Monday Magic - Avacyn Revised

Over the weekend, I had a few opportunities to test the Avacyn-centric deck I discussed last week.  The biggest problem I encountered was not too unexpected: it's just too damn slow.  Far too often I found myself sitting on 4 or 5 lands and still being unable to play the cards in my hand, or I'd draw a decent number of angels and lands, but not get any early creatures to keep me alive.  Either way, it's a clear problem with the speed of the deck.

(To be fair, against one deck I got smacked around because my opponent hit my angels (from Entreat the Angels) with a Detention Sphere.  The Mystical Tutor into Entreat the Angels combo worked really well otherwise.)

I think there are a few changes that need to be made:

First, the Eldrazi Conscription win condition isn't worth the gamble.  If I can survive to 8 mana, it's certainly a beast to get on the board, but I haven't been able to survive that long.  The combo with Bruna is powerful, but I don't have enough copies of either to make it a decent bet.  Sitting on Conscription instead of another 4-or-less drop creature just isn't worth it.

Second, Champion of the Parish fits much more naturally in an aggressive deck, so it's probably worth exchanging him for something a little more appropriate for stalling.  Some cheap walls would likely be a good replacement.  Removing some Humans makes Angel of Glory's Rise somewhat less effective, so a cheaper alternative would be good.

Generally, more removal options would be better, too, so a few more Counterspells or Vapor Snags might be worthwhile.

Here's the (slightly) modified version:

Creature:
3 Doomed Traveler
2 Pride Guardian
2 Konda's Hatamoto
2 Tandem Lookout
2 Restoration Angel
2 Seraph of Dawn
1 Guardian of the Gateless
1 Angelic Skirmisher
2 Sunblast Angel
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope

Instant:
2 Mystical Tutor
2 Turn Aside
4 Vapor Snag
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak

Sorcery:
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Temporal Mastery

Enchantment:
1 Detention Sphere
1 Angelic Destiny
1 Call to the Kindred

Land:
9 Island
12 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
2 Terramorphic Expanse

There's still some tweaking to be done, of course.  I'll need to play a few more matches to decide on other changes, but I think it's becoming something fearsome...

Or maybe not.  I guess we'll see upon the next iteration.