A few days ago I read a post on reddit, asking if there was something wrong with Vorosh because noone plays him. The replies to that question can be summarized as follows:
"He's fun and all but every other Sultai-Commanders is better, because xy."
("xy" stands for a reasoning ranging from "too slow" to "too fragile" and so on and so forth. You get the idea.)
My point is, while the people replying definitely aren't wrong, I've only had good experiences with Vorosh, the Durd and would like to share them with you, along with my theory on why he seems to work better than expected... because on paper, let's be real, he looks awful.
My experiences with Vorosh
It all started (yes we're sitting by a campfire now...) when I decided I wanted to build this awesome BUG Superfriends deck - back when Sultai wasn't a thing - but didn't have a Damia, Sage of Stone at home. Looking through my rares-binder I found the gem that was Vorosh and there began my journey.
Since I built the deck to be focused on the Planeswalkers I didn't need any real synergy from my commander so I didn't worry too much...
Then I played the first games with the deck. I enjoyed it, simply because I love playing with Planeswalkers and since the colors blue, black and green are probably the best combination for some plain ol' control with a little ramp, I didn't "miss" a commander all that much. I say "miss" because in these games I never cast my commander even once... I just had better things to do.
But since there's a first time for everything... I eventually had to cast Vorosh out of the command zone one day...
Just imagine your standard three-hour-grind-fest aka a normal game of EDH where everyone plays threats, they get removed, someone tries to take over the game, gets disrupted in some sort of way, etc etc. Then the inevitable happens and players start to drop because they run out of gas and you're hopefully not one of them, but even if you're not out of gas completely, ressources still are tight. All you need to draw is a somewhat useable creature to deal those last bits of damage... waaaiit a second, did someone call for Vorosh?!
Yes, this is exactly the time to shine for a big durd like him. Afterall he's reasonably big coming down, he has evasion, provides a scary clock if left unchecked and most important of all, if you play him as your commander, he's able to come back a few times after getting removed. This is especially useful in the described scenario where your opponents might have one or two pieces of removal left, but that late in the game even 10 mana shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Needless to say Vorosh single-handedly won me the game back then, two-hitting the first opponent and one-hitting the last one. So tell me, can your fancy Tasigur close out games that quick on his own?
My theory on Vorosh
So here is why I think people underestimate the impact of Vorosh as a commander: They're used to playing their commander earlier because of synergies they built into the deck because of said commander.
So when they play with Vorosh they're still in that same mindset and cast him as early as turn 5 or 6 if they don't have something better to do. This leads to Vorosh dying without having too much of an impact because, as soon as he connects, his 12/12 body will pose enough of a threat to draw a removal spell from somebody... And you've effectively invested 9 mana that, netting a misely 6 damage. As the game goes on and people start doing more powerful stuff, the worse it feels to cast a 6/6 Flying for 8 mana out of your command zone.
What you should do instead is build a nice little controlly/grindy deck. Sultai is probably one of the best combinations for that since between blue and black you get card draw, (mass)removal and counterspells while green let's you keep up with your mana, grants access to answers for noncreature-permanents and all three colors are full of creatures that will provide tons of value without need for synergy.
So basically you'll have this awesome pile of 99 cards than can hold their own in a multiplayer match and everyone will even pity you for "having to run such a bad commander". And once lategame hits and you've successfully ground them down, Vorosh will come down and do what he does best: SMASH FACE! ... and your opponents won't have the ressources to prevent him from doing so.
My Conclusion
If you've got a Vorosh durdling around in your rares-binder maybe give him a shot?! He's better than he looks like if you keep him save and cozy in the command zone until his time to shine arises. Obviously every other general in Sultai is more synergistic, cost efficient, has more immediate impact, etc. etc. but when it comes to closing out the game on tight ressources noone's better than Vorosh.
The same theory can of course be applied to Darigaaz, Rith or Tariel in that they might not be as good if you straight out slam them to the board as soon as possible but the later the game they'll rise in value just because they deal a significant amount of damage along with the ability to come back once or twice due to being your commander.
So let's give the Voroshs of this world a chance to show their potential and maybe, just maybe, one or two of them get to stay in the command zone of a deck forever...
See y'all 'round!
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