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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Pride of the Doves
July 30, 2007

Hi BMoor

I recently got into playing MTG and I'm loving it. Earlier this week I got my hands on a couple of Prides of the Clouds and I'm itching to rule the skies with it. I started out playing W/U so this seems like a natural development.

I've had a look at what cards are out there and I'm drawing up a shopping list so to speak and I hope you can help fine tune it. What I'm trying to do here is find a way to build up the Prides without necessarily paying what I consider to be the exorbitant forecast cost for a bird token. I'd like to stick to cards that are legal in Standard.

Lands: 22
3 x Boreal Shelf
7 x Island
10 x Plains
2 x Azorius Chancery

Creatures: 24
4 x Pride of the Clouds
4 x Magus of the Moat
3 x Soul Warden
1 x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
3 x Courier Hawk
3 x Azorius First-Wing
2 x Lost Auramancers
4 x Sprite Noble

Spells: 14
4 x Loxodon Warhammer
3 x Privileged Position
4 x Dovescape
3 x Faith's Fetters

The premise here is to control the early game with Magus to stop ground based attacks, Privileged Position for anything annoying and Faith's Fetters for anything really annoying. Play a Loxodon Warhammer for later, then play Dovescape and fill the sky with birds and feed the Pride of the Clouds.

Sprite Nobles would essentially be Glorious Anthems for me, except I can continue to play them after the point of no return that is Dovescape. The reason for the Loxodon Warhammer is so that the Prides are still dangerous even if blocked by a 1/1 bird token.

Soul Warden is there to boost life, Lost Auramancer to get Dovescape into play and His Royal Holiness Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Son of Grand Arbiter Augustin III to exacerbate the Dovescape effect.

I was thinking of possibly putting Chronozoa in there as another means of creating fliers, but I'm debating it's usefulness without Clockspinning or Paradox Haze, etc.

I'm also not sure if I've got enough non-creature spells to play post-Dovescape in order to create more birds, though 3 Dovescapes after the first would hatch 6 chicks each.

I should also point out that, as much as I'd love to have Hallowed Fountain, my wallet wouldn't let me hear the end of it. Besides that, having already played U/W, I've got at least one copy of everything listed except Soul Warden, Loxodon Warhammer and Dovescape.

I think that's about it and I would love any advice before I start putting this together. Is Dovescape and Pride of the Clouds a match made in heaven or is something going to bring me crashing to the ground?

Thanks

Neutrality

I probably should've gotten to this one a little sooner, but I was on vacation all last week.  Pride of the Clouds and Dovescape are a fun combination, and a powerful one.  Let's see what we can do to enhance this deck, before it leaves Standard (because honestly, I just don't see how this deck can function once Pride and Dovescape have to be taken out).

This deck is definitely dependant of Pride of the Clouds, so it's good to see that you've got 4 in.  The same goes for 4 Sprite Noble and 4 Magus of the Moat, which make me think that this deck can survive without Ravnica cards.  Next, you definitely want more copies of Grand Arbiter Augustin IV.  Granted, Notorius G. A. A. IV here is legendary, but the impact he has on the game is profound.  Play your Pride for WU, your Dovescape for four mana, and make all your opponent's spells cost more to keep them from coming at you full-force.  Courier Hawk and Azorius First-Wing are top picks as well, but Soul Warden and Lost Auramancers can come out.  I'd replace them with either Cloud Sprite, Flying Men, or Thieving Magpie.  The Auramancers just aren't a good way to search for the Dovescape.  If you're in W/U, you should have some card draw-- enough to increase the odds of you getting a Dovescape soon enough.

Now, you complained that you don't think you can generate enough Birds once the Dovescape hits?  Well, I've seen decks use Supply//Demand and Chord of Calling to generate large quantities of Birds.  Any X spell will give you at least X Birds, so you might want to add one.  Supply//Demand also has the advantage of being able to search out the Dovescape or Pride of the Clouds with the Supply side, but to play Demand you will need green mana.  That's why I'm suggesting Hail of Arrows.  It doesn't require a splash, and it can kill your opponent's creatures pre-Dovescape.  its only downside is that if you're playing it to get Birds, you can't actually play it unless there's at least one legal target for it (despite the fact that it's just going to get countered anyway).  Which means that you can only play Hail of Arrows if at least one creature is attacking.  But what better time to drop a flock of Birds into play then when your opponent is attacking you with creatures, right?

Other than that, this deck should run pretty well.  I doubt you'll even need Hallowed Fountain, though you may want a W/G or U/G dual land if you decide to add Supply//Demand.  Also, may I suggest that even though the Ravnica duals are very expensive, the Core Set painlands are currently about $5 each.  For the price of one Hallowed Fountain, you could get a playset of Adarkar Wastes.  I'm not sure how expensive Nimbus Maze is, though you hopefully will do fine with what you've got.

Good luck!

~BMoor