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[EDH][Primer] Giada's Angel Harem ~{FOILED}~

Commander / EDH Angels Bracket 3 Flying Midrange Mono-White Multiplayer Primer Soul Sisters Theme/Gimmick

AstroAA

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Lands (31)

Mana Advantage (10)

Protection (5)

The Harem (20)

Removal (10)

Anthems (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Giada, Font of Hope

Card Advantage (11)

Servants (8)

Tutors (2)

Sideboard

Other (1)

Maybeboard

The Harem (9)

Recursion (1)

Prison and Stax Effects (3)

Mana Advantage (2)

Servants (2)

Pour One Out for the Homies (1)

Anthems (2)

Card Advantage (2)

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

Protection (1)

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

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 Dawnbringerfoil 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.

The deck primarily wins via combat damage. Ideally, as soon as the deck has a creature out, it starts swinging. I've honestly killed a fair number of opponents with Giada, Font of Hope commander damage. People underestimate her combat abilities since she's a 2/2, but she's actually a fairly strong beater since she most of the time comes out turn 2.

We run one actual 'win-con' in the deck.

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.

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 Wrathfoil - 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 Hopefoil - 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 Angelfoil - 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 Dawnbringerfoil - 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.
  • 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.

  • 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.

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.
  • Mask of Memory - Equipment-based card advantage that can be tutored via Stoneforge Mystic and Steelshaper's Gift.
  • 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.

  • 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.
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Austere Command - A form of mass removal for artifacts and enchantments, plus we can be selective if we want to remove creatures. I chose this over Farewell because I have the Invocation and I want to use it.
  • Bovine Intervention - An obvious play on the term "Divine Intervention". I like the card itself, and thematically it's kind of great.
  • 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.

  • 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.

I'll add stuff to this panel eventually.

  • Roaming Throne - While it could be an angel, it's not an angel. I personally find this card to be rather boring to be honest. While it does help in doubling Giada, Font of Hope's +1/+1 counter ability, I don't think it does that much for the deck. Plus, I really just don't want to run it.

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:

These are cards that are in the deck that I'm debating about changing/cutting.

  • Platinum Angel - I managed to pickup a Herald of Eternal Dawnfoil, which is strictly better than Platinum Angel as it doesn't get destroyed by artifact removal like Vandalblast, is a 6/6 compared to a 4/4, and has flash. However, the most important thing as to why I swapped to Herald of Eternal Dawnfoil is because T A N N E D A N G E L.
  • The Gaffer - This card hasn't done much to be honest. I like it because I could be potentially drawing up to four cards a turn cycle, but I've found that I'm not gaining that much life in order to actually trigger him. Cut in favor of Your Temple is Under Attack, as it still provides card advantage or protection for our creatures.
  • 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.
I have not cut any instants from the deck.
  • Emergence Zone - I cut this because the deck doesn't really play at instant speed. While having the ability to do so is neat, I don't think it's necessary. Cut in favor of Urza's Saga because I really like turn one Enlightened Tutoring into Urza's Saga since we can fetch a Chrome Mox or Sol Ring from it a couple turns down the line, especially if we're keeping a one-land or a two-land hand.
  • Serra's Sanctum - RIP one of the most flavourful cards in the deck. Cut because I don't run enough enchantments to make it worth it. Cut in favor of Emeria, Shattered Skyclave   because I still want more lands and the flipside is moderately useful.
  • Approach of the Second Sun - Now, before you're all like "Astro, why did you cut a win-con?!" I cut it because we don't really have a great method of casting it twice in the same turn. Once we cast it, we'll likely be the arch-enemy until the next opportunity to cast it. As such, after discussing it with a friend of mine, I opted to cut it in favor of mass-removal, which is something the deck is lacking. Cut in favor of Austere Command for mass removal that isn't solely targeted at creatures.
  • Day of Judgment - I do like Day of Judgment, but I also really like card-draw. Plus, if I'm being honest, I do not tend to run many boardwipes, if at all. If you look at my other decks, I don't think I run a single one in any of them. The fact I ran two in this one was wild. Cutting for Mask of Memory because I always find myself in a position looking for more card draw.

Here is a list of cards I'm actively considering.

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

  • The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale - Who gives a damn if it's anti-synergistic, it's a church in a themed deck based around Angels. Plus, it's my personal favorite land in Magic. The art, the ability, everything about it is fantastic.

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 have completely foiled out the deck as of 8/2/2024 - or rather, I have completely foiled out every card that has a foil version of it printed. There are other printings of cards I want, but I'm going to start slowly working towards them. We are 97/97 baby! Screenshots of the deck will be taken soon.

Deck Last Updated: September 23, 2024

Deck Description Last Updated: August 7, 2024

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Updates Add

[Update #1] Updates and Shenanigans — July 11, 2024
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Greetings,

So I've been playing with this deck for a few weeks now, and I can certainly say it's decent and does exactly what I expect it to - play a bunch of dumb angels and struggle with card draw occasionally due to it being a mono-white deck. I have had some issues with mana, but not too much. Even with two lands the deck can do a pretty wide variety of things due to our commander being a dork and the relatively low CMC of the deck. I've won some games, lost some games, and haven't really had any surprises with it. In my opinion it's in a mostly good place right now.

Most of my qualms with the deck has been my land- and mana-base. I've replaced Emergence Zone with Urza's Saga - mainly because I think a turn one Enlightened Tutor into Urza's Saga into something down the line like Mana Crypt is stronger. Yes, I do really like Emergence Zone, but we're going to mostly be playing on our turn anyways. I've also replaced Serra's Sanctum with Emeria, Shattered Skyclave  Flip because half the time I don't even have an enchantment in my hand or on the battlefield for it to be of any use. We need a white Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. Quit being cowards WotC and complete the cycle. I also really would like to replace Traveler's Amulet. As Anatak pointed out, it's not that useful. I'm want to replace it with either Tithe or Land Tax, but I haven't decided which yet.

Thanks for reading!

AstroAA

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99% Casual

Competitive

Revision 37 See all

(5 months ago)

+1 Chancellor of the Annex maybe