Castigator Combo *Primer*

Pioneer* Angels Cleric Combo Jank Midrange Primer RBW (Mardu)

boguscheesecake

Land (24)

• 2x Battlefield Forge
• 4x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 3x Caves of Koilos
• 3x Godless Shrine
• 2x Mountain
• 2x Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip
• 2x Plains
• 4x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Triumph

Creature (19)

• 3x Bishop of Wings
• 4x Goldnight Castigator
• 2x Kaalia, Zenith Seeker
• 2x Lyra Dawnbringer
• 4x Righteous Valkyrie
• 4x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord

Instant (9)

• 4x Boros Charm
• 2x Crackling Doom
• 3x Deflecting Palm

Sorcery (7)

• 3x Deafening Clarion
• 4x Thoughtseize

---

Sideboard

Artifact (8)

• 4x Grafdigger's Cage
• 4x Pithing Needle

Instant (3)

• 3x Kolaghan's Command

Creature (4)

• 4x Containment Priest

---

Maybeboard

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Light Up the Stage

---

Okey doke so we all know that kaldheim is coming out and we've gotten the card Righteous Valkyrie , and there's not many other options better to abuse her ability than her estranged sister, Goldnight Castigator . The rest of the deck is built off this core interaction, leading up to an aggressive damage-lifegain deck that should stand competitively against aggro and midrange builds.

More importantly, it's the kind of unbridled jank that's insanely fun to play each new game.

The Low-Down

The main shell is dependent on Righteous Valkyrie , Goldnight Castigator , Deflecting Palm , and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose . Everything else builds off of this setup, and there's a bit more freedom with rounding out the deck for any personal preferences you might want to make, although I'll explain the chosen options.

At it's core, Righteous Valkyrie will allow us to gain 9 life off castigator, which opens a few doors for us. Having Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose turns that gain into an immediate drain for 9 against our opponent. Additionally, in the event that we haven't lost too much life early on, playing castigator will activate the second ability of Righteous Valkyrie , buffing all of our creatures. Between the two of them, this allows a swing for 10 damage as early as turn 4, throwing our opponent into immediate danger.

This means, with the right play, you can deal 19 damage to your opponent following righteous valkyrie with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose before throwing out Goldnight Castigator as early as turn 5. Even better, getting a second righteous valkyrie out rather than our pal Vito will activate both of them when castigator comes in, allowing us to swing for 20! Although that might not end up being the majority of your games, that sort of adrenaline rush will definitely catch your opponent by surprise.

Gains for Drains

Lifegain serves the core future of our deck, and we have a few ways to both use it and abuse it. Really, our life gain exists for two purposes - to cause massive damage with our friend Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose , and to offset damage taken while Goldnight Castigator is in play.

Beyond the main valkyrie-castigator combo, we have a few lifegain generators to help us along the road. Bishop of Wings provides enough life gain to offset our Thoughtseize s and pain lands, and Lyra Dawnbringer helps apply end-game pressure on top of giving our other angels lifelink.

It's worth noting that, not having lifelink themselves, giving valkyrie and castigator lifelink can help improve our odds of survival. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord and Deafening Clarion can also aid in this regard, as well as Vito himself should we have the mana to spare.

The best reward for all this, besides not dying in a few seconds, is the second ability of our girl Righteous Valkyrie , as her collective buff is a key feature in catching the opponent by surprise, and enabling our 19-damage christmas land combo.

Bloody Battle

Damage is our bread and butter, of course. I mean, we have to win somehow, we just want to win flashily. As stated, our main source of damage comes from Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose , with the ability to deal massive losses of life out of seemingly nowhere. And as much as I'd love for us to just rely on our buff and beautiful Goldnight Castigator , we'll need some backup.

Along with our main angels, we're running a few copies of Kaalia, Zenith Seeker and Lyra Dawnbringer . Both fliers, Kaalia can help dig 6 deep for missing combo pieces, and lyra dawnbringer is a battering ram of a woman who gives lifelink to our angels that don't already have it.

Boros Charm and Crackling Doom both deal some damage on the side with other benefits, and can be used to either solve problems or get in for extra damage to close our game.

Disruption and Despair

For disruption, we are running the classic black strat of a playset of Thoughtseize , giving us our common t1 play should we have the swamp in hand. Additionally, we'll use Deafening Clarion to wipe the board of any creatures, with nearly all our own large enough to withstand a 3 damage sweep. Crackling Doom can help remove anything that puts us in danger as a result of castigator doubling our damage, and pings the opponent in the process. And then, Deflecting Palm .

Deflecting Palm is the mindchild of this deck, it's the card that you'll always feel great pulling off and it's a rare one to see in pioneer. Primary useful against aggro or midrange decks with lots of creatures, deflecting palm composes a secondary win con for us, as we don't even need a board to turn the game around last minute. The ideal use of palm would be after having castigator enter the field, giving our opponent a full turn to set up a way to take advantage of our seeming vulnerability. Since we'll likely be tapped out after slapping down our 4-mana goddess, giving the opponent a turn to slap us across the face is sometimes worth it to lure them into a race mentality. Then, oh so sweetly, you can ruin everything by gently placing Deflecting Palm on the table.

Sideboarding our Options

For sideboard, we are primarly concerned with control and top meta decks you might see in the field. When sideboarding, the cards to change primarily on the circumstances and how many creatures our opponents are running, as we might not even be able to use our sweet, sweet Deflecting Palm . Additionally, Deafening Clarion and Crackling Doom are clear opt-outs against creature light decks.

Regarding our sideboard options, we are heavily stacked against certain kinds of decks, specifically Uro and control, as those will likely be our toughest matchups. Pithing Needle , Grafdigger's Cage , and Containment Priest will all shut down uro immediately, preventing him from returning from the grave. Needle makes a double play here against planeswalkers; such as t3 teferi or nissa, as well as against any graveyard shenanigans, uro included. Additionally, we have some copies of Kolaghan's Command to round things out against any heavy removal or artifact decks, being a solid utility card overall. Primarly, we want our sideboard options to stall our opponent's long enough to finish the job on our end, so this tilt towards disruption will help make for a longer game in our favor.

And that's the idea behind Mardu Castigator! No, I'm not spending the money to put in a bunch of Resplendent Angel s that aren't going to be worth the price! The lifegain is in large, sudden clumps, not consistent 5-gain intervals! It's not worth it!

Really, it's just janking together some fun, older cards that never really saw the limelight, and it's always worth playing a deck that your opponent's might not expect.

If you think the idea looks fun but shy from the price tag, it's exceedingly simple to make a budget alternative! Replacing the thoughtseizes for Agonizing Remorse s or anything else you want, removing Lyra dawnbringer for a cheaper alternative like Angelic Skirmisher or another angel beater, and swapping out the shock lands for whatever you have on hand should let you enjoy yourself without breaking the bank!

Most importantly, bring something new to the table, and have fun doing it!

Fun fact: playing this against my other deck, RAKDOS DUMPTRUCK, will be the shortest game of pioneer you've ever played.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Pioneer legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 15 Rares 4 - 0 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.75
Tokens	Spirit 1/1 W
Folders	Reference