Archangel of Thune or Fiendslayer Paladin for UWx Decks?
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Posted on Feb. 1, 2014, 12:01 p.m. by Enlightened_Jedi
Well I know people have seen the surge of Archangel of Thune in the control decks, especially after the UW win at the previous major tournament.
My question is which one would you run, and why?
Archangel of Thune - Flying, Lifelink, gets big VERY fast. Especially with other Thune's/Lifegain. Has zero protection against removal.
or
Fiendslayer Paladin - Harder to Kill, hurts MRD and MBD pretty well. Lifelink. Ground game instead of Flying.
I honestly would love to run a playset of Thune's, but I have only 2. Compared to me having 3 Jedi aka Fiendslayer Paladin .
Would it be silly to perhaps run 2 of each in the SB?
Enlightened_Jedi says... #3
I personally have 2x AEtherling MB with a single Elspeth, Sun's Champion as my main win con's. This is largely due to money restraints, but it seems to work fine.
I actually never thought of putting the angels main for win con's along side the one's I already have, that's a pretty sweet idea i might tamper with.
And personally I know alot use Thune as a weapon against MUD.
Here is a link that describes alot of the siding options pretty well.I don't run this exact set up but I am thinking of running the black temples to just splash some removal in the SB for the Devotion matchup's.
BTW kudo's on running RWU because I am actually slowly trading cards to assemble it. I have all the win cons, I just am lacking some dual lands and some jace's.
February 1, 2014 12:29 p.m.
Fiendslayer Paladin is great in that stinkin rakdos aggro matchups that are about to become even more of a pain with born of the gods being released. But other than that it really isn't needed in the control shell right now. Archangel of Thune on the other is hand is great to side in against MUD as you said because the only real thing they have for it is Rapid Hybridization , or Gainsay (out of the sideboard) which they will probably side out anyway. Another thing to note is that in a RWU Control Deck you can have access to other ways of gaining life like Warleader's Helix , so the triggers on Archangel of Thune can be a bit more accelerated. Generally I will opt to side in Archangel of Thune and take out AEtherling for the second game since most people will bring in Pithing Needle and name AEtherling . just let it resolve and they had a dead card and spent mana for it. I'm ok with that. Assemble the Legion and Elspeth, Sun's Champion usually win faster than AEtherling anyway.
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SCORE: 4 | 11 COMMENTS | 1196 VIEWSFebruary 1, 2014 1:11 p.m.
They're in control SB's because as a control matchup, your opponent is going to want to side out their removal, thus giving you the option to board creatures in as a rebuttal when you sideboard. More of mind games in between games so you have more access to win cons.
February 1, 2014 4:40 p.m.
They really serve two very different purposes.
Archangel of Thune is a pro-active removal taxing sideboard plan. The simplest idea being that everyone needs to board out of their useless removal against the control deck and so then you bring in a big threat. This means that even if something like Hero's Downfall remains in the deck, it can't possibly answer angels, elspeth, etc. And it's even worse for deck that have no good removal to keep around. Archangel of Thune also combats nicely against Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Stormbreath Dragon , though not directly, since it will win the race.
Fiendslayer Paladin is for the mono-red and other hyper aggressive match-up. It's very hard for the red based decks to removal it, and it's an excellent defensive creature. However, despite its protection from black removal its body is pretty poor for most every other match-up.
capriom85 says... #2
What would you be siding the Archangels in against? Also, what are you removing to put them in?
Fiendlslayers are perfect sideboard tech against anything running removal, so they make more sense. The Archangels seem like a mainboard win con option. If you are running UW, then I would say they synergize with the tokens generated by Elspeth, Sun's Champion pretty well. I mean, Archangel, curve into Elspeth, make some tokens, swing with Angel and make them 2/2s. Now you have a 10 point swing next turn assuming you are playing control right, you should end it the turn after that.
This said...are you not running AEtherling ? Best finisher for control right now in my opinion. If I weren't running RWU, then I would be running archangels, too, but they got cut to make the 3 color build for what I am running in Theros standard.
End point...I would side the Slayers, but if you are running just UW, mainboard your Archangels and run them alongside either Elspeth, Sun's Champion or AEtherling for your wins. The big draw to these as wincons are because they survive Supreme Verdict ...Archangel of Thune does not. Something to consider...
February 1, 2014 12:15 p.m.