In Bant/five colors you get to run Hadana's Climb which makes winning through combat damage a lot easier. It's easy to flip with Jenara, after which it will make her or any other medium/large creature super scary. It worst, it gives you a rainbow land.
I rated three of them 1, seven of them 2, and four of them 3. I'm surprised Song of Freyalise is so highly rated.
It's like Cryptolith Rite but its chapter three means you have to get on with it.
Get big mana, make lots of creatures with it and do other stuff, then swing with the chapter three effect while also putting down a couple other anthems. It telegraphs your plan so hard but if used correctly it shouldn't hurt too bad if it's removed the upkeep before its chapter three; you still had all that free mana.
Jokulhaups and Obliterate are possibly funny with her+totem armor. Wipe nearly the entire board but keep a (hopefully pumped up by now) Flying First Striker.
Anyway, initially I dismissed Rona as simply way too weak to be worth trying out, but after some thinking and some specific pulls from my prerelease kit, I think she could pretty fun and flavorful as the commander of an artifact creature army, for two reasons:
These two sagas are probably the overall strongest sagas in EDH, but as enchantments they are not very easy to recur in UB, as cards that would do that are almost exclusively G/W, colors which offer poor support for artifacts. However, Rona is an easy-access way to get these sagas back, as well as whatever other key artifacts/legendaries are needed.
When Rona, Disciple of Gix enters the battlefield, you may exile target historic card from your graveyard. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
You may cast nonland cards exiled with Rona.
4, T: Exile the top card of your library.
So, looking at her two abilities, I feel that including tons of blink, topdeck manipulation, mill, activated ability cost reducers/copiers, etc. is an utter waste of time. I don't want to go through a bunch of hoops just to get an AEther Spellbomb back, and I if I haven't won after casting The Antiquities War a couple times already, then adding more air to the deck is the last thing I should do. Mill+etb is pointless when you have black's (and blue's) tutors, and relying on her for card draw is also bad when you are in the literal best colors for card draw.
To me, her abilities read:
Get back the best things in your deck so your opponents have to deal with them again
Flood insurance
I would go from there, with a focus on the two sagas mentioned because they're pretty strong and cool.
Agree with the above posters. None of the decks involved are as good as you think, including yours. You can definitely make improvements. Main thing is lower the curve, it's tremendously high for a color combo that sucks at ramp. Decks can improve a TON if they're consistently able to actually cast more than one thing in the first three or four turns. It's a huge leap. I like the suggestion of adding more human, which still fits Church of Avacyn theme.
To me MLD sort of breaks the social contract of EDH. I've found it's frowned upon in many pods, and to me greatly reduces the amount of fun I have in a game.
In my experience, MLD is unpopular, but in my experience (obviously yours can differ) it's not a horrible breach of some unwritten social contract that will cause your friends to stop talking to you. Poorly used MLD sucks, but it doesn't really make the game go on longer unless the MLD just keeps using it over and over again without any clear goal, but this generally happens with creature wipes as well.
Yeah it's unfun. So is Merciless Eviction and Hour of Revelation. Boardwipes are unfun, but they're necessary because short of counterspells and protect-your-board instants, they're a pretty effective means of simplifying the board and pulling the leading players back. MLD serves a very similar purpose.
Plus, if MLD is run often enough that it's a problem for you, you can run counters to it.
-Adeliz, the Cinder Wind -- Izzet spellslinger with a small emphasis on wizard tribal.
-Aryel, Knight of Windgrace -- Knight tribal with heavy emphasis on Orzhov removal+stuff to make my board sturdy against board wipes
-Grand Warlord Radha -- aggro, with emphasis on small creatures that can becomes big like morphs, level-ups, +1/+1 counter abilities, fire-breathing, monstrosity, etc. to not be as dependent on drawing cards to use Radha's mana
-Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest -- aura.dec using Tiana and Diantha
Of these four I should limit myself to one or two. I plan to heavily consider what I pull from the box I bought, e.g. if I get Adeliz/Naban/Naru Meha/Wizard's Retort/etc. I'll probably build Adeliz. Otherwise I'll just sleep on it (several times) or write out some sort of pros/cons list, and if it comes down to I'm just finding it not interesting as I'm brewing, I'll drop it and look at another.
That's pretty hot stuff. I can't think of too many UWx commanders where that's a game-ending play, but definitely a lot of creatures if you have a token swarm out.
Thanks. The best engine with the least pieces you can get going is probably Cloudstone Curio, which can be used to bounce the original Oriss, and Sun Titan equipped with Helm of the Hosts with Cloudstone still on the field to reanimate and then bounce Oriss. This is four cards total and is a pretty distruptable engine, but fortunately the only piece that is terrible on its own is your commander, Oriss.
Really though, I'm seeing a lot of suggestions that are along the lines of this: "I built my deck to do X, by commander enables/rewards X, with copies of my commander, X is enabled/rewarded harder." I don't really think this a good line of thought, and it's pretty obvious why: HotH is very mana intensive. Casting and Equipping it on the same turn, with no cheasts, is just a little short of casting Omniscience, for a much lower benefit.
More likely you'll be casting it one turn for a large chunk of your mana, then equipping it another turn, to a commander who was cast at some point before or after HotH entered the battle field. This is absolutely, glacially slow. It's fun when it happens, and it can certainly happen, but it's not something I would stick in a serious deck unless it was built to accommodate it.
Besides obvious interactions like Godo and Aurelia, there's a couple commanders where HotH might be unintuitively great: Selvala, Explorer Returned -- comes down before helm, makes mana to cast helm, token could immediately recoup some of the equip cost, with other Selvala engine pieces out this can get out of hand pretty fast. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV -- Step 1: equip Grand Arbiter with helm. Step 2: Blow up all lands. Opponents can no longer cast spells unless they have mana rocks on the field already, as the tax rises as much as they rebuild. Step 3: lose your friends.
Of course, HotH can equip any creature. While looking around, I found Mangara of Corondor, who I don't think is good enough as a commander for much thought, even with HotH, but could find herself as part of some "HotH Package." What other creatures are obnoxious when copied every turn?
Scrap Spectra Ward. I read the rulings, "although Auras that are already attached to the creature aren’t affected by Spectra Ward, the enchanted creature can’t be the target of further Aura spells that have one or more colors." No good if I want to recur Totem Armor forever.
Skybind + Sigarda's Aid gets pretty silly, Skybind is 5 cmc but it can pull off some stunts, at worst with no flash Auras it can remove blockers or remove counters from a thing. Becomes cruel with Containment Priest and Hallowed Moonlight, which are probably cards I would want to include anyway in a Boros control deck.
Galvanic Arc is really good. First Strike is redundant on Tiana, but IIRC you can have Galvanic Arc enter the battlefield enchanting the same creature it targets with its bolt, so it can destroy itself and get back into hand. It would also give first strike to any other alternate win-cons like Kor Spiritdancer. There's very few good red auras, but of them this is one you want.
Doublestrike is common in Boros and probably the quickest way to make Tiana a threat; I'm not going to be loading up too much on offensive auras, and she only has 3 power. She has First Strike already, so Kwende, Pride of Femeref works. Battle Mastery is an obvious choice, but I like Duelist's Heritage more because I can give any attacking creature doublestrike, meaning I can get involved with combat not related to me. Kwende and Silverblade Paladin, as creatures with doublestrike, can get Path of Mettle online, a card that looks pretty interesting to me as a land that can destroy creatures, and more bodies is not unwelcome. Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion isn't bad but is pretty mana intensive. Grappling Hook is funny but also expensive, kind of fits in with the control theme though.
I'm waffling around with what the first deck I want to build after Dominaria will be. At the moment I'm considering a Shalai enchantress/pillowfort deck, a rebuild of a Bant enchantress deck I have, and while looking around for enchantments to use with her, I came across a couple white auras that made me think "gosh, those would be great if they didn't get sent to the graveyard when someone looks at them funny." Then I remembered the cutest little angel in this set, and I sort of like the concept of two very different enchantment decks headed by angels.
I think Tiana, as a commander, will be best as a control deck, with a voltron beatdown being the eventual way to win. Auras benefit way more from her ability than equipment, and there are auras like Pariah and Soul Tithe which can become pretty annoying when they stick around. However, including high-utility equipment like Sword of the Animist and Sunforger is not a bad idea when it can patch up areas that Boros struggles with.
Since Tiana will, under optimal conditions, be providing some not insignificant card advantage, keeping the curve low is important. Ideally I'd have most auras be under four CMC, unless they provide serious benefit like Spectra Ward.
Not sure how many of the totem armors would be good, but it's pretty important to have, command tax will rack up very quick and it gives her some staying power, especially when combined with other forms of protection.
I want Recruiter of the Guard in here just because it's so important to get at least one enchantress effect online. Also I have a copy of it not being used at all. Imperial Recruiter would do the same thing.
I didn't see Immolation on your list. For 1 mana, repeated removal of any x/2 creatures is pretty strong. It can also be attached to Tiana once you're going in for the win. Guise of Fire has a somewhat similar effect, it can't immediately kill most creatures but it will force them to attack, potentially causing them to die to a blocker. Flowstone Blade can eventually kill any creature with enough mana, but would be RRRR in order to kill anything that Immolation can't, at that point Ordeal of Purphoros or Fatal Attraction are better, or just rely on your instants/sorceries in that case.
Spirit Link is a fun card. It can let you benefit from combat you're not involved with, let Tiana heal you up, or nullify the effect of any non-commander creature on you. On the topic of lifegain, I'm not sure if Ordeal of Heliod is too worth it with no other source of +1/+1 counters, but 10 life for 2 mana and no card disadvantage, on top of giving a +1/+1 counter, is not too bad.
It's like Cryptolith Rite but its chapter three means you have to get on with it.
Get big mana, make lots of creatures with it and do other stuff, then swing with the chapter three effect while also putting down a couple other anthems. It telegraphs your plan so hard but if used correctly it shouldn't hurt too bad if it's removed the upkeep before its chapter three; you still had all that free mana.
Pain's Reward
Edit: wrong color, but a fun option for anyone else looking for a similar deck
Well, also Jhoira's Familiar
----
Anyway, initially I dismissed Rona as simply way too weak to be worth trying out, but after some thinking and some specific pulls from my prerelease kit, I think she could pretty fun and flavorful as the commander of an artifact creature army, for two reasons:
Phyrexian Scriptures
The Antiquities War
These two sagas are probably the overall strongest sagas in EDH, but as enchantments they are not very easy to recur in UB, as cards that would do that are almost exclusively G/W, colors which offer poor support for artifacts. However, Rona is an easy-access way to get these sagas back, as well as whatever other key artifacts/legendaries are needed.
So, looking at her two abilities, I feel that including tons of blink, topdeck manipulation, mill, activated ability cost reducers/copiers, etc. is an utter waste of time. I don't want to go through a bunch of hoops just to get an AEther Spellbomb back, and I if I haven't won after casting The Antiquities War a couple times already, then adding more air to the deck is the last thing I should do. Mill+etb is pointless when you have black's (and blue's) tutors, and relying on her for card draw is also bad when you are in the literal best colors for card draw.
To me, her abilities read:
Get back the best things in your deck so your opponents have to deal with them again
Flood insurance
I would go from there, with a focus on the two sagas mentioned because they're pretty strong and cool.
In my experience, MLD is unpopular, but in my experience (obviously yours can differ) it's not a horrible breach of some unwritten social contract that will cause your friends to stop talking to you. Poorly used MLD sucks, but it doesn't really make the game go on longer unless the MLD just keeps using it over and over again without any clear goal, but this generally happens with creature wipes as well.
Yeah it's unfun. So is Merciless Eviction and Hour of Revelation. Boardwipes are unfun, but they're necessary because short of counterspells and protect-your-board instants, they're a pretty effective means of simplifying the board and pulling the leading players back. MLD serves a very similar purpose.
Plus, if MLD is run often enough that it's a problem for you, you can run counters to it.
-Adeliz, the Cinder Wind -- Izzet spellslinger with a small emphasis on wizard tribal.
-Aryel, Knight of Windgrace -- Knight tribal with heavy emphasis on Orzhov removal+stuff to make my board sturdy against board wipes
-Grand Warlord Radha -- aggro, with emphasis on small creatures that can becomes big like morphs, level-ups, +1/+1 counter abilities, fire-breathing, monstrosity, etc. to not be as dependent on drawing cards to use Radha's mana
-Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest -- aura.dec using Tiana and Diantha
Of these four I should limit myself to one or two. I plan to heavily consider what I pull from the box I bought, e.g. if I get Adeliz/Naban/Naru Meha/Wizard's Retort/etc. I'll probably build Adeliz. Otherwise I'll just sleep on it (several times) or write out some sort of pros/cons list, and if it comes down to I'm just finding it not interesting as I'm brewing, I'll drop it and look at another.
That's pretty hot stuff. I can't think of too many UWx commanders where that's a game-ending play, but definitely a lot of creatures if you have a token swarm out.
The helm itself is legendary, so you wouldn't be able to copy it.
Thanks. The best engine with the least pieces you can get going is probably Cloudstone Curio, which can be used to bounce the original Oriss, and Sun Titan equipped with Helm of the Hosts with Cloudstone still on the field to reanimate and then bounce Oriss. This is four cards total and is a pretty distruptable engine, but fortunately the only piece that is terrible on its own is your commander, Oriss.
Really though, I'm seeing a lot of suggestions that are along the lines of this: "I built my deck to do X, by commander enables/rewards X, with copies of my commander, X is enabled/rewarded harder." I don't really think this a good line of thought, and it's pretty obvious why: HotH is very mana intensive. Casting and Equipping it on the same turn, with no cheasts, is just a little short of casting Omniscience, for a much lower benefit.
More likely you'll be casting it one turn for a large chunk of your mana, then equipping it another turn, to a commander who was cast at some point before or after HotH entered the battle field. This is absolutely, glacially slow. It's fun when it happens, and it can certainly happen, but it's not something I would stick in a serious deck unless it was built to accommodate it.
Besides obvious interactions like Godo and Aurelia, there's a couple commanders where HotH might be unintuitively great:
Selvala, Explorer Returned -- comes down before helm, makes mana to cast helm, token could immediately recoup some of the equip cost, with other Selvala engine pieces out this can get out of hand pretty fast.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV -- Step 1: equip Grand Arbiter with helm. Step 2: Blow up all lands. Opponents can no longer cast spells unless they have mana rocks on the field already, as the tax rises as much as they rebuild. Step 3: lose your friends.
Of course, HotH can equip any creature. While looking around, I found Mangara of Corondor, who I don't think is good enough as a commander for much thought, even with HotH, but could find herself as part of some "HotH Package." What other creatures are obnoxious when copied every turn?
Step 1: Get two Oriss, Samite Guardian with helm of the hosts
Step 2: Get the original Oriss into your hand.
Whitemane Lion
Stonecloaker
Kor Skyfisher
Or any number of other ways
Step 3: Discard Oriss to activate the token Oriss' ability
Step 4: Return it to your hand
Emeria Shepherd (is better with Ruin Ghost and fetchlands)
Command Beacon with Crucible of Worlds
Enduring Renewal + sac outlet
Sun Titan/Emeria, the Sky Ruin + Whitemane Lion + Panharmonicon
Conqueror's Foothold
Scrap Spectra Ward. I read the rulings, "although Auras that are already attached to the creature aren’t affected by Spectra Ward, the enchanted creature can’t be the target of further Aura spells that have one or more colors." No good if I want to recur Totem Armor forever.
Skybind + Sigarda's Aid gets pretty silly, Skybind is 5 cmc but it can pull off some stunts, at worst with no flash Auras it can remove blockers or remove counters from a thing. Becomes cruel with Containment Priest and Hallowed Moonlight, which are probably cards I would want to include anyway in a Boros control deck.
Galvanic Arc is really good. First Strike is redundant on Tiana, but IIRC you can have Galvanic Arc enter the battlefield enchanting the same creature it targets with its bolt, so it can destroy itself and get back into hand. It would also give first strike to any other alternate win-cons like Kor Spiritdancer. There's very few good red auras, but of them this is one you want.
Unquestioned Authority also has a great effect, and replaces itself.
Doublestrike is common in Boros and probably the quickest way to make Tiana a threat; I'm not going to be loading up too much on offensive auras, and she only has 3 power. She has First Strike already, so Kwende, Pride of Femeref works. Battle Mastery is an obvious choice, but I like Duelist's Heritage more because I can give any attacking creature doublestrike, meaning I can get involved with combat not related to me. Kwende and Silverblade Paladin, as creatures with doublestrike, can get Path of Mettle online, a card that looks pretty interesting to me as a land that can destroy creatures, and more bodies is not unwelcome. Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion isn't bad but is pretty mana intensive. Grappling Hook is funny but also expensive, kind of fits in with the control theme though.
I think Tiana, as a commander, will be best as a control deck, with a voltron beatdown being the eventual way to win. Auras benefit way more from her ability than equipment, and there are auras like Pariah and Soul Tithe which can become pretty annoying when they stick around. However, including high-utility equipment like Sword of the Animist and Sunforger is not a bad idea when it can patch up areas that Boros struggles with.
Since Tiana will, under optimal conditions, be providing some not insignificant card advantage, keeping the curve low is important. Ideally I'd have most auras be under four CMC, unless they provide serious benefit like Spectra Ward.
1 Sram, Senior Edificer
1 Kor Spiritdancer
1 Mesa Enchantress
Pillowfort
1 Pariah
1 Spirit Link
Control/Removal
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Soul Tithe
1 Immolation
1 Chained to the Rocks
1 Eland Umbra
1 Felidar Umbra
1 Hyena Umbra
1 Mammoth Umbra
1 Umbra Mystic
Tutor
1 Open the Armory
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Retether
1 Replenish
Other
1 Sigarda's Aid
1 Sunforger
Not sure how many of the totem armors would be good, but it's pretty important to have, command tax will rack up very quick and it gives her some staying power, especially when combined with other forms of protection.
I want Recruiter of the Guard in here just because it's so important to get at least one enchantress effect online. Also I have a copy of it not being used at all. Imperial Recruiter would do the same thing.
I didn't see Immolation on your list. For 1 mana, repeated removal of any x/2 creatures is pretty strong. It can also be attached to Tiana once you're going in for the win. Guise of Fire has a somewhat similar effect, it can't immediately kill most creatures but it will force them to attack, potentially causing them to die to a blocker. Flowstone Blade can eventually kill any creature with enough mana, but would be RRRR in order to kill anything that Immolation can't, at that point Ordeal of Purphoros or Fatal Attraction are better, or just rely on your instants/sorceries in that case.
Spirit Link is a fun card. It can let you benefit from combat you're not involved with, let Tiana heal you up, or nullify the effect of any non-commander creature on you. On the topic of lifegain, I'm not sure if Ordeal of Heliod is too worth it with no other source of +1/+1 counters, but 10 life for 2 mana and no card disadvantage, on top of giving a +1/+1 counter, is not too bad.