So I'm having a few difficulties with my deck at present. In theory, the deck works great, but in practice, it's a bit different.
The idea is to field Divine Visitation and Open the graves asap. Unfortunately, both have a cost of 5 mana so relatively early doors play depending on land draw obviously! Ideally, once both enchantments are on the field or more importantly Divine Visitation I can start sacrificing my creatures (Hunted Witness, Tithe Taker, Orzhov Enforcer) to bring out 4/4 angel tokens with vigilance instead of the tokens they would normally create! Now obviously this is the base principle of the deck.
If Open graves is present as well this triggers when a non-token creature dies to create a 2/2 zombie, but because of Divine Visitation, this becomes an angel instead. So if the aforementioned creatures die they wouldn't be creating just 1 token they would be creating 2 angel tokens instead. Super fun!
Now if you add Teysa Karlov into the mix her ability activates if a creature dying causes an ability to activate that ability then activates for a 2nd time - if that didn't confuse you it basically means if Hunted Witness dies normally it would create 1 1/1 white soldier token, with Teysa on the field it would create 2 tokens. Add in Open graves and Divine Visitation then you would create 4 angel tokens instead.
Bishop of wings gives 4 life when an angel enters the battlefield - pretty self-explanatory about how that ties in! To throw in some extra hate when an angel dies Bishop creates a spirit token in its stead obviously that creates another angel, gain 4 life, and the cycle continues. Hatred.
If I'm lucky enough to draw Elenda, the dusk rose (gotta love her!) and secondly lucky enough to have at least Divine Visitation in play and maybe Bishop of wings then she can be quite the token generator. Given the chance to accumulate enough +1/+1 counters!
And that is where Ethereal Absolution comes in - well partially! Creatures you control get +1/+1, creatures opponents control get -1/-1 (Ties in well with Elenda if the enemy creature has 1 toughness), for 4 mana exile opponents creature from their graveyard and you create a spirit token - fun! If you are able to draw 2 of 3 of these bad boys and keep them on the field that is going to considerably increase your threat chance.
I think that covers the majority of the deck and how it generally works. Conceptually it works brilliantly, in practice, it's debatable! The most challenging part really is generating the land fast enough and making sure not too many creatures die early doors.
This deck is configured for standard play but I am looking at making alterations for Modern play as well.
I do have a lot of potential options I am looking at mainly for modern play :
Army of the Damned
(5 mana, 3 black): Create thirteen tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens. Flashback (7 mana, 3 black) (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) Now granted this is an EXPENSIVE card with limited potential I feel like it could be effective should you survive later into a battle and need that extra push. 13 4/4 angels with vigilance? Yes, please!
Teysa, Orzhov Scion
(1 mana, 1 white, 1 black): 2 /3, Sacrifice three white creatures: Exile target creature. Whenever another black creature you control dies, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying. This would work well to kill some of your white creatures to make angels and if one of the black creatures die then yay another angel!
Call to the Feast
(2 mana, 1 white, 1 black): Create three 1/1 white Vampire creature tokens with lifelink. Create 3 angels instead. Nothing special but decently effective.
Aryel, Knight of Windgrace
(2 mana, 1 white, 1 black): Vigilance, (2 mana, 1 white & tap): Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance. (1 Black& tap) X untapped Knights you control: Destroy target creature with power X or less. Granted only the 1st ability would be useful, but she is a decent cost for a 4/4 creature and to create an angel for 3 mana? Sure why not.
Lyra Dawnbringer
(3 mana, 2 white) : 5/5, Flying, first strike, lifelink, other Angels you control get +1/+1 and have lifelink. Powering up the angel factor of the build! Pricey but worth it??
Legion's Landing
(land): When Legion’s Landing enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with lifelink. When you attack with three or more creatures, transform Legion’s Landing. //Adanto, the First Fort: Tap, add 1 white, (2 white, tap) Create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with Lifelink. Cheap token generation!
Hero of Bladehold
(2 mana, 2 white) : 3 /4, Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.) Whenever Hero of Bladehold attacks, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens that are tapped and attacking. Token generation and extra attack for all creatures attacking. Not too shabby!
Finale of Glory
(X mana, 2 white): Create X 2/2 white Soldier creature tokens with vigilance. If X is 10 or more, also create X 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying and vigilance. Token generation. Can be cheap or expensive really.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
(4 mana,2 white): 4 Loyalty, +1: Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens. −3: Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater. −7: You get an emblem with “Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have flying.” Fast token generation.
Dawn of Hope
(1 mana, 1 white): Whenever you gain life, you may pay 2 mana. If you do, draw a card. (3 mana, 1 white) Create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token with lifelink. Token generation and faster card drawing.
Doomed Dissenter
(1 mana, 1 black): 1/1, When Doomed Dissenter dies, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. Low-cost creature, token generation.
Graveyard Marshal
(2 black): 3/2 (2 mana, 1 black) Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token. Further token generation on dead creatures who have already created tokens. Little pricey!
Dreadhorde Invasion
(1 mana, 1 black): At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and amass 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on an Army you control. If you don’t control one, create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token first.) Whenever a Zombie token you control with power 6 or greater attacks, it gains lifelink until end of turn. Very cheap token generation. If Divine Visitation is present these two would work perfectly. Add in Bishop of wings and boom, insane life gain!
First Response
(3 mana, 1 white): At the beginning of each upkeep, if you lost life last turn, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token. This couldn't tie in more perfectly with Dreadhorde Invasion.
Murder Investigation
(1 mana,1 white): Enchant creature you control. When enchanted creature dies, create X 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens, where X is its power. Cheap enchantment with great potential. Would work brilliantly with Elenda, dusk rose!
Archangel of Thune
(3 mana, 2 white) 3 /4, Flying, Lifelink, Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. This would tie in so well with any of the life gain potentials within the deck.
Resplendent Angel
(1 mana, 2 white) 3/3, Flying, at the beginning of each end step, if you gained 5 or more life this turn, create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance.(3 mana, 3 white) Until end of turn, Resplendent Angel gets +2/+2 and gains lifelink. Pretty self-explanatory, life gain more angels.
Sephara, Sky's Blade
(4 mana, 3 white): 7/7, Flying, lifelink, other creatures you control with flying have indestructible. Expensive card but it powers up the angel tokens considerably.
