The Toolbox - Spellweaving Insanity
March 26, 2019 by
Elijah Klein 
(Spellweaver Volute | Art by Bud Cook)
The Weirdest Enchantment I Could Find
Welcome back to The Toolbox! Here we take a look at underplayed cards and evaluate where they ought to see more play. Yes, I do say ‘we’ because I want to hear what you all think as well; I am not always right. Please comment and share your thoughts about which cards we should discuss and where they should see more play!
Today, we return to the roots of this series with one of the most bizarre cards in the history of Magic. Like many cards from Future Sight, this one will almost definitely make you ask the question, "What were they thinking?" I don’t know, to be honest, but let's examine it anyway! This week we're looking at the amazing card Spellweaver Volute!
What is Even Happening Here?
So what does Spellweaver Volute actually do aside from give people headaches? It enchants an instant in a graveyard, and when you cast a sorcery spell, it creates a copy of the enchanted spell, which you may cast for free. Then it exiles the enchanted spell and moves onto another!
For the most part, Magic players expect an Aura to enchant a creature or a land, maybe even an artifact, but an instant in a graveyard? It's beyond weird to have an Aura on the battlefield that isn't enchanting a permanent on the battlefield. Yes, it's complicated. In fact, here is the Gatherer link in case you have any rules questions because of how wonky this card is.
Regardless, two spells for the price of one is straight value, no matter how you look at it. I'm curious which decks most often play Spellweaver Volute, according to its EDHREC page?
Spellweaver Volute is all about casting spells, so obviously that’s exactly what we see here. Shu Yun is the most interesting to me, since his seems the most aggressive of these spell-based commanders, using the additional spell for extra Prowess triggers. Noyan Dar is probably the most honest and fair of these decks, just using Volute for value to cast extra spells and trigger his ability. The great Izzet mages Melek and Mizzix should probably play this card more often, since the value it can generate when going off with tons of spells is too good!
What other decks should play Spellweaver Volute, though? Let's take a look.
You’re a Wizard, Adeliz!
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is one of my favorite commanders printed in the last couple of years. She may only be a flying 2/2, but remember how Shu Yun used Volute for additional Prowess triggers? Adeliz has him beat, using those extra triggers to not only pump up herself, but her army of Wizards, too! It’s time for muscle wizards, finally!
I considered just listing a bunch of cantrips like Ponder and Telling Time and friends, because those do technically synergize with Volute and can rapidly trigger a ton of pump effects from Adeliz. But let's dig deeper, and paint a real picture: you enchant Dig Through Time in your graveyard, then cast Ponder, which triggers Volute. You resolve Dig and Ponder, picking up three new cards, then move Volute onto your Mystical Tutor. Then you cast Treasure Cruise, and Volute triggers again. You find whatever spell you want, put it on top of your deck, draw it and two other cards from the Cruise, and by spending just a few mana, you've got six new cards in hand and your Wizards have pumped up enough to make Collective Blessing jealous.
Absolutely nothing could go wrong; no one runs interaction, right? Things definitely could go wrong, you say? I don’t believe you. It's clearly a flawless, perfect system. Just look at the decklist.
Below is my current personal list. It's not fully tuned, but I love it nonetheless, and I enjoy the ample targets Volute has to repeat in the list. Even just recasting a simple Anticipate can really smooth things out. Take a look!
Copy the Copy Spell That’s Copying Another Copy and…
Next up on our Volute value train is the copy lord, Riku of Two Reflections! There are only 14 Riku decks playing Spellweaver Volute, which means only 2.32% of the total decks playing Volute are from Riku, and just 0.72% of all Riku decks are enjoying Volute's company. That's far too low.
Riku is a 2/2 for five mana, which is really bad, but his abilities are compelling enough to make up for it. He can duplicate nontoken creatures when they enter your battlefield, and better yet, he can duplicate the instants and sorceries you cast, too! Pretty sweet, right? Just wait til you see the decklist.
This time we can't rely on a bunch of cantrips and Adeliz triggers for the win. What we wanna do is the exact opposite: cast big spells, and copy them into oblivion. Riku helps with this, but as it turns out, Volute does too; </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Spellweaver Volute can enchant almost all the 'copy target spell' spells, like Reverberate and Increasing Vengeance and Twincast. Cast any ol' sorcery, like Urban Evolution, then Volute triggers and copies it with Twincast, in addition to the Riku trigger, which can be used to copy both the Evolution and the Twincast!
Pair all this up with with Thousand-Year Storm, Wort, the Raidmother, Metallurgic Summonings, and a ton of other excellent payoffs, and you're in business. I could bore you by listing all the value, or you could take it all in with a sick decklist!
Oops All Spells
Well, not literally, but it's close enough. Next on our list is Kess, Dissident Mage, who's created a huge spark in a number of formats due to her powerful ability to recast one instant or sorcery from the graveyard. Snapcaster Mage every turn? Heck yeah, I’ll take that! She’s open to anything from Control to Reanimator to Storm, which makes her perfect for Volute.
I'm gonna focus on the Reanimator/Self Mill style of Kess deck, both to make the list a little more unique and to make sure the graveyard is chock full of targets for both Kess and our wonky little enchantment. Oh man, the options are so good! Intuition, Ancient Excavation, Entomb, or Fact or Fiction all provide tons of value, filling up your hand and the graveyard, and Volute can enchant them all!
What, then, do we use to trigger the Volute in the first place? Traumatize is a fun one, filling our yard with even more targets. Dark Petition is sure to give us tons of value, too. Oh, and we're not just reanimating spells, but creatures, too, so Living Death will be an absolute blast.
Basically everything either puts cards in the graveyard, puts cards from the graveyard into play, or is a combo piece. Enjoy this decklist for all its obnoxious value.
Doctor Strange
Taigam, Ojutai Master, as a whole, is very underrated, coming in at only 292 total decks. He renders your instants, sorceries, and even Dragon spells uncounterable, but that’s not the exciting part. If he attacks, he also gives every instant and sorcery cast from your hand that turn Rebound!
Taigam is interesting, since he's a spell-based deck who doesn't necessarily use spells as the win condition. He's focused on card advantage and interaction, casting Dig Through Time twice to dig for value, Mystical Tutor to search out useful answers, and so on. You really can't go wrong with Spellweaver Volute here, to give those instants one more moment in the spotlight.
Best of all, Volute doesn't just trigger when you cast the sorceries from your hand. It will also trigger when they Rebound from Taigam's ability! Multiple triggers for minimal investment is just so darn good. Anything from Temporal Manipulation to Windfall to Fractured Identity will all give you tons of triggers.
Oh, and by the way, in case you run out of instants in your own graveyard, Spellweaver Volute can enchant instants in other people's graveyards, too! Steal someone else's Chaos Warp, bust out their Putrefy, ruin their day with their own Crackling Doom! In a deck focused on grinding out your opponents, you just can’t go wrong with Spellweaver Volute. Take a look for yourself!
Going Into Exile
Just for a moment, though; Taigam gave me Rebound. I'll be back soon with even more underrated cards!
What do you think about Spellweaver Volute, and where you would play it? What other underrated cards deserve more time in the spotlight? Do you have any spells that offer tons of value, but no one else seems to have caught on to how great they are yet? I’d love to talk in the comments below! Thank you very much for all your support and discussion, and as always, have a great day!
Elijah Klein
Elijah is a mildly obsessive EDH player from Georgia. He started playing during Battle for Zendikar with Green/Black Eldrazi Aristocrats and still pays tribute to the plane with his Omnath, Locus of Rage storm brew. He is always excited to innovate and try new things in Magic and Life. Elijah is currently a full time student looking to go into Computer Engineering but also has a bit of an artistic streak.
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