Mono-White Angel Tribal is a pretty awesome deck, full of some of the most powerful creatures printed in Magic history. Leading the way is Avacyn, Angel of Hope, who makes all of your things indestructible as you bash in for a billion damage…

But what about her second incarnation, Avacyn, Guardian Angel? It doesn’t seem people like to build with her at all as a Commander. Even in the 99, only her original incarnation, Eight and a Half Tails and Linvala, Keeper of Silence really take advantage of her.

Considering how well Legendary Creatures are designed these days to be built around, what went wrong here? Or has something been overlooked? Let's take a closer look at Avacyn, Guardian Angel's stats and abilities and see how we may be able to build around them in EDH.

Flying, vigilance
1W: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to another target creature this turn by sources of the color of your choice.
5WW: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to target player this turn by sources of the color of your choice.

Right away, we see that she's a flyer who doesn't have to tap when attacking thanks to vigilance. As a 5/4 creature, that means she plays a strong role on both offense and defense. Straight off, that's a good start.

Then, we get to her abilities. Preventing damage is pretty good, especially when it's a creature that you want to keep around. But giving a player  protection is obviously better. Seven mana seems like a high cost, but depending on the situation, it's probably well worth the investment.

So far, based on her abilities, she slots in as one of the 99 in Eight-and-a-Half Tails EDH decks, as cheap damage prevention. Her second ability is a really expensive "Fog" that you can use politically to save another player. The real downside of this ability is that only prevents damage from one color (you can pay it again for an additional color, but why would you?)

In any case, a 5/4 vigilant flyer for 5 mana is really good, and having the 3 white mana in her cost doesn’t really change all that much since you’ll be running a mono-White deck, regardless. So how can we utilize her as a Commander in EDH?

Here’s a list based on a compilation of the handful of Avacyn, Guardian Angel EDH  decks currently included in the EDHREC database. There are some other tweaks we have made, as well.

Deck List

Commander

Avacyn, Guardian Angel

Creatures (20)

Grand Abolisher
Burnished Hart
Fiend Hunter
Solemn Simulacrum
Sublime Archangel
Guardian of the Gateless
Karmic Guide
Adarkar Valkyrie
Aegis Angel
Sun Titan
Sunblast Angel
Angel of Serenity
Angel of the Dire Hour
Angelic Arbiter
Emeria Shepherd
Platinum Angel
Resolute Archangel
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Reya Dawnbringer
Exquisite Archangel

Non-Creature Spells (42)

Everflowing Chalice
Condemn
Holy Day
Path to Exile
Sol Ring
Swords to Plowshares
Luminarch Ascension
Pacifism
Pearl Medallion
Pollen Lullaby
Rest in Peace
Revoke Existence
Banishing Light
Commander's Sphere
Entreat the Angels
Grasp of Fate
Nevermore
Oblation
Oblivion Ring
Pariah
Riot Control
Rule of Law
Ajani Steadfast
Comeuppance
Marshal's Anthem
Moonsilver Spear
Quicksilver Amulet
Return to Dust
Shield of Kaldra
Thran Dynamo
Wrath of God
Gilded Lotus
Mind's Eye
Nahiri, the Lithomancer
Norn's Annex
Rout
Akroma's Vengeance
Austere Command
Caged Sun
Martyr's Bond
Terminus
True Conviction

Lands (37)

Drifting Meadow
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Kor Haven
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
27 Plains
Reliquary Tower
Secluded Steppe
Seraph Sanctuary
Tectonic Edge
Temple of the False God
Windbrisk Heights


This Avacyn, Guardian Angel EDH deck list currently costs around $200 to build in paper Magic. A big part of that price tag includes Avacyn, Angel of Hope.  You could alternatively swap Avacyn, Angel of Hope in as the Commander and still have a functional deck.

The deck plays like a mono-White control list, with only a handful of creatures with a casting cost of less than 5 mana. There are plenty of ways to prevent combat damage and deal with opponents’ biggest threats. However, there are a couple of ways to create a bunch of creatures in a hurry, with the “Miracle” Entreat the Angels and the Enchantment Luminarch Ascension. Those are the primary methods for winning the game outright in the deck. Beyond that, it’s basically just staying in the game until you can drop Avacyn, Angel of Hope and making all of your permanents indestructible.

If you want to spend extra money on the deck, Archangel of Thune and Linvala, Keeper of Silence are nice Angels to have, but aren't integral to the success of the deck. Kozilek, the Great Distortion from Oath of the Gatewatch gives you extra card draw and the ability to counter spells by discarding a card that shares the converted mana cost of the one you are countering. It’s a bit tricky to cast, however, due to requiring 2 mana from purely colorless sources to cast. You may have to swap out some Plains for other colorless sources to facilitate him, but it may be worth it.

Alternatively, you could build a more aggressive list similar to many of the Avacyn, Angel of Hope deck lists featured on EDHREC. However, the Angel of Hope’s ability to make your permanents purely indestructible is a huge advantage over the more “fair” Guardian Angel.

Are there other cards you’d like to play in the deck? Any other Commanders you would like us to cover?

A staple in Modern Combo Elves decks, Regal Force is actually best known for its utility in Commander. Originally printed in Eventide, this seven-mana Elemental has sold for as much as $15 a copy. Its ability is quite simple. For 7 mana, you get to draw a card for each green creature (including himself) that you control. With how many creatures Green decks can pop out in a hurry, this means a lot of card advantage. The 5/5 body is just a bonus.

A wide variety of mono-Green decks in Commander were happy to see this guy reprinted. These include decks led by Seton, Krosan Protector, Azusa, Lost But Seeking, and Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Basically, any mono-Green deck that's focused on creating a huge army of creatures will want Regal Force in its arsenal. Seven mana to cast is a lot, but he's proven his worth time and time again over the years.

While this Eternal Masters printing will tank his price, which was based on his very low supply, it's likely he'll rebound over time considering just how many decks can use his ability. Card draw is always going to be good, especially in Green.

With Eternal Masters, the long-time Legacy burn staple Chain Lightning gets its first printing at uncommon. Prior to this, Chain Lightning only had its original common printing in Legends and a premium foil reprint in Premium Deck Series: Fire & Lightning. On Magic Online, however, it has had additional online-only editions in Vintage Masters, Masters Edition III, and in an online only theme deck.

Due to Chain Lightning only having two previous printings, the paper price has crept towards $15 as this powerful card has been disappearing into many different Magic the Gathering collections. While being printed at uncommon will keep the price of the original versions from tanking, it's very likely that the foil version from Eternal Masters will be preferable to that of the Premium Deck.

Even being printed at uncommon in this set does not change its status in the popular Pauper format on Magic Online. It actually sees about the same amount of play in Pauper as it does in Legacy. It's good to see more copies of this classic burn spell printed outside of Magic Online.

Speculation on what was going to be included in the Eternal Masters set has been rampant ever since the set was first announced. Magic the Gathering players already knew that nothing on the game's Reserved List would be included. But there are plenty of very useful cards that were likely to be in the set. One of the cards on many players' wish lists was Mana Crypt, a very useful card that is at its best in Vintage, but is also very useful in Commander.

While Mana Crypt was featured in Vintage Masters in 2015, that was a Magic Online only set, which did no good for players of paper Magic. Before, there was only an extremely rare book promo and a DCI Judge Promo Foil. A single copy would set you back as much as $150 to $200. For most players, that's very prohibitive. While printing this at Mythic rare will still make it rather scarce, it will put a lot more copies out there.

So what's so great about Mana Crypt? In many ways, it's very similar to Mana Vault, a very popular artifact in Commander. The Vault doesn't untap on its own, and deals one domage to u for each upkeep that it remains tapped. It costs 4 mana to untap it on its own. However, the Vault provides you with 3 colorless mana, and there are plenty of ways to help it untap in both Legacy and Vintage.

The Crypt only gives you 2 mana, but it untaps every turn like most artifacts do. However, the drawback is that you have to flip a coin at the beginning of each upkeep.. If you call the flip wrong, you take 3 damage. Since there's a 50-50 chance of being right, it's usually worth the risk. It also costs nothing at all to cast, which is the card's greatest advantage. Having two mana before even dropping a land on the first turn is very powerful. That's why this card is restricted to a single copy in Vintage decks and is banned in Legacy. It gives you access to a lot of mana very quickly.

While I highly doubt that Mana Crypt will ever become the $4-5 card that it is due to two printings on Magic Online, it's going to become so much more affordable for those who want it. Yes, it will remain fairly expensive, and eventually, the price will probably creep its way back into triple digits. Most notably is that the Eternal Masters version has the same artwork as the highly sought after Judge Foil version. Plus, Eternal Masters comes with a foil in every pack, so the chances of opening a Foil Mana Crypt are much higher than normal.

How do you feel about this reprint? Is this a card that you've waited for to become more widely available? It's awesome in Commander and it will probably be Commander players who will want copies the month.

Sadistic Sacrament is a rare from Zendikar that has graced many sideboards in the past. In late 2010, this card was worth as much as 0.8 event tickets on Magic Online. It’s consistently been a $1 rare for years in paper, reaching as high as $1.50 recently. Being a rare from a now long out-of-print set, and being a card with kicker that isn’t likely to be reprinted, it can’t hurt to buy a few copies of Sacrament at 0.03 tix a piece online. In paper, it’s not a bad investment either. It has been listed on eBay for $3 or more recently.

On the surface, Sadistic Sacrament is an efficient way to deprive your opponent of 3 cards for only 3 mana. But the kicker which costs 7 extra mana lets you absolutely ruin your opponent’s deck, by allowing you to exile up to 15 cards of your choice from their library. While that’s a lot of mana, having that option in the late game is pretty sweet.

Most recently, Sadistic Sacrament has seen play as a two-of in some decently competitive Vintage lists on Magic Online. While it’s hard to say if Sacrament will ever find itself in a Modern Mono-Black control list is hard to say. But a big winner in a major Magic Online Vintage  tournament using it could cause a bunch of copies to be bought up in a hurry.

On the paper side of things, this is a card that’s been worth $1-$1.50 for a very long time. They simply aren’t printing more of these. It sees a fair amount of play in EDH, as well. While Vintage isn’t really a big deal in paper Magic anymore, if it even sees a hint of play in Modern at top tables, speculation could cause it to potentially spike in price. Otherwise, it's just a nice rare card to have in your Magic collection.