The more I look at this brew the more it hurts my head!

paulbmoore1980 at this stage I don't really want an equipment focus per se.

The deck is more about attaching equipment to Creatures with Vigilance to pump them up.

I have to say that with equipments and the mild Ramp, this deck gets pretty ferocious very quickly.

I also like Bruna as my 4 drop, and would be hesitant to add another.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

If you are trying to focus on creatures with vigilance and pumping them up, then Always Watching fills both of those roles...

Clues are awesome. If you find yourself tapped out from the 3 play 3 equip equipment you could probably try Confront the Unknown in its place, obviously that would change your strat but as an instant you could use it after declare defenders step to make sure damage gets through.

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar's Emblem, which is what I use him for most of the time, fills a similar role to Always Watching and, although it doesn't offer the Vigilance, I like the fact that it is in the "Command Zone".

It's a good suggestion though, and I'll keep it in mind.

I'm aware of Confront the Unknown but it's not where I want to go with the Mainboard. I'll keep it in mind for the Sideboard.

Could consider Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip as it is one of the strongest cards in a ramp deck at any phase in the game, despite not ramping. The issue is I'm not sure what you would cut -- the obvious choice, Nissa's Pilgrimage, cuts into your ramp. Perhaps 1x pilgrimage 1x land? If you can get to turn 3 on your current mana base -1 land, you're not even cutting much mana. Then, if you feel light on ramp from cutting pilgrimage, consider running Cryptolith Rite over the Savant. It should ramp you from 1 to 3 every game, especially with the modicum of token production you have out of Gideon, but it's more vulnerable to Dromoka's Command since you're not running Oath of Nissa, which is nonnegligible.

None of these are obvious choices, just maybe something to think about.

There's another ramp shell in standard that depends less on sorceries and more on tokens/rite that I ran during SOI, given the power of Secure the Wastes at all game phases and its synergy with Cryptolith Rite and with the powerful token walkers in standard, providing and absorbing ramp. Playing the secure//ormendahl combo is always a possibility in a ramp deck as well.

Don't forget, this isn't a "ramp deck".

It's just got SOME Ramp in it.

I'm loathe to run any setup that relies on Tokens as:

1. I don't want this to become a "token deck" (I played one of those last season and want something different)

2. The Declaration in Stone hate is real in my meta

I'm not sure I want to go with Westvale Abbey  ^Flip either, but you have alerted me to the fact that I could put some Rogue's Passage into this deck.

Just two, as I don't want to colour screw myself in the first two turns.

To make this a bit clearer, I'm happy with the balance of this deck at the moment and very every card that's in it.

If I start putting stuff like Cryptolith Rite in it the structure, that is currently working, will change.

StuBi: I was just curious to see if you had a chance to play with this brew yet at an FMN. I was looking over some of the comments between you and I and came across the one where you mentioned that you didn't want to make the focus of the deck on equipment, but rather on creatures with vigilance. Looking at your current creature roster, you have a total of 6 creatures with vigilance, which was why i had suggested Always Watching, but for an additional 1 mana you could run Odric, Lunarch Marshal. Not only is he a 3/3 body for 4, but spreads all your evergreen abilities to all your creatures EVERY combat, even your opponents...
Imagine dropping an Odric on the field while having an Advocate and Gisela out...all your creatures will have flying, vigilance, first strike and lifelink...could be a blowout. Since you aren't dedicated to clues, you could drop the Inspector.

I hate Odric. He's been horrid every time I've tried to use him.

OK, take a step back.

My comment about equipment was to try to explain to you that I don't want to add Creatures to this deck that focus on equipment.

That's because the equipment is ONLY there to pump up Creatures WITH Vigilance.

I don't wish to give ALL my Creatures Vigilance, either.

Every card in this deck has its role to play.

I'm not sure if you've playtested this deck at all. My partner and I have been testing against a lot of different types of decks and it smashes most of them.

It's pretty hard to argue with a 5/6 with Vigilance on Turn 3, a 7/7 Flier with Vigilance on Turn 4, and a 12/13 Flier with Vigilance on Turn 6.

To get all that happening you need some Ramp and colour fixing, some Creatures with Vigilance, an equipment that provides a good buff, a +1/+1 Emblem, and a little bit of removal.

There is a Clue sub theme with Tireless Tracker that allows the deck to draw into its Angels, and puts another Creature on the field that can be pumped up. Thraben Inspector helps to facilitate this.

Anything that falls outside of these boundaries will not be considered, as it will weaken the structure. Anything that can be SUBSTITUTED for any of these cards, because it is better, I am most interested in.

So far Always Watching has been the only suggestion that I think might be helpful.

You might want to consider 2 Thalia's Lancers, just to add some consistency to drawing brisela. I also agree with some of the earlier comments about Nissa's Pilgrimage. It may help get out you threats faster, but since coco is 40% of the meta, it is just too much of a tempo loss.

Deck looks pretty good, I've considered a brew with similar goals in mind.

I took a different direction with my "ramp" though. I like Primal Druid because I can sac him to Eldritch Evolution to get Gisela, the Broken Blade and a land that will set me up for turn 4 Thalia's Lancers or Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip. Thalia's Lancers allows you to tutor for any of your angel's and you don't feel bad about sacing them to Eldrith Evolution to get Bruna, the Fading Light. Both Primal Druid and Thalia's Lancers are human, so you can pull them out of the graveyard if you cast Bruna as well.

A bit of a side note: I like Traverse the Ulvenwald over Nissa's Pilgrimage, given my tutor heavy view presented above, it just makes sense. Speaking of tutoring for Angels: 1 of Linvala, the Preserver?

Nissa's Pilgrimage has been working well for me, so I'm going to keep it for now. At least until I see what the other decks in my meta are like.

USSLego your deck sounds cool. Good luck with it.

I'm extremely terrible at brews and finding cards that would have such a good synergy in a deck, nice job! What I want to know is which cards would you substitute for the cards that are going to get rotated out?

CommanderCorgi I brew a new deck each rotation, as I find the meta moves on past what I was playing last season.

None of the cards in this deck will rotate out until Kaladesh is released.

I would have to look at the cards available then to see if this deck could be changed to accommodate them.

If you like really cool brews you should check out the decks brewed by my partner Argeaux, especially her Triple A, Sizzle, Cast a Shadow, and Dragons with a Twist [EMN].

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StuBi thank you for the explanation on Stitcher's Graft. I was uncertain on how that would work.

I played about 5 different games against my deck (Delirious Death), you won one of them. The major thing I noticed was you couldn't keep up on the controlling half since Declaration in Stone is your only means of removal aside from combat. At least in the sideboard you should include cards like Prey Upon, Rabid Bite, Clear Shot, or, as much as I hate this card, Dromoka's Command. Although the deck seemed really solid, I think its just a bad matchup against my build.

Yeah, bad match ups are gonna happen.

Did you Sideboard both of our decks? I find that often makes a difference.

There a quite a few cards that I have in mind as backups, if this deck struggles in my local meta.

They are:

• Dromoka's Command instead of Collective Effort

• Gideon, Ally of Zendikar instead of Always Watching

• Selfless Spirit instead of Knight of the White Orchid

Thanks for playtesting and for the Feedback.

StuBi,
Number 1 deck on T/O! Congratulations!

Oh thanks, clayperce!

Now let's see how it PLAYS. First FNM this week.

Be sure to take detailed notes for us StuBi!! Im very curious about how it'll perform:)

I'm not great with taking notes, but I'll report how it goes as much as I can.

No pressure. lol

the deck is missing overwhelm enables

peldriver this deck is trying to go tall rather than wide, but I am interested to know if you have cards in mind other than Secure the Wastes.