[EDH][Primer] Giada's Angel Harem

Commander / EDH Angels Flying Midrange Mono-White Multiplayer Primer Soul Sisters Theme/Gimmick

AstroAA

Lands (29)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Minas Tirith
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 10x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Seraph Sanctuary
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x War Room
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath

Card Advantage (9)

• 1x Chivalric Alliance
• 1x Cosmos Elixir
• 1x Cut a Deal
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Secret Rendezvous
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Tome of Legends
• 1x Trouble in Pairs
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Protection (5)

• 1x Commander's Plate
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

The Harem (20)

• 1x Admonition Angel
• 1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
• 1x Angel of Destiny
• 1x Angel of Jubilation
• 1x Angel of Vitality
• 1x Archangel of Thune
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Baneslayer Angel
• 1x Battle Angels of Tyr
• 1x Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld
• 1x Firemane Commando
• 1x Gisela, the Broken Blade  ^Meld
• 1x Inspiring Overseer
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Lyra Dawnbringer *f-pre*
• 1x Platinum Angel
• 1x Resplendent Angel
• 1x Righteous Valkyrie
• 1x Serra Paragon

Removal (9)

• 1x Bovine Intervention
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Destroy Evil
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Wrath of God

Anthems (3)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Flowering of the White Tree
• 1x Pearl Medallion

Win-Cons (2)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Approach of the Second Sun

Commander (1)

Mana Advantage (11)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Marble Diamond
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Traveler's Amulet

Servants (9)

• 1x Archivist of Oghma
• 1x Bishop of Wings
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x The Gaffer
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer

Tutors (2)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift

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Sideboard

Other (1)

• 1x Brisela, Voice of Nightmares  ^{Meld  Meld}

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Maybeboard

The Harem (7)

• 1x Angel of Finality
• 1x Angel of Serenity
• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Holy Cow
• 1x Metropolis Reformer
• 1x Twilight Shepherd
• 1x Wojek Investigator

Prison and Stax Effects (2)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Ghostly Prison

Card Advantage (3)

• 1x Reprieve
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Smuggler's Share

Anthems (2)

• 1x Court of Grace
• 1x Serra the Benevolent

PLEASE WOTC/CRC I BEG OF YOU LET ME PLAY THEM AAHHHHH (2)

• 1x Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip
• 1x Iona, Shield of Emeria

Protection (1)

• 1x Angel's Grace

Recursion (3)

• 1x Angelic Renewal
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Sun Titan

Mana Advantage (2)

• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Tithe

Lands (1)

• 1x Urza's Saga

Servants (1)

• 1x Starnheim Aspirant

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Angels guide me while I wake, and I will watch for evil's creep. Angels guard me while I dream, and I will rest in peaceful sleep." - Amulet of Vigor

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History and About

I love angels. They're my favorite tribe in Magic. For a long while I've wanted to build a tribal angel deck and tried to do so with Lyra Dawnbringer whenever she was released. However, I wasn't happy with that build and I took it apart almost as quick as I built it. When Giada, Font of Hope was announced, I was actually taking a hiatus from the game. However, as soon as I returned she is the first deck I actually sat down to build. Initially I wanted to build her as a Boros deck and Rule-0 it, but I decided not to. This is a deck years in the making and a little bit of a love letter to my favorite tribe and several of my favorite creatures in Magic. In addition, while I wanted to make the deck as powerful as I felt I could, I also wanted to make it kind of thematic.

Power Level and Competitiveness

Right now I'd consider the deck to be firmly within the "Mid-Power" tier of EDH decks, if not a little on the higher side. I don't think it's quite a '7', so to say, but I'd say it's at least a '6'. I'd say it's probably stronger than the average deck, but honestly I don't play enough EDH with PUGs - whether that be in real life or online - in order to know for sure. Right now this is definitely the "weakest" deck I have, considering there aren't any infinite combos that I can think of and it tends to suffer from what most mono white decks tend to suffer from - running out of steam very easily due to a general inability to refill your hand. In addition the CMC is kind of high in my opinion due to the deck being an angel deck.

Suggestions and New Cards

I welcome new card suggestions. I'm kind of stubborn though when it comes to new cards in my decks, so please do not be offended if I don't add it to the deck.

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Win-Cons

The deck features three primary methods of winning the game.

• Aetherflux Reservoir - We run a lot of lifegain strategies through cards like Soul Warden, Bishop of Wings, and Lyra Dawnbringer. We can quickly gain a lot of life with this deck. As such, Aetherflux is a valid win-con we can use to blast people in the face for lots of damage, likely killing them.
• Angel of Destiny - Master of Cruelties but mono-white. As previously stated with Aetherflux Reservoir, we can easily gain a bunch of life with this deck. Swing at someone with Angel of Destiny and they die. Simple as that.
• Approach of the Second Sun - I kind of threw this into the deck for redundancy. I'm not the largest fan of this card, but it is a viable win-con for what we're trying to do.

Of course, we also run Platinum Angel, which is a "don't lose the game" condition. Not really a win-con, but can help us stabilize if we're ever put into a situation where we are about to lose.

Card Inclusions

The Harem

While there are a lot of "good" angels in the deck, many of the angels that I run are some of my favorite cards in Magic. As I said, angels is my favorite tribe in Magic.

• Admonition Angel - I'm not the biggest fan of the angel however I love the Secret Lair art for her.
• Akroma, Angel of Wrath - Probably my second favorite angel artwork in Magic. I love it so much. Not too big a fan of any other artwork of her, but the Duel Deck artwork looks so phenomenal. Plus, she's a pretty good beater too.
• Angel of Destiny - One of our win-cons. All-in-all pretty good, especially with our lifegain subtheme. Kind of helps out our opponents, but makes up for it by being a pseudo-Master of Cruelties.
• Angel of Jubilation - Both an anthem and a prison piece. Shuts down sacrifice-based strategies and buffs our creatures.
• Angel of Vitality - Both an anthem and helps out our lifegain subtheme.
• Archangel of Thune - One of the payoffs for the lifegain subtheme. Very good at making all of our creatures bigger.
• Avacyn, Angel of Hope - The first individual Magic card I ever purchased from a LGS. Well, not the FTV printing, but still - the first individual card I ever bought was an OG Avacyn, Angel of Hope for $30 that I still have to this day. At the time, I thought I was insane spending that much on a piece of cardboard. Past me would murder me if they knew how much I spent on this game now, haha.
• Baneslayer Angel - Probably my favorite angel artwork in Magic, and one of my favorite Magic art pieces in general. Plus, in my opinion she's the best beater in the deck due to what she does and how mana-efficient she is.
• Battle Angels of Tyr - A nifty card that does a myriad of things. Allows us to draw, generate mana, and gain life in certain situations. Plus, our commander buffs each of the angels that ETB from the myriad effect.
• Bruna, the Fading Light   - A nice piece of one-off recursion since a majority of our creatures are either angels or humans.
• Firemane Commando - A nice beater that can draw us cards. Since a majority of the creatures in the deck have flying, we'll likely be constantly attacking. Plus, she also dissuades people from attacking us.
• Gisela, the Broken Blade   - A very good beater who transforms into an even better beater.
• Inspiring Overseer - Card draw and lifegain on an angel, plus she's relatively cheap for an angel with her only being three mana.
• Karmic Guide - A nice piece of one-off recursion. I have run Karmic Guide in almost every single mono-white deck I've ever ran, and I do not think I have paid her echo cost a single time in the 10 years I've been playing Magic.
• Linvala, Keeper of Silence - I feel like I put Linvala in a majority of the decks I have involving white. I love her effect since she prevents a bunch of different stuff from being able to work, including mana dorks. If lands are animated, she also makes it so people cannot tap for mana. She's great.
• Lyra Dawnbringer - The initial commander of this deck before Giada, Font of Hope existed. I love Lyra. She provides a nice anthem effect and enables a bunch of our lifegain cards.
• Platinum Angel - While I'm not the largest fan of Platinum Angel, I have her FTV foil and I really want her masterpiece version, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of art in Magic. She can save us in a pinch, but she's kind of susceptible to removal.
• Resplendent Angel - Another one of my favorite beaters in the deck. Plus, she's a nifty mana-sink later in the game and can generate tokens.
• Righteous Valkyrie
• Serra Paragon - Probably the only somewhat consistent piece of recursion in the deck at the moment. She's super neat, allowing us to use our fetchlands twice and gain us back our life with them. I just think she's neat.

The Servants

• Archivist of Oghma - A method to profit off of our opponents tutoring. Plus she contributes to the lifegain subtheme.
• Bishop of Wings - A method to gain a lot of life at once, and since most of our creatures are angels we can use both her abilities to great effect.
• Esper Sentinel - A method of card advantage. We don't really have too many methods of boosting it's power, but it's still incredibly good.
• Mother of Runes - A cheap form of color-based protection. Can be used to protect against removal, or allow us to connect on attacks by using her ability before attackers are declared. She's neat!
• Soul Warden - One of the lifegain subtheme enablers.
• Soul's Attendant - One of the lifegain subtheme enablers.
• Stoneforge Mystic - We run a number of equipment, and she allows us to tutor for one of them.
• The Gaffer - Lifegain-based card advantage. Plus, he could potentially allow us to draw cards even on our opponents turns.
• Weathered Wayfarer - A tutor for lands. Helps us thin our deck and play catchup if we're falling behind on lands.

Card Advantage

Let it be known I absolutely hate card draw in white. It sucks because it's all so conditional. Just give me a white Harmonize with zero drawbacks. Please.

• Chivalric Alliance - This is only in here for it's first ability. We want to be swinging with our angels anyways, so this is a nice way of profiting even more off of combat.
• Cosmos Elixir - Since we have a lifegain subtheme, this is a natural choice. Not the best, but we'll take what we can get.
• Cut a Deal - I hate giving our opponents things but again, we'll take what we can get.
• Memory Jar - Honestly one of my favorite methods of card draw because if an opponent is stacking the top of their library we can force them to discard it, basically. Screws over tutors like Worldly Tutor and Sensei's Divining Top. Plus it allows us to cycle through a nice chunk of our deck.
• Secret Rendezvous - "Hey, can we have Harmonize please?" "We have Harmonize at home." Harmonize at home...
• Sensei's Divining Top - The best method of card advantage in the deck.
• Tome of Legends - Only reason we run this is because Giada is two mana, which means she's relatively easy to cast again and again.
• Trouble in Pairs - Kind of a prison-esque card that shuts down people from taking extra turns. However, we run it because card draw.
• Well of Lost Dreams - Card draw that scales off the amount of life we gain. We still have to pay for it, but it's a cheaper effect than Dawn of Hope, despite having a higher CMC.

Mana Advantage

• Commander's Sphere - It gets a bit of hate, but honestly I really like Commander's Sphere, especially in white decks. Card advantage wins games! Plus, it's recurrable with Serra Paragon.
• Mana Crypt - One of the best mana rocks in the game. Plus, we can offset the potential Lightning Bolt every turn because we have a lifegain subtheme.
• Marble Diamond - A mana rock. Enters tapped, but it allows us to tap for white.
• Mind Stone - A mana rock. Card advantage that is recurrable with Serra Paragon.
• Mox Amber - Since our commander is only two mana, more ofteh than not we'll be able to tap it for mana.
• Pristine Talisman - Not the best mana rock, but it helps enable our lifegain subtheme.
• Smothering Tithe - A form of mana denial and mana advantage. If our opponents do not want to give us an advantage, they have to spend their own resources to do so.
• Sol Ring - It's Sol Ring, what am I going to do in a deck that runs a bunch of high-CMC cards, not run Sol Ring?
• Sword of the Animist - Allows us to tutor for lands and thin our deck.
• Thought Vessel - In the rare chance we'll have over seven cards in hand, it allows us to keep them all.
• Traveler's Amulet - Not the largest fan of it, but for two mana it allows us to tutor for a Plains.

Anthems

• Authority of the Consuls - We can gain life off of it and slow down our opponents.
• Flowering of the White Tree - Gives many of our high-value angels (including our commander) a tiny bit of protection and buffs all of our creatures.
• Pearl Medallion - Many angels are high in CMC (converted mana cost). Reducing the CMC of all our white cards is very handy and nifty.

Removal

• Bovine Intervention - An obvious play on the term "Divine Intervention". I like the card itself, and thematically it's kind of great.
• Day of Judgment - I honestly really like this card. In my opinion it pairs very nicely with Wrath of God and the whole angel theme, in addition to also having a full art promo akin to Wrath of God's.
• Destroy Evil - A neat piece of utility removal.
• Disenchant - Ever since I got screwed over and lost a game due to lack of artifact and enchantment removal, this has been an auto-include in every mono-white deck I've built.
• Generous Gift - One of the best single-target removal spells in white. Our version of Beast Within.
• Oblivion Ring - A neat form of nonland permanent exile. Honestly the main reason it's in the deck is because I have a signed promo and I want to use it.
• Path to Exile - It's a fantastic piece of removal. I really like this card. Plus, if we need a land we can always hit our own Giada, Font of Hope with it because she's only two mana to cast initially.
• Swords to Plowshares - A fantastic piece of instant-speed removal. We can exile our own creatures in an emergency and proc a number of things in the deck as sort of a "panic" button.
• Wrath of God - One of the first and best wrath effects ever printed. I love the the card with the angel theme, plus it pairs nicely with Day of Judgment since they both have full art foil promos.

Protection

• Commander's Plate - A cheap CMC-wise piece of four-color protection. Plus, it buffs our commander if we really want to swing with Giada, Font of Hope turning a 2/2 into a 5/5.
• Lightning Greaves - One of the best methods of creature protection in the game.
• Swiftfoot Boots - A great piece of creature protection.
• Teferi's Protection - A very nice panic button. Allows us to protect our board from boardwipes or Insurrection-style cards.
• Whispersilk Cloak - A great piece of creature protection that allows us to connect without needing to worry about our things being blocked.

Tutors

• Enlightened Tutor - The best tutor in white. Allows us to tutor any artifact or enchantment we could need. Early game would likely fetch a mana rock, while lategame likely would fetch Memory Jar.
• Steelshaper's Gift - A one-mana tutor that allows us to tutor any of our equipment.

Noteworthy Exclusions

I'll add stuff to this panel eventually.

Noteworthy Interactions

I'll add stuff to this panel eventually. A lot of the deck is very synergistic because of the lifegain subtheme.

Here is a quick list of some nice interactions between cards in the decklist:

The Watch List

These are cards that are in the deck that I'm debating about changing/cutting. You can find what I think on new cards that could go into this deck below.

• Day of Judgment - Do I really need two boardwipes in this deck? I already run Wrath of God, and it's a bit better than Day of Judgment. I feel like more card advantage in the form of either Mask of Memory or Sword of Fire and Ice would be much better.

Cards Cut

Artifacts

I have not cut any artifacts from the deck.

Creatures

I have not cut any creatures from the deck.

Enchantments

• Dawn of Hope - I really do hate this card, haha. It's two mana to draw a single card every time we gain life. Meanwhile, Well of Lost Dreams is one mana to draw one card that scales with the amount of life we gain. Even though it's two more mana to cast, it's still just so much better for what this deck can do. Replaced with Well of Lost Dreams.

Instants

I have not cut any instants from the deck.

Lands

I have not cut any lands from the deck.

Sorceries

I have not cut any sorceries from the deck.

Cards From New Sets and Others I'm Considering

This is where I'm going to keep cards I'm considering.

Pre-MH3 Cards I'm Considering

• Mask of Memory
• Sword of Fire and Ice

Wishlist

This is meant as a list of cards I would run in this deck if I could afford or find them.

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I try to respond to every comment. If you have a question on why [X] card isn't in the deck, or why [Y] card is in the deck, feel free to ask. I don't bite, I swear!

I'm trying to completely foil-out this deck. Right now I'm 77/96 cards. The only cards that cannot be foiled out are Chivalric Alliance, Tome of Legends, Trouble in Pairs, and Serra's Sanctum.

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Deck Last Updated: May 28, 2024

Deck Description Last Updated: May 29, 2024

Top Ranked	Achieved #3 position overall today Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Flying 1 day ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Theme/Gimmick today
Date added	2 weeks
Last updated	9 hours
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	24 - 1 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.99
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Knight 2/2 WU, Ox 2/2 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Treasure
Folders	maybe steal, Astro's Personal Decks, Cool Decks, Interesting Decks I've Seen, Deck Ideas That I Enjoy