though Fungal Sprouting is a good exalted multi trigger for sublime, its a dead card other wise. not all that good. i would -3 those for the left over Loxodon Smiter u have and +2 Precinct Captain s.. aggro needs atleast 23-28 creatures in my oponion. otherwise this is a solid deck for a 15 yr break. welcome back bro :)

would you consider mainboarding card:Faith's Shield? it is effective as protection and can be used to make a creature unblockable. I would considering putting those in and maybe taking out a [giant growth] or two and a Selesnya Charm or the Oblivion Ring . despite those being great cards the oblivion rings slow your aggro down. i think with the deck youre running they are side board cards once you hsve recognized a threat there deck poses to your strategy.

After testing your deck a few times and having played friends with similar decks i think you could you another land or two.

take out Staff of Nin , way to slow for an aggro deck, Giant Growth is also not good enough, i would replace both with Silverblade Paladin and a land. i would also remove the Precinct Captain s for 2 more card:Avacyn's Pilgrim.

Thanks MattyGaddy and theonyc for the advice, it's got my head spinning in different directions, but I like it. Unfortunately, I don't have any Silverblade Paladin and I doubt I'll be able to get them before this baby goes out for a test drive -but I like the thought and can see how it would make the deck more aggressive. I'll keep an eye out on eBay, but in the meantime I need to make due.

Added a Cathedral of War (maybe add another?), and dumped the 2x Staff of Nin -in hindsight definitely too slow! In play testing, the earliest I ever got it out was turn 8. Definitely no good.

theonyc in the absence of Silverblade Paladin , I added another Ajani, Caller of the Pride for the double strike. Why no on the Giant Growth ? On the Fencing Ace or with Ajani, Caller of the Pride -2 double strike seems pretty awesome to me. Would you think that Titanic Growth could be a better alternative? I know the latter is usually thought to be inferior, but given that in most of my deck has a pretty low mana cost, maybe Titanic Growth with the double strike would be worthwhile? I can't tell just looking at it and have no play experience to compare the two.

MattyGaddy, I forgot that protection makes creatures unblockable so I moved 2x Oblivion Ring to sideboard, replaced with 2x card:Faith's Shield, which makes the deck a little more aggressive. I tried to squeeze more in but don't see what I'd want to give up going into a match to get them in the mainboard.

What are people's thoughts on Serra Avenger ? I love this card but can't seem to squeeze it in. In fact I moved it out of my sideboard all together in favor of cards that could deal with potential problems (not very happy about that, had them in there to potentially replace Aven Squire if I came up against a deck good at quickly popping 1 toughness creatures.

There's something about this deck I still don't like and I can't quite place my finger on it.

Maybe remove the 2x card:Avacyn's Pilgrim for 2x Serra Avenger ? Do I really need the extra mana? Having the two additional flyers might be more useful... or do I go the other way and add 2x card:Avacyn's Pilgrim and another Cathedral of War at the expense of say... 3xGiant Growth so I am almost guaranteed to get either a turn 2 Loxodon Smiter , Fencing Ace + Rancor , or similar... What to do... what to do... maybe go to bed and see what other people think!

Thanks for looking ;-)

Have you tried it with War Falcon 's? They are a great one drop and they do a lot better than the pilgrims. Sure they allow for a possible Smiter on T2 but having a 2/1 flyer swinging for 3 on T2 is a bit better. I main an exalted deck and the where it really excels is the early game, if you are able to swarm the field with a bunch of guys with exalted and then swing over any ground creatures it really sets the tone of the game. Getting your opponent to be thinking about defense more than offence is the best thing.

Thanks hijump that's a great point. A 2/1 Savannah Lions used to be a no brainer, so why not a 2/1 flyer? How many do you play in your deck? If 4 what woe you suggest I take out?

Between 2-3 depending on the deck. I would just play 2 with this deck at first. Though I feel that a 3rd one would do well, just for consistency issues. Though tbh I am not sure what to take out for it, I bet you will prolly know what feels like is holding you back more.

I know hes expensive but you should maybe look into Thragtusk as a turn 5 drop and heal, hes one of the scariest cards out there right now. Other than that, good luck!!

+1 by the way.

Thanks Chrisbox don't have any to put in there, but I'll keep Thragtusk in mind. He is nasty, no doubt.

and thanks for the +1! :-)

If I were you, I would take out your War Falcon s for another Aven Squire and another.. something else. xD

This is up to personal preference, but Rootborn Defenses may be better than card:Faith's Shield.

I also feel like Fencing Ace needs some kind of evasion if you want to use him as your spearhead.

Thanks Fleetfiend for the suggestions. I had 2x card:Avacyn's Pilgrim in there before and it was suggested that I swap them for 2x War Falcon . I could make the swap you suggested (-1 War Falcon +1 Aven Squire and remove the 2nd War Falcon for a 3rd card:Faith's Shield, which would improve the Fencing Ace evasiveness... but that takes me down to 22 creatures).

Looking quickly through the low cost creatures/alternatives I have on hand to possibly replace the 2nd War Falcon (or maybe both):

Azorius Arrester (doubtful, wouldn't help early but would help with Fencing Ace evasiveness for one shot)

card:Judge's Familiar (might be good against early burn... but not fitting aggro theme, long shot maybe, will have to see what meta game is like)

card:Ajani's Sunstriker (lifelink + exalted would be sick, but to me this fits more for group play as opposed to head to head and would require a larger commitment (like 3x card:Ajani's Sunstriker instead of the 2nd War Falcon and the 2x Precinct Captain , the first strike is definitely more aggro but the lifegain could be worthwhile... worth thinking about))

Angelic Benediction (not a creature and less aggro but makes Fencing Ace beefier and more evasive, thinking about it)

Captain of the Watch (doubtful, usually my deck has done it's thing before 6 mana - had her in there earlier and removed)

Sigarda, Host of Herons (another bomb for only 5, worth thinking about)

Cathedral of War (more mana more exalted, a few times I did get jammed up)

Intrepid Hero (I had one in an early and removed, but really liked it. It let me get a bit of board control against weird creatures (e.g. I could giant growth a Deadly Recluse and then kill it or do similar with Rancor on 2 power creatures)... not aggro but helps with creatures that may hinder Fencing Ace ... thinking about it).

Serra Avenger (I love this card. i had 4x early and took them all out... maybe 1x would be ok)

Primordial Hydra (possibly even though it's not a low cast cost... It's definitely something that could get scary quickly and it's all green, which is a plus. I had it in an earlier version. It's a threat that would draw fire away from other things)

... that's all I have "on hand" to swap in. Fleetfiend any opinions? Thanks again!

also the Rootborn Defenses is powerful, but right now I think I prefer the card:Faith's Shield because it adds evasiveness and card:Faith's Reward in the sideboard would help with untargetted board sweeps (my understanding that Supreme Verdict would still destroy creatures with Rootborn Defenses because Supreme Verdict doesn't target but card:Faith's Reward would bring them back -I'll post to check this).

Oblivion Ring and some form of creature control

Thanks Thedren_The_Inquisitor, I have Oblivion Ring in my sideboard for after the first game if they play card:Curse of Death's Hold or things that hose exalted (like Courtly Provocateur ). They were in my mainboard, but it was suggested that I remove them for card:Faith's Shield so as to not slow down my aggro.

I have 4x Selesnya Charm for creature removal (not sure whether that counts as "control"). I like that because of the versatility, it lets me either gain +2/+2 and trample (which is even scarier with the Fencing Ace or double strike through Ajani, Caller of the Pride ) and it has an element of creature removal (or even a 2/2 Knight in the event of a crappy draw). This deck is meant for aggro so I don't want to slow it down out of the gate. If there is a small creature that gives me issues I could always Giant Growth or even Rancor it to get 5+ power to kill it with the Selesnya Charm . I used to have one Intrepid Hero just for what you're suggesting and may add it plus a 4th Aven Squire for the 2x War Falcon . Thanks again.

Mabye instead of the 1/1 double strike think about mabye putting Thalia or Silverblade Paladin in. Thalia is ggod against most other noncreature based decks and silverblade will help you swing in for that extra damage. Good deck though

Alternative version of this can be found at: deck:exalted-apoptosis-v2