This is my Phelddagrif deck that I play in casual games. It should be noted right off the back that this deck isn't designed around win conditions, but around getting off the draw condition for Diving Intervention, and making sure everyone has a chance to play out their decks before doing so. While this sometimes draws the ire of fellow players, I find its usually about turn 12-15 before divine intervention starts coming out, and that usually coincides with other players making very serious attempts at win conditions in my group.
To those ends, there are several major packages that I've been working with. For each I tried to give preference to either powerful shutdown cards to make sure the game didn't get out of control too quickly, or to cards that interact with everyone at the table. Most options revolve around enchantments, and ways to recur or gain benefits from multiple big enchantments.
So I split the card choices into categories. I'm curious what your thoughts are, and if you have any suggestions!
The Lock:
So this deck is really trying to get
Divine Intervention
out, and to make sure it either stays out, or that it gets the job done with Clockspinning.
To that end, theres severalmajor themes in the lock. I play Sterling Grove or Greater Auramancy (and hopefully both) to make sure that the single destroy permanent doesn't get there. Then I hopefully Enchanted Evening is out to prevent people from playing "Destroy all enchantment" effects unless they're willing to restart the game. Karmic Justice Also fits in with this theme, to make it very painful to try to stop the lock from coming out by blowing up pieces of it.
Then I play recursion with
Open the Vaults
and Replenish, so that not only is
Divine Intervention
coming back, but hopefully some powerful enchantments to solidify the board position. With these are
Restock
Eternal Witness, Regrowth, and Praetor's Counsel to help make sure that these pieces, and counter spells, are continuing to be viable to the late game.
Second Sunrise
and Faith's Reward also fall into this category, and especially with faith's reward, make people thing twice about blowing up all enchantments if mine are just about to come back.
Then lastly is Solitary Confinement, which essentially requires an answer, as you can't be targeted for damage, or dealt damage on the ground, and as this usually comes out at the same time as
Divine Intervention
, you're fine with not drawing any more cards as the game will hopefully be over with just one more draw step. Similar to this, is Sphere of Safety which usually prevents people from all suddenly ganging up to damage you out of the game when Divine Intervention lands. Quite often with Enchanted Evening in play, people can't even pay enough to even swing at you.
Control:
This deck runs the counterspells:Bant Charm - for all its utility, Dismiss as a cycle and counter to keep cards in hand, Arcane Denial as the most group-hug counter, Cryptic Command - because it has WAY too much versatility to cut, Spell Crumple for commanders or really powerful win conditions, Time Stop to remove combo pieces from the game.
Decree of Silence deserves its own note. This card at first seems really quite terrible for its cost. But I usually play it early on as a counter spell, essentially a dismiss, that is very hard to counter because cycling is an activated ability, and the triggered counter spell requires some very specialized answers to deal with. Then it usually sits dormant in the graveyard until a Replenish effect comes out, and then suddenly its back in a big way.
Awakening
seems misplaced, but keep in mind that very few other players will likely get as much out of awakening as this deck, which usually ends up with Alchemist's Refuge out, and if nothing else, can pop the general at the end of everyone's turn to give out life and 1/1 hippos!
Ancestral Mask in conjunction with Enchanted Evening or just late game when there are 10 enchantments out can quickly make the flying-capable, trampling-capable Phelddagrif seem like much less of a joke card and much more of a game-stopper. Even with just
Shield of the Oversoul
and Mirari's Wake out, the hippo can hit 21 general damage in just three swings. While not exactly the win condition I try for, these have proved viable. Also note that giving away an Ancestral Mask to a creature with Vow of Wildness on, or while you have Solitary Confinement out is a great way to draw attention away from a
Divine Intervention
that will only draw the game two turns from now :D
Card Draw:
Jace Beleren, Rhystic Study, Temple Bell, Howling Mine, Rites of Flourishing and
Font of Mythos
are probably the staples of EDH draw here. Any one of these and a few land is usually an automatic keep on an opening hand and you're already well on the way to cycling through the deck for the combo pieces needed
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea Way overlooked, and an essential piece for drawing if you're forced to get Solitary Confinement out early.Garruk, Primal Hunter Since the grif is usually out for giving away 1/1's and life, this card usually reads as a 5 drop draw four, which is a great option to have.
Unifying Theory
very group-hug and essential when you have a big mana base and just need to race to the the lock pieces,Compulsion serves a similar purpose. Plenty of times this deck will have a grip of 20+ cards, and being able to cycle out the lands and unnecessary pieces can be huge. Unfortunately not very group friendly.Heartwood Storyteller Just a big draw engine for everyone, unfortunately its on a dude, so has been begging for a replacement for a while.Minds Aglow It can be hard to convince anyone to pay into this once you start getting a mana base, but if someones getting too much draw on and close to ending a game, this can be a fun political move to play.
Mana Base:
This one is tough. I generally do just fine without a bunch of mana doublers out, but things go nuts when I finally get to them. For now, we really just have Heartbeat of Spring which is very nice, but unfortunately tends to destroy the game if there are some players who can get out of control too quickly with their own mana doublers. So usually I get to Mirari's Wake and
Copy Enchantment
quickly enough, which will certainly allow me to play out most hands.
Veteran Explorer
and Solemn Simulacrum certainly fall into this category as well.
Oath of Lieges
seems to not get enough play. Admittedly it lets several decks go off much faster than I generally would like, but this enchantment alone makes you plenty of friends as no-one but that guy with the 2000$ deck running only nonbasics has to worry about fixing their mana base _. In the same vein, Collective Voyage, especially early on, makes you alot of friends and while the deck doesn't run the 20+ nonbasics it used to, it still gets plenty done.
Tutors:
So far, I just have the three Idyllic Tutor, Enlightened Tutor and Mystical Tutor. I've thought about Personal Tutor, and it may very well go in when I find one, but for now they do their job of making sure you only have to make it through about half the deck to reliably get
Divine Intervention
and a mana doubler in hand..
Answers!
My group tends to stay away from combos, but does includes several decks like Kamahl and Progenitus which will get a guy out, give him haste, and kill you all in a turn. So many of the answers in this deck are pretty fine-tuned to my group, with Planar Cleansing, Cyclonic Rift, Terminus and
Phyrexian Metamorph
all picked so I don't have to target Progenitus. Oblation and some other hate gets run to help slow down decks that are about to go off.
Mnemonic Nexus
is strictly there as an answer to several graveyard decks that see play in our group. It also does double duty as anti-mill.
Then there's Vow of Wildness, which I think is one of the most fun answers to run, because it can really help many decks who just can't seem to get there because their 50/50 just can't get around those 1/1 squirrles. Well no longer!
Lands and Misc:Reliquary Tower and Spellbook are jjust important for making sure that by the time you're in late game and drawing tons of cards a turn, you have a fair shot at hitting one of the three no-hand-size options of the deck.
Serra's Sanctum Clearly one of the best lands in the deck, and especially with Enchanted Evening tends to go crazy with mana. Very fun to tap it, make 20 mana, and give someone 40 life back with Phelddagrif.
Alchemist's Refuge One of the keystones of this deck, its extremely important that late game when you're trying to get Divine Intervention on the field that you pick the perfect time to do so. This lets you either play a Replenish effect, or the whole spell itself at that critical moment when everyone's tapped out or at the very least right before your turn. I find this so critical the more often than not Crop Rotation and Tolaria West are in here solely to make sure I have this as an option. They certainly do double duty with finding a no-hand-size option as well, though.
