MTG Salvation

Hello there,

the idea of this archetype is to gain a ton of life to naturally fight aggro decks, while making CA thanks to X-4-1 creatures.

On turn 1, you play either Fountain of Renewal, Ajani's Welcome, or Sacred Cat.

On Turn 2, you either start to grow an Ajani's Pridemate or you play Glory-Bound Initiate to ideally generate an Angel token the next turn.

On turn 3, you want a Resplendent Angel to etb so you may generate a token at eot, or you can cast either Sunscourge Champion or Aethersphere Harvester to set up a strong attack the next turn.

Here's a first draft :



Second draft update :



The second version is the one I prefer, lower curve for 23 lands, more tricks to ensure a single attack will gain 5, and the cut of A's Welcome who seems underwhelming in comparison to the other options.

Looking at building something similar after core19. I'm not sure if Sunscourge Champion is a better fit than Shield Mare particularly with all the red decks running around, and the targeted removal.

I like the idea but playing green just for blossoming defense an fight doesn't seem worth the trouble. You may need a better pay off for green or support.

Quote from Skurry »

I like the idea but playing green just for blossoming defense an fight doesn't seem worth the trouble. You may need a better pay off for green or support.

Green also provides Wildgrowth Walker + Explore creatures.

I'd rather just white, with the g/w dual lands to potentially activate Shalai's ability. I think a couple of Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants would help seal the deals as well.

My two cents: Drop some or all of the Fountains. 12 one drops is going to lead to hands of two many one drops with no pay-offs while your opponent runs you over.

Thanks for the feedback, I felt a bitlonely here. ^^

It's hard to predict how prevalent aggro will be. I try to consider zombies, Knights, Stompy and Monsters on top of RDW and cie, and I eventually added 2 Settle the Wreckage MD (flexible slot at this point).

I'm not sure if Sunscourge Champion is a better fit than Shield Mare particularly with all the red decks running around, and the targeted removal.

Both cards are pretty close. Shield Mare might not be that much better than SSC in red MUs, but the fact it gains 3 life instead of 2 can make the difference when it comes to creating tokens. It's definitley a tough slot to decide without the new meta in sight.

Green also provides Wildgrowth Walker + Explore creatures.

I rather agree with Uncage, that the second color must be a splash, and the explore package makes mana tensions a big deal. Now going straight white makes me cut Prepare // Fight, and I think it's a primary card for the deck, it's a 2-card combo with Angel that impressed me.

However, Blossoming Defense may be the trap here.

I'd rather just play white, with the g/w dual lands to potentially activate Shalai's ability. I think a couple of Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants would help seal the deals as well.

To be fair, Shalai never impressed me, even though she seems to fit on the paper (she loses to the best flyers of the format). Maybe Ajani is the better 4-drop, I don't have reps with him yet. Maybe it's crucial to put a counter on Glory-Bound Initiate so it doesn't die to Chainwhirler and attack for 5 life by himself. Besides, Ajani recurs Pridemate and GBI, not a lot but probably enough.

My two cents: Drop some or all of the Fountains

Yup, I agree. I needed to get some reps to figure out what the deck needed. The big idea is to focus on big lifegain swings, and minimize the amount of "gain 1 life" effects. Sacred Cat is the only slot I eventually wanna keep because it crews and recurs.

Here's what I'm going to playtest from now on :

I'm not sure that Resplendent Angel is really all that good. The problem with her is that it's just really difficult to gain 5 life a turn to get that extra angel token. On the other hand, it still is a 3/3 in the air compared to Aerial Responder. I tend to like the latter since it works with Militia Bugler and Mentor of the Meek. The same can be said of Angel of Invention.

She's pretty good if you curve properly.

1 - Dauntless Bodyguard/Llanowar Elves
2 - Metallic Mimic
3 - Resplendent Angel
4 - Shalai
5 - Lyra

WALUE

Siren stormtamer is better protection than dauntless bodyguard. The problem is that the removal is instant speed and dauntless has to come down after the angel. A red player can burn her before protection is up.

The list I'm working with is more of a Blue White fliers listing...



Kind of prepping up against the zombie hordes. Normally I like shield and sword, but this is definitely a more tanky listing.