Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope | Art by Kai Carpenter

Hello Everyone! I’m Levi from The Thought Vessel and this is Hidden Gems, the series on EDHREC that celebrates the cards that are flying under the radar for certain commanders.

Today, we are looking for hidden gems for a commander that has powered its way into not only being the top commander for its creature type, but also the top commander for its color identity of mono-white. Of course, I am talking about the Angel Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope.

As a reminder, in order for a card to be considered a Hidden Gem, it can only appear in 15 percent or less of Giada’s decks on EDHREC. Before we get into our list, let’s first look at what this commander actually does.

The Commander

I have a neighbor who is getting into Magic: The Gathering and Commander. He has bought precons in the past, but he’s at the point where he is brewing his own Commander decks. When I asked him what he was thinking about brewing, he told me he was going to put together an Angels deck.

I asked if he was building around Giada, and he was surprised that I was able to guess who his commander was going to be. From the outside looking in, this is an impressive guess, but most Commander players would’ve made it. Yes, Giada is the most popular Angels commander, but it’s also far and away the best in class for this theme.

Giada is a 2/2 Angel with flying and vigilance for two mana. It can tap for one mana if we are using that mana to cast an Angel spell. Every time we have an Angel enter the battlefield, it gets a +1/+1 counter for every Angel that was already on the battlefield.

This is incredibly powerful for multiple reasons. First, this is a two mana commander that produces mana in a typal strategy that plays a lot of higher mana value creatures. We have an early turn play consistently and can guarantee ourselves a ramp spell every game. The replacement effect that adds +1/+1 counters gives us the roadmap for what the rest of the deck should look like because it’s the kind of ability we can build a winning strategy around.

Finally, as a flying, vigilant creature, we can attack for chip damage early and often with our commander to whittle down life totals and make it easier to close things out later on.

While other commanders like Kaalia of the VastKaalia of the Vast or Sigarda, Font of BlessingsSigarda, Font of Blessings offer more colors and options, they simply can’t match the value that Giada brings to the table. If Wizards of the Coast decided to print an absolutely broken mono-white legendary Angel for Commander in the future, odds are people would simply put it in the 99 of Giada instead of building it as its own deck.

It’s always a bit more of a challenge to find hidden gems for typal decks because so many of their best cards are obvious inclusions. I don’t have to tell you that you should play something like Inspiring OverseerInspiring Overseer as an early turn Angel to draw a card and get the engine rolling, as 55 percent of Giada decks have already figured this out. But there are always cards that deserve recognition nonetheless. We start with an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention: Sword of Hearth and HomeSword of Hearth and Home (5.2%)

Sword of Hearth and HomeSword of Hearth and Home is a universally powerful card for nearly every Commander deck, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Equipping the artifact onto a creature gives it +2/+2 and protection from green and white. This would keep our commander safe from Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares and Beast WithinBeast Within, both of which are in the top ten most popular cards in the entire format.

When we deal combat damage, we can tutor up a basic land and blink one of our creatures. The land will help us get to our bigger Angels faster, and blinking Angels in Giada decks is a mechanic that really deserves more attention than it gets. Taking our early turn Angels with one or two counters and resetting them to five or more counters is a great way to buff our board while also capitalizing on enter the battlefield effects some Angels have, like Angel of the RuinsAngel of the Ruins.

Hidden Gems for Giada, Font of Hope

#10. Starfield ShepherdStarfield Shepherd (14.8%)

We’re not going to play Starfield ShepherdStarfield Shepherd because it’s flashy, but because it can smooth out our turns. Being able to cast it early for its warp cost is great to either get our land drop or a one mana creature. Giada decks are known to run creatures like Mother of RunesMother of Runes and Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel. A lot of lists will even play Serra AscendantSerra Ascendant. Being able to use this tutor twice is great for a Giada deck as it really keeps our options open without feeling like an overpowered toolbox card.

#9. Heraldic BannerHeraldic Banner (14.0%)

Let’s talk about mana curve theory in Commander. Typically, we don’t want to play a lot of cards at the same mana value as our commander unless they are incredibly strong. This is because our dedicated turn that we would have that amount of mana is already accounted for. While some players can get very strict with this rule, I see it as more of an opportunity for our deck. Heraldic BannerHeraldic Banner is a mana rock for three mana that gives all of our white creatures +1/+0. Since we are already playing Giada on turn two and a lot of our best Angels cost at least five mana, these kinds of anthem mana rocks are a nice turn three play with one mana left over to hold up something like Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares. Getting both a ramp spell and an anthem on curve is the type of card we should look into. 

#8. Tome of LegendsTome of Legends (9.0%)

It can be difficult to find a good card advantage engine in mono-white. We don’t want to play a lot of symmetrical card draw spells like Cut a DealCut a Deal, because we're likely to be the problem as the table. We don't want to give our opponents resources when we are in the lead. Some of the more common options like Mentor of the MeekMentor of the Meek don’t work that well with Angels, so we have to look elsewhere. We could of course add game changers to our deck like The One RingThe One Ring, but they are expensive and attract a lot of attention. So, cards like Tome of LegendsTome of Legends are a great alternative. Since Giada has flying and vigilance, we can usually find one player we can attack safely to keep adding page counters. At that point, the card would read, "Pay one mana, draw a card. Activate only once each rotation." It consistently lets us draw an extra card, but it isn’t impactful enough for our opponents to justify using a removal spell on it. That is the sweet spot.

#7. Angelic Sell-SwordAngelic Sell-Sword (7.4%)

You might’ve watched EDHRECast’s episode "Every Commander's Most UNDERRATED Card," which I had a part in. We covered Angelic Sell-Sword in that video, and I still stand by it now. Every time a nontoken creature enters, we make a 1/1 Mercenary creature token, and when Angelic Sell-SwordAngelic Sell-Sword attacks, we draw a card if its power is six or greater. Thanks to Giada, it’s pretty easy to guarantee that’s always going to be the case since we can add +1/+1 counters when it enters. Once we get the counters, this card is simply a value engine that we can attack with.

#6. Angel of CondemnationAngel of Condemnation (6.6%)

Like Sword of Hearth and HomeSword of Hearth and Home, we like adding a bit of a blink package to our deck to help reset our Angels’ counters. Angel of CondemnationAngel of Condemnation is a great card for this. As a 3/3 flying, vigilant creature, we can both attack and activate its ability. For three mana, we can exile a creature and return it to play on our end step. Note that we can exile any creature, not just ours. We can blink a flying blocker to get it out of the way or perhaps a Voltron commander to detach all of the equipment and auras attached to it. Since it can work on multiple levels, these are the kind of cards we want to add to our deck.

#5. Your Temple Is Under AttackYour Temple Is Under Attack (5.5%)

While symmetrical card draw isn’t my favorite when we’re playing a deck where we’re going to be perceived as the threat, I’m willing to make an exception for Your Temple Is Under AttackYour Temple Is Under Attack. Being able to either draw two cards at instant speed or give all of our creatures indestructible for a turn is nice, as players are going to try to wipe the board as often as they can. It’s not the most exciting card, but we like versatile cards in this series.

#4. Mistveil PlainsMistveil Plains (5.5%)

White does have some cards for graveyard recursion, but there’s a good chance we won’t draw into them every game based on how the average Giada list is constructed. Mistveil PlainsMistveil Plains gives us a chance to get some of our better creatures back into our deck. Once they are back in the deck, we can tutor them up or potentially draw into them on a later turn. Since this effect is tied to a land, the opportunity cost to play this card is practically zero.

#3. Everything Comes to DustEverything Comes to Dust (5.1%)

Board wipes are an essential part of Commander. There will come a time in most games when things would be far better for us if we simply wiped the board clean and everyone had to start over. What’s better than a fresh start for everyone, though, is a fresh start for just our opponents. Everything Comes to DustEverything Comes to Dust is a high mana value board wipe at a whopping ten mana, but it also has convoke, so we can use our creatures to pay for some of the cost. When we convoke it with our Angels, it adds a layer of protection to our team. Everything Comes to Dust exiles all artifacts, enchantments, and creatures. The only exception is creatures that share a creature type with a creature that convoked to cast the spell. Some Angels see play in Commander outside of Angel typal decks, but there aren't a lot of Angels that are generic staples in Commander, so it’s going to be more effective in our Angel deck than it would be in a Human or Elf typal deck.

#2. Pyre of HeroesPyre of Heroes (2.4%)

Let’s add some consistency to our deck. Angels have a lot of really strong effects, but their utility can be more sporadic than other creature types. One game Angel of JubilationAngel of Jubilation is a silver bullet keeping an opponent stuck in place. The next game it’s an overcosted anthem effect. Pyre of HeroesPyre of Heroes allows us to sacrifice one of our Angels to tutor up another Angel from our deck directly onto the battlefield that costs one mana more. This can turn a good Angel into a great one, or we can work our way toward our best Angels like Avacyn, Angel of HopeAvacyn, Angel of Hope.

#1. Flock ImpostorFlock Impostor (0.4%)

Our final Hidden Gem for Giada will typically work better in decks that are taking advantage of enter the battlefield effects, but it is a nice inclusion even if that isn’t the case. To start, this is a three-mana Changeling that counts as an Angel and has flash. When it enters, we may return a creature we control to its owner’s hand. We can use this to return one of our smaller creatures to our hand so we can recast it and likely give it even more counters than it had before.

We can also play this earlier than other Angels to get our Angel count higher. Defensively speaking, we can bounce an important Angel back to our hand that we were about to lose to spot removal or a board wipe. It’s a simple effect with plenty of options. It deserves more play than 0.4% of Giada decks.

Wrapping Up

And that’s our list of Hidden Gems for Giada. While I’m not a huge fan of dominant strategy commanders for typal decks, I do enjoy a good Giada list. Of course, this isn’t the bottom of the gem mine, and I’m sure there are plenty of cards you love playing in your own lists. Share your favorite Hidden Gem for Giada in the comments below. We are here for good vibes and great cards. Until next time, happy brewing!