Initiate of the Sands
x4
1
Lingering Influence
x4
2
Awakened Student
x4
2
Find the Way
x2
2
Hojan, Crownbreaker
x4
2
Porcelain Mask
x3
2
Voice of the Speaker
x3
2
Xenan Initiation
x3
3
Auralian Merchant
x4
3
Knight-Chancellor Siraf
x4
4
Sandstorm Titan
x4
5
Marshal Ironthorn
x4
5
Worldbearer Behemoth
x4
7
Vodakhan, Temple Speaker
x3
Justice Sigil
x4
Time Sigil
x6
Amber Waystone
x3
Combrei Banner
x4
Crest of Progress
x4
Seat of Progress
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
The deck has no draw mechanic -- do you find you don't need it?
Do you need 4 Voda's to get it to work? The card seems like it would be useless until you have the required power/influence and then you win the game but I could be wrong.
Also, it seems like Hojan is most useful for his renown (for ramp) but your main way to activate him is with xenan initiation -- and a major point of this deck is to put that on your bigger threats.
It makes me think this deck could be more aggro combrei with the combo possible in market if it works or more control-oriented with harsh rule, more draw and ramp into the full combo. This is a bit of both -- but maybe that works in practice. Just curious.
You don't need 4 Vodakahn for it to work, this is just supposed to be a Vodakahn deck and winning should be pretty easy with him. He is useless early on, but the deck has some ramp to get him earlier.
Hojan is pretty much just here for the empower buffs and lifesteal against aggressive decks, but he's actually one of the main targets for Initiation too. He gets big really fast when you play extra power, and he gains a lot of life when you play power every turn. That's mostly why he's here. I tried to find other cards to activate Renown but I think only having the Initiations should be fine. Initiation is really there so can act like Slay in the early/mid game while not being useless later on. So Hojan is a great for target since he swings as a 5/4 with Lifesteal and ramps you, and that's pretty strong throughout the mid/early game. Initiation on Hojan to kill something on turn 3 might win you the game against an aggro deck.
It's fine to use Initiation to survive early (hell use it on a Merchant to kill Oni Ronin if you have to), Vodakombo generally has no issue winning once it's combo'd off, it's getting there that's the problem. But sometimes you do combo off and it's too slow or gets stalled somehow, which is where Parliament and Mystic Ascendant usually come in. This deck basically just uses the Porcelain Mask and Initiation/Formation (probably mostly Formation) to break those stalls instead.
You're right that it is a more aggressive version of Vodakombo, and that's intentional. Hojan has a crazy strong Empower effect and Vodakombo is the best at activating Empower, so I figured I'd try to build around that. This is the result, it might need a little more ramp or some lands but it should be able to win some games. I'm not trying to say it's amazing, it's just a deck that tries to beat Scrappy Hour by attacking a Grenadin with a 60/60 Killer/Overwhelm Hojan.
If you want a similar deck with pure competitiveness in mind it'd probably look more like this.