Aryel of Windgrace: Charge of the Knight Brigade

Commander / EDH* Aggro Budget Knights Tribal WB (Orzhov)

soly

Knight (14)

• 1x Corpse Knight
• 1x Order of Midnight
• 1x Smitten Swordmaster
• 1x Acclaimed Contender
• 1x Lost Legion
• 1x Silverblade Paladin
• 1x Call the Cavalry
• 1x Gallant Cavalry
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Knight of Obligation
• 1x Righteous Confluence
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Thalia's Lancers
• 1x Silverwing Squadron

Lord (9)

• 1x Belle of the Brawl
• 1x Benalish Marshal
• 1x Etchings of the Chosen
• 1x Odric, Lunarch Marshal
• 1x Valiant Knight
• 1x Dictate of Heliod
• 1x Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw
• 1x The Circle of Loyalty
• 1x True Conviction

Equipment (6)

• 1x Stoneforge Masterwork
• 1x Ring of Xathrid
• 1x Fireshrieker
• 1x Heirloom Blade
• 1x Mace of the Valiant
• 1x Sigiled Sword of Valeron

Lands (37)

• 1x Mage-Ring Network
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x New Benalia
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 13x Plains
• 1x Radiant Fountain
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 12x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Windbrisk Heights
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Ramp (8)

• 1x Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Cryptolith Fragment  ^Flip
• 1x Heraldic Banner
• 1x Pristine Talisman

Attacks Matter (5)

• 1x Wintermoor Commander
• 1x Duelist's Heritage
• 1x Frontline Medic
• 1x Loyal Unicorn
• 1x Odric, Master Tactician

Protection (3)

• 1x Make a Stand
• 1x Rootborn Defenses
• 1x Unbreakable Formation

Commander (1)

Draw (9)

• 1x Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Knights of the Black Rose
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Unburial Rites

Removal (8)

• 1x Despark
• 1x Epic Downfall
• 1x Final Payment
• 1x Walk the Plank
• 1x Invoke the Divine
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Conclave Tribunal
• 1x Kaya's Wrath

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Maybeboard

Knights (3)

• 1x Order of Midnight
• 1x History of Benalia
• 1x Mirran Crusader

Ramp (2)

• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist

Draw (2)

• 1x Idol of Oblivion
• 1x Tome of Legends

Lords (1)

• 1x Knights' Charge

Removal (1)

• 1x Cavalier of Dawn

Goodstuff (2)

• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Magewright's Stone

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I'm taking this poor sucker apart for parts to build Emmara, Soul of the Accord and Teysa, Orzhov Scion. Whatever remains I'll repurpose into Syr Cadian, Knight Owl who brings more to the table than Aryel ever did.

Knights

These knights are just primarily there to provide bodies. There's a minor subdivision: Knight of Obligation, Corpse Knight, Syr Konrad, the Grim, and Smitten Swordmaster all ping at opponents' life totals. The others are... mostly just bodies. Usually with interesting things attached - Thalia's Lancers tutors for something, Order of Midnight is graveyard recursion, Lost Legion has Scry 2 attached, and Josu Vess is potentially 20 power worth of menacing zombies.

Lords

Slightly more interesting! Lord effects improve all my Knights with +1/+1 or other boosts, so they're less likely to die to blockers and do more damage. The key card here is really True Conviction which gives everything Double Strike, while Odric, Lunarch Marshal spreads the keywords around, potentially giving everything Double Strike as well.

Attacks Matter

Just so that swinging your 2/2 vigilant knight tokens doesn't result in them dying a lot. Odric, Master Tactician lets you decide what blocks (read as: nothing). Alternatively, force the little 1/1 utility creatures to block.

Frontline Medic and Loyal Unicorn make things invincible when they attack. Wintermoor Commander only makes one other thing invincible, but that can often be the only important thing (protecting Belle of the Brawl from death, for example).

Equipment

Stoneforge Masterwork and Mace of the Valiant are big bonuses to one knight. Fireshrieker and Heirloom Blade are also big bonuses.

Sigiled Sword of Valeron spawns Knights when attacking and turns the Loyal Unicorn, Battlefield Medic, or either Odric into a Knight.

Ring of Xathrid protects Aryel from dying while ticking her up over time. I'm not 100% on the Ring of Xathrid yet - Aryel has a fair amount of utility outside of just swinging, so I don't really want removing her to be too attractive.

Mass Protection

You know what hurts go-wide strategies more than most other strategies? Board wipes. You know what stops board wipes? "Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn." Rootborn Defenses even gives me a Knight via proliferate!

Ramp

Heraldic Banner is a Lord effect tied to colour! Name so that the Knight tokens benefit. Aside from that, the suspect ones are really going to be Cryptolith Fragment   and Pristine Talisman.

The Cryptolith Fragment pings everyone for 1 damage when it's tapped for mana. A symmetrical ping making the game go faster is kinda beneficial to aggro decks like this one. As for Pristine Talisman, it restores 1 life when it's tapped for mana, which is nice, because not only is the Cryptolith Fragment possibly pinging us every turn, black card draw option almost inevitably calls for life loss and Pristine Talisman offsets that. It's also very cheap.

Draw

Knights of the Black Rose is a knight and also brings the Monarch mechanic into play! Hopefully you'll be able to defend your castle with fat 4/4 blockers.

Wow, when did Smuggler's Copter reach $7? I got it for like $2. Maybe I should sell mine off.

I wish I had Greed it's so good.

Removal

Basically whatever I had lying around in Orzhov colours. You don't seriously think Walk the Plank is a serious inclusion? no! it's stupid! what if you need to kill a fishy thing like Tuvasa the Sunlit? it's bad. I just happened to have one lying around, so it went in.

Yeah, this has a lot of room for improvement. I especially want Kindred Dominance but for now, what you see is what I have.

You know what I really want for this list? Torment of Hailfire. That would really help to close out games.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 30 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.30
Tokens	Demon */* B, Knight 2/2 W w/ Vigilance, On an Adventure, Plant 0/2 G, The Monarch, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Knight 2/2 B