Thraben Watcher

Creature — Angel

Flying, vigilance

Other nontoken creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	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
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (17)

raspberryfish25 on Linvala, Giada, & Akroma

1 month ago

Hey I stumbled upon your deck and I figured I would give you some feedback. Overall, I really like your Giada deck but I worry that your mana curve might be to high especially since you are in white. have you looked at switching out some of your higher mana costed cards for lower CMC cards? Here are a few cards I run in my Giada deck that are lower CMC and have really packed a punch

Ramp

Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip: Easy to flip because all your creatures have evasion.

Sword of the Animist: Gives you consistent ramp every turn.

Land Tax: While not technically ramp does a great job making sure you never miss your land drops and allows you to thin your deck of basic lands as the game goes on. I think Land Tax works well in a deck like this because of the large amount of basic lands you are running.

Card Draw

Mask of Memory: Since your creatures have evasion it is very easy to have it trigger each turn.

Conjurer's Mantle Same as Mask of Memory but also gives one of your Angels vigilance and +1/+1 which is more relevant than you would realize.

Horn of the Mark: What makes this card so unique is you get to draw a card for each opponent you attack with two creatures so you can draw up to 3 cards per turn.

Pyre of Heroes: While technically not card draw does allow you to "trade up" your weakest angel for another angel from your deck with one higher CMC

Protection

Together Forever: I can't express how strong this card has been in my deck. Since Giada is putting +1/+1 counters on your angels you can pull all your angels back to your hand in the event of a board wipe.

Win Conditions

Aetherflux Reservoir: Works well with your lifegain effects in your deck and allows you another outlet to utilize all the life you are gaining.

Angels to Consider

Wojek Investigator, Angel of Jubilation, Angelic Field Marshal, Firemane Commando, Serra Paragon, Thraben Watcher, Metropolis Reformer, Angel of Vitality, Serra Avenger, Segovian Angel, and Sephara, Sky's Blade. Most of those angels will help to lower your curve and allow you to play your angels faster.

Angels I Would Remove

Akroma, Angel of Wrath: Unless she is in there for flavor she cost way too much for what she brings to the table. Consider replacing her with Sephara, Sky's Blade.

Angel of the Dire Hour: Requires you to hold up to much mana, run an extra board wipe instead.

Angel of the Ruins: Same as above, she cost too much for the effect she brings.

Angelic Arbiter: I would only run her if you were going to double down on stax otherwise I think she is over costed.

Other Cards I Would Remove

Parhelion II: Cool card but to high of a CMC for the payoff.

Quicksilver Amulet: 8 mana to play and cheat out a creature seems like a lot. I think if you end up lowering your CMC of your deck this card will become worse.

Return to Dust: I would replace with Heliod's Intervention roughly gives you the same effect but will let you kill additional enchantments or artifacts if necessary, plus the lifegain can be helpful in your deck since you have a lot of lifegain payoffs.

Valengeta on Lofty Lions

1 year ago

Thank you! It's simple but dangerous. Yes I've been thinking about adding Brazen Borrower and I found after some playtests that it is very useful. While Thraben Watcher's ability is very nice to have, Brazen is cheaper and looks like a more versatile card

jdogz32 on Lofty Lions

1 year ago

This deck looks really good. The only thing I'm going to say is I'd take out Thraben Watcher for something like Brazen Borrower or Hypnotic Sprite on your current 20 lands you might have troubles getting 4 in a game.

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

1 year 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*

1 year 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.

Vessiliana on

1 year ago

I found Thraben Watcher and Norn's Choirmaster to be useful.

Vessiliana on Giada, Font of Awesomeness

1 year ago

CrazyDanPsycho, thank you for your interest in my Giada deck. I thought I would take a look at yours and see if I had any suggestions.

Now, I totally understand the attachment to Avacyn. (I actually still have an Avacyn deck, too.) But the shift in commanders calls for a shift in the creature base. Avacyn does not really care about what type of creatures you are running. Giada does. She wants you to run angels. I don't know your budget is, so take whatever suggestions you think will fit with it.

Breathkeeper Seraph is good for recurring Giada (or any other special angel). Angelic Sleuth makes good use of your creatures with counters dying. Norn's Choirmaster proliferates your counters. Thraben Watcher gives a bonus and vigilance. Admonition Angel outdoes your Leonin Relic-Warder and is an angel. Angel of condemnation is another removal angel. And finally, a non-angel that helps you, even in a Giada deck, Bishop of Wings, which gives lifegain and tokens. For more token fun, and generally producing tokens at a better rate than Parhelion or Moonsilver Spear, we have Entreat the Angels, Finale of Glory, and Starnheim Unleashed. You are also missing the best life-gain Ajani. Ajani, Strength of the Pride.

If you want suggestions on what to cut, just let me know!

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

1 year ago

Guerric

Got another couple games in today:

I made some swaps prior to today's match incluuding:

Crashing Drawbridge for Lightning Greaves

Smuggler's Share for Esper Sentinel

Search for Glory for Steelshaper's Gift

I think our decks are still functionally the same but I have a lot of the tech you were heavily considering already swapped in and will be focusing on their performance in multiplayer format.

Game 1 (4-man Pod vs. Arvinox Steal, Firkraag Goad Precon, Ryu Hadoken)

Opponents: Arvinox, the Mind Flail, Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, Ryu, World Warrior

Starting Hand?: Prismatic Vista, Windswept Heath, Myriad Landscape, Soul's Attendant, Generous Gift, Lightning Greaves, Folk Hero

Forgot to snap a picture of my starting hand but I think it was something like that. Important play of the game was Firkraag playing an early Agitator Ant. By turn 3 I had Giada equipped with a Lightning Greaves and slowly played out my hand, focusing on dropping lands and playing removal. I constantly dumped the +1/+1 counters onto Giada and since she had the greaves equipped she was basically untouchable.

After bringing Arvinox and Ryu down to the low 20's with just Giada I began dumping the counters onto a Bishop of Wings that I drew into so I could start swinging at Firkraag. Ryu also got in 2 Hadokens against Firkraag's board to draw cards. I only got 1 swing into Firkraag before they boardwiped.

I was able to recast Giada and cast an Angelic Page drawing me a card off Folk Hero. I also cast a Pyre of Heroes excited to chain it off for some spicy tech. Unfortunately Ryu was at low life and killed shortly after the boardwipe. As the other 2 players had no board they scooped to end the game so we could start the next, giving me the win.

Game 2 (5-man Pod vs. Tevesh/Armix Artifacts, Firkraag Goad Precon, Isshin Attacks, Muldrotha Counters)

Opponents: Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools/Armix, Filigree Thrasher, Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Starting Hand: Plains, Mutavault, Pearl Medallion, Righteous Valkyrie, Sigarda's Vanguard, Well of Lost Dreams, Steelshaper's Gift

T1 - Plains into Steelshaper's Gift tutoring Lightning Greaves

T2 - Plains (drew) into Pearl Medallion

T3 - Mutavault into Lightning Greaves & Giada (Sworded by Isshin)

This game had some intense interactions. Isshin had a turn 1 Authority of the Consuls. Tevesh nearly played a turn 2 Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools with a Jeweled Lotus but was countered by Muldrotha. Firkraag played a Pursued Whale giving us all Pirate tokens and forcing us to attack. Isshin played into that with a Combat Calligrapher. The entire table started swinging into each other with increasingly multiplying Inkling tokens. After Isshin's Combat Calligrapher was blown up and they took a bunch of damage from their own Inklings they decided to super wipe the board with a Ruinous Ultimatum but luckily their board was pretty sparse.

I lost Pearl Medallion, Well of Lost Dreams, Sword of the Animist, Lightning Greaves and Righteous Valkyrie. This set me back really far but luckily I had been ramping every turn with Sword of the Animist and kept some strong angels in hand.

I recast Giada, and played Archangel of Tithes, Angelic Field Marshal and Lyra Dawnbringer with Mutavault giving me the extra +1/+1 counter. At this point Isshin started going off and nearly killed me with a combination of Tectonic Giant, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Aurelia, the Warleader but they tapped out for Dihada, Binder of Wills to give Krenko vigilance, lifelink and indestructible. When they tried to swing at me, they forgot about the tax for Tithes and instead knocked out Tevesh and Muldrotha. Muldrotha took out Aurelia, the Warleader as retribution.

On the final turn I was left with only Oblation and Breathkeeper Seraph in hand. I had the choice to use it on one of Isshin's creatures but they were in such a dominating position that giving them 2 cards was probably a bad idea. Instead I used it on a tapped Emergence Zone and drew into Thraben Watcher and Sigarda's Vanguard. With the combination of all the angels I brought Isshin down to 3 and Firkraag cleaned up but had nothing against my board so scooped.

Game 3 (4-man Pod vs. Alela Faeries, Jared Carthalion Precon, Gishath Dinos)

Opponents: Alela, Artful Provacateur, Jared Carthalion, Gishath, Sun's Avatar

Starting Hand: Cavern of Souls, Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Esper Sentinel, Path to Exile, The Ozolith, Teferi's Protection

I debated even listing this game as it was over so fast. Alela burst out on turn 1 with an Island into Sol Ring into Arcane Signet. Turn 2 they played a Smothering Tithe. Turn 3 they played a Bolas's Citadel. In one of their turns they cast a Vendilion Clique bottoming my Teferi's Protection. Despite whiffing for 2 turns off the top of their library they were so ahead with ramp that they quickly overtook the game. I died by turn 5 to 35+ damage from a faerie army beefed up with Coat of Arms. The other 2 players scooped as they had no interaction with the Coat.

T1 Esper Sentinel did some amazing work here. I drew off every player at least 2-3 times so it netted me like 7-8 cards for just 1 mana.

I also attempted to attack with Battle Angels of Tyr but it was bounced to my hand by next turn.

The Ozolith ended up doing nothing this game but that's more due to having no boardstate. Together Forever wouldn't have done anything in this game either so its impact still hasn't been seen. Other players did comment that it could be a problem with a bigger board.

I did have a misplay here as I should have held up mana for removal spells which I had in my hand. My final hand was Vanquisher's Banner, Archangel of Thune, Angelic Accord, Serra Paragon, Valkyrie Harbinger, Path of Exile and Swords to Plowshares. I just didn't expect Alela to quintuple their damage in one turn.

Game 4 (4-man Pod vs. Phenax Mill, Jared Carthalion Precon, Gishath Dinos)

Opponents: Phenax, God of Deception, Jared Carthalion, Gishath, Sun's Avatar

Starting Hand: Secluded Steppe, Emergence Zone, Plains, Pearl Medallion, Thorough Investigation, Angelic Field Marshal, Angel of Vitality

T1 - Secluded Steppe tapped

T2 - Plains into Pearl Medallion

T3 - Emergence Zone into Thorough Investigation and Giada, Font of Hope

I had several misplays this game as it had been a long day. The first was using my Clues too early instead of playing out my hand and refilling it later with the Clues.

Phenax became a huge threat towards mid-game as they had a Haunt of high tower on board along with their commander Phenax, God of Deception. They forced Ghisath to mill 40+ cards with 4 creatures. I had Kabira Takedown  ^Flip in hand but it wouldn't put a dent in the Haunt. Instead I opted for player removal and swung with everything knocking them out.

My second misplay here was not tapping Giada to cast Angelic Field Marshal which would've given all my creatures vigilance. I was so used to swinging with Giada first and then tapping her that I failed to see her as a mana dork. Since I had Archangel of Tithes out it would've prevented huge swings against me as well.

Since I was wide open Gishath took the advantage and swung at me dropping a good number of dinos on their board. However on their next turn when they tried to use Silverclad Ferocidons with Pyrohemia Jared saved the day by sacrificing Primeval Spawn into a Time Warp.

When I tried to rebuild I realized I had no clues left and no attackers to draw into answers. I also made my third misplay by wasting a Path to Exile on a random dinosaur thinking it would sacrifice Pyrohemia but then stupidly played Bishop of Wings so I could trigger my The Book of Exalted Deeds by replaying Giada.

I died on the next turn to due to lethal Gishath commander damage. If I had saved my Path I could've used it on Gishath and played out more angels for the lifegain.

Conclusions

Ended up winning 2/4 games and was the second biggest threat in the 2 games I lost. I think I would've had a chance in game 4 if I hadn't had so many misplays.

Lightning Greaves was amazing in the 2 games it was played. It was so great that Isshin focused Giada when it came back out. In fact I like it so much that I'm going to try and find a spot for Swiftfoot Boots so I can keep equipping without removing the protection.

Esper Sentinel was also great the 1 game I got it out. Drawing that many cards for 1 mana is just too good to pass up. If you haven't purchased Smuggler's Share yet I'd say go for Esper first.

Archangel of Tithes was SO GOOD. It saved me from lethal once and would've again a second time if I didn't misplay again. With vigilance it does double duty.

Well of Lost Dreams felt a little clunky in game 2. I want to like it, it has a high ceiling but it needs some prep work to start drawing. Either I drop it instead of a threat or I play it much later. I also need lifegain and the mana to draw from it. With the amount of work that goes into it to activate it, a board wipe usually turns it off. We have no other lifegain outside of creature based lifegain. So we would only draw with an established board presence and we're using mana to draw into threats rather than play them. It feels either like a win-more card or a hail mary to get something good. I'm actually debating its place in this deck and what may be a better card draw. Court of Grace at least replaces itself on our end step and provides either an Angel or Spirit on our upkeep. It also requires no additional maintenance to get it going.

Others at the table commented that Authority of the Consuls is a better option to the soul sisters. While I do like the tap mechanic of Authority, it doesn't trigger off my creatures. Also having it be an enchantment means that most people won't bother with it all game. Soul sisters typically get wiped with the rest of the board whereas opponents have to target Authority. I find that I don't usually hit the payoffs on opponents turn but on my own turn. However, I only hit the magic 4/5 life when Bishop of Wings or Righteous Valkyrie is out, not off a soul sister. I know that you really like the soul sisters but practically every game I've had a board wipe and the payoffs haven't been worth it.

Kabira Takedown  ^Flip has its uses but in terms of removal is pretty poor for the slot. After a boardwipe it's practically worthless.

Even though I STILL haven't pulled off Pyre of Heroes properly I'm once again debating Recruiter of the Guard and Weathered Wayfarer. Since they're both humans they can chain into our human sub-theme. Weathered Wayfarer can be sacrificed into Bishop of Wings to get our lifegain payoffs going. It also helps grab lands for Emeria Shepherd if we want to recur stuff from the graveyard. Recruiter of the Guard can tutor for Starnheim Aspirant, Esper Sentinel, Inspiring Overseer, Thraben Watcher and can be sacrificed into Mangara, the Diplomat.