Get an aggressive start by casting a creature on your first or second turn, and use the abilities of creatures like
Imposing Sovereign
and Lyev Skyknight to tap or detain potential blockers. Avoid trading with your opponent's early blockers; you can draw into Pacifism, Detention Sphere, or
Lavinia of the Tenth
to get past them later on. Lyev Skyknight is best saved for when its detain ability can clear the way for your attackers, but don't hesitate to play it on an empty board if it's your only creature. Once your opponent's defenses come online, your creatures may need help getting through.
Ordeal of Thassa
and
Ordeal of Heliod
help your attackers get bigger and keep pace with your opponent's creatures.
Dauntless Onslaught
lets you attack with confidence knowing that you can boost the size of your creatures to keep them safe from damage. If you run into an impervious ground defense, putting an Aura on a flying creature is a great way to finish the game.
Focus on getting the most out of your Auras. An unanswered enchanted creature can singlehandedly steal the game. One key card in this deck is
Hopeful Eidolon
. The extra life you gain from the lifelink ability allows you to trade blows with your opponent without falling behind. You'll almost always cast
Hopeful Eidolon
as an Aura for its bestow cost. The exception is when you can cast it as a creature on turn one and enchant it with
Ordeal of Heliod
or
Ordeal of Thassa
on turn two!
The absolute best recipient in this deck for any Aura is
Ascended Lawmage
, which already has 3 power, flying, and hexproof. If it has other bonuses on top of that, your opponent will be forced into a damage race that you're likely to win. The other great Aura targets in the deck are
Battlewise Hoplite
and
Fabled Hero
. Their heroic abilities let them complete Ordeals in just two attacks, and
Fabled Hero
's double strike keyword effectively gives it twice the bonus from Auras. Once you've enhanced a heroic attacker, you can use Gods Willing to protect it from a removal spell or win a key combatand get a bonus +1/+1 counter besides. Just be sure you don't give your creature protection from the color of an Aura attached to it, or the Aura will fall off.
Sideboard uses:
2x
Triton Tactics
- 2x Gods Willing.
2x
Gainsay
- 2x
Ordeal of Thassa
.
2x
Glare of Heresy
- 2x
Dauntless Onslaught
.
2x Negate - 2x Pacifism.
2x Arrest - 2x
Banisher Priest
.
3x
Solemn Offering
- 3x Azorius Guildgate.
2x
Gift of Orzhova
- 2x
Dauntless Onslaught
.
