STRATEGY
There are a number of lines that the deck can take depending on the flow of the game, what you draw and the commanders that your opponents are playing. I will try to cover the common scenarios as succintly as possible.
General Strategy
If you haven’t already caught on, the three key words for this deck are Indestructible, Hexproof, Wrath. There are 10 wrath effects in total in this deck (one of them being a recurring wrath). So don’t be shy about clearing the board of potential threats whenever you feel the need to, there are plenty more! All of your important creatures are indestructible so there shouldn’t be anything holding you back. The wraths are what will buy you time to get to your end game in a systematic and steady way, so be patient and take your time. Once you’re there you can then use your remaining wraths to clear the way for your fatties to swing away!
Bread and Butter
Your go to strategy when you aren’t looking for a more specific line of play is the combination of Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Archetype of Endurance—it should be pretty evident by now how these two cards interact. There are a number of ways to make this happen:
Hard Cast: As a rule of thumb, it’s generally safer to try to cheat these guys in rather than try to hard cast them—and ideally they would come in together rather than separately. If one of them ends up in your hand, it’s better to wait and try and cheat the other one in before trying to cast the first. If both end up in your hand, the order in which you cast them is important: if you are anticipating board wipes, Avacyn should be cast first. If you are anticipating exile or tuck based spot removal, then the Archetype should be cast first. Generally I find archetype is the better lead given that the only way to answer him is a sorcery speed board wipe—Yavimaya Hollow can be a nasty surprise for people that aren’t paying attention to your lands.
Defense of the Heart: If you trigger an early Defense, the game is not far from being over. Most of the time I will wait for one or two of either Sterling Grove, Greater Auramancy or Privileged Position before I try to resolve this as it does have to go through 2-3 of your opponents turns before it can trigger. However you would be surprised at how often a rambo turn 4 Defense slips through the cracks!
Academy Rector + Pattern of Rebirth: Here is where the beauty of the deck starts to shine through. Pattern of Rebirth searches up Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and Academy Rector searches up Archetype of Endurance because lo and behold, he’s also an Enchantment. If you can get access to these cards early (it’s not hard with so many tutors), this is a stunning way of getting out your combo and by far my favourite. The individual pieces don’t pose much threat so they rarely get answered (no one wants to kill your Rector anyway), but by the time they are out there together it’s too late. Setting these two up and following up with a Wrath of God to trigger them, clear the board and cheat my Untouchables into play is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done in magic.
Tooth and Nail: 9 Mana, Pretty simple. Does not discriminate between your hand and library—in fact if you already have one of the pieces in your hand, you can replace it with something like Blazing Archon, Novablast Wurm or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre ready for next turn!
Cheat in the first, Hard cast the second: As previously mentioned, you can also cheat one and cast the second. Cards that will allow you to do this include: Lurking Predators, Pattern of Rebirth, Natural Order, Chord of Calling and Academy Rector. Cards like Fierce Empath, Eladamri’s Call, Worldly Tutor, Idyllic Tutor and Enlightened tutor can help get the second piece into your hand for cast.
Enchantment Defense
If you end up needing to play a more defensive game, there’s a way to barricade yourself in to buy you some time. Two of either Sterling Grove, Greater Auramancy and Privileged Position will make all of your enchantments completely untouchable, including your enchantment creatures Karametra, God of Harvests, Nylea, God of the Hunt, Heliod, God of the Sun, Eidolon of Blossoms. The best part about Sterling Grove is that if you end up with all three (redundant), you can sacrifice it to tutor for a replacement.
Once you have this set up, there are a number of defensive answers you can try to get to protect you from your opponents. Dueling Grounds protects you from swarms and most creatures, Pariah protects you from any form of damage including any damage/creature based infinite combos! since your indestructible creatures/commander will happily sit there and absorb 999,999,999,999 damage from blasting station for you, Blazing Archon protects you from creatures, and Constant Mists is just ridiculous in Karametra. The enchantment protection will also allow Planar Collapse to resolve freely.
If you don’t need these answers you can try to set up a more offensive position. What people seem to forget is that Karametra, God of Harvests is a 6/7 indestructible beater herself. Cards like Mirari’s Wake or Qasali Pridemage will boost her to the magical 7 power, which will kill in 3 swings (general damage), and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes will turn her into a 2 swing killer. You can also try for one or both of the other two gods Nylea, God of the Hunt and Heliod, God of the Sun or the two powerhouse enchantments Defense of the Heart and Lurking Predators, all of which will be protected by your enchantments.
Situational Card Combinations
While our Avacyn and Archetype combo is our bread and butter, many other combinations of creatures and enchantments can be established using the same methods described in the Bread and Butter section. These are typically less robust, but can be devastating if you have indentified a situation where can you capitalize on them.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre + Archetype of Endurance: Once these two are out on the board, the only way to deal with Ulamog is to first Wrath to kill the Archetype, and then use an exile, bounce or tuck to answer the Ulamog. Usually by the time this can happen Ulamog has already smashed a whole bunch of face. This is fantastic when there aren’t many White players in the game, as most Wrath and Exile/Tuck effects belong to white. Even with a white player on the board this is incredibly hard to deal with. Made more consistent if you have Yavimaya Hollow in play to protect your Archetype.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre + Aspect of Mongoose: Same as above but with the Mongoose. Made ridiculous by one or more of Sterling Grove, Greater Auramancer and Privileged Position.
Blightsteel Colossus + Novablast Wurm: This is typically a finishing combo to bring in when you already have something to protect your Novablast Wurm. The Wurm will kill everything apart from Blightsteel as soon as it attacks, clearing a path for the lethal blow to hit whichever poor sucker you want to snipe.
Blightsteel Colossus + Any Wrath: Same as above but with our Wrath of God spells instead. Every Wrath will snipe one to two players (people don't always have chump blockers in their hand).
Novablast Wurm + Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Great to bring in if you identify a situation where there might not be much exile/tuck/bounce based spot removal. Basically provides a one-sided wrath every turn.
Novablast Wurm + Deathless Angel: Same as above but with an inferior version of Avacyn. Most of the time you won’t have anything important that isn’t already indestructible already so the Deathless Angel is really just there to help protect the Wurm.
Karametra, God of Harvests + Novablast Wurm: Similar to above, this time clearing the way for your commander to swing in for general damage. Great when you have Mirari’s Wake in play.
Archetype of Endurance + Deathless Angel: Poor mans Bread and Butter, once again most important things are already indestructible so it’s just there to protect the Archetype from Wraths.
Karametra, God of Harvests + Pariah: Basically reads “Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you”. Can be used with any indestructible creature and made ridiculous by one or more of Sterling Grove, Greater Auramancer and Privileged Position.
Chord of Calling + Archetype of Endurance: Since CoC is instant speed, you can make opponents waste their spot removal by timing the Archetype tutor.
Chord of Calling + Archon of Justice: No one ever sees this one coming, but can easily be a two for one. Easy way to block and then exile something that's bothering you.
Chord of Calling + Sigarda, Host of Herons: Instant speed protection from sacrifice effects, surprise blocker.
Catastrophe + Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Although I opted not to include Armageddon in the deck (currently in contention because I feel it’s too situational in this deck). Catastrophe happens to have a second mode that is a mass land destruction. Pretty gross but pretty spectacular. Use if your in a cranky mood and it will make you feel better
Let me know of anything you think could make this better!
