This deck is based off of an excellent, but deleted, deck by jjfaulk. It follows the same basic principals but instead of using instants and sorceries it focuses on Auras, with
Hero of Iroas
playing center stage.
Comments and tips are appreciated, as are +1 Upvotes. Thanks for your time and may you draw well. A detailed analysis of the deck follows.
The deck first centers around the use of the Heroic ability. Every time you attach an aura you trigger the Heroic ability which gives the target creature a +1/+1 counter.
Hero of Iroas
very conveniently reduces the cost of those aura spells by , reducing cost of some of more expensive aura spells.
Ideal Starting Hand:
Note: While this may be the ideal starting hand, you must have some basics for it work correctly: 1 Plains, 1-2 other lands, 2-3 creatures (one of those will preferably be
Favored Hoplite
), 1-2 Enchantments.
If you have a lot of lands (4+) you should mulligan. If you have no lands you should mulligan. If you can't play a creature by turn 2 you should mulligan. You are looking for a variety in your starting hand. Remember that this deck does not require a ton of mana to be effective.
Ideal Turn Sequence:
1st Turn: Plains+
Favored Hoplite
Gotta love 1st turn creature draw.
2nd Turn: Islands+
Hero of Iroas
Playing Hero of Iroas gives you the best benefit to his mana reducing abilities.
3rd Turn: Land+Auras
Now is the time to start laying down your auras.
Aqueous Form
or Curiosity or Ethereal Armor are great 3rd turn aura's because you can lay down two or more auras. That said, if you have a
Hero of Iroas
in play then
Gleam of Authority
and
Ordeal of Heliod
also cost only one mana to play.
4th Turn & Beyond
Basically...go nuts. You want to add another land card if possible. With 4+ lands and a
Hero of Iroas
you can lay down a lot of creatures and/or auras potentially.
Creatures:
Hero of Iroas
: Already explained, makes the deck happen with its cost reduction for auras and that it has the Heroic mechanic.
Battlewise Hoplite
: This little beauty has the all the joys of Heroic with the added benefit of a scry every time it is activated.
Akroan Skyguard
: Let's be honest...flyers are generally good to have and bad to face (when you are facing more than a few of them).
Akroan Skyguard
evens the playing field against decks with flying and gives you the advantage against a deck that isn't prepared for it. You can pump this guy up quickly and use him very effectively for offense or defense.
Favored Hoplite
: Your bread and butter first turn play ideally. This guy can become quite powerful with a few aura's attached.
Auras:
Aqueous Form
: A one mana aura that makes your enchanted creature unblockable. While this can be played at any time, it becomes especially strong after turn 3 when you can use it to surprise your opponents who might have been setting up defenses in light of your onslaught.
Curiosity: A one mana aura that allows you to draw a card every time you attack with a creature. This is strong early in the game, allowing you to draw the extra cards you need considering how fast you will go through them.
Ephara's Enlightenment
: An incredible aura that more than makes up for its slightly higher cost. Remember that with
Hero of Iroas
this will only cost two mana. It gives an enchanted creature flying, triggers the heroic ability, and gives a bonus +1/+1 counter. What's that? You want more? How about the ability to pick up this aura when you summon a new creature. Why would you want to do that? Because the creature keeps the counters and because you can then play it again on the same turn (depending on your mana supply) to give a creature (the same one or a different one) two +1/+1 counters and flying. Like I said, it's more than worth the extra cost.
Ethereal Armor: I love this aura because it only gets stronger as the game goes on, helping this largely aggro deck survive into the midrange and even into the late game depending on the deck you are playing. The enchanted creature's heroic ability is triggered for a +1/+1 counter and gets an additional +1/+1 for each enchantment you control, including itself. That means each Ethereal Armor gives a minimum of +2/+2 with the chance to get stronger. Not too bad for one mana.
Gleam of Authority
: This is a slightly more expensive version of Ethereal Armor at two mana. However, instead of getting stronger for each enhancement in play,
Gleam of Authority
adds a +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on OTHER creatures. That means that you can enchant a creature with this card and then largely ignore it, focusing instead on triggering the heroic ability of other creatures to create more +1/+1 counters. Oh yeah, and it also gives the enchanted creature vigilance. And let's face it, who doesn't want a big, strong creature to be able to attack and defend every time?
Ordeal of Heliod
: Ordeal of Heliod generates +1/+1 tokens when you attack, but its most useful feature is probably its life gain. Assuming there are no +1/+1 counters already on a creature, just enchanting the creatures gives you one. Then you attack with that creature in the same turn and you get another +1/+1 counter. Next turn you attack another aura (if possible) triggering heroic and getting a third +1/+1. Finally you attack with that creature, get a fourth +1/+1 and discard
Ordeal of Heliod
to get 10 life. For more info, check out the rules at the bottom of this page.
Pacifism: Your bread and butter defensive aura. It costs only one mana to play if you have
Hero of Iroas
out, nullifies guys who could potentially block or destroy your enchanted creatures, and even counts towards Ethereal Armor.
Sideboard:
As I playtested this deck I found some of the biggest threats were flyers and board wipes. If you are against a deck with a lot of flyers you can use the additional
Ephara's Enlightenment
to create big flyers, the additional Pacifism to make them useless, and
Agoraphobia
to largely nullify them as well (as a bonus it also boost Ethereal Armor). As for boardwipes, there isn't a ton I can immediately point to that would help except the ever so lovely Stubborn Denial. Its non-ferocious ability is helpful early in the game where they might not have enough mana to pay the , but it really shines later in the game after you have beefed up some of your creatures when it is a total denial of any spell for only one mana.
For those less budget oriented...
There a lots of ways I am sure to make this deck better by spending more. I am of the thought that the cost of the better cards can, at times, significantly outweigh the benefits those more expensive cards bring. That said,
Daybreak Coronet
is fantastic. I have found it sells (as of 08/2015) for about $5.50, not the $13+ TappedOut.net thinks it goes for. It might just be worth it to have first strike, vigilance, lifelink, a heroic trigger, AND +3/3 in a two mana card!
Hyena Umbra
is another aura card that I like for this deck. Its cost is low and many benefits (especially totem armor) make is a very valuable addition.
