Topic: Advice and help needed on building around Stoic Angel.[Modern]
http://deckbox.org/sets/311215
I am looking for help deciding what to cut, what to add and to refine this deck into something solid. The idea is to keep my opponents creatures tapped, as well as slow down their lands by a turn. I am not very concerned with budget.
I loves angels, they are my favorite creature type and I keep an ever growing list of angels I want in a deck, sadly it is nearly every angel ever printed and this is quite hard to do!
For now I think Stoic Angel is a great one to build around, with the new card Blind Obedience in Gatecrash. As I dug deeper and researched more cards that may work with this angel I feel as though a very strong deck could be built. One of the first things I found in my research is that Blind Obedience is nothing new, and there are in fact two other cards that would fit the bill and are quite a ton better in the slot, Loxodon Gatekeeper and Frozen Aether. There is a third, Kismet, but I am trying to keep this modern. Keeping it modern brings up another concern, the current deck list here on deckbox.org is not referring to this deck as a modern deck, what gives?
Creatures:
Ramp:
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Noble Hierarch
Silver Myr
Steward of Valeron
Several great choices for simple ramp here, and deciding which to go with is slightly difficult. I get the feeling that only one of these is necessary. The Noble is most likely the strongest of the bunch, the $25 price tag makes me cringe though. With only one ramp creature a turn 3 stoic angel should be fairly consistent. The mana curve is not high at 5, and the build idea lends itself to stalling your opponent while continuing normally on your own. Your thoughts? Is a ramp creature even needed at all?
Three Drop:
Geist of Saint Traft
Loxodon Smiter
Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
This brings me to the three drop slot because with a ramp creature these become turn two drops, and all three of these creatures are going to make my opponent quiver on turn 2. The smiter is going to be very reliable as it will not be countered and may even be a freeby. The geist is just a very fun card, and the cavaliers have a lot of synergy with the deck idea as it can operate on its own if a stoic angel enters the battlefield and i still have not gotten to cast Murkfiend Liege yet.
Four Drop:
Stoic Angel
Thoughtweft Trio
Loxodon Gatekeeper
The Stoic Angel isn't going anywhere. The Gatekeeper is a great way to keep my opponent slowed down. Do I run the gatekeeper on top of the Blind Obedience and/or Frozen Aether, or just go with 4 copies of one of the enchantments and not clog up the four drop slot? There are other four drop options as well, some are in the idea/sideboard. The thoughtweft trio is jut neat, and kithkin offer some completely different ways to build the deck. I tried to link to a gatherer search for kithkin within the colors of this deck, but could not get it to work because of conflicting issues with the underline formatting. There are some really cool kithkin ways to build this deck as well, so do a quick search and speak your mind!
As for the five drop slot the Murkfiend Liege is really the superstar here because he allows me to attack with creatures that do not have vigilance and still be able to untap them. With a ramp creature, or two, on the battlefield this allows for the charms to be much more easy to cast on my opponents turn. He also has the potential to give my creatures a +2/+2 bonus! The Baneslayer Angel could be a sideboard card in times of need, I do not know, I just like angels!
Spells/Enchantments:
Azorius Charm
Selesnya Charm
Cryptic Command
Blind Obedience
Frozen Aether
I really like the Azorius Charm and believe it is definitely a 4 of in this deck. The Selesnya charm is more situational and may not be necessary. The Cryptic Command is simply another way to achieve the goal of the deck. The other two fall right into the theme of the deck as well, to keep my opponents creatures tapped and slow their lands down by a turn! What would you do with spells and such?
I have no idea what to do with the sideboard and have just been placing cards in there that seemed like great fits, they were also being heavily used within standard and modern sideboards by top 8 decks. 
Last edited by albonation (2013-02-07 17:50:50)