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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Divine Retribution
Instant
Divine Retribution deals damage to target attacking creature equal to the number of attacking creatures.
SynergyBuild on Ability challenge
4 years ago
I am bored, so I will take this quite seriously.
Defined, it means to come from God, be of God, or be like a God. It can also simply mean excellent, when used as an adjective. I plan to use it as such, as it is an ability.
The etymology I could find shows that it comes from Old French or Latin, as "divus", to "divnus", each time meaning Godlike. Because this matches up with some of the well-used definitions, I plan to make the ability to resemble this definition.
To assure this works in MTG cannon, I looked at all of the cards that have the work "Divine" in the name, and all of them were white cards, excluding 5, with a range of green, colorless, and multicolored within those. All of them used the term 'Diviner' however, meaning someone who uses Divination, which is a soothsaying/'inspired by God' term.
So, I hit a road, I could choose the literal word 'Divine' or a play on a similar word 'Divination'. I would use the card Divination, and most likely make a blue-based mechanic involving card draw if I went the latter route, but if I went the former, I would choose a white mechanic.
I couldn't take the term Divination much further without looking away from the term Divine however, leading me to more occult or other canons like Harry Potter for further details, so I went with coming up with a White mechanic.
The question is, Which white mechanic?. If I didn't feel inspired, I'd probably pick lifegain/damage prevention, as 6 of the 17 white cards with Divine in their name use, however I felt that the cards Divine Arrow, Divine Deflection, Divine Retribution and Divine Verdict showed another, really cool angle on white's color pie, killing those that hurt others, or deflecting.
Sort of a form of protection by smiting, and often I believe an underlooked stance on white's color pie. This is what I wanted to make a mechanic.
Divine Protection - If damage would be dealt to this permanent or player, instead you may prevent that damage and then deal that much damage to a target of your choice. You may not prevent damage this way more than once a turn.
I believe this is a semi-replacement for Hexproof, Shroud, Indestructible, or any other protection ability, but would specifically be a white mechanic, rarely going outside of it without good means, similar to how Hexproof originally was.
Saved by the Gods -
Instant
Until end of turn, target creature, planeswalker, or player gains Divine Protection. (If damage would be dealt to this permanent or player, instead you may prevent that damage and then deal that much damage to a target of your choice. You may not prevent damage this way more than once a turn.)
Shield of the Pantheon -
Legendary Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gains Divine Protection and has +1/+3 (If damage would be dealt to this permanent or player, instead you may prevent that damage and then deal that much damage to a target of your choice. You may not prevent damage this way more than once a turn.)
Equip legendary creature
Equip creature
Iroas, of Victory -
Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
Divine Protection, Vigilance, Double Strike
As long as you have three or less creatures, Iroas is an enchantment. (It is no longer a creature)
As long as Iroas is a creature, creatures you control have Divine Protection, Vigilance, and Double Strike.
3/5
Daedalus19876 on
Judgment Day: Avacyn the Purifier EDH [PRIMER]
7 years ago
In essence, your first sentence sums it up. Every deck tends to be tuned for its meta, and mine is very happy in its current slot. My meta has a lot of combo decks, so people save their counters for those. And with all of the control and competing combos running around, I usually am not the center of attention.
With a good hand I can be a strong threat and have a board presence by T3-4 (best possible hand = Avacyn on T2). With even a half-decent hand, I can be a major threat by T5-6. That's the speed I try to hold myself to in this deck.
I don't have too many fast aggro decks that kill on T4 in my meta, and it seems you do have several of those decks around. In that light, your changes make a lot of sense. (Incidentally, what aggro decks in your meta reliably kill you on T4?)
My deck is compliant with the multiplayer banlist but it's not a French deck. I'm curious how you modified it to run without the Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Ancient Tomb, etc. It definitely loses a lot of power without the fast mana acceleration :( Also, that means you can no longer have a T1 Mana Vault T2 Avacyn :'(
I've found that the global discard spells are much, much better than they look. Wheel of Fortune does give your opponents cards, but if you empty your hand faster than them you're the one that gains advantage. Also, it screws with hand sculpting HARD: it disrupts control/combo decks very easily.
Again, though, it REALLY depends on meta. In an aggro-heavy playgroup, I definitely understand why you wouldn't want to give your opponents more cards in hand. Don't forget, though, that you get to use your cards first, and if you have a Sword of Feast and Famine it gives you doubled mana to cast them ;)
Nahiri, the Lithomancer was in my very first draft of this deck. But I ended up switching in Sun Titan for more general recursion, and all of my equipment (minus Argentum Armor) wasn't TOO hard to cast anyway. Do you manage to ult her frequently? I've gotten a Stoneforged Blade exactly once, and it got bounced the same turn :( With Nahiri in the list, though, it makes more sense why you'd play Skullclamp.
How is Kjeldoran Outpost working for you? The loss of a land seems bad: does the token-production make up for it?
If you're getting a lot of use out of tokens, Assemble the Legion is awesome btw.
I assume you're still playing Blasphemous Act and Declaration in Stone to deal with the token hordes? Those, plus Avacyn's inherent wipe, are usually my answers. Have you considered Eye of Singularity and Divine Retribution as well?
I hope I wasn't too curt with my dismissal of Aggravated Assault previously :( I left a much, MUCH more detailed reasoning in the previous comment for why I excluded it.
Repercussion is an awesome card. Have you ever pulled it off with a Blasphemous Act? It kills you last (due to APNAP), so it's a proper win-condition :D
And finally, my opinion on your additions! :)
Dictate of the Twin Gods: I actually prefer Overblaze. I've ended games out of NOWHERE with that, and it doubles her transformation damage too (plus, tutorable with Sunforger!). But it came out of the deck eventually, for reasons I don't quite remember. Hmm. If I can find a space I might re-add it.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: I don't have too big of a problem with aggro, and she draws a LOT of hate in my group. Is she an all-star in your games?
Conqueror's Flail: I'm testing it - jury is still out. How's it playing for you?
Grand Abolisher: He's been in some drafts of this deck, and he really should come back in some time.
Cavern of Souls: I wish I owned one, lol.
War's Toll: How's it working for you?
Stoneshaker Shaman: I want to leave mana open to cast Avacyn with flash, so it makes me nervous...but I've never considered him before :)
Batterskull: Does the power boost make up for the high mana cost and equip cost? I left it out because I can't tutor for it with Stonehewer Giant (unlike Argentum Armor).
Crucible of Worlds: I don't play the fetches here. I didn't really see the need, personally. Also, hella expensive and my only copy is in my I Call Her Vera: Sidisi EDH | *PRIMER* deck right now, lol.
Kjeldoran Outpost: See above. Is the self-strip mine worth it?
Inventors' Fair: I tried it and found it more conditional than I wanted. Again, though, depends on meta and list.
Emeria, The Sky Ruin: I never have enough Plains.
Ghirapur AEther Grid: I'm looking forward to testing this out :)
Static Orb: OH MY LORD, this card is awesome. It's an all-star in my deck. It's only in the sideboard because my meta looks down on it a bit. If you're using it to lock down token decks, you might also look at Smoke.
Thank you for your in-depth comment, haha, and all of the fantastic suggestions over time. I hope you're enjoying your build of Avacyn, and I'd love to hear more about your experiences with it. Have you considered uploading it on T/O? :)
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