Clerics - The Holy Warriors

A casual mono-white (essentially) Cleric deck with both strong early defensive and mid-late game offensive capabilities plus some graveyard recursion.

Stops aggro dead in its tracks and can handle many other deck types very well. Only the most clever opponents with novel deck strategies will have any hope of getting past these holy dudes. The longer the game goes on, the worse things will get for your opponent. Slow and steady wins the race with this one.

There are definitely ways to make this deck a little faster and more aggressive that I'll get to below, but I generally prefer playing defensively with this deck, since protection is what clerics do best.

Works equally good 1 vs 1 or in multiplayer and I've successfully piloted this deck to victory in 2 vs 1 and even 3 vs 1 (once)

There are quite a few synergistic little combos in this deck that work together to win you the long game.

Get a small protective base out early with Mother of Runes , Daru Spiritualist , and Master Apothecary . Daru Spiritualist + Master Apothecary means each cleric gets essentially an on-demand 4 point boost to toughness, not to mention hindering targeted burn and -X/-X effects. The Mother will protect your clerics against almost all spot removal and also ensure you can attack and block with impunity if need be. But more often than not, your opponent's early attacks and direct damage simply won't be a problem for you it since all your clerics can now just tap to prevent the damage to you or themselves.

Weathered Wayfarer will make sure you hit all your land drops and get the lands you need. Grab Cavern of Souls to protect your clerics against being countered and Godless Shrine to use the Starlit Sanctum 's second ability.

Grand Abolisher helps shut down both control and burn decks alike, but he can be subbed out for others if you are facing decks that don't play too many spells at instant speed (e.g. creature heavy decks)

Once you get Remembrance + Starlit Sanctum out, start sac'ing your clerics- either in response to removal or just at the end of the opponent's turn- and gain some life or chip away at the opponents' while also thinning your deck for a replacement (Pro Tip: with Daru Spiritualist + Master Apothecary tap the cleric targeting itself before sac'ing and it will gain an extra 2 toughness to add to your life gained). You'll be able to bring most of them back from the dead with Order of Whiteclay and later Emeria, The Sky Ruin and Celestial Gatekeeper . And with Master Apothecary + Order of Whiteclay you can use the untap ability at-will.

On that note, sac'ing Celestial Gatekeeper + Remembrance + Starlit Sanctum for life or damage and resurrecting 2 clerics, all while replacing itself and thinning your deck is a very stylish move ;)

After you've established a good board position with a few clerics, you can start attacking with Doubtless One + Mother of Runes to get them through unblocked for massive life swings. If the opponent runs a few colors and you can't get through for combat damage, you can still "fling" Doubtless One + Starlit Sanctum . Doubtless One puts a clock on the opponent as each cleric you summon increases its power and furthers the divide in your life totals.

At this point, you should probably be in a good position to win outright. But just so the opponent gets the message, Battletide Alchemist will almost guarantee you won't need to worry about damage for the rest of the game and crush your opponent's hopes as they prepare for the inevitable defeat.

The main thing you'll need to worry about is control matchups and wrath effects since this deck depends so much on a strong board position. But woe be the player who wraths while you have Celestial Gatekeeper + Remembrance out. Between these two cards and Emeria, The Sky Ruin , you'll quickly be able to regain your former board position, most likely much faster than your opponent.

You can also use your own Day of Judgment to wrath the board if you find yourself at a disadvantageous position or some sort of stalemate, though there are very few board states that this deck isn't able to handle with other means. Oblivion Ring will be able to handle most problematic threats.

Some other synergies exist in the sideboard cards. With Fiend Hunter + Starlit Sanctum or Leonin Relic-Warder + Starlit Sanctum you can sac' them immediately as they enter the battlefield which causes their second ability to resolve before the first, resulting in the target being permanently exiled. Bring them back with Order of Whiteclay for repeatable permanent exiling at instant speed!

Akroma's Devoted is just a great card to have on the field if you are facing a deck that requires using a more aggressive strategy so that you can attack with your clerics while still having them available to tap (Akroma's Devoted + Master Apothecary ) and prevent damage or give protection.

Frontline Medic is a great addition to this deck for when you want to go into aggro mode. Alongside Akroma's Devoted, it will allow you to attack with almost no regard for the consequences!

True Believer will give you shroud if you are facing a deck that targets you directly (e.g. Mill or Discard. You won't even need this to protect against burn with the other clerics preventing all the damage). The only problem is True Believer also stops you from being able to target yourself with Master Apothecary, so I tend to leave this in the sideboard unless I really need it. (If only Aegis of the Gods were a cleric...)

And yes, I know about the Daru Spiritualist + Shaman en-Kor infinite toughness combo. But I don't use that since it tends to be extremely unfun for both me and my opponent. I'd rather win without exploiting such an uncreative combo.

Also, I'm considering replacing Day of Judgment with Divine Reckoning as this is one of those rare decks where the "each player chooses a creature..." clause can be more of a benefit than a drawback...

• Cleric
• Tribal
• Casual
• Mono White