Help Upgrading (cutting) The Angels Secret Lair with Giada

[ender86]

Howdy. I bought the latest secret lair commander deck focused on Angels and could use some help doing the final cuts/tuning it. At the recommendation of many upgrade guides, I swapped in Giada, Font of Hope as the commander. There's a strong lifegain theme as well as +1/+1 counters and creating tokens. If it needs to be more focused, I'd appreciate any thoughts on which element is best to cut. Currently, I'm 7 cards over. I'm considering taking out the 3 stax pieces (Angel of Jubilation, Angelic Arbiter, and Linvala, Keeper of Silence) since I know they can make the deck a lot less fun to play against even though it might not be the right move for the most optimized deck.

I'd love your thoughts on which cards you'd cut and/or potentially swap out for my current list. Budget isn't a huge concern since my playgroup doesn't mind proxies of high-cost cards as long as it's not ridiculous like original duals.

Thanks!

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/CaJ3Sixy9UGJUiMEVKkm8A

[darrenhabib]

Hello.
I would focus on 4 mana Angels as Giada, Font of Hope will consistently let you cast them on Turn 3.
So with that in mind I'd actually keep Angel of Jubilation and Linvala, Keeper of Silence and look to cut higher casting cost cards.

For the sake of trying to get your Angels more on curve I'd cut Angelic Arbiter, Breathkeeper Seraph, Sigarda's Vanguard as the weakest of your Angels.
Starnheim Unleashed doesn't benefit from Angel cost reduction (Giada, Font of Hope, Starnheim Aspirant, Herald's Horn, Oketra's Monument, Urza's Incubator) and other advantages (Folk Hero, Cauldron of Souls).

As a general play pattern you are basically going to be casting one Angel a turn for most games. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it helps to set a basis for how other cards will work.
Vanquisher's Banner is going to be too slow. Drawing a card each turn for 5 mana isn't where you want to be at and the buff is nothing.

I don't like the equipment; Commander's Plate, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots are not the best when you don't have a Commander that you are particular interested in protecting. Giada, Font of Hope at 2 mana really isn't going to be a big target. The thing with these is that what creature are you choosing to protect? You can only protect one and so opponents removal can still be used to prevent you from doing broken things. The haste is pretty average in your deck, no activated abilities. You can try one at most, but you will discover the pattern that you are going to be unsure of what to protect and once you start moving the equipment around that leaves creatures vulnerable to removal anyway.
I do like the Sword of the Animist and I would add Skullclamp, you've got quite a few 1/1 token generators, Bishop of Wings, Oketra's Monument, Court of Grace, Dawn of Hope. It's a nice target for Urza's Saga.

I don't think your deck is going to be consistent enough to make the "buff more" cards Anointed Procession, Cathars' Crusade, Flowering of the White Tree very good.

Other cards that I don't think you are going to have time for are Akroma's Will and Cosmos Elixir, I'd cut them.

Brave the Elements is pretty marginal. I think your flying bodies are going to be bigger than most, meaning blocking is never going to be profitable for opponents and the only sort of board sweepers you can protect against is damage ones like Blasphemous Act.

Instead of Wrath of God I'd try Damning Verdict.
Heliod's Intervention has always done me proud, and in your deck the life gain is actually relevant.

I'd play Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins and Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave instead of some other lands.

Angels I'd add are Serra Paragon, Norn's Choirmaster, Mirror Entity, Angelic Sleuth.
As you've said budget isn't too much of a problem with proxies, so Serra Paragon along with fetchlands Arid Mesa, Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, Prismatic Vista.

Mirror Entity can help with the Walking Ballista + Heliod, Sun-Crowned combo specifically. Normally you have to cast Walking Ballista for 4 so that you can remove a counter and have it live.

I'd play at least one "sacrifice for benefit" creature so that Karmic Guide, Reya Dawnbringer, Serra Paragon, Emeria Shepherd, Cauldron of Souls, Emeria, the Sky Ruin have more targets.
Boromir, Warden of the Tower would be my top pick.
Cathar Commando, Restoration Specialist, Selfless Spirit are all other creatures I'd consider. I could see Martyr of Sands working well.
There will be times that you have Cauldron of Souls and want to get value from it, rather than just a way to negate a board wipe.
Now unfortunately the 1 toughness creatures don't benefit from this.

Wayfarer's Bauble is good ramp and perfect with Emeria Shepherd in that you can keep looping getting a Plains and bringing back the Wayfarer's Bauble. Every 2 nets you another land, so it only takes a couple turns to get all your basic lands into play.

[ChocoDude]

I think removing the lifegain subtheme is a good idea. Giada (the deck) does a great job at beatdown. I used to run Aetherflux etc and found it to be over the top, so I've tried to focus more on angel tribal and protecting them. In my experience, Giada does get a lot of hate, so protecting her and your board is a good idea. I personally run Greaves, but not Swiftfoot or the Plate. The haste from it can be useful. I'd consider adding Clever Concealment.

I'd suggest removing Speaker of the Heavens and Shattered Angel as well. Additionally, Reya Dawnbringer seems too slow to me, if you want to cut higher CMC cards. If you like tokens, Luminarch Ascension could take the place of the Speaker. It will get targeted quickly, because if folks don't, it can get out of hand. Overall, I agree with what Darren said with a couple of exceptions, Sigarda's Vanguard may not look good on paper, but it plays better than it looks and I personally like Akroma's Will as a finisher even though I'm sure people are tired of seeing it. I also use True Conviction as a finisher, but I like giving my angels double strike for a quicker beatdown. Note that Authority of the Consuls is a pet card for me, so that's why it's in my list. I always find it plays bigger than it looks.

I also tried lowering my curve (and increasing the angel count) by including some smaller angels to get the counters bumping faster such as Segovian Angel and Youthful Valkyrie. And Mutavault can help with the counters too. I see it's in your list already. I also have Serra Avenger in my list, but she's hit or miss and I could easily cut it.

I've also found that card draw can be an issue so some suggestions there would be: Sanctuary Warden, Horn of the Mark, and Conjurer's Mantle.

I also like vigilance with my angels, so consider Thraben Watcher with the buff being an nice bonus.

One card I've been planning to add is Norn's Choirmaster, I just haven't obtained one yet. Cauldron of Souls seems like a good board protector too, so I'm going to consider that.

While I mentioned that draw can be problem I actually cut Bonder's Enclave from my land count as I found it not so great AND...when it mattered...I found I didn't have enough plains often to get Emeria, the Sky Ruin online. So I cut a few colorless lands for more plains. With that said, I'd probably cut Arch of Orazca as well. War Room, I kept.

Here's my list for reference: https://archidekt.com/decks/3370911/gia ... _spaghetti.

I also have a Moxfield account and previously posted this list there, but I don't update it in Moxfield. I find it less easy to deck edit than Archidekt, but...it's much better for commenting and dialogue. Sadly, there's very little human interaction in Archidekt. Note, if you look at my deck I'd suggest "grouping the cards" by Category and then try Category (Multiple Types). I like to group my cards by function...draw, ramp, removal, etc. But, in Archidekt you can assign each card multiple categories, if it fits, with one category being the primary. When you group by (Multiple Types) you'll see some cards slightly more transparent in a specific category, which means I assigned them to primary categories elsewhere, but I also think they fit in secondary or more categories.

If you've got any suggestions for my deck, feel free to comment. @darrenhabib, likewise. I know you're a heavyweight on Nexus and you often provide excellent suggestions/ideas. Cheers!!

[darrenhabib]

If you've got any suggestions for my deck, feel free to comment. @darrenhabib, likewise. I know you're a heavyweight on Nexus and you often provide excellent suggestions/ideas. Cheers!!

Similar suggestions, I'd look to lower the cost of your deck. Because you are more aggressive, really focus on the cheap Angels.
Mirror Entity, Angelic Sleuth, Resplendent Marshal, Norn's Choirmaster.
Note that Mirror Entity can help to trigger cards like Horn of the Mark, Folk Hero, Conjurer's Mantle, Pyre of Heroes to hit your non-Angel cards Esper Sentinel, Serra Ascendant, Weathered Wayfarer, Starnheim Aspirant.

With Serra Paragon and Emeria Shepherd adding fetchlands gives you slight advantages, so just depends what you can afford; Arid Mesa, Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, Prismatic Vista.

Obviously budget determines what you can do for mana rocks, but Wayfarer's Bauble is good ramp and perfect with Emeria Shepherd in that you can keep looping bringing back the Wayfarer's Bauble.

I don't get the Farewell considering you have Flawless Maneuver, Akroma's Will, Avacyn, Angel of Hope. I'd play Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins instead.

Pyre of Heroes seems good for the deck at first, but actually you really need good pay off sequences.
"Upgrading" within the context of the deck often doesn't make sense considering the strength of especially the 4 drops.
Are you sacrificing Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Serra Paragon, Archangel of Tithes, Angel of Jubilation, Gisela, the Broken Blade, Battle Angels of Tyr, Firemane Commando for a 5 mana card? I bet you often you are going to want to keep them around.
Archangel of Thune, Herald of War, Lyra Dawnbringer are powerful 5 drops, but got to be under the right conditions to get value.
Then are you sacrificing one of these to get a 6 drop!?!? No way right.
Anyway Pyre of Heroes makes sense with 3 drops into Serra Paragon as you can cast the 3 drop again to not lose value. Then you can sacrifice that 3 drop for a nice 4 mana.
If you had Karmic Guide then that represents sacrificing a 4 drop for value. You'd have to pay the Echo but then you can sacrifice Karmic Guide for a 6 drop.
An example sequence would be to get Twilight Shepherd to return Karmic Guide. Twilight Shepherd can then be sacced to get Emeria Shepherd.

Just a general design philosophy is that you are always incentivized to have Angel cards that do something rather than non-Angel.
The example would be that Twilight Shepherd would be better than Cauldron of Souls against board wipes. Twilight Shepherd -1/-1 persist counter gets nulled by the Giada +1/+1 each time.
You do have to cast your Angels again, but the deck is nicely tuned with cost reduction to help against Cyclonic Rift type effects.

So win-cons like True Conviction and Akroma's Will might do the trick at times, but I would always be looking at Angels instead.
I would play Archangel of Strife over True Conviction as it might not be as powerful on the surface, but you get cost reduction from Giada, Font of Hope, Herald of War, Starnheim Aspirant, Herald's Horn, Urza's Incubator and can be drawn with Horn of the Mark, Conjurer's Mantle, Herald's Horn while also getting all the onboard Angel advantages.
But anyway I specifically don't put in "win-cons" when the entire deck is a win condition, so I wouldn't bother with True Conviction or Archangel of Strife.

I would say that Universal Automaton is arguably better than Serra Ascendant in this deck.
Universal Automaton represents buffs to all Angels. So a Turn 1 Universal Automaton often is going to provide an additional 6 power to the board quickly.
But Universal Automaton also helps with Horn of the Mark, Conjurer's Mantle, Herald's Horn, Folk Hero along with all the other Angel benefits.
Anyway you can see the design philosophy that a Universal Automaton is probably better than a pet card like Authority of the Consuls at the same mana cost, just because of how it can benefit the deck.
Is a Court of Grace worth it? Your deck is always susceptible to creature removal, but now you are opening yourself up to Enchantment removal. Same with True Conviction.
You can see where I go with design in that I'm always going to play an Angel over these other cards that give benefits.

The weakest of the Angels I think are Breathkeeper Seraph, Sanctuary Warden, Valkyrie Harbinger.

[ChocoDude]

I'm going to try out some of what you mentioned. I had three of the white fetches (Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, Flooded Strand) available to play, so I swapped out three plains for them.

I get what you say about Farewell as well. I could effectively create a one-sided board wipe using "destroy all creature" wipes and Flawless Maneuver, Akroma's Will, etc. I don't have an Ondu Inversion, but I do have Hour of Revelation readily handy, so I'm going to try that out instead. Additionally, I'd say MOST of the time I'll only have to spend to cast it, so that effectively lowers the cost of my deck. Farewell is just super powerful, especially being able to hit graveyards, but with my recursion package it really doesn't make sense to hit my own. I may look into Angel of Finality.

Two other swaps I'm thinking of making: 1) Court of Grace --> Norn's Choirmaster, which I had already planned to add in. 2) Pyre of Heroes --> Unbreakable Formation, Guardian of Ghirapur, Mirror Entity, or Angel of Finality. Thoughts?

As for True Conviction and Akroma's Will, I'm going to ride with them for now.

One part I didn't quite understand.

I would say that Universal Automaton is arguably better than Serra Ascendant in this deck.
Universal Automaton represents buffs to all Angels. So a Turn 1 Universal Automaton often is going to provide an additional 6 power to the board quickly.

Universal Automaton's board presence would provide buffs to all angels in the form of one +1/+1 counter for each additional angel I cast (IF Giada and Automaton remain on the board), so I'd have to cast 6 other angels to get the additional 6 power you mentioned. I don't think that's a quick six in the slightest. Serra Ascendant, while not being an angel, is a beast and an immediate six much of the time. I also sort of think of it as a human becoming an angel (more for flavor) than anything else. So, I agree that Automaton helps buff other angels, but I think I'd get a quicker benefit from Ascendant even though it doesn't synergize (apparently that's not a variant of synergy, according to the text editor).

Lastly, I'm considering pulling Winds of Abandon, which is great for removing indestructible creatures and can be a decent one-sided wipe IF you can kill your opponents fairly quickly afterwards, for Austere Command to get the wipe-flexibility and the synergy with my protection cards. Thoughts on that?

[darrenhabib]

Lastly, I'm considering pulling Winds of Abandon, which is great for removing indestructible creatures and can be a decent one-sided wipe IF you can kill your opponents fairly quickly afterwards, for Austere Command to get the wipe-flexibility and the synergy with my protection cards. Thoughts on that?

I always thought Winds of Abandon was an unplayable card .. until I've had it played against me and it effectively won the game. I mean it's sooooooo situational, it's either going to win you the game or lose you the game.

If you do add Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins and Hour of Revelation then a card I would definitely test out is Sephara, Sky's Blade.

I haven't changed my mind on anything, so here is what I'd change if taking the deck to my local game.
Serra Avenger --> Universal Automaton .. just because better in starting hand, and in the mid to late game it still has much the same value.
Breathkeeper Seraph --> Mirror Entity
Sanctuary Warden --> Angelic Sleuth
Steel Seraph --> Resplendent Marshal
Court of Grace --> Norn's Choirmaster
Plains --> Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins
True Conviction --> Sephara, Sky's Blade
Authority of the Consuls --> Wayfarer's Bauble

I also talked myself into Pyre of Heroes with the addition of Karmic Guide and Twilight Shepherd, but understand if you didn't want to do this, but its exactly the type of sequencing that I like to do.

Also Scroll Rack would be pretty great in the deck with Land Tax, Conjurer's Mantle, Horn of the Mark, Herald's Horn.

[toctheyounger]

It's also worth noting that if you're on Twilight Shepherd you can loop it with a sac outlet for an arbitrarily large Shepherd and either infinite mana, infinite mill or infinite ping, depending on your outlet of choice.

[ChocoDude]

Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'll goldfish them and see how they feel to me.

@ender86 What's your plan for your deck now?

[ender86]

Thanks for the great recommendations @darrenhabib and @ChocoDude. I incorporated most of your suggestions.

A couple of questions, @darrenhabib:

1. You mentioned cutting Breathkeeper Seraph multiple times, but it does have a nice interaction when paired with Karmic Guide. If you SoulBond them together, then every other turn you get to return a target creature from the graveyard. Bonus if you use Karmic Guide as a chump blocker, then you can do it every turn. Or do you think this is too slow? If it is, I'm still 3 cards high after incorporating your feedback, so I might cut both of these.

• I added in the Fetch Lands, however, with Angel of Jubilation in there, it makes all Fetch's unusable while it's on the field, right? I'm currently down to just 13 Basic Plains and am wondering if swapping the Fetch's for basics might be worth it just to ensure that Emeria, the Sky Ruin can get online okay.

I love swapping in Damning Verdict! One-sided boardwipes are the best!

I'm down to 6 creatures that aren't angels. 2 of those are for an infinite combo win Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista. Weathered Wayfarer is a nice one drop and sets up my ramp package nicely and allows me to pull out whichever land I need assuming I can keep him around. Starnheim Aspirant is a massive cost reducer which seems like a necessary enabler, and Boromir, Warden of the Tower was your recommended add. Maybe cutting Bishop of Wings? Although that's a LOT of potential lifegain and nice insurance in case of a board wipe.

@toctheyounger: Twilight Shepherd with Blasting Station is hilarious! Although Altar of Dementia is cheaper by . Either can be tutored with Enlightened Tutor, but getting to Twilight Sheperd would just be luck of the draw. What's your preferred infinite combo piece to pair with it? I might try and slot this in, but currently, I don't have either piece in my deck and sometimes winning through an infinite combo seems less satisfying compared to beatdown. However, my first combo has 2 non-angels in it with Heliod and Walking Ballista for total CMC of 7. Twilight Sheperd with one of the two instant-win combos would be either 8 or 9 CMC, but would be more on theme with angels, so it might be worth swapping out combos?

@ChocoDude I went back and forth on whether to include Land Tax and went the Weathered Wayfarer route instead. If I had Wayfarer and one land in my opening hand, I'd keep it. This line was in another thread on this forum, but I love it:

• T1: producing land, casting Wayfarer

• T2: Tutor for and play Flagstones of Trokair

• T3: Tutor for and play Lotus Field saccing the other two lands which triggers Trokair getting me another Plains.

• T4: Tutor for and play Thespian's Stage. Copy Lotus Field

In 4-turns, I'd have 3 lands that tap for 7 vs. having a mittful of Basic Plans and 4 on the board. Now, maybe getting to play that convoluted line is just a dream, and I'd instead cry when someone destroys by Wayfarer instead of the much more difficult-to-destroy Enchantment, but if I did get to play it, it would be a blast!

I'm impressed with how many basics you were able to keep in your deck. I think I probably have too many non-basic lands, but whenever I read the ones I have I go "Well, that one needs to stay." Ha. I did cut Arch of Orazca and Bonders' Enclave as recommended.

I see your Thraben Watcher and raise you an Angelic Field Marshal. You do have to control your commander, but I think it's a safe bet to assume we'll do everything we can to have Giada out since she makes the deck function. As long as that's true, the body it's on is bigger and it gives vigilance to non-token creatures too.

I also looked at cutting my lifegain subteheme, however, all of them on the list did something else too. Lifegain was just a fortuitous bonus. Maybe Angel of Despair, but I see that as a potential win-con.

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts!

[toctheyounger]

@toctheyounger: Twilight Shepherd with Blasting Station is hilarious! Although Altar of Dementia is cheaper by . Either can be tutored with Enlightened Tutor, but getting to Twilight Sheperd would just be luck of the draw. What's your preferred infinite combo piece to pair with it? I might try and slot this in, but currently, I don't have either piece in my deck and sometimes winning through an infinite combo seems less satisfying compared to beatdown. However, my first combo has 2 non-angels in it with Heliod and Walking Ballista for total CMC of 7. Twilight Sheperd with one of the two instant-win combos would be either 8 or 9 CMC, but would be more on theme with angels, so it might be worth swapping out combos?

I mean look I run Bruna lol. And there's no combos in that deck, it's pure control and beats. It does well but it's a different beast. I think, of the two combos I would personally prefer to run Shepherd sac, purely because it A+B+C's with your commander, she discounts the shepherd, and if you really wanna make it easier you could run Pyre of Heroes and chain into it, or reanimate with like Karmic Guide and such. With Ballista it's more of a known combo, neither piece is in your command zone, and neither piece does anything stellar outside of the combo itself. Shepherd isn't the best angel, but it's some measure of recursion which isn't nothing, and even if you can't mill or ping everyone out once you finish looping you still have an enormous flier you can doink people with.

Of the two sac outlets I think I'd go for the altar; it's cheaper, and it synergises more with the big bodies Giada is making you. If this combo doesn't eventuate you can use it to get yourself a reanimation target, incidentally mill people out or ruin topdeck tutors. Ultimately while it's definitely going to best used inside the combo itself, you're getting the most out of your sacrificed angels by milling for power rather than pinging for 1. That's my opinion, but I could see it either way. You could also do Phyrexian or Ashnod's, if you have something to sink mana into, but they seem less helpful here to me.

[darrenhabib]

A couple of questions, @darrenhabib:

1. You mentioned cutting Breathkeeper Seraph multiple times, but it does have a nice interaction when paired with Karmic Guide. If you SoulBond them together, then every other turn you get to return a target creature from the graveyard. Bonus if you use Karmic Guide as a chump blocker, then you can do it every turn. Or do you think this is too slow? If it is, I'm still 3 cards high after incorporating your feedback, so I might cut both of these.

• I added in the Fetch Lands, however, with Angel of Jubilation in there, it makes all Fetch's unusable while it's on the field, right? I'm currently down to just 13 Basic Plains and am wondering if swapping the Fetch's for basics might be worth it just to ensure that Emeria, the Sky Ruin can get online okay.

I'm down to 6 creatures that aren't angels. 2 of those are for an infinite combo win Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista. Weathered Wayfarer is a nice one drop and sets up my ramp package nicely and allows me to pull out whichever land I need assuming I can keep him around. Starnheim Aspirant is a massive cost reducer which seems like a necessary enabler, and Boromir, Warden of the Tower was your recommended add. Maybe cutting Bishop of Wings? Although that's a LOT of potential lifegain and nice insurance in case of a board wipe.

You've also introduced Altar of Dementia and Pyre of Heroes as further cards that don't work with Angel of Jubilation. It might be that it needs to go.
Of note fetchlands are technically better with Twilight Shepherd in the mix.
Another little trick to make Weathered Wayfarer more viable is that when you sacrifice a fetchland(s) you can then respond with Weathered Wayfarer before you search for the land which will put you below the threshold when otherwise you might not be.

Breathkeeper Seraph is looking better with Altar of Dementia and pay off effects like Angelic Sleuth and Boromir, Warden of the Tower.

Another combo with a sacrifice outlet is if you add Solemn Simulacrum with Emeria Shepherd. You can keep sacrificing the Solemn Simulacrum before you search for the Plains each time, which means you can search for all your basics.

I would not cut Bishop of Wings in your deck. Great engine with Skullclamp and now if you use Mirror Entity for 1 each time you Skullclamp the token, you'll get another token as an Angel will be dying.

Interestingly I have the The Book of Exalted Deeds with Mutavault combo in a Boros deck of mine.
But you have all the lands to do the ultimate, which is to copy the Mutavault with Thespian's Stage and then once you've done The Book of Exalted Deeds on the Thespian's Stage, you then copy the Lotus Field so that it has hexproof.

Umm, I'm not helping with cuts. 36 lands is fine, you got 38 at the moment with modal ones.
Kor Haven probably not necessary with your creature base. Eiganjo Castle one of those cards that has to line up really well. Don't think you'll miss that.

[ChocoDude]

@ender86 I'm not as much of a fan of Archaeomancer's Map so I'd rather run Land Tax.

A suggestion. If you're only running Universal Automaton, I'd run Segovian Angel instead.

[ChocoDude]

I looked through some Reddit threads and found someone that used Heliod, Sun-Crowned instead of Giada, Font of Hope as the commander and had a few small changes between the decks to increase the lifegain, thereby pumping the counters (i.e. the soul sisters, Pristine Talisman, Righteous Cause, etc.). However, it was primarily angel tribal.

What are your thoughts on which commander would end up putting more counters on their angels averaged over many games? I realize that you'd lose the ramp effect of Giada as the commander. She'd be in the 99, but you certainly wouldn't see her every game. Heliod is more difficult to remove though.

Maybe that's blasphemy having a non-angel as your angel tribal commander, but I'm wondering if it would be more powerful?

[darrenhabib]

I looked through some Reddit threads and found someone that used Heliod, Sun-Crowned instead of Giada, Font of Hope as the commander and had a few small changes between the decks to increase the lifegain, thereby pumping the counters (i.e. the soul sisters, Pristine Talisman, Righteous Cause, etc.). However, it was primarily angel tribal.

What are your thoughts on which commander would end up putting more counters on their angels averaged over many games? I realize that you'd lose the ramp effect of Giada as the commander. She'd be in the 99, but you certainly wouldn't see her every game. Heliod is more difficult to remove though.

Maybe that's blasphemy having a non-angel as your angel tribal commander, but I'm wondering if it would be more powerful?

I think in a tribal Angel deck Giada, Font of Hope is going to put more counters. I think in a dedicated non-Angel deck Heliod, Sun-Crowned would put more counters on. It's down to the 99.

[ender86]

Roaming Throne seems like an auto-include. I swapped out Valkyrie Harbinger which seemed like the weakest/most expensive token generator. I have about 13 triggered abilities that would love to be doubled!

@ChocoDude I did swap in Segovian Angel over Universal Automaton. Thanks for the suggestion; the flying and vig are a nice bonus for the same cost.

@toctheyounger I did pull out the Heliod combo to get down to 100 which leaves my primary infinite combo with Altar of Dementia and Twilight Sheperd on theme.

Throne of Eldraine seems like an awesome include, I don't have one yet, but I might swap it in place of Cauldron of Souls since it would have a more immediate impact.

@darrenhabib Thanks for your feedback. I like the Solemn Simulacrum combo with Emeria Shepherd, but the only things I'm thinking might be able to be swapped out is Arcane Signet or Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale? What would your recommendation be?

Thanks!

[darrenhabib]

@darrenhabib Thanks for your feedback. I like the Solemn Simulacrum combo with Emeria Shepherd, but the only things I'm thinking might be able to be swapped out is Arcane Signet or Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale? What would your recommendation be?

I'd cut Angelic Accord. There are very few ways to gain life during opponents turn so is pretty low impact.

[ChocoDude]

Have you had any success or interesting interactions during gameplay with Lotus Field, Flagstones of Trokair, Thespian's Stage, and Mutavault? I have two of the four and might consider adding the other two in.

Have you had much gameplay with Solemn Simulacrum and Emeria Shepherd? I guess you'd need a way to sacrifice the sad robot to get the most benefit. I saw Altar of Dementia in your list, but I didn't look for other sac outlets you may have before asking this question. My apologies.

[ender86]

@ChocoDude Unfortunately, December has been busy, so I haven't had many opportunities to play. I was going to take out that combo, but they all do other nice things by themselves even without the combo. Mutavault is nice to add another Angel into the mix which Thespian's Stage can copy. And if Lotus Field and Thespian's Stage are both out, that's incredible ramp. Which two do you currently not have in?

My only sac outlet is Altar of Dementia. I may need to add in more, but I want to get a few games in first to feel how it goes. I'll report back once that happens!

[ChocoDude]

I currently own Mutavault and Thespian's Stage. I don't own Lotus Field or Flagstones. I am proxying Flagstones, so I should just print up a Field and test them all out.

[ender86]

I did get a game in where I was able to do the Weathered Wayfarer line into both Lotus Field and Thespian's Stage which allowed me to pull ahead and win. Having a transformed Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale didn't hurt either, but I'd definitely add that line if I were you!

[ChocoDude]

Yeah I'm trying to get both lands in paper via Cardsphere. So far, no sellers.

[ender86]

I've gotten a few games in, but only one win. I tend to become the arch-enemy when I play Giada because they know she snowballs quickly. I cast her 5 times and after that, I couldn't do much. I was able to execute my Weathered Wayfeather technique to ramp insanely fast. Now I'm trying to figure out a place for Stroke of Midnight and Galadriel's Dismissal 's Dismissal[/card] because I think removal would be helpful for my meta and Galadriel's Dismissal can alternatively be used to essentially remove an opponent from the game by blanking their board at their end step and leaving them defenseless for an entire go-around. Hopefully, opponents will take them out. Otherwise, I'll send an army of angry angels over.