I run a deck that is very similar to this. Ethereal Armor works really well. Even on it's own it functions as a +2/+2 and first strike for just a one drop. That's awesome as it is, and that's assuming you don't have any other enchantments down.

The problem with your deck right now, aside from being very succeptible to removal, is that it has a very limited ability to alter the terms of the combat as it is occurring. Cards like Triton Tactics are much harder to deal with than enchantments because of their instant speed. Also, your balance of heroic triggers to creatures is off. I'd run around 16 creatures and much more triggers. The problem with running that many ordeals is that once a card has stacked a few counters, you only gain a single counter before having the sacrifice takes effect. Cards like Dauntless Onslaught , Gods Willing , and Triton Tactics would probably be better picks. Also, I'd run 2 copies of Daxos of Meletis .

I agree with[TheDivicer in that you're heroic enablers to heroic creatures balance is off. I also agree that you should run two Daxos of Meletis . My concern is that Dauntless Onslaught really isn't as good as it sounds. The heroic enabling is great, but the fact that it has a CMC of 3 makes it a very precarious card. You want to win around turn four or five ideally, and having an enabler like Dauntless Onslaught simply slows you down. You want enablers that are ideally 1 CMC or 2 CMC. Also, Fabled Hero is really the powerhouse card of U/W heroic decks. I promise you, you want four of him.

So I recommend you play 4x Ethereal Armor , 4x Triton Tactics , and 4x Gods Willing , 4x Fabled Hero , and remove the two Dauntless Onslaught , one Hopeful Eidolon , and one Favored Hoplite .

Thanks for the help guys.

Try running Ordeal of Heliod in there, because it just be so good. 2 drop for 10 life is just amazing. Also Protect / Serve is not at all a bad idea. Seriously.

Almost forgot. Illusionary Armor is a boss card.

And also since all your creatures are white in some form, Brave the Elements targets every sigle one of your heroic creatures.

Actually nijomemo;

Brave the Elements does not trigger heoric.

source Brave The elements Does not trigger Heroic

Also, Illusionary Armor has the same issue as Dauntless Onslaught In fact, it's worse in every single way in terms of this deck.

@nijomemo

Illusionary armor doesn't seem to be very useful for this deck. Its mana cost is way too steep for this deck. It seems like it just be a dead draw half of the time.

I have been playing this same deck in standard for quite a while and I have had great results. I almost always 3-1 with it and as of recently I have been 4-0. I really think that the key to this deck is just staying alive. Having four copies of both Gods Willing and Mizzium Skin help that. I also use a very underrated card Nivmagus Elemental because it is just so good with copies of Hidden Strings and Bioshift All in all i really like the deck and I would have you look at my build and see what you like from it.

Wu Humans Aggro+1

My bad it linked the wrong deck

U/W Hoplite Aggro Heroic

Hey, I am currently running a version of this deck that is doing extremely well. Some tips:

1. 16 creatures is too few. I am currently running 21 in my build:

4x Favored Hoplite

4x Battlewise Hoplite

4x Soldier of the Pantheon

3x Judge's Familiar

2x Artisan of Forms

2x Fabled Hero

1x Wavecrash Triton

1x Daxos of Meletis

You do not have to run this specific list, but I've found it's much more resilient to removal and blocks better. Familiar is a cheap flyer with his little ability as a nice bonus. He helps out as a Strings trigger as well. Your current build probably has lots of problems against monored.

I would also recommend dropping the 2x Phalanx Leaders because he is a 1/1 for WW that is useless without triggers. The Hoplite are at least decent creatures on their own, and Leader is far better in a deck that focuses on constant one-drops or has Mutavault in it. WW is a bad cost for a two drop in this deck since you want to be land-light.

Daxos of Meletis is a good card, but you do not really need more than one copy considering all of the scry and card draw you can have in this deck.

1. Cut the Ethereal Armor . Yes, it pumps your creatures well, but in my build I am usually able to get a 5/6 or 6/6 Hoplite on turn 2-3 without it. The Hidden Strings/Tactics/Aqueous engine is enough to pump your guys and make them dangerous. I've replaced it with Murder Investigation , which even though it is a two drop makes the deck far better against removal (especially Supreme Verdict ). I also don't run Ordeal of Heliod as I find that its ability is too defensive for this deck. Yes the counters are nice, but again you really only need a few activations to win the game in most situations, so the more you stuff your deck with enchantments the worse you'll tend to do.

2. Hidden Strings should be a 4-of. You generally want it in your opening hand to accompany your hoplites. Turn 2 Hidden Strings makes a lot of players scoop automatically.

3. Drop the Guildgate. You can run 19 lands and be fine since your curve should top out at 3 CMC anyway.

4. I would recommend dropping the Azorius Charm in your sideboard and run some Fiendslayer Paladin and Last Breath instead. Fiendslayer is amazing against red and black, and those are probably the most common colors in standard except at the highest levels. Last Breath gives you a decent removal against things like Master of Waves and Nightveil Specter . You can also try running some Rapid Hybridization and exchange some of your Gainsays for Negate or even Cyclonic Rift to stop Thassa, God of the Sea .

I hope these suggestions helped, I really love this build of UW aggro, we have to come up with a good name for this archetype! Maybe something simple like Heroic Hoplites?

here's my take on U/W heroics. hopefully you might be able to pull a few ideas. And maybe you could throw a few my way.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/double-striking-heroics-deciphered/

Hey, i really like the idea of the deck seems to be very powerfull and gives the option to play some control and has some decent removals like Rapid Hybridization or Curse of the Swine Also it seems to be very Budget!

@ profgonzo

Could you explain how you can get 6/6 Hoplite in turn 2-3?

Turn 1 play Plains, cast Judge's Familiar

Turn 2 play Island, cast Battlewise Hoplite

Turn 3 play Island, cast Hidden Strings , targeting the Hoplite for 1 Counter, and cipher the Familiar, attack with the Familiar and copy Hidden Strings targeting the Hoplite again for another counter. Then you can cast an Aqueous Form for the third counter making him a 5/5 which is quite to insane, but no 6/6, so how are you doing this?

Sorry, that was a mistake, I am only ever able to get a Favored Hoplite to that size:

Turn 1 Plains, Favored Hoplite Turn 2 Island, Hidden Strings , target Hoplite (2/3) and Untap Island, cast Aqueous Form (3/4), attack with cipher, target Hoplite (4/5) and Island/Plains, if you got a god draw you can cast Mizzium Skin /Gods Willing on your opponent's turn (5/6) but that's unlikelyTurn 3 Island/Plains, Ordeal of Thassa (5/6 or 6/7), attack, add counter via Ordeal (6/7 or 7/8), cipher targeting Hoplite and a land, two mana open for anything you draw off Ordeal.

This is absolute best case scenario but you can have an 8/9 Favored Hoplite as your third turn ends this way. This usually happens against Green and White decks that lack disruption, but it is also doable before an Azorius/Esper deck will be able to play Supreme Verdict etc.

I really like how the deck still can win even if you don't get close to this, usually Fabled Hero is too much if you protect it right. Running 20 or more creatures helps too since you can spread your power out on the board and not be as vulnerable to spot removal if you don't draw the Skins and Gods Willing.

I am also experimenting with Azorius Arrester right now.

Hey, thanks for your explanation. I didnt thought about untapping my lands! Thats absolutly amazing! Even if you do not have the best scenario untapping your lands gives you a lot more flexibility! The Scry is very powerful too in this deck! I also like targeting and trigger my Heroics and burning the spell with Nivmagus Elemental . I also tried Hands of Binding but im not realy sure about it yet, because it can not trigger my heroics, although it can clean the path for my attackers! I think Ordeal of Thassa is an intressting choice too. Will try... thanks for this amazing deck idea!

Bioshift . End of.

If you need explanations... Kalonian Hydra , Mistcutter Hydra , monstrous things, other heroic decks, moving counters if your creature is about to get Hero's Downfall 'd, etc etc.

If my Azorius deck wasn't built especially for the Theros block, Bioshift would be an auto-include.

Also... any reason why Phalanx Leader is not in there?

I would post my non-Theros block U/W Heroic deck, but I'm too lazy to lol.

Actually, forget the thing about Bioshift and Kalonian Hydra, etc. I was being silly lol, but the other half of the explanation is still valid. It's a way of dealing the killing blow and saving your counters from disappearing if your creature get killed.

Also, sorry for triple post

Phalanx Leader is far better in decks where you're going to have a serious creature swarm or are running Mutavault since they save his counters when they revert back to lands. And yes, Bioshift is very good, but I began realizing that protection was more valuable in my blue 1-drop Instant slot, and there's only so much room in the deck. Bioshift definitely goes better with a NIvmagus/Leader build.

The UW aggro/Heroic archetype is pretty flexible, so no build is entirely invalid, which is nice. I still prefer my more controlling build that has an easier time against removal.

I strongly suggest Ethereal Armor .

But why Ethereal Armor ? Only because Firststrike? Would be much more usefull in a Hopefull Eidolon build.

I took out triton tactics from my heroic and put in Mizzium Skin , as there is so much spot removal to deal with currently.

I would drop Ethereal Armor and Bioshift for more relevant things like Phalanx Leader and Aqueous Form .

your color balancing looks like it could use some work though, imo.