Disciple of Grace

Creature — Human Cleric

Protection from black

Cycling (2) ((2), Discard this card: Draw a card.)

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
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (1)

Epicurus on I hope he didn't die of anything catching, eh?

4 years ago

Hello there! You were very kind to me in your comment on my Pyrohemia deck, so I figured that I should return the favor.

As a disclaimer, though, I am about to suggest a good number of changes, so bear with me. I'm definitely not aiming to completely deconstruct and rebuild your deck.

To begin, there are some cards in here that I find superfluous. For instance, I know that Crypt Rats is appealing, fits the theme, and acts kind of like a 5th Pestilence, but it requires assistance to stay alive. It isn't as good for the deck as it might seem. I feel like you'd be better off replacing it with something to tutor out the Pestilence, like Idyllic Tutor or Enlightened Tutor.

Similarly, High Priest of Penance is a one-shot ability that you're only running one of, and really would require Shielded by Faith in order to really floop the pig, which you're also only running one of. I would cut both of them.

Next, Sanguine Bond and Night Dealings are both good synergies with Pestilence, but they're also pulling up your mana curve. You want to make sure that you have mana to pump into Pestilence as often as possible. I would keep one or the other, or maybe even cut them both.

Then there's the 3 Lifelink I get it why you'd want them, but feel like you'd be better served with something like Sun Droplet that's not dependent on creatures dealing damage. You don't need to gain a ton of life, just enough to keep your life total higher than your opponent. By that same token, I think 3x Drain Life is too many.

Next, I would update your creature base. Remember that you need to have at least one creature in play to keep the Pestilence on the battlefield, and right now you only have 11 in the deck (and I just suggested cutting 2 of them). While I'm all about White Knight and Order A Lite Beer, I think you'd benefit from replacing a lot of that with creatures with less symbols in the mana cost, like Disciple of Grace, Death Speakers and/or Apostle of Purifying Light. And/or another Cemetery Gate. And then maybe a one-of Blood Baron of Vizkopa to round it out. In total, I'd suggest having north of 15 creatures.

Additionally, I would cut Ephara's Radiance, and either bring Disenchant down to 2x or cut it entirely and instead run 2x Vindicate.

And finally, consider changing your land base to include less lands that only produce white mana (i.e. less Plains). Since it's a casual deck, you could include Tainted Field, but also Isolated Chapel. 4x of each could replace all 8 Plains. Then, I'd replace the Caves of Koilos, one of the Swamp and the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth with 4x Godless Shrine. If you made all of those changes, all of your lands would produce black mana, and 15 of them would produce white.

Again, that's a lot of changes. Please take them all as simply suggestions. I really love Pestilence decks, if you haven't noticed, haha...

Cheers!