[SCD] Exalted Angel

[morgan_coke]

I was facing like my fifteenth Batterskull/SFM deck the other day when I realized that in many ways, it's the exact same thing as Exalted Angel.

That got me wondering if the Angel is in fact viable in legacy.

First, let's compare it to SFM:
Pros:
-requires fewer deck slots
-has flying
-has an extra point of toughness
-immune to spell snare/tower of the magistrate, etc.

Cons:
-costs 3 and 4 mana instead of 2 and 2
-lacks vigilance
-can't be used to buff other creatures

It comes out closer to even than I expected. I've been messing around with angel online and it does seem to have potential. That said, I would not put it in a stoneblade deck in place of SFM, rather, I would use it either alongside SFM or in a deck that wanted that effect, but didn't want to devote 6-7 slots to SFMs and equipments.

Angels are literally like .50 online right now, so if you want to experiment with her, it won't cost you much at all. I don't think she's as good as she used to be, but I think she is probably at the level of a fringe player right now. Curious to see results if anyone else messes with it.

[Aggro_zombies]

Isn't Baneslayer Angel just better? The extra point of power and first strike seem very relevant, and I don't think there's a huge difference between five and eating up your entire third and fourth turns getting Exalted Angel up and running.

Plus, if you tap out for a morph, it's probably a pretty good idea for me to just kill it now while all of my removal hits it.

[TheArchitect]

For nostalgia purposes I want her to be good but basically this:


Isn't Baneslayer Angel just better? The extra point of power and first strike seem very relevant, and I don't think there's a huge difference between five and eating up your entire third and fourth turns getting Exalted Angel up and running.

Plus, if you tap out for a morph, it's probably a pretty good idea for me to just kill it now while all of my removal hits it.

Also, batterskull is kinda better now too. Probably the best pro of batterskull (or con of Ex Angel) is that batterskull doesn't die to removal creature removal, and with 3 mana open, doesn't die to artifact removal either. Even without SFM, batterskull is still kinda better than exalted angel in MOST situations.

[Kich867]

Isn't Baneslayer Angel just better? The extra point of power and first strike seem very relevant, and I don't think there's a huge difference between five and eating up your entire third and fourth turns getting Exalted Angel up and running.

Plus, if you tap out for a morph, it's probably a pretty good idea for me to just kill it now while all of my removal hits it.

You can't respond to morphing a creature, but the previous point is valid. It's very mana intensive / time intensive.

[Hopo]

Batterskull gives you card advantage and inevitability while angel dies to basically any non-red removal.

I'm sure you can build a control list with angel and maybe even win with it, but nowadays the control cards are more powerful and you have far better options as your win condition. One being Stoneforge mystic, a 2-mana almost-Tinker.

[Awaclus]

Exalted Angel might be worth playing in a deck with sol lands, but elsewhere SFM is definitely just better.

[(nameless one)]

I think what makes Batterskull that breaks Exalted Angel is te fact that you can gain life during each combat step because of vigilance. That theoretical 12 life swing is great when you're trying to race aggro.

Also, you can bounce it back to your hand if you need to resolve it. My favorite aspect about it is it can still be relevant under an active Humility.

Though Exalted Angel on the other hand, will always be relevant under an active Moat.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Exalted Angel is too clunky for aggro, and control decks run too few threats to want ones that care about removal as much as she does.

Honestly, Exalted Angel was kind of a bad card when the power curve on creatures was much lower and you could run it next to Mana Drain, a few people just had boners for her. Virginia consensus was pretty much always that she sucked.

[TsumiBand]

It took me a really, really long time to actually cut the Exalted Angels from my WB deck (as I slowly transitioned from Angel Stompy to Deadguy), and honestly I don't feel like they are a bad card at all.

Flying is a really relevant ability and so is lifelink, as Batterskull and things like Rhox War Monk have shown in ages past. There's a bunch of aggro-control decks that do not want to see someone go turn 1 Mother of Runes, turn 2 face-down Angel (thx Ancient Tomb). Playing her in defense mode and flipping her is similar to SFMing a Batterskull, and with acceleration it's actually faster on the offensive, which she should pretty much always be doing as there's not a ton of flyers besides like, Tombstalker or some junk that are going to fuck with her. Great target for a SoFI, but then so is just about everything. Yeah, fuck it, it's going back in my deck tonight.

[bruizar]

Playing her in defense mode and flipping her is similar to SFMing a Batterskull, and with acceleration it's actually faster on the offensive, which she should pretty much always be doing as there's not a ton of flyers besides like, Tombstalker or some junk that are going to fuck with her.

Mental image of tombstalker fucking exalted angel :rolleyes: disturbing.

Look, he's already naked.
http://www.black-lotus.nl/mtg/lg/Future_Sight/Tombstalker.jpghttp://www.black-lotus.nl/mtg/lg/Onslaught/Exalted_Angel.jpg

[Zilla]

That's kind of hot.

[TsumiBand]

GOD. That should be the next Duel Deck. Who cares if they aren't planeswalkers.

"Tombstalker V. Exalted Angel - the greatest hatefuck since Affleck and J Lo"

[TkDodo]

I think its also noteworthy that Exalted Angel doesn't actually have Lifelink. So you just die if 4 1/1s are attacking you while you are on 3 life. You'd survive that with Batterskull. You also can't race 12 goblin tokens with Exalted Angel because of the lack of vigilance.

[Tempus]

I think its also noteworthy that Exalted Angel doesn't actually have Lifelink. So you just die if 4 1/1s are attacking you while you are on 3 life. You'd survive that with Batterskull. You also can't race 12 goblin tokens with Exalted Angel because of the lack of vigilance.

So Exalted Angel with Batterskull gives you 16 life a swing :eek:

[(nameless one)]

So Exalted Angel with Batterskull gives you 16 life a swing :eek:

Actually, it's 21.

[TsumiBand]

Actually, it's 21.

I'm horrible at maths, but what?

Exalted is a 4/5, it gets +4/+4 from Batterskull along with lifelink and vigilance. It attacks for 8 and gains life from lifelink AND its triggered ability. 8 + 8 is 16. Where's the other 5?

At any rate, this clearly means they belong in the same deck. (mostly joking heh)

[morgan_coke]

To expound on the acceleration point, the deck I'm running her in right now uses Mox Diamond, Ancient Tomb, Green Sun's Zenith, and Birds of Paradise, so the angel usually is attacking (if she lives) on turn three at the latest. It's also worth noting that she's no more vulnerable to removal when morphed than Dark Confidant and Stoneforge Mystic, two cards that are frequent lightning rods.

Again, I don't at all claim she's a staple, but fringe role player in very specific decks seems like a well suited role for her. Maverick is one deck that seems like it might be a good fit for her. Or at least worth trying out.

[Aggro_zombies]

To expound on the acceleration point, the deck I'm running her in right now uses Mox Diamond, Ancient Tomb, Green Sun's Zenith, and Birds of Paradise, so the angel usually is attacking (if she lives) on turn three at the latest. It's also worth noting that she's no more vulnerable to removal when morphed than Dark Confidant and Stoneforge Mystic, two cards that are frequent lightning rods.

Again, I don't at all claim she's a staple, but fringe role player in very specific decks seems like a well suited role for her. Maverick is one deck that seems like it might be a good fit for her. Or at least worth trying out.
Maverick already has Batterskull if it wants it. There's no reason to use Exalted Angel over a card that is basically just better, and there's little reason to run the two together since more life isn't exactly an issue and you can build better evasive creatures with equipment.

It's worth mentioning again that Baneslayer Angel is only slightly slower than Exalted Angel but much better as a creature, as 5 power and first strike (as well as actual lifelink) make her more relevant on defense and make her slightly harder to race on offense. Baneslayer isn't playable, so I don't see why Exalted Angel would be playable - again, I wouldn't want to spend two full turns getting her working, and in a deck with Ancient Tombs, Mox Diamonds, Birds, and GSZs, I'm wondering if she's really the best option. Wouldn't Elesh Norn have similar chilling effects on aggro, present a ridiculous clock when combined with your other guys, and be far more durable to block + burn plays?

[Bryant Cook]

So Exalted Angel with Batterskull gives you 16 life a swing :eek:

I've done this.

[(nameless one)]

I'm horrible at maths, but what?

Exalted is a 4/5, it gets +4/+4 from Batterskull along with lifelink and vigilance. It attacks for 8 and gains life from lifelink AND its triggered ability. 8 + 8 is 16. Where's the other 5?

At any rate, this clearly means they belong in the same deck. (mostly joking heh)

Crap. I thought Exalted Angel was a 3/4.

Then, it's actually 24. 8 damage dealt, 8 damage gained and 8 damaged gained if your opponent does decide to attack and you block with it (vigilance!). Of course this is all theoretical.

[Bryant Cook]

Crap. I thought Exalted Angel was a 3/4.

Then, it's actually 24. 8 damage dealt, 8 damage gained and 8 damaged gained if your opponent does decide to attack and you block with it (vigilance!). Of course this is all theoretical.

It's 32.

[TsumiBand]

Wouldn't Elesh Norn have similar chilling effects on aggro, present a ridiculous clock when combined with your other guys, and be far more durable to block + burn plays?

Please block my Exalted with your shitty shitty Delver, since that's about the only other thing up there besides maybe Tombstalker. Burn tactics are virtually always going to be 2-for-1ing anything with a 4+ in the butt, so that's kind of a given, but really what else is "block + Burn"ing the poor girl? Trygon Predator? I guess giant Reanimator fatties, but I think most people are acknowledging that Exalted is a meta call and is going to be pants against things like Reanimator.

I mean, if Burn's everywhere, Elesh Norn is just another dude they can ignore - we've been talking about 'ramping' to Exalted, so what's your life total by the time you get to 5WW? Exalted Angel is pwning their tempo from the minute she hits, so I'm not really certain that Elesh Norn is as threatening at that point. And if they burn her out, well fine, at best they're 2 for 1ing themselves. I can deal with that I think.

[godofallu]

But exalted angel requires multiple turns to get out, and dies to removal easily.

On the other hand stoneforge mystic can cheat batterskull into play "faster", and if you kill stoneforge it is still a 2-1 in your favor since you got the equipment for free.

If they kill the batterskull later it is still a 2-1 since they used 2 removal spell to get your 1 real card.

On a batterskull vs angel debate (no stoneforge) you have vigilance + return to hand dodge ability vs flying. I think batterskull is better even in a vacuum.

Using more cards is a plus not a negative in my eyes. It creates consistency.