Lyra Angel Tribal

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Jace
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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

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TheTuna
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Post by TheTuna » 4 years ago

I run Lyra Angel Tribal myself, and let me tell you, Cradle of Vitality is an absolute must-have in this list. It gets out of control so quickly with her, since you can activate it on each separate lifelink trigger and you're attacking with a few very beefy creatures, rather than a wide board. It also guards against overcommitting and getting blown out by a wipe with no way to redraw a new hand (always a problem with mono-W) because you can spend your mana on making your 2-3 angels on board huuuuuge and save the rest of your cards for whenever they (or Cradle) are dealt with.

Personally, I would cut Answered Prayers . The art is so good that it's painful to lose it, but getting an extra 3/3 (4/4 with Lyra) on your turn only maybe every other turn doesn't feel amazing in Commander in general, and absolutely pales in comparison to what Cradle can do.

Depending on your meta, Aetherflux Reservoir is a great wincon, but you may not want to run that if you think it'll be received as too mean in your playgroup. Personally, I've had some success with it, and it's a lot of fun to boot.

If you find you're struggling to deal with sacrifice effects (always a problem for my Angels deck), you may also want to consider Oketra's Monument, as it both quasi-ramps and provides fodder to sacrifice instead of your big, expensive Angels.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

34 lands looks kind of low for a land count. I would personally add a few more and maybe consider adding Tithe if possible. You could kick up the number of utility lands you run as well being mono white. My suggestions offhand would be to add a Scavenger Grounds, Tectonic Edge, Homeward Path, Kor Haven, Myriad Landscape, and Opal Palace. Your commander only needs WW by 5 mana which is fairly easy to do so I would get some more utility in your landbase if possible.

I would love to see Generous Gift make the list. It would probably be a nice improvement over something like Banishing Light.

Bruna, the Fading Light seems like she would be really nice in a deck like this too. She costs the same as recasting your commander a second time and results in more bodies in play.

Serra's Blessing I am not sure if you have this card because its a throwback Serra named card but I find it a bit underwhelming when you compare it to Reconnaissance or Heliod, God of the Sun. In case you are unfamiliar with it, Reconnaissance can untap your creatures after damage is dealt giving vigilance and letting you back out of bad blocks making it like super vigilance.

I am also seeing very little to interact with artifacts and enchantments. I often like to play Return to Dust and more recently Crush Contraband.
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Jace
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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

TheTuna wrote:
4 years ago
I run Lyra Angel Tribal myself, and let me tell you, Cradle of Vitality is an absolute must-have in this list. It gets out of control so quickly with her, since you can activate it on each separate lifelink trigger and you're attacking with a few very beefy creatures, rather than a wide board. It also guards against overcommitting and getting blown out by a wipe with no way to redraw a new hand (always a problem with mono-W) because you can spend your mana on making your 2-3 angels on board huuuuuge and save the rest of your cards for whenever they (or Cradle) are dealt with.

Personally, I would cut Answered Prayers . The art is so good that it's painful to lose it, but getting an extra 3/3 (4/4 with Lyra) on your turn only maybe every other turn doesn't feel amazing in Commander in general, and absolutely pales in comparison to what Cradle can do.

Depending on your meta, Aetherflux Reservoir is a great wincon, but you may not want to run that if you think it'll be received as too mean in your playgroup. Personally, I've had some success with it, and it's a lot of fun to boot.

If you find you're struggling to deal with sacrifice effects (always a problem for my Angels deck), you may also want to consider Oketra's Monument, as it both quasi-ramps and provides fodder to sacrifice instead of your big, expensive Angels.
Cradle of Vitality - I didn't know about this card. I do play Sunbond for a similar purpose, but I will have to consider Cradle as well. The question is, what to drop for it?

Answered Prayers is too beautiful and on theme to cut. I agree it is underwhelming, but if I allow this deck to lose too much of its theme and identity, then I know I'll lose interest and take it apart. I don't want it to become mono-white goodstuff, or too focused on the mechanics. I want to draw cards I enjoy looking at and having in play. And the fact it shifts between being a creature and enchantment is unique and interesting. It also survives some board wipes and gives life.

Aetherflux is being considered. It's harsh, but necessary to give me more win conditions. I have no idea what I'd replace for it. Maybe Serra's Blessing.

I dropped Oketra's Monument for Herald's Horn, but I may play both indeed.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
34 lands looks kind of low for a land count. I would personally add a few more and maybe consider adding Tithe if possible. You could kick up the number of utility lands you run as well being mono white. My suggestions offhand would be to add a Scavenger Grounds, Tectonic Edge, Homeward Path, Kor Haven, Myriad Landscape, and Opal Palace. Your commander only needs WW by 5 mana which is fairly easy to do so I would get some more utility in your landbase if possible.

I would love to see Generous Gift make the list. It would probably be a nice improvement over something like Banishing Light.

Bruna, the Fading Light seems like she would be really nice in a deck like this too. She costs the same as recasting your commander a second time and results in more bodies in play.

Serra's Blessing I am not sure if you have this card because its a throwback Serra named card but I find it a bit underwhelming when you compare it to Reconnaissance or Heliod, God of the Sun. In case you are unfamiliar with it, Reconnaissance can untap your creatures after damage is dealt giving vigilance and letting you back out of bad blocks making it like super vigilance.

I am also seeing very little to interact with artifacts and enchantments. I often like to play Return to Dust and more recently Crush Contraband.
I haven't had issues with lands yet, but I am considering adding Myriad Landscape and Arch of Orazca, bringing the count to 36. It's an issue of space, since I love so many angels. I'd like to drop two creatures for them, but I can't bring myself to do it.

Serra's Blessing is for theme, but I've been wanting to drop it. Perhaps that for one of the Lands. I also only want to play modern frame cards, so I've avoided Tithe etc.

I can't believe I completely forgot about Return to Dust. I may drop Conclave Tribunal for that one. Or something else? IDK about Tribunal because tapping angels that can block with lifelink or go offensive seems less than ideal. I already play some spot removal.

I really hate the Eldrazi-fied angels and what creative did with Innistrad, so I refused Bruna. But I do agree she'd be good. It hurts not to be playing Sun Titan as well, despite Emeria Shepherd doing it better.

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Post by TheTuna » 4 years ago

I totally get it regarding Answered Prayers; the art is gorgeous. Can't wait for a playmat of that one. Angelic Destiny would be my #2 choice for the Cradle cut since most of your creatures are already flying and Angels, but I assume that's another one which you'd prefer to keep thanks to the art/theme/etc. If you're not equally attached to Sunbond, I'd encourage you to consider cutting that one for Cradle. Sunbond can (and will) be answered by simply killing the enchanted creature, which can be done by every color, whereas a non-Aura enchantment is much more resilient, and cannot be definitively answered at all by certain colors. Cradle also allows you to buff your whole board as desired, not just one creature.

A couple other Angels you may want to consider are Archangel of Thune and Angelic Arbiter. Archangel of Thune has fantastic synergy with Lyra, as (much like Cradle) her ability triggers off of each separate lifelinking creature, while Angelic Arbiter just throws a big wrench into your opponent's gameplans. Depending on the preferences of your meta, the latter may be viewed as annoying, but if people don't mind it, it can do a lot of work.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I am a big fan of Angel of Condemnation given it gives you control options and curves well with Lyra. Sunblast Angel could be sweet too just for some random control + angel synergy.

Magus of the Moat - I run it in my Bruna deck and its a sweet card for an angels deck. It is great defense from token and random attacking decks while letting your angels run free.
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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

TheTuna wrote:
4 years ago
I totally get it regarding Answered Prayers; the art is gorgeous. Can't wait for a playmat of that one. Angelic Destiny would be my #2 choice for the Cradle cut since most of your creatures are already flying and Angels, but I assume that's another one which you'd prefer to keep thanks to the art/theme/etc. If you're not equally attached to Sunbond, I'd encourage you to consider cutting that one for Cradle. Sunbond can (and will) be answered by simply killing the enchanted creature, which can be done by every color, whereas a non-Aura enchantment is much more resilient, and cannot be definitively answered at all by certain colors. Cradle also allows you to buff your whole board as desired, not just one creature.

A couple other Angels you may want to consider are Archangel of Thune and Angelic Arbiter. Archangel of Thune has fantastic synergy with Lyra, as (much like Cradle) her ability triggers off of each separate lifelinking creature, while Angelic Arbiter just throws a big wrench into your opponent's gameplans. Depending on the preferences of your meta, the latter may be viewed as annoying, but if people don't mind it, it can do a lot of work.
Answered Prayers actually put in respectable work in my games last night too. It kept getting animated, getting bonuses from the angels and attacking, while gaining me life. Aetherflux Reservoir is really looking critical, I was at 125 life with nothing to do with it. It felt awful not having that as a win condition. I am absolutely going to add Cradle of Vitality after some more testing to see what I can drop. I think I will play it and Sunbond together for some redundancy.

Yes Angelic Destiny is almost pointless, but I do usually throw it on a Mother of Runes with vigilance, or a Serra Ascendant or even Ranger of Eos. It ends up creating a surprise flier that gets bonuses and lifelink, so I do really like how it can turn a utility creature into a threat, while being on-theme.

Angelic Arbiter - oh absolutely. I should drop Luminous Angel for it really, but that Jason Chan art!
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I am a big fan of Angel of Condemnation given it gives you control options and curves well with Lyra. Sunblast Angel could be sweet too just for some random control + angel synergy.

Magus of the Moat - I run it in my Bruna deck and its a sweet card for an angels deck. It is great defense from token and random attacking decks while letting your angels run free.
I love Sunblast Angel. So many Angels, so little room. I am hoping this year's C19 delivers some Angel support so I can figure out how to re-tool this deck.

Last night I played a few games and won by having a major life total while combatting everyone to death, as usual. The second game I won because of a well-timed Austere Command. I did lose to unblockable commander damage in one game, and in another to an infinite combo. But overall, I think with Aetherflux Reservoir I could close out games a lot faster.

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Post by Vessiliana » 4 years ago

Oh, I love Lyra! I've built and disassembled so many angel decks over the year, but when Lyra came out, she answered all my angel-tribal prayers. I have a Lyra deck of my own, too, and it runs smoothly enough in my meta.

Looking over yours, I see the easiest cuts to make (and I totally feel you on wanting to leave in Answered Prayers, so I won't suggest cutting it!) are in your non-angel creatures. In my own Lyra list, I find the only non-angel I've wanted is Magus of the Moat, and even that I could cut if necessary. This leaves me with more space to run things like Urza's Incubator. I love enchantments--they're my favorite card type--but I have found that Lyra is not the place for them.

When playing mono-white angels, I find I want to do two things: get more cards and get more mana, to power out those expensive angels. So I run a lot of the artifacts that enable this: Urza's Incubator, Herald's Horn, Vanquisher's Banner, The Immortal Sun even. I like fun, on-theme cards, too, which is why I included Parhelion II, for instance. Aetherflux Reservoir is a great card, but I'm not running it since in my meta it turns me into archenemy. (But Lyra might not care...)

I also recommend Angelic Skirmisher for keeping those angels vigilant (or whatever you need them to be!), Linvala, Keeper of Silence for keeping things under control, and Akroma, Angel of Wrath for being beautiful, iconic, and powerful. You've already been recommended the Archangel of Thune, and she is amazing. A bit of a less common choice might be Dawnbreak Reclaimer, as some recursion, and bearing in mind that your creatures will nearly always be better than your opponents' creatures and that you can just opt out of the return if you don't like the choices.

I also third or fourth those who suggest adding more lands. I have 39 lands in my own Lyra list, in addition to five mana rocks and some mana doublers (like Caged Sun and friends).

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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

Vessiliana wrote:
4 years ago
Oh, I love Lyra! I've built and disassembled so many angel decks over the year, but when Lyra came out, she answered all my angel-tribal prayers. I have a Lyra deck of my own, too, and it runs smoothly enough in my meta.

Looking over yours, I see the easiest cuts to make (and I totally feel you on wanting to leave in Answered Prayers, so I won't suggest cutting it!) are in your non-angel creatures. In my own Lyra list, I find the only non-angel I've wanted is Magus of the Moat, and even that I could cut if necessary. This leaves me with more space to run things like Urza's Incubator. I love enchantments--they're my favorite card type--but I have found that Lyra is not the place for them.

When playing mono-white angels, I find I want to do two things: get more cards and get more mana, to power out those expensive angels. So I run a lot of the artifacts that enable this: Urza's Incubator, Herald's Horn, Vanquisher's Banner, The Immortal Sun even. I like fun, on-theme cards, too, which is why I included Parhelion II, for instance. Aetherflux Reservoir is a great card, but I'm not running it since in my meta it turns me into archenemy. (But Lyra might not care...)

I also recommend Angelic Skirmisher for keeping those angels vigilant (or whatever you need them to be!), Linvala, Keeper of Silence for keeping things under control, and Akroma, Angel of Wrath for being beautiful, iconic, and powerful. You've already been recommended the Archangel of Thune, and she is amazing. A bit of a less common choice might be Dawnbreak Reclaimer, as some recursion, and bearing in mind that your creatures will nearly always be better than your opponents' creatures and that you can just opt out of the return if you don't like the choices.

I also third or fourth those who suggest adding more lands. I have 39 lands in my own Lyra list, in addition to five mana rocks and some mana doublers (like Caged Sun and friends).
For some reason I neglected Angelic Skirmisher. I will indeed need to make room for this card, and will update this thread when I can decide what to drop. I do play Angelic Field Marshall for Vigilance but I do like redundant effects, especially if I drop Serra's Blessing. Dawnbreak Reclaimer is an interesting option as well. That's my concern with angels - many great options, but not enough room to play much else to facilitate the strategy. I am already at 28 creatures, and I love all the choices I made thus far. If Defy Death weren't also thematic, I'd consider dropping it for Dawnbreak Reclaimer and get two angels out of it. Now that I think about it, this may be the better decision.

I noticed ramp really isn't necessary in this deck. I only need Lyra and two other angels out really. The life gain keeps me in for the long haul, and it renders massive swings in life totals to be attacking with high power fliers. Some early ramp may help, such as 2 drop rocks, but I'd prefer to avoid The Immortal Sun or other late game ramp options. Most of the time I tutor Smothering Tithe and never bother to cast ramp beyond that. I end up with mountains of treasure I rarely use. I find myself sacrificing them to Treasure Cove to draw.

Hm. I have much to ponder now. I think I may drop Weathered Wayfearer and some non-Angels. I am waiting for C19 before making too many drastic choices, just in case some angel support finally arrives.

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Post by Vessiliana » 4 years ago

It's always a difficult choice on what angels to run, that's for sure, and I can understand not wanting/needing the mana-doublers if your meta will allow for being able to survive on just two or three angels out at a time. But though I appreciate the cost reduction of The Immortal Sun, that is one I actually run for the draw, with the other abilities being gravy, making it a better choice than Staff of Nin, for instance. Having an empty hand happens too often in mono-white, so I like to add draw where I can.

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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

Vessiliana wrote:
4 years ago
It's always a difficult choice on what angels to run, that's for sure, and I can understand not wanting/needing the mana-doublers if your meta will allow for being able to survive on just two or three angels out at a time. But though I appreciate the cost reduction of The Immortal Sun, that is one I actually run for the draw, with the other abilities being gravy, making it a better choice than Staff of Nin, for instance. Having an empty hand happens too often in mono-white, so I like to add draw where I can.
The Immortal Sun may very well find its way into the deck at some point. I also considered coveted jewel. Draw, ramp, and lifelink triggers off blocking are all ideal, and most won't dare attempt to get past a field of angels to steal it anyhow.

EDITS:

- Weathered Wayfarer
- Serra's Blessing
- Quicksilver Amulet

+Myriad Landscape
+ Cradle of Vitality
+ Angelic Skirmisher

I honestly prefer these changes. I always find Amulet to be the biggest waste of space in the deck, despite pressure from everyone to play it. The card just isn't good for anything but Flash essentially, which isn't all that. At best a two mana discount isn't something to run home about. A lot of the time I find myself dropping 5-cost angels with it. Not worthwhile.

BTW - Smothering Tithe with Memory Jar is hilarious.

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Post by TheTuna » 4 years ago

I don't run Quicksilver Amulet in my Lyra deck either, and I've never felt the need for it. That's a smart cut, in my books. Like you observe, while Angels are high CMC, most of the really good ones are in the 5-7 range, and other discounts like Urza's Incubator, Herald's Horn, Oketra's Monument or Pearl Medallion (possibly in conjunction) already serve the same role more than adequately at a lower CMC and with additional benefits. We're not cheating out Eldrazi here, after all.

If you can afford it, I'd encourage you again to give Archangel of Thune a shot. With just her and Lyra out, she's already pumping the two of them for up to +2/+2 permanently a turn. It's really nice synergy with your commander, and she's a reasonable CMC as well.
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Post by Vessiliana » 4 years ago

Oh yes, I'll agree here that you will never miss Quicksilver Amulet.

Have you given Marshal's Anthem any consideration? I'd probably run it over Sunbond, and maybe it's just my meta, but Endless Horizons always, always gets blown up before it does me any good at all.

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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

TheTuna wrote:
4 years ago
I don't run Quicksilver Amulet in my Lyra deck either, and I've never felt the need for it. That's a smart cut, in my books. Like you observe, while Angels are high CMC, most of the really good ones are in the 5-7 range, and other discounts like Urza's Incubator, Herald's Horn, Oketra's Monument or Pearl Medallion (possibly in conjunction) already serve the same role more than adequately at a lower CMC and with additional benefits. We're not cheating out Eldrazi here, after all.

If you can afford it, I'd encourage you again to give Archangel of Thune a shot. With just her and Lyra out, she's already pumping the two of them for up to +2/+2 permanently a turn. It's really nice synergy with your commander, and she's a reasonable CMC as well.
I agree, and I will test the deck this week without it. I have absolute confidence this deck will be better for it, focusing its attentions on having more high quality angels.

I always found Archangel of Thune rather annoying, since it puts counters on all the angels, which makes it a hassle to keep track. I prefer just making Lyra more powerful, rather than having to worry about dice. Especially during long games when we leave the table to get dinner and return etc.
Vessiliana wrote:
4 years ago
Oh yes, I'll agree here that you will never miss Quicksilver Amulet.

Have you given Marshal's Anthem any consideration? I'd probably run it over Sunbond, and maybe it's just my meta, but Endless Horizons always, always gets blown up before it does me any good at all.
Agreed on Amulet. I had no idea Marshal's Anthem existed until now. Yes, it absolutely is powerful. I don't know that I would drop Sunbond for it, but I do believe the card has a place in this deck. For some reason, at least so far, Endless Horizons gives me an impressive benefit. I usually exile 4-5 lands from it and get them all. I think there are just more valid targets, and no one wastes time on soft ramp for mono-white I suppose?

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Post by weltkrieg » 4 years ago

Endless horizons' survival rate is really dependent on just how greedy you are. If you get more than 4 or 5 plains, then of course it's a juicy target. I run it as well and usually get my lands. Mono white doesn't have a ton of land ramp (does have some), but the ability to make your land drops every turn into the late game is pretty powerful and not a lot of other colors can leverage that ability...if you build to make the late game, that is. Of course, big powerful angels with lifelink do seem to make that rather likely.

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Post by SquirrelToken » 4 years ago

Do you feel limited by being in mono-white? I want to make Boros angel tribal, mostly because I rep the Legion, but I haven't found a better commander than Lyra with one mana symbol painted red.

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Post by Jace » 4 years ago

I don't feel limited in this deck specifically, no. The angels are high quality permanents that give longevity to me with lifegain. It's really the perfect setup to endure and gradually build. I noticed Lyra + 2 other angels usually puts me in a perfect position. Ramping is rarely an issue with the tutors into Smothering Tithe, which does get targeted, but not before generating substantial benefit usually. By which point Endless Horizons, or Gift of Estates, or Oreskos Explorer pick up the slack. The only drawback is draw power, but usually I don't need to invest many resources to get a quality field, between Vigilance, Lifelink and possible Indestructible (depending which angel is out there). Lyra really makes the deck resilient.

That said, Herald of the Hosts alongside Lyra... or Memory Jar with Smothering Tithe, or both... yikes :D

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