Lyra Dawnbringer

Legendary Creature — Angel

Flying

First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike or double strike.)

Lifelink (Damage dealt by this also causes you to gain that much life.)

Other Angels you control get +1/+1 and have lifelink.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Swing4Lethal on Esper Control 4.0

1 year ago

The Reef would replace one of the Vents if it did come in. It's twice the power and hurts their library as well, but I don't know if it will make it in or not. I will do some testing with it and see how it does. Glad to hear the deck is working well for you! I also feel the deck is in a nice spot and it may just not need the shark land, but I do love the card lol.

What are your sideboard swaps when playing against Rakdos Vampires?

I like:

Out 3xFatal Push, 1xJwari Disruption  ^Flip, 3xTeferi, Hero of Dominaria

In 1xDovin's Veto, 1xVoid Rend, 2xStarnheim Unleashed, 1xSupreme Verdict, 1xThe End, 1xLyra Dawnbringer

Shark Typhoon works really with The End to hit a Vein Ripper and pay the ward cost. cycle on 3, end on 4. My sideboard swaps maximize ways to stop Sorin from hitting board, ways to non-target remove Ripper or get around ward, and gives you more top end power to close out the game, since the Rakdos matchup actually favors them the longer the game goes. Teferi is pretty low impact overall in the rakdos matchup, especially since it cant cleanly deal with a ripper by itself.

BotaNickill on Ang-Hellic

2 years ago

darkmus, thank you again for taking point on this and for all of your help honing my decks! Khoaemon, thank you for the upvote and interest! darkmus is definitely better at explaining all of the interactions of the deck and far more in depth in their explanations. So if you are truly interested in learning the ins and outs of Angel tribal than check out their builds.

I personally love the Angel tribe most of any in MTG history, and I would always encourage anyone else to love them as well! I will offer my two cents on gameplay of this deck for posterity sake. I am a big fan of the white/black vs of the Modern Angel Deck as it offers us a variety of kill/exile/tutor spells if we desire them, Vindicate or Anguished Unmaking, Doom Blade, or Damn, etc. That plus the flavor of the Godless Shrine has always spoken to the heretic in me.

All that being said, I am a big fan of Selesnya and darkmus sure provides good arguments for those colors as well. i.e. Sigarda, Font of Blessings and Shalai, Voice of Plenty, also, hexproof rules! And, Heroic Intervention.

An Ideal first turn would be a Godless Shrine or Temple Garden, followed by Speaker of the Heavens, Esper Sentinel or Giver of Runes, though you could also do Segovian Angel or Aether Vial. ( I feel like we still need a better first turn play, but these are the best options A.T.M)

turn two is Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope

turn three, Righteous Valkyrie if you have it, or more of the same from T1, T2. or maybe removal.

turn 4, Resplendent Angel. and boom! More angels, more life than your opponent can handle, and With no interaction, you have most likely won the game by your next turn.

If you have not overpowered the opponent by then, you will hopefully keep spawning more angels via Resplendent Angel or boosting other angels via Giada, Font of Hope or your finisher angels Archangel of Thune or Lyra Dawnbringer.

I hope this helps, and let us know if you need any more assistance! That's why we are all here!

darkmus on Ang-Hellic

2 years ago

you're welcome. It does look better to me. I would just add a few things, first of all, I don't know what your playgroup allows but can't you just proxy the canopys and put the real ones in whatever deck you are using ATM? that's what I do with expensive cards.I would have like 24 cavern of souls if I wouldn't, haha. Atraxa's Fall is IMO the most interesting one, but if you want it specifically to deal with Stormbreath Dragon, it shouldn't matter much taking 4, but you may want to consider the instant speed spells since the dragon has haste. I am there with you in the flavor man, I already had playset of vindicates and paths to exile and yet I bought Vindicate and Path to Exile as soon as I knew they existed, hahah. About Aether Vial that's thing either hits t1 or at most t2, or you simply don't want it any more, so normally I would say either 4 copies or no copies. But that's a matter of opinion I guess. 2 Lyras and 2 Thunes is more than ok, I am sure you will find that Archangel of Thune makes your board way more dangerous than Lyra Dawnbringer. To be fair Linvala, Keeper of Silence is there still for flavor but it's probably the weakest card of our side, the next one out If I need something. If you have it, go for it, but I wouldn't recommend expending en them. About the deck itself. 7 instant and sorceries are too much. The more instant/sorceries we have less angels we have to ensure our strategy, hitting our triggers every turn, and maximice both Serra Paragon and Sigarda, Font of Blessings (in case you en up playing it) and well, the most creatures we have the most attacks we make, xD. The thing is pretty much the same as with Shadowspear, you can afford to have 1 of silver bullets in decks like death and taxes or goblins, which have multiple ways to search for your silver bullet. But you dont have any, so 1 offs cards for very especific situations 95% of the times are going to be horrible dead draws that won't help you. While in the matches you want them you are very likely not drawing them. To make a competitive deck you need to focus the deck, what are the biggest threats for your deck? that's what you have to focus one, in this case a few cheated big creatures Archon of Cruelty and permanents that shut us down like Ensnaring Bridge. So prepare for that, for any other more uncommon situation, that's what the side is for. Redundancy es the key to consistency, and consistency is the key to regularly win.Try to focus the deck in what it wants, putting angels in play to trigger our shenanigans. So I would try at most to have just 4 instant or sorceries, the ones that cover our biggest weaknesses, most likely 2 Paths to Exile and 2 of any combination of Vindicate and Anguished Unmaking. Because with 7 you are diluting too much the objective of the deck, while adding 3 or 4 one offs that are going to be death draws more often than not, not even overall useful cards. I explain myself like shit but I think you understand what I meant, xD. well, sorry, too much text, xD. Anyway, let me know when you play if the deck feels better now!

darkmus on Ang-Hellic

2 years ago

Well, I am still testing Sigarda, Font of Blessings but for now its doing an amazing job, definitely a keep IMO. Both the "card draw" and the protection effects are huge on their own, and combos like a charm with Giver of Runes and/or Shalai, Voice of Plenty to have our stuff pretty much untouchable. Add Heroic intervention in now that we can, and we have a lot of layers of protection. Thats's actually the main difference between our builds, I try to protect our stuff as much as possible (since we can barely draw) while you go a bit more all in in life gain triggers (that's why Thune would work for you even better than for me). I also play angels in historic with coco, I pretty much play angels everywhere I can, xD. I've tried coco before, but I didn't have much positive difference if any in winrate, and restricted me way more in deck building. I have way more fun with this build. I've haven't meet that many Stormbreath Dragons in a while, so I dont really count for them. WG is not the best color to deal with that, but tbh, we gain so much life that on defense a 4/4 hitting us every turn doesn't really worry me much normally. And on attack, amongst Giver of Runes's protection, Righteous Valkyries anthem and the counters from Giada, Font of Hope and Archangel of Thune opponent may have free blocks, but a 4/4 is not killing our angels. Best option to remove it in white is most likely Settle the Wreckage I use 2 of them in and out of the side depending the meta. If you play most games against your buddy with the dragon, black my be the best second color for you, but with what I am testing, Sigarda seems the way to go.She ads so much. I can totally respect flavor, check my list and you will see that in this deck (as said, pet deck, xD) I've burn too much money in lands just for flavor, haha. I used to play 2 Lyra Dawnbringer and 2 Archangel of Thune but slowly Thune took all the places. 90% of times ill rather play Thune than Lyra. She would be even better in your build, and you can stack her since it's not legendary. I don't think that Shadowspear is a good card here, and really bad for want you want from it. You have only 1 and no way to search for it, so you are almost never going to actually be able to use it for what you want, and even when you do, you still need some way to kill Heliod. Since you are playing black, the best option you have to deal with indestructible (arguably the best in the game) is Anguished Unmaking. it will deal with anything but lands instant speed. The 3 life loss is irrelevant in this deck. I tried soul warden and is not good enough, it gives us more lines to have t3 Resplendent Angel trigger and more Thune triggers but other than that, adds almost nothing and mid to late game is a totally dead draw. Quite similar thing happens to speaker, slightly better, the ceiling of that is huge, but the floor is way to low. If you are losing and top deck this, you have lost. Esper Sentinel is a great card up to the mid to late game, while Giver of Runes is always a great draw. And both of them must be answered pretty much t1, if you play t1 giver or sentinel they are taking their Fatal Push before she can tap. If you play speaker or warden, your way more valuable t2 Giada, Font of Hope and Bishop of Wings are taking that push. Amongst Giver of Runes and Esper Sentinel both have their pros and cons, Sentinel give us much needed card advantage and can be played with Sigarda, Font of Blessings ability, while giver protects our stuff or makes it unblackable and is a cleric so she triggers Righteous Valkyrie and against control we may even be able to set our second cavern of souls to cleric to cover all our creatures. In my build, which goes big in keeping our stuff alive to somewhat offset the lack of card draw, she is the best option for sure. And overall I'll say it's the better option, synergizes better with the rest of the deck and she's always great, while Sentinel does nothing against creature decks, and mid to late game they are more often than not going to be able to pay for it. I used to play Serra Avenger when there weren't other 2cmc angels, but she's only good with vial, now we have better options. To me Aether Vial is a must, it ramps use, guarantees a "landrop" and allow us a lot of interesting lines, like triggering Resplendent Angel on opponent turn or use Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Sigarda, Font of Blessings as short of counter spell, amongst many other things. Psicologically is also great, because even if you are tapped out, opponents would be uncertain to attack if you can instant speed a blocker. I haven't tried soul partition, but I dont know if our deck is fast enough to not have whatever they exiled back in play before we can take them. I'll rather pay an extra mana for Anguished Unmaking and have the thing gone for good. Lay Down Arms looks decent, but I dont think it is. The rare creature we are worried about enough to need to remove it tends to be "cheated" in play, like Archon of Cruelty, Primeval Titan or Murktide Regent, and that won't hit those on time. Also the sorcery speed. I'll rather have Path to Exile or Fateful Absence. I don't think neither Legions to Ashes or Temporary Lockdown are good enough for Modern. Legion to ashes does fill a good sideboard slot, but IMO Declaration in Stone is a bit more flexible and cheaper. Ive used it often in the side and its great simply as a removal, and amazing against tokens. Temporary lockdown also hits our stuff, which is a no no. In arena can be good because we care about 3cmc, but it is not here. I do play FNMs and sometimes modern LGS tournaments with this deck (which is pretty much the most "competitive" events I play), because I love it and I want to test and play and win with it, but tbh, the times I really want to do well this is rarely what I play. And yes, I've never had a mirror match in any of those, xD. Or almost ever in years really... I think that covers all, haha.

BotaNickill on Ang-Hellic

2 years ago

darkmus! Awesome to meet another Angel Tribal Member! Angels are my favorite tribe in magic! You are just the person I need to talk to! I just checked your build out, and it looks good! +1! I had not seen the new Sigarda, Font of Blessings yet, I'll have to track her down and get some copies. Kinda of a Realmwalker effect going on there, I like it! I was kinda surprised you are running Green and No Collected Company tho? I guess you have 9 Angels that are 4 cmc tho, so maybe not great for your build. I Run this deck as Selesnya CoCo Angels on Arena and have pretty good luck with it, but my Paper Deck I switched to Orzhov for better removal. My bro plays a dragon deck with Stormbreath Dragons and they are kinda hard to get around with all white angels. Thus the black removal spells in the sideboard. Plus my Horizon Canopys are in my Bogle Deck, so, yeah I picked up some Silent Clearings and here we are. That, and I feel like the Godless Shrine goes well with the flavour of the deck. I do have two Archangel of Thune she is one of my Favorite Angels for sure, and I did have them in the deck for a while, I kinda go back and forth with the Ratio, Two Archangel and two Lyra Dawnbringer or 3 lyra and 1 Archangel. IDK. Maybe I'll throw them back in there based on your advise. Shadowspear is there for when I run into a bogle deck or something else that has indestructible like Heliod, Sun-Crowned or whatever. I had the Esper Sentinels in the deck as well as my two copies of Giver of Runes but right now I am testing out having the Soul Wardens and Speaker of the Heavens instead. I tried the Aether Vials along with a playset of Serra Avengers but wasn't too happy with how it played out. I don't have the Cavern of Souls but those would probably be nice. I do like having the Soul Partitions tho, it's pretty decent removal in my opinion, and so is the Lay Down Arms but you have to keep your plains count up to make it consistent. Legions to Ashes I was using to help against my brother's Squirrel deck, but I've also been using Temporary Lockdown in my arena build with some pretty decent success. I actually just saved my own ass with it this morning against a merfolk deck for the W!
Do you play in Modern tournaments with your build? I never really see anyone playing angels outside of Historic on Arena.
Thanks for the advice, the upvote and for sharing your deck! Much Appreciated!

kirbysan on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

2 years ago

Perilous_Percival

Ah, I guess spoilers don't work in comment boxes, that's annoying.

March of Machine Upgrades (x12) - Blink/Tutor

1. Guardian of Ghirapur IN Angelic Curator OUT

After nearly a year of playtesting, I'm not the biggest fan of the low CMC angels, especially Angelic Curator. While it's a 1/1 flying angel body for 2, the protection for artifacts is more of a hindrance than a help. It helped defend against a Blightsteel Colossus once but being unable to equip it hurts more. By turn 3 when we want to drop Angelic Curator we would rather want to drop a 3-4 CMC angel or an impactful Artifact, Equipment or Enchantment.

Guardian of Ghirapur is a far superior body to Angelic Curator at 3/3 for 3. Initially there weren't that many blink targets for this deck but I've tweaked it to have more relevant targets and provide some outs to accelerate our gameplan. Typical targets would be Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Inspiring Overseer, Karmic Guide, Sanctuary Warden, Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld.

2. Karmic Guide IN Angelic Page OUT

Following the same logic as Angelic Curator, Angelic Page simply doesn't do enough when it hits the board. Karmic Guide was initially pulled due to lack of use as 5CMC is a lot for simple recursion and the deck was more focused on mana efficiency. However, with the re-introduction of tutors and blink mechanics it may have a place again.

3. Recruiter of the Guard IN Mangara, the Diplomat OUT

Mangara has proven its worth in a few games if opponents continue with their strategy and play through it. However, like Smuggler's Share, if opponents decide to play around it, it's kind of a dead card on board. The first ability generally doesn't do much since opponents aren't swinging into our board and depending on the deck they can cast one big spell on their turn and save their instants for opponents. Recruiter of the Guard was in my initial build but pulled in favor of more angels. Typical line would be Recruiter of the Guard into Stoneforge Mystic to grab either Lightning Greaves for protection or Sword of Hearth and Home for protection, ramp and blink shenanigans. While it seems like adding 1 card for a maybe synergy seems inefficient I was able to pull it off in 1/3 games so it's not as inconsistent as it seems.

4. Firemane Commando IN Angelic Sleuth OUT

While the clues generated with Sleuth have saved me before, I would much rather have more consistent draw to keep my hand topped off rather than wastinga turn after a wipe to refill my hand. Firemane serves double duty as not only being a solid 4/3 angel body but also provides "free" draw through attacking which we want to do. It also helps direct combat decks towards opponents if they want the draw.

5. Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip IN Thorough Investigation OUT

In the same theme as Sleuth, Thorough Investigation provides draw for later with the added benefit of going through the dungeon. I've completed dungeons twice before with this card but the benefits haven't been as strong as I hoped. Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip provides lifegain and draw immediately and as long as we have 2 angels (Giada and 1 other) then we can defeat this battle the turn we drop it providing a 6/6 Serra Angel. When you staple all 3 together then that's incredibly efficient. Late game when we're trying to close out the game we may choose to not swing at the battle but instead go for lethal but the option remains.

6. Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip IN The Ozolith OUT

In the dozens of games I've played with Ozolith I've only had it successfully work once. Late game it may seem like a dead card as it sort of hinges on either an opponent playing a board wipe and us refilling the board to swing again or using Pyre of Heroes on a stacked angel to grab something relevant. I much prefer Gobakhan as it slows down an opponents gameplay, easy to flip and provides benefits right away by buffing our board the same turn it comes out and also has "free" protection for later.

7. Conjurer's Mantle IN Mask of Memory OUT

Mask has been pretty great overall but sometimes slows down the game too much by making us filter. While there's a recursion package, it's not always guaranteed, so pitching relevant angel bodies early can be detrimental for late game, especially against graveyard exiles like Bojuka Bog. Yet, we'll still want to draw our cards so the discarding is necessary. Mantle is great not only because it costs the same, has a buff and vigilance and grabs relevant bodies off the top 6 without having to discard.

8. Clever Concealment IN Cosmic Intervention OUT

Cosmic seems good on paper but exile effects like Farewell or Merciless Eviction can make it useless. It also doesn't protect the angel tokens which can sometimes be the main body of threat. Concealment allows us to not just protect the tokens but lets the vigilant angels tap for a surprise protection. Oftentimes opponents will check untapped mana before blowing everything on a boardwipe so the convoke mechanic is super relevant for a well timed protection spell. Depending on the success of this swap I may consider Wand of the Worldsoul as well for some sneaky convoke shenanigans.

9. Chivalric Alliance IN Tome of Legends OUT

In the same line of thinking as Firemane Commando, "free" draw is better than costed draw. They both cost the same but having to pay for Tome of Legends can slow us down as well as if Giada is removed too much in the beginning. At most we'll ever get 1 draw per turn anyway so this swap was pretty simple.

10. Land Tax IN Smothering Tithe OUT

I've loved Tithe for awhile thinking it's a great ramp card. While it is good, it hinges on the decks it's played against. I've been most successful against my friends Jhoira's deck which colored my view when bringing it into pub matches. After reflecting on it for a year, it simply isn't worth it in mid to high powered casual decks that don't use draw as part of their strategy. In 90% of games I'll get 3-6 treasures before it gets removed or the game ends. Figuratively, you would drop it on turn 4 and if no one pays the tax then by turn 6 you'll have at most 6 treasures which is only net +2 mana. If the game lasts till turn 7 then you could have +5 mana but at that point opponents would either have game ending spells or plenty of open mana to pay the tax. Land Tax on the other hand can come down T1 before Giada even hits the field, thins out the deck while filling the hand with relevant plays and synergizes well with Emeria Shepherd or Emeria, The Sky Ruin. It was in the initial build of this deck before but was taken out along with the other artifact ramp to add more angels in.

11. Plains IN Bonders' Enclave OUT

As one of the few available card draws in mono-white, Enclave was a land for hail-mary draws. I've only ever used these abilities in 1 game when I was desperate for any card draw and it felt terrible. Paying 4 to draw a single card is terrible use of mana. Also, there were too many colorless sources from lands so I was struggling early game to play 2 relevant white cards in one turn.

12. Mistveil Plains IN War Room OUT

Same line of thinking as Enclave. Mistveil's ability is more of an experiment as tap lands are generally too slow. Typically recursion would just put the creatures back on the battlefield but Mistveil can possibly help with the Blink/Tutor package we've introduced.

Considering Wand of the Worldsoul and Excise the Imperfect

Game 1 (3-man Pod vs. Sigarda Voltron & Lathiel Lifegain)

Opponents: Sigarda, Host of Herons & Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn

Starting hand: Windswept Heath, Fabled Passage, Path of Ancestry, Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld, Folk Hero, Righteous Valkyrie, Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip

Game lasted only 20 minutes as this hand curved out nearly perfectly.

T1 - Path of Ancestry tapped, drew Lightning Greaves

T2 - Plains (drew) into Lightning Greaves

T3 - Myriad Landscape tapped into Giada, Font of Hope, equipped Lightning Greaves swung with Giada

T4 - Windswept Heath into Plains into Folk Hero, swung with Giada, cast Righteous Valkyrie, drew a card

T5 - Mutavault (drew) into Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip and swung both Giada and Valkyrie into the battle flipping it to Serra Faithkeeper  ^Flip to gain 8 life this turn and triggering Valkyrie's +2/+2 anthem

T6 - Cast Herald of War and equipped it with Lightning Greaves.

T7 - Cast Lyra Dawnbringer and Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip. Equipped Lyra with Lightning Greaves. Swung in for lethal ending the game.

Lightning Greaves did work this game as it not only protected Giada from early single target removal but also accelerated combat damage each turn. While I did draw into both battles this game I didn't have a chance to test out Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip except making a Krosan Grip more expensive which likely helped my Folk Hero or Lightning Greaves survive till the end.

Game 2 (4-man Pod vs. Sigarda Voltron, Lathiel Lifegain & Wilhelt Zombies)

Opponents: Sigarda, Host of Herons, Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn & Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Starting hand: Cavern of Souls, Scavenger Grounds, Mutavault, Guardian of Ghirapur, Folk Hero, Winds of Abandon, Battle Angels of Tyr

Initially I believed this hand was amazing as I had draw, removal and aggro all in one but failed to realize I had 0 colored mana except for angels. It ended up working out as the 2 Selesnya players ramped hard in the beginning allowing Tyr to do some work.

T1 - Cavern of Souls

T2 - Mutavault into Giada, Font of Hope

T3 - Scavenger Grounds into Battle Angels of Tyr, Giada sworded by Lathiel

T4 - Ancient Tomb into recasting Giada, swung with Tyr drawing a card and generating a Treasure token

T5 - Plains into Folk Hero and Herald's Horn and swung again with Tyr and Giada drawing a card and generating a Treasure token. Using the 3 open mana I cast Recruiter of the Guard fetching Stoneforge Mystic.

T6+ Cast Stoneforge Mystic to fetch Lightning Greaves but Stoneforge was promptly exiled. I had originally planned to use Guardian of Ghirapur to chain blink Stoneforge into Sword of Hearth and Home but instead used her on Recruiter of the Guard to fetch Thraben Watcher. I finished the game by casting Avacyn, Angel of Hope and equipping it with Lightning Greaves to give my board protection and started swinging away with indestructible vigilance angels.

I was nearly knocked out by the Sigarda player in the second to last turn because she was equipped with Sword of Hearth and Home making her unblockable as well as a Kaldra Compleat and finally a flashed in Sigarda's Vanguard for double strike. Luckily I had left mana open for Oblation and targeted the Sword of Hearth and Home allowing me to block with Ghirapur and Giada preventing lethal damage.

Game 3 (4-man Pod vs. Prosper Exile, Sliver Tribal & Muldrotha Reanimation)

Opponents: Prosper, Tome-Bound, Sliver Overlord & Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Starting hand was pretty slow with only 2 tapped lands but I figured Luminarch would win me the game provided I wasn't attacked early game.

Starting hand: Kabira Takedown  ^Flip, Windbrisk Heights, Luminarch Ascension, Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip, Herald's Horn, Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld, Generous Gift

Prosper started off the game insanely fast with a T1 Dark Ritual into Bucknard's Everfull Purse where he rolled 4 to cast Prosper on T1. They proceeded to dominate the game with a Reckless Fireweaver and later a Storm-Kiln Artist draining us to the low 10s. They attempted to finish us off with a Delayed Blast Fireball to wipe our board and swing with lethal. However, Slivers flashed in a Spiteful Sliver and Sliver Overlord to deal 30 damage back to Prosper bringing them down to 3. I used Luminarch Ascension to drop 2 angels before Giada died and got a 7/7 & 8/8 body that survived the fireball. While Slivers could have knocked me out with the Spiteful Sliver they had no real way to deal with Prosper after the fireball so I was able to knock out both players on my turn. Muldrotha had no answers so was dead on my next turn.

kirbysan on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

2 years ago

All,

Grabbed all my 3+ pod gameplays and the recent MOM gameplay and swaps and posted it on my own decklist. I'll keep commenting on Guerric page as it gets more traffic. Let me know your thoughts and if my thinking is sound. Thanks!

Help Me Giada, You're My Only Hope

March of Machine Upgrades (x12) - Blink/Tutor Show

1. Guardian of Ghirapur IN Angelic Curator OUT

After nearly a year of playtesting, I'm not the biggest fan of the low CMC angels, especially Angelic Curator. While it's a 1/1 flying angel body for 2, the protection for artifacts is more of a hindrance than a help. It helped defend against a Blightsteel Colossus once but being unable to equip it hurts more. By turn 3 when we want to drop Angelic Curator we would rather want to drop a 3-4 CMC angel or an impactful Artifact, Equipment or Enchantment.

Guardian of Ghirapur is a far superior body to Angelic Curator at 3/3 for 3. Initially there weren't that many blink targets for this deck but I've tweaked it to have more relevant targets and provide some outs to accelerate our gameplan. Typical targets would be Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Inspiring Overseer, Karmic Guide, Sanctuary Warden, Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld.

2. Karmic Guide IN Angelic Page OUT

Following the same logic as Angelic Curator, Angelic Page simply doesn't do enough when it hits the board. Karmic Guide was initially pulled due to lack of use as 5CMC is a lot for simple recursion and the deck was more focused on mana efficiency. However, with the re-introduction of tutors and blink mechanics it may have a place again.

3. Recruiter of the Guard IN Mangara, the Diplomat OUT

Mangara has proven its worth in a few games if opponents continue with their strategy and play through it. However, like Smuggler's Share, if opponents decide to play around it, it's kind of a dead card on board. The first ability generally doesn't do much since opponents aren't swinging into our board and depending on the deck they can cast one big spell on their turn and save their instants for opponents. Recruiter of the Guard was in my initial build but pulled in favor of more angels. Typical line would be Recruiter of the Guard into Stoneforge Mystic to grab either Lightning Greaves for protection or Sword of Hearth and Home for protection, ramp and blink shenanigans. While it seems like adding 1 card for a maybe synergy seems inefficient I was able to pull it off in 1/3 games so it's not as inconsistent as it seems.

4. Firemane Commando IN Angelic Sleuth OUT

While the clues generated with Sleuth have saved me before, I would much rather have more consistent draw to keep my hand topped off rather than wastinga turn after a wipe to refill my hand. Firemane serves double duty as not only being a solid 4/3 angel body but also provides "free" draw through attacking which we want to do. It also helps direct combat decks towards opponents if they want the draw.

5. Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip IN Thorough Investigation OUT

In the same theme as Sleuth, Thorough Investigation provides draw for later with the added benefit of going through the dungeon. I've completed dungeons twice before with this card but the benefits haven't been as strong as I hoped. Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip provides lifegain and draw immediately and as long as we have 2 angels (Giada and 1 other) then we can defeat this battle the turn we drop it providing a 6/6 Serra Angel. When you staple all 3 together then that's incredibly efficient. Late game when we're trying to close out the game we may choose to not swing at the battle but instead go for lethal but the option remains.

6. Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip IN The Ozolith OUT

In the dozens of games I've played with Ozolith I've only had it successfully work once. Late game it may seem like a dead card as it sort of hinges on either an opponent playing a board wipe and us refilling the board to swing again or using Pyre of Heroes on a stacked angel to grab something relevant. I much prefer Gobakhan as it slows down an opponents gameplay, easy to flip and provides benefits right away by buffing our board the same turn it comes out and also has "free" protection for later.

7. Conjurer's Mantle IN Mask of Memory OUT

Mask has been pretty great overall but sometimes slows down the game too much by making us filter. While there's a recursion package, it's not always guaranteed, so pitching relevant angel bodies early can be detrimental for late game, especially against graveyard exiles like Bojuka Bog. Yet, we'll still want to draw our cards so the discarding is necessary. Mantle is great not only because it costs the same, has a buff and vigilance and grabs relevant bodies off the top 6 without having to discard.

8. Clever Concealment IN Cosmic Intervention OUT

Cosmic seems good on paper but exile effects like Farewell or Merciless Eviction can make it useless. It also doesn't protect the angel tokens which can sometimes be the main body of threat. Concealment allows us to not just protect the tokens but lets the vigilant angels tap for a surprise protection. Oftentimes opponents will check untapped mana before blowing everything on a boardwipe so the convoke mechanic is super relevant for a well timed protection spell. Depending on the success of this swap I may consider Wand of the Worldsoul as well for some sneaky convoke shenanigans.

9. Chivalric Alliance IN Tome of Legends OUT

In the same line of thinking as Firemane Commando, "free" draw is better than costed draw. They both cost the same but having to pay for Tome of Legends can slow us down as well as if Giada is removed too much in the beginning. At most we'll ever get 1 draw per turn anyway so this swap was pretty simple.

10. Land Tax IN Smothering Tithe OUT

I've loved Tithe for awhile thinking it's a great ramp card. While it is good, it hinges on the decks it's played against. I've been most successful against my friends Jhoira's deck which colored my view when bringing it into pub matches. After reflecting on it for a year, it simply isn't worth it in mid to high powered casual decks that don't use draw as part of their strategy. In 90% of games I'll get 3-6 treasures before it gets removed or the game ends. Figuratively, you would drop it on turn 4 and if no one pays the tax then by turn 6 you'll have at most 6 treasures which is only net +2 mana. If the game lasts till turn 7 then you could have +5 mana but at that point opponents would either have game ending spells or plenty of open mana to pay the tax. Land Tax on the other hand can come down T1 before Giada even hits the field, thins out the deck while filling the hand with relevant plays and synergizes well with Emeria Shepherd or Emeria, The Sky Ruin. It was in the initial build of this deck before but was taken out along with the other artifact ramp to add more angels in.

11. Plains IN Bonders' Enclave OUT

As one of the few available card draws in mono-white, Enclave was a land for hail-mary draws. I've only ever used these abilities in 1 game when I was desperate for any card draw and it felt terrible. Paying 4 to draw a single card is terrible use of mana. Also, there were too many colorless sources from lands so I was struggling early game to play 2 relevant white cards in one turn.

12. Mistveil Plains IN War Room OUT

Same line of thinking as Enclave. Mistveil's ability is more of an experiment as tap lands are generally too slow. Typically recursion would just put the creatures back on the battlefield but Mistveil can possibly help with the Blink/Tutor package we've introduced.

Considering Wand of the Worldsoul and Excise the Imperfect

Game 1 (3-man Pod vs. Sigarda Voltron & Lathiel Lifegain) Show

Opponents: Sigarda, Host of Herons & Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn

Starting hand: Windswept Heath, Fabled Passage, Path of Ancestry, Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld, Folk Hero, Righteous Valkyrie, Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip

Game lasted only 20 minutes as this hand curved out nearly perfectly.

T1 - Path of Ancestry tapped, drew Lightning Greaves

T2 - Plains (drew) into Lightning Greaves

T3 - Myriad Landscape tapped into Giada, Font of Hope, equipped Lightning Greaves swung with Giada

T4 - Windswept Heath into Plains into Folk Hero, swung with Giada, cast Righteous Valkyrie, drew a card

T5 - Mutavault (drew) into Invasion of Dominaria  ^Flip and swung both Giada and Valkyrie into the battle flipping it to Serra Faithkeeper  ^Flip to gain 8 life this turn and triggering Valkyrie's +2/+2 anthem

T6 - Cast Herald of War and equipped it with Lightning Greaves.

T7 - Cast Lyra Dawnbringer and Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip. Equipped Lyra with Lightning Greaves. Swung in for lethal ending the game.

Lightning Greaves did work this game as it not only protected Giada from early single target removal but also accelerated combat damage each turn. While I did draw into both battles this game I didn't have a chance to test out Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip except making a Krosan Grip more expensive which likely helped my Folk Hero or Lightning Greaves survive till the end.

Game 2 (4-man Pod vs. Sigarda Voltron, Lathiel Lifegain & Wilhelt Zombies) Show

Opponents: Sigarda, Host of Herons, Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn & Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Starting hand: Cavern of Souls, Scavenger Grounds, Mutavault, Guardian of Ghirapur, Folk Hero, Winds of Abandon, Battle Angels of Tyr

Initially I believed this hand was amazing as I had draw, removal and aggro all in one but failed to realize I had 0 colored mana except for angels. It ended up working out as the 2 Selesnya players ramped hard in the beginning allowing Tyr to do some work.

T1 - Cavern of Souls

T2 - Mutavault into Giada, Font of Hope

T3 - Scavenger Grounds into Battle Angels of Tyr, Giada sworded by Lathiel

T4 - Ancient Tomb into recasting Giada, swung with Tyr drawing a card and generating a Treasure token

T5 - Plains into Folk Hero and Herald's Horn and swung again with Tyr and Giada drawing a card and generating a Treasure token. Using the 3 open mana I cast Recruiter of the Guard fetching Stoneforge Mystic.

T6+ Cast Stoneforge Mystic to fetch Lightning Greaves but Stoneforge was promptly exiled. I had originally planned to use Guardian of Ghirapur to chain blink Stoneforge into Sword of Hearth and Home but instead used her on Recruiter of the Guard to fetch Thraben Watcher. I finished the game by casting Avacyn, Angel of Hope and equipping it with Lightning Greaves to give my board protection and started swinging away with indestructible vigilance angels.

I was nearly knocked out by the Sigarda player in the second to last turn because she was equipped with Sword of Hearth and Home making her unblockable as well as a Kaldra Compleat and finally a flashed in Sigarda's Vanguard for double strike. Luckily I had left mana open for Oblation and targeted the Sword of Hearth and Home allowing me to block with Ghirapur and Giada preventing lethal damage.

Game 3 (4-man Pod vs. Prosper Exile, Sliver Tribal & Muldrotha Reanimation) Show

Opponents: Prosper, Tome-Bound, Sliver Overlord & Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Starting hand was pretty slow with only 2 tapped lands but I figured Luminarch would win me the game provided I wasn't attacked early game.

Starting hand: Kabira Takedown  ^Flip, Windbrisk Heights, Luminarch Ascension, Invasion of Gobakhan  ^Flip, Herald's Horn, Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld, Generous Gift

Prosper started off the game insanely fast with a T1 Dark Ritual into Bucknard's Everfull Purse where he rolled 4 to cast Prosper on T1. They proceeded to dominate the game with a Reckless Fireweaver and later a Storm-Kiln Artist draining us to the low 10s. They attempted to finish us off with a Delayed Blast Fireball to wipe our board and swing with lethal. However, Slivers flashed in a Spiteful Sliver and Sliver Overlord to deal 30 damage back to Prosper bringing them down to 3. I used Luminarch Ascension to drop 2 angels before Giada died and got a 7/7 & 8/8 body that survived the fireball. While Slivers could have knocked me out with the Spiteful Sliver they had no real way to deal with Prosper after the fireball so I was able to knock out both players on my turn. Muldrotha had no answers so was dead on my next turn.

kirbysan on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

2 years ago

Perilous_Percival

I saw that too and was at first excited for a new angel BUT it's 5CMC so it's tied for Archangel of Thune, Herald of War, Lyra Dawnbringer and Sigarda's Vanguard. It doesn't gain life, cost reduce or finish the game. While it does increase the number of counters it's only once per our turn and only by a power of 1 per angel.

If we're trying to bring back Giada late game then we'd already need counters on the board to proliferate. If we're attacking it's not providing the same power as Vanguard which is essentially double. At most it'd be an 4-5 additional power? Nothing to write home about.

If we had other types of counters it could be interesting but at most it'd be an additional enlightened counter off The Book of Exalted Deeds or an extra quest counter for Luminarch Ascension. Neither of which are great choices.

As a body it holds up well enough, 5/4 flying first strike but at that cost we're looking more towards abilities and less at bodies.

If it's cheap and you want to test it out I'd say go for it but I'm personally passing. Also, it's phyrexian, and not pretty so ew. :)