Dual Brews III: Fallen Angel

Welcome back to The Dual Brews, a series where we shine a light on Old School Magic: The Gathering cards that never quite made it out of the binder. Along the way, we might uncover a hidden gem—or more likely, just confirm why these cards were forgotten in the first place. Either way, Bjorn and Johan are up for the challenge. In each episode, they independently brew a “budget” deck (by Old School standards) built around a single, underappreciated card.

Last time we explored the card Enchantment Alteration (link here, thank you for all the feedback), now we are taking a closer look at Fallen Angel.

Bjorn’s take on Fallen Angel

When we were talking about a new card to pick, Johan suggested we take a black card, and then just go on with every color of the color wheel. That seems as good as any way to organize this series of articles, so black it was. After some options, we decided on Fallen Angel. This is one of those cards where the rules text has not changed that much. 

Currently, the rules text reads: Flying - Sacrifice a creature: This creature gets +2/+1 until end of turn.

So. pretty straightforward, then. We need creatures to feed to the angel, and have the Angel beat our opponent. My first inclination would be to take out one of the decks I actually played the Fallen Angel in in a tournament, but since that deck is loaded with expensive cards like power, I toned it down a bit. But I simply could not resist the pull of 2 other cards that I love to play that seem to be made to work together with this Angel. 

I mean, do I even need to explain? Tetravus turns into more creatures, which you can both feed to the Fallen Angel, and the Hell’s caretaker to get more of them. Is it really that simple? Well, no, not really. Since all of these cards have a really big bull’s eye on their forehead, and all of them take quite a lot of time to get in play. So, when thinking about other colors to combine with these lovely creatures, it would have to be green. Green has small creatures that give mana, which ramps up the engine, and when they are no longer needed, you can sacrifice them to the Angel. This deck kind of builds itself. 

Since people will want to kill all of these creatures, we will need something to make sure that does not happen. At least, not too soon. So, let’s add some spell blasts, just in case. If you do not want a list with 12 duallands, you can also forgo the Spell Blast and go for Avoid Fate. This is not as good, but good enough in most situations, since bolt, disenchant and swords to plowshares will be the cards you want to counter most. I also added a Hypnotic Specter, since they’re just very good, and they will draw the creature kill cards so your angel has a better chance. 

Since this deck wants to kill its opponent with a big Fallen Angel, you do not want a Maze of Ith on the other side, so I added some Ice Storms to take care of that. Icy and other artifacts are taken care of by some crumbles. Some carddraw and utilities that are really good but don’t break the bank fill out the rest of the deck, and then you end up with this:

Though not tier 1 by a long distance, I am pretty sure you will not go 0-7 on the next tournament if you were to try it. It can both block pretty well if you get the machine engine going which will give you lots of Tetravites. Also, winning with a big, berserked Angel is also a nice option to finish off with. Enjoy!

Johan’s take on Fallen Angel Perhaps Fallen Angel is played more than its predecessors Personal Incarnation (link) and Enchantment Alteration (link), I would argue it is still underplayed. Like the iconic Juggernaut, it suffers from the same glaring weakness: three toughness makes it a very legitimate target for all the Lightning Bolts and Chain Lightnings flying around. That said, any creature with an activated ability that requires no mana deserves closer inspection. At a fundamental level, there are two extreme ways to approach a typical Fallen Angel deck. The first is a creature-heavy build packed with perfect sacrifice fodder. Remember the Kobolds from Legends? It takes very little effort to flood the battlefield with them and quickly turn Fallen Angel into a serious threat.

If not for the Fallen Angel, Ashnod’s Altar and Fireball make good use of the ‘free’ Kobolds.

However, I would like to take a different approach. Unfortunately I fell the victim to an infamous ‘Jeroen’ brew that completely knocked me over, but luckily gave me inspiration for this edition of Dual Brews:

Yes, a mono black deck that dares to gamble on a Kormus Bell to make the Fallen Angel shine even more. Just keep your fingers crossed that your opponent does not cast Triskelion or Earthquakes before getting an opportunity to attack with Fallen Angel. I know that Living Plane can fulfill the same role as Kormus Bell, but at least the latter can be one sided (which is definitely not always beneficial).

With our own set budget constraints in the back of my mind, I have managed to stick to a Mono Black configuration. Red would be the first color I would add, not only the likes of Lightning Bolt and Shatter (and Blood Moon in sideboard), but especially Rukh Egg and Disharmony. Nothing feels better than stealing and sacrificing the stolen goods!

Still in Mono Black, we cannot escape the general good cards. Looking at you, Hypnotic Specter, Demonic Tutor and Mind Twist (not very gentleman like, I admit). To properly put the spotlight on the card at hand, I will include the full four copies of Fallen Angels in the deck. Triskelion can tag along with the creatures in the deck, serving two purposes:

I) Shoot down any opposing Swamps;

II) Deal three damage, then gets devoured by Fallen Angel

All in all, that leads to the following:

This may not be the most radical build, but the mono-black core is powerful enough to support a creative twist. Fallen Angel’s ability inevitably invites comparison to the GOAT of Old School Magic—Atog. While Atog remains the superior card, largely thanks to the abundance of cheap artifacts most decks already play, Fallen Angel’s evasion is the sweet cherry on top. Give it a try—you won’t be disappointed.