disclaimer: This is a deck made on a realistic budget for a casual player, using the cards I actually own. As such this deck may not be a traditional tier 1 deck for those with fat wallets, but this does not change the fact this deck is designed to be as competitive as possible. If you want to flaunt your playset of foil brimaz, go elsewhere! that aside... into the deck.
Home brew white devotion deck focussing on early aggro with heroic creatures, keeping in double white symbols, and protective spells to proc heroic such as Gods Willing and Acolyte's Reward with Rootborn Defenses to protect from board wipes and to break board stalls with all in combats, which is also relevant with populate on Elspeth tokens.
Secondary win condition if the game goes late in the form of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx ramp into Evangel of Heliod, Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Angel of Serenity.
Play style, strategy and card strengths
This deck is designed to max out on white mana sybols as early as possible, then to abuse Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to power out the top of our curve by turn 4 or 5.To achieve this the vast majority of our permanents grant us 2 or more devotion. This is the reason that Phalanx Leader, is prioritised over the evasion advantage given by Akroan Skyguard which is arguably a better choice if we are only looking to race.
2 copies of Spear of Heliod also helps to keep some devotion down early when playing against heavy creature removal, as well as having incredible synergy with our token production and high creature density, and a -somewhat masochistic- means to kill off creature too big for us to deal with.
The ideal early game revolves around establishing a board and getting some beat down in against slower decks. Where possible we want to keep our board as large as possible, even letting early damage though as opposed to trading creatures.
Example turn sequence:
Turn 1: Plains + Favored Hoplite (+1 devotion)
Turn 2: Plains + Phalanx Leader (+2 devotion)
Turn 3: Plains + any 3-drop (+2 devotion) or Phalanx Leader + mana open for Gods Willing
So, here, we have the ideal ramp start. running into turn 4, we have a total of 5 devotion. this is where this deck has its moment to shine...
Turn 4: playing Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, gives us WWW+nyx as land. 2+nyx -> 5W in pool + W from our spare plains = 6 white mana. This gives us turn 4 Evangel of Heliod giving us 6 creatures dropped that turn. If your turn 3 was spear, thats a minimum of 16 power of the board. (Favored Hoplite, Phalanx Leader, Evangel of Heliod and 5 soldier tokens all with +1/+1)
Following turns consist of any spell on phalanx leader for an almost guaranteed scoop, or a few turns of beat down with sheer numbers.
The alternative ideal turn 4 is Elspeth, Sun's Champion. From here, you have a severe threat against larger creatures with her minus ability, and her +1 for 3 tokens, each of which will benefit from Phalanx Leader heroic triggers and Spear of Heliod which is most definitely a win condition is its own right.
Obviously, both having the cards for this exactly on turn 4, and keeping the devotion on the board through those turns is very unlikely. However, this strategy remains fairly consistent throughout the game and is our primary win condition.
Alternative start:
Turn 1:Plains + Favored Hoplite
Turn 2:Plains + Ordeal of Heliod
Turn 3:Plains + Fabled Hero
Turn 4 onwards: any heroic triggers on fabled hero very quickly becomes unmanageable, keep him alive and growing with Gods Willing, Rootborn Defenses and using/abusing Acolyte's Reward for a massive blow out, remembering its utility even when attacking into blockers, where, we can get an easy 2 for 1 against weaker blocking creatures, blocking the damage they return to snipe a mana dork or burn to the face... because white burn is legit...
The final ace in our deck is Angel of Serenity, who usually boarded for her utility with graveyard interactions, is here simply to rip apart the boards of our enemies running creature decks with her triple exile, (hopefully keeping it that way holding 1 mana for god's willing) clearing the way for beat down. Failing all else, a 5/6 flyer is hard enough to deal with, especially with our multiple avenues to protect it and grow it to out battle the likes of Desecration Demon.
In an attempt to recongise potential weaknesses, I would say that early flying aggression may be the bane of this deck. however, given any race, this deck should perform relatively well, especially when not needing to block (and thus building devotion), as we can flood the board with (boosted) tokens upon hitting 6 mana.
Secondly, while we have 10 sources for heroic triggers, is that enough? I thinking it should be, given we only need 1 or 2 to push the game out of control if we can field Phalanx Leader and a few tokens, or get a turn 2 heroic ordeal.
Finally, we are currently lacking any targeted removal... whilst we can handle creature boards which are attacking with Celestial Flare and Divine Verdict post side-board, and Glare of Heresy for white match-ups.However, I don't see splashing for removal very viable, and the white exile target options don't fit our curve sitting at 5/6 mana.
Sideboard considerations
Acolyte's Reward: An extra copy of this comes in against burn and aggro, the ability for 2 for 1 and save a creature is fantastic, and easily do-able with 2-4 devotion on the board. It also works strongly for making trades happen, especially with fabled hero, with on average pseudo-triple strike.
\Fiendslayer Paladin when non-BR or Rootborn Defense if they have exile>Divine Verdict: A somewhat mediocre, rather expensive answer to creatures too large for us to deal with, e.g. RG monsters and desecration demon.
\Fiendslayer Paladin and 2xFavored Hoplite as too small, with less devotion>Evangel of Heliod In slower matchups we can afford to bring in 1 or 2 more of these. particularly against control, more of them in, more likely to resolve one!
\Glare of Heresy Most efficient removal against white. simple value, enough said.
\Celestial Flare and 2x Banisher Priest or less relevant creatures>Rootborn Defenses \Banisher Priest>Revoke Existence \Maybe board considerations
Battlewise Valor: more heroic procs and tricks vs aggro match ups?
Divine Favor: synergy with Ethereal Armor and makes matchup vs aggro very strong (big butts = good blocks)
Ethereal Armor: serious power-spike in conjunction with Ordeal of Heliod and Spear of Heliod out classed by need for creatures and devotion building?
Hopeful Eidolon: mathces well with Ethereal Armor and lifesteal strong in races. Ordeal of Heliod covers life-gain?
Last Breath: strong utility for aggro match up, able to block then target own creature for life gain? and break a board stall, e.g. shift death toucher or even numbers of bodies. - aggro one of the stronger match-ups anyway?
Pacifism: pseudo-removal for creature match-up and synergy with Ethereal Armor
Wingsteed Rider: 2 more copies to help ease air match up and increased evasion?
