Angels are the iconic creature of , representing the purity and order core to the color since Alpha. And since Alpha, they've come with flying in nearly every Angel printed. They tend to pair that keyword with either vigilance or lifelink, with more expensive Angels getting all three.

There are also some Angels that have other -aligned keywords such as indestructible or the ability to exile opponents' permanents.

They primarily occupy the niche of having a mid-ranged cost with comparable stats, though more powerful archangels and notable characters tend to be stronger performers. Their value for their cost is often quite good and they have enough support with other creature types to be fielded consistently throughout the game.

Though firmly tied to , "corrupted" or "fallen" Angels may appear as or depending on the circumstances surrounding their fall. There are also some that splash into or , though these are less common.

There are also multiple Angels representing a shield-maiden or valkyrie archetype. Or in some cases, wielders of "righteous fury" that focus on smiting enemies. As would be expected of , these Angels tend to be much more aggressive and trade keywords like lifelink in favor of haste or first strike.

Angels Support Angels

Being the iconic creature of , Angels really have the ability to do anything white can. That's token generation, life gain, indestructability, permanent exiling, and ensuring a great defense. And due to how common they are across Magic's planes, there are a wide variety of Angels available to field in a deck.

Of the available Angels, most of them either directly scale with how many Angels you already have on the board or synergize with Angel abilities such as gaining life. Some even act to lower the cost of your other Angels or provide power and toughness bonuses.

It's therefore quite reasonable to make an entire deck of nothing but Angels, all of which build off of one another and enhance the strength of every other creature in your deck.

There's more to Angel support than just other Angels, though.

The Human Element

Humans have quite a bit of support for Angels, most notably in Human Clerics. This support is quite often one-way, with Humans or Clerics making Angels cheaper or gaining life that is then enhanced by an Angel's effect. There are two-way support streams, but primarily Clerics function as a support to the Angels.

That being said, Angels love creating and supporting Human Soldiers and Knights. These don't typically support Angels directly with abilities, but allow for a larger board state and takes pressure off acting directly with Angels.

Soldiers and Knights also tend to synergize with one another as well as Humans as a whole, meaning they can operate quite easily as a subtheme within an Angel deck.

The Best Defense

Angels tend to have equal power and toughness or a slightly higher toughness along with vigilance and flying. This means that they can defend against most creatures even if they attack and are able to survive blocking even mid-range creatures.

And that's before Angels start improving the stats of their fellow Angels.

It's quite easy to play defensively with Angels, given they're cheap and common enough to play multiple of while having enough weight behind them that they can actually defend you. Coupled with their token generation and in-built stat increases, Angels are capable of applying pressure while simultaneously keeping you safe.

In the case of targeted removal, has instants that can protect your creatures. And all of the lifegain Angels have access to means that, should your defenses be breached, you won't have to worry about that any time soon.

Play by the Rules

The typical Angel expects you to play in accordance with a game plan. It expects you to gain life, create many creature tokens, and to have a force of strong Angels leading your board. That's why so many Angels enhance how much life you gain, give a bonus to your creature tokens, or encourage big attacks with a group of fliers.

That means that in order to do anything other than assembling a large, defensive force with an orientation on gaining life, you'll need to purposely push the bounds of what Angels can do.

Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice is a great example of this, where her ability to proliferate is not oriented around the standard Angel playbook. Certainly, +1/+1 counters are common to the creature type, but Atraxa as a creature, let alone a commander, is frequently geared towards poison counters. Or even -1/-1 counters!

There are odd and unusual Angels, but the vast majority of them support a playstyle conducive to 's strengths. In order to allow for strategies more aligned with other colors, Angels need external assistance.

Weak to Green

Green hates flying creatures. Not only with the reach keyword, but also with anti-flying removal. 's mana production outpaces the cost reductions of Angel support cards, meaning they can build a board faster than an Angel deck can.

Green creatures tend to have the trample keyword, which negates the advantage of token generation as a means to block powerful creatures with a single 1/1.

Angels won't always lose against such decks. is just in the prime position to respond to all of Angels' greatest strengths. That said, the lifegain an Angel deck can produce often exceeds the damage a midrange deck can.

And rarely has removal that doesn't involve damage or destruction, meaning the indestructible keyword acts as an effective protector.

is a threat that Angel decks need to be aware of, rather than something they are unable to play around.

Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope

Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope is the fifteenth most played commander at the time of this guide's writing.

As a 2/2 with flying and vigilance, Giada is already valuable enough to play for . However, she isn't intended to be a commander that swings from the front.

Every other Angel you control enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each other Angel you control, meaning at minimum your Angels are entering the battlefield with a single +1/+1 counter from Giada. This applies to all of your Angels, so Angel token generation quickly spirals out of control.

And Giada's ability to add to cast Angel spells means you'll be able to fill your board even faster.

Giada is a fantastic support piece for Angel typal decks and is a lethal commander in terms of efficiency.

Shilgengar, Sire of FamineShilgengar, Sire of Famine

Shilgengar, Sire of FamineShilgengar, Sire of Famine is a 6/6 with flying that can sacrifice another creature to create a Blood token. If that sacrificed creature was an Angel, you create a number of Blood tokens equal to its toughness instead.

You can then spend and sacrifice six Blood tokens to return every creature in your graveyard to the field with a finality token as a Vampire.

Shilgengar works best in a deck marrying Angels and Vampires, given Blood tokens are intrinsically tied to the Vampire creature type. Multiple different Vampires benefit from and create Blood tokens, which in turn can be used to fuel Shilgengar's ability.

Both Angels and Vampires often have lifelink, and while Angels often benefit from flying and vigilance it's Vampires that can dip into keywords such as deathtouch.

There are certainly synergies present in a multi-type deck, but every card that supports Vampires or Blood tokens is a card that isn't supporting Angels directly. If Shilgengar is in an Angel-only deck, it has to be willing to sacrifice its more powerful Angels to get Blood tokens and then set up a Shilgengar activation to take out an opponent in a flying strike.

Kaalia of the VastKaalia of the Vast

Whenever Kaalia of the VastKaalia of the Vast attacks an opponent, you may put an Angel, Demon, or Dragon creature card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking that opponent.

This allows you to cheat out high-costed creatures for free and attack with them instantly, even if they don't have haste. This is weakest with Angels of the three creature types listed, as they most often have vigilance and don't have as many abilities that trigger upon dealing damage.

However, being able to play Archangel of ThuneArchangel of Thune for free and then rapidly building your creatures' powers mid-attack can win games.

Sigarda, Font of BlessingsSigarda, Font of Blessings

Despite being a flying 4/4, Sigarda, Font of BlessingsSigarda, Font of Blessings is firmly a support and utility commander. All other permanents you control gain hexproof, rendering them unable to be targeted by a significant amount of threats such as removal. On top of that, you may look at the top card of your deck and cast Angel or Human spells from it.

This effectively increases the size of your hand by one, given how internally synergistic Angels are and how many Humans support Angels. You will almost always want to play an Angel or Human you have access to, meaning any time one is revealed is useful for you.

This also allows effects such as scry or surveil to "choose" a card and add it to your hand, though these are less common to than other colors.

Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice

Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice is the third most-played commander at the time of this guide's writing, though not for being an Angel typal commander.

A four-mana 4/4, Atraxa comes with a host of keywords: flying, vigilance, deathtouch, and lifelink. But the star of this is its ability to proliferate at the beginning of your end step, adding additional counters to players or permanents. This was designed around and synergizes with poison counters, but it also works for +1/+1 counters. As such, Atraxa being an Angel that enhances your +1/+1 counters actually works quite well to support the traditional Angel strategy.

It's just that there are more efficient uses of a free proliferate trigger.

Liesa, Shroud of DuskLiesa, Shroud of Dusk

Liesa, Shroud of DuskLiesa, Shroud of Dusk is unique as a commander in that instead of being subject to a commander tax and increasing its cost by each time you cast it from the command zone, you pay two life that many times.

Which, in an Angel deck, really is not a problem!

Liesa is a 5/5 with flying and lifelink, meaning if it deals damage it instantly pays for its commander tax for a cast and a half. The main draw of Liesa, though, is that whenever a player casts a spell, they lose two life. This stacks multiple times per turn and also effects you, but it's a great tax to apply to the table in order to curtail combo engines or ward off a turn of big plays.

And with the fact that you can gain life to offset Liesa's commander tax, even if Liesa is destroyed you can always cast it again.

Gisela, Blade of GoldnightGisela, Blade of Goldnight

Gisela, Blade of GoldnightGisela, Blade of Goldnight is a 5/5 with flying and first strike that doubles damage dealt to opponents and their permanents while halving damage dealt to you and your permanents.

This is expensive, as isn't trivial for a red and white deck - particularly if Gisela needs to be cast a second or third time, making it even more expensive. But it has a soft protection in halving damage dealt to it while doubling your offensive capabilities.

Gisela is particularly strong in a Spellslinger deck oriented around instants and sorceries intended to ping consistent damage through cards like Lightning BoltLightning Bolt.

Aurelia, the WarleaderAurelia, the Warleader

Aurelia, the WarleaderAurelia, the Warleader grants an additional combat phase after the first time she attacks. And with haste, this means this can happen the turn it enters the field.

Combined with how easy it is to gather a host of flying Angels supplemented with +1/+1 counters, this can allow you to either double up an attack on a single opponent or spread damage out. And depending on if they lack flying or reach for their creatures, they might not even be able to defend!

Aurelia expects you to attack often and aggressively, meaning it likely won't be able to take advantage of late-game Angel swarms piled with counters.

Gisela, the Broken BladeGisela, the Broken Blade // Bruna, the Fading LightBruna, the Fading Light

Gisela, the Broken BladeGisela, the Broken Blade melds with Bruna, the Fading LightBruna, the Fading Light. This means that at the beginning of your end step, if you control both of them, they get exiled, then meld into Brisela, Voice of NightmaresBrisela, Voice of Nightmares.

On their own, Gisela is a 4/3 with flying, first strike, and lifelike while Bruna is a 5/7 with flying and vigilance. But casting Bruna allows you to return an Angel or a Human from your graveyard to the battlefield, allowing you to return Gisela to the field if it was destroyed or discarded.

Brisela, Voice of NightmaresBrisela, Voice of Nightmares is a 9/10 with multiple keywords and a complete embargo on your opponents casting spells with mana value three or less. That's MurderMurder, Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares, OptOpt, and many others. And Brisela is still an Angel despite being Eldrazi, which means it still benefits from your other Angel support cards.

Youthful ValkyrieYouthful Valkyrie

Youthful ValkyrieYouthful Valkyrie is a flying 1/3 that scales in power and toughness the more Angels you play; it gains a +1/+1 counter for every Angel that enters the battlefield under your control.

As a cheap, early-game option this means that Youthful Valkyrie can be cast early and just build over time as you construct a force of Angels. This then doubles the effectiveness of other Angels that grant +1/+1 counters upon an Angel entering the battlefield, meaning they then increase in value individually.

Archangel of ThuneArchangel of Thune

Archangel of ThuneArchangel of Thune allows you to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control each time you gain life. Its stats, its keywords, even its cost all fade away by comparison.

Any time you gain life from a creature with lifelink dealing damage, or any creature entering the battlefield while you have a Soul WardenSoul Warden, will immediately and repeatedly makes every one of your creatures stronger. This can happen multiple times per turn; it can even happen on opponents' turns.

The Book of Exalted DeedsThe Book of Exalted Deeds

The Book of Exalted DeedsThe Book of Exalted Deeds creates a 3/3 Angel at the beginning of your end step if you gained three or more life that turn. You can also pay and exile this artifact to give any Angel the ability of Platinum AngelPlatinum Angel.

While certainly powerful, the activated ability isn't the main draw of the Book of Exalted Deeds. The ability to consistently produce Angels, given how easy it is to gain three life per turn, is where most of its concrete value lies. The Book is fairly cheap and can be played early in the game, producing a good number of tokens over time. Then you can exile it as an emergency option, though only at sorcery speed, should the need arise.

Oketra's MonumentOketra's Monument

Oketra's MonumentOketra's Monument reduces the cost of your white creature spells by , which includes most of your Angels. It also creatures a 1/1 Warrior with vigilance every time you cast a creature spell.

While Angels don't have significant synergy with Warriors specifically, white creature token generation aligns with the strengths of Angels, regardless of their creature type. Many Angels give +1/+1 counters to all of your creatures or apply a static +1/+1 bonus, meaning any token generation will be powerful.

Moonsilver SpearMoonsilver Spear

Moonsilver SpearMoonsilver Spear gives an equipped creature first strike and creates a 4/4 Angel with flying every time that creature attacks.

Outside of some exceptions, Angels don't normally have first strike. This artifact can give flat value from granting a keyword to one of your other Angels such as Sephara, Sky's BladeSephara, Sky's Blade, even if it is quite expensive to equip.

The consistent token generation of creating more Angels also allows your creatures without vigilance to be able to attack without leaving you unguarded.

Rampage of the ValkyriesRampage of the Valkyries

Rampage of the ValkyriesRampage of the Valkyries immediately creates a 4/4 Angel with flying and vigilance when it enters, then makes it so that any time one of your Angels dies, each other player must sacrifice a creature.

This is a useful deterrent to your opponents targeting your Angels no matter your strategy, though it becomes much more aggressive if creating many Angel tokens. With more tokens, they can be used to block attackers and die intentionally, forcing opponents to sacrifice their creatures.

Alternatively, they make for a great source of self-sacrifice and grant a secondary benefit.

Court of GraceCourt of Grace

Court of GraceCourt of Grace immediately makes you the monarch on entry and then creates a creature token for you at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. This is a 1/1 Spirit with flying normally, though if your retain the monarch it's a 4/4 Angel with flying instead.

Angel token production is core to the Angel strategy, and this is just one more means of achieving that. What makes it more unique is it making the monarch, which allows you to draw a card at your end step.

However, should any opponent deal combat damage to you, that opponent becomes the monarch. So not only does this enchantment assist in rote token generation, it also enhances your card draw while giving the means to maintain it.

Angelic AccordAngelic Accord

Angelic AccordAngelic Accord creates a 4/4 Angel with flying at the beginning of each end step if you gained four or more life that turn.

This triggers each end step, meaning any out-of-turn ability to gain life, such as defending with a creature with lifelink or triggering creatures' abilities that gain life, will count. Four life per turn is easy to achieve each of your turns, and your ability to hit it on your opponents' turns is dependent on your hand and board state.

Anguished UnmakingAnguished Unmaking

Anguished UnmakingAnguished Unmaking costs life to exile a nonland permanent. The life loss is of minimal cost given how trivial it is for Angels to gain life, which means this is effectively a three-mana exiling instant. That's value!

Boros CharmBoros Charm

With just how many Angels are , Boros CharmBoros Charm is a consistent inclusion. Not only is it cheap, but it's flexible.

It can deal damage to a player or planeswalker, grant indestructible to your permanents for a turn, or give a creature double strike for a turn. Reflexive indestructibility is fantastic and most Angels don't get access to double strike, which gives this Charm a range of use-cases even outside of direct damage.

Normally it won't be used to ping an opponent for four, unless that would defeat the opponent, given how much flying pressure Angels can provide. But it is incredibly useful at taking out a troublesome planeswalker, or at least reducing their loyalty counters.

Austere CommandAustere Command

Austere CommandAustere Command gives you the choice to destroy two of the following:

• Artifacts
• Enchantments
• Creatures with mana value three or lower
• Creatures with mana value three or greater

Angels don't have many in-built abilities to remove artifacts or enchantments even if can remove a number of permanents, so those are both fine options.

Taking out all creatures oftentimes isn't a bad option either. Angels have multiple means of providing indestructability to their creatures, meaning they would avoid destruction. This can allow an oppressive followup should you already have a base of Angels able to attack.

Serra the BenevolentSerra the Benevolent

Serra the BenevolentSerra the Benevolent boosts up your creatures, gives the ability to make more, and then makes it so you can't lose the game by damage so long as you have a creature.

Increasing Serra's loyalty counters by two for a +1/+1 across creatures with flying isn't bad given how many creatures with flying you'll be fielding, but it also isn't that great. It does offset the loss of loyalty counters to create a 4/4 Angel with flying and vigilance, which means you can rotate between those options at your leisure.

The final option is to gain an emblem that protects you from losing the game as a result of taking damage so long as you have a creature. This doesn't protect from alternative win conditions such as poison counters or even commander damage, but it can allow you to completely nullify entire strategies.

Elspeth ResplendentElspeth Resplendent

Elspeth ResplendentElspeth Resplendent focuses primarily on individual assistance to your creatures and then gives you a sweeping finale with its final ability.

By gaining a loyalty counter you can put a +1/+1 counter on a creature alongside a flying, first strike, lifelink, or vigilance counter, which allows your non-Angels to keep up and your Angels to level their keywords.

Elspeth can also look at the top seven cards of your library and put a permanent with a mana value of three or less on the field with a shield counter, which is an extra layer of protection even if it's not something expensive.

The final ability creates five 3/3 Angels with flying, which is a bit underwhelming in comparison to some of the other Angel token generation out there, but when built up with Elspeth's other abilities is still a viable option.

Archangel ElspethArchangel Elspeth

Archangel ElspethArchangel Elspeth can create tokens for you, convert them into Angels, and reclaim the majority of your graveyard.

This Elspeth gains loyalty counters by creating a 1/1 Soldier with lifelink. It can then put two +1/+1 counters on a creature and give it both flying as well as the Angel creature type. Then Elspeth can return all nonland permanents with mana value three of less from your graveyard to the battlefield.

The loop is usually that Elspeth creates a 1/1 Soldier with lifelink, converts it into a 3/3 Angel Soldier with flying and lifelink, and if you have enough creatures you can build up towards reclaiming your graveyard.

This Elspeth mostly makes existing Angel strategies more efficient, rather than augmenting them.

Vault of the ArchangelVault of the Archangel

Vault of the ArchangelVault of the Archangel gives your creatures the ability to gain deathtouch and lifelink. While many Angels natively have lifelink, not all do. Particularly Angel tokens, which possess flying and less commonly get vigilance.

This not only makes your tokens more dangerous, but it also allows you to surge in life after a large attack. This synergizes with any effect that is reliant on a life total being above a certain threshold or anything that triggers off of gaining life.

Emeria, the Sky RuinEmeria, the Sky Ruin

Emeria, the Sky RuinEmeria, the Sky Ruin taps for and allows you to return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield if you control seven or more Plains at your upkeep. With how firmly entrenched in Angels are, even those dipping into other colors, that will happen naturally and readily.

Angels tend to focus on either building "tall" or building "wide."

"Tall" Angel decks prioritize +1/+1 counters, life-dependent power and toughness increases, and certain keystone Angels to enhance even further. These are often non-Angel cards that nevertheless synergize well with Angels' strengths, such as Heliod, Sun-CrownedHeliod, Sun-Crowned. Heliod might be paired with Rodolf DuskbringerRodolf Duskbringer and Liesa, Forgotten ArchangelLiesa, Forgotten Archangel to have a small, easily-protected force of creatures that are a massive threat if left to grow unchecked.

"Wide" Angel decks focus on token generation. Lyra DawnbringerLyra Dawnbringer gives a small buff to all of your Angels that gets more powerful the more you have. Archangel of ThuneArchangel of Thune functions similarly. Valkyrie HarbingerValkyrie Harbinger creates more Angels that can then be augmented and supported by other cards in the deck.

These decks want to get many creatures on the board that they can then increase in power and attack en masse, with no individual creature being a linchpin.

Angels have a few means of alternative win conditions, though these are less reliant on building an entire deck of Angels around a non-traditional strategy and more so including a select few cards.

Angel of DestinyAngel of Destiny causes any damage your creatures deal to a player to cause you and them to gain that much life. At the beginning of your end step, if you have at least fifteen life more than your starting total, each player Angel of Destiny attacked this turn loses the game.

Paired with a commander like Aurelia, the WarleaderAurelia, the Warleader, you can attack with Angel of Destiny and then have Aurelia grant a second combat where you attack a different opponent.

With just those two creatures and no bonuses to their power, that would be seven damage on the first swing which would be converted into life gained for you followed by another seven life on the second swing. That means that so long as you were already one life above your starting life total, you can take out half of your opponents in a turn.

Avacyn, Angel of HopeAvacyn, Angel of Hope paired with a board wipe such as JokulhaupsJokulhaups destroys the existing board state while sparing your now indestructible permanents. Platinum AngelPlatinum Angel decides that you are unable to lose the game, for a time. Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice allows you to focus on Phyrexian Angels and poison counters, or even counter-based alternative win conditions such as Azor's ElocutorsAzor's Elocutors and Simic AscendancySimic Ascendancy.

Angels have the ability to support a solid, traditional style of play while giving flexibility into more alternative offshoots. And given how core they are to Magic, that will only continue to develop over time!