You want to start playing commander, but are not sure if it’s worth spending hundreds of dollars building a deck that maybe wont perform as you like and then being stuck with it?

Don’t worry, this deck following the Voltron archetype with a sprinkle of Spellslinger featuring Feather, the Redeemed as your commander is your answer. Like a good ol’ voltron deck, your commander is the protagonist of it, and by being of boros identity, it opens up a broader fan of options to deal with your opponents for a very little financial investment.

You’ll have very little creatures and pretty much all the combat tricks you could imagine, to finish off any opponent with pure ol’ commander damage.

So, let’s dive into this deck and follow the path of the redeemed to victory.

Feather’s Premise

The core strategy centers on the triggered ability of Feather, the Redeemed. Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature you control, you exile that card as it resolves. Then, at the beginning of the next end step, return it to your hand. This ability becomes the foundation of the deck. Turning every single combat trick you cast into a recurrent spell that will be played every turn, essentially obliterating the singleton essence of commander.

This strategy functions as a Spellslinger and Voltron hybrid. It utilizes the inherent strengths of Boros’s combat tricks to protect a single, massive threat, usually Feather herself. While your opponents struggle to deal with it. 

Keep in mind that, by being a budget voltron deck, it does rely on your commander’s gimmick to stay relevant. So, if your opponents find a way to shut down Feather, then it will be pretty difficult to maintain your momentum. Alas, we’ll still be counting on a series of creatures that may do some job while you try to set up Feather all over again on the battlefield.

Core Gameplay

The progression of a game with Feather is a fast and swift succession of blows against your opponents. Every turn should be as aggressive as you can, while profiting from Feather’s Ability to keep your hand full of the perfect combat trick and buff for every moment.

Laying Down the Foundations for Redemption

In the early game, you should focus on your mana acceleration and setup creatures. While Feather is a three-mana commander, she requires a stable mana base to exert her influence. Sol Ring and Arcane Signet are the only mana rocks in this deck, only because of the essential they’re on early turns. 

You must ensure that your mana curve is on point as soon as possible, because we’ll be casting multiple combat tricks per turn. During this time, low-cost utility creatures like Clever Lumimancer or Burning Prophet come in handy as your combat tricks pump up Feather herself. 

Fanning the Flames of Redemption

During the mid-game, you should already have Feather setted up to deal with your opponents while protecting her, by using low-cost spells like Defiant Strike or Gods Willing to pump her up while maintaining your hand, or by giving her protection from removal. 

Spells like Reckless Impulse and Wrenn's Resolve will help you to make some impulse draw that will end up in your hand more often than not after casting those cards. You should focus on thinning the opponents’ options with targeted buffs. 

Tenth District Legionnaire and Illuminator Virtuoso provide efficient bodies to your combat tricks that would allow you to finish off some unaware opponents.

The Final Conflagration

Alas, this deck is not as efficient as you might think when it comes to the end-game, in fact, we don’t want to enter this stage of the game, because it is when your opponents could deploy their own threats and this deck more often than not, won’t have the means to deal with them. Making you an easy target.

But don’t be afraid, while we don’t have the means to be relevant in this stage, we could still pack some serious punch if your opponents overlooked you because of this. Cards like Soul's Fire or Temur Battle Rage can help you finish the job. The deck counts on the sheer power of Guttersnipe to nuke the table if left unchecked.

Angelic Perseverance

As stated before, this is a robust budget deck, closing by the $50-ish mark, meaning that we’ll be looking at a simple Bracket 1 deck that could, in the right pod, trade some blows against Bracket 2 or 3.

As a budget deck, the mana base is pretty simple, mostly basic lands and pretty simple fetches.

The Flame Procession of The Redeemed

While being a voltron deck means that you’ll be depending on your commander to deal with your opponents, this deck runs a small number of creatures that will help you synergize with your commander to help you deal with as many opponents as you can.

The Heroic Beneficiaries

The deck follows the idea of providing massive impact for minimal mana investment.

Illuminator Virtuoso is a primary example. It is a 1/1 with double strike that connives every time it becomes the target of a spell you control. Turning it into a pretty powerful creature with almost no investment, and by having double strike means that effectively it has always double the amount of strength is has 

Similarly, Tenth District Legionnaire offers a terrifying passive ability. It gains +1/+1 counters and scries 1 whenever you target it. Pumping her by just looking at her is a pretty powerful effect, and helping you decide if the top is the most optimal card to draw is just icing on the cake.

Clever Lumimancer serves a different role. It is a damage-cleansing machine. When you cast or copy an instant or sorcery, it gets +2/+2 until the end of turn. Gaining residual benefits from buffing other creatures, and buffing herself even more if you target her.

Burning Prophet helps you in a different way. Every single non-creature spell you cast will result in her becoming more powerful by gaining +1/+0 until end of turn, while scrying 1 to ensure your next card is the optimal one to draw.

The Value Generators

Make More Mana from Your Spells

As this deck comes with a pretty hefty sprinkle of spellslinger on it. We’ll be looking for creatures that could profit from all those spells we’ll be casting every single turn.

Storm-Kiln Artist is a pretty powerful creature for this archetype. Is a 2/2 that gains +1/+0 for every artifact you control, and his magecraft ability will turn every instant or sorcery you cast or copy into a treasure, pumping himself by that, while giving you additional mana to keep casting your precious combat tricks. In a deck with this much recursion, it can turn a simple turn into a very long one where you spend a humongous amount of mana.

Runaway Steam-Kin provides a burst of mana once it has three +1/+1 counters on it. How does it gain those counters? Every time you cast a red spell, if it has less than three counters, you put one +1/+1 counter on it. And by removing three +1/+1 counters from it, it will give you 3 red mana to your mana pool. Easily making you more mana than you could manage to cast all those spells to pump your creatures.

Ornithopter of Paradise is a pretty simple mana dork for this deck that will help you cast as many spells as you can per turn, while also being a simple blocker.

A Back-Up Plan If Feather Falls

Young Pyromancer is an incredible creature when it comes to consistency. Its ability allows you to generate elemental tokens whenever you cast an instant or sorcery. This ensures you keep a battlefield full of creatures to help you block any threat that comes your way.

Thermo-Alchemist and Guttersnipe are staples on spellslinger decks, because they do AoE damage while taking advantage of your multiple spells per turn. 

The former is a 0/3 with defender that by tapping it deals 1 point of damage to each opponent, and every time you cast an instant or sorcery it untaps himself. While the latter is a more straightforward creature, by dealing 2 points of damage to every opponent any time you cast an instant or sorcery. 

As you’ll be casting multiple spells per turn, they both should be able to finish off any opponent if they stay long enough on the battlefield. 

Spells to Grant Redemption

As stated before, this deck is a spellslinger/voltron combination, so the bread and butter of it comes in the form of sorceries and instants that will help you deal with your opponents while pumping up a single creature to strike as hard as it can.

Sorceries of Support

Board Control

There shouldn’t be a single deck that plays into white without at least one boardwipe, that’s where cards like Divine Reckoning and Slaughter the Strong come to shine. 

The former allows each player to keep one creature, while destroying the rest, and also comes with flashback, ensuring you can cast it again if needed sometime later. While the latter allows each player to keep any number of creatures with power equal or less to 4, while sacrificing every other creature.

Both of these cards are pretty cheap boardwipes that will help you keep Feather’s way clear up to your opponents.

Slowly Buffing Up

Sorceries are not the first type of spell that comes to mind when buffing a creature. But these sorceries allow you to put +1/+1 counters on a creature while also doing something else and then returning them to your hand thanks to Feather.

Explosive Entry is a pretty original artifact removal spell that also would give a +1/+1 counter up to one target creature. Your opponents have many mana rocks? Destroy them and pump Feather up.

You need a blocker for the next turn, and all you have is Feather on the battlefield? Then Homestead Courage is the right answer, not only it will give Feather a +1/+1 counter, but will also give her vigilance until the end of turn.

Want to draw a card? Cast Honor to give one of your creatures a +1/+1 counter and then draw that card you need.

You just casted Feather? Make her Kick in the Door and give her a +1/+1 counter while also making her have haste until the end of turn and being unblockable by walls this turn and venture into the dungeon.

Finally, while these cards wouldn’t give counters, they also give some flavor of benefits at sorcery speed while also doing something else.

Want to remove a creature from an opponent? Make one of your creatures Go for Blood and make those two creatures fight each other.

Need to give Haste and Trample? Use Impolite Entrance and also draw a card.

Rile one of your creatures up by dealing 1 point of damage to it, giving it trample and drawing a card in the meantime.

Make Some Impulse Drawings

Reckless Impulse, Wrenn's Resolve and Light Up the Stage are some of the most popular impulse draw spells, by exiling two cards from the top of your library and being able to cast them, you have effectively drawn two cards that your opponents can’t interact with as long as they’re exiled, keep in mind, those cards will be kept exiled if you don’t play them, and also, Feather will return them to your hand if they’re some form of combat trick. 

Swift ways to Redemption

As this deck follows the voltron archetype and our commander cares for spells that target her or other creature you control, we come with a hefty amount of thirty-six instants to pump up and protect our precious creatures as much as we could.

Protection at All Costs

Cards like Gods Willing, Loran's Escape, Boon of Safety, Cloudshift and Flicker of Fate are efficient targeted protection by giving target creature you control protection against any color of your choice, giving it hexproof and indestructible, flickering it to the battlefield or by simply giving it a shield counter.

Having any of them in your hand will always provide you with the right amount of protection for Feather or any other creature that needs it.

Let’s Deal More Damage

Giving your creatures some stats until the end of turn is the strategy of choice for this deck, so, naturally we’re aiming to do that with as many cards as we can.

Defiant Strike is a powerhouse by itself not only it will give +1/+0 to one target creature, but will also draw a card for you, ensuring that your hand will be as full as possible. Blazing Crescendo works in a similar way, giving your creature +3/+1 and impulse drawing you a card.

Regent's Authority is a powerful card to target only Feather, as it would on normal circumstances give +2/+2 to a creature until the end of turn, but if that creature is an enchantment creature or is legendary, it will in turn give it a +1/+1 counter and then give it +1/+1 until the end of the turn, giving a more permanent buff to Feather.

Reckless Rage is a pretty funny way to remove creatures your opponents control, by dealing 4 points of damage to target creature you don’t control and also dealing 2 points of damage to target creature you control. The latter effect ensures you to return this card to your hand if Feather is on the battlefield, providing you with a recursable removal tool.

Take Up the Shield, a staple on this type of voltron decks, it not only gives target creature a +1/+1 counter, but also makes it indestructible and gives it lifelink until end of turn, turning your damage into lifepoints to keep up the fight.

Graceful Reprieve is a good emergency button, if by any means any of your creatures will die this turn, cast this card and target it, ensuring you that when they die, they will come back from the graveyard to the battlefield.

Spectacular Tactics is a relatively new card from the Spider-Man Set, that allows you to put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature you control and give it hexproof until the end of turn. While also serving as a removal of a creature with power equal or greater than 4.

What good is a boros deck without Monstrous Rage? This powerhouse of a card is a staple on any deck that runs creatures for dealing damage.

Finish Off Opponents with a Bang

Finally, Temur Battle Rage and Soul's Fire helps you ensure a victory against any unaware opponent, the former will give a target creature double strike, and possibly trample if you control a creature with power equal or greater than 4. While the latter works as some sort of Fling without having to sacrifice the creature for that.

Just Two Little Rocks

By this deck being around $50 we have to make some compromises, one of those comes in the form of almost running zero artifacts, in fact, we can do it, but Sol Ring and Arcane Signet are just so good that it feels wrong to not include them.

Even so, if you want to cut them, do it and put two more basic lands, Feather don’t need heavy mana acceleration, just ensure that you have a steady mana flow and the deck will reward you with plenty of spells to cast in your way to redeem your opponents.

The Lands of Purgatory

We’ll be playing 39 lands, most of them (32) are just basic lands because we’re playing commander on a budget, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be running at least some form of non-basic lands.

Battlefield Forge is one of those non-basic lands we’ll be running, a classic staple on budget-mana bases, being a Painland is not as much of a hassle for this deck.

Clifftop Retreat will become a true dual land on this deck by the humongous amount of basic we run.

Finally, what is a commander deck without Command Tower? Ensuring those two colors early with just one land is a pretty big priority for us.

Basic Fetches for Our Basic Needs

Cabaretti Courtyard, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and Vibrant Cityscape serves one purpose and one purpose only, fetch you some basic lands and thinning your deck by two cards each, helping you ensure more optimal card draws.

Closing Words

In conclusion, Feather, the Redeemed offers a refreshing take on the Boros identity. It moves away from the standard small army archetype. It also breaks the singleton nature of commander by recursing almost every single spell you cast on her or any creature you control. 

This deck presents you with the opportunity to have a presence that is as resilient as it is lethal. Whether you are soaring over the field with a massive angel or draining the table with slow pings, this deck rewards bold tactical moves, and swift lethal turns. Just keep in mind, as the game develops, you run the risk of being overwhelmed by more powerful and slow decks.