MTGGoldfish is supported by its audience. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / Meme or Dream? "I Wish I Owned More Angels" (Standard)

Meme or Dream? "I Wish I Owned More Angels" (Standard)


A few months ago, Wizards started publishing decklists from Magic Arena. To qualify for publication, a deck needs to win at least six matches in a row at platinum rank or better. This sounds simple on its face, but some incredibly janky lists end up being posted every time lists are published. This has led to speculation that a bug in the system allows decks that didn't actually win six matches in a row to be published or, for the most tin-foil-hatted crowd, the idea that Wizards just publishes whatever it wants, to make the metagame look more diverse than it really is. 

This week, we have a deck that, as per tradition, is lacking a sideboard, but the weirdness goes beyond the lack of a sideboard. My best guess is that someone set out to build either Angels or Clerics but realized they didn't have enough of either to make a deck, so they sort of smashed both themes together along with some random lifegain cards to fill in the gaps. It also features an absolutely shocking number of scrylands. While the deck is Orzhov, we have six off-color scrylands, which means a huge percentage of our lands come into play tapped. Oh yeah, and there are just 23 total lands, even though we have 65 cards in our main deck for some reason! While lifegain seems to be the overarching theme of the deck, there are some really weird choices, like Youthful Valkyrie with a total of seven Angels in our deck. The funniest part is that because the deck has 65 cards in the main deck, it would be perfectly legal to cut five cards from the deck, so we know these cards aren't here because the deck's builder didn't have any better options and needed to find 60 cards to play the deck—they are here because they are wanted! Is this mismatched pile of Angels, Clerics, and lifegain synergies a meme or a dream? How many games will we get mana screwed on with 23 lands in a 65-card deck? Can we assemble off-color Temple Tron for no apparent reason? Let's play some matches and find out!

Loading Indicator



More in this Series

Show more ...


More on MTGGoldfish ...

Image for Single Scoop: Jund Dinos! single scoop
Single Scoop: Jund Dinos!

Vaultborn Tyrant is a sweet new dino so lets try it out in Jund dinos!

May 18 | by TheAsianAvenger
Image for Modern Horizons 3 Spoilers — May 13-17 | Early Eldrazis daily spoilers
Modern Horizons 3 Spoilers — May 13-17 | Early Eldrazis

Spoilers for the week of a few early eldrazi spoilers.

May 17 | by mtggoldfish
Image for Much Abrew: Devoted to Dread (Pioneer) much abrew about nothing
Much Abrew: Devoted to Dread (Pioneer)

Mono-Black Devotion, but really it's Rush of Dread combo!

May 17 | by SaffronOlive
Image for Commander, but with ZERO Politics | Commander Clash S16 E18 commander clash
Commander, but with ZERO Politics | Commander Clash S16 E18

How does Commander play when you aren't allowed to politic anything? Can the crew actually avoid their impulse to make meaningless deals over every little thing? Let's find out!

May 17 | by SaffronOlive

Layout Footer

Never miss important MTG news again!

All emails include an unsubscribe link. You may opt-out at any time. See our privacy policy.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Twitch
  • Instagram
  • Tumblr
  • RSS
  • Email
  • Discord
  • YouTube

Price Preference

Default Price Switcher