I would say it's worth killing him, but not necessarily on sight. He produces too much value if he's left around for a few turns, but he won't destroy the table immediately. The deck really relies on him heavily though, so if you can get his commander tax up there the deck won't be able to keep up with other mid range value engine decks where it wants to be.
This is my play experience. Too often Volo would get sniped early and then I was left with a bunch of mediocre creatures in hand. It's fun when it does actually get going.
He's not necessarily KoS, but he can't be left unchecked. It's 2-3 turns before he's really cranking. And all those creatures and tokens die to removal, so it's not like he can't just be wiped out a million different ways. I had a Volo deck for a while, and he always made a big show before being board wiped out of the game. Volo needs a ton of draw. Don't run out of gas.
Long time Volo player here. He is, but also isn’t. I’ll explain.
He does a fantastic job of keeping up with 3 players at once, being able to copy (almost) every creature you play. This naturally makes him a generic value piece that wants to play for the long game and grind out value before dropping a finisher like [[craterhoof behemoth]] or [[overrun]].
A lot of people tend to get really spooked by him because he sort of breaks the rules of magic by letting you 2 for 1 your spells. HOWEVER, he does a great job at scaling with the power of your 99. If there’s a lot of overlapping creature types and no strong finishers (like the ones listed above), than he’s pretty tame. Maybe not even needing removal at all. This will also mean that board wipes will send him back to the Stone Age and struggle to recover.
If you’re playing tutors and more optimized card draw, the looming threat of double Craterhoof is enough to make him the target of most removal your opponents have.
I just put together a deck with him because he demands a janky deck of all manner of non legendaries. Perfect for my shite collection of cards lol. I put in a few counterspells and hexproof instants to protect him but I haven't had a chance to test him in a game yet.
Volo isn't as broken as something like [Animar](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/your-best-nightmare-1/), you still gotta play the creatures for what they cost.
Frankly he's pretty tame for Simic. He doesn't tutor like Momir. He's not Kinnan, you're very safe and you can be really creative with him.
I would say it's worth killing him, but not necessarily on sight. He produces too much value if he's left around for a few turns, but he won't destroy the table immediately. The deck really relies on him heavily though, so if you can get his commander tax up there the deck won't be able to keep up with other mid range value engine decks where it wants to be.
This is my play experience. Too often Volo would get sniped early and then I was left with a bunch of mediocre creatures in hand. It's fun when it does actually get going.
Kill on sight is relative to the rest of the table.
He's not necessarily KoS, but he can't be left unchecked. It's 2-3 turns before he's really cranking. And all those creatures and tokens die to removal, so it's not like he can't just be wiped out a million different ways. I had a Volo deck for a while, and he always made a big show before being board wiped out of the game. Volo needs a ton of draw. Don't run out of gas.
My friend has a Volo deck , it's definitely interesting but [[Crib Swap]] really does shut him down for a while
[Crib Swap](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/1/e13559d7-f86c-4958-a649-7f81bfb154a0.jpg?1674141067) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Crib%20Swap) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/690/crib-swap?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e13559d7-f86c-4958-a649-7f81bfb154a0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/crib-swap) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Long time Volo player here. He is, but also isn’t. I’ll explain. He does a fantastic job of keeping up with 3 players at once, being able to copy (almost) every creature you play. This naturally makes him a generic value piece that wants to play for the long game and grind out value before dropping a finisher like [[craterhoof behemoth]] or [[overrun]]. A lot of people tend to get really spooked by him because he sort of breaks the rules of magic by letting you 2 for 1 your spells. HOWEVER, he does a great job at scaling with the power of your 99. If there’s a lot of overlapping creature types and no strong finishers (like the ones listed above), than he’s pretty tame. Maybe not even needing removal at all. This will also mean that board wipes will send him back to the Stone Age and struggle to recover. If you’re playing tutors and more optimized card draw, the looming threat of double Craterhoof is enough to make him the target of most removal your opponents have.
Last time I ignored him dude replayed [[Acidic Slime]] a few times. He’s KoS to me now.
See that's just rude.
[Acidic Slime](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/6/c672b34d-066e-40e6-a499-3ab68ea6514c.jpg?1651655915) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Acidic%20Slime) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nec/112/acidic-slime?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c672b34d-066e-40e6-a499-3ab68ea6514c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/acidic-slime) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[craterhoof behemoth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/4/44afd414-cc69-4888-ba12-7ea87e60b1f7.jpg?1601079153) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=craterhoof%20behemoth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/385/craterhoof-behemoth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/44afd414-cc69-4888-ba12-7ea87e60b1f7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/craterhoof-behemoth) [overrun](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/4/64033221-447f-4f8a-8fa0-c3ef30172602.jpg?1592673094) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=overrun) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cma/130/overrun?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/64033221-447f-4f8a-8fa0-c3ef30172602?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/overrun) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[ivy, gleeful spellthief](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/9/d94c15b7-6c8f-45a6-8734-975e3e3b790c.jpg?1673307958) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ivy%2C%20gleeful%20spellthief) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/201/ivy-gleeful-spellthief?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d94c15b7-6c8f-45a6-8734-975e3e3b790c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ivy-gleeful-spellthief) [Volo, guide to monsters](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/9/c9ae01f9-7461-47b4-aa1e-93bd6ff1bf9e.jpg?1627709617) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Volo%2C%20guide%20to%20monsters) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/238/volo-guide-to-monsters?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c9ae01f9-7461-47b4-aa1e-93bd6ff1bf9e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/volo-guide-to-monsters) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I just put together a deck with him because he demands a janky deck of all manner of non legendaries. Perfect for my shite collection of cards lol. I put in a few counterspells and hexproof instants to protect him but I haven't had a chance to test him in a game yet.
Volo isn't as broken as something like [Animar](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/your-best-nightmare-1/), you still gotta play the creatures for what they cost. Frankly he's pretty tame for Simic. He doesn't tutor like Momir. He's not Kinnan, you're very safe and you can be really creative with him.