I definitely went deep into detail with the thought process behind each card in hopes that if I made any serious mistakes you can help point the holes in my theory crafting's logic, especially since I'm not cognizant of a huge number of cards.
So then, the goal for this deck is to build a nice, inexpensive Knights deck I can use to dip my toes into pioneer. I'll be posting the two main builds I've looked at, and we can figure out which would be the best for that purpose. Without further ado…
Build I: Wintermoor Knights
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This was a build I was inspired to make of my own volition when I noticed Wintermoor Commander and thought "Hey, that's kind of a neat card." The deck's basic goal is to build up a board of knights and eventually capitalize on big explosive swings, but being able to swing safely enough that I can get early damage against slower decks.
The latter is accomplished mainly through the use of indestructible effects. Wintermoor Commander is the obvious inspiration since his whole thing is keeping other knights safe. Dauntless Bodyguard is on tribe and has a strong ability even if it requires sacking him. Finally Gideon Blackblade offers a potent 4/4 attacker in addition to providing an array of keywords that includes indestructible.
Of course for this to work I need knights. Venerable Knight is a one drop to attack or defend aggressively with and get a free counter on another knight. Smitten Swordmaster // Curry Favor is useful at all stages of the game, whether he's helping for the deck to curve nicely or to hit face with Curry Favor. History of Benalia is the big blowout card that ties most of this build's strategy together. Finally The Circle of Loyalty seems easy to reduce its cost and provides a way to spend extra mana in longer games.
I noticed the deck has decent lifegain when certain cards hit the field so I figured I would use that too. Painful Lesson is what I want specifically for card advantage. Dire Tactics is a good removal card which can also skip the life penalty basically as long as a nontoken creature is surviving since just about all of the creature cards can/will be humans.
Finally, it would seem to be a shame if Gideon was the only legendary proc for The Circle of Loyalty, so I wanted to try adding a few more legends. The one I'm fairly certain about is Aryel, Knight of Windgrace since she can both replenish the board and do some removal with all the vigilant knight tokens the deck generates. I'm a bit torn between Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw and Lena, Selfless Champion. Syr Alin is definitely a win more card, but he comes out a turn earlier and has great stats and first strike. Lena is a turn slower, but helps with late game stability and offers full board indestructibility on demand since the only creature with power higher than hers is Gideon anyways.
The latter is accomplished mainly through the use of indestructible effects. Wintermoor Commander is the obvious inspiration since his whole thing is keeping other knights safe. Dauntless Bodyguard is on tribe and has a strong ability even if it requires sacking him. Finally Gideon Blackblade offers a potent 4/4 attacker in addition to providing an array of keywords that includes indestructible.
Of course for this to work I need knights. Venerable Knight is a one drop to attack or defend aggressively with and get a free counter on another knight. Smitten Swordmaster // Curry Favor is useful at all stages of the game, whether he's helping for the deck to curve nicely or to hit face with Curry Favor. History of Benalia is the big blowout card that ties most of this build's strategy together. Finally The Circle of Loyalty seems easy to reduce its cost and provides a way to spend extra mana in longer games.
I noticed the deck has decent lifegain when certain cards hit the field so I figured I would use that too. Painful Lesson is what I want specifically for card advantage. Dire Tactics is a good removal card which can also skip the life penalty basically as long as a nontoken creature is surviving since just about all of the creature cards can/will be humans.
Finally, it would seem to be a shame if Gideon was the only legendary proc for The Circle of Loyalty, so I wanted to try adding a few more legends. The one I'm fairly certain about is Aryel, Knight of Windgrace since she can both replenish the board and do some removal with all the vigilant knight tokens the deck generates. I'm a bit torn between Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw and Lena, Selfless Champion. Syr Alin is definitely a win more card, but he comes out a turn earlier and has great stats and first strike. Lena is a turn slower, but helps with late game stability and offers full board indestructibility on demand since the only creature with power higher than hers is Gideon anyways.
Sample List
Dauntless Bodyguard x4
Venerable Knight x4
Dire Tactics x4
Smitten Swordmaster x4
Wintermoor Commander x4
Gideon Blackblade x3
History of Benalia x4
Painful Lesson x3
Aryel, Knight of Windgrace x2
Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw x2
The Circle of Loyalty x2
Plus lands
Approximate Total Cost:
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Recommended by The Fluff, this deck seeks to get anthem effects more consistently to bring the pain quickly. The card the deck is based on is Inspiring Veteran.
Gideon Blackblade, Venerable Knight, History of Benalia, and The Circle of Loyalty all seem like they'd be good in this deck for mostly the same reasons as the last.
Of all the benefits that comes with running mountains, none stick out to me quite as much as haste creatures, so I'm including both of them. Fervent Champion is a crazy good one drop in this tribe so he's a must. Skyknight Legionnaire is also good for sneaking in fast damage.
Additionally I'd like to lean into Fervent Champion's equipment bonus a little bit, so I think it might be cool to add another artifact. The best synergy I could find was Forebear's Blade, which is attached to Fervent for free and then ping pongs around your creatures if the opponents start removing stuff. To that end I also theorize Nahiri, Storm of Stone would be helpful if I need to move it to a non-Fervent creature in a pinch, plus she gives a little bit of Circle of Loyalty synergy and the first strike passive is just plain good.
Finally for spells, I'm taking the recommendation on Boros Charm because of how versatile it is. I'm also considering using Fire Prophecy to pull double duty as removal and a hand filter.
Gideon Blackblade, Venerable Knight, History of Benalia, and The Circle of Loyalty all seem like they'd be good in this deck for mostly the same reasons as the last.
Of all the benefits that comes with running mountains, none stick out to me quite as much as haste creatures, so I'm including both of them. Fervent Champion is a crazy good one drop in this tribe so he's a must. Skyknight Legionnaire is also good for sneaking in fast damage.
Additionally I'd like to lean into Fervent Champion's equipment bonus a little bit, so I think it might be cool to add another artifact. The best synergy I could find was Forebear's Blade, which is attached to Fervent for free and then ping pongs around your creatures if the opponents start removing stuff. To that end I also theorize Nahiri, Storm of Stone would be helpful if I need to move it to a non-Fervent creature in a pinch, plus she gives a little bit of Circle of Loyalty synergy and the first strike passive is just plain good.
Finally for spells, I'm taking the recommendation on Boros Charm because of how versatile it is. I'm also considering using Fire Prophecy to pull double duty as removal and a hand filter.
Sample List
Fervent Champion x4
Venerable Knight x4
Boros Charm x2
Fire Prophecy x3
Inspiring Veteran x4
Forebear's Blade x4
Gideon Blackblade x3
History of Benalia x4
Skyknight Legionnaire x4
Nahiri, Storm of Stone x2
The Circle of Loyalty x2
Plus LandsApproximate Total Cost:
PeaceRibbon