"And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Hello Tapped Out Community! This is my first deck I've published, but I feel that with all the meta decks in standard as of current, this one should get a lot more respect that it initially gets. It is a High Risk-High Reward type of deck that requires the most courageous souls to brave the threat of the meta!
Allow me to elaborate on the topic. While this may seem like a advanced White Weenie deck, it is far from the norm. With only 18 land (yes 18 land, I'll get to that later) and a slew of one drops to not only establish board presence and back up your boys, it is ideal to play as aggressive as possible and take risks when needed! Your bread and butter is that most of your one drops are bestows that can be enchanted to your heroic creatures, such as Favored Hoplite and Hero of Iroas and that most of your cards are at such a relatively low cost overall.
Your meat and potatoes are the massive amount of enchantments that this deck can control at one time. Due to this, Ethereal Armor becomes HUGE on your creatures, which almost automatically gets +2/+2 from the enchantment and either the creature being heroic, or an enchantment themselves. Even Spear of Heliod and Heliod, God of the Sun are enchantments, which can give mountains of damage to your cards. On a side note, you've also got Eidolon of Countless Battles in your arsenal, which not only takes your Aura that you so easily let out, but with more creatures on the board, it can give massive amounts of +1/+1 to the bestowee. Combine the two, and you have a machine that can only grow exponentially and crush your enemies.Most people tend to forget the power of First Strike on Ethereal Armor, and with a deck of this speed, it can take out even the most prepared foe, so make sure to abuse this to the max. Lastly, Ethereal Armor STACKS, so when you give a single creature two, both instance are independent of each other, effectively giving +2/+2 each from those two enchantments ALONE.
Let's move on to nutrients of the deck. Hero of Iroas is the man of this deck, making your seemingly useless bestows that much more effective later on when they come in for 1 less then they ought to be, and yes, they stack :). With Hopeful Eidolon, your creatures are now have that much more utility with the Lifelink bestowed upon them, and the cost drops when the Hero is on the board. Nyxborn Shieldmate become the beef of your cards and give just enough toughness to compete with big boys such as Boros Reckoner. Eidolon of Countless Battles coming for less mana is huge when it normally costs 3 CMC to come in anyways. Gift of Orzhova for 2 CMC is huge due to the combo of Flying, Lifelink AND a +1/+1. I think you see a patern here
Let's get some fixings in this here "Deck Sandwich". You need some protection for your cards against the removal in Black decks, the burns in Red decks and the returns from Blue and Control decks. Here comes your saviors Gods Willing and Brave the Elements to the rescue. With all the hard work you've just put into buffing your soldiers, you wouldn't want them to get taken out by something as silly as Doom Blade or Mizzium Mortars, would you? Of course not, so make sure to use these at the most appropriate times to provide covering fire for your troops on the ground. However, don't let this discourage you from using this offensively. Giving yourself Protection from any color means that you can pass through most defenses out there and do the killing blow to your unsuspecting enemy.
What about the Sauce? Well with cards like Soul Tithe. Celestial Flare and Spear of Heliod, you've effectively put in some "White" removal that can help with cards that are bigger than you or annoying cards like Obzedat, Ghost Council or a pesky defender. There's also Ajani, Caller of the Pride to back your guys up and provide support from the rear. Soul Tithe is a massive C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER early game and forces decisions on the enemy that they can soon regret. Removing a big creature that was just paid for with the exact mana they casted it for makes them QQ when they have to either have to play with no mana or sack the creature they just got out. Celestial Flare is your savior when it comes to Stormbreath Dragon and Blood Baron of Vizkopa. When they either block or attack alone, use this card to see the ooze drip from their eyeballs as they are tossed to the graveyard. Spear of Heliod is the silent hero of your deck, buffing your weenies and smiting the foolish that would attack you with open mana. Even if it was indirect damage, like with Fanatic of Mogis or Obzedat, Ghost Council, they can be targeted by the mighty range of the STICK! Lastly, there's Ajani, Caller of the Pride to mess up the entire game for the other guy. His -3 can end games almost instantly when you've got enough beef on one guy, but unfortunately is usually target directly afterwards. The +1 helps tons over time, making your weenies larger or beefies stronker.
At last, there's the fact that this deck runs 18 PLAINS! Yes, straight Plains, preferably some Zendikar lands for the beautiful effect, but 18 none the less. This is due to the massive amount of ones n twos you can drop at a moments notice. It's not unusual to keep a hand with one or two lands because that you can drop most of your cards at that point. Ideally, you'll need 4 mana to bring everything you have out, but during that point and time, you can rest assure that you can wing it.
I've won many games with this deck, and against everything from Gruul Monsters to Mono-Black and everything in between. I usually go 4-1 or even 5-0 at FNM and won my local Game Day for Born of the Gods. If you would like to know more about my deck, please either message me or drop a comment on something you see that either you like or bothers you. Thanks for the read!
TL:DR So Enchant, Very Creature, Much White Play this deck if you're a man!!!
