Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a mono white commander available inMagic: The Gathering. Despite being locked into only white and colorless cards, this isn’t much of a downside as most of the cards you want to play in the deck are white anyway.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a unique take on the Angel archetype. While not the strongest Angel commander, Avacyn offers different avenues toward victory rather than simply playing a ton of Angel spells. Avacyn plays a minor Stax game plan that slows your opponents down while primarily playing a traditional Angel and lifegain style. So if you want a different take on Angels, look no further than Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
Speaker of the Heavens
Sword of the Animist
x27 Plains
Temple of False God
War Room
The decklistconsists of 30 creatures, 12 sorceries, four instants, 15 artifacts, five enchantments,and33 lands (one land the backside of a spell). The deck is heavily creature-focused, with the other cards ways to destroy other permanents.
Key Cards
Avacyn, Angel Of Hope
The commander of the deck,Avacyn, Angel of Hopeis a very strong creature,making all your permanents indestructible. It has indestructible itself, meaning once it’s on the battlefield,exiling is one of the only ways your opponents can get rid of your permanents.
Avacynpairs very well withboard wipes, which turn one-sidedsince your permanents will have indestructible. Avacyn doescost a lot of mana to cast,so it’ll take a bit to get enough mana to cast it, but once you do, it’ll be hard to ever get rid of.
Giada, Font Of Hope
Most of the creatures in your deck are Angels, makingGiada, Font of Hopea great mana dork for Angels along with a way to bump them up with +1/+1 counters. Giada is a low mana creature, letting you take advantage of its effect very early on in the game.
Giada, Font of Hope continuously gives more +1/+1 counters the more Angels you have. Giada counts itself, so even if Giada is the only Angel on the battlefield, the next Angel entering will get a +1/+1 counter on it.
The deck has a heavy combat focus, so the +1/+1 counters that the Angels get will help to bring your opponent’s life totals down quicker. The white mana canonly be used for Angel spells, so you won’t be able to use it for anything else.
Worldslayer
Worldslayeris normally a card that is not worth playing, as the equipped creature destroysall permanents but itself. However, with Avacyn, Angel of Hope on the battlefield, it’ll only destroy your opponents' permanents.
Notably, Worldslayerincludes lands in its destruction effect. If you manage to connect for damage while Worldslayer is equipped, odds are you’ll win the game off it since all your opponents will lose control of everything that had on the battlefield.
Smothering Tithe
Mono-white can struggle with ramping and making mana, something thatSmothering Tithehelps to counteract. Smothering Tithe triggers duringany card being drawn, including the card drawn for the turn. Two mana is a lot of mana to need to pay, so you’ll often get the Treasure from Smothering Tithe.
Smothering Tithe is thepermanent you want on the battlefield as quickly as possible. Avacyn is very important to the strategy, so you want to be able to cast that as quickly as possible. The mana curve is very high, so theextra mana from Treasuresis crucial for always being able to cast your spells.
Pearl Medallion
Pearl Medallionis a staple of mono-white decks and is especially important in Avacyn.Your mana curve is very high, so even just a one-mana discount is very useful in casting your best spells as quickly as possible.
Pearl Medallion will discount nearly every card in your deckas you are only playing white cards. There are only 15 cards in the decklist that are colorless, and 52 that are white and will be affected by Pearl Medallion.
How To Play The Deck
An Avacyn, Angel of Hope deck isall about flooding the battlefield with Angels whiledestroying everything your opponents control. You want toconstantly be putting Angels on the battlefieldso you will have defenses against your opponents and can start draining their life.
Once Avacyn is on the battlefield,you can start using your board wipes to deal with your opponents.Planar Cleansing, Ondu Inversion,andDevastating Masteryall destroy every nonland permanent whileArmageddonandRavages of Warwill destroy all lands.
For land destruction, youdo notwant to use them until Avacyn is safely on the battlefield. For board wipes, you can use them before Avacyn comes around if an opponent(s) is becoming too much of a threat with their battlefield presence.
The mana curve of the deck is rather high, with all your best spells on the higher side of casting costs.Pearl Medallionhelps to discount all your white spells,Starnheim Aspirantdiscounts all your Angel spells by two mana, andOketra’s Monumentmakes your white creature spells one mana less while making a 1/1 token when you cast a creature spell.
There is a sub-lifegain theme to the deck, with cards likeSoul WardenandGuide of Soulsboth gaining life when creatures enter. Angels have a lot of natural lifegain included in them and can lead to stat boosts with cards likeRighteous Valkyrie.
Theprimary win condition of the deck is winning through combat.You will amass a large battlefield of creatures, which have flying to make connecting for damage easier. If youropponents have creatures with reach or flying,your board wipes will take care of thoseto keep the battlefield free from blockers.
Alternatively, you canwin with Felidar SovereignorAngel of Destiny,which will win you the game if you have a certain threshold of life, somethingeasily done with how much life can be gained. It’s a nice backup strategy if you may’t get your Avacyn engine going.
Thebiggest weakness of the deck is its speed. Mono-white is naturally slow at mana generation, so it’ll take a while before your battlefield is fully set up. The large mana curve works against it somewhat, butPearl MedallionandSmothering Tithehelp to get more mana. In addition,The Book of Exalted DeedsandPlatinum Angelboth slow the game down by preventing you from losing the game and your opponents from winning the game.
