I use the following ten parameters to determine the strength of the deck. For each, I allocate a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad); when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).
- Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
- Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
- Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
- Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
- Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
- Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
- Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
- Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
- Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
- Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.
Mana: 4
Casting Angels is expensive, so this deck offers seven direct mana resources as well as three cards that enable me to cast white/Angel spells cheaper. Last but not least, the deck features two enchantments that can yield mana in the form of tax.
Ramp: 2
I have included only three options that specifically allow me to search for lands in my deck. Only one of them allows me to play an additional land during a turn.
Card Advantage: 3
This deck includes eight cards to provide additional spells/resources, out of which five are direct-draw, one is a tutor and two should be considered filters.
Overall speed: 3
As its main power resides in expensive-to-cast cards, quite a few measures have been taken to make such casting easier. Its mana-, ramping and card-advantage abilities are decently average, and this is reflected in its overall velocity.
Combo: 4
Avacyn represents half of the deck’s main combo, which is therefore easy to obtain provided circumstances allow me to summon her. If this is made impossible, the deck still features two permanent as well as two temporary back-ups to turn my entire battlefield presence indestructible. Combined with eight wipe enabling cards/spells, I can seal my opponents’ fates.
Army: 4
A host of fourteen Angels makes up this deck’s main army; not to mention three cards that allow for the creation of Angel tokens. In terms of numbers this is not much, but this is made up for in quality. Each Angel I summon has a high impact on the battlefield’s state.
Commander: 4
Though Avacyn is ridiculously strong, I do not require her to pull off a win for three reasons. First off, I have some built in redundancy (less likely to be countered) to allow all of my permanents to become indestructible. Second, I have included a few means to return permanents to me quickly in case I did not pull off indestructibility before a wipe. Third, the Angel army by itself can kick some major ass.
Interaction: 5
Half of this deck’s strategy involves the destruction of all my opponents’ permanents. More than half of the cards I would require for this, can only be activated during my own turns. The same applies for most options included to exile opposing permanents. That’s ok though, because during my opponents’ turns I have other means of interaction to make their life more difficult. Nine of them involve either having permanents enter the battlefield tapped, or attack/block-tax, or prevent casting or tax casting. On top of that, five cards provide me with significant bonuses whenever my opponents play (multiple) lands, draw (multiple) cards or tutor.
Resilience: 5
Avacyn provides indestructibility to everything I own, but in case she’s unavailable, I have some built in redundancy. I’ve also included cards to grant my important creatures hexproof or protection from opposing colors. As for protecting myself, I’ve included options that allow me to redirect damage to (indestructible) creatures, as well as eight cards that allow me to gain (back) lost life.
Spell-power: 3
Most of this deck's spell-power is focused on removal, though some capacity has also been reserved for damage redirection, damage increasing and mechanics to slow down the opposition.
Total power score: 37
In summary, this deck has a strong army, is great at interacting (especially for mono-white) and is pretty resilient. Its speed could be improved upon through the addition of resources, at the cost of reducing the previously mentioned strengths. If it manages to survive the starting phase of a match, it will become increasingly hard to get rid of, which makes the transition from mid- to end-game easier to reach and execute.
