Lyra Dawnbringer: Zion's Glory (EDH / Commander) [Revision 1]

„Et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt."
(The light shines in the darkne​ss, and the darkne​ss has not ove​rcome it.)

The Bible, John 1:5

"Zion's GIory" by Really SIow Motion: https://youtu.be/u7w0KrMmp_E

INTRODUCTION
I love Magic's angels. Not only because they're (usually) above-average powerful flyers; but mainly because artists like Greg Staples (Archangel of Strife), Terese Nielsen (Basandra, Battle Seraph) and Jason Chan (Angelic Overseer) manage to depict them as the majestic and breathtakingly beautiful divine beings they're supposed to be. While my Akroma, Angel of Wrath Voltron EDH deck is my top favorite deck to this day (and I will never take it apart), I don't get to play it very often, because it is shunned in my - rather casual - playgroup. It is a very focused and optimized deck, dedicated to rushing Akroma out and keeping her in play, and once that happens, its pretty quick GG for my opponents. Thus I pondered over assembling another mono white angel deck with Lyra Dawnbringer at the helm, focusing on a "go wide" token strategy with a lifegain subtheme rather than Akroma's "go big" Voltron approach to victory. And luckily, with the release of Kaldheim, I got my hands on some very interesting cards to support that strategy.

STRATEGY

1. Play angels and create angel creature tokens.
2. Drop Lyra and other "anthem" permanents to buff my host.
3. Swing big with my evasive army and gain huge amounts of life.
4. Profit!

TACTICS

• The most recent Magic sets and expansions finally linked angels with lifegain in a truly synergistic way. Angel tribal players are now rewarded with effective lifegain (Righteous Valkyrie) and - following from this - powerful effects which help winning the game (Valkyrie Harbinger). While these effects did exist in the game before (Path of Bravery, Angelic Accord, Angelic Chorus), having them on bodies with the appropriate creature type is a huge boon for angel tribal decks.
• For me, politics is a huge part of the fun in multiplayer Magic, so I put at least a few "group hug" cards in practically every EDH deck I build. Serra Advocate for example may seem like a rather underwhelming card, but my opponents have to take her ability into account in every combat. The same is true for Avacyn, Guardian Angel. I've been using Dawnbreak Reclaimer in my Zedruu EDH deck for years now, and boy is she good if an opponent is dominating the table and the other players are struggling to survive. Aegis Angel may give any permanent indestructible, and while Archangel of Strife is a double-edged sword, she and Lyra alone already provide 18 points of life-gaining airborne power on my side of the table. Throw in a few angel tokens and things get really silly.
• Speaking of Lyra: A 5/5 flyer with first strike is always a force to be reckoned with, and my commander has ample support in the 99 to win a game Voltron-style.
• As you may have noticed I don't use Aetherflux Reservoir in my list. The reason for this is that I consider it a rather boring "spike" combo card that tends to end the game the moment it hits the battlefield. And in case it doesn't, it's a "nonbo" with Cosmos Elixir, Righteous Valkyrie and Angel of Destiny. Also, the flavor of the card (Death Star superlaser?) would be really odd in an angel tribal deck. Yes, I'm a Vorthos like that.

CONCLUSION
It's a bit too early for a detailed evaluation because I assembled this deck just recently, but it appears to be a fun and strong casual deck.
I'd appreciate if you'd leave a comment if you like. Thanks for dropping by!