After numerous months of play, this deck is slowly coming together. After JOU came around, a slew of multicolored aggro and constellation decks give this deck a small niche in the metagame.
Whattup! This deck's main purpose is to stall with fat-bottomed girls and tokens augmented with Hold the Gates for maximum stopping power, then mill for extreme amounts with Phenax, God of Deception. If, by some chance, the opponent is playing a heavy control deck, the sideboard comes in to convert to a Maze's End extravaganza!
The gate landbase tends to make things a slow start, but once a few mana dorks such as Sylvan Caryatid and Axebane Guardian hit the field, things can start to swing right back in my favor, barring decks that run four copies of Supreme Verdict.
After we've assembled a few dudes and increased their booty-size, we just dig for a win-con, preferably Phenax, God of Deception. Hold the Gates makes the toughness of my creatures absurd. Prophet of Kruphix helps push dorks out and can flash in Phenax against a tapped-out opponent.
If Phenax doesn't show, Hold the Gates helps stall the board. Elspeth, Sun's Champion is a supporting character, and Jace, Architect of Thought slows the clock that aggro presents. It's very possible to ult them in this build, and they're potent superfriends.
Card Justifications:
THE WINNING TEAM:
Hold the Gates is so fun to play with, and so potent. So many folks don't know quite how to deal with creature toughness exceeding two digits. Vigilance is an added bonus!
Phenax, God of Deception takes all that toughness and makes is deadly. An instant win if he resolves.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion. If you run white and can reliably hit six mana, Elspeth's your gal.
Jace, Architect of Thought slows down the aggro clock and can win games quickly without an answer.
CREATURE PHEATURES:
Axebane Guardian has the potential make massive amounts of mana, allowing me to cast game-winning spells like Beck / Call and Sphinx's Revelation.
Gatecreeper Vine helps the deck run only 23 lands, which is a little light. He fixes mana and counts as a defender. He's even better post Maze's End sideboard.
Kiora's Follower is only a 2-of because of his/her mana cost. With Axebane, truly a stellar mana dork.
Prophet of Kruphix is a demi win-condition. If it survives an end step or two, you're in good shape. You can also flash in Phenax!
Sylvan Caryatid is the best color-fixing mana dork you could ask for. Stellar.
Trestle Troll deals with annoying flyers by regenerating and his resisting common removal spells. Hooray for reach!
POWER HOUR:
Sphinx's Revelation is just too good to pass up the whole four. Helps slow the race of aggro and finds you the cards you need.
Beck / Call is essentially "Revs" five and six with a little different utility. Flying tokens are great, drawing cards is great. Do it for eight!
SUPPORTING NUMBERS:
Mind Grind helps when the game stalls. This is a great way to get people in the milling red-zone.
Quicken is a surprise Mind Grind or Beck / Call. People play around this number once they know you've got it (or DO you?).
Detention Sphere removes troublesome permanents.
THE SIDEBOARD:
Mostly devoted to the control match-up.
IN CONCLUSION:
Control decks ruin this. It's about 60% in my favor vs aggro decks.
