competitive angels in modern

Modern forum

Posted on April 12, 2015, 2:13 a.m. by BloodoftheBloodMoon

Hi, i was wondering if you could help me find actually decent angel creatures that are actually good in modern. my buddy has a wierd quirk where he won't play a deck if it doesnt have angels in it, and he wants to make a competitive modern deck. could you give me a list of angels we could build a deck around?

-Fulcrum says... #2

The only truly playable one is Restoration Angel. There's a decent combo control deck that wins via Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Restoration Angel .

Other than that, Iona, Shield of Emeria sees play as a 1-of in some fringe decks.

April 12, 2015 2:16 a.m.

okay, thanks. i'll relay the message :)

April 12, 2015 2:18 a.m.

Hjaltrohir says... #4

If you wanted do go big on angels, Entreat the Angels could be good in conjunction with lots of mana ramp and scry-effects. Geist of Saint Traft is super good, and he produces angels. Emancipation Angel is ok I guess, you could combine her with Restoration Angel to abuse ETB Effects. I have always loved Herald of War, good luck including her.

To be perfectly honest, the best competitive deck you could do would be Geist of Saint Traft midrange with Restoration Angel or Abzan with Sigarda, Host of Herons sideboarded. While angels can be fun in casual modern, they stand no chance in any competitive format :(

April 12, 2015 2:31 a.m.

Yeah, unfortunately. I guess he'll just have to stick with his legacy Iona reanimator

April 12, 2015 2:43 a.m.

sirbar says... #6

Tell him to play gifts reanimator. He can run iona while still having a good deck.

April 12, 2015 3:12 a.m.

smithereen says... #7

Restoration Angel is a top-tier creature as has been said already. Sigarda, Host of Herons is a good sideboard card, and Baneslayer Angel could be substituted for Batterskull in most decks that run or sideboard it, though most people would give the edge to the Skull.

Iona, Shield of Emeria is run in decks with Gifts Ungiven + Unburial Rites but since it's almost literally uncastable that's the only way it ever works. Platinum Angel is run in TRON once in a while. Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Archangel of Thune were run in Pod.

Actually, Archangel is pretty good in mono-white Soul Sisters.

April 12, 2015 3:12 a.m.

MollyMab says... #8

There is also the potential for an FNM homebrew.

Emeria Angel can generate a lot of creatures quickly. Lotus Cobra lets you power it out and generate more mana. Etc

April 12, 2015 4:17 a.m.

lemmingllama says... #9

Well, Serra Avenger and Serra Ascendant are also somewhat playable and cheap. As for large angels, Baneslayer Angel, Restoration Angel, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and Archangel of Thune are all playable.

I'd probably say that he wants a Soul Sisters deck

April 12, 2015 8:26 a.m.

JexInfinite says... #10

Tribal angels never has, and never will be playable. There are certainly competitive angel cards, but no decks. Same for basically every tribal. Individual cards are good, not decks.

April 12, 2015 8:41 a.m.

robrone9 says... #11

Tier 1? No, probably not. Fun and able to win at local level? for sure. Merfolk can win FNM. Honestly, I have won a 20+ FNM event using Wolf Tribal... Build something nobody expects, even if it's not pure tribal - Sunblast Angel + Gideon + a bunch of tap effects for example.

April 12, 2015 9:51 a.m.

Egann says... #12

Just giving some ideas, but back when it was standard I had an ultra-budget Angels deck which used Guardian of the Gateless, Angelic Skirmisher and Gorgon's Head to lock down the combat step. I was never able to actually make this "competitive" because it died to burn every time. It was a tier 2 deck, and I'm being generous to call it that.

I've had thoughts of trying to remake it in modern as a splinter-hate deck because Guardian of the Gateless can in fact block infinite creatures and kill them all. I've never been able to make it work, though.

April 12, 2015 10:26 a.m.

JexInfinite Merfolk and Faeries say hi.

But anyways, while you could have a decent Angel tribal deck going, it's not going to be able to compete with anything tier 2 up.

April 12, 2015 10:36 a.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #14

April 12, 2015 9:33 p.m.

thanks so much for the comments guys! it really helps. looking at all these cards, i see sooo much potential. he's tried soulsisters. he's liked it a bit, but after a while it gets boring. what do you guys think of Admonition Angel? he recently brewed these decks. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/09-04-15-sXz-boros-token-burn/ he actually has this one. and i did some tweaking here and came up with Jeskai Tokens Modern. playtesting it, Secure the Wastes has quite a bit of potential in a token deck. let me know what you guys think of the deck

April 12, 2015 11:33 p.m.

robrone9 says... #16

Angels can do work at fnm, you just need to build decks that synergize well. Try this out:

Budget options exist of course, but this looks competitive for fnm.


One Way Ticket - Bant Exalted Playtest

Modern robrone9

SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 3 VIEWS

April 13, 2015 12:57 a.m.

Femme_Fatale says... #17

Merfolk and faeries aren't competitive FAMOUSWATERMELON. They are more FNM level.

April 15, 2015 11:40 a.m.

Merfolk are Tier 2, so they can definitely compete with some higher decks. Faeries are definitely less competitive, but I've had some good games with them.

April 15, 2015 11:42 a.m.

What do you think of a modern death and taxes deck? Instead of stoneforge, you could use Blade Splicer and instead of swords, you could use Path to Exile I'll make a list in a sec and post it

April 15, 2015 1:47 p.m.

Lemme know what you think badass humans and angels

April 15, 2015 2:46 p.m.

Femme_Fatale says... #21

Blade Splicer is not competitive enough in modern. The 3/3 and 1/1 does literally nothing in todays format of burn and 5 toughness creatures.

April 15, 2015 2:48 p.m.

I fixed the list. What do you think?

April 15, 2015 4:04 p.m.

This discussion has been closed