Sweat streaks from your face and neck, as Liliana's
Endless Ranks of the Dead
continue to stream out from over the hill.
"We're not going to make it much longer!" You cry out, as one by one, Selesnya's defenders fall to the army of zombies.
"We must stay strong! We cannot allow the enemy passage through this gate!" cries Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. "If we fail here, it will mean doom for all of Ravnica, and soon Theros as well!"
Suddenly, you see a glint of light off in the distance. "What is that?" you ask. You can tell now that it is sunlight reflecting off of armor. Now you can see hundreds of armored soldiers cresting the hill, all of them marching in perfect formation to intercept Liliana's army.
"The Legion has arrived," she replies. You rejoin your squad, and prepare for the next wave.
This is a budget standard deck, focusing on defending early on, then using Assemble the Legion in tandem with
Hold the Gates
to create an impenetrable defense combined with an overwhelming offense.
Let's go through the cards.
The Enchantments:
Assemble the Legion: The win condition. This card gets out of hand rapidly, and if left unanswered will win you the game 9 times out of 10.
Hold the Gates
: This card is so underrated, but it works so well. In addition to vigilance for all of your creatures, they all get an extra amount of toughness based on how many gates you have on the field. It's not uncommon to see a 3-5 toughness boost from 1
Hold the Gates
on the field. The effect also stacks, so you could even hit an 8 toughness boost if you have 2 of them out. Blockers. For. Days.
Bow of Nylea: So, all of my 1/5 vigilant soldiers now get deathtouch on the attack? Nah, that's not useful at all. In all seriousness, this is extremely powerful. It gives you plenty of relevant abilities to use your extra mana on, not to mention your opponent will never want to block again.
Collective Blessing: Most of the time your opponent will not see this coming, and you will win very quickly if this is not answered immediately.
The Creatures:
Deadly Recluse: Nobody like to see their creatures die, and this guy can block pretty much everything to stall early on. When
Hold the Gates
hits the board, they'll wish they had killed him when they had the chance.
Wasteland Viper: Another deathtouch creature for stalling the early game. Although this one doesn't have reach, he has the added bonus of being a combat trick when attacking as well. Suddenly, they'll regret that they blocked your puny little token with their bomb.
Voyaging Satyr
: Perfect for this deck. Accelerates us to get Legion out faster, and alleviates some of the pain of running guildgates.
Rubblebelt Raiders
: Gets more powerful with every swing, permanently. Thanks to
Hold the Gates
we can attack with impunity, and reap the benefits immediately.
Bronzebeak Moa
: Yeah. At the beginning of every upkeep, he gets +3/+3 for every goddamn token you get. So, if Legion is at 3 counters, your
Bronzebeak Moa
is an 11/11. Totally fair.
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: Every upkeep, gain life equal to how many gates you control plus 1 TIMES the number of counters on Assemble the Legion. The amount of life you can gain with her is absurd, and will easily put you out of reach. The populate is just gravy.
The Instants:
Magma Jet: Scry 2 is a welcome addition to the deck, which can help you filter for your Assemble the Legion or
Hold the Gates
, or just to hit your next land. Oh, and killing a creature isn't bad either :)
Gods Willing
: I prefer this to Brave the Elements because of the scry, and it can help my early green blockers last a little longer. Also, you can use this to punch through with your giant
Rubblebelt Raiders
or
Bronzebeak Moa
. Or, just use it as a counter to removal spells.
The Sideboard:
Angelic Wall: Use these if your opponent is running a lot of fliers, and you are having a hard time defending against it.
Glare of Heresy: Use these to get rid of enchantments like
Chained to the Rocks
, Detention Sphere, or (ironically) Assemble the Legion. It also hits white creatures, and the Spear of Heliod. Very handy sideboard.
Pithing Needle: Stops down planeswalkers and reduces AEtherling into something much more manageable.
Boros Charm
: Helps to combat Supreme Verdict and other board wipe effects. The other effects are welcome gravy to put some pressure on your opponent.
Since this is a budget deck, I had to leave some cards out. If you want to debudgetize the deck,
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
would be a good start. This card would work beautifully in this deck if you happen to have any. More tokens, board wipe that doesn't affect us, and steroids for the whole army.
And that's it! As always, if you like it, please give the deck an upvote. If you didn't, please give me some feedback on how I can make it better.
