Help me Giada, you're my only Hope
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 10 | 3 COMMENTS | 2341 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS
Gameplay Interactions —Jan. 8, 2023
First game of the year. I'll probably be playing Giada less now as I think the list is pretty optimized at this point.
Opponents: Arvinox, the Mind Flail, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Gisa and Geralf
Starting Hand: Plains, Plains, The Ozolith, Court of Grace, Bishop of Wings, Serra Paragon, Mangara, the Diplomat
Starting hand wasn't great as I would need to draw a land to curve out but I had 2 draw cards in hand so I figured it was worth it. Luckily the table was playing pretty slow and I drew into some ramp.
I started with a T1 Ozolith and drew into an Enlightened Tutor which got me Pearl Medallion so I could play my Court of Grace.
Arvinox played 3 separate sacrifice cards where I sacced my Angel tokens and dumped the +1/+1 counters onto The Ozolith to pump up my next swings. They were able to get a Bolas's Citadel out quite early but due to the constant beatdown from my Angels couldn't explode like normal.
Sigarda tried to get through my Angel wall but I always chumped blocked to protect my Monarch token. Late in the game they used a Day of Judgment but at that time I had Breathkeeper Seraph soulbonded to Giada and a bunch of Angel tokens so I let it resolve. I had a foretold Cosmic Intervention since the early game but I was maintaining so much threat with my tokens and Ozolith that I never needed to use it.
Unfortunately Gisa durdled the whole game as they were also hit by Arvinox's sacrifice cards and Sigarda's board wipe so could never really get off the ground.
I ended the game with 89 life and Giada as a 40/40 with 36 +1/+1 counters and 2 anthems.
The Ozolith like most of our 1-drops, can change the makeup of the game quite heavily from the start if we drop it T1. I've had it in a few games before but usually only drew into it mid to late game where its impact is not as great.
Court of Grace wasin the deck before but ended up getting pulled in favor of other cards. Now that I've had a few more games with it I think it's provides too much synergy to leave out.
I think the lifegain strategy as whole is niche and our payoffs aren't really worth it to build an entire package around. I still got to 89 life this game due to just 2 cards - Bishop of Wings and a late game Pyre of Heroes on Serra Paragon for a Lyra Dawnbringer
that was essentially a win-more move rather than strategic. Taking another look at soul sisters as their gameplay performance hasn't been that great. Well of Lost Dreams was kind of on the chopping block before and I think it's time to revisit that card as well.