Bruna, the Fading Light - Mono-W Moat Control

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago




Bruna, the Fading Light - Mono White Reanimation and Control

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Introduction and Deck History

This deck was born out of a couple of good pulls from Eldritch Moon: I first pulled Gisela, the Broken Blade and later Bruna, the Fading Light. I had considered using Gisela as general, but she offers less (to my mind at least) in terms of overall synergy. Truth be told, I'm also a sucker for reanimation. It's a strong effect, and having it available on a general is very helpful.

This has led me to build what ostensibly appears to be a reasonably tribal build; Angels and Humans. This is purely for synergy, as Bruna will not reanimate anything else. However it has it's benefits, as there is a lot of utility stapled to these tribes. We will talk later on about this, but it should be fairly evident to anyone who's spent time in this game that humans and angels are both known for some degree of board control, so I generally don't consider this a tribal build, I consider it a control build. Mono white needs it to be, and so it is.




Why Bruna?

As far as tribes go, Angels are among the most iconic in the game. They've been around since the dawn of the game in iconic cards like Serra Angel|LEA, and have seen plenty of legendary iterations too. There's plenty of options in terms of Angel tribal, and plenty of mono-white legendary options too. So why play Bruna?

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You'll enjoy this deck if...
Let's look at Bruna as a general:
  • 5WW is a lot to pay, but she is a solid body with good 'standard white angel' keywords.
  • Flying and Vigilance is nothing to scoff at; it gives her defensive options, especially with a fat booty like she has.
  • We are really after her cast trigger as her main payoff - this would be more abusable as an ETB ability which is a shame, but as a cast trigger there is a very, very small list of cards that can stop it from happening - we don't even need her to resolve! The tribes she resurrects give us plenty of options for defense, control and general advantage.
  • Brisela, Voice of Nightmares - we're not guaranteed this; however, it's not the hardest effect to set off by any stretch. It still counts for commander damage, and once it hits the field it can be reasonably oppressive.




Why not Bruna?

Bruna is by no means the strongest commander of all time. She needs support to really run as a cohesive deck. And mono-white is not a popular colour to play on it's own - traditionally it's known to struggle for draw and ramp, which can be concerning when your commander costs 5ww. These are points I'm well aware of, and it's something I've accounted for in building.

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You won't enjoy this deck if...
  • You don't enjoy mono white; not known for strong draw options, or strong ramp options. (We're gonna break the mold though!)
  • You don't like a commander with a heavy casting cost - 5ww is a lot to pay on first cast.
  • She lends to a control deck; if this isn't something you're interested in, look elsewhere.




Other Commander Options


  • Avacyn, Angel of Hope - Clearly, the biggest and baddest angel to date. A reasonable target on her back, but she is a beater and you could lock a board up pretty good around her with her third ability.
  • Gisela, the Broken Blade - Bruna's little sister, she's lean, mean, and probably works better around a lifelink/midrange strategy than what we're doing.
  • Reya Dawnbringer - The closest comparison to Bruna in that she is both an angel and has reanimation, but otherwise, I'd think a deck built around her would both look very different, and play very slowly. 6www is enormous amounts to pay, and tapping to use her ability takes her out of combat. That's tough, and is a good reason I've never used her in this list, let alone any others.
  • Lyra Dawnbringer - Dominaria's latest legendary angel, she's clearly a strong, well costed angel with tribal impact. She's a different deck, I feel she'd run better as a tempo/aggro commander with lifelink synergy. Excellent general, but what keeps me with Bruna is her resurrection ability.
  • Kaalia of the Vast - classic angel tribal commander. She does come complete with a bullseye and a simultaneous roll of the eyes from your opponents, so be prepared for some salty feelings.
  • Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle - Another strong reanimator commander in mono white. I'd say it would be a very different list - lower to the ground for sure, definitely less tribal, and from what I've heard there's at least some combo options too. That isn't me, but it might be you.

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The Decklist

Bruna Reanimator Control

Planeswalker

Approximate Total Cost:





Strategy

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Gisela was furious that her hairdresser wasn't paying attention during the cut and colour.

General Overview
As mentioned, mono white is not a strong colour for ramp or draw. Its strengths are in other areas, and while we play these up, we do need to make concessions. A fair deal of our deck is going to be dedicated to draw and ramp. But also, we're looking at slowing our opponents to a pace we can deal with. There's plenty of options we can use for this, and when we're knocked back, we can generally rebuild fairly quickly with Bruna's trigger. For this reason, I'm not too bothered about her dying so that we can recast her. Ultimately, our win condition is going to be smashing face with angels, but we're also working around a delicate balance of keeping momentum up, staying relevant, and keeping the board relatively manageable. It's not always easy, but it's a challenge, and it's a lot of fun. Welcome to mono-white controlTM.

What do mean by mono-white control? It comes down to removal, reanimations and hatebears (oh my!) White is well known for removal - we've got plenty of options here in total board wipes, spot removal, protection for us, and combat modifiers that can help us break through or just trade more favourably. The other thing white does well (even though, surprisingly, b is more known for it) is reanimation. We have some premium options for that here, and it ties well into staying relevant, and making sure we have control over different stages of the game, with persistence. We have options in the command zone and outside of it, and it helps keep our permanent control elements in place until we decide they can go. there are a ton of hatebears in white, too; They can help us dictate the pace of the game, the context in which combat or non-combat action can occur, the presence that our opponents can establish, and how quickly they're able to engage with us. This helps us to balance out power differences and establish a platform from which we can become a threat in the game. So, in all, we have three wider elements of play we're bringing to the table as a cohesive whole that complement each other. Let's have a look at how they play out in general.




Starting Hand

Ultimately, there's three things we want to see in our starting hand: lands, ramp and draw. If you've got a hand full of big body angels, you can more or less mulligan with confidence. If we get the right pieces in hand, you can more or less guarantee we'll actually outpace the rest of the table for mana and draw in the early stages. Strange to say it of a mono white deck, but it's generally true.

Sample Hand 1
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There's some land drops here, and some great pieces, but probably not enough early advantage to be a sure fire keep. You could, but it'd be risky. I'd probably mull this one.
Sample Hand 2
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This is a decent start - you've got some acceleration, some filtering, plenty to grow on, and a little bit of control to pull ahead of your opponents. Easy keep.
Sample Hand 3
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It's a one land hand, but that doesn't make it any less a keeper. It's pretty easy to see your line of play here. Turn one drop the ring into the stone, turn 2 drop the robot or the wall draw dependent, and you're already fairly close to having enough to cast Bruna, with protection for her too. This is a great start, and you should definitely keep it - Ideally you hope to draw into Sword of the Animist so that you can start swinging with Solemn Simulacrum, hopefully have it catch a blocker and die so that we can start recursion with something like Emeria Shepherd.



Stages of the Game


Early game


Ultimately, our early game is very much dedicated to ramping first and foremost, while keeping a full grip; we want an opening hand with some land drops, but we can make do without too many so long as we have a way to get more. My favourite early plays are things like Gift of Estates, Sword of the Animist on a weenie or a Resplendent Angel, and Endless Atlas. We want these in play and active early - if we can ramp from library to play we have the potential to see a ton more of the deck than ordinary, and that allows us to thin the deck and draw up some quality pieces to curve into.

Once we have some advantage in mana, we're wanting to establish some board control. This can be covert or overt, but ultimately this is something that your opponents will help inform on. You should have an idea of who is likely to be the biggest threat, in general, and specific to your deck, and you should keep an eye out through early turns for those you think could pull away and become problematic. Once you're aware of where the power lies, you want to then apply some pressure. Are you playing Krenko, Mob Boss or Selvala, Heart of the Wilds? Find yourself a Magus of the Tabernacle, Magus of the Moat or Eye of Singularity. Are you facing the potential of Eldrazi in your face? Find a Magus of the Moat. Are you worried about the spellslinger or control deck? Find a Grand Abolisher or Return to Dust for that Death Star.

Mid game


Once you've dropped some appropriate control into the mix, you want to start your proactive plans. Ideally you want to make sure one of two things happens - either you appear like the table lawmaker, the master of equilibrium, or you have the boardstate to back up your control. Now that you've hit some of your land drops, got your rocks down, got some critters on field, here's where you want to start a degree of expansion.
Make an army if you can, and start spreading some holy justice. There's some key pieces we're looking for - any will do, so cast as you can. Resplendent Angel is an army in a can and Emeria Shepherd is gorgeously good value (and thanks to darrenhabib for pointing out the combo with Emeria Shepherd, Altar of Dementia and Solemn Simulacrum to grab all of your basics into play, mill a ton and draw a ton).

Don't be afraid to just swing, this deck is almost flying tribal, and it's surprising how often that can make a difference. But in a tight game it's important to know who you're attacking and why. This is where table politics comes in, and it's gonna be different every time, so there's no real guide to it. It's a learned thing, but ultimately what you're wanting to do is wear the rest of the table down while still holding something back for the endgame. This can look like contributing to taking out an archenemy, not swinging and reactively answering threats, or just spreading out damage advantageously towards threats as they appear. In most cases this deck will struggle with being an archenemy though, so it's probably wise not to gun too hard or look too threatening. The great thing is that we're mono white anyway - no one really expects much from us anyway, so play into that if it works.

Late game



At this point you pretty much should have a good idea of where you're going. We're looking at this point for haymakers to close the deal. Archangel of Thune, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Kozilek, the Great Distortion. We don't have a 'win con' other than beating face, so anything will do in this deck. There's a couple of neat tricks we can use to punch through though. Once you have a solid board state to swing with True Conviction is really rough going; it gets targeted though, so build your forces first. Everyone forgets about Rogue's Passage too.

Contingencies:


If things have got out of hand and your control is gone or a player is threatening too much advantage, you shouldn't for a second hesitate to blow the board up. Tragic Arrogance will allow you to shape the board as you see fit, Hour of Revelation comes down just about as early as you'd like and resets, and Routs can happen any time you like. We're spoilt for options in how this looks, and as I say, don't think twice about doing it. We can generally rebuild a LOT faster than other decks, so fire away. Teferi's Protection can help too, although it's best used in the right place. It's not a 'survival against all odds' card, it's more to avoid an alpha strike or an Expropriate until you can strike back. If you use it to avoid that last couple of points damage before a loss you're probably unlikely to claw back into the game.

Post wipe, usually I want to make sure I've got something in my graveyard worth reanimating. There's something super awesome about blowing the board up, then coming my turn casting Bruna, the Fading Light to resurrect Karmic Guide, resurrecting Emeria Shepherd, dropping a plains to hit landfall, bringing back Solemn Simulacrum, hitting another land, bringing back Sun Titan then using it to bring back a Serra Ascendant or a Swiftfoot Boots, equipping it to Titan and grabbing something else again. You can also re-establish control pieces this way, or very easily assemble Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. That's the great thing about this deck; there's plenty of ways it bounce back and change tack post wipe.




Melding into Brisela, Voice of Nightmares


Not every commander fuses with another creature to become a giant, horrific Eldrazi Angel Horror. Hard to believe, but true. There's a few ways here to go about making it happen, so it deserves a mention. See below for the strategy around her, as well as a few of the more obscure rulings around Brisela in commander.

Melding


The how of melding her is easy enough - find Gisela, the Broken Blade and cast her while Bruna is in play. I run one piece that can find her, Thalia's Lancers. Piece of cake. You could also discard her from hand with Mask of Memory's trigger or likewise, and reanimate her with Bruna or something else. Even easier. All you need to ensure is that both pieces last until the end of your turn. The thing is, it's not always the right choice to do so. It's worth knowing that as soon as you do it, all eyes are on you. Make it count. Don't do it unless you can maximise the threat it presents, and use it to hurt the table or keep your opponents down. Often the better choice is going to be reanimating something else for a different species of control, some removal, or a chain of creatures to refill your board, but every now and then locking the board out is the right plan, and you'll have the space to make it the right choice. As an aside, there's a ton of people out there who will just let it happen to see the monster brought to life, which is always hilarious!

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Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Emrakul?

Board Impact


There's certain decks it'll turn off altogether. Lots of spellslinger/combo decks are absolutely out of the game with her on the field, she shuts down playing mana rocks and some of the more efficient spot removal in the game. She'll do wonderful things for specific archetypes - cantrip decks like Shu Yun, Feather, and Zada, Krenko Goblins, Edric weenies, and elfball are all stuck for casting anything until she's dealt with. It's a strong ability, it's just a case of making sure it's the right environment for her to be the control element you need.

She also makes a pretty excellent voltron commander with little effort. We've got a couple of ways to give her Double Strike, a couple of ways to make her indestructible, and we have plenty of ways to pump her, or make sure she connects.

Removal


It's important to know what happens once she bites removal, too. If or when she's removed, her component pieces essentially hit whatever zone the horror would hit. If she's killed, both Bruna and Gisela hit the yard as two (at which point you can send Bruna to the command zone if you so wish). Likewise with exile, and with returning to hand. For example, say she gets Path to Exiled: Bruna and Gisela both hit exile, and you can then choose to replace Bruna's exile with returning her to the command zone.

Commanderness


It's also important to know; Brisela does commander damage. I've had arguments about this before, and fair enough, it's a weird unique case. The idea is that any creature that 'contains' a commander (in this case Bruna) shares that 'Commanderness', and shares the property of being able to end the game with 21 commander damage. This counts for her entire power, not just what Bruna contributes. It's weird, but it's part of what makes her a cool commander, in that it's something entirely unique.




Card Choices

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Creatures
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  • Serra Ascendant - It's a one-drop flying lifelinker that can be recurred by Bruna. It's on curve, and will most likely keep us in the game nicely. Late game its variable, but ultimately is usually reliable.
  • Weathered Wayfarer - One drop that retrieves any land we want. It'll keep your land drops in for sure, but mostly we use it to pick up something like Kor Haven or Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
  • Bounty Agent - Low to the ground, flexible removal on a body. New to the list, but there's a promising degree of utility here.
  • Bishop of Wings - the newest addition, her role is to help keep our board relevant and keep our life totals high. Early days yet, but the price is right at ww and she's on tribe.
  • Knight of the White Orchid - Decent white ramp on a reasonable body for 2 mana. Mostly he will just smooth your curve early and chump block, which is good enough.
  • Drannith Magistrate - Dirty, nasty control. This comes down early enough to just give us breathing space to get our commander in play, so in a way it's here to bait removal. It's not going to be popular.
  • Grand Abolisher - An excellent, cheap control piece. Great if there's another control deck at the table.
  • Stoneforge Mystic - Modern's favourite Kor Cleric. She's an early drop, grabs an equipment of our choice, and puts it onto the battlefield. That last, in this list, won't save us any mana, but I guess if counters are in your meta it helps your spell dodge removal. She's here to smooth draw, ramp and give an early body to carry equipment into combat.
  • Wall of Omens - A 2 drop with additional draw. Not a tribal option, but we can bring it back with Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Karmic Guide or Emeria Shepherd.
  • Bastion Protector - Pretty obvious why this one is here. Puts Bruna on a 2 swing clock, Brisela on a 2 swing clock.
  • Recruiter of the Guard - An early drop utility fetcher. This can get us a Solemn Simulacrum, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Serra Ascendant, Silverblade Paladin, Palace Jailer, Karmic Guide, or Weathered Wayfarer. Excellent utility.
  • Resplendent Angel - Well costed angel that helps keep bodies in the air. Conditional on lifegain, but we can do that easily.
  • Ranger-Captain of Eos - A great early drop that gets us either an excellent beater or our specialty land fixer. Otherwise, repeatable spell control with reanimation.
  • Silverblade Paladin - Well costed beater with a great effect. Mostly the target of soulbond will be our general, but often it'll just be whatever flies and swings. Does what it says on the can, and does it well.
  • Stonecloaker - Graveyard hate, creature saver, instant chump blocker. This guy is seriously versatile. In good times we use him to abuse ETB triggers, in a pinch we get rid of something nasty and let him take the heat.
  • Thalia, Heretic Cathar - Slows down a lot of decks. A ton of them. Well costed for 3 mana, she's a great early drop.
  • Angel of Condemnation - Well costed, but her abilities are really valuable. She can help us abuse ETB abilities, save Mangara of Corondor from herself, remove threats from the field, and still be relevant in combat.
  • Gisela, the Broken Blade - Makes our commander bigger and meaner, but generally is a bit of a beast herself. She's well costed, keeps our life total up and curves well.
  • Linvala, Keeper of Silence - Well costed, decent stats, does an absolute ton for its cost. It won't always be the right play to drop, but it does what it does VERY well. Bare minimum it carries a sword very well.
  • Magus of the Moat - A control piece, obviously. Recurrable, too. Turns off aggro decks, green decks, really good value. A ton cheaper than its namesake, too.
  • Magus of the Tabernacle - See above - turns off swarm decks, keeps the board clear. Applies to us too, so there's times he will be the wrong choice, but given we can sac him to himself and bring him back whenever we like it's not a huge deal.
  • Palace Jailer - Oblivion Ring on a creature, but with incremental draw too. This suits us very, very well. We can match the board in most cases for combat, so taking monarch away from us is going to be tough, especially considering this fella can take the biggest threat off the board.
  • Solemn Simulacrum - The best robot there ever was. Here for the abilities, mostly. We can recur him with some pieces, so he's not just a one shot.
  • Archangel of Thune - Just a very strong combat piece that helps us really solidify our board state. Very much a threat, her trigger does not need to happen too many times before we find ourselves in a favourable position.
  • Blinding Angel - Another strong control piece, puts in some great work. Keeps swarms and aggro decks at bay.
  • Karmic Guide - So we don't go infinite with Reveillark, but we can still use it to chain some ETB effects together, or just fill our board a little more.
  • Lyra Dawnbringer - Tribal angel buff at a superb cost. Really strong card that just keeps us up as a threat, and keeps our life total solid.
  • Thalia's Lancers - This is an ETB trigger we can abuse. Obviously it can help us meld, but it can also get us The Immortal Sun, Lyra Dawnbringer, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Kozilek, the Great Distortion, Kor Haven, Sword of the Animist, Azor's Gateway. Well costed creature, and versatile search.
  • Angelic Skirmisher - Excellent utility in combat. This gives you one of three combat keywords for the turn each combat. So you can have your army be vigilant on your turn and swing, choose first strike or lifelink for the rest of the turn cycle and either be too strong to attack or just get incrementally further away from zero life as the turns tick up.
  • Protector of the Crown - Monarch is a strong mechanic, and suits white, and particularly this deck, very well. We can defend ourselves really quite well to hold monarch or to get it back, and this guy helps up keep it in cases of superior firepower. Not stoked that he isn't a human or angel, but otherwise he's good value.
  • Sun Titan - Neither human nor angel, he's a recursion engine on his own - as well as this he can get pieces back that Bruna can't. Being able to get back lands, enchantments and artifacts makes him very valuable.
  • Valkyrie Harbinger - It creates it's own tokens. Normally I'm a little hesitant to rely on lifegain for synergy here because that isn't this deck, but the fact that this has innate lifelink is reassuring.
  • Sunblast Angel - Great reanimation target, a repeatable wipe on a creature. It's a selective wipe, sure, but that's fine.
  • Angel of Glory's Rise - A great option in many cases, although a little expensive given that it's removal is a little corner case and it doesn't play with any of the other angels well. It's decent, but I ended up cutting it for options that had more synergy ultimately.
  • Angel of Serenity - She removes key pieces from the field and graveyard. Strong ability, and if/when she dies the cards return to hand, which we can use to get key pieces back if we need them.
  • Emeria Shepherd - This is one of the strongest angels in the deck. Most of our mana is land based, so she really just gets great value even from non-plains land drops. An absolute bomb for the cost, she rewards us for playing land, and rewards it well.
  • Sephara, Sky's Blade - Protection for our biggest pieces. Expensive to cast but worth it either way you can manage it.
  • Avacyn, Angel of Hope - I mean, we all know what she does. Truly strong at the end of the curve, and makes us a solid, resilient threat.
  • Parhelion II - It swings for more than its CMC, it gives us bodies, and it's something to do with our little pieces that we don't actually want to swing with so much.
  • Kozilek, the Great Distortion - Big body with combat evasion, great cast effect, and decent control. Because we never really commit all of our pieces to board, there's a pretty good chance we can use him to stop strong spells being cast. Besides, if we're tossing a creature there's a really good chance we can reanimate it anyway.
Artifacts
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  • Skullclamp - We're not worried about our critters dying, so this is gravy. And we're in white, so artifact draw is good draw.
  • Sol Ring - Turn one 3 mana is always nice. There's not much to say about the tenth card in the power 9 that hasn't already been said.
  • Soul-Guide Lantern - It's the little grave-hate that could, and it comes with draw. There's really no reason not to run it.
  • Wayfarer's Bauble - Hits our land drops early. We can get it back with Emeria Shepherd, too.
  • Altar of Dementia - If we have a full board and can't break through we can shred libraries for free. Plus it's a sac outlet if we need it for Solemn Simulacrum or Skullclamp.
  • Azor's Gateway - So, honestly, we're really in this for the filtering, not the flip. And it's early filtering, so it's really helpful. I have flipped it before, and it's obviously strong. But that's a cherry on top.
  • Dowsing Dagger - The plants from this are so neglible for us it doesn't even matter. We can drop it and equip it early, flip it and get some great mana coming through. The flip is a may, so we don't need to transform it if we don't want to.
  • Endless Atlas - This is such a great card. I can't stress how well it performs, it's so easy to turn on, is a great mana sink, keeps our land drops coming and our grip full.
  • Mask of Memory - I was hesitant to add this, but it's performed admirably. Another form of filtering, it works really well to keep land drops coming and give us fodder to reanimate.
  • Mind Stone - Early ramp, early draw, recurrable with Emeria Shepherd. Great utility.
  • Scroll Rack - It's synergy with Land Tax is well known. I've found with the deck there's a tendency to hold resources for 'just in case', and to some degree it would be nice to have some filtering, purely to keep momentum up when I'm building or aiming for a win. There's very little better in terms of filtering, and we have pieces to make sure this stays in play too.
  • Swiftfoot Boots - We all know why this is in here. Protection and speed are great assets.
  • Sword of the Animist - Another great ramp option. We can get it on a critter pretty early, and it doesn't need to connect either. Has a buff so if we need to hit 21 commander damage, that's an option too.
  • Tome of Legends - This is just really low opportunity cost draw. Our commander has a cast trigger, so we are going to do that when we can, and we are going to attack with her as she is vigilant anyway. Easy incremental draw, and we get a freebie to start us off early game if needed.
  • Golden Guardian - DFC that's easy to flip for 2 mana, or as a mana sink to fill the board. Decent value.
  • Hedron Archive - Mind Stone 2.0. The ramp is nice, but being able to sacrifice it for draw is great too, being as we can recur it with Emeria Shepherd.
  • Thran Dynamo - Big mana, and we can drop it pretty early.
  • Batterskull - Strong equipment, brings our life up, makes our commander damage clock a damn sight shorter.
  • Mind's Eye - Really solid draw engine, has been a great addition.
  • Staff of Nin - Extra draw and extra damage.
  • The Immortal Sun - A Swiss Army knife for 6. Extra draw, cheaper spells, bigger creatures, redundant planeswalkers. It does so much.
Enchantments
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  • Deafening Silence - A new solid control piece. We're going to have to be careful when we drop this, but it's one we can play around quite easily, and it'll stop certain other decks in their tracks.
  • Land Tax - Goes great with Scroll Rack, and even without this is still the best ramp that white has. Keeps land drops up from turn one.
  • Dawn of Hope - Gives us board presence early, gains us some life, draws us some cards. Decent mana sink.
  • Aura of Silence - It hits us, but we're not entirely hamstrung by it. Other decks can be, and it's instant speed removal of something that just needs to be gone.
  • Ghostly Prison - We're not too committed to taxing the attack, because we don't generally need to be. I mostly don't care if people attack me, but this stops swarms, and if someone wants to swing at me, I can make sure they do less with their turn otherwise.
  • Court of Grace - Monarch is very good for this deck, as we can defend our life total very well. This is recurrable, gives us presence onboard to defend itself and take down life totals, and is on theme.
  • Eye of Singularity - I have ISBpathfinder to thank for this one. It's been really great thus far. Shuts off swarms, but also doubles up as removal for ubiquitous cards (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers, etc etc). It means sometimes our things will bite it, but we can rebuild pretty easily.
  • True Conviction - This does double duty as something that gets us closer to a win, and further from defeat. Really strong add.
Instants
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  • Sword to Plowshares - Immediate, final removal. None better.
  • Unexpectedly Absent - Temporary removal for anything that needs to go right now. Often this will clear the way long enough for us to sweep in for a win.
  • Hallowed Moonlight - Cheap, quick, cantripping board control. Great to kill off rival reanimators or burst tokens like Avenger of Zendikar.
  • Generous Gift - On behalf of white mages everywhere, thank you Modern Horizons. Instant speed anything removal is excellent.
  • Teferi's Protection - If you need a turn cycle's breathing space, this gives it to you. It won't win games, but it will stop you losing them.
  • Crush Contraband - Removal of key pieces of tech. Does double duty, is instant speed.
  • Akroma's Will - This is a super versatile card. It'll either give you an alpha strike, spread your attack further, or give you enough to weather a savage attack or board wipe and survive.
  • Faith's Reward - One of my favourite pieces of tech. 4 can be a lot to hold up, but this will save literally everything that goes to your graveyard. Lands, Artifacts, Enchantments, the kitchen sink.
  • Return to Dust - More tech removal, more double duty, more instant speed.
  • True Love's Kiss - Similar to the above, but a sure thing for card advantage. For those times when there aren't two artifacts/enchanments to exile, or you just want a full grip.
Sorceries
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  • Steelshaper's Gift - A turn one equipment tutor, is no laughing matter. The deck can make or break based on some of the equipment we use, so being able to get it more easily is very helpful.
  • Open the Armory - Gets us a beater, a ramper, a draw filter, or protection.
  • Gift of Estates - Seems lame, but this card is decent. Early turns, drop this prior to your land drop for a full grip of your next 3 land drops. Goes nicely with Emeria Shepherd, too.
  • Search For Glory - It's just a very versatile tutor. Not too pushed, and fetches a variety of options for us.
  • Divine Reckoning - We're mostly ok with having one creature on board, and being able to cut out any strategies other than voltron builds is nice. Flashback gives us a surprise from the graveyard if we lose control of the board at any point, too.
  • Cleansing Nova - Has thus far been really great, both modes are useful.
  • Rout - The option of instant speed makes this really useful.
  • Tragic Arrogance - For when you have indestructible things to remove or want to switch to Voltron mode. The great thing with this one is you make all the choices.
  • Akroma's Vengeance - Total board wipe or cycling, you choose.
  • Austere Command - Specific, modal removal. The flexibility built into this card is simply excellent, there's always a way you come out on top casting it.
  • Hour of Revelation - This turns on stupidly easily. Almost every time this will be a really cheap board wipe.
Lands
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  • Arch of Orazca - Colourless and draw. Really solid mana sink when needed.
  • Bonders' Enclave - Relatively cheap draw on a vanilla land; there aren't going to be many instances we can't activate this.
  • Command Beacon - Avoiding Commander tax is really helpful when your commander costs 5ww
  • Encroaching Wastes - Land destruction for key pieces, but fair as it can be.
  • Emeria, the Sky Ruin - Takes a little while to turn on, but it's decent once it does. No restrictions on the reanimated creature, it'll bring anything back.
  • Fabled Passage - Somewhere between a cheap fetch and an expensive Fetch, it straddles the gap nicely without breaking the bank. Something we can abuse with Sun Titan, which is nice.
  • Field of Ruin - Fair land destruction again. Ramps everyone an untapped land, too. No one could be mad with that.
  • Flagstones of Trokair - We can get it with Weathered Wayfarer or Thalia's Lancers, we don't mind sacrificing it to Lotus Field, in other ways it's purely a plains.
  • High Market - Enters untapped, sacrifices creatures for free. Great card.
  • Homeward Path - Just makes sure our stuff remains ours. When you need it, you need it.
  • Kor Haven - Searchable with Thalia's Lancers, keeps some damage away from us. Or other people if you're interested in making friends.
  • Lotus Field - This is kind of great for us in terms of abilities on things like Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer, Knight of the White Orchid and such. The upside of this is that with Sun Titan we can grab our lands back easily, and Mistveil Plains can throw them back in the library.
  • Mistveil Plains - Pseudo-recursion for anything I can't pull back with reanimation. There's some cute interactions here in that I can use Thalia's Lancers to bring back things like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and I can use this to make instants and sorceries come through again. Although a shuffle is probably required before they'll come back up again with any reliability.
  • Mystifying Maze - A poor man's Maze of Ith, it's not without some plus sides. Because it exiles, it can remove tokens, auras, equipment. And it taps for mana.
  • Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - Our big mana producer. Does what it does really, really well.
  • Opal Palace - Usually a throwaway from the precon decks, we cast Bruna a lot. I've cast her for 15 before, so if we can make her bigger, why wouldn't we?
  • Rogue's Passage - Helps us connect, obviously. Handy in voltron mode, and for Mask of Memory.
  • Sanctum of Eternity - Our commander costs a lot. Anything we can do to reduce commander tax is good, as I've had games where she's cost up to 13ww and that just really makes it hard to do enough in a turn. It's a shame this can only be done during your turn, but it's great utility nonetheless.
  • Tectonic Edge - Fair land destruction number 3. It should be noted, we can always use these on ourselves to find plains in order to turn Emeria, the Sky Ruin on or trigger Emeria Shepherd.
  • Thespian's Stage - Copies the best stuff on the field. Or gives us a second Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
[*]Throne of the High City - Monarch is a really solid mechanic for this deck, as we're able to show real resilience. We have a couple of ways to get this back if needed, but ultimately it should be great value.
[*]Tyrite Sanctum - This gives us a mana sink for spare resource we can't spend otherwise. It's also nice to be able to protect stuff, but mostly with combat as our primary win condition it's important to be able to make it count for more.
Notable exclusions
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There's a lot of angels out there. There's a lot of control out there. And honestly, building in mono white can be expensive. What follows is some of the notable exclusions from the list for various reasons:
  • Angel of Finality - This one is a real meta consideration. It could totally fit in the deck if I saw more graveyard decks in my meta, so if that's you, feel free to throw it in.
  • Odric, Lunarch Marshal - I guess it's possible he could fit, but he's not what I want my humans to do. I want control, I want griefiness. He makes my angels keyworded for days, but most of them are pretty competent in combat anyway, so he seems surplus to requirements.
  • Enlightened Tutor - I'd totally add this if I had a spare copy, it's a strong fixer.
  • Settle the Wreckage - It's been strong in standard, but I don't feel like it translates well to EDH. Dropping that many lands on an opponent's field seems like a bad idea.
  • Endless Horizons - It could totally do some good work. It thins the deck, ensures land drops. I personally see it as a risk not worth taking, but it could be great in the right place.
  • Serra, the Benevolent - I'd love to say she fits, but honestly, she really just doesn't do enough. All abilities are at least a little relevant, but literally none of them do enough to justify a place.
  • Stoneforge Mystic - I'd add this if I had a spare.
  • Swords of X and Y - White handles equipment well, and these are undoubtedly strong. They're not here purely because they are out of my budget, but something like Sword of Feast and Famine would fit really nicely.
  • Cost reducers and mana doublers - Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, Urza's Incubator et al - These are worth considering in one respect because angels are expensive and you can expect to cast Bruna at least twice. The reason I don't run them is that I'm not often paying to play my creatures, and I have no relevant or powerful mana sinks in the deck. I'd probably want at least 3-4 before I saw adding these as more relevant than reliable land drops to thin the deck.
  • Maze of Ith - I actually prefer Kor Haven here because it can produce mana.
  • Ancient Tomb - Budget restraint is why it isn't here, pretty much.
There's bound to be plenty I've missed here - these are the most relevant non-inclusions I can think of, but if there's anything else you're wondering about, feel free to ask!



Further Development

"Image"


With the help of the contributors to this thread, I feel like this deck is now at a level I'm happy with - it's strong, resilient and has varied ways to control the game and win. There is still a want list however:

Tithe - Reserved list prices are pretty savage.
Umezawa's Jitte - Another utility equipment I'd really like a copy of here. I have my eye on a copy at my LGS, and it may well get a place eventually.
Loyal Retainers - Cash restraint again.
Baneslayer Angel - Well costed beater with lifelink. I'd grab a copy if my LGS had one.
Moat - Anyone got a spare $1500 NZD?




Changelog

A lot of this is ported over from the deck's earlier history on mtgsalvation. It's come a long way and had a lot of fiddling, so there's a ton of jank I've tried here and there.
Changelog
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5/2/17
Sun Titan > Mastery of the Unseen

7/3/17
Sacred Mesa > Mastery of the Unseen
Dictate of Heliod >Weathered Wayfarer
Restore Balance > Mentor of the Meek
Sunblast Angel> Tamiyo's Journal
Mirror Entity > Staff of Nin

13/3/17
Plains > Angel of Jubilation
Retreat to Emeria > Intrepid Hero
Unexpectedly Absent > Tragic Arrogance

10/4/17
Elite Inquisitor > Ranger of Eos

26/4/17
Wayfarer's Bauble > Wing Shards

9/5/17
Phyrexian Rebirth > Mangara of Corondor

21/5/17
Mask of Avacyn > Trading Post

5/6/17
Marshal's Anthem > Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Angelic Skirmisher > Restoration Angel

12/6/17
Sublime Archangel > Karmic Guide

17/7/17
Devoted Crop-Mate > Ghostly Prison
Thunderstaff > Masako the Humorless
Mastery of the Unseen > Magus of the Moat

28/8/17
Guardian of the Gateless > Grand Abolisher
Archetype of Courage > Sublime Archangel

12/9/17
Pilgrim's Eye > Mass Calcify
Banisher Priest > Fiend Hunter
Hallowed Moonlight > Equipoise

3/1/18
5 Plains > High Market, Tectonic Edge, Encroaching Wastes, Wayfarer's Bauble, Caged Sun
Urza's Incubator > Ashnod's Altar
Mass Calcify > Prison Term
Planar Cleansing > Dawn Charm
Burnished Hart > Mana Tithe
Explorer's Scope > Selfless Squire

8/1/18
Always Watching > Aura of Silence
Reaper of Flight Moonsilver > Breath of Life

13/2/18
Crib Swap - Teferi's Protection
Glacial Chasm > Field of Ruin

19/3/18
2 Plains> Myriad Landscape, Opal Palace
Eternal Dragon > Mask of Memory
Frontline Medic > Dowsing Dagger
Breath of Life > Angel of Condemnation

23/4/18
Dawn Charm > Damping Sphere
Wing Shards > Baird, Steward of Argive
Ashnod's Altar > Urza's Ruinous Blast
Prison Term > Fall of the Thran

26/5/18
Plains > Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Damping Sphere > Sword of the Animist
Blind Obedience > Magus of the Tabernacle
Fall of the Thran > Blinding Angel
Chancellor of the Annex > Hour of Revelation

5/6/18
Twilight Shepherd > Bastion Protector

2/7/18
Mother of Runes > Thran Dynamo
Urza's Ruinous Blast > False Prophet
Trading Post > Open the Armory

9/7/18
Haunted Fengraf > Rogue's Passage
Ranger of Eos > Mind Stone
Oreskos Explorer > Infiltration Lens
Baird, Steward of Argive > Prison Term
Weathered Bodyguards > Eidolon of Rhetoric
Caged Sun > The Immortal Sun

23/7/18
Strionic Resonator > Ashnod's Altar
Selfless Squire > Angel's Trumpet
Herald of War > True Conviction

11/8/18
Equipoise > Mind's Eye
Tamiyo's Journal> Silent Arbiter

24/9/18
Infiltration Lens > Azor's Gateway
Angel's Trumpet > Null Brooch
Secluded Steppe > Arch of Orazca
Drifting Meadow > Kor Haven

8/10/18
Ashnod's Altar > Altar of Dementia

30/10/18
Prison Term > Eldrazi Displacer

5/11/18
Fiend Hunter > Unexpectedly Absent
False Prophet > Return to Dust
Masako the Humorless > Akroma's Vengeance
Eldrazi Displacer > Eye of Singularity
Mana Tithe > Land Tax
Intrepid Hero > Endless Atlas
Silent Arbiter > Boreas Charger
Crawlspace > Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Archangel of Tithes > Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Karoo > Isolated Watchtower

15/11/18
Kor Cartographer > Solemn Simulacrum
Myriad Landscape > Homeward Path
Boreas Charger > Loyal Unicorn

3/12/18
Loyal Unicorn > Wall of Omens

31/12/18
Isolated Watchtower > Thespian's Stage

11/2/19
Eidolon of Rhetoric > Dawn of Hope
Angel of Jubilation > Smothering Tithe
Sublime Archangel > Crush Contraband
Null Brooch > Cleansing Nova
Vengeful Dreams > Batterskull

1/3/19
Restoration Angel > Lyra Dawnbringer
Mentor of the Meek > Resplendent Angel

4/3/19
Adarkar Valkyrie > Divine Reckoning

15/4/19
Mangara of Corondor > Sun Titan

23/4/19
Faith's Reward > Serra Ascendant
Divine Reckoning > Golden Guardian

26/4/19
Smothering Tithe > Hedron Archive

7/5/19
Angel of Glory's Rise > Parhelion II

11/6/19
Golden Guardian > Archangel of Thune

24/6/19
Plains> Mistveil Plains
Ghostly Prison > Generous Gift

3/7/19
Wayfarer's Bauble > Scroll Rack

22/7/19
Open the Armory > Bishop of Wings

9/9/19
Opal Palace > Lotus Field
Mystifying Maze > Flagstones of Trokair
Plains 2 > Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse

15/10/19
In:
Ranger-Captain of Eos
Sunblast Angel
Austere Command
2 Plains
Throne of the High City

Out:
Bishop of Wings
Knight of the White Orchid
Angel of Serenity
Evolving Wilds
Terramorphic Expanse
Arch of Orazca

9/12/19

In:
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Palace Jailer

Out:
Blinding Angel
Parhelion II

17/2/2020
In:
Open the Armory

Out:
Scroll Rack

23/4/2020
In:
Recruiter of the Guard
Angelic Skirmisher
Protector of the Crown
Tome of Legends
Sanctum of Eternity

Out:
Deafening Silence
Mistveil Plains
Batterskull
Azor's Gateway
Angel of Condemnation

3/8/20
In:
Bonders' Enclave
Drannith Magistrate
Hallowed Moonlight

Out:
Hedron Archive
Staff of Nin
Plains


7/9/2020
In:
Stoneforge Mystic
Steelshaper's Gift
Wayfarer's Bauble

Out:
Silverblade Paladin
Mind's Eye
Swords to Plowshares

12/10/2020
In:
Bounty Agent
Magus of the Balance
Blackblade Reforged

Out:
Sunblast Angel
Sephara, Sky's Blade
The Immortal Sun

23/4/2021
In:
Soul-Guide Lantern
Search for Glory
Akroma's Will
Valkyrie Harbinger
Court of Grace
Command Beacon
Tyrite Sanctum
Out:
Endless Atlas
Teferi's Protection
Archangel of Thune
Protector of the Crown
Land Tax
Sanctum of Eternity
Homeward Path

11/6/21

In:
Righteous Valkyrie
Angel of the Ruins
Archon of Coronation
Protector of the Crown
Archaeomancer's Map

Out:
Search for Glory
True Love's Kiss
Thran Dynamo
Swiftfoot Boots
Kozilek, the Great Distortion

20/8/21
In:
Serra's Emissary
Hall of the Bandit Lord

Out:
Crush Contraband
Plains

4/11/21
In:
Homeward Path
Secluded Steppe
Mistveil Plains
Cursed Totem
Damping Sphere
Sword of Hearth and Home
Ashnod's Altar
Ambitious Farmhand // Seasoned Cathar
Crashing Drawbridge
Sungold Sentinel
Fiend Hunter

Out:
5 Plains
Wayfarer's Bauble
Rout
Bastion Protector
Magus of the Balance
Grand Abolisher
Tome of Legends

24/3/22
In:
Duelist's Heritage
Sevinne's Reclamation
Tithe
Angel of Destiny
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Winding Canyons
Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau

Out:
Aura of Silence
Unexpectedly Absent
Mind Stone
Cleansing Nova
Field of Ruin
2 Plains

22/4/22
In
Esper Sentinel
Sanctifier en-Vec
Mangara the Diplomat
Archangel of Thune
Lion Sash
Mind Stone
Vanquish the Horde
Winds of Abandon
Sanctum of Eternity
Tectonic Edge
Opal Palace
Ghost Town
Cryptic Caves

Out
Bounty Agent
Wall of Mourning
Protector of the Crown
Sunblast Angel
Hour of Revelation
Austere Command
Soul-Guide Lantern
Plains 6

23/11/22
In:
Gideon of the Trials
Mother of Runes
Cathar Commando
Containment Priest
Giada, Font of Hope
Tocatli Honor Guard
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
Inspiring Overseer
Sanctum Prelate
Serra Paragon
Defiler of Faith
Sigarda's Vanguard
Sanctuary Warden
Chancellor of the Annex
Armageddon
Path to Exile
Skullclamp
Pyre of Heroes
Deafening Silence
Paladin Class
Blind Obedience
Seal of Cleansing
Stony Silence
Suppression Field
Rule of Law
Fall of the Thran
Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
Geier Reach Sanitarium
Ghost Quarter
Seraph Sanctuary

Out:
1 Ambitious Farmhand//Seasoned Cathar
1 Sungold Sentinel
1 Wall of Omens
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Magus of the Moat
1 Magus of the Tabernacle
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Archon of Coronation
1 Sun Titan
1 Emeria Shepherd
1 Tithe
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Generous Gift
1 Akroma's Will
1 Sevinne's Reclamation
1 Vanquish the Horde
1 Duelist's Heritage
1 Eye of Singularity
1 True Conviction
1 Damping Sphere
1 Lion Sash
1 Archaeomancer's Map
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Cryptic Caves
1 Ghost Town
1 Lotus Field
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Opal Palace
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Tectonic Edge

11/1/2023
In:
1 Lotus Field
1 Loran of the third Path
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Disciple of Caelus Nin
1 Aura of Silence
1 Calamity's Wake

Out:
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Fall of the Thran
1 Stony Silence
1 Chancellor of the Annex
1 Defiler of Faith
1 Sanctifier en-Vec

20/4/2023

In:
Enlightened Tutor
Soul Partition
Soul-Guide Lantern

Out:
Containment Priest
Disciple of Caelus Nin
Calamity's Wake



Credit & Thanks

There's at least a few people who deserve some praise for their help with tech and building a reasonable list here - JDviant, ISBPathfinder, weltkrieg and Sinis have all been stalwart with reasoned critique and suggestions where and when needed. My thanks goes to them and to anyone else who contributes to the thread.

As always, feel free to contribute, suggest, critique feed back or otherwise enjoy!

Toc
Last edited by toctheyounger 11 months ago, edited 40 times in total.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Core set 2020 update - Bishop of Wings replaces Open the Armory. Not being a huge fan of tutors made this easy. I'm hoping Bishop will help keep me relevant post-board wipe/removal and keep my life total up, as well as trigger Archangel of Thune and Resplendent Angel] (the latter of which it curves into nicely). The amount of reanimation the deck does should make both abilities relevant, so I'm hoping this lives up to my expectations.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Any thought towards Sephara, Sky's Blade? Its big, flying, lifelinking, and keeps other threats alive through sweepers. It seems kind of interesting to me at the least. I have been finding random Baneslayer Angel type creatures to be good enough for me though so maybe its just me on this one.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
Any thought towards Sephara, Sky's Blade? Its big, flying, lifelinking, and keeps other threats alive through sweepers. It seems kind of interesting to me at the least. I have been finding random Baneslayer Angel type creatures to be good enough for me though so maybe its just me on this one.
I was on the fence about it personally. It's got some cool combat abilities and such, but my concern is that the alternate cost is not something I'll likely use often, and the indestructible sounds a ton better than it is when she doesn't get it. I know 'dies to Doom Blade is a bit redundant, but she's no Avacyn. I could be reading this wrong too, though, I guess it's a bit rough comparing her to the absolute top of the pile.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
Any thought towards Sephara, Sky's Blade? Its big, flying, lifelinking, and keeps other threats alive through sweepers. It seems kind of interesting to me at the least. I have been finding random Baneslayer Angel type creatures to be good enough for me though so maybe its just me on this one.
I was on the fence about it personally. It's got some cool combat abilities and such, but my concern is that the alternate cost is not something I'll likely use often, and the indestructible sounds a ton better than it is when she doesn't get it. I know 'dies to Doom Blade is a bit redundant, but she's no Avacyn. I could be reading this wrong too, though, I guess it's a bit rough comparing her to the absolute top of the pile.
Thats all valid, I was looking at it more from the perspective that rezing her with bruna seems like it would be fine and it really does kind of look like a scaled up Baneslayer Angel (whom I guess I have been totally fine with). In a lot of cases I have actually had the issue that I don't have quite enough decent angels at all times in my deck and sometimes I just seem to have like no creatures in hand early which can make for an awkward game. I had been trying to inflate my angel / human count but the issue is I don't have a lot I am excited to run beyond like the core 15 or so.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
Any thought towards Sephara, Sky's Blade? Its big, flying, lifelinking, and keeps other threats alive through sweepers. It seems kind of interesting to me at the least. I have been finding random Baneslayer Angel type creatures to be good enough for me though so maybe its just me on this one.
I was on the fence about it personally. It's got some cool combat abilities and such, but my concern is that the alternate cost is not something I'll likely use often, and the indestructible sounds a ton better than it is when she doesn't get it. I know 'dies to Doom Blade is a bit redundant, but she's no Avacyn. I could be reading this wrong too, though, I guess it's a bit rough comparing her to the absolute top of the pile.
Thats all valid, I was looking at it more from the perspective that rezing her with bruna seems like it would be fine and it really does kind of look like a scaled up Baneslayer Angel (whom I guess I have been totally fine with). In a lot of cases I have actually had the issue that I don't have quite enough decent angels at all times in my deck and sometimes I just seem to have like no creatures in hand early which can make for an awkward game. I had been trying to inflate my angel / human count but the issue is I don't have a lot I am excited to run beyond like the core 15 or so.
I'm sort of in the same boat to be fair. I guess it's a symptom of having combat be your primary win condition. Having said that, I am less interested in the top of the curve than I am low curve control/hatebears, but I had been looking at picking up a Baneslayer Angel at some point when I finally track one down, so it might make sense to see whether I could up my creature count too. I'm a little hesitant to make any huge changes though, purely because the deck is playing really well at present. I'm sure there's probably places to make cuts though.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I was going to test out Ranger-Captain of Eos as essentially a tutor for Serra Ascendant. For 4 mana you get a 6/6 flying lifelinker + a 3/3 trash creature. Its unlikely that we ever rez the ranger but its sort of like having an extra copy of ascendant in the deck. The real question is if there is a reason to run Ranger-Captain of Eos over Ranger of Eos. Too bad there aren't more reasonable one mana drops for commander >_<

I can't remember if I run Recruiter of the Guard in my list or not. My digital list is probably out of date but it looks like the recruiter really can't get much that the eos options can't also get. The recruiter is probably better assuming I could find a way to expand my options... who knows.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I was going to test out Ranger-Captain of Eos as essentially a tutor for Serra Ascendant. For 4 mana you get a 6/6 flying lifelinker + a 3/3 trash creature. Its unlikely that we ever rez the ranger but its sort of like having an extra copy of ascendant in the deck. The real question is if there is a reason to run Ranger-Captain of Eos over Ranger of Eos. Too bad there aren't more reasonable one mana drops for commander >_<

I can't remember if I run Recruiter of the Guard in my list or not. My digital list is probably out of date but it looks like the recruiter really can't get much that the eos options can't also get. The recruiter is probably better assuming I could find a way to expand my options... who knows.
Ranger-Captain looks pretty awesome. The sacrifice ability is pretty damn good for control, and picking up Serra Ascendant is cool too. If I were going to run either, I'd want to run the better option. It's pricey, so I probably won't grab it any time soon, but I might keep an eye on prices for it.

Recruiter was in your sally list, although I don't have much in my list it can pick up to be fair. In the right list it could grab you Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Knight of the White Orchid, but I'm not convinced Thalia wants to be in here anyway.
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Post by weltkrieg » 4 years ago

Thalia, guardian of thraben is a good card, but I don't know if it is worth it (more meta specific, I suppose). Thalia, heretic cathar, on the other hand, is likely to put in some serious work in most edh metas. Even better: recruiter of the guard can fetch it.

Sephara, skies blade was an easy swap out for Iona in my Mageta list. I am still trying to figure out what to swap for bruna for reanimation, as I have acquired one. Maybe my Akroma, Angel of Wrath?

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Oh, toughness 2 or less. I'd always thought recruiter searched by CMC. That's better than I'd thought.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I like Thalia, guardian of thraben but she is one of those cards that if you don't curve her she probably doesn't matter. Super cool card but its hard to get her set up when you want her. Thalia, heretic cathar is also a cool card but I don't like it much when drawing it off curve it tends to turn more into just haste hate. Early in the game she will literally buy you turns as opponents stumble on their mana. Trying to power through Thalia, heretic cathar to resolve fetchlands is absolutely brutal.

I put in a copy of Palace Jailer into my list but I haven't seen the bugger yet. Sometimes the low draw / low tutor of white is a real bugger for testing lol. I primarily aim the temp exile at commanders even if its just to deprive them for a turn or so most of the power is on spinning up Monarch but getting some disruption with that is kind of interesting. Still, I haven't gotten any play testing with it yet. Someone on salvation brought it up a while back in one of our threads and I slowly warmed to it.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

weltkrieg wrote:
4 years ago
Thalia, guardian of thraben is a good card, but I don't know if it is worth it (more meta specific, I suppose). Thalia, heretic cathar, on the other hand, is likely to put in some serious work in most edh metas. Even better: recruiter of the guard can fetch it.

Sephara, skies blade was an easy swap out for Iona in my Mageta list. I am still trying to figure out what to swap for bruna for reanimation, as I have acquired one. Maybe my Akroma, Angel of Wrath?
Yeah I don't think this is the right place for OG Thalia. Anything outside of early game and she's a dead draw, and even early game she hinders my plan too. It makes no sense to make further impositions on my game, so she definitely doesn't get a spot.

How has Sephara worked for you so far?

Akroma seems a reasonable cut, purely because her CMC to value ratio isn't quite as good as it once was. That being said, Bruna isn't far off from that either, purely because there's no cheating on her reanimation trigger, she has to be cast. If you're after chaining reanimations together or getting it done cheaply I'd almost go for Karmic Guide instead.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I like Thalia, guardian of thraben but she is one of those cards that if you don't curve her she probably doesn't matter. Super cool card but its hard to get her set up when you want her. Thalia, heretic cathar is also a cool card but I don't like it much when drawing it off curve it tends to turn more into just haste hate. Early in the game she will literally buy you turns as opponents stumble on their mana. Trying to power through Thalia, heretic cathar to resolve fetchlands is absolutely brutal.

I put in a copy of Palace Jailer into my list but I haven't seen the bugger yet. Sometimes the low draw / low tutor of white is a real bugger for testing lol. I primarily aim the temp exile at commanders even if its just to deprive them for a turn or so most of the power is on spinning up Monarch but getting some disruption with that is kind of interesting. Still, I haven't gotten any play testing with it yet. Someone on salvation brought it up a while back in one of our threads and I slowly warmed to it.
I remember Jailer coming up. Looking at the card it is kinda cool. I'd be happier if it cost one less but it's still not bad. I like that the exile clause is tied to being the monarch and not the death of the jailer. It forces a potentially unfavorable combat, and given your likely taking the best creature on the field there's a good chance it stays exiled for quite some time - if it isn't a commander anyway.

Thalia 2 definitely is better early, but she's still not bad mid to late game. It's mostly haste hate, but slowing down an expensive land suite full of fetches, duals, shocks and such is still a pretty big advantage.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
I remember Jailer coming up. Looking at the card it is kinda cool. I'd be happier if it cost one less but it's still not bad. I like that the exile clause is tied to being the monarch and not the death of the jailer. It forces a potentially unfavorable combat, and given your likely taking the best creature on the field there's a good chance it stays exiled for quite some time - if it isn't a commander anyway.

Thalia 2 definitely is better early, but she's still not bad mid to late game. It's mostly haste hate, but slowing down an expensive land suite full of fetches, duals, shocks and such is still a pretty big advantage.
Yea, the biggest issue with Oblivion Ring type effects is that removal / sweepers can suddenly put a big threat back into play. Its so much better not having that happen. The draw from monarch seems interesting for a deck with a bunch of defensive viable flyers. I like the Jailer because its both a stall mechanic that can be REALLY tough on what to do when it hits your commander and it spins up some draw as well as being a human.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

It is a pretty reasonable consideration for the list, certainly better than something like Fiend Hunter on account of the additional draw. Let me know how it turns out for you once you get some play time, I'm pretty sure I have a spare copy gathering dust I could squeeze into the list....somewhere. Not sure where to make cuts at present, but we'll see how it plays out. It's actually kind of hard keeping up with Wizards' schedule these days - Commander precons in a few weeks then Eldraine in little more than a month afterwards is pretty nuts.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Yea, I know what you mean. I primarily play commander but I dabble a bit in modern. Modern Horizons was kind of a pain in the ass as I got 3 boxes of it and am at like..... great I have 1-2 of several mythics / rares. That doesn't help me at all.

I most of the time just buy singles from the commander decks unless they are just chalked full of goodies. Still recovering from modern horizons though so it might take me a bit to play catch up lol.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Damn, that's some disposable income! I mostly pick up singles myself, budget is pretty tight. I can totally see why you'd spring for Horizons though, those full art snows were pretty sweet.

That being said my wife is a flavour fiend. Told her about fairies returning and the Grimm flavour of Eldraine and she was like 'oh we're getting 2 boxes 100%'. It's all in how you sell it :cool:
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Yea, well I hadn't spent all that much on magic in a while before that. Honestly Ravnica block isn't really my cup of tea. My first kid is on the way so moving forward I might have less disposable income but I guess I am lucky to have been able to afford that. I usually just buy singles but with how modern horizons was formatted I knew I was going to need a little bit of everything from that set.

I need to log some more games with Bruna. One of the high schoolers I give a ride to magic plays my Bruna deck often as I let him borrow decks so I haven't played it as much myself of late due to that. He plays it very poorly though so testing isn't worth much watching him play it.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Yeah, babies are expensive in both time and money. I feel the same way about Ravnica mostly, there's some ok value there, but I've always been more of an Innistrad-esque flavour set sort of guy.

Much the same with my deck - it's been running well so I've sort of thought 'ok, there's other decks I need to playtest more'. It definitely leaves me in the space where I'm not sure what is pulling its weight and what isn't.

It's definitely the sort of deck you need to know what you're doing with, too - you could always give the guy some pointers I guess, mono white 'control' isn't easy in this format. That's kind of what I like about it, too - it challenges the pilot moreso than winning with pure value.
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Post by weltkrieg » 4 years ago

Akroma, angel of wrath is in there primarily as a big and hard to deal with beater. I am not worried about casting cost in this deck, as with 20+ wraths, not including one in the command zone, it is extremely hard for permanents to stay around enough to deal me significant damage. Bruna would certainly make a good addition and fits the decks primary mission which is: screw blue and creature decks. Casting triggers are perfect for that.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

I guess it makes sense then. It's nice knowing that even if you get a nope from the blue player you still get your trigger. Say that much about the eldrazis, they had that right.
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Post by benjameenbear » 4 years ago

Any thoughts on submitting this for Primer status? I really like your list and the OP is formatted nicely for Primer consideration.

Too bad there isn't a way to search your library for an Angel card...

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

benjameenbear wrote:
4 years ago
Any thoughts on submitting this for Primer status? I really like your list and the OP is formatted nicely for Primer consideration.

Too bad there isn't a way to search your library for an Angel card...
Thanks Ben! I had thought about it, considering I put all the effort in. I guess part of the indecision is it not being a really prominent list with a popular commander. I may well do though.

Angel tutors. Thalia's Lancers does it kind of, and I did run Tamiyo's Journal at one point, but otherwise there's not much in mono white for that.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I thought I would mention that I got some testing in with Sephara, Sky's Blade the other day. It was really quite good. I rezed it three times in that game. It was nice in that it was higher threat and it was protecting my other flyers. I had someone wrath and it kept Bruna in play (until the second wrath that turn rotation) but then I just recast her and had two threats and was somewhat wrath resistant. I later got Emeria online and wrathed using Sephara to protect my melded commander + Lyra allowing me to blow out my opponents defenses and connect with them as I just readied myself for the next Emeria rez.

I just thought I would give my $0.02 on the matter. It was good for me in comparison to the other mostly stats angels. I had a Serra Ascendant that game that died on me but I never rezed because I had the option of Sephara, Sky's Blade instead. I did manage to topdeck Serra Ascendant on like turn 5ish and managed to sit back and Winding Canyons it in to block. That was hilarious.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I thought I would mention that I got some testing in with Sephara, Sky's Blade the other day. It was really quite good. I rezed it three times in that game. It was nice in that it was higher threat and it was protecting my other flyers. I had someone wrath and it kept Bruna in play (until the second wrath that turn rotation) but then I just recast her and had two threats and was somewhat wrath resistant. I later got Emeria online and wrathed using Sephara to protect my melded commander + Lyra allowing me to blow out my opponents defenses and connect with them as I just readied myself for the next Emeria rez.

I just thought I would give my $0.02 on the matter. It was good for me in comparison to the other mostly stats angels. I had a Serra Ascendant that game that died on me but I never rezed because I had the option of Sephara, Sky's Blade instead. I did manage to topdeck Serra Ascendant on like turn 5ish and managed to sit back and Winding Canyons it in to block. That was hilarious.
Sounds like it's been solid! I assume you swapped it out for Baneslayer Angel as per your previous post? I may have to give it a whirl, I guess I'd probably swap Parhelion out for it.

Haven't had a lot of gameplay recently, although there have been at least a couple of memorable gamestates that have come up. I locked Shu Yun, the silent Tempest out with Brisela for an easy voltron win recently. And I recently had be of those losses that sticks with you - I keep thinking 'dammit I played that wrong'. Late game 4-way that came down to myself against Hope of Ghirapur, who hadn't really achieved much but fill the board with rocks. Once it came down to late game he cast Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, put some boots on it and starts swinging. The damage is fine, I have Bruna in play as well as Karmic Guide, a nice amount of land, and a grip with Avacyn, Blinding Angel, Batterskull and Mask of Memory. Essentially I let one swing through and annihilate some lands and the guide. My turn I drop the mask and equip it to Bruna, swing in unblocked and drop Avacyn to my graveyard. Next turn Hope destroys my Bruna and swings again. I can survive it and still cast Bruna next turn, so I do, rezing Guide and Avacyn. He swing again and I just don't have enough to keep up.

Essentially I should have acted earlier and got the damn Blinding Angel into play ASAP to swing with. No attacks means no annihilator trigger. Ah well, hindsight still teaches you things.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
Sounds like it's been solid! I assume you swapped it out for Baneslayer Angel as per your previous post? I may have to give it a whirl, I guess I'd probably swap Parhelion out for it.

Haven't had a lot of gameplay recently, although there have been at least a couple of memorable gamestates that have come up. I locked Shu Yun, the silent Tempest out with Brisela for an easy voltron win recently. And I recently had be of those losses that sticks with you - I keep thinking 'dammit I played that wrong'. Late game 4-way that came down to myself against Hope of Ghirapur, who hadn't really achieved much but fill the board with rocks. Once it came down to late game he cast Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, put some boots on it and starts swinging. The damage is fine, I have Bruna in play as well as Karmic Guide, a nice amount of land, and a grip with Avacyn, Blinding Angel, Batterskull and Mask of Memory. Essentially I let one swing through and annihilate some lands and the guide. My turn I drop the mask and equip it to Bruna, swing in unblocked and drop Avacyn to my graveyard. Next turn Hope destroys my Bruna and swings again. I can survive it and still cast Bruna next turn, so I do, rezing Guide and Avacyn. He swing again and I just don't have enough to keep up.

Essentially I should have acted earlier and got the damn Blinding Angel into play ASAP to swing with. No attacks means no annihilator trigger. Ah well, hindsight still teaches you things.
I actually kept Baneslayer. I believe I had some other random chaff angel I cut for it. I think it was Archangel of Tithes. I don't love bringing curves up but with Bruna I find that I need higher value rez targets and Tithes was not doing very good for me.

I cut Blinding Angel some time back because I found that I had to proactively stop people from doing things. If you drew it after someone was a threat or if they had flyers it just didn't do anything for me. It can be a cool trick but it can also feel incredibly slow when you need a moat defense immediately. I much prefer Magus of the Moat and Moat over it but I know many cannot afford actual Moat.

Its interesting that you run Karmic Guide in a deck like this. I just found that most of the time I want to use it is decks that abuse creatures via things like Birthing Pod / Skullclamp and the sort.

How has Bishop of Wings been for you? I just felt like it wouldn't do enough in general but its sort of cute and on theme. Gaining 4 life in one shot effects and making 1/1 spirits just didn't feel like it was enough for me to justify it.
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