MTG Salvation

I retooled my Gisela, Blade of Goldnight tribal soldier deck for the freshly spoiled Anax and Cymede. At some point in the near future, this list will receive my usual theme deck makeover, casting A&C as Queen Gorgo and King Leonidas.

My deck is a little bit Voltron and a little bit token swarm. I pump up Cymede and her man with bouncing auras like Flickering Ward, and when I have some tokens on the field, this buffs them as well. With just a handful of weenies on the board, the deck is easily capable of dealing 20+ damage per turn. My list has an incredibly low average converted mana cost of 3.17 and runs smoothly with only 36 lands and some mana rocks. To make the most of the aggressive curve, my build employs a few mass land destruction spells. The deck also runs a modest Sunforger package along with Mistveil Plains for recursion. One of my favorite synergies in the deck is Cathars' Crusade with Elspeth Tirel! I've recently begun experimenting with enchantment-driven card draw/token production using Mesa Enchantress and Sigil of the Empty Throne. I've played about a dozen games with the deck since Anax and Cymede were spoiled, and I've been pleasantly surprised with the results so far.

avg CMC = 3.17
OLD GISELA DECKS BASED ON THE CRUSADES/ARTHURIAN LEGEND

I feel like Brave the Elements is better here than Spare from Evil (although I get that Spare has more flavor here).

Under your "Warrior Priests" section, Ajani 3.0 seems made for this deck.

Great flavor.dec, but you are missing two key flavor creatures IMO: Preacher and False Prophet

Quote from Bismuth Von Pherson

I feel like Brave the Elements is better here than Spare from Evil (although I get that Spare has more flavor here).

I'll make Spare the flavorful alternate choice, like I did for Fervor.

Quote from Bismuth Von Pherson

Under your "Warrior Priests" section, Ajani 3.0 seems made for this deck.

3.0? Really? Not Ajani Goldmane? What's your reasoning?

Also, what to drop? I only included Thunderous Wrath 'cos it's a miracle; I could easily drop it for an Ajani.

How do you feel about Gideon Jura in this deck?

Quote from Jinnobi

Not Stranglehold.

Crescendo of War

Dat power. Dat picture. Dat flavor.

I agree that the art is spectacular. However, I'd have to wait until my next turn to directly benefit from Crescendo. (You are really in love with that card; you posted it in like three other threads!)

Quote from hey_now

Great flavor.dec, but you are missing two key flavor creatures IMO: Preacher and False Prophet

If Preacher was a priest, a bishop, or even a monk, I'd totally agree with you. I'm going for medieval flavor and Preacher doesn't fit the bill. If I was going to put False Prophet anywhere, it'd go in my apocalyptic Gisela Worldfire deck.

EVERYONE, what are some cards I could cut to make room for land destruction?

haha, why is "tithing" land tax instead of, i dunno, tithe?

Quote from DirkGently

haha, why is "tithing" land tax instead of, i dunno, tithe?

Land Tax is more efficient and effective. Mind you, I run Tithe in almost all of my decks with :symw:, I just didn't have room for it in Christian Soldiers.

Quote from ChimericPisces

3.0? Really? Not Ajani Goldmane? What's your reasoning?

It seems like the decklist is leaning towards a more white-weenie oriented theme, and I think that Ajani 3.0 plays better with that. He'll let your weenies hit hard with his -2 (or -3? Too lazy to check the spoiler), and he creates an army (albeit cats) as his ultimate - seems on flavor.

I guess Thatcher Revolt seems underwhelming here. Sure it's great in limited, but not so much in a 40 life format.

Gideon seems fine. A big burly champion who smashes face. Plus, his -2 ability is very on flavor (see: Vengeance).

Quote from Bismuth Von Pherson

It seems like the decklist is leaning towards a more white-weenie oriented theme, and I think that Ajani 3.0 plays better with that. He'll let your weenies hit hard with his -2 (or -3? Too lazy to check the spoiler), and he creates an army (albeit cats) as his ultimate - seems on flavor.

I guess Thatcher Revolt seems underwhelming here. Sure it's great in limited, but not so much in a 40 life format.

I dropped Revolt for Ajani, Caller of the Pride.

Quote from Bismuth Von Pherson

Gideon seems fine. A big burly champion who smashes face. Plus, his -2 ability is very on flavor (see: Vengeance).

Speaking of flavor, I decided to drop Thunderous Wrath to make room for Caged Sun to symbolize the "Sun of Righteousness."

Thanks for your advice, BvP!

Do you think this deck needs land destruction?

Quote from ChimericPisces

Do you think this deck needs land destruction?

Does it need it? I'm not entirely sure, but if you want to go that path, I'd go the classic weenie route with Armageddon and company.

Cut Herald of War and Angelic Overseer for Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Karmic Guide.

Ranger of Eos seems like it would be great here over any of the weaker humans.

Faithless Looting might be out of flavour, but is usable. As is Memory Jar.

Quote from Bismuth Von Pherson

Does it need it? I'm not entirely sure, but if you want to go that path, I'd go the classic weenie route with Armageddon and company.

I think I'm going to try it for a few more weeks without land destruction and then rework its Divine Miracle package to include 4 to 5 LD spells.

Quote from MiffedMoogle

Cut Herald of War and Angelic Overseer for Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Karmic Guide.

I love Akroma and like the Guide's effect. At the moment, however, I want more synergistic cards for the deck, so I'll test the Herald and Overseer a little while longer.

Quote from MiffedMoogle

Ranger of Eos seems like it would be great here over any of the weaker humans.

Now this is the kinda synergy I'm talkin' about! The Ranger can tutor Weathered Wayfarer, Champion of the Parish, Mikaeus, the Lunarch, and Mother of Runes. Thank you for your excellent suggestion. I'm dropping Kessig Malcontents for the Ranger.

Quote from MiffedMoogle

Faithless Looting might be out of flavour, but is usable. As is Memory Jar.

Looting is out of flavor, though the Jar is something to consider. Right now, though, I'm satisfied with Reforge the Soul, Sword of Fire and Ice, Mind's Eye, Scroll Rack, and Mentor of the Meek.

Seeing as how important anthems are to the deck, I'm swapping out Gather the Townsfolk for Enlightened Tutor.

Wow. Just goldfished this on Cockatrice a couple times. The first game, the deck dealt 34 damage on turn 7. (Got lucky both times and was able to cast Gisela, on turn 7 in the first game and on turn 9 in the second.)

Goldfish test run #1
T4: cast Silverblade Paladin
T5: cast Angel of Jubilation, attacked w/Paladin for 3
T6: cast Odric, Master Tactician paired w/ Paladin, attacked w/Paladin & Angel for 9
T7: cast Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, attacked w/Paladin, Angel, and Odric for 34

Goldfish test run #2
T6: cast Warstorm Surge
T7: cast In the Web of War
T8: nothing
T9: cast Gisela, Web increased her power to 7, Surge triggered for 7 damage which was doubled to 14; attacked with Gisela for another 14
T10: cast Increasing Devotion for 5 tokens, Web increased their power to 3, Surge triggered for 15 damage which was doubled to 30; attacked with everything for 40

Goldfish test run #3
T2: cast Weathered Wayfarer
T3: activated Wayfarer
T4: cast Goldnight Commander, attacked w/Wayfarer for 1
T5: activated Wayfarer; cast Elspeth, Knight-Errant, created a Soldier token, increased GC's power and attacked for 3
T6: cast Riot Ringleader, increased Wayfarer's & first Soldier's power to 2, increased GC's power to 3; cast Silverblade Paladin, increased Wayfarer's & first Soldier's power to 3, increased GC's power to 4; created a second Soldier token w/Elspeth, increased Wayfarer's & first Soldier's power to 4, GC's power to 5, and attacked for 13
T7: cast Gisela paired w/Paladin, increased Ringleader's, GC's, & Paladin's power to 3, Wayfarer's & two Soldier tokens power to 2; created a third Soldier token w/Elspeth, increased Paladin's, Ringleader's, & GC's power to 4, Wayfarer's & two soldier tokens power to 3, and attacked for 54

Initial observations
I'm still not completely convinced by Cockatrice's shuffling algorithm; I'm not sure this deck would work IRL with only 34 lands. However, it's clear that the white:red mana source ratio needs to be adjusted. During the first two tests, I had a hand full of white spells and a battlefield cluttered with Mountains; during the third test, I only had one red spell (and, thankfully, only one Mountain).

I've been playing White Weenie EDH for a long time, and recently I changed my commander to Gisela. Here is my current decklist if you want to take a look. It's taken a much heavier token route recently, but I've tested the deck a fair amount so let me know if you have any questions.


Some things to note:
-This deck just shifted from being a mono-white deck, hence there is nothing in here with RR in its cost
-Some of the cards were just added a few days ago, hence the "in testing" mark
-Your title inspired mine
-The deck isn't really themed around Gisela, I just use her to get an extra push. I often claim "I only cast Gisela when I can win that turn"

I feel like Retribution of the Meek is a bad card here, since your board is not very dangerous unless one of the Lords or Angels are there to lead them anyway. Austere Command might be more flexible, though lacking in flavor points. Hallowed Burial is cool, given your deck has only two cards that interact with the graveyard.

Serra Ascendant is another good 'weenie', searchable with Ranger of Eos though the flavor is debatable.

Have you looked at Springjack Shepherd? Or Hero of Bladehold?

In terms of Less than flavorful soldier cards: Cloudgoat Ranger and Catapault Master.

Quote from telehax

I feel like Retribution of the Meek is a bad card here, since your board is not very dangerous unless one of the Lords or Angels are there to lead them anyway. Austere Command might be more flexible, though lacking in flavor points. Hallowed Burial is cool, given your deck has only two cards that interact with the graveyard.

Serra Ascendant is another good 'weenie', searchable with Ranger of Eos though the flavor is debatable.

Have you looked at Springjack Shepherd? Or Hero of Bladehold?

In terms of Less than flavorful soldier cards: Cloudgoat Ranger and Catapault Master.

Thanks, telehax! I enjoyed our game, too. I'll never look at Zedruu the same way again.

Retribution only kills seven of my creatures (provided there's no pump or anthem effects at work) while Austere Command kills about half of them. I won't always have a Lord or Angel in play, but I might have something like True Conviction or Glory making my meek soldiers more of a threat. I'm already running Terminus alongside Retribution, so I decided to focus more on spot removal.

I considered Hero of Bladehold, but its Mirrodin artwork (on both versions) was incongruent with the other creatures. Although I like the mechanics of the Shepherd, its creature types lack synergy with the rest of the deck. (I obviously made exceptions for Glory and Sun Titan.) Catapult Master is a great card that I'll try to make room for in the TOKENS version of the deck. Do you think I should drop Zealous Conscripts for it?

I have six instants (Faith's Reward, Return to Dust, Enlightened Tutor, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, and Order (Order/Chaos)). Should I add Sunforger? If so, what to drop to make room?

I made some changes to the decks and added a third version with land destruction in place of token creators.

ORIGINAL:
Added
Cathars' Crusade (works well with both Elspeth cards and other token creators)
Faith's Reward (allows me to overextend if I have it in hand, and also abuse Warstorm Surge)
Order (Order/Chaos)
Boseiju, Who Shelters All (34 lands wasn't enough and this is a nice complement to Grand Abolisher)

Removed
Marshal's Anthem (not as strong as Cathars' Crusade in this deck)
Brave the Elements
Rally the Peasants
Ajani, Caller of the Pride (didn't match the flavor of the deck)

TOKENS:
Added
Faith's Reward
Order (Order/Chaos)
Boseiju, Who Shelters All

Removed
Marshal's Anthem
Brave the Elements
Ajani, Caller of the Pride

Let me know how Cathar's Crusade goes for you. I'm away from home for a few months and wont be able to play much EDH, so I can't test it, but this cards seems really weak to me. You don't drop it until turn five, and you don't benefit from it at all until your next turn (usually). It also encourages you to overextended, which is never good. It is ridiculous before an Increasing Devotion or something like that, but I feel like that will almost always be met with a board wipe, which is never good.

I'd definitely say Crescendo of War over Cathar's Crusade. Neither lets you benefit immediately, but the Crescendo gets out of control much more quickly.

Quote from GM2

Let me know how Cathar's Crusade goes for you. I'm away from home for a few months and wont be able to play much EDH, so I can't test it, but this cards seems really weak to me. You don't drop it until turn five, and you don't benefit from it at all until your next turn (usually). It also encourages you to overextended, which is never good. It is ridiculous before an Increasing Devotion or something like that, but I feel like that will almost always be met with a board wipe, which is never good.

I'd definitely say Crescendo of War over Cathar's Crusade. Neither lets you benefit immediately, but the Crescendo gets out of control much more quickly.

Actually, Cathars' Crusade does let me benefit immediately.

Based on testing some of my other decks, I'm considering the following changes.

Add?
Cavern of Souls
Mana Web

Remove?
Plains or Mountain
Mana Vault or Gilded Lotus

Thoughts?

I'd like to add Sensei's Divining Top to the decks but I'm not sure what to drop:

Add
Sensei's Divining Top

Remove?
Caged Sun or Coat of Arms

Thoughts?

Made some significant changes to the deck and switched out Gisela for Anax and Cymede.

Isn't the deck a bit light off creatures?
Have you thought about Assemble the Legion?

Nobody makes their lists as flavorful as you Chimeric, keep up the good work!

Quote from SaraceenPsycho

Isn't the deck a bit light off creatures?

This deck easily puts 5-10 creatures into play at a time thanks to all of the token production.

Quote from SaraceenPsycho

Have you thought about Assemble the Legion?

I had, actually. I wanted to do a test run with the deck first before making more changes:

ADDED
Global Ruin (the deck wants more land destruction)
Assemble the Legion (this is perfect should I or someone else Wrath the board)

REMOVED
Gideon Jura (great card, but lacks synergy with deck)
Silverblade Paladin (lacks value unless bonded with commander)

Quote from SaraceenPsycho

Nobody makes his their lists as flavorful as you Chimeric, keep up the good work!

THANK YOU!

Quote from bobthefunny

There is a distinct lack of madness in this deck. I cannot take it seriously. =P

Huh?

This deck doesn't need multiple creatures in play, though it does appreciate them (and not in a "win-more" kinda way, either). What it does need, however, is to quickly search up Flickering Ward, Crown of Flames, or Seething Anger. Besides that, the deck loves having either Elspeth on the battlefield along with Cathars' Crusade. This scenario gets even more insane with Warstorm Surge added to the mix.

I made a few more important changes after some more testing:

ADDED
Wheel of Fortune (:boros: needs all the card draw it can get)
Sword of Feast and Famine (with Flickering Ward set to W, A&C's set)
Rest in Peace (minor nuisance for the deck, major headache for others)
Oblation (more versatile removal that can double as card draw in a pinch)

REMOVED
Goldnight Commander (too conditional)
Odric, Master Tactician (see above)
Tormod's Crypt (not efficient enough)
Orim's Thunder (too narrow)

Originally Posted by SaraceenPsycho
Nobody makes his their lists as flavorful as you Chimeric, keep up the good work!
THANK YOU!

Grammar nazi
Shouldn't make so many mistakes since I'm a teacher trainee in English xD.
But I need to retake some exams and go to bed very late, blame it on that ;).

Quote from ChimericPisces

ADDED
Wheel of Fortune (:boros: needs all the card draw it can get)

Card draw eh... what about Staff of Nin, or Book of Rass? =)