Wielding a New Kind of Steel: From Aggro to Angel Deck
Today I’m going to be talking about my new setup of the deck Wielding Steel in Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012. After the first DLC came out, I did a little tinkering and found a new, more successful way to run this popular white weenie deck.
Originally, I thought the only build for Wielding Steel was very aggro. The cheap, yet powerful creatures, such as Elite Vanguard, along with creatures that get bonuses from being equipped like Kitesail Apprentice made it seem like Wizards was begging me to run it as an aggro equipment deck. It is called “Wielding Steel” after all.
Unfortunately, it was weak to decks with excessive amounts of removal, due to its reliance on small creatures. On the same note, it didn’t have its own removal for handling decks faster than it. Sure, it beat the top decks in DOTP occasionally, but for the most part it was just a slightly above average deck. With the four new cards and some remodeling, this deck may have jumped into the top tier.
The DLC brought Wielding Steel cards that all have converted mana costs higher than most of the cards I ran previously. At first, this led me to believe they would all be useless, doing nothing but slow the deck down. But after spending some time in the deck manager, I realized that slowing down might not be a bad thing.
Yes, I took out some powerful cards, but none of them were completely necessary for winning the game. I still have good early game components of the deck like Gideon’s Lawkeepers and Kor Hookmasters to slow down the opponent early on. Then, towards the middle of the match, I can play the new DLC cards, Loxodon Gatekeeper or Guardian Seraph, or some old cards that I had previously ignored such as Congregate, to stall the game until playing one of the heavy-hitting angels.
Baneslayer, Serra or Sunblast are all amazing by themselves; throw some sort of equipment on top of them and few cards in the format can handle them. To keep with the theme of slowing the game down I tossed in Conquerer’s Pledge and Captain of the Watch, both outstanding cards that can help out if the game does drag on past five or six land drops.
Now, I haven’t taken out all of the cheap cards. Stoneforge Mystic, Sunspear, Kor Duelist and Gideon’s Avenger are all still in the deck, allowing for some early aggro wins. My changes just give Wielding Steel a chance to beat some of the stronger decks if the game lasts a bit longer. In my playtesting this deck performed extremely well: I won thirteen out of fourteen games, the one loss being a particularly bad Vampires match in which I made a few critical errors.
But overall, this new Wielding Steel beat all of the top decks, Unquenchable Fire, Grave Whispers, Vampires, and Realm of Illusions. I would argue this deck is now a powerhouse and should definitely be considered a force to be reckoned with. Who ever said angel decks couldn’t compete?
Deck List and Video Guide
- 1x Brave the Elements
- 2x Gideon’s Lawkeeper
- 1x Infiltration Lens
- 2x Kor Duelist
- 2x Trusty Machete
- 1x Puresteel Paladin
- 2x Revoke Existance
- 1x Stoneforge Mystic
- 2x Sunspear Shikari
- 3x Arrest
- 1x Gideon’s Avenger
- 3x Kor Hookmaster
- 1x Pennon Blade
- 1x Strider Harness
- 1x Sword of War and Peace
- 2x Congregate
- 1x Harmless Assault
- 1x Guardian Seraph
- 2x Loxodon Gatekeeper
- 1x Baneslayer Angel
- 1x Conquerer’s Pledge
- 2x Serra Angel
- 1x Captain of the Watch
- 1x Sunblast Angel
I gave this a try last night, works pretty well although some of the faster burn decks (fire / cloudburst) caused me a few headaches.
I had one particularly good game though against the artifact deck, with most of my stuff tapped and running on about 15 life, my opponent hit me with everything, the next turn I drew the Sunblast Angel and destroyed all his creatures. Win.
Gotta say I’m liking the way this deck runs. Only difference is I kept in Kor Outfitter – I couldn’t bring myself to remove it (Stoneforge Mystic + Kor Outfitter = gg bro).
Looking forward to more guides!
I personally love Machinations without white in it.
As far as the armor goes, I’ve got it on the battle field turn 4 equipped and attacking.
Bravo, did this change and man, very very strong deck.
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My best game in 2012 ever was with this deck. Drew kor duelist stoneforge, and kor outfitter. By turn five it was over because I pulled agrentum armor and equipped it with outfitter to duelist.