A few years back I had a casual 60-card cleric deck that I played in 4+ person free-for-alls. It was fairly group-hug using cards like Battletide Alchemist and Ghosts of the innocent to keep people alive, while using Soul sisters to keep my life nice and high. It didn't really have an actual win condition, but it was still really fun and in most cases I came in second or third. It had the tendency to make people attack for outlandish amounts just to connect for meager amounts of damage.
This an EDH/Commander version of that deck, but this time the clerics have a god to represent them. Granted, this deck is going to be far less group-hug as I can't run 4 of's Battletide Alchemist and Ghosts of the Innocent, so it will be considerably more competitive than the 60-car version. I'm trying to keep it to a Churchy/religious sort of theme without anchoring it to any specific religion(though i'd end up basing it on the Greek gods cause Theros seems like a very Greek mythology sort of block). I'm trying to keep that sort of thing as neutral as possible.
I'm trying to keep this deck as casual as possible while still attempting at being able to play in fairly competitive groups. It will appear like a fairly competitive deck that's running some pretty jank cards, but that's for the churchy/religious flavor. There are also many cards that I wanted to fit into the deck because of their flavor, but I'll go through those later. Anyway, on to the decklist.
Seal of Cleansing - A decent amount of religions have some sort of ritual or something to cleans a person's soul of wrong doing, evil spirits, etc.
Karma - Every religion has some sort of semblance of Karma.
Cards that had really nice flavor for the deck but just didn't make the cut.
Quest for the Holy Relic - This is amazing flavor. Every religion I've looked into has some sort of relics mentioned in their texts and there's always people searching for those relics. Amazing flavor, but I've only got one equipment.
Sol Grail - Mostly a reference to Christianity and the Holy Grail. Didn't make the cut cause it's worse than Darksteel Ingot and that didn't make the cut.
Rebuff the Wicked - Too specific. It's not a bad card by any means, but most of the time i'll want to kill someone else's stuff rather than protect my one thing once.
Now, before I go any further, I'm just going to say that there won't be a list of off-theme cards that didn't make the cut. The list would be longer than the actual decklist. There are a lot of amazing cards that just didn't make the cut solely because this is a tribal deck, let alone me trying to make flavor in this deck. Many cards that aren't on flavor are just cards that work really well for the other cards that make up the theme of the deck. Now that that is over, let's continue.
Cards that I want/need for the deck, not that they would guarantee make the cut anyway.
Heliod, God of the Sun - Yeah, I don't actually own a copy. I'm proxying him at the moment, but he'll be the only thing I proxy.
Academy Rector - I know that I had one, but I can't seem to find it and that scares me a bit. For all I know, It's in a deck that I haven't archived yet.
Eidolon of Rhetoric - Keeps people from dropping their hand or getting up a storm count, but suddenly control decks rule the world and I'm not sure if i'm ok with that. And it's not a cleric.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Not really on the overall theme but on theme with Heliod and the whole Sun thing.
Evangel of Heliod - It's a cleric that makes soldiers to protect the church. That and I think it would be pretty good in monowhite in general.
Glimpse the Sun God - Delicious, delicious flavor. It's ok as an actual card though.
Starfield of Nyx - It's where the gods live... kind of. Either way, it's just really good.
Silent Sentinel - Not much flavor on this, but I do run enough enchantments to be worth it.
Spear of Heliod - It's his spear. It's ability is a bit lack luster but with the Anthem ability, the tap ability is pure gravy.
Spirit of the Labyrinth - Again, not really on theme, but really nice to keep me from falling too far behind with white's lack of draw.
Tethmos High Priest - I like everything about this card, except the fact that it's the Heroic mechanic. It's still really good and I've got a few cards that didn't make the cut that would see a reevaluation, but I hate Heroic. Just putting that out there.
That's probably not all but that's all I can think of.
I think that about covers everything. Of course, I really like Heliod as a legendary, so I might keep him for a while even if the deck doesn't stay as a cleric tribal. Depending on the direction of my playgroup, It might not stay this way long. My original 60-card worked very well, but only because everyone was using aggro as a win condition, even the control decks. The second I played that against any deck that went for infinite mana into an X spell, or just a lot of mass removal, its entire game plan just didn't do anything.
So, My original Heliod deck, the cleric tribal in the above spoiler tag, just didn't work. A single wrath and i'm stuck playing catch up. That and all it took was an infinite combo to just ruin me anyway. It just doesn't work in a meta that uses a lot of infinites or even just a decent amount of control. In light of that, I decided to rebuild and go with an enchantment/creature/artifact/mishmash/control deck. It works far better than the cleric tribal and is far more resilient.
My main issue right now, other than needing to obtain more cards from newer blocks/sets, is that Heliod turns off Order of Whiteclay's ability as I have no other way of tapping it other than attacking. Order of Whiteclay puts in some surprisingly good work, so I don't want to drop it. I'm tempted to add a few stupid things like Springleaf Drum, which would be mana ramp, but I don't know of more than a couple of cheap artifacts or enchants that let me tap creatures for something worth using. I'd also like to add that my list of cards I want/need for the deck is still under that spoiler, if for some reason people want to look or see why I want/need them.
Anyway, Thanks for viewing and feel free to leave suggestions.
This an EDH/Commander version of that deck, but this time the clerics have a god to represent them. Granted, this deck is going to be far less group-hug as I can't run 4 of's Battletide Alchemist and Ghosts of the Innocent, so it will be considerably more competitive than the 60-car version. I'm trying to keep it to a Churchy/religious sort of theme without anchoring it to any specific religion(though i'd end up basing it on the Greek gods cause Theros seems like a very Greek mythology sort of block). I'm trying to keep that sort of thing as neutral as possible.
I'm trying to keep this deck as casual as possible while still attempting at being able to play in fairly competitive groups. It will appear like a fairly competitive deck that's running some pretty jank cards, but that's for the churchy/religious flavor. There are also many cards that I wanted to fit into the deck because of their flavor, but I'll go through those later. Anyway, on to the decklist.
Church Goers
2 Soul Warden
3 Soul's Attendant
4 Auriok Champion
5 Suture Priest
6 War Priest of Thune
7 Soltari Visionary
8 Devout Lightcaster
9 Leonin Relic-Warder
10 Fiend Hunter
11 Banisher Priest
12 Martyr of Sands
13 Daru Spiritualist
14 Faith Healer
15 Leonin Arbiter
16 Weathered Wayfarer
17 Mirror Entity
18 Order of Whiteclay
19 Battletide Alchemist
Agents of the Sun
20 Mentor of the Meek
21 Glory
22 Sun Titan
23 Ghosts of the Innocent
24 Angel of Glory's Rise
25 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobyte
26 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Holy Relics
27 Sol Ring
28 Rings of Brighthearth
29 Sensei's Divining Top
30 Scroll Rack
31 Expedition Map
32 Well of Lost Dreams
33 Alhammarret's Archive
34 Skullclamp
35 Ashnod's Altar
36 Blasting Station
37 Aura of Silence
38 Seal of Cleansing
39 Journey to Nowhere
40 Oblivion Ring
41 Stasis Snare
42 Karma
43 Martyr's Cause
44 Crackdown
45 Angelic Renewal
46 Cathars' Crusade
47 Sigil of the New Dawn
48 Blind Obedience
49 Land Tax
Instant Faith
50 Return to Dust
51 Leave No Trace
52 Path to Exile
53 Swords to Plowshares
54 Condemn
55 Smite
56 Enlightened Tutor
57 Faith's Reward
58 Dawn Charm
Not-so-Instant Faith
59 Plea for Guidance
60 Revoke Existence
61 Tragic Arrogance
62 Day of Judgment
63 Wrath of God
64 Plains
65 Plains
66 Plains
67 Plains
68 Plains
69 Plains
70 Plains
71 Plains
72 Plains
73 Plains
74 Plains
75 Plains
76 Plains
77 Plains
78 Plains
79 Plains
80 Plains
81 Plains
82 Plains
83 Plains
84 Plains
85 Windswept Heath
86 Flooded Strand
87 Arid Mesa
88 Thespian's Stage
89 Dust Bowl
90 Terrain Generator
91 Miren, the Moaning Well
92 Ancient Tomb
93 Reliquary Tower
94 Mistveil Plains
95 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
96 Cavern of Souls
97 Serra's Sanctum
98 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
99 Flagstones of Trokair
100 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Explaining Flavor certain cards. Most of the cards that have a god/church/Sun flavor to them are fairly obvious. These are the not so obvious ones.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobyte - Always seemed very preachy in lore, at least to me.
Scroll Rack - Every church needs their divine texts right? Every church has a place to store them right?
Ashnod's Altar - Every church has an altar... I think.
Seal of Cleansing - A decent amount of religions have some sort of ritual or something to cleans a person's soul of wrong doing, evil spirits, etc.
Karma - Every religion has some sort of semblance of Karma.
Cards that had really nice flavor for the deck but just didn't make the cut.
Quest for the Holy Relic - This is amazing flavor. Every religion I've looked into has some sort of relics mentioned in their texts and there's always people searching for those relics. Amazing flavor, but I've only got one equipment.
Sol Grail - Mostly a reference to Christianity and the Holy Grail. Didn't make the cut cause it's worse than Darksteel Ingot and that didn't make the cut.
Words of Worship - White needs card draw. Giving up draws is bad, even if I have Well of Lost dreams.
White Sun's Zenith - Sun? White deck? Eh? Eh? I suppose I can't wish it made clerics, but it just didn't make the cut. It was close, but it didn't.
Congregate - Cause Congregation?
Rebuff the Wicked - Too specific. It's not a bad card by any means, but most of the time i'll want to kill someone else's stuff rather than protect my one thing once.
Now, before I go any further, I'm just going to say that there won't be a list of off-theme cards that didn't make the cut. The list would be longer than the actual decklist. There are a lot of amazing cards that just didn't make the cut solely because this is a tribal deck, let alone me trying to make flavor in this deck. Many cards that aren't on flavor are just cards that work really well for the other cards that make up the theme of the deck. Now that that is over, let's continue.
Cards that I want/need for the deck, not that they would guarantee make the cut anyway.
Heliod, God of the Sun - Yeah, I don't actually own a copy. I'm proxying him at the moment, but he'll be the only thing I proxy.
Academy Rector - I know that I had one, but I can't seem to find it and that scares me a bit. For all I know, It's in a deck that I haven't archived yet.
Idealic Tutor - See Academy Rector.
Children of Korlis - It's a cleric and Has some uses. It would have been tough to fit in even if I could have found one.
Containment Priest - Really good card all together, and it's a cleric.
Custodi Squire - It's a cleric and more recursion is always good.
Devout Chaplain - More removal in the form of a cleric. I also am running quite a bit of humans too.
Evangel of Heliod - Omg tokens... and a cleric.
Fountain Watch - I run a lot of enchantments and artifacts and my General both is and produces Enchantments.
Grand abolisher - It's pretty good. Not sure if it would make the cut, but I do have a few things that I could switch out for better stuff anyway.
Monk Realist - Slightly worse flavor than War Priest of Thune, but still a really nice effect.
Mother of Runes - Don't have one, wish I did. I don't really see a reason not to run it.
Shaman En-Kor - Combos with Daru Spiritualist and Miran, the moaning well. I just don't own one.
True Believer - Omg, the flavor.
Skybind - Amazing enchantment based card.
Banishing Light - O-ring #2 and more on theme.
Eidolon of Rhetoric - Keeps people from dropping their hand or getting up a storm count, but suddenly control decks rule the world and I'm not sure if i'm ok with that. And it's not a cleric.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Not really on the overall theme but on theme with Heliod and the whole Sun thing.
Evangel of Heliod - It's a cleric that makes soldiers to protect the church. That and I think it would be pretty good in monowhite in general.
Gift of Immortality - Combos with Sun titan?
Glimpse the Sun God - Delicious, delicious flavor. It's ok as an actual card though.
Starfield of Nyx - It's where the gods live... kind of. Either way, it's just really good.
Silent Sentinel - Not much flavor on this, but I do run enough enchantments to be worth it.
Spear of Heliod - It's his spear. It's ability is a bit lack luster but with the Anthem ability, the tap ability is pure gravy.
Spirit of the Labyrinth - Again, not really on theme, but really nice to keep me from falling too far behind with white's lack of draw.
Tethmos High Priest - I like everything about this card, except the fact that it's the Heroic mechanic. It's still really good and I've got a few cards that didn't make the cut that would see a reevaluation, but I hate Heroic. Just putting that out there.
That's probably not all but that's all I can think of.
I think that about covers everything. Of course, I really like Heliod as a legendary, so I might keep him for a while even if the deck doesn't stay as a cleric tribal. Depending on the direction of my playgroup, It might not stay this way long. My original 60-card worked very well, but only because everyone was using aggro as a win condition, even the control decks. The second I played that against any deck that went for infinite mana into an X spell, or just a lot of mass removal, its entire game plan just didn't do anything.
Creatures
2 Weathered Wayfarer
3 Faith Healer
4 Knight of the White Orchid
5 War Priest of Thune
6 Mesa Enchantress
7 Aven Mindcensor
8 Stonecloaker
9 Order of Whiteclay
10 Mirror Entity
11 Mentor of the Meek
12 Banisher Priest
13 Fiend Hunter
14 Restoration Angel
15 False Prophet
16 Auriok Salvagers
17 Solemn Simulacrum
18 Archon of Justice
19 World Queller
20 Reveillark
21 Karmic Guide
22 Sun Titan
23 Duplicant
24 Ghosts of the Innocent
25 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
26 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
27 Sol Ring
28 Skullclamp
29 Expedition Map
30 Sensei's Divining Top
31 Scroll Rack
32 Pearl Medallion
33 Crucible of Worlds
34 Rings of Brighthearth
35 Oblivion Stone
36 Blasting Station
37 Ashnod's Altar
38 Alhammarret's Archive
Enchantments
39 Porphyry Nodes
40 Land Tax
41 Blind Obedience
42 Greater Auramancy
43 Seal of Cleansing
44 Journey to Nowhere
45 Angelic Renewal
46 Aura of Silence
47 Stasis Snare
48 Oblivion Ring
49 Crackdown
50 Equipoise
51 Sigil of the New Dawn
52 Karma
53 Enlightened Tutor
54 Swords to Plowshares
55 Path to Exile
56 Leave No Trace
57 Faith's Reward
58 Return to Dust
Sorceries
59 Revoke Existence
60 Wrath of God
61 Day of Judgment
62 Tragic Arrogance
63 Plea for Guidance
Land
64 Arid Mesa
65 Windswept Heath
66 Flooded Strand
67 Cavern of Souls
68 Mistveil Plains
69 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
70 Flagstones of Trokair
71 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
72 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
73 Serra's Sanctum
74 Miren, the Moaning Well
75 Dust Bowl
76 Thespian's Stage
77 Terrain Generator
78 Reliquary Tower
79 Ancient Tomb
21x Plains
My main issue right now, other than needing to obtain more cards from newer blocks/sets, is that Heliod turns off Order of Whiteclay's ability as I have no other way of tapping it other than attacking. Order of Whiteclay puts in some surprisingly good work, so I don't want to drop it. I'm tempted to add a few stupid things like Springleaf Drum, which would be mana ramp, but I don't know of more than a couple of cheap artifacts or enchants that let me tap creatures for something worth using. I'd also like to add that my list of cards I want/need for the deck is still under that spoiler, if for some reason people want to look or see why I want/need them.
Anyway, Thanks for viewing and feel free to leave suggestions.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade
Cleric tribal just doesn't work in an even half competitive meta. Tore it down and built it as a control deck.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade