Let me go over a few of the things that make the deck shine. It's midrange through and through and I built it almost after Modern B/W token decks. As of now, this is built as a best-of-one deck but I can build a sideboard too... If you want BO3 version.
Against control like Dimir it plays great because it's so hard for them to get a fair one-for-one exchange. For example, countering a Join the Dance isn't great. They use a whole spell countering essentially half our spell thanks to flashback. The same is true for removal. Using a removal spell to remove one of these tokens equates to them using one card to deal with 1/4 of ours. This ability to outvalue other fair decks is at the core of the strategy and it works well. So, we play Join the Dance, Captain's Call and, Rise of the Ants. As well as Chaplain of Alms
that can be cast from the graveyard as well. There is enough recursion here, that I was able to rebuild even after several board wipes. Just don't over-commit to the board and save flashback until after a board wipe, when possible.
Another core principle for the deck is the ability to play offense and defense. Against slow, controlling decks the deck plays great aggro. Against aggro decks, the deck can play a great long game. For example, we have King Darien XLVIII who pumps our creatures up. Great for aggro. But he also gives us a late-game mana sink that makes him bigger and creates more tokens. (Keep in mind these will be 2/2's thanks to his anthem. Lastly, he can sac to save our board from removal. Great for defense.
Next, we have my favorite card in all of standard, Wedding Announcement
. It is so grindy! And again, great no matter if we're playing an aggro or control role. It draws cards if we're attacking and makes tokens if we're not. And each turn it gets a counter and will then pump the team after three. This is very good when it comes down on turn three after a Chaplian of Alms and Join the Dance. Wedding Announcement
is good no matter the board state and is even fantastic in multiples.
Now let's have a look at the spiciest card in the deck, Arm the Cathars. If you play Chaplian of Alms on T1, Join the Dance on T2, and Arm the Cathars on T3 you can swing for 9 damage. And thanks to Vigilance, you don't have to fear the crack back.
Near the top of the curve we have a few copies of Elspeth Resplendent. She's a great way to bolster the token's power and grant evasion or lifelink +1. Again, these can be used offensively or defensively. Her -3 is able to hit all seven of our creatures and all 11 of the enchantments in the deck. Which, just so happens to be most of our removal. We can play around with which removal works best for the decks you're coming up against. Right now, I just tried to keep it as cheap and as versatile as possible, with Fateful Absence and Borrowed Time to hit those problematic enchantments.
