Defender Deck
3 Victory Methods
1.) Mill with Doorkeeper - There are a LOT of Defenders and doorkeeper's mill ability can become a threat without too much difficulty.
2.) Colossus of Akros - With luck he can come out as early as T5. Given all the defenders in the deck, most of whom can survive the average low cost burn spell, this tends to not be a problem.
3.) Nimbus Swimmer - Probably the biggest threat on the board, even more than colossus is. Although it may be a little deceptive about it, this deck has an exceptionally good mana ramp. Sylvan Caryatid is a great early game defense + Axebane Guardian gives out a stupid amount of mana. Though there are definitely issues dealing with B and/or U control decks any deck which uses creatures or damage burns will be immediately threatened by what usually arrives as a 20/20 flier.
Achieving Objectives:
1.) Damage Reduction. I think this pretty much goes without saying. You aren't trying to deal damage, merely trying to survive until you can slam your opponent with one of the previously mentioned win conditions. Even a particularly rough turn damagewise can be negated via Defend the Hearth irritating any opponent who decided to buff up a bunch of creatures with instants to attack you.
2.) Lifegain - Another deceptive trait of this deck. In addition to being a defender deck - It also manages to be a very potent lifegain deck. Predator's Rapport on a monstrous Colossus of Arkon? Yes please - and don't forget to Mnemonic Wall afterwards to gain another 40 life.
3.) Mana Ramp - Sylvian Caryatid + Axebane Guardian + Unexpected Results will get you a nice mana store fairly early on to make the lifegain and damage reduction components work more easily.
Weaknesses, because every deck has them.
1.) Other U decks - Unblockable decks make this one more or less useless. Though under the right situations it can survive by just having an annoyingly high amount of life or negating damage, Unblockable with a control aspect to counter the Colossus of Akros or Nimbus Swimmer can quickly and easily ruin your day.
2.) Board Wipes - Since most decks that have one are built to deal with them, more often than not a board wipe will kill you unless you have had the foresight to hold some cards "just in case".
3.) Kill Decks - Any deck which focuses on simply killing creatures with kill spells is going to destroy a lot of what this deck can do. Your only defense against these are to gain life ASAP and hope you can pull Colossus of Akros AND buff him early on. I won't lie, against a black kill deck you need to mostly rely on luck for a win.
Strengths:
1.) Other lifegain decks - You simply mill them to death with Doorkeeper.
2.) Most Aggro Decks - Its very difficult to eat through the walls quickly. In most cases by the time aggro decks can power through the walls you already have a nimbus or colossus up dealing insane damage.
3.) Creature Decks - Again, walls aren't easy to break.
4.) Flier Decks - Typically fliers suffer the same issues as creature decks do.
All in all, for the price I am rather happy with this deck. It isn't invincible by any means, but nothing beats summoning a 25/25 flier - even if it is killed by a doom blade, its still worth it!
