[Standard] Angel's Demons - Need Constructive Criticism

[CardinalSilence]

Angel's Demons - Deck Statistics

I would appreciate any and all suggestions to improving the deck in question listed, a brief description is listed near the top of the deck's statistics page. I expect specific problems to arise in:

1. Manabase / Manacurve / Average CMC
2. Color Proportions
3. Card Choices
4. Land / Spell (Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment) / Planeswalker / Creature ratio
5. Sideboard
6. Other Oversights

I have playtested minimally online using UnTap as well as some Goldfishing and so far haven't encountered any serious problems, but seeing as I'm new to Magic the Gathering I'm sure there are plenty of issues in the construction of my deck and I would appreciate any and all help in solving these issues. Thank you again to any and all suggestions.

[Philippe Saner]

I don't like Diregraf Colossus or Mindwrack Demon here. This deck really isn't set up to achieve Delirium, so the demon will cost you a lot of life. And you don't have very many Zombies, so the Colossus won't do as much as it ought to.

Relentless Dead and Flameblade Angel are also a little dubious. The Dead are very powerful, but like the Colossus they want you to be playing more Zombies than you've got. And the Angel just lacks the raw power you'd hope for in a six-mana creature.

Looking for cheap aggressive creatures to add seems like a good idea. You've got several cards that want you to go wide, creature-wise, and your deck will be better at applying pressure if you lower the average cost of your threats.

[CardinalSilence]

I've thought about those points as well, the Mindwrack Demon problem has never come up for me during testing though surprisingly, I've always hit delirium by the time I cast it, usually do to artifact creature counting towards delirium twice or planeswalkers / lands being discarded from the discard top 4 cards upon entering the battlefield clause, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it if it starts becoming a problem.

As for the 2 zombies,  I've had them in there as an endless engine for token spam / feeding Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, would you suggest something like 4x Zulaport Cutthroat and 2x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim for example as a solution / replacement? Just a couple cards I have that could possibly be substituted but let me know what you think.

Flameblade Angel is an incredibly slow card for constructed play for sure but with the token spam this deck has I've actually seen it do an absolute ton of damage when opponents try to thin the horde, do you think that's still not enough compensation? I'm not really running Flameblade Angel for the body or to be an overwhelming bomb, that's what I have Ormendahl, the Profaned Prince for, just to punish the opponent for trying to deal with spam, and since it's a flier it can be pretty tough to deal with for many other decks.

On a sidenote, any thoughts on the sideboard?

Let me know what you think of my possible solutions, and if you have an even better ones I would be ecstatic to hear them, thanks so much!

[Philippe Saner]

I'm surprised you've had so little trouble with the demon. If that continues for you, by all means keep it.

Ayli seems pretty promising. Dunno about the Cutthroats; I find it hard to judge how many dudes you're likely to lose each game. Hangarback Walker might be worth a try.

As for Flameblade Angel, I don't really feel strongly about it. But it's one of the cards I'd cut if I was looking to make room for other stuff.

I'm not much good at judging sideboards. I do have some concerns about Devour in Flames, though; this doesn't seem like the kind of deck that's comfortable going down a land.

[CardinalSilence]

Thanks for the response, I think I'll playtest some with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and the Zulaport Cutthroat's, though I'm not totally sold yet, Relentless Dead / Diregraf Colossus is a better mana dump if I start getting mana flooded from what I've seen so far, and if I'm mana starved then both sets seem to fail equally, I'll keep looking into it.

I agree on Flameblade Angel, it's always one of the first to go once I need to sideboard, unless I need raw damage output, I'm usually dropping it for some Goblin Dark-Dwellers against control, grindy, creatureless decks that work around the static ability of Flameblade Angel.

As for the Devour in Flames, I needed a spell that I could use to clear the board (planeswalkers included) when combo'd with Goblin Dark-Dwellers, I just couldn't find anything better, the Avacyn's Judgement in my mainboard just wasn't cutting it and I can't go above 3 mana or I void the Goblin Dark-Dwellers' static ability to look for a spell in the graveyard... Anguished Unmaking is the best removal spell I have but 3 life every use gets expensive eventually, Ruinous Path is great but I can only have so many as well, so Devour in Flames was what I came up with for clearing the board of big threats (that includes anti-planeswalkers), even if I have to go down a land. If anyone knows a better card I'm all ears but I can't find one :/ (again, bfz, otg, soi only, I'm a newer player so newer block only please)

Thanks again for the suggestions

[CardinalSilence]

Update: I've swapped out Devour in Flames for Fiery Temper

[CardinalSilence]

no longer WIP thanks to all for help

[NathanJ]

"Terminated" sounds final. How did the deck do?

[CardinalSilence]

Great! I just mean I'm not really looking for suggetions any more I'm really happy with where the deck is now - thanks for asking though

[NathanJ]

Good.