40k - Heliod - Emperor of Mankind

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Mono-White Stax

DucksGuts

Creature (29)

• 1x Archivist of Oghma
• 1x Archon of Emeria
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Deep Gnome Terramancer
• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Giver of Runes
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Lion Sash
• 1x Ranger of Eos
• 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Samurai of the Pale Curtain
• 1x Sanctifier en-Vec
• 1x Sanctum Prelate
• 1x Scrapyard Recombiner
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 1x Solitude
• 1x Spirit of the Labyrinth
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rule of Law

Artifact (20)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Portable Hole
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Trinisphere
• 1x Weathered Runestone

Instant (10)

• 1x Abeyance
• 1x Blacksmith's Skill
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Orim's Chant
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Unexpectedly Absent

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Emeria's Call  ^Flip
• 1x Winds of Abandon

Commander (1)

Land (30)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x High Market
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 12x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Roadside Reliquary
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x War Room
• 1x Windswept Heath

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator

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{W} Heliod cEDH Primer {W}

Why Heliod?

White has consistently struggled with being the weaker color on it's own, not only in cEDH but also in EDH. Although we have different options like the Speedy Sram or maybe recurring Teshar, neither of these actually come close to the package that Heliod delivers. The stax in Heliod are to stall your opponents long enough for you to assemble your combo and ultimately win.

How does Heliod win?

1. You will give Walking Ballista or Triskelion lifelink.
2. Remove a counter to deal 1 damage (note that Ballista needs to be a 2/2)
3. You will gain 1 life, triggering Heliod, and put a +1/+1 counter back on Ballista or Triskelion.
4. Repeat the above and win.

A lot of people get lost in the Walking Ballista/Triskelion mindset of the deck.

Yes, that is the MAIN way to win and your ultimate end goal, but with the abundance of disruption and counter-magic you play against in cEDH, a lot of times you're going to be attacking the biggest threats in the game while also searching out your combo pieces or attempting to get them back from the graveyard.

The overall plan is to go wide with your stax effects (creatures included) and single out the biggest threat until they're dead. Then move on to the next threat.

Strengths and Weaknesses?

Strengths

• Stax pieces are you main strength and are in the deck to slow your opponents. Such stax cards in the deck stop the searching of decks, eliminate ETBs, and kill graveyard recursion. Some, like Containment Priest, Aven Mindcensor, Rest in Peace, and Grafdigger's Cage are your go to cards in hard matchups (Like Hulk).
• A single color is a Strength, even if you are playing mono white, you do not have to worry about mana fixing issues.
• Believe it or not, people often see mono white as a small threat, this can be used to your advantage as you swoop in a lot of the time after large counter wars to combo off with Heliod.

Weaknesses

• Board wipes. There are not many in cEDH, but things like Pyroclasm, Cyclonic Rift, Sweltering Suns, and Toxic Deluge can be devastating to the go wide strategy. It's at times like that when you have to lean on your enchantments and let them do the work that your creatures were doing.
• Speed. Heliod can win with a good enough hand on turns 2 and 3 (this is rare but can happen), but the majority of the time you're grinding the game to a halt to win on your own time and terms. When you go against Hulk decks that can combo off consistently on those turns, it can be hard to keep up. This means you have to rely on the other players in your game, so the mindset of 'Enemy of my Enemy' becomes more real then ever.

Stax Pieces

Some of the most important cards in your deck are the ones that significantly hinder your opponents. Cards like Aven Mindcensor and Leonin Arbiter stop and slow tutors. Land Tax is card advantage. It sounds weird saying that, but it thins your deck out and allows you to draw more threats instead of basics.

Let's slow things down

Rule of Law, Deafening Silence, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Ethersworn Canonist. Are your 'make the game fairer' cards. They slow the pace and allow you to build a stronger board and react to your opponents or have them waste removal on the stax pieces over your real threats.

To find your wincons:

Ranger-Captain of Eos, Ranger of Eos, Karn, the Great Creator (in case a wincon is exiled AND to shut down opponents artifacts), Scrapyard Recombiner, Recruiter of the Guard, Enlightened Tutor, Inventors' Fair.

Cards of importance:

All your cards should put in work and help towards your end goal of winning but I find these are some of the powerhouses in Heliod.

Eidolon of Rhetoric, Hushbringer, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Samurai of the Pale Curtain and lastly Silence.

Why this card?

High Market Mainly to sacrifice our own stax pieces if we need to search for a win con or need an ETB. This CAN also come in handy is someone is running Song of the Dryads or an equivalent that you need to react to.

Heliod's Intervention over Disenchant. This is mainly because Intervention can hit multiple targets.

Archivist of Oghma. Draw is very limited in white, so this is used to take advantage of the low CMC creature curve you have and to get more draw power.

Closing Thoughts

Some closing thoughts... Silence can be used as a defensive tool also, keep that in mind.

I do not claim to be the expert on Heliod out there and I'm sure there are other cEDH lists of him floating around that could possibly be better, but I've played Heliod quite a bit and I have always enjoyed the games with this deck. It's nice to finally have a contender in the cEDH scene that represents a weaker color.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.96
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Angel Warrior 4/4 W, Construct 0/0 C, Elephant 3/3 G, Illusion */* U
Folders	40k