Soldier of the Pantheon I deal with it blocking it with Sylvan Caryatid or Hero's Downfall

Assemble the Legion in a USA Control would basically require you to constantly remove his hand of cards that rid of your cards on the field. When it comes to control decks, it can be become a luck based game. Blood Baron of Vizkopa is a card you WANT on the field and for it to stay on the field in american control. Even if it was USA colors, the constant Supreme Verdict and bounces, along with Mizzium Mortars needs to be forced away until you can play Obzedat, Ghost Council . When it comes to control, you flushem out with contstant drops that HAVE to be removed until you can get plenty through, while removing board wipes just as Supreme Verdict with your Sin Collector ( also a good way to force out a counter) and either Duress or Thoughtseize such cards like Assemble the Legion and Supreme Verdict out ASAP. Abrupt Decay becomes an awesome card when they have spheres on the field since its 3 mana. From the looks of your meta, if thats what is giving you trouble, I would side board in enchantment removal. Being both white and green there it plenty at your disposal.

I dealt with 2 decks Today with Soldier of the Pantheon , i basically forced them to believe that card is there escape to winning, but with all the combos in the deck your life total should reach high numbers quickly. I also dealt with Assemble the Legion today while it was on the field. Considering the mana pump they need to pay, play a card that can protect against or cause sever damage, as stated before being Blood Baron of Vizkopa and or Obzedat, Ghost Council . Another thing I did was flush out there spells with Desecration Demon 's and Trostani, Selesnya's Voice . Even Blind Obedience can play a heavy role here. The small chunks of 1 damage and gaining 1 life can actually make or break a control deck that doesn't deal with it, but can also force them to remove it for bigger threats.

I hope my advice is able to help you rorofat. Posting my results now on tonight.

Thanks! Good idea with the enchant removal!!

I just placed the order for 65$! Wish me luck! Thanks for everything!

Good Luck rorofat

this deck just looks fun to play. I a ways off from being close to being able to test it. but man it look fun

Would you mind providing a sideboard breakdown? Including what cards you would side out what with? is 4x of certain cards really necessary?

Bubbling Cauldron still as strong of a card with out trading port?

LectricMana : For my meta, yes it is. At other shops I change the sideboard extremely, So no running 4x is not necessary. I will update my description about sdie board when I feel I have time.

Tronacus: The main purpose for me with Bubbling Cauldron was too sac angels to make invalid blockers and make more angels, a long with saccing my own Sylvan Caryatid in response to another sac order from opponent. So yes its still strong and a very good card with Sanguine Bond in case of a 4 life finisher with ANY creature. I do miss Trading Post already though, I will admit this, but the Whip of Erebos has done way far more for me in testing so far, along with Obzedat, Ghost Council always coming back because you can make his exile stack priority higher so even after it does, infinite Obzedat, Ghost Council for only 4 mana instead of 5.

I really like this deck; I've been wanting to make a Junk deck to get some use out of my Whips and Ghost Council, but I don't want to buy Voice of Resurgence because it costs a fortune. I've been making an Orzhov deck that tries to play a more controlling game, check it out if you have time Orzhov Midrange

How is your Red Deck Wins matchup?

sharang3 : Its fairly good, but definitely a challenge each time I face it. Gotta be quick on the removal to stop the build up of devotion.

Sure I will take a look at it.

Another suggestion I might add, what do you think of the possibility of adding high priest of penance? It is a REALLY good blocker and makes any opponent think twice about attacking..

BTW, I built this deck literally in a couple days after seeing it and loving it. Some of my friends seem to disagree with my decision to play this deck hahaha.

Only because I took apart my mono black deck and selesnya deck(really strong decks to make this seemingly "bad" deck)

Also, besides adding high priest of penance, why not play thoughtseize instead of duress in the sideboard?

LectricMana : I do not own any Thoughtseize which is only reason why. Everyone has their own opinion on decks, generally if its not a "net deck", many people will not like it. I also play mono-black devotion and wurm selesnya deck as well. This deck is literally a midrange deck that can work well, very well. Been in top 8 at friends shops who called the deck "shitty", plenty of times. I do prefer mono-black devotion simply because of its speed, same for mono-red devotion.

I would play high-priest but I traded mine a long time ago when I was only sticking to green/white/blue decks. I would glady run him if I received him again.

Again, to each their own, everyone has a different play style and some see different strategies than others.

I also take into consideration human error and luck when it comes to a deck, people may have these "AWESOME WIN STRATS THAT ARE SO COOL", but the issue is over 80% of the time, you will not have those cards in hand. I build decks with multi win cons that weave into each other for that reason alone. Aslong as the synergy is there, then i see no issue.

Voice of Resurgence is another card that CAN be placed into this deck. I should probably mention that this current version is NOT the FINAL version. If that helps at all :P

@LectricMana I did the same thing and ran into some of the same problems, this deck is having big trouble against speedy, competitive decks.

@BlueEyes Nice update with the inclusion of Reaper of the Wilds and Whip of Erebos , the whip is playing out nicely, allowing the angels to easily create new angels without sac'ing.

If you're at all interested, here's some data on my playtesting it.pre-Reaper update results:
Salesman vs White Walkers are coming #1FNM 1-2
Salesman vs monored aggro 2-1
Salesman vs The Green Machine 0-2
Salesman vs Mono Black Merchant 1-2
Salesman vs monoblue devotion 2-0
Salesman vs Boros Battalion 1-2
Salesman vs Voice of Selesnya 1-2
Salesman vs Izzet counter/burn 0-2
Total:8-13

post-Reaper update results:
Salesman vs White Walkers are coming #1FNM 3-5
Salesman vs U/W Control 0-4
Salesman vs izzet control/burn 0-2
Salesman vs orzhov extort 2-0
Salesman vs monoblue devotion 1-2
Salesman vs Billy Mono-Redface 1-10 (Yes I ran this one 11 times because of all the success you were having against monored in your updates)
Salesman vs Trigger-Happy (1st@FNM) 1-2
Salesman vs Riders on the Storm 2-0
Total:10-25

Yeah I did a lot of playtesting lol, I really want to force your deck to work against everything but even with the 4 Duress + 4 Sin Collector it had nothing for control, and while it did well against red aggro, it did very poorly against red devotion. With the meta at my FNM, I don't feel like this deck will go better than 2 wins in a night until it gets much faster, or better slows the game down, which I'm working on. It did do well against mono blue which is a common netdeck but doesn't see much play at my FNM. Izzet burn had counters for many of the key pieces and Mizzium Mortars took out Blood Baron of Vizkopa every time before he could get going. The matches where Salesman finished 1-2 can be chalked up to tiny sample size, it could have won those with a better draw, in theory.

Cards like Devour Flesh to compliment the removal to further slow down aggro and devotion, or Voyaging Satyr / Elvish Mystic for a little more ramp, maybe even Lay of the Land are what I'm tinkering with to improve it locally. Maybe even something as simple as a Yoked Ox to help the Sylvan Caryatid slow down turn 1-4 attackers.

When I come up with something that's more resilient against all the super fast moving decks I usually see at FNM, I will let you know. That's why I forced the 11 tests against mono red devotion, I see that a lot and I felt like the changes you made should be helping but they just weren't enough. Early Desecration Demon meant nothing to a board full of creatures like Rakdos Cackler and Burning-Tree Emissary to sac. Whenever Salesman would finally get to 5 mana, it was usually 1 turn at most away from dying.

So there you go, I've been following and putting effort into making your deck more competitive, I'm sorry I don't have better news to share yet, but your deck is my favorite that I've read about online. I too, have a love for Angelic Accord and you make the most fun and practical use of it I've seen to date, so I will continue my efforts to get this deck into shape to win my local FNM.

Oddjob9 : Thank you incredibly for the play testing and the help you are putting in on this deck. I just mentioned that fast decks are the trouble with this deck and that it needs to be sped up! Again thank you very much, I have been working on a new side board and more cards to add in to create an atmosphere to slow down the opponent and speed up my side of the board.

Against mono-red devo and black devo is what this deck has the most trouble against, speeding up this deck will require a little work, but cards like you mentioned Yoked Ox have crossed my mind for many reasons. 1. Strong turn 1 defense. 2. With Trostani, Selesnya's Voice it ads 4 life which procs angelic accord. I am really looking for a way to clear the board and make it to where the game comes into my favor, the issue I am coming across is "do I add more removal or defenses?" and "Am I drawing enough cards to allow this much CMC?".

If you come across anything else, do not hesitate to speak :)

P.S: Voices and Boros Reckoners have crossed my mind in this deck, but getting the reckoner on the field is the issue.

Completely agree with you there @'oddjob9', this deck needs a better curve against the meta, it needs some early removal to stay alive long enough to be able make its combos work. As much fun as I have playing this deck, it loses quite a bit to faster decks. I recommended High Priest of Penance just because he puts up a really good wall early game. This deck also gets absolutely wrecked by Burning Earth .

Abrupt Decay is really good for control and Sin Collector to some extent, I think a Pithing Needle or two would be great against the control matchup.

Against these faster decks, a Golgari Charm might help out a little bit, especially against mono red.

If anything I see this deck evolving into a deck that is somewhat already out right now, (Saw 1 @ an FNM I played a month ago that was really good) Runs Voice of Resurgence though :( (Good thing I have 5 :D)

I really like this deck but it really isn't good against the really fast meta that are popping up all over the place. Green red devotion, Mono blue, Mono Red, Selesnya, Blue White Heroic.

Maybe I can make this deck a little better but it may involve removing some of the cards that made this deck really fun

LectricMana : I agree, I want Voice of Resurgence in the deck, I was going too remove a LOT of the fun cards to make it incredibly more competitive.

Im going to do some playtesting with these changes
61 cards instead of 60
-2 Reaper of the Wilds
-1 Bubbling Cauldron

Then try +4 of these 3 different cards, separately testing each set
High Priest of Penance
Soldier of the Pantheon
Yoked Ox

All fit the color theme without having to change any lands, Yoked Ox could have good synergy with Trostani if pulled mid to late game, Pantheon good vs multi with a little bit of lifegain thrown in, and High Priest should discourage some early attacking but he almost certainly won't kill his blocked attacker in addition to another target, likely only his ability will go off while dying to the attacker, but he should be resilient to removal, with immunity to Doom Blade , Ultimate Price

Anything to buy time to turn 5. I'll test the Ox tonight at FNM, I think I prefer his synergy over the others, especially wrt all the bonuses of gaining 4 life pulling him later in the game. All the above substitutes are prime candidates for Bubbling Cauldron once some board control is established.

Go for it, I added in Reaper of the Wilds for more scry. Let me know how it works out for you, it is my Birthday today, so I am going out instead of FNM.

Happy Birthday BlueEyes!

If she gets you the Theros Holiday gift box that was released today, she'd easily be a keeper!

I took out the Bubbling Cauldron , Angelic Accord and Sanguine Bond for 4x Voice of Resurgence and 4x High Priest of Penance

I kinda like the changes already, it gives me an early to defend myself but the deck isnt fun anymore, its just a decent deck with alot of expensive cards in it. Also, I'm not really sure what the point is anymore since it becomes a creature deck after that and we know that there are alot better creature decks out there that will absolutely wreck this deck.

Sadly I might have to go back to playing my Golgari deck :( I really wanted to play this deck at FNM but my meta has too many fast decks for this deck to keep up with :/

Anyways, if this deck becomes playable in a competitive format I'll gladly come back to playing it. GOATS for LIFE!

Happy birthday!

Just 2-1ed at FNM. I really liked Vraska the Unseen in the maindeck, as well as some Pithing Needle s in the SB.

THE REALLY USELESS CARDS:

Bubbling Cauldron was a dead drop 99% if the time.

Angelic Accord didn't really cut it. Although I will DEFINITELY not be removing it.

THE CARDS I WISH I HAD:

Pithing Needle : I only ran 2 in the SB, and it would of saved my hide in game 2.

Debt to the Deathless : Didn't run any, although it would of won probably every game!

CHANGES:

-2 Bubbling Cauldron --> +2 Debt to the Deathless

(SB) -1 Sin Collector -1 Duress --> +2Pithing Needle

I'm also trying to fit in 2 Voice of Resurgence somewhere!

Good Luck with yours!

Thank you guys for the Birthday wishes! Sorry to say Oddjob9 my girlfriend and me actually broke up. Things are never as they appear to be lol.

I actually had an idea about making the deck into more towards Orzhov with mostly black devotion with white splash of scry lands and godless shrines to add in blood barons and obzedats. The idea is still being worked on and will post a second deck on the idea in this update place. I love the ideas and help you guys are giving me, it is VERY usefull! You guys are the best.