Yes, this is where we derive the ‘Halo’ part of our deckname’s pun from; and yes, if you have any background on religious iconography at all you’ll already know the halo, or sun-disc, is of pagan origin and has
nothing to do with the biblical portrayal of angelic creatures. But it was witty and clever and I don’t have many witty or clever thoughts, so it’s staying.
Hmph!
•Iona, Shield of Emeria leads the charge. Her ETB effect is crippling, to say the least. Mono colored decks are shut down. Two- or three- colored decks will be limping, and rainbow decks...probably weren’t that much of a threat to begin with. Here’s a tip: if you’ve shut down one color, and your opponent actually has something useful in the other slice of their deck’s pie, when they cast it just blink Iona again and pick that particular color when she renters the field. sigh...scoops
•Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a tank. High powered and heavily defensible, she also casts a shadow of protection upon your other angels. An invincible angelic army? Sounds about right
•Akroma, Angel of Wrath+Akroma, Angel of Fury are quite a pair. Between them there isn’t much that can get through. One can attack and still be ready to block your opponent’s turn, the other can be buffed with excess mana lying around to hammer additional damage through. Yikes.
•Gisela, Blade of Goldnight simultaneously enhances whatever damage you can manage to output, while halving whatever your opponent manages to get by your defenses. Beautiful.
•Exquisite Archangel is your ace in the hole. ”When you absolutely, positively, gotta not lose the game and get all your life back—-accept no substitutes.”
•Chancellor of the Annex pairs wonderfully with Iona. If being color blocked wasn’t bad enough already, now whatever spell they possibly could play now costs an additional 1 or it’s countered.
•Angelic Arbiter is another tedious, painfully debilitating card designed to wear down morale. It’s the equivalent of trying to take on a boss in a Final Fantasy game, only to have silence or berserk or a similar status ailment cast upon you. It’s difficult enough to chip away at 10,000+HP without needing to work around that!
•Angel of Serenity is quite the utility card. When she enters play, handpick three nuisances out of the opposing player’s roster of creatures, then exile them. Better still, they can even be in the graveyard. Reanimator decks beware. Incidentally, and this is quite rare, but should the need arise remember that you can choose to exile your own creatures. I.e, if some end up in the graveyard for whatever reason, simply play Angel of Serenity, choose the 3 most useful targets, then when you Cloudshift or Ephemerate the Angel of Serenity those exiled cards will return to your hand, ready to be played next turn.
