MTG Salvation

Story:
I can't resist making a deck with this legend. My Basandra deck was just not giving me what I wanted, because ultimately her abilities aren't very synergistic. I started to drift more to an equipment deck, and a multiple combat step subtheme, so this new Gatecrash legend revamped my interest in playing and improving my R/W deck! I think she is very well suited to wear some extra gear, as her multiple combat steps mean multiple triggers on Swords of X and Y and a load of general damage. I very much like the fact that she has vigilance as well, so she can also help my deterring strategy.



History:

Strategy:
Use pillow-fort cards to deter early attackers and ramp. Then alphastike your opponents mid to late game with your general. Hopefully they attacked eachother a bit due to your fort, so you now have less damage to deal. The wincon will be regular combatdamage and general damage.



Deckstats:

Old deck:

I hope you guys have some pointers for me! I will still have to play a lot with this deck to see if it functions the way I am envisioning

Changes:
24/03/12:
-1 Archangel of Strife average castingcost was too high
-1 Master Warcraft not effective enough

+1 Stoneforge Mystic more tutoring
+1 Steelshaper's Gift more tutoring

28/04/12:
-2 Mountain
-1 Secluded Steppe
-1 Death by Dragons: too cute.
-1 Vow of Lightning
-1 Vow of Duty
-1 Stranglehold
-1 Serra Ascendant: draws too much hate early

+2 Plains
+1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin: just trying this out, might save me sometime
+1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant: nice blockers to hold them off
+1 Dawn Charm: more options is always nice, esp. the fog is good
+1 Mother of Runes
+1 Darksteel Ingot
+1 Wing Shards

17/11/12:
-1 Fumiko, the Lowblood
-1 Norn's Annex
-1 Creepy Doll
-1 Eternal Dragon
-1 Hunted Dragon
-1 Yosei, the Morning Star
-1 Aura of Silence
-1 Grand Melee
-1 Karmic Guide
-1 Word of Seizing
-1 Replenish
-1 Ajani Vengeant

+1 Basandra, Battle Seraph
+1 Chromatic Lantern
+1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
+1 Sphere of Safety
+1 Worn Powerstone
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine
+1 Sword of War and Peace
+1 Coalition Relic
+1 Wayfarer's Bauble
+1 Savage Beating
+1 Reforge the Soul
+1 Wheel of Fortune

21/11/12:
- 1 Savage Beating
- 1 Eight-and-a-half Tails
- 1 Worn Powerstone
- 1 Crescendo of War
- 1 Insurrection
- 1 Into the Core
- 1 Wild Ricochet
- 1 Plains
- 1 Commander Eesha

+ 1 Aggravated Assault
+ 1 Alloy Myr
+ 1 Angelic Renewal
+ 1 Palladium Myr
+ 1 Gold Myr
+ 1 Iron Myr
+ 1 Martyr's Cause
+ 1 High Market
+ 1 Adarkar Valkyrie

Doubts:
Change Halls to another Plains to better accomodate Emeria?

In multiplayer, they Will however still be forced to attack another player, making it à useful attack deterrent.
Powerstone minefield is an awesome card when forcing creatures to attack. You can check the list in my signature for more ideas.

Gideon's Avenger could become huge if everyone is attacking one another.
Stoneforge Mystic could help you tutor up any of your utility equipments, like Darksteel Plate.
If you wanted to go with creature enchantment deterrents like Knighthood, you could consider True Conviction. It pretty much says everyone will stop attacking you if they can help it.

EDIT: While I'm thinking about it, Stonehewer Giant is another way to find ALL of the equipment you need. It adds a lot of tutoring ability to your deck, if you wanted to go that way.

Thanks for the input guys!

Some cards you suggested deserve some consideration.

Ghostly Prison does exactly what I want though, because if they can't pay the man they have to attack my opponents!

And I do think I have to run a few more attack stimulation effects besides Basandra, because you can't rely on her always being in play.

I also think Stonehewer Giant is good for this deck SoulSalvage, that's why I already run it!

Keep the advice coming!

How about Arena to remove some of your opponent's utility creatures as well? Anyway, I hope you do keep updating your deck. I like Basandra and I'd appreciate it if more players updated her.

Darien, King of Kjeldor is a good deterrent to attacks, and you get something good out of it if they decide to whack you anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions! I haven't had much time to spend on EDH but I made some small changes to the deck nevertheless. I added some tutoring so I can get my Sunforger or another useful equipment.

Darien, King of Kjeldor could be a nice addition, but I think I need more ramp/a lower average manacost and I don't know what I should cut for it. Maybe Death by Dragons, but I really like that card flavor-wise.

Umm....Sunforger + Wing Shards + Mistveil Plains combo?

Quote from MRdown2urth

Umm....Sunforger + Wing Shards + Mistveil Plains combo?

Wing Shards sounds like a good spell, but what would you remove for it? I'm thinking either Orim's Thunder or Norn's Annex (due to it's cmc).

Do you get a lot of usage out of the Crescendo or the Vows?

Haven't had the crescendo out much yet and the vows have been pretty useful to place them on aggressive generals like Rafiq of the Many. But because they aren't easy to recurr unlike spells with Sunforger I think I might indeed cut them for something like Wing Shards!

Just a note, with Basandra in play, you can't play your Wing Shards effectively, even with a Sunforger tutoring it up. I know. I was upset, too.

I've been a big fan of the Exalted Angel I run in my build. It helps to make up for some of the attacks against me when I can't defer them to my opponents at the table. Honestly, I'd put it in place if the Serra Ascendant if I had to make a replacement. I hate that card. It makes you the biggest target at the table, continuing on even if it gets removed, if you get it out in the very early game. Of course it's your choice, but I hate that guy.

(Right, but my other thought on Shards was that he has other forced-attack cards, and Basandra might not always be around.)

Quote from LimDul945

Just a note, with Basandra in play, you can't play your Wing Shards effectively, even with a Sunforger tutoring it up. I know. I was upset, too.

I've been a big fan of the Exalted Angel I run in my build. It helps to make up for some of the attacks against me when I can't defer them to my opponents at the table. Honestly, I'd put it in place if the Serra Ascendant if I had to make a replacement. I hate that card. It makes you the biggest target at the table, continuing on even if it gets removed, if you get it out in the very early game. Of course it's your choice, but I hate that guy.

Fair point on the Shards, but Basandra does not stay around for long usually, so I will probably get enough use out of it. You might also be right about Serra Ascendant but I'd rather replace him (her?) with Baneslayer Angel I think. With all the deterrents I might be able to withstand the hate the critter brings, but it might not be worth it.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Ok, some new changes!

-2 Mountain
-1 Secluded Steppe
-1 Death by Dragons: too cute.
-1 Vow of Lightning
-1 Vow of Duty
-1 Stranglehold
-1 Serra Ascendant: draws too much hate early

+2 Plains
+1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin: just trying this out, might save me sometime
+1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant: nice blockers to hold them off
+1 Dawn Charm: more options is always nice, esp. the fog is good
+1 Mother of Runes
+1 Darksteel Ingot
+1 Wing Shards

Doubts:
Change Halls to another Plains to better accomodate Emeria?

Changes when I get my hands on the new AVR cards:
+1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
+1 Slayers' Stronghold

I also entered the deck in deckstats, you can find it right here


PS. Changed the first post to include all this.

A new legend from Gatecrash was just spoiled, and she fits the direction I want to take the deck, so I guess it's time to put Basandra in the 99. Aurelia will take the helm, and hopefully will live up to my expectations. Basandra was a bit underwhelming.

I already had a Sunforger package in there and wanted to add a little more equipments so I added Feast and Famine and War and Peace. I also updated the ramp section.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

She's gonna be fantastic with Grafted Exoskeleton turning her into a one-shot commander, sorta. Considering you're already running Godo as well, this gives you a few tools for this. Also, running white artifact tutors means you can consistently have it out and ready to fire.

Also, anything that gives Double Strike/doubles damage. Running both turns her into a one-shot general as well.

Quote from poperp98

She's gonna be fantastic with Grafted Exoskeleton turning her into a one-shot commander, sorta. Considering you're already running Godo as well, this gives you a few tools for this. Also, running white artifact tutors means you can consistently have it out and ready to fire.

Also, anything that gives Double Strike/doubles damage. Running both turns her into a one-shot general as well.

Thanks for the suggestions!

There is literally no infect in my meta yet, so I don't know if they are okay with that kind of thing, but I'll check

She is definitely nice with Sunhome..

Aurelia, the Warleader
Adarkar Valkyrie
Repeatable sac outlet. Maybe Ashnod's Alter

Combo for unlimited attacks.

Flicker effects will effectively give you multiple attack steps again and again yeah? If you can get her power to 7 cloudshift can win you the game.

You would need 3 anthems on field and no blockers. Token deck anyone. I still think Adarkar Valkyrie is an auto inclusion.

ORRR you could use some exalted, and maybe Leonin Battlemage type effects.

As a fellow Boros Angel aficionado, I feel like I should give some input. A combo I was thinking of doing with Aurelia is Spellbinder exiling Flicker and Leonin Shikari with a Sword of Feast and Famine as another way to get infinite attacks. Might be too cute, but I like all of these cards anyway.

Quote from DragonGhola

As a fellow Boros Angel aficionado, I feel like I should give some input. A combo I was thinking of doing with Aurelia is Spellbinder exiling Flicker and Leonin Shikari with a Sword of Feast and Famine as another way to get infinite attacks. Might be too cute, but I like all of these cards anyway.

Thanks DragonGhola, nice addition to Throst54's suggestion. It's definitily in the cute section. Would work with Puresteel Paladin as well instead of SoFaF? Adds some resilience.

I think I like the Adarkar Valkyrie idea better though, it's a bit easier. Thanks Dh4mpyr!

Have you guys got any ideas on a good white/artifact repeatable sacc outlet that would work?

Just wondering how you plan to deter combo that pillowfort cards have no effect on, or react to control when your pieces are removed since your focus is on pillowfort cards and swinging right now.

There aren't any dedicated combo or control decks in my meta, but I would like your suggestions!

Earlier I had Reiterate and Wild Ricochet to throw a wrench in there sometime (more reliably with Sunforger). Another option would be the appropriate Angel's Grace.