Operation: Please Play Magic With Me, Dear

When I got back into Magic, my goal was to buy some cards, see if I still liked the game, and then find some people to play with. Buying cards was easy, and I fell right back in love with Magic far faster than I had thought I would. Duels of the Planeswalkers was released on Playstation 3, and I had a friend who'd been bitten by the bug and gotten me to play, but it didn't feel quite right to me and I wondered if that was due to the software or the underlying Magic game.

Turns out it was the software. Duels of the Planeswalkers was not a perfect product when it first released. Yes, it served as a fantastic "gateway drug" to anyone who wanted to learn the games mechanics and how to play, but it lacked any deck building options for those who wanted to customize their experience. Of course, this flaw has been slowly improved over each subsequent release of the game, and I am excited to see the new deck building options in the newest release in a couple of weeks. If only I could still play it ON MY PLAYSTATION!!! (Sorry, a little bitterness there.)

So I bought some cards, still loved the game, and my friend who had gotten my onto Duels was more than happy to join me in paper Magic. But I still haven't been able to get the hook set into my wife's brain that Magic is something more than just "that game" that takes up so much of my time. She's been willing enough to sit down and play a couple rounds with me every once in a while, but I haven't reached that point where it's something she actually wants to do without severe coaxing (see begging, pleading and groveling as well.) But I'm hoping to change that.

Her biggest complaint is the mana. I've always built her a dual color deck, and she can never seem to get both colors on the table at once. I swear, her mana screw luck dial is stuck at 11. I'd add dual lands, drop her mana curve, increase the land count, nothing helped. So finally I stumbled across the fantastic idea that should have come to me two years ago: Mono-colored deck. Because I are a genius.

These guys were no help. Seriously.

And don't even get me started on these losers...

So I looked at colors and her favorite cards so far have been angels, so mono-white was the easy choice. I built her a deck which I'm hoping will alleviate her mana woes and give her the chance to appreciate the game and play with me more often. The deck isn't meant to be super competitive, and I don't have more than 2 copies of any creature in it, because I want her to get the variance that comes with each game being different and still exploring what all her cards do. The deck list is below and I'm wondering what you guys think. And yes, Serra Angel is in there. I couldn't resist.

Of course. White is where it's at.

Deck name: Angelic Destiny (it's campy on purpose...or something)

Lands

21 Plains

4 Seraph Sanctuary

Creatures

1 Angel of Glory's Rise

1 Angel of Serenity

1 Angelic Skirmisher

2 Banisher Priest

2 Dawnbringer Charioteers

1 Pristine Angel

2 Seraph of the Sword

2 Serra Angel

2 Serra Avenger

2 Soulmender

Other Spells

2 Angelic Accord

2 Bladed Bracers

2 Brave the Elements

3 Call to Serve

2 Defy Death

2 Fortify

3 Gather the Townsfolk

1 Moonsilver Spear

2 Swords to Plowshares

Obviously not built to be tournament legal, but some fun cards in place and I hope she likes it. We'll see how it stacks up against my equally rough Minotaur tribal deck (Thank you, Theros block!) I'll keep you update on my progress with Operation: Please Play Magic With Me, Dear!