The turtles pray for help. They are overrun by vehicles, zombies, and some snakes for good measure. They have been over-shadowed by a tall man with long brown hair yelling about some "Gatewatch." They are alone and scared. They looked to others for help, but no one heard them. They prayed to the turtle angels, and they bestowed them helpers and machines. The turtles come together to fight back against the vehicles and cats. They want nothing but your own time and help.
The Turtle Scripture
How this deck functions is we pump our lovely turtles up to almost insane levels. This is very tricky to pull off and very VERY slow, but if you can pull it off then the whole deck can steam roll. We play the best common: Thriving Turtle. For only 1 mana, we already have a 0/3 blocker on turn one.]. Although, not the best, we can make it better with Fabrication Module and Decoction Module. We can search for these artifacts through Glint-Nest Crane and Glimmer of Genius, if we have them.
Once we have either modules out-the order of them doesn't matter, but it is more beneficial if you have some creatures that produce energy or just creatures in general for both modules-then we can start pumping our turtles.
However, there is the ever important aspect of this deck: the angels. We are playing Aegis Angel for the indestructible tag. (I have also added Make a Stand for this reason as well as a fast answer if someone tries to stop kill off the angel. Then we also have Angel of Invention. Not only will this card pump our turtles with its +1/+1 ability, but the fabricate ability as well. I'll explain some crazy combos we can pull off because of the modules later. The last piece of the deck, in terms of angels, is Invocation of Saint Traft. This card gives us a 4/4 angel with flying. So not only does the opponent have to deal with a 1/4 or a 2/5, but also a 4/4, which if played early enough is almost unblockable. We want to protect our turtles as much as possible as they can overrun an opponent if everything works properly. Not only do we have the Aegis Angel, but we also have Gryff's Boon to get them flying over decks that are low to the ground.
Verses of the Turtle Scripture (Combos)
With both modules out on the field, we can do some very crazy things with counters. Here's some strange synergies that come with these modules:
Verse #1: If both modules are out on the field, and we play Angel of Invention fabricate for 2 1/1 servos. When this happens, Decoction Module will activate three times: once for the Angel, and twice for the servos. As they enter the battlefield, you'll get three energy counters, which will activate Fabrication Module three times. Now, Fabrication Module usually works only if you have one source of energy coming in. Example: if you have Thriving Turtle comes out, you only get one counter even though the turtle comes out with two. However, since the Angel and the servos all count as different sources of energy, that means Fabrication Module will trigger three times, giving you three counters. All of them different to where you can place them wherever you want.
Verse #2: With Invocation of Saint Traft, a similar effect occurs. You swing with the turtle, which has Invocation attached to it. This activates both modules, giving you another counter to put on your turtle. After a while, your turtle will be about a 5/8 or 6/9 along with a 4/4 flyer coming in. That's about 10 damage with almost 14 toughness for the opponent to get through.
Verse #3: Restoration Specialist can swing the game. This mainly because of her ability to get back BOTH an Invocation if a turtle dies, and a module if they manage to disrupt that. Even crazier, if you have the mana to pay for it, you can play it, sacrifice it, get the invocation back (if you have modules out on the field, then those activate) then you play the invocation and you already have a few counters flying around.
There are small synergies like that with the modules. The main combo of this deck is to play those modules while running Shielded Aether Thief to block against aggro and allow card draw (although not the best card draw option in this deck), and Disallow to make sure we can stop them from stopping us.
The Extra Tithes (Sideboard)
Many of the control aspects of this deck are in the sideboard. We have some copies of Cast Out and Compulsory Rest. You have some nice board clears with Descend upon the Sinful. This card should be your complete last resort. (It's very handy in Two-Headed Giant.) I would not know exactly what to take out for some of these control options because it does depend on the opponent. Of course, if there are better cards that you think fit in the sideboard, feel free to add them in. This is the part that is completely flexible.
Possible Upgrades: (If you are a rich man who believes in the turtles)
The only few upgrades I would give this deck are some mana fixing. Things like Port Town can take place over the Meandering River. You can play the bicycle lands, but I am not sure how effective those are in this deck.
Another upgrade can be a few copies of Always Watching . This will make our turtles gain vigilance which is very helpful since they have such high toughness. Maybe you can put some Gideons, but none of the U/W planeswalkers nor Gideon really fits with the theme of this deck. Cards like Disallow are extremely great, but that card is not in this deck because of it's price. If you have some extra copies, then put them in with Censor to allow for some extra flexibility of control.
Closing Prayer
All in all, this deck is certainly a fun surprise to play on people. They will not really see the swarm of turtles coming. Although I will stress, this deck can be very tricky to pilot since we need all the pieces in place: i.e. the modules/invocations. This deck is still super fun to play though, and it is relatively cheap. It can also be upgraded, so long as you at LEAST have some Angels/Turtles. But it's up to you. Keep in mind, the turtles don't like change.
