Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER leads a Voltron equipment deck. Cloud enters with haste and a free equip, then draws a card for each equipped attacker. Once Cloud reaches 7 power, each attack also makes Treasure, which pays for more equip costs. The deck tutors heavily for Equipment and cheats it into play or onto creatures, stacking power on Cloud or a few equipped attackers. It doubles or triples the damage through double strike and damage multipliers, chains extra combat phases, and stops opponents from casting spells during its turn so the big swing lands. How it wins: One heavily equipped, damage-multiplied attacker deals lethal commander or combat damage over one or more extra combats, sometimes finished by fling-style damage from a huge creature. Key roles: - Equipment tutors and cheats: These cards find the right Equipment and put it in play cheaply or attached instantly. That gets around heavy equip costs and powers up Cloud's attack trigger right away (Stoneforge Mystic, Sigarda's Aid, Hammer of Nazahn). - Power stacking past 7: Big stat boosts push the equipped attacker to 7 power or more. That turns on Cloud's Treasure clause, Tifa's untap and extra combat, and the power-based draw (Gaia's Dark Hammer, Blackblade Reforged, Conqueror's Flail). - Damage multiplication: Double strike, doubling and tripling turn one connected hit into lethal commander damage. They also amplify the Ignition-style spells, where a huge creature deals damage equal to its power to every opponent (Halvar, God of Battle, Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor, Fiery Emancipation). - Extra combats and untaps: Additional combat phases re-trigger Cloud's attack draw and the saboteur Equipment like the Swords. Several of these key off 7 power or equipped creatures (Tifa, Martial Artist, Aurelia, the Warleader, Aggravated Assault). - Combat-damage value Equipment: These Equipment generate cards, mana, free spells and lands on each hit, so every connection snowballs. Cloud, Midgar Mercenary doubles their triggers while it is equipped (Sword of Feast and Famine, Buster Sword, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary). - Turn lockout and protection: These cards keep opponents from casting spells during the attacking turn and shield the lone threat with hexproof, indestructible or protection, so the all-in attack can't be blown out (Grand Abolisher, Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, Mother of Runes).

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER decklist

• Aerith's Curaga Magic
• Aettir and Priwen
• Aggravated Assault
• Arcane Signet
• Arid Mesa
• Aurelia, the Warleader
• Authority of the Consuls
• Avacyn's Pilgrim
• Bag End
• Balin's Tomb
• Battlefield Forge
• Blackblade Reforged
• Boros Charm
• Bountiful Promenade
• Brushland
• Buster Sword
• Chandra's Ignition
• City of Brass
• Cloud, Midgar Mercenary
• Conqueror's Flail
• Croft Manor
• Deflecting Swat
• Delighted Halfling
• Duelist's Heritage
• Dwight's Weapon Stash
• Esper Sentinel
• Exotic Orchard
• Fiery Emancipation
• Firion, Swordmaster
• Flawless Maneuver
• Forest
• Gaia's Dark Hammer
• Galadriel's Dismissal
• Ghostly Prison
• Gilgamesh, Weapon Collector
• Giver of Runes
• Grand Abolisher
• Halvar, God of Battle
• Hammer of Nazahn
• Helm of the Host
• Herugrim, Sword of Rohan
• Hushwood Verge
• Jetmir's Garden
• Kellan, the Fae-Blooded
• Kodama of the West Tree
• Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
• Legolas's Quick Reflexes
• Lightning, Army of One
• Mana Confluence
• Mantle of the Ancients
• Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor
• Mother of Runes
• Mountain
• Multiversal Passage
• Nature's Lore
• Nibelheim Aflame
• O-Naginata
• Overgrown Farmland
• Paradise Chocobo
• Path to Exile
• 4× Plains
• Plaza of Heroes
• Porom's Silence Magic
• Power Fist
• Prismatic Vista
• Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• Reconnaissance
• Reliquary Tower
• Rockfall Vale
• Sacred Foundry
• Sigarda's Aid
• Silver Shroud Costume
• Smothering Tithe
• Sol Ring
• Spectator Seating
• Spire Garden
• Spire of Industry
• Stomping Ground
• Stoneforge Mystic
• Sunbaked Canyon
• Sunbillow Verge
• Sundown Pass
• Sunforger
• Swiftfoot Boots
• Sword of Feast and Famine
• Sword of Fire and Ice
• Swords to Plowshares
• Sylvan Library
• Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• Temple Garden
• The One Ring
• Three Visits
• Tifa, Martial Artist
• Urza's Saga
• Windswept Heath
• Wooded Foothills