So I made a thread a while ago about my first attempt at creating a deck. Needless to say, it was rough. However, I've been playing it at local events, asking people for advice, reading on this forum, and just generally doing my homework. This Friday, I'll be going to a FNM and plan to have the deck ready to go and I want to do really well. I feel like I've hit just the right setup for my play style and I'm very happy at the moment, thanks to a few tweaks and trades I've made. Without further ado, here it is:
(Oh, I'm also not sure on what type of deck this would be "classified" as. I'm thinking it's either midrange or control, or maybe a mix of both? Some clarification on that would be great.)
So first, I'll start off by saying that Serra Angel may not be staying. I'm thinking about trading it out for either Celestial Archon or another Seraph of the Sword; I haven't decided yet. Anyway, with that said, here are my notes on the deck:
Yoked Ox - When I first looked at this card, I thought "Cool, a useless defender." Little did I realize that it isn't actually a defender, therefore can be used as an attacker. So it does 3 things for me: it gives my early game some much needed stabilization against cards like Fleecemane Lion and Anger of the Gods, gives my mid and late game extra attacking bodies (which is useful for triggering Frontline Medic's Battalion ability and extra lifegain from Path of Bravery) and it provides devotion for Heliod. That's a lot of utility for 1 mana.
Frontline Medic - This card is the core of my midgame and has fantastic synergy with the rest of my deck. The Battalion ability allows much more freedom when attacking, which helps trigger Path of Bravery, which then triggers Archangel, so on and so forth. When Heliod is out and giving everything Vigilance, I'm basically attacking for free and gaining life, adding +1/+1 counters to my creatures, or at least forcing spells out of my opponent that they'd rather use elsewhere. Add that to the fact that once he gives my creatures indestructibility, I can drop Supreme Verdict during the 2nd Main Phase and wipe out all of my opponent's creatures while keeping all of mine, and this card is incredibly good.
Boros Reckoner - Wasn't a card I had originally planned on using, but through playtesting I've found that I do have a good enough mana base to cast it right after Frontline Medic, which is when he becomes most useful. When attacking (especially with Frontline Medic's Battalion ability), it forces the opponent to take damage or waste a spell. Its bounce damage also makes it useful on defense, which further improves the stability of the deck as it builds up to Archangel. The 3 white devotion also helps trigger Heliod very quickly.
Heliod - A huge 5/6 body for just 4 mana and it doesn't take long for my devotion to enable him. The vigilance ability is extremely useful as I have previously mentioned and the Cleric token ability is a very useful backup plan in games where, for example, I end up getting mana flooded or someone casts a board wipe.
Seraph of the Sword - Another great defensive stabilization card and the mana cost helps smoothen out my mana curve.
Archangel of Thune - My favorite card. Combined with Path of Bravery, Heliod, and Frontline Medic, things just get out of hand very very quickly.
Angel of Serenity - The perfect card for turning the tide in a stalemate or providing the finishing blow.
Then I have my Essence Scatters and Celestial Flares to help keep early creatures off the board while I build up to my mid and late game. Supreme Verdict is a great game saver if I'm getting flooded with attacking creatures or a game ender if I can cast it after activating Frontline Medic's Battalion ability. Path of Bravery, as mentioned earlier, is just absolutely killer with Archangel of Thune. It's also great with Heliod and Frontline Medic where I can attack freely, even if only for the life gain.
The sideboard is still something I'm working on and is incomplete at this time.
Anyways, that is my deck at the moment and I would love to hear your comments, suggestions and advice as I move forward. Thanks for reading!
Just wanted to update and say that I just played this deck at a local FNM and it did fantastic. I played some really fast paced decks (which is what I was mainly afraid of) and the deck played out beautifully.
Between Yoked Ox, Celestial Flare, Negate and Essence Scatter, I was really able to keep the early damage minimal. In fact, Yoked Ox was so effective (and annoying) that people started throwing spells like Doom Blade at it. The counter spells were just brutal at times. Then once my big plays came out, like Frontline Medic/Supreme Verdict and Path of Bravery/Archangel, etc, it was pretty much game over.
So my first 3 matches played out exactly as I had planned. Then I matched up against a white/green deck with cards like Loxodon Smiter, Fleecemane Lion and Boros Reckoner. The Smiter was quite a pain because I couldn't use Essence Scatter and Yoked Ox can't stop him; I'm thinking I'll need to sideboard in either some Detention Spheres or Celestial Flares against plays like that. Though even with all of that, I was literally one draw away from winning both games against that deck, and absolutely would have won had it not been for some stupid errors on my part. But all in all, I came in a very very close second place and can't complain. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again.
With that said, some assistance with the sideboard would be great, because I'm really not sure what I want to sideboard and what I would trade in/out in different situations. Right now I have:
Apparently nobody really cares about this thread, but I am seeing threads with similar decks popping up so I figure I'll update my build.
I decided to go test the waters at a local SCGI Qualifier over the weekend to try to hone my piloting skills and see where my deck stands. The bad news is that I didn't win a single round out of the 5 I played, but the good news is that every single round (not joking) was a very tightly contested 2-1 battle and I did not make any serious errors. It just seemed that my opponents were getting perfect top decks while I was not. That comes down to a little bit of luck and maybe a slightly better deck/sideboard as well.
Sadly, the 0-5 result really does not properly represent how the deck played, but that's how it goes sometimes. The great thing, though, is that I learned a lot about my deck's strengths and weaknesses. So without further ado, here we go:
I played against a mono red aggro deck, a gruul beasts deck with Xenagos and Domri and a mono black control deck most notably.
Yoked Ox did some serious work in all matchups and turned out to be a real pain for my opponents to break through. The mono red deck, in particular, used an Anger of the Gods to wipe out a Frontline Medic and then had to waste a Lightning Strike to finish off the Ox. That is a fantastic trade for me. It may be a 1 cmc common, but it's been worth its weight in gold time and time again.
The counter spells were great when I got to use them, but the biggest issue I faced was the fact that they were too dependent on the situation. I had planned to have my Negates to help keep Planeswalkers off the board, but I never had one handy when one was cast. Planeswalkers ended up being one of the main issues for my deck throughout the day, as were other non-creature threats. There were plenty of times when I would have an Essence Scatter in my hand when a non-creature spell was cast and vice versa. That was probably the key issue for me; the counters were just too dependent on timing.
Heliod, God of the Sun also did some serious work. There were 2 games where I got badly mana flooded but Heliod kept the games much closer than they should have been. He's an absolute beast.
Archangel/Path of Bravery continues to be a fantastic combination once it hits the field. I don't think I lost any games in which that combo came out.
Boros Reckoner really threw opponents off. They expect a slow paced control deck when they see my first couple of turns, but then the heat quickly turns up when Frontline Medic and Reckoner hit the field. Both of those cards did some serious work as well.
Supreme Verdict was its usual self, constantly swinging the board state in my favor.
Seraph of the Sword continues to perform great; I'm tempted to find a spot in my deck for a 2nd one. We'll see.
So in the end, it really just ended up being non-creature threats that gave me issues. I also felt like my spells could use a bit more utility and variance, so I took some advice and made some trades. This is what the deck looks like now:
Azorius Charm gives advantages in any stage of the game and is just a must-have in a deck like this. Blind Obedience will help against aggro, create openings for my aggressive midgame, and drain my opponents health while giving me lifegain/triggering Archangel. Detention Sphere will give me the much needed non-creature removal I need while also being flexible. I have some play testing to do, but I feel like this is a much more well-rounded assortment of spells that will fit right in the deck without problem. With the mana curve mainly tapping out around 3-4, I may drop an Island to bring in an extra Seraph of the Sword. That will require a lot of play testing though, as I'm hesitant to mess with the steady mana base. Another possible change coming in the near future may be a pair of Sphinx's Revelations to help the late game.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome, even if it means telling me that I have no idea what I'm talking about (I'll likely agree with you haha). Thanks!
You're trying to do too much. You only have seventy five slots. You can't be a control deck and a mid range deck. Focus on one or the other. Your deck should focus on doing one thing every time you play. You need a game plan that is consistent. Either be a control deck with wrath effects and d spheres and a few finishers or be a mid range deck with progressively bigger threats. I hope that helps.
I'm simply trying to survive the first few turns, then steadily produce more threats throughout the mid and late game than my opponents can respond to while also having to deal with my removal/bounce. I am not trying to flood the board with small creatures (obviously) or hang on for dear life until turn 15 until I get a win con.
Example: By turns 4-5, which is when I usually cast Supreme Verdict for the first time, one of two things tend to happen - either Frontline Medic is out with 2 other attackers to trigger battallion (therefore giving me a nice, immediate threat advantage after the verdict) or I have very little on the field and wipe the board clean, ready to start unveiling my threats while my opponent's gameplan just got shattered.
So, with that said, what exactly is it about my deck that's trying to do too much? Which cards don't seem to be working towards a common goal, and how would I go about tweaking the deck so that they do? Thanks for the reply!
- Lots of edits made to this post because I'm terrible at expressing my thoughts this morning haha.
Just attended a gameday yesterday at a local game store where 82 people showed up. The changes listed above seemed to definitely help the resilience of the deck as it was able to pull itself out of quite a few bad situations and turn the game around. I ended up barely missing the top 16 because I had to settle for a tie in one round which I was about to win, but ran out of turns since the round went past time. Every game loss I had yesterday was due to either mana flood or mana screw. I think I need to refine my shuffling technique or something, because one doesn't happen more often than the other to indicate a mana count issue within the deck. The good news is that I'm finally starting to figure out my sideboard. Here's how everything sits now:
The two creatures are in the sideboard because I'm still tweaking my creature layout to see what feels the best. As for the rest of the cards, the Negates are there to combat creatureless/nearly creatureless decks that give me trouble. I just remove the 4 Yoked Oxen in place of those since I won't need protection from early aggro. Celestial Flare is to help against decks running a lot of protection/hexproof/Stormbreath Dragon haha (I'll take out a combination of Azorious Charms and D-Spheres for them), and Brave the Elements/Gods Willing are there to protect my big cards like Archangel from decks with lots of targeted removal (Doom Blade).
Other notes:
I grabbed 4 Hallowed Fountains so now I'm down to 6 Island, 14 Plains, 4 Hallowed Fountains. The extra white mana really helps out, especially for extort.
Extort has proven its worth. In one game, I had Archangel out with Blind Obedience and Path of Bravery. Casted a spell, paid for Extort, triggered Archangel, then attacked with Archangel for 2 more lifegain triggers. With Boros Reckoner and Yoked Ox on the field getting huge really quick, my opponent immediately conceded.
Yoked Ox continues to be a life saver against fast aggro.
Just off the top of my head, Pithing Needle is a wonderful answer to planeswalkers, so if you are finding D-sphere to not be enough, the Needle is definitely worth a spot in the sideboard.
I played about a dozen test games so far on MTGO, and I just constantly found myself wishing I had counterspells and Sphinx's Revelations. I don't currently own any Revs because of ridiculous prices, but I did put one Opportunity in there because the 4 charms just weren't enough draw. I also ended up removing the Medics for an Aetherling and some counterspells. It seems to be doing better for me. I will say this though; the deck is in almost every game so far. I need to keep testing.
Glad you got to test it out some. As you can see in my earlier posts, I was running counter spells at one time, but unless I start bringing in counters with UU cost, I'm stuck with essence scatter, negate and syncopate. Essence scatter and negate always felt too situationally dependent and I always had to leave mana open. As for card draw, I've had the same thoughts about Sphinx's Revelations. In longer games, it turns into constant top decking and the deck loses steam. I've also been hesitant to run more high mana spells, but it might work. Let me know.
And I agree with your last part. Even with bad hands, this deck can keep a game close in almost any situation. I've had plenty of games where I'm able to hang in there and survive through rough mana floods and mana screws. It's very resilient and has the ability to turn the tide extremely fast. I feel like there is still some great potential to be found.
Edit: Im really liking the idea of trading out a medic for an Aetherling. He's a solid win con and mana sink. I just pulled one in a draft last week and ill be playing some local standard tonight so ill try it out.
Yes I do. I assume you're referencing what I said about my triple Archangel trigger play. One trigger was for Extort, one was for attack phase and the third was for combat damage due to lifelink.
Nope. Just making sure you know. I played against a guy the other night that thought it worked for each creature that attacked. Sad part is it was round 3. Meaning the first 2 opponents probably got screwed. Lol. Half the shop was on his side to. So I was just saying.
Nope. Just making sure you know. I played against a guy the other night that thought it worked for each creature that attacked. Sad part is it was round 3. Meaning the first 2 opponents probably got screwed. Lol. Half the shop was on his side to. So I was just saying.
It specifically says on it's rulings page that's it is one trigger for one life gain event.
Ah ok. I haven't come across anyone thinking that yet hahaha. At this point I've played this deck enough that I've just about perfected the triggering sequence. It gets a bit convoluted when the whole combo is chugging along.
Just got back from playing a weekly Monday night tournament at a local store. Played some really tough decks, but the deck played awesome, even if I didn't. Here's a summary:
Before going, I took out a Frontline Medic for an Aetherling in the main deck. I set up my sideboard with 3 Negate, 3 Celestial Flare, 3 Gods Willing and a few other cards that I was going to try out but haven't gotten around to yet.
First Round: Blue/Black Control
Game 1 - This guy had an ungodly amount of counter spells and targeted removal (Doom Blade). Even an endless onslaught of Medics, Reckoners, and Archangels couldn't stay on the field for more than a turn. Seriously, the stack of creatures in my graveyard was insane. A very long, drawn out loss.
Game 2 - I boarded in Negates and Gods Willings. Was able to counter an early Underworld Connections and sat tight with several good cards in my hand while I waited to come into a Negate or Gods Willing for protection. Unfortunately neither of them came. I ended up casting 2 Archangels and a Heliod, basically putting them up for slaughter to clear the way for Aetherling on the next turn, which resolved. He tried to cast Hero's Downfall on Aetherling without noticing that I had left a blue mana open, at which point I evaded the removal. For the rest of the game, Aetherling popped in, dodged blockers, struck for 4, and with my open blue mana, he wasn't going to be taken by removal. Aetherling single-handedly won game 2.
Game 3 - I was simply able to put more threats on the board than he could remove. A simple and straight forward win.
Result: 2-1 Win
Second Round: Green/Red Monsters
Game 1 - This was basically a net deck with Stormbreath Dragon, Polukranos, Polis Crusher, Nykthos etc. In the first game, they had a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon and a Polukranos that was going to become monstrous next turn. Needless to say, I was in trouble. Luckily for me, I was able to trigger Frontline Medic's Battalion, swung in with indestructible creatures, then wiped their board with a Supreme Verdict. From there on out, I had board control and won the game shortly thereafter.
Game 2 - Got mana screwed. 'Nuff said.
Result: 1-1 tie (time ran out)
Third Round: U/W Heroic/Evasion
Game 1 - This is a deck that I have handily beaten every time I've played it. Sadly for me, I was unable to draw a single blue mana (After like 7 turns!! This is an extremely rare occurrence), which is what I needed stabilize behind a Supreme Verdict.
Game 2 - This one stung. As usual, he gets in his early game damage, no worries. I get Archangel out and I am 1 turn away from casting Heliod, stabilizing with his devotion, and pretty much winning the game from there because that deck has no answers for mine once I've stabilized. However, I was on the unfortunate end of math as he was able to do exactly enough damage to kill me right before I was able to stabilize.
Result: 0-2 loss
Fourth Round: U/R Burn/Tokens
Game 1 - This guy is known for building token decks. In this particular deck, he was running Young Pyromaster and Master of Waves along with a ton of burn spells (and even a Spellheart Chimera for good measure). In game 1, I stabilized against the early aggression with Reckoner and Yoked Ox, D-Sphered a whole ton of Elemental tokens (lol) and put the final nail in the coffin with an Angel of Serenity that threatened to resurrect a pair of Boros Reckoners and a Frontline Medic if he tried to take it down. Heliod was out on the board and activated as well, so I was able to swing in for damage and defend with ease. In case things went bad for whatever reason, I had Aetherling sitting in my hand. Solid win.
Game 2 - I boarded in 3 Gods Willings for burn protection. Had a solid hand, but the follow-up draws were just exactly what I didn't need to hold off the aggro. Even with all the early game issues, I still almost stabilized but it was too little too late.
Game 3 - Had a beautiful hand. By the end, we were both trading blows. I had Archangel and Boros Reckoner out on the field, backed up by Path of Bravery and Blind Obedience, which were triggering like crazy. Sadly, I dropped the ball on what would have been the game winning move and it cost me the game. I forgot that giving a creature a protection from a certain color also means that a creature of that color is unable to block it. If I had realized that, I would have been able to swing for unblockable lethal damage.
Result 1-2 loss
So the last game hurt, but the deck just played awesome as usual. I beat an extremely tough U/B Control deck, tied with what was basically a pro R/G deck, should have beaten a burn/token deck had it not been for my stupidity, and the only real bad game was against a deck I usually beat but I just got bad/unlucky draws, which happens. So all in all, I can't complain. And I learned some new things:
1) Aetherling is a monster. Once resolved, he can just take over a game. He absolutely wrecked a deck that I was having trouble with. This card will not be leaving the mainboard. LordPrometheus, thank you for the idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.
2) I feel like God's Willing is more useful than Azorius Charm. Azorius Charm does have nice effects, but I felt like protecting my creatures from targeted removal (and being able to Scry) did a lot more good for the deck than just bouncing early cards back to someone's library. Allowing my creatures to stick to the board really lets the deck come into its own. The charm will probably be a sideboard card while I test out God's Willing.
3) I still suck at Magic. I keep losing games that I shouldn't because of overlooking silly things. However, I do constantly see myself improving and hope to continue to do so. After screwing up a ton of Path of Bravery and Lifegain triggers since creating this deck, I was extremely sharp tonight and didn't miss a single one. That felt quite good. Also, until that final game against the burn deck, my decision making was really good and I was making the most out of every situation.
4) I still love this deck. Even when behind, it does not take much to swing the momentum within a turn or two and win the game from there. I never feel down and out until the final turn. And when it's ahead, it pretty much just doesn't lose (assuming I don't make any stupid mistakes, of course!).
5) Several people have admitted to sideboarding/mainboarding cards just for playing against my deck. I'd say that's a sign that I'm doing something right.
Anyways guys, that's all for now! Thanks for reading.
Just got back from playing a weekly Monday night tournament at a local store. Played some really tough decks, but the deck played awesome, even if I didn't. Here's a summary:
Before going, I took out a Frontline Medic for an Aetherling in the main deck. I set up my sideboard with 3 Negate, 3 Celestial Flare, 3 Gods Willing and a few other cards that I was going to try out but haven't gotten around to yet.
First Round: Blue/Black Control
Game 1 - This guy had an ungodly amount of counter spells and targeted removal (Doom Blade). Even an endless onslaught of Medics, Reckoners, and Archangels couldn't stay on the field for more than a turn. Seriously, the stack of creatures in my graveyard was insane. A very long, drawn out loss.
Game 2 - I boarded in Negates and Gods Willings. Was able to counter an early Underworld Connections and sat tight with several good cards in my hand while I waited to come into a Negate or Gods Willing for protection. Unfortunately neither of them came. I ended up casting 2 Archangels and a Heliod, basically putting them up for slaughter to clear the way for Aetherling on the next turn, which resolved. He tried to cast Hero's Downfall on Aetherling without noticing that I had left a blue mana open, at which point I evaded the removal. For the rest of the game, Aetherling popped in, dodged blockers, struck for 4, and with my open blue mana, he wasn't going to be taken by removal. Aetherling single-handedly won game 2.
Game 3 - I was simply able to put more threats on the board than he could remove. A simple and straight forward win.
Result: 2-1 Win
Second Round: Green/Red Monsters
Game 1 - This was basically a net deck with Stormbreath Dragon, Polukranos, Polis Crusher, Nykthos etc. In the first game, they had a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon and a Polukranos that was going to become monstrous next turn. Needless to say, I was in trouble. Luckily for me, I was able to trigger Frontline Medic's Battalion, swung in with indestructible creatures, then wiped their board with a Supreme Verdict. From there on out, I had board control and won the game shortly thereafter.
Game 2 - Got mana screwed. 'Nuff said.
Result: 1-1 tie (time ran out)
Third Round: U/W Heroic/Evasion
Game 1 - This is a deck that I have handily beaten every time I've played it. Sadly for me, I was unable to draw a single blue mana (After like 7 turns!! This is an extremely rare occurrence), which is what I needed stabilize behind a Supreme Verdict.
Game 2 - This one stung. As usual, he gets in his early game damage, no worries. I get Archangel out and I am 1 turn away from casting Heliod, stabilizing with his devotion, and pretty much winning the game from there because that deck has no answers for mine once I've stabilized. However, I was on the unfortunate end of math as he was able to do exactly enough damage to kill me right before I was able to stabilize.
Result: 0-2 loss
Fourth Round: U/R Burn/Tokens
Game 1 - This guy is known for building token decks. In this particular deck, he was running Young Pyromaster and Master of Waves along with a ton of burn spells (and even a Spellheart Chimera for good measure). In game 1, I stabilized against the early aggression with Reckoner and Yoked Ox, D-Sphered a whole ton of Elemental tokens (lol) and put the final nail in the coffin with an Angel of Serenity that threatened to resurrect a pair of Boros Reckoners and a Frontline Medic if he tried to take it down. Heliod was out on the board and activated as well, so I was able to swing in for damage and defend with ease. In case things went bad for whatever reason, I had Aetherling sitting in my hand. Solid win.
Game 2 - I boarded in 3 Gods Willings for burn protection. Had a solid hand, but the follow-up draws were just exactly what I didn't need to hold off the aggro. Even with all the early game issues, I still almost stabilized but it was too little too late.
Game 3 - Had a beautiful hand. By the end, we were both trading blows. I had Archangel and Boros Reckoner out on the field, backed up by Path of Bravery and Blind Obedience, which were triggering like crazy. Sadly, I dropped the ball on what would have been the game winning move and it cost me the game. I forgot that giving a creature a protection from a certain color also means that a creature of that color is unable to block it. If I had realized that, I would have been able to swing for unblockable lethal damage.
Result 1-2 loss
So the last game hurt, but the deck just played awesome as usual. I beat an extremely tough U/B Control deck, tied with what was basically a pro R/G deck, should have beaten a burn/token deck had it not been for my stupidity, and the only real bad game was against a deck I usually beat but I just got bad/unlucky draws, which happens. So all in all, I can't complain. And I learned some new things:
1) Aetherling is a monster. Once resolved, he can just take over a game. He absolutely wrecked a deck that I was having trouble with. This card will not be leaving the mainboard. LordPrometheus, thank you for the idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.
2) I feel like God's Willing is more useful than Azorius Charm. Azorius Charm does have nice effects, but I felt like protecting my creatures from targeted removal (and being able to Scry) did a lot more good for the deck than just bouncing early cards back to someone's library. Allowing my creatures to stick to the board really lets the deck come into its own. The charm will probably be a sideboard card while I test out God's Willing.
3) I still suck at Magic. I keep losing games that I shouldn't because of overlooking silly things. However, I do constantly see myself improving and hope to continue to do so. After screwing up a ton of Path of Bravery and Lifegain triggers since creating this deck, I was extremely sharp tonight and didn't miss a single one. That felt quite good. Also, until that final game against the burn deck, my decision making was really good and I was making the most out of every situation.
4) I still love this deck. Even when behind, it does not take much to swing the momentum within a turn or two and win the game from there. I never feel down and out until the final turn. And when it's ahead, it pretty much just doesn't lose (assuming I don't make any stupid mistakes, of course!).
5) Several people have admitted to sideboarding/mainboarding cards just for playing against my deck. I'd say that's a sign that I'm doing something right.
Anyways guys, that's all for now! Thanks for reading.
You don't suck, I've seen that same mistake made even among experienced players. My friend, who has a framed power nine, once gave his creature protection from red to protect it from burn then tried to brute strength it later in the same turn...... I tell him: "you dunce it's not targetable", anyway those things happen.
At this point you have made your deck pretty good. However there is an issue I see. Yoked oz is not that great, I know you wrote aggro, AotG, blah blah. But at the end of the day it just doesn't get you that far and it takes up 4 slots. A good slot choice has to be defensive but also useful in other situations, like cheap removal.
Consider more celestial flare, gods willing, or smite if you are having aggro issues, the last one is really underestimated as your opponent won't expect you to have 1cmc removal.
Consider precinct captain instead of the ox. he gives solid offense and defense since he has first strike. You build is rocking a lot of removal that means he will connect at least once. He is amazing with path of bravery.
Consider 2 Rootborn defense. People will try to board wipe you as well. Or maybe put it in the sideboard.
Listen to what Friday said. He has a point. Choose if you want to play a build which is midrange, or control. Azorious midrange simply doesn't play supreme verdict, you don't want to nuke your own creatures, it's just a fact. it doesn't matter that you have some decent results. If you want great results you want total synergy.
Between some spells like syncopate, dissolve, celestial flare, and detention sphere a deck like this can survive early rounds without mass removal. If however you are playing supreme verdict purely for the medic synergy I would recommend playing some better card draw like revelation or opportunity, only running 2 verdict and 4 medics.
Don't play more than 2 blind obedience. this card has diminishing returns later in the game when your opponent will have much bigger threats. At that point in the game it's life drain will have minimal impact and even with thune angel synergy you won't have enough cards in hand to get full use out of that. If you are playing more than 2 copies for its tap ability consider 1 or 2 imposing sovereign.
Consider Ajani, he can have similar utility to path of bravery and also be a threat on his own. He gives control players a real fit. He forces your opponent to think about a planewalker. He's got an insane ultimate if you are gaining life and it seems like your are.
I just realized that you played seraph of the sword because you have no threats at cmc 4. Here is what I will say; if you have more creatures in your meta stick with seraph, maybe even add another. If you have more control then ascended lawmage will be better.
I think 4 thune angle and 1 aetherling is putting a very high curve. Cut 1 thune. Be careful with things like mana curve, it's what makes the difference between good players and great players. If you need to make a minor power decrease in your deck it's better than having a bad curve and not getting out your spells.
Thank you very much for a very informative post. It's actually quite funny because you brought up several things that I have been thinking about since last night. I'll address all of that to the best of my ability
You don't suck, I've seen that same mistake among even experienced players. My friend, who has framed power nine, once gave his creature shroud to protect it from removal then tried to pump it later in the same turn...... I tell dude, you dunce it's not targetable, anyway those things happen.
Yeah, I definitely realize I'm not the only one, it just gets frustrating because I feel like my deck should be dominating locally. But that's why I keep playing, improving my piloting skills and improving my deck!
At this point you have made your deck pretty good. However there is an issue I see. Yoked oz is not that great, I know you wrote aggro, aotg, blah blah. But at the end of the day it just doesn't get you that far and it takes up 4 slots.
[snip]
Consider precinct captain instead of the ox. he gives solid offense and defense since he has first strike. You build is rocking a lot of removal that means he will connect at least once. He is amazing with path of bravery.
Very interesting point you have here. It's honestly not something I've thought about during play, but now that I look back at the issues I've had with the early game, Precinct Captain does seem like it would be a great fit with my deck.
Consider more celestial flare,gods willing, or smite if you are having aggro issues, the later is really underestimated as your opponent won't expect you to have 1cmc removal.
I definitely agree with your points here. As I mentioned last night, I'm feeling like Gods Willing is going to be a very useful card. I really liked having it at my disposal last night. The biggest (but certainly not only) reason for this is because I was able to ensure that my creatures stuck to the board, which I'll address once again later in this post. Interesting comment on that Smite card, though, I had never seen it before. As for Celestial Flare, I'm still playing around with that as I continue fine-tuning everything.
Listen to what Friday said. He has a point. Choose if you want to play a build which is midrange, or control. Azorious midrange simply doesn't play supreme verdict, you don't want to nuke your own creatures, it's just a fact. it doesn't matter that you have some decent results. If you want great results you want total synergy.
Between some spells like syncopate, dissolve, celestial flare, and detention sphere a deck like this can survive early rounds without mass removal. If however you are playing supreme verdict purely for the medic synergy I would recommend playing some better card draw like revelation or opportunity, only running 2 verdict and 4 medics.
I wasn't ignoring him or anything, I was just asking for some clarification. I've had similar thoughts while playing the deck, because there will be times where I have very nice creatures out but I'm still not stabilized, making the verdict(s) in my hand quite a difficult decision. It's not often, but it does happen. In the deck's current iteration, I would keep the verdicts, but considering the changes you have proposed with Precinct Captain and more spot removal/counter spells, I'm thinking that could be a better overall strategy. It's funny because I feel like this deck has been kind of dancing right around that for a while now, it just hasn't quite narrowed in on it.
Don't play more than 2 blind obedience, this card has diminishing returns later in the game when your opponent will have much bigger threats. If you are playing more than 2 copies for its tap ability consider 1 or 2 imposing sovereign.
Good call on this, I've been thinking that 3 is overkill. 2 should be plenty.
Consider Ajani, he can have similar utility to that of path of bravery and also be a threat on his own. He gives control players a real fit. He forces your opponent to think about a planewalker. He's got an insane ultimate if you are gaining life and it seems like your are.
This is another part of your post that made me chuckle because I was just checking this card out last night online, thinking of ways to fit it into my deck. It would be a fantastic addition.
I just realized that you played seraph of the sword because you have no threats at cmc 4. Here is what I will say; if you have more creatures in your meta stick with seraph, maybe even add another. If you have more control then ascended lawmage will be better.
Once again, it appears we're on the same page. I've had a second one floating around in my sideboard for a while now, I just haven't figured out what to take out for it yet. For the most part, my local meta appears to be very creature-heavy, with the rare exceptions of course. I think I've only played 2 decks that weren't.
I think 4 thune angle and 1 aetherling is putting a very high curve. Cut 1 thune. Be careful with things like mana curve, it's what makes the difference between good players and great players. If you need to make a minor power decrease in your deck it's better than having a bad curve and not getting out your spells.
You may very well be right, but I did not encounter this issue in any of my games last night. In fact, a recurring theme with this deck prior to the addition of Aetherling is that I felt like my mana would just become useless after a number of turns and I would just find myself top decking and hoping that I'd get Angel of Serenity. Last night, with the Aetherling addition, not once did I encounter an issue with not being able to cast what I needed to, and I was also much more confident in the very late game. But, as I said, you may be right and I will keep this in consideration as I continue tweaking everything. The potential increased pace in the early game could ensure that I win long before I get to that top-decking phase.
With all of that said, here are some changes that I will be considering and playtesting:
+3 Gods Willing
+3 Precinct Captain
+4 Celestial Flare
+2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
+1 Seraph of the Sword
Of course, these are subject to change as I continue to ponder ideas. I'll likely sideboard Rootborn Defense for now, since I seem to not encounter board wipes very often. I guess it will be one of those wait-and-see type deals. Thank you very much, though, I really appreciate the informative reply. It has really helped confirm some of my thoughts and pointed me in the right direction.
Ok guys, I think I've got the deck really close to where it needs to be. I went to a small local event tonight and someone reminded me of a card that I totally forgot about: Soldier of the Pantheon. 2/1 for 1 mana, protection from multicolored (fantastic against things like Loxodon Smiter and Fleecemane Lion, both of which have given me issues), and gains life when a multicolored spell is cast (yet another Archangel trigger if it comes into the late game). That's some fantastic synergy for the rest of my deck. We discussed a few things after that and a light bulb switched. Before I get into everything, lets check out my new current decklist:
With this setup, the deck can be very explosive. Turn 1 Soldier, turn 2 Captain, turn 3 Medic, turn 4 Verdict/Seraph/Heliod/whatever. A combination of Ajani's -3 and Brave the Elements can just kill someone outright early in the game. Heliod can easily be activated by turn 4 and be ready to swing on turn 5, at which point I can send him in with double strike and flying for a massive hit. Or getting early board presence for Medic to come into and set up the Verdict play (which will catch people by surprise since a deck like this generally doesn't run Verdict) will just blow the board extremely in my favor. There are so many ways for the deck to win now, it's insane. If it gets to the late game, Archangel shows up with the usual combination of PoB and Blind Obedience to bulk up what is probably an already strong set of creatures.
You may have noticed that I took out a land; that's just because the mana curve has dropped off significantly. From my preliminary play tests, this seems like an extremely lethal deck and the synergy is wonderful throughout. I am really liking where it sits now. I was sad to remove Aetherling and Angel of Serenity but I think the deck is much better now. I may sideboard them along with an extra land if I ever feel like or need to give my deck a more late game focus, like when facing a super slow control deck, for example.
Here's a quick rundown of synergies within the deck:
Frontline Medic/Supreme Verdict - use his indestructibility trigger to keep my creatures alive while I blow up my opponent's creatures. The stronger early game will make this a much more common play.
Precinct Captain/Path of Bravery - Attack attack attack! Do damage, get more creatures(tokens), gain more life and maybe even get +1/+1 for everything while we're at it. On top of that, Heliod and Frontline Medic make attacking even more fruitful and Brave the Elements/Blind Obedience can ensure that a ton of damage gets through.
Ajani/lots of stuff- Use the -3 to do critical damage or take it to the late game, gain a ton of life with Archangel and drop the -8 bomb.
Archangel/Soldier - Gaining life for multicolored spells....yet another possible trigger for Archangel to exploit.
Boros Reckoner/attacking - When attacking (which is what the deck is now built do do), the opponent will be forced to take damage. With other attacking creatures possibly having a combination of first strike/indestructibility/double strike and flying/vigilance, it will put the opponent in a horrible position.
Archangel/Path of Bravery/Blind Obedience - trigger that health gain!
Needless to say, I'm really excited to try this out and see how it does in live action. And as usual, thoughts and suggestions are welcome!
Just got back from FNM and the deck played great. Finished the night in 2nd place with a 3-1 record. My only loss was to the one person I can never seem to beat in Standard and it's basically because he's just a better player than I am at this point; I keep making simple mistakes against him that end up being the difference between winning and losing. My deck curb stomped a pair of white weenie decks in rounds 1 and 2 and nicely handled a black/green/blue deck. I was able to get off the Medic/Verdict combo on a regular basis, Brave the Elements came in handy as both a creature protector and a damage enabler and the deck just overall felt solid all the way throughout the mana curve. I'll be trying out a few small changes, but nothing major at this point. I'm quite pleased with where it's at and don't plan any major overhauls from here on out.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I always enjoy looking back and seeing how any sort of "project" progresses from start to end, and this deck has been no different.
So I played the deck as it was in my previous post on Monday and was able to get some good experience with it, which has really helped me with the final few tweaks that I think will push it even closer to where I want it to be. I finished 2nd on Monday night, only losing to a net-decked Mono Black Devotion build. Before I get into anything, here's how the deck sits now:
The biggest immediate change is the replacement of Supreme Verdict with Celestial Flare. I made this adjustment for a few reasons:
- The Medic/Verdict combo was too fragile once I went up against the MBD deck, which just wrecked my combo before it could even leave my hand.
- The main time my deck loses is when there is one creature, like a monstrositied Fleecemane Lion, that I just can't deal with. I haven't had a single game in which I've been hugely outgunned as far as board presence. 4 Spheres and 3 Celestial Flares should be more than enough to maintain the advantage. I can even set up multiple blockers and drop a Brave the Elements to kill something off if necessary.
- It gets around hexproof and evasion, which is very useful.
Other changes:
-2 Seraph of the Sword
-1 Archangel of Thune
-2 Path of Bravery
+1 Detention Sphere
+1 Fiendslayer Paladin
+1 Soldier of the Pantheon
+1 Boros Reckoner
+1 Sphinx's Revelation
The Paths of Bravery just felt clunky and were usually a dead card until lategame, unless I had nothing else to cast. Yeah, sometimes it was useful, but I replaced them with a Soldier of the Pantheon and a Fiendslayer Paladin, both of which maintain the lifegain subtheme while also not slowing the deck down. I actually think Fiendslayer Paladin could be quite useful since he dodges a whole boat load of removal (Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, any red burn spell, etc). His only weakness is being a somewhat weak 2/2 body, but that can easily be pumped by Ajani or Archangel. Depending on how useful he ends up being, we may see a couple more copies end up in here.
The 2 Seraphs of the Sword were replaced by a Boros Reckoner and a Detention Sphere. Again, they were nice, but their main contribution (blocking) can be done more efficiently with Reckoner and Sphere. I can instead block and bounce damage or just remove a threat of any kind. Reckoner and Sphere are cheaper and more versatile in the context of this deck.
I had originally removed an Archangel for an Aetherling, and yes it's a great finisher in the case of a board stall, but it just didn't seem to fit the theme of the deck. And I have to wait for 7 mana (with 3 blue sources) to be able to use it properly. So I traded it out for a Sphinx's Revelation. I can get my card advantage back in the lategame (or even midgame if it's an emergency situation) and the lifegain can pull me out of a hole and/or trigger Archangel. The "finisher" slot in this deck is still up for grabs, so we'll see how it goes. Aetherling is still in the sideboard just in case. Or I can always put the 4th Archangel back in as well.
Just to sum things up:
Primary theme/objective: Steadily increase board presence with creatures that must be answered. Attack with wreckless abandon if both Heliod and Medic get set up on the field. Set up alpha strikes with Brave the Elements and/or Ajani. Use Archangel and/or Sphinx's Revelation to put the nail in the coffin.
Sub theme: Lifegain. 4 Soldiers of the Pantheon, 3 Archangels of Thune, Fiendslayer Paladin, Sphinx's Revelation, and 2 Blind Obedience make this a difficult deck to kill off.
Well, I found out at FNM a couple of days ago that taking Supreme Verdict out was a bad idea. The deck lost a lot of its explosiveness and game-changing ability. I have now put the 3 Verdicts back in, the Celestial Flares have gone back to the sideboard, and I replaced 1 Detention Sphere for 1 more Sphinx's Revelation. I really like having some card draw if the game goes on for a while; it gives my deck much better chances of surviving and winning long games while not losing its punch in the early and midgame. Fiendslayer Paladin was a nice addition and did some really nice work whenever he came into play; definitely a keeper. We'll see how everything works out this coming Friday.
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(Oh, I'm also not sure on what type of deck this would be "classified" as. I'm thinking it's either midrange or control, or maybe a mix of both? Some clarification on that would be great.)
4x Yoked Ox
4x Frontline Medic
3x Boros Reckoner
2x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Seraph of the Sword
1x Celestial Archon
4x Archangel of Thune
1x Angel of Serenity
4x Essence Scatter
3x Negate
4x Supreme Verdict
2x Celestial Flare
3x Path of Bravery
Land
14x Plains
10x Island
4x Brave the Elements
4x Detention Sphere
3x Blind Obedience
3x Gods Willing
So first, I'll start off by saying that Serra Angel may not be staying. I'm thinking about trading it out for either Celestial Archon or another Seraph of the Sword; I haven't decided yet. Anyway, with that said, here are my notes on the deck:
Yoked Ox - When I first looked at this card, I thought "Cool, a useless defender." Little did I realize that it isn't actually a defender, therefore can be used as an attacker. So it does 3 things for me: it gives my early game some much needed stabilization against cards like Fleecemane Lion and Anger of the Gods, gives my mid and late game extra attacking bodies (which is useful for triggering Frontline Medic's Battalion ability and extra lifegain from Path of Bravery) and it provides devotion for Heliod. That's a lot of utility for 1 mana.
Frontline Medic - This card is the core of my midgame and has fantastic synergy with the rest of my deck. The Battalion ability allows much more freedom when attacking, which helps trigger Path of Bravery, which then triggers Archangel, so on and so forth. When Heliod is out and giving everything Vigilance, I'm basically attacking for free and gaining life, adding +1/+1 counters to my creatures, or at least forcing spells out of my opponent that they'd rather use elsewhere. Add that to the fact that once he gives my creatures indestructibility, I can drop Supreme Verdict during the 2nd Main Phase and wipe out all of my opponent's creatures while keeping all of mine, and this card is incredibly good.
Boros Reckoner - Wasn't a card I had originally planned on using, but through playtesting I've found that I do have a good enough mana base to cast it right after Frontline Medic, which is when he becomes most useful. When attacking (especially with Frontline Medic's Battalion ability), it forces the opponent to take damage or waste a spell. Its bounce damage also makes it useful on defense, which further improves the stability of the deck as it builds up to Archangel. The 3 white devotion also helps trigger Heliod very quickly.
Heliod - A huge 5/6 body for just 4 mana and it doesn't take long for my devotion to enable him. The vigilance ability is extremely useful as I have previously mentioned and the Cleric token ability is a very useful backup plan in games where, for example, I end up getting mana flooded or someone casts a board wipe.
Seraph of the Sword - Another great defensive stabilization card and the mana cost helps smoothen out my mana curve.
Archangel of Thune - My favorite card. Combined with Path of Bravery, Heliod, and Frontline Medic, things just get out of hand very very quickly.
Angel of Serenity - The perfect card for turning the tide in a stalemate or providing the finishing blow.
Then I have my Essence Scatters and Celestial Flares to help keep early creatures off the board while I build up to my mid and late game. Supreme Verdict is a great game saver if I'm getting flooded with attacking creatures or a game ender if I can cast it after activating Frontline Medic's Battalion ability. Path of Bravery, as mentioned earlier, is just absolutely killer with Archangel of Thune. It's also great with Heliod and Frontline Medic where I can attack freely, even if only for the life gain.
The sideboard is still something I'm working on and is incomplete at this time.
Anyways, that is my deck at the moment and I would love to hear your comments, suggestions and advice as I move forward. Thanks for reading!
Between Yoked Ox, Celestial Flare, Negate and Essence Scatter, I was really able to keep the early damage minimal. In fact, Yoked Ox was so effective (and annoying) that people started throwing spells like Doom Blade at it. The counter spells were just brutal at times. Then once my big plays came out, like Frontline Medic/Supreme Verdict and Path of Bravery/Archangel, etc, it was pretty much game over.
So my first 3 matches played out exactly as I had planned. Then I matched up against a white/green deck with cards like Loxodon Smiter, Fleecemane Lion and Boros Reckoner. The Smiter was quite a pain because I couldn't use Essence Scatter and Yoked Ox can't stop him; I'm thinking I'll need to sideboard in either some Detention Spheres or Celestial Flares against plays like that. Though even with all of that, I was literally one draw away from winning both games against that deck, and absolutely would have won had it not been for some stupid errors on my part. But all in all, I came in a very very close second place and can't complain. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again.
With that said, some assistance with the sideboard would be great, because I'm really not sure what I want to sideboard and what I would trade in/out in different situations. Right now I have:
4x Brave the Elements
3x Blind Obedience
3x Gods Willing
I decided to go test the waters at a local SCGI Qualifier over the weekend to try to hone my piloting skills and see where my deck stands. The bad news is that I didn't win a single round out of the 5 I played, but the good news is that every single round (not joking) was a very tightly contested 2-1 battle and I did not make any serious errors. It just seemed that my opponents were getting perfect top decks while I was not. That comes down to a little bit of luck and maybe a slightly better deck/sideboard as well.
Sadly, the 0-5 result really does not properly represent how the deck played, but that's how it goes sometimes. The great thing, though, is that I learned a lot about my deck's strengths and weaknesses. So without further ado, here we go:
I played against a mono red aggro deck, a gruul beasts deck with Xenagos and Domri and a mono black control deck most notably.
Yoked Ox did some serious work in all matchups and turned out to be a real pain for my opponents to break through. The mono red deck, in particular, used an Anger of the Gods to wipe out a Frontline Medic and then had to waste a Lightning Strike to finish off the Ox. That is a fantastic trade for me. It may be a 1 cmc common, but it's been worth its weight in gold time and time again.
The counter spells were great when I got to use them, but the biggest issue I faced was the fact that they were too dependent on the situation. I had planned to have my Negates to help keep Planeswalkers off the board, but I never had one handy when one was cast. Planeswalkers ended up being one of the main issues for my deck throughout the day, as were other non-creature threats. There were plenty of times when I would have an Essence Scatter in my hand when a non-creature spell was cast and vice versa. That was probably the key issue for me; the counters were just too dependent on timing.
Heliod, God of the Sun also did some serious work. There were 2 games where I got badly mana flooded but Heliod kept the games much closer than they should have been. He's an absolute beast.
Archangel/Path of Bravery continues to be a fantastic combination once it hits the field. I don't think I lost any games in which that combo came out.
Boros Reckoner really threw opponents off. They expect a slow paced control deck when they see my first couple of turns, but then the heat quickly turns up when Frontline Medic and Reckoner hit the field. Both of those cards did some serious work as well.
Supreme Verdict was its usual self, constantly swinging the board state in my favor.
Seraph of the Sword continues to perform great; I'm tempted to find a spot in my deck for a 2nd one. We'll see.
So in the end, it really just ended up being non-creature threats that gave me issues. I also felt like my spells could use a bit more utility and variance, so I took some advice and made some trades. This is what the deck looks like now:
4x Yoked Ox
4x Frontline Medic
3x Boros Reckoner
2x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Seraph of the Sword
4x Archangel of Thune
1x Angel of Serenity
4x Detention Sphere
3x Blind Obedience
4x Supreme Verdict
4x Azorius Charm
2x Path of Bravery
Land
14x Plains
10x Island
4x Brave the Elements
3x Celestial Flare
3x Gods Willing
Summary of changes:
-1 Celestial Archon
-1 Path of Bravery
-3 Celestial Flare
-3 Negate
-3 Essence Scatter
+4 Detention Sphere
+3 Blind Obedience
+4 Azorius Charm
Azorius Charm gives advantages in any stage of the game and is just a must-have in a deck like this. Blind Obedience will help against aggro, create openings for my aggressive midgame, and drain my opponents health while giving me lifegain/triggering Archangel. Detention Sphere will give me the much needed non-creature removal I need while also being flexible. I have some play testing to do, but I feel like this is a much more well-rounded assortment of spells that will fit right in the deck without problem. With the mana curve mainly tapping out around 3-4, I may drop an Island to bring in an extra Seraph of the Sword. That will require a lot of play testing though, as I'm hesitant to mess with the steady mana base. Another possible change coming in the near future may be a pair of Sphinx's Revelations to help the late game.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome, even if it means telling me that I have no idea what I'm talking about (I'll likely agree with you haha). Thanks!
Example: By turns 4-5, which is when I usually cast Supreme Verdict for the first time, one of two things tend to happen - either Frontline Medic is out with 2 other attackers to trigger battallion (therefore giving me a nice, immediate threat advantage after the verdict) or I have very little on the field and wipe the board clean, ready to start unveiling my threats while my opponent's gameplan just got shattered.
So, with that said, what exactly is it about my deck that's trying to do too much? Which cards don't seem to be working towards a common goal, and how would I go about tweaking the deck so that they do? Thanks for the reply!
- Lots of edits made to this post because I'm terrible at expressing my thoughts this morning haha.
4x Yoked Ox
4x Frontline Medic
3x Boros Reckoner
2x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Seraph of the Sword
4x Archangel of Thune
1x Angel of Serenity
4x Detention Sphere
3x Blind Obedience
4x Supreme Verdict
4x Azorius Charm
2x Path of Bravery
Land
14x Plains
4x Hallowed Fountain
6x Island
3x Brave the Elements
3x Celestial Flare
3x Gods Willing
1x Boros Reckoner
1x Seraph of the Sword
4x Negate
The two creatures are in the sideboard because I'm still tweaking my creature layout to see what feels the best. As for the rest of the cards, the Negates are there to combat creatureless/nearly creatureless decks that give me trouble. I just remove the 4 Yoked Oxen in place of those since I won't need protection from early aggro. Celestial Flare is to help against decks running a lot of protection/hexproof/Stormbreath Dragon haha (I'll take out a combination of Azorious Charms and D-Spheres for them), and Brave the Elements/Gods Willing are there to protect my big cards like Archangel from decks with lots of targeted removal (Doom Blade).
Other notes:
I grabbed 4 Hallowed Fountains so now I'm down to 6 Island, 14 Plains, 4 Hallowed Fountains. The extra white mana really helps out, especially for extort.
Extort has proven its worth. In one game, I had Archangel out with Blind Obedience and Path of Bravery. Casted a spell, paid for Extort, triggered Archangel, then attacked with Archangel for 2 more lifegain triggers. With Boros Reckoner and Yoked Ox on the field getting huge really quick, my opponent immediately conceded.
Yoked Ox continues to be a life saver against fast aggro.
I played about a dozen test games so far on MTGO, and I just constantly found myself wishing I had counterspells and Sphinx's Revelations. I don't currently own any Revs because of ridiculous prices, but I did put one Opportunity in there because the 4 charms just weren't enough draw. I also ended up removing the Medics for an Aetherling and some counterspells. It seems to be doing better for me. I will say this though; the deck is in almost every game so far. I need to keep testing.
And I agree with your last part. Even with bad hands, this deck can keep a game close in almost any situation. I've had plenty of games where I'm able to hang in there and survive through rough mana floods and mana screws. It's very resilient and has the ability to turn the tide extremely fast. I feel like there is still some great potential to be found.
Edit: Im really liking the idea of trading out a medic for an Aetherling. He's a solid win con and mana sink. I just pulled one in a draft last week and ill be playing some local standard tonight so ill try it out.
It specifically says on it's rulings page that's it is one trigger for one life gain event.
Before going, I took out a Frontline Medic for an Aetherling in the main deck. I set up my sideboard with 3 Negate, 3 Celestial Flare, 3 Gods Willing and a few other cards that I was going to try out but haven't gotten around to yet.
First Round: Blue/Black Control
Game 1 - This guy had an ungodly amount of counter spells and targeted removal (Doom Blade). Even an endless onslaught of Medics, Reckoners, and Archangels couldn't stay on the field for more than a turn. Seriously, the stack of creatures in my graveyard was insane. A very long, drawn out loss.
Game 2 - I boarded in Negates and Gods Willings. Was able to counter an early Underworld Connections and sat tight with several good cards in my hand while I waited to come into a Negate or Gods Willing for protection. Unfortunately neither of them came. I ended up casting 2 Archangels and a Heliod, basically putting them up for slaughter to clear the way for Aetherling on the next turn, which resolved. He tried to cast Hero's Downfall on Aetherling without noticing that I had left a blue mana open, at which point I evaded the removal. For the rest of the game, Aetherling popped in, dodged blockers, struck for 4, and with my open blue mana, he wasn't going to be taken by removal. Aetherling single-handedly won game 2.
Game 3 - I was simply able to put more threats on the board than he could remove. A simple and straight forward win.
Result: 2-1 Win
Second Round: Green/Red Monsters
Game 1 - This was basically a net deck with Stormbreath Dragon, Polukranos, Polis Crusher, Nykthos etc. In the first game, they had a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon and a Polukranos that was going to become monstrous next turn. Needless to say, I was in trouble. Luckily for me, I was able to trigger Frontline Medic's Battalion, swung in with indestructible creatures, then wiped their board with a Supreme Verdict. From there on out, I had board control and won the game shortly thereafter.
Game 2 - Got mana screwed. 'Nuff said.
Result: 1-1 tie (time ran out)
Third Round: U/W Heroic/Evasion
Game 1 - This is a deck that I have handily beaten every time I've played it. Sadly for me, I was unable to draw a single blue mana (After like 7 turns!! This is an extremely rare occurrence), which is what I needed stabilize behind a Supreme Verdict.
Game 2 - This one stung. As usual, he gets in his early game damage, no worries. I get Archangel out and I am 1 turn away from casting Heliod, stabilizing with his devotion, and pretty much winning the game from there because that deck has no answers for mine once I've stabilized. However, I was on the unfortunate end of math as he was able to do exactly enough damage to kill me right before I was able to stabilize.
Result: 0-2 loss
Fourth Round: U/R Burn/Tokens
Game 1 - This guy is known for building token decks. In this particular deck, he was running Young Pyromaster and Master of Waves along with a ton of burn spells (and even a Spellheart Chimera for good measure). In game 1, I stabilized against the early aggression with Reckoner and Yoked Ox, D-Sphered a whole ton of Elemental tokens (lol) and put the final nail in the coffin with an Angel of Serenity that threatened to resurrect a pair of Boros Reckoners and a Frontline Medic if he tried to take it down. Heliod was out on the board and activated as well, so I was able to swing in for damage and defend with ease. In case things went bad for whatever reason, I had Aetherling sitting in my hand. Solid win.
Game 2 - I boarded in 3 Gods Willings for burn protection. Had a solid hand, but the follow-up draws were just exactly what I didn't need to hold off the aggro. Even with all the early game issues, I still almost stabilized but it was too little too late.
Game 3 - Had a beautiful hand. By the end, we were both trading blows. I had Archangel and Boros Reckoner out on the field, backed up by Path of Bravery and Blind Obedience, which were triggering like crazy. Sadly, I dropped the ball on what would have been the game winning move and it cost me the game. I forgot that giving a creature a protection from a certain color also means that a creature of that color is unable to block it. If I had realized that, I would have been able to swing for unblockable lethal damage.
Result 1-2 loss
So the last game hurt, but the deck just played awesome as usual. I beat an extremely tough U/B Control deck, tied with what was basically a pro R/G deck, should have beaten a burn/token deck had it not been for my stupidity, and the only real bad game was against a deck I usually beat but I just got bad/unlucky draws, which happens. So all in all, I can't complain. And I learned some new things:
1) Aetherling is a monster. Once resolved, he can just take over a game. He absolutely wrecked a deck that I was having trouble with. This card will not be leaving the mainboard. LordPrometheus, thank you for the idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.
2) I feel like God's Willing is more useful than Azorius Charm. Azorius Charm does have nice effects, but I felt like protecting my creatures from targeted removal (and being able to Scry) did a lot more good for the deck than just bouncing early cards back to someone's library. Allowing my creatures to stick to the board really lets the deck come into its own. The charm will probably be a sideboard card while I test out God's Willing.
3) I still suck at Magic. I keep losing games that I shouldn't because of overlooking silly things. However, I do constantly see myself improving and hope to continue to do so. After screwing up a ton of Path of Bravery and Lifegain triggers since creating this deck, I was extremely sharp tonight and didn't miss a single one. That felt quite good. Also, until that final game against the burn deck, my decision making was really good and I was making the most out of every situation.
4) I still love this deck. Even when behind, it does not take much to swing the momentum within a turn or two and win the game from there. I never feel down and out until the final turn. And when it's ahead, it pretty much just doesn't lose (assuming I don't make any stupid mistakes, of course!).
5) Several people have admitted to sideboarding/mainboarding cards just for playing against my deck. I'd say that's a sign that I'm doing something right.
Anyways guys, that's all for now! Thanks for reading.
You don't suck, I've seen that same mistake made even among experienced players. My friend, who has a framed power nine, once gave his creature protection from red to protect it from burn then tried to brute strength it later in the same turn...... I tell him: "you dunce it's not targetable", anyway those things happen.
At this point you have made your deck pretty good. However there is an issue I see. Yoked oz is not that great, I know you wrote aggro, AotG, blah blah. But at the end of the day it just doesn't get you that far and it takes up 4 slots. A good slot choice has to be defensive but also useful in other situations, like cheap removal.
Consider more celestial flare, gods willing, or smite if you are having aggro issues, the last one is really underestimated as your opponent won't expect you to have 1cmc removal.
Consider precinct captain instead of the ox. he gives solid offense and defense since he has first strike. You build is rocking a lot of removal that means he will connect at least once. He is amazing with path of bravery.
Consider 2 Rootborn defense. People will try to board wipe you as well. Or maybe put it in the sideboard.
Listen to what Friday said. He has a point. Choose if you want to play a build which is midrange, or control. Azorious midrange simply doesn't play supreme verdict, you don't want to nuke your own creatures, it's just a fact. it doesn't matter that you have some decent results. If you want great results you want total synergy.
Between some spells like syncopate, dissolve, celestial flare, and detention sphere a deck like this can survive early rounds without mass removal. If however you are playing supreme verdict purely for the medic synergy I would recommend playing some better card draw like revelation or opportunity, only running 2 verdict and 4 medics.
Don't play more than 2 blind obedience. this card has diminishing returns later in the game when your opponent will have much bigger threats. At that point in the game it's life drain will have minimal impact and even with thune angel synergy you won't have enough cards in hand to get full use out of that. If you are playing more than 2 copies for its tap ability consider 1 or 2 imposing sovereign.
Consider Ajani, he can have similar utility to path of bravery and also be a threat on his own. He gives control players a real fit. He forces your opponent to think about a planewalker. He's got an insane ultimate if you are gaining life and it seems like your are.
I just realized that you played seraph of the sword because you have no threats at cmc 4. Here is what I will say; if you have more creatures in your meta stick with seraph, maybe even add another. If you have more control then ascended lawmage will be better.
I think 4 thune angle and 1 aetherling is putting a very high curve. Cut 1 thune. Be careful with things like mana curve, it's what makes the difference between good players and great players. If you need to make a minor power decrease in your deck it's better than having a bad curve and not getting out your spells.
Yeah, I definitely realize I'm not the only one, it just gets frustrating because I feel like my deck should be dominating locally. But that's why I keep playing, improving my piloting skills and improving my deck!
Very interesting point you have here. It's honestly not something I've thought about during play, but now that I look back at the issues I've had with the early game, Precinct Captain does seem like it would be a great fit with my deck.
I definitely agree with your points here. As I mentioned last night, I'm feeling like Gods Willing is going to be a very useful card. I really liked having it at my disposal last night. The biggest (but certainly not only) reason for this is because I was able to ensure that my creatures stuck to the board, which I'll address once again later in this post. Interesting comment on that Smite card, though, I had never seen it before. As for Celestial Flare, I'm still playing around with that as I continue fine-tuning everything.
I chuckled when you mentioned this, because I thought the same thing last night and grabbed a few of them haha.
I wasn't ignoring him or anything, I was just asking for some clarification. I've had similar thoughts while playing the deck, because there will be times where I have very nice creatures out but I'm still not stabilized, making the verdict(s) in my hand quite a difficult decision. It's not often, but it does happen. In the deck's current iteration, I would keep the verdicts, but considering the changes you have proposed with Precinct Captain and more spot removal/counter spells, I'm thinking that could be a better overall strategy. It's funny because I feel like this deck has been kind of dancing right around that for a while now, it just hasn't quite narrowed in on it.
Good call on this, I've been thinking that 3 is overkill. 2 should be plenty.
This is another part of your post that made me chuckle because I was just checking this card out last night online, thinking of ways to fit it into my deck. It would be a fantastic addition.
Once again, it appears we're on the same page. I've had a second one floating around in my sideboard for a while now, I just haven't figured out what to take out for it yet. For the most part, my local meta appears to be very creature-heavy, with the rare exceptions of course. I think I've only played 2 decks that weren't.
You may very well be right, but I did not encounter this issue in any of my games last night. In fact, a recurring theme with this deck prior to the addition of Aetherling is that I felt like my mana would just become useless after a number of turns and I would just find myself top decking and hoping that I'd get Angel of Serenity. Last night, with the Aetherling addition, not once did I encounter an issue with not being able to cast what I needed to, and I was also much more confident in the very late game. But, as I said, you may be right and I will keep this in consideration as I continue tweaking everything. The potential increased pace in the early game could ensure that I win long before I get to that top-decking phase.
With all of that said, here are some changes that I will be considering and playtesting:
-4 Yoked Ox
-4 Supreme Verdict
-4 Azorius Charm
-1 Blind Obedience
+3 Gods Willing
+3 Precinct Captain
+4 Celestial Flare
+2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
+1 Seraph of the Sword
Of course, these are subject to change as I continue to ponder ideas. I'll likely sideboard Rootborn Defense for now, since I seem to not encounter board wipes very often. I guess it will be one of those wait-and-see type deals. Thank you very much, though, I really appreciate the informative reply. It has really helped confirm some of my thoughts and pointed me in the right direction.
3x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Precinct Captain
4x Frontline Medic
3x Boros Reckoner
2x Heliod, God of the Sun
2x Seraph of the Sword
4x Archangel of Thune
Spells
3x Brave the Elements
2x Blind Obedience
2x Path of Bravery
3x Detention Sphere
3x Supreme Verdict
2x Ajani, Caller of the Pride
14x Plains
5x Island
4x Hallowed Fountain
3x Celestial Flare
4x Negate
4x Rootborn Defenses (will likely sub this in as a 2x)
With this setup, the deck can be very explosive. Turn 1 Soldier, turn 2 Captain, turn 3 Medic, turn 4 Verdict/Seraph/Heliod/whatever. A combination of Ajani's -3 and Brave the Elements can just kill someone outright early in the game. Heliod can easily be activated by turn 4 and be ready to swing on turn 5, at which point I can send him in with double strike and flying for a massive hit. Or getting early board presence for Medic to come into and set up the Verdict play (which will catch people by surprise since a deck like this generally doesn't run Verdict) will just blow the board extremely in my favor. There are so many ways for the deck to win now, it's insane. If it gets to the late game, Archangel shows up with the usual combination of PoB and Blind Obedience to bulk up what is probably an already strong set of creatures.
You may have noticed that I took out a land; that's just because the mana curve has dropped off significantly. From my preliminary play tests, this seems like an extremely lethal deck and the synergy is wonderful throughout. I am really liking where it sits now. I was sad to remove Aetherling and Angel of Serenity but I think the deck is much better now. I may sideboard them along with an extra land if I ever feel like or need to give my deck a more late game focus, like when facing a super slow control deck, for example.
Here's a quick rundown of synergies within the deck:
Frontline Medic/Supreme Verdict - use his indestructibility trigger to keep my creatures alive while I blow up my opponent's creatures. The stronger early game will make this a much more common play.
Precinct Captain/Path of Bravery - Attack attack attack! Do damage, get more creatures(tokens), gain more life and maybe even get +1/+1 for everything while we're at it. On top of that, Heliod and Frontline Medic make attacking even more fruitful and Brave the Elements/Blind Obedience can ensure that a ton of damage gets through.
Ajani/lots of stuff- Use the -3 to do critical damage or take it to the late game, gain a ton of life with Archangel and drop the -8 bomb.
Archangel/Soldier - Gaining life for multicolored spells....yet another possible trigger for Archangel to exploit.
Boros Reckoner/attacking - When attacking (which is what the deck is now built do do), the opponent will be forced to take damage. With other attacking creatures possibly having a combination of first strike/indestructibility/double strike and flying/vigilance, it will put the opponent in a horrible position.
Archangel/Path of Bravery/Blind Obedience - trigger that health gain!
Needless to say, I'm really excited to try this out and see how it does in live action. And as usual, thoughts and suggestions are welcome!
Losing games from simple mistakes is only a testament to how close the games were, good luck with your deck moving forward
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Precinct Captain
4x Frontline Medic
4x Boros Reckoner
1x Fiendslayer Paladin
2x Heliod, God of the Sun
3x Archangel of Thune
Spells
3x Brave the Elements
2x Blind Obedience
4x Detention Sphere
3x Celestial Flare
2x Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1x Sphinx's Revelation
14x Plains
5x Island
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Negate
4x Rootborn Defenses (will likely sub this in as a 2x)
1x Aetherling
The biggest immediate change is the replacement of Supreme Verdict with Celestial Flare. I made this adjustment for a few reasons:
- The Medic/Verdict combo was too fragile once I went up against the MBD deck, which just wrecked my combo before it could even leave my hand.
- The main time my deck loses is when there is one creature, like a monstrositied Fleecemane Lion, that I just can't deal with. I haven't had a single game in which I've been hugely outgunned as far as board presence. 4 Spheres and 3 Celestial Flares should be more than enough to maintain the advantage. I can even set up multiple blockers and drop a Brave the Elements to kill something off if necessary.
- It gets around hexproof and evasion, which is very useful.
Other changes:
-2 Seraph of the Sword
-1 Archangel of Thune
-2 Path of Bravery
+1 Detention Sphere
+1 Fiendslayer Paladin
+1 Soldier of the Pantheon
+1 Boros Reckoner
+1 Sphinx's Revelation
The Paths of Bravery just felt clunky and were usually a dead card until lategame, unless I had nothing else to cast. Yeah, sometimes it was useful, but I replaced them with a Soldier of the Pantheon and a Fiendslayer Paladin, both of which maintain the lifegain subtheme while also not slowing the deck down. I actually think Fiendslayer Paladin could be quite useful since he dodges a whole boat load of removal (Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, any red burn spell, etc). His only weakness is being a somewhat weak 2/2 body, but that can easily be pumped by Ajani or Archangel. Depending on how useful he ends up being, we may see a couple more copies end up in here.
The 2 Seraphs of the Sword were replaced by a Boros Reckoner and a Detention Sphere. Again, they were nice, but their main contribution (blocking) can be done more efficiently with Reckoner and Sphere. I can instead block and bounce damage or just remove a threat of any kind. Reckoner and Sphere are cheaper and more versatile in the context of this deck.
I had originally removed an Archangel for an Aetherling, and yes it's a great finisher in the case of a board stall, but it just didn't seem to fit the theme of the deck. And I have to wait for 7 mana (with 3 blue sources) to be able to use it properly. So I traded it out for a Sphinx's Revelation. I can get my card advantage back in the lategame (or even midgame if it's an emergency situation) and the lifegain can pull me out of a hole and/or trigger Archangel. The "finisher" slot in this deck is still up for grabs, so we'll see how it goes. Aetherling is still in the sideboard just in case. Or I can always put the 4th Archangel back in as well.
Just to sum things up:
Primary theme/objective: Steadily increase board presence with creatures that must be answered. Attack with wreckless abandon if both Heliod and Medic get set up on the field. Set up alpha strikes with Brave the Elements and/or Ajani. Use Archangel and/or Sphinx's Revelation to put the nail in the coffin.
Sub theme: Lifegain. 4 Soldiers of the Pantheon, 3 Archangels of Thune, Fiendslayer Paladin, Sphinx's Revelation, and 2 Blind Obedience make this a difficult deck to kill off.