MTG Salvation

So, quick history lesson. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is my all-time favorite card in my all-time favorite colors and has been my favorite since she debuted in spring 2012. I immediately built a deck for her, and the deck evolved over time. It wound up as a semi-voltron, soul-crushing damage-maker but focused all of its attention on either A. Gisela, or B. removal. Whenever I played Gisela, the meta game actually warped around her and it became a game of steal, copy or kill and took all of the fun out of it. I made the hard decision around 6 months ago to deconstruct Gisela and try something else in her place. This deck is what that Gisela deck became and I have high hopes for it.



The deck hasn't had much testing yet, but so far, the early game's a bit rocky (opening hand is important), the mid-game's alright and, if we're left relatively unanswered, the late game's insane.

The deck has a couple themes running themes. The lifegain theme is there to expand on one of our commander's inherent strengths, to (ideally) not have to worry about blocking, feed Moltensteel Dragon, and work with Well of Lost Dreams. The second theme is artifacts, because white has good artifact recursion (we need recursion from Brion's Flings) and for more card advantage. In red/white, it's easy to stall out, so we need this card advantage to keep the fuel coming.

Part of the reason I built the deck the way I did (nearly opted for Jor Kadeen) is to work well as an Emperor deck in that format. The strategy there is to have our flanks be our meat shields in the early game, start answering their threats, then Flinging Serra Avatars to utterly remove them. For a good example video of Commander Emperor and rules for that format, check out this video by Clonehead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKx4rlcPKk.

Anyway, this deck's still pretty untested, so any suggestions are welcome!

i have built most of the deck did you know you have an extra card in the deck making it 100 instead of 99? Also it ran pretty well i have Mana Crypt in there for Land Tax i have wear//tear until i can buy a path to exile i think you need a few more answers to artifacts and enchantments those might become problems for you it depends on your meta but gisela was really hilarious i would of not thought of that combo with brion.

Updates!

Cuts:
Mistveil Plains because we don't actually have a good reason to run it without Sunforger.
Rogue's Passage is out because we don't win through combat (though it helps), we win through sending giant things through the air at peoples' faces.
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion is a fun card, but too mana intensive.
Everflowing Chalice is terrible when blinked. It scales, but it's too tempting to sink way too much mana into it.
Weathered Wayfarer is much slower than just playing mana rocks. If we had a super-special tech land to get, that'd be a good reason to keep him, but we don't and this is Commander, where he's slow and fragile.
Sunseed Nurturer actually really sucks.
Sigil of the New Dawn is too durdly.
Rout & Blasphemous Act because we don't want to have to rebuild our boards. These may be reincluded in the future.
Shattered Angel took a lot of removal to the face for very little reward.
Moltensteel Dragon is big and awesome and may be reincluded in the future, but for now is taking a back seat to synergy.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight See my explanation for Moltensteel.
Magewright's Stone is nice tech, but often doesn't serve any purpose since fatties are usually played one at a time.
Bonehoard is only good in the late game. Another possible reinclude.
Act of Aggression & Unwilling Recruit are cute with Brion, but don't provide much else.

Adds:
1 Plains, 1 Mountain because we needed more basics.
Darksteel Forge is an artifact, and we do a lot with artifacts.
Plague Myr another mana dork, soon to be replaced by Mind Stone.
Burnished Hart is an auto-include, especially in a deck where we bring back artifacts regularly.
Treasonous Ogre will work with our surplus of life for making plays.
Scarecrone because we go hard on our artifact creatures. She works nicely with Illusionist's Bracers.
Sanctum Gargoyle Again, we like to bring our duders back.
Deathrender We hold a value creature in our hands, sac something big to Brion, and bam, free creature.
Cauldron of Souls brings our sac'd duders right back to block. Also for Wrath protection.
Artisan of Kozilek Step 1, cast and bring back another fatty. Step 2, swing at the guy trying to go off, sac to Brion for 10 more damage.
Valorous Stance lets you either save a guy or take out a threat. Great utility.
Illusionist's Bracers for double the damage and double the life when using Brion.
Arcbond is here to work with two specific cards: Brion and Wurmcoil Engine. Both have lifelink, and Arcbond makes them do the damage, thus gaining you all of the life off of that. It can be an instant-speed board wipe that is extremely profitable. Also, Wurmcoil's got Deathtouch which will also factor in when doing damage.
Soul of New Phyrexia because we like fighting through board wipes. Plus, he still works in the 'yard and is a big, fat, artifact creature.
Colossus of Akros I've been looking for a good home for my foil copy of this guy for more than a year. He seems great with Brion.