Yet another deck made for casual games with my friends. It used to be life-gain focused and run
Chalice of Life
/Chalice of Death
for kill (and a Test of Endurance) but awhile back I decided to pare down that mechanic in favor of running more white creatures and anthems. Honor the Pure and Angel of Jubilation are obviously the Anthems, Honor is nice because of how early it can come out, but the Angel is better because, in addition to her extra effect, she has wings, and covers my otherwise completely undefended skies (she doesn't swing very often, to keep her out of harms way); later on Captain of the Watch is also on anthem duty, but since the only Soldiers in the deck come from her ability, nobody else is counting on her to make them good. All eight of my one drops are life-ramps, Soul's Attendant and Soul Warden, though they don't block much, once I start putting out my token foundries (Thraben Doomsayer) or any of the other big token producers (Geist-Honored Monk and Captain of the Watch) blocking becomes less important (because I'll have lots of health), or piles and piles of tokens to throw into harms way.
Which brings us to the obligatory "For Fun" cards, Conjurer's Closet seems innocuous at first, but if a couple of my Life-Gainers can make it to the later game, the ability to flicker a creature every turn can be a reassuring source of life-insurance, and it's even better if I've got a Geist-Honored Monk or Captain of the Watch out as well, since when they flicker, they also bring a passel of tokens with them (extra bodies and extra life-gain!) The five-mana cost of the Closet, though probably a bit steep, is offset somewhat by the fact that it has tangible board impact the turn it comes into play, rather than having to wait for the turn after, so I can save it until I actually have a high-value target like Monk or Captain. Then there's Druidic Satchel which isn't especially good, but is relatively cheap, gives me something to do with my mana every turn, and has a range of useful (if mediocre) abilities, the best of which is, without a doubt, cheating my lands onto the field. To round things off, there's an eclectic selection of game-changers/win-now cards. True Conviction turns every creature on my field into a hard-hitting, devil-may-care attack machine, and gives them life-gain so I've got no qualms about swinging all-out and leaving myself open (though I never do, anyway). White Sun's Zenith works well with the life-gain aspect of the deck, and is good at basically any point in the game, but in the late-game it really shines, the large number of 2/2's (or 3/3's, or 4/4's) it can put out often allow me to swing past blockers and secure a win. Immortal Servitude is a fantastic card for recalling from my graveyard key creatures, or recovering from being the subject of heavy board control. Last-but-not-least is my Lady of Tokens, Elspeth Tirel, who fits so well with the overall deck vibe it's almost fate, her -2 puts our three tokens, which means a fair bit of life-gain if I've got the Soul-Ladies out, but her +2 can fill in for them instead, and is almost always effective due to the number of creatures this deck puts out. Her bomb is fairly easily attainable (1 turn for the charge-up, and I've never not had the blockers to screen her), and can put me in a game-winning position by destroying all non-token permanents - since I put out a ton of tokens, I've no problem with this eventuality.
Revisions since my initial construction have removed the four Captain of the Watch, which was prohibitively expensive and outstripped in terms of usefulness by the Monks (or rather, the fliers produced by the monks); the White Sun's Zenith, for the time in the game it typically got played, there were better high-cost choices; and the four
Chalice of Life
, which provided good, consistent life-gain and became useful as a damage dealer, but given the deck's already pretty substantial damage dealing abilities, I thought the Chalice of Death
was a bit redundant by the time it flipped, and both sides of the card failed to synergise well with the direction the deck had gone. To fill in the space, I've added a Test of Endurance as an alternate win condition for the odd case when I can't kill my opponent in the late-game; a set of four Oblivion Ring, because the targeted removal is golden and this deck was sorely wanting for some control; an Angel of Glory's Rise, which performs similarly to the Immortal Servitude, but at a higher level and mana cost, for late-game fubar situations; and 3 Rootborn Defenses, which are meant to prevent the need for either the Angel of Glory's Rise or Immortal Servitude by stopping things
Day of Judgement
or Damnation.
