Heliod, Sun-Crowned: Making White Decks Great Again
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Introduction
Full disclosure: I was inspired to make this deck by a video from the JumboCommander YouTube channel. Feel free to check out all of DJ's other awesome content on YouTube.
This deck aims to do one thing white does very well: gain life. It further attempts to profit from the constant supply of life-gain effects and use them to turn even the smallest of bodies into a sizeable threat. The icing on this cake is that you can always fall back on your fearless, indestructible, 3cc commander.
The main strategy of this deck is simple: play Heliod and gain life. The easiest way to do this is by way of the various Soul Sisters effects. In a world where nearly everyone at the table is playing creatures, these innocent-looking ladies can take your life total to new heights for the low cost of 1-2 mana.
The elephant in the room with Heliod is Walking Ballista. As you might have seen in Modern/Pioneer decks, this is a pretty easy way to go infinite. More on that below.
Aetherflux Reservoir is also really easy to activate, given all the natural life-gain. Between these two, you have plenty of options for actually winning the game.
Why White?
You might like this deck if:
- You like to gain life.
- You like +1/+1 counters.
- You like turning small, inocuous creatures into large threats out of nowhere.
- You think white decks have been getting a bum rap.
So, if any of that sounds like fun to you, then please keep scrolling!
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Commander Analysis
Heliod
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Heliod, Sun-Crowned is an extremely strong card for a very low price of just three mana. Even if he's not an active creature, he still offers two very potent abilities that are easy to take advantage of. When he is active, he provides you with a large, indestructible beater that shrugs off opposing blockers with ease.
Heliod is not without weaknesses. His biggest natural enemy is Shadowspear, which can reduce him to an ordinary body for only one mana. Do what you must to destroy any Shadowspear you see. Other common ways to deal with him include Chaos Warp, Deglamer, and Return to Dust. Fortunately, Heliod's cheap mana cost makes him relatively easy to recast, and his +1 counter ability means you should have plenty of other threats to distract opponents.
Heliod is not without weaknesses. His biggest natural enemy is Shadowspear, which can reduce him to an ordinary body for only one mana. Do what you must to destroy any Shadowspear you see. Other common ways to deal with him include Chaos Warp, Deglamer, and Return to Dust. Fortunately, Heliod's cheap mana cost makes him relatively easy to recast, and his +1 counter ability means you should have plenty of other threats to distract opponents.
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Deck History
White History
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I first saw the video from the JumboCommander YouTube channel when I was piloting a God-Eternal Oketra (here), and I was starting to grow tired of playing otherwise unspectacular cards like Kor Skyfisher and Whitemane Lion just for the possibility of making a pile of 4/4 tokens that might survive long enough to swing into someone else. So, I managed to acquire a nice, shiny constellation foil copy of new Heliod and went to work on the idea that DJ had started.
After just one game, I was instantly hooked. Heliod was cheaper and stronger than Oketra, and offered more utility. I ordered a few missing pieces and the rest was history.
After just one game, I was instantly hooked. Heliod was cheaper and stronger than Oketra, and offered more utility. I ordered a few missing pieces and the rest was history.
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Deck Philosophy
Soul Sisters
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You want them, early and often. Everyone plays creatures, and every creature is a profit waiting to happen. The best part about these guys is that the effect is very subtle. Instead of gaining 20 life at once and drawing the ire of stray attackers, you slowly gain one life at a time until you're at 50 or more. And each one of these life-gain triggers activates Heliod...
Stoneforge package
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I wanted to setup a tiny Stoneforge package to have a few subtle yet diverse equips that could cheaply and efficiently shore up some of the deck's weaknesses. Sword of the Animist for extra ramp, Mask of Memory for card draw and setting up recursion targets, Skullclamp for the raw power. Unfortunately, there aren't many equipments that gain you life in a cheap or efficient manner. Loxodon Warhammer and Sword of War and Peace both cost a lot to cast + equip, and Sylvok Lifestaff is pretty janky. I ran Sword of Light and Shadow for a bit, but I never really wanted to find it. Umezawa's Jitte is on the radar finally getting a shot as well. At some point, I'll have to actually determine if the traditional Swords of X and Y are more effective than the current package, but for now they're working out fine.
Combos
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Normally, my position on infinite combos is that each piece has to have at least some purpose on its own, without the combo. To that end, I cut Triskelion early on because I would never really use it for anything but going off, and it also cost more than Walking Ballista to cast, and both were easy enough to tutor up if necessary.
After playing about a dozen games with Heliod, I looked back on my notes and realized that I was winning more than half of them, and doing so exclusively by way of the combo. That's a bit too degenerate for my taste, and also kinda boring. So, after mulling it over for several weeks in quarantine, and with a final bit of encouragement from a certain Discord channel, I've decided to cut out the too-easy infinite combo and focus on the other wonderful synergies that Heliod has to offer.
After playing about a dozen games with Heliod, I looked back on my notes and realized that I was winning more than half of them, and doing so exclusively by way of the combo. That's a bit too degenerate for my taste, and also kinda boring. So, after mulling it over for several weeks in quarantine, and with a final bit of encouragement from a certain Discord channel, I've decided to cut out the too-easy infinite combo and focus on the other wonderful synergies that Heliod has to offer.
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Heliod, Sun-Crowned: Making White Decks Great Again
Approximate Total Cost:
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Card Choice Discussion
A few notes on some cards I'm currently running
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I'm going to skip over a few of the generic staples and focus on cards specific to this deck. For example, we all know why Sol Ring and Smothering Tithe are good. However...
- Linden, the Steadfast Queen: I once saw her hook up with Heliod in a standard deck. The Queen triggers separately for each attacking creature, which means you get an extra Heliod counter for each attacker.
- Mentor of the Meek: Even though Heliod makes most creatures enormous, they usually start out pretty small. Also, this is what passes for card-draw in mono-white.
- Recruiter of the Guard: Arguable the most expensive card in the deck, and for good reason. This deck is setup so that this card can get you anything you want: ramp, draw, life, and of course a combo piece.
- Abzan Battle Priest: This card creates another nice little snowball effect. Heliod puts counters on guys, which then automatically get lifelink, which make even more counters, and so on.
- Luminous Broodmoth: The next great mono-white staple. At present, at least 20 creature spells don't have flying in this deck, which is more than enough to justify this card.
- Mindless Automaton: Turns all those +1 counters into card draw, and for 0 mana!
- Cataclysmic Gearhulk: Mass removal on a body. Usually, I'll pick Heliod as the enchantment, this as the artifact, and my best creature. Bonus points for being an Enlightened Tutor target!
- Sunscorch Regent: Everybody casts spells, right? This thing grows up real fast.
- Crested Sunmare, Regna, the Redeemer: Two more excellent ways to profit from all that natural life-gain.
- Endless Atlas: In mono-white, this is the purest form of card-draw there is to-date.
- Sun Droplet: Gains life on everyone's turn, not just mine. You can usually just run it out as soon as you find it and your opponents will stop attacking you as long as it's on the table. If that's somehow not enough, it's also super-combo-rific with Ancient Tomb and/or Rhox Faithmender.
- Altar of the Pantheon/Pristine Talisman: Life-gain as a mana-ability. What's not to like?
- Well of Lost Dreams: Turns life-gain into card draw. Scales based on how much life you gain at one time, as much as you can afford. More efficient than Dawn of Hope.
- Authority of the Consuls/Blind Obedience: These cards do serious work, for very little mana! It's really hard to measure how effective it is to have your opponents' creatures ETB tapped. Haste becomes irrelevant, non-green mana ramp gets neutered. Plus, each one comes with extra life-gain!
- Together Forever: Ran into this while searching for random stuff on Scryfall. Seems to check all of the boxes: cheap to cast, subtle effect, effortless synergy, even provides double devotion to turn on Heliod.
- Act of Authority: This card also checks a lot of boxes. It's cheap to cast, exiles indestructible Gods and Darksteels, provides devotion, and is a target for E-Tutor and Hall.
- Linden, the Steadfast Queen: I once saw her hook up with Heliod in a standard deck. The Queen triggers separately for each attacking creature, which means you get an extra Heliod counter for each attacker.
- Mentor of the Meek: Even though Heliod makes most creatures enormous, they usually start out pretty small. Also, this is what passes for card-draw in mono-white.
- Recruiter of the Guard: Arguable the most expensive card in the deck, and for good reason. This deck is setup so that this card can get you anything you want: ramp, draw, life, and of course a combo piece.
- Abzan Battle Priest: This card creates another nice little snowball effect. Heliod puts counters on guys, which then automatically get lifelink, which make even more counters, and so on.
- Luminous Broodmoth: The next great mono-white staple. At present, at least 20 creature spells don't have flying in this deck, which is more than enough to justify this card.
- Mindless Automaton: Turns all those +1 counters into card draw, and for 0 mana!
- Cataclysmic Gearhulk: Mass removal on a body. Usually, I'll pick Heliod as the enchantment, this as the artifact, and my best creature. Bonus points for being an Enlightened Tutor target!
- Sunscorch Regent: Everybody casts spells, right? This thing grows up real fast.
- Crested Sunmare, Regna, the Redeemer: Two more excellent ways to profit from all that natural life-gain.
- Endless Atlas: In mono-white, this is the purest form of card-draw there is to-date.
- Sun Droplet: Gains life on everyone's turn, not just mine. You can usually just run it out as soon as you find it and your opponents will stop attacking you as long as it's on the table. If that's somehow not enough, it's also super-combo-rific with Ancient Tomb and/or Rhox Faithmender.
- Altar of the Pantheon/Pristine Talisman: Life-gain as a mana-ability. What's not to like?
- Well of Lost Dreams: Turns life-gain into card draw. Scales based on how much life you gain at one time, as much as you can afford. More efficient than Dawn of Hope.
- Authority of the Consuls/Blind Obedience: These cards do serious work, for very little mana! It's really hard to measure how effective it is to have your opponents' creatures ETB tapped. Haste becomes irrelevant, non-green mana ramp gets neutered. Plus, each one comes with extra life-gain!
- Together Forever: Ran into this while searching for random stuff on Scryfall. Seems to check all of the boxes: cheap to cast, subtle effect, effortless synergy, even provides double devotion to turn on Heliod.
- Act of Authority: This card also checks a lot of boxes. It's cheap to cast, exiles indestructible Gods and Darksteels, provides devotion, and is a target for E-Tutor and Hall.
A few notes on some cards that have not been tested yet
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- Resplendent Angel: Yet another fine way to profit from life-gain, although this is a bit harder to turn into a profit, and I don't yet own a copy.
- Etched Oracle: Similar to Mindless Automaton...needs more counters, draws more cards for the price.
- Knight-Captain of Eos: One of the few army-in-a-can type of cards I might try out. Has enough synergy/utility to get consideration.
- Shattered Angel: Other people like playing lands. A lot. And THREE life per land is a lot. But...it's a five drop, and it isn't a tutor target.
- Alhammarret's Archive: Yet another double-the-life-gain effect, but it's not a creature, so it has less synergy (can't get Heliod counters). The double-draw is not likely to matter much in mono-white.
- Contemplation: Another subtle source of multiple life-gain triggers. Ironically, it's actually more expensive and a bit less likely to trigger than a simple Soul Warden, which is why it hasn't quite made the cut yet.
- Settle the Wreckage, Rout: Instant-speed wraths are pretty effective in this format, and criminally underplayed. However, these two only hit creatures, and there enough other wraths out there that are more flexible, which
- Etched Oracle: Similar to Mindless Automaton...needs more counters, draws more cards for the price.
- Knight-Captain of Eos: One of the few army-in-a-can type of cards I might try out. Has enough synergy/utility to get consideration.
- Shattered Angel: Other people like playing lands. A lot. And THREE life per land is a lot. But...it's a five drop, and it isn't a tutor target.
- Alhammarret's Archive: Yet another double-the-life-gain effect, but it's not a creature, so it has less synergy (can't get Heliod counters). The double-draw is not likely to matter much in mono-white.
- Contemplation: Another subtle source of multiple life-gain triggers. Ironically, it's actually more expensive and a bit less likely to trigger than a simple Soul Warden, which is why it hasn't quite made the cut yet.
- Settle the Wreckage, Rout: Instant-speed wraths are pretty effective in this format, and criminally underplayed. However, these two only hit creatures, and there enough other wraths out there that are more flexible, which
A few notes on things I've tried and ultimately didn't like
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- Angel of Vitality, Rhox Faithmender: If you're thinking that a dedicated life-gain deck should always want to gain more life per trigger, you'd probably be right, at first. But, the more you play the deck, the more you realize that you don't actually need to this. Just making a bunch of life-gain triggers is all you really need to do, and Heliod is perfectly capable of turning any creature with a pile of counters on it into a large amount of life.
- God-Eternal Oketra: Oketra is all about casting as many creatures as possible, or one self-bouncing creature over and over again. That's not exactly what this deck wants to do, and mono-white has lots of ways to make bodies.
- Reveillark: "Didn't like" is a bit of an over-statement here. I've been riding the Lark to value-town since the days of Lorwyn standard. But...there were more qualifying targets for Luminous Broodmoth in this deck, and the 'Moth is cheaper with an extra devotion. I tend to keep an eye on these totals, so if they swing back in favor of the Lark, it will certainly be back.
- Triskelion: The "other" combo piece with Heliod. Less utility outside of infinite combo, more expensive to cast either way.
- Dawn of Hope: On paper, it appears to check a lot of very important boxes: extra card draw, tokens with lifelink, cheap CMC. But, the two activated abilities are both pretty expensive, and I never wanted to cast this unless I had nothing else to do.
- Luminarch Ascension: As much fun as it would be to make 4/4s for the low price of two mana, this is just a magnet for combat damage and/or removal.
- Sword of Light and Shadow: Maybe my opponents don't run enough removal, but I never wanted to dig this up with a Stoneforge Mystic.
- Sword of War and Peace: The "other" life-gain sword, as of this writing. It was originally designed for games with one opponent at 20 life, so it isn't likely to ever be a thing in this format.
- Secure the Wastes, Finale of Glory, White Sun's Zenith, etc: This isn't a dedicated go-wide tokens deck, and it doesn't have all the mana in the world. If I need an army-in-a-can, there are creature-based alternatives,
- God-Eternal Oketra: Oketra is all about casting as many creatures as possible, or one self-bouncing creature over and over again. That's not exactly what this deck wants to do, and mono-white has lots of ways to make bodies.
- Reveillark: "Didn't like" is a bit of an over-statement here. I've been riding the Lark to value-town since the days of Lorwyn standard. But...there were more qualifying targets for Luminous Broodmoth in this deck, and the 'Moth is cheaper with an extra devotion. I tend to keep an eye on these totals, so if they swing back in favor of the Lark, it will certainly be back.
- Triskelion: The "other" combo piece with Heliod. Less utility outside of infinite combo, more expensive to cast either way.
- Dawn of Hope: On paper, it appears to check a lot of very important boxes: extra card draw, tokens with lifelink, cheap CMC. But, the two activated abilities are both pretty expensive, and I never wanted to cast this unless I had nothing else to do.
- Luminarch Ascension: As much fun as it would be to make 4/4s for the low price of two mana, this is just a magnet for combat damage and/or removal.
- Sword of Light and Shadow: Maybe my opponents don't run enough removal, but I never wanted to dig this up with a Stoneforge Mystic.
- Sword of War and Peace: The "other" life-gain sword, as of this writing. It was originally designed for games with one opponent at 20 life, so it isn't likely to ever be a thing in this format.
- Secure the Wastes, Finale of Glory, White Sun's Zenith, etc: This isn't a dedicated go-wide tokens deck, and it doesn't have all the mana in the world. If I need an army-in-a-can, there are creature-based alternatives,
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Deck Strategy
Heliod is cheap, indestructible, and usually starts out as not-a-creature, so you almost always want to just run him out on turn three, if possible. If you can land an early Soul Sister, you should expect it to grow pretty large. Make sure not to put all of your eggs/counters into one creature/basket, because your creatures are still susceptible to removal.
This deck used to run the elephant-in-the-room combo with Walking Ballista, but that combo was too easy to assemble and not very much fun. Here's a brief explanation of how the combo works:
Walking Ballista combo
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You need to have Heliod in play, plus one white mana and five other mana of any kind, for a total of six. Play Walking Ballista for X=2 (four mana), then activate Heliod targeting the Ballista to give it lifelink. Finally, remove one of the two +1/+1 counters from the Ballista and target any opponent. Ballista deals one damage to the opponent, and that damage has lifelink. This gains you one life, which triggers Heliod, and you put that counter back on the Ballista. Repeat until the whole table is dead.
The really nice part about this combo is that once you resolve the Ballista, you can go off at instant-speed, so anything short of a Krosan Grip will not stop you. Another really nice part is how easy it is to assemble the two pieces. Heliod is your commander, and he's indestructible, so he's usually just sitting there on the table very early in the game. The Ballista itself is fetchable by nearly every white tutor available.
The easiest way to disrupt the combo is to counter the Ballista. If you aren't playing against any blue players, the next most effective way to interact is the afforementioned Krosan Grip, or some other type of split-second card. Beyond that, you just have to watch out for any sort of player-hexproof effect, or something that prevents life-gain.
The really nice part about this combo is that once you resolve the Ballista, you can go off at instant-speed, so anything short of a Krosan Grip will not stop you. Another really nice part is how easy it is to assemble the two pieces. Heliod is your commander, and he's indestructible, so he's usually just sitting there on the table very early in the game. The Ballista itself is fetchable by nearly every white tutor available.
The easiest way to disrupt the combo is to counter the Ballista. If you aren't playing against any blue players, the next most effective way to interact is the afforementioned Krosan Grip, or some other type of split-second card. Beyond that, you just have to watch out for any sort of player-hexproof effect, or something that prevents life-gain.
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Credits and Thanks
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Change Log
5/29/20
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Finally picked up a copy of the hottest new white card in the format, and it just so happens to have more targets to reanimate than the 'Lark.
6/6/20
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Managed to pick up a copy of Together, and the Landing was proving too difficult to flip.
6/19/20
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Looked back at my game notes and realized that I was going off with this combo over half the time. One-half is my indestructible commander, and the other half is the #1 target of every tutor spell, costs no colored mana, and is just too easy to assemble.
On the other hand, the Mindless Auto is exactly where I want to be! This deck pumps out a lot of +1/+1 counters, and the Auto mindlessly turns them into extra draws, which this deck conveniently needs!
6/30/20
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6/30/20
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Got an early copy of the Speaker when a friend pulled it during pre-release. Land Tax is generally a stronger card than Wayfarer's Bauble, and it adds that one extra point of devotion. Trying out the new Rangers in place of Dawn of Hope, a card I never really wanted to cast unless I had absolutely nothing else to do. Also trying out the new Lieutenant in place of the Monument, since a lot of the creatures in this deck have no colorless cost to reduce.
7/10/20
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7/10/20
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Trying out Jitte after some solid analysis in another Heliod thread.
Cutting both the Angel and the Faithmender because, outside of one or two cards, gaining more life per trigger doesn't really do much.
8/7/20
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And just like that, Ugin is back out. Unfortunately, he doesn't exile his targets or provide any devotion, and he isn't a tutor target. Hopefully the Act fills that role a lot better.