Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd decks have long been successful in Modern. Being able to exile and reset powerful permanents like Overlord of the Balemurk is a surefire way to cement your advantage.
Thanks to Edge of Eternities, though, we’re starting to see some major adaptations in these blink shells. Warp payoffs like Quantum Riddler make for exciting additions to Phelia builds.
Interestingly, the combination of Phelia and Warp cards is even affecting Legacy. Yesterday, one player made top eight of a Magic Online Legacy Challenge with a mono-white Phelia deck equipped with Warp Angels, Energy staples, and more! Let’s dive in and see all that the deck has to offer.
Phelia Package
As expected, the strongest tool this deck has access to and the one that really makes everything tick is Phelia. A single attack with Phelia makes it very easy to pull ahead. While there are a handful of very powerful cards to blink with the Dog, your strongest options are the two new Edge of Eternities Angels with Warp.
The first is Starfield Shepherd. Starfield Shepherd may cost five mana, but most of the time, you’re going to be casting it for two mana via its Warp cost. As we will see in the next section, there are some elite one-drop creatures to tutor up when it enters.
By itself, Warping Starfield Shepherd is nothing special. However, if you can exile it with Phelia, it’ll reenter at the beginning of your end step. Not only will you get an additional trigger out of the deal, but your 3/2 flier will stick around long term. The value and board presence will become overwhelming in short order.
The other five-drop Angel in the decklist is Exalted Sunborn, which also appears as a four-of. There aren’t that many token synergies available if you don’t draw Ocelot Pride, so the card’s triggered ability isn’t all that impressive. Instead, most of the card’s upside comes from its stats. As a 4/5 with Flying and Lifelink, Exalted Sunborn does a great job halting pressure from Delver of Secrets and Dragon’s Rage Channeler while threatening to turn the corner and win a race.
As five-drops, both of these cards are immune to Fatal Push. Exalted Sunborn outsizes Lightning Bolt and Fury. So, once it sticks, it’s tough to get off the board.
Of course, Phelia isn’t immune to Fatal Push or Lightning Bolt, so it’s not always easy to set up a window to land it. Fortunately, Karakas can help protect Phelia, and Ephemerate can serve as an alternate way to “cheat” your five-drops into play.
Energy Staples
While the Phelia synergies are what gives the mono-white deck the most staying power, you need ways to close games where you don’t draw Phelia. This is where your tools that are commonly found in Modern Boros Energy come into play.
In the one-drop slot, playsets of both Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride make an appearance. Both cards are elite turn one plays that demand answers. Starfield Shepherd searches for either creature, depending on the situation. They also synergize well together, with Guide of Souls acting as a consistent source of life gain to keep the Ocelot Pride tokens flowing.
At two mana, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah unsurprisingly shows up as well. Ajani is a great card to blink in its own right. It pairs perfectly with Exalted Sunborn. It’s hard to go wrong with such a strong two-drop in nearly all scenarios.
Additionally, Haliya, Guided by Light makes its presence felt. Its cheap Warp cost works well with Phelia, and the life gain triggers Ocelot Pride once again. Between Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride, it’s not too difficult to start your card advantage engine rolling, either.
Polarizing Matchups
Overall, this deck is reasonably well positioned, but its matchups in game one can feel quite polarized. Against tempo strategies, you have a lot of elite threats that can overwhelm your opponent. You aren’t super reliant on one specific card resolving, so Force of Will isn’t a huge concern. You play a lot of basic lands and your creatures are efficient for the most part, so Wasteland and Daze aren’t too problematic. Swords to Plowshares then cleans up nearly any creature the opponent jams.
Where things get dicey is against the combo decks. You do a decent job applying pressure, but you’re nowhere near fast enough to race a fast draw out of Oops! All Spells, Reanimator, or Storm. There’s a reason the sideboard is filled with hate cards for these matchups, including Deafening Silence and Rest in Peace.
In this sense, you’re well suited for most of the fair decks, but some of the unfair matchups may feel hopeless without sideboard interaction. You’ll also have some draws where you don’t find Phelia and copies of Exalted Sunborn get clogged in your hand. Ancient Tomb and Chrome Mox give you a shot at hard casting your five-drops in grindy games, though this is sometimes too slow.
If you’re willing to live with the deck’s issues and inconsistencies, mono-white blink is capable of some fantastic draws. The deck’s success just goes to show how impactful Edge of Eternities is even in Eternal formats.
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