Bruna, the Fading Light. Still my favourite card.

Previous incarnations of this deck have tried Abzan goodstuff, Abzan ramp, Selensya ramp, and Orzhov control. This time I'm trying Selenesya humans. Why humans? Because the humans guarantee that Bruna will have something to bring back. Bruna can simply function as the top-end, game-winning card. Why Selenesya? Because white is a given and the other colours don't give that much. Red has great creatures (Honored Crop Captain being a true beatstick) but it lacks card advantage and mana sinks. Yes there is Abbot of Keral Keep, but the deck has few spells. Hanweir Garrison is great but it can't block well at all, making red a kill-or-be-killed colour choice that I tried and didn't like. Blue and Black have the same problem with the added drawback of not having too many good cards in the first place. Finally three colours would dilute the explosiveness of the deck.

I had this deck largely built in AER. What changed with AKH: Glory-Bound Initiate has more than pulled its weight, especially with Always Watching. However -1/-1 counters decks make 1-health creatures very sad. I'm willing to run the risk with Glory-Bound Initiate, but took out Consul's Lieutenant (besides the WW cost of this card makes it not work with Duskwatch Recruiter's flip side). Finally Cast Out is an expensive but good removal spell that I'm using.

Current list:

1x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
2x Oviya, Sage Lifecrafter - a great mana sink.
3x Duskwatch Recruiter - another great mana sink. Threatening to flip it on the play in turn 2 is great. If it flips I can vomit creatures onto the battlefield.
2x Hanweir Militia Captain - not sure about this card; it's great if it flips but as always it's not a reliable flip.
2x Thalia's Lieutenant - 'doh
2x Glory-Bound Initiate
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2x Tireless Tracker - yet another great mana sink.
1x Gisela, the Broken Blade
1x Oketra the True - a semi-hedge against sweepers, not hard to turn on, works great with Always Watching.
1x Archangel Avacyn - 'doh
2x Bruna, the Fading Light - the only non-negotiable card in the deck.

1x Gideon of the Trials - thus far have not been impressed by Gideon. May cut for Nissa, Vastwood Seer.
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar - horrendously powerful card, any white deck should have it.

2x Smuggler's Copter - I was considering not running vehicles, but then was paranoid of sweepers. Also lets me discard humans and angels to Bruna.
1x Heart of Kiran - works great with three Gideons in the deck.

2x Collective Effort - this card only got better, since there are more enchantments to target now. All three modes are relevant.
3x Cast Out - replaced Skywhaler's Shot. It's hard to say which card is better, but I went with this one since it exiles (Gods etc are immune to Skywhaler's) and since I can cycle it against pure control decks.
2x Always Watching
1x Angelic Destiny - I have been quite impressed by this card. The buff is tremendous, takes creatures out of Languish range, and it returns to hand. Still possible to get 2-for-1'ed though. Hopefully I apply enough pressure that I can force the opponent to tap out, and then cast this card.
2x Tragic Arrogance - this card I have mixed feelings about. I'm quite aggressive, but there are even more aggressive decks out there. I'm hoping that this lets me catch up against them. It also helps break through board stalls. Using this instead of the other sweepers since I usually have high-value targets to keep alive.

11x Plains
9x Forest
2x Canopy Vista
2x Sunpetal Grove

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Cards to consider:

Selfless Spirit - I didn't run this since it's not a human. Not sure if I should.
Aethersphere Harvester - Great card but what do I drop? If I drop more threats, there'd be less to buff with Thalia's Lieutenant / draw with Duskwatch Recruiter.
Angel of Invention - I go quite wide, making the effect very powerful. It's also an angel for Bruna, and has a strong ETB effect if returned that way as well. But it is a five-mana card.
25th land - My curve does go up to seven mana and I have good mana sinks. However I don't know what to cut ???
Declaration in Stone - Great removal spell but I'm not exactly an aggro deck.
Prepare // Fight - Might be reasonable.
Renegade Rallier - When I tried this it often sat in my hand since I can't trigger revolt ...
Ajani Unyielding - I'd totally run this except for the fact it's 6-mana, and I dare not angle the curve so high with 2x Bruna already in the deck.

Opinions first impressions etc welcome!

Do you know something I like for this deck? Devoted Crop-mate + Selfless spirit

So you plan on casting a 7 mana spell, but can't slot in a 6cc one? Ajani is gas. In my good ol' briar deck, I think I won everything I played him. Exile is extra useful in the new meta.



Yeah, I thought about that for my boros humans list (especially with always Watching), but crop-mate will probably eat a Grasp or declaration before you get that kind of foolery going and its kind of fragile on its own. White just has so many better options...

^ Fair points, I might be basing my card evaluation based on games vs. the AI too much. Humans are going to have sweepers etc that make Ajani more powerful. Certainly right now I'm inclining heavily towards removing Gideon of the Trials and Oketra for Ajani and Nissa. Oketra has also been unwieldy. I thought it counted itself and it doesn't - in that case it's so easy to turn off. Not a good mana sink, either.

I don't know about Devoted Crop-mate + Selfless Spirit. How does that combo work? A problem I can see is that the Crop-mate is only going to return creatures if you exert him. As a 3-mana 3/2 it's often unable to attack safely, and returning Selfless Spirit during combat (it doesn't have Flash) doesn't seem that good. Renegade Rallier should make a better combo with Selfless Spirit, but there's the comment I wrote about too: without revolt (and often I won't have it) it's just a bad 3/2 for 3.

Skysovereign single-handedly wiped me out one game. I might need one more Skywhaler's Shot as a hedge.

Something is wrong with the list, I can't figure out what. Many of my games is resulting in me failing to stop my opponent's gameplan, even if I curve out nicely. It's not that I don't have the cards to interact with them - several games for example an Always Watching or Thalia's Lieutenant would've won the game, and Collective Effort + Tragic Arrogance or Cast Out all interact with the board. But instead the games end badly. One game for example ended when my monogreen opponent used Rogue's Quarry to break through a board stall. Any of my angels or planeswalkers or the interactive spells would've won the game, but I never drew them. Then there was the game when my opponent put Siege Modification on Heart of Kiran, and again I was begging for an answer that I never drew. I couldn't even race considering that thing has vigilance.

I can't tell if I'm getting unlucky or what - whatever it is, this list has a win rate of around 50% on the Steam ladder right now. Help?

Cut oketra (just bad, delete it from you card base), Thalia Lt, Hanweir Captain, and possibly Oviya... you are midrange, stop running Aggro cards. Replace with stuff like Lambholt Pacifist. Then add some big draw spells. IMO.... basically, you've got 7 mana cards in the deck, and you expect to play them ====>>> you need to be very defensive in the early turns. All your 2 drops should have natural 3 power or toughness, and the rest should be removal.

Tried your fix and took out most of the humans for Lambholt Pacifist and other green midrange staples I had used before, e.g. Reclamation Sage, Verdurous Gearhulk and Sylvan Advocate. I think you're right, the deck is more stable now than before. With the list in the OP I was hoping for a curve worthy of white humans and if opponent doesn't die, I go up my own curve with Bruna and co, but that relies on Christmas-land draws. Probably still need some tweaks in the result but I like it better now. Bruna likes humans and angels, but I don't need 20 humans and angels - 10 makes it very likely that Bruna will have something to return.

On a side note Prepare // Fight is really good. Both sides of the card are useful. If we could only run more copies of it, even Lone Rider might be viable.

Here's where I am with this list:

2x Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
2x Sylvan Advocate
3x Duskwatch Recruiter
3x Lambholt Pacifist
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1x Rhonas the Indomitable
2x Tireless Tracker
2x Reclamation Sage
2x Always Watching
1x Gisela, the Broken Blade
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3x Cast Out
1x Archangel Avacyn
1x Verdurous Gearhulk
2x Tragic Arrogance
2x Prepare // Fight
1x Ajani Unyielding
1x Woodland Bellower
2x Bruna, the Fading Light

11x Plains
10x Forest
2x Canopy Vista
2x Sunpetal Grove

Every individual card has been OK but I don't like the result. It feels inconsistent. If I get a good curve then I can often win in impressive fashion, on the other hand if I play against something with a couple of board wipes or removal-heavy decks then I easily lose with a lot of awkward cards in my hand. The deck has improved, but not by a lot. Maybe someone else will have an idea on where to go with this list, because I'm again stuck.