Priest of Titania seems like a weird choice here since she is the only Elf in the deck but we will get one Green mana for each Elf on the battlefield, including your opponents'.

If any of them are playing Green it is very possible for them to have a Llanowar Elves or another version of that same card in their deck.

Badgermole Cub is most likely the strongest mana-producing Creature to ever hit Commander.

If Volo sees this rare badger scamper in, you will end up with two of them. All your Creatures will then tap and add an additional two mana each, including the two Lands you used the Earthbending ability on.

Rampant Growth, Growth Spiral, and Planar Genesis are great since they don't take up a Creature type that you want access to with Volo. Most mana producing Creatures, or mana dorks, are Elf or Druid Creatures. Playing less of them makes sure you can copy each Creature we cast with Volo, even if it is just a mana dork.

Mana Sculpt broke the internet for an entire minute when it was spoiled in Secrets of Strixhaven.

It reads very similarly to Mana Drain, a vastly more powerful version of Counterspell.

Mana Sculpt does cost one more mana than Mana Drain and only provides the colorless mana on your next turn if you control a Wizard Creature when it resolves.

Good thing Volo is a Wizard and you can put that mana to use on a giant Creature!

Ramp is so crucial to this deck since there are so many large Creature spells that you want to cast to end the game. It is also good to have cards in hand to cast with all the mana you are producing.

Simic Draws Cards

Simic is really good at drawing cards, it's no secret. Most of the card draw comes in the form of engines like Rhystic Study.

While Rhystic Study is a very powerful card, it doesn't really synergise very well with our gameplan of slamming big Creatures each turn. Let's stick to cards that draw lots of cards based on Creatures.

Consecrated Sphinx is present here as one of the most powerful card draw engines in the entire game. Volo will create a copy of this card when you cast it. Drawing four cards each time one of your opponents draws one is so much advantage. This has a much more impactful impact than Rhystic Study does in a Bracket 3 game.

Elemental Bond, Garruk's Uprising, and Garruk's Packleader draw cards when your Creatures enter the battlefield if they have a certain power level. Garruk's Uprising also has the added benefit of drawing when it enters play and providing all your Creatures with Trample.

Keeper of Fables and Ohran Frostfang are amazing at drawing cards. Attacking your opponents is how this deck closes out games and these two Creatures reward you with cards for taking such actions. Ohran Frostfang provides Deathtouch for attacking Creatures you control, making combat a living nightmare for your opponents.

Loyal Drake is another slam dunk with Volo in terms of synergy. Loyal Drake draws a card at the beginning of combat if you control your Commander. If you copy Loyal Drake you will draw two extra cards during each of your turns when you move to attack.

The final card draw piece worth pointing out is Starwinder. Warp is a very unique keyword from Edge of Eternities that allows you to cast the spell for cheaper, but then it goes away on your endstep.

Volo doesn't care if a Creature was cast normally or was Warped in. Either way, he will create a copy of Starwinder for only four mana. If that copy ever gets removed you can cast the original from exile and end up with an extra copy since there isn't one on the battlefield or in the graveyard.

Warp is such a busted ability as a lot of players have been seeing lately with Quantum Riddler in Modern, but now it has potential for Commander as well.

Weird and Unique

There are a few cards that have some weird interactions with token Creatures and with Volo. Volo's ability is a triggered ability to create a token. That means it can be doubled while on the stack if you maintain priority. Gogo, Master of Mimicry can copy Volo's ability as many times as you have mana, which can be game warping.

For the Common Good does a very similar thing, however, it also gains you some life and makes all your tokens Indestructible for a turn. City of Death from Doctor Who can create some mana or a copy of a token you control.

Life Finds a Way has the Populate mechanic. Populate simply creates a copy of a token you control. This Enchantment provides you with that powerful effect whenever one of your Creatures with power four or greater enters the battlefield. This should be a walk in Jurassic Park for you.

The Big Creatures

There are plenty of Creatures with the potential to run over your opponents flat in Looney Toons style. Apex Devastator will clear a path for your Creatures and Hullbreaker Horror will clean up any stragglers.

Pathbreaker Ibex and Great Oak Guardian work as Overrun effects on Creatures that can be doubled thanks to your Commander.

Aetherwind Basker and Aggressive Mammoth are also large enough to start taking out players, especially when you have two of them.

Apex Devastator is the most Green card of all. This 10-mana Chimera Hydra has a very simple textbox: Cascade, Cascade, Cascade, Cascade. Now, you will not be able to Cascade eight times with Volo unfortunately, however, you will copy each Creature you Cascade into if Volo is in play.

If your opponents do not have an answer to this massive behemoth their fate is sealed.

Conclusion

Volo, Guide to Monsters is the most fun you can have playing with Simic , especially from a deck building perspective.

There is so much joy searching through all the weird Creature types to find the perfect one that provides some kind of value to the rest of the deck. If you are looking for a new deck building challenge, look no further than Volo.