I've been fiddling with this all morning. I made a Werewolves deck, and felt that the thing that made Werewolves half decent, was that their creatures actually got pretty big sometimes.. in the 5-7 P/T range. But.. they're werewolves, and they have the stupid flip mechanic where the opponent gets a little more power over your board than I'd like. They also have no flying presence, no first strike, vigilance, etc. but the trample stuff is nice (as is the red burn spells). So.. before SOI dropped, I figured Patron of the Valiant would get a little better with the support mechanic coming into the game.. and playing Werewolves reminded me that I wanted to inspect this archetype.
Results: The creatures can get pretty big. I've gone 5-2 this morning while swapping cards in and out.. and I think there might be something here. I lost to a Prowess deck that played a Jori En with one other card in hand (it was a Titan Strength) and prowess dude on the field. I had 10 life.. lethal on the backswing guaranteed. He swung in and played the Titan Strength.. Jori En drew him another card.. and it was a second (his third of the match) Titan Strength. FML. The other loss was being stuck on two mana in a 25 land deck.. I'm not really putting much stock in that one (I've since gone to 24 and lowered the curve).
The deck is very anthem-y.. the creatures have lots of ways to get permanently buffed.. and there's a lot of mana sinks/combat tricks in here with Joraga Auxiliary and Duskwatch Recruiter. I have some other ideas I want to bounce off you guys after I post the list.
3 x
Consul's Lieutenant2 x
Sylvan Advocate1 x
Undercity Troll3 x
Duskwatch Recruiter2 x
Reprisal3 x
Lead By Example2 x
Declaration in Stone2 x
Bygone Bishop2 x
Tireless Tracker3 x
Citadel Castellan3 x
Joraga Auxiliary2 x
Always Watching1 x
Nissa, Voice of Xendikar2 x
Kytheon's Irregulars1 x
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar1 x
Archangel Avacyn3 x
Patron of the Valiant9 x
Plains7 x
Forest2 x
Canopy Vista2 x
Sunpetal Grove1 x
Rogue's Passage3 x
Evolving WildsThere are a few options I want to discuss.. paths the deck can modify.
1) The deck can get a lot faster, adding in one-drops like
Expedition Envoy and
Sunblade Elf.. and something at the 2 spot like
Snapping Gnarlid.
2)The deck can splash a few more checklands and add in cards that have counters on them already like
Woodland Wanderer,
Tajuru Stalwart and we could play
Infuse with the Elements. This would give us even more creatures with counters for the sweet Patron synergy.. which actually pays off nicely. Adding a team-wide permanent buff and a 4/4 flier is pretty dope.
Other notes: The reason Reprisal is there is because just running Declaration isn't enough.. and I'm often holding up two-three mana anyway for a Duskwatch Activation, Lead by Example or Reprisal. I'll also hold open mana for Joraga Auxiliary activations.. which pushes through damage nicely. The deck can deal with most creatures in a 1v1 fight.. but the really big ones are the problem. I want to keep my interaction/tricks instant speed if at all possible. Declaration hasn't even been that good. I wonder if I should add some of the white indestructability instants.. like Make a Stand or Enshrouding Mist.
Anyway.. I'd love to hear your feedback. You guys were a big help with the Orzhov/Colorless list.. which is running better than ever thanks to your feedback.
Edit: What do y'all think about Expose Evil in a deck like this?