Main Deck ( 60 cards)

Sideboard ( 15 cards)

Deck Description

Why I built the deck: I wanted to see how strong Combat Celebrant was if a deck was focussed on his exert ability. I first tried to combo with Glorious End / Gideon of the Trials, but I found out that the real strength was that it allowed other Exert creatures to use their Exert twice. More often than not, Exert adds something powerful to a creature, since the creature gets punished by not untapping next turn. As my deck evolved, Combat Celebrant isn't really the main focus anymore. He still is a valuable addition (especially if you can get 2 on the board and a Glorybringer in hand), but by no means is Combat Celebrant needed to win and I would even say he is one of the lesser important cards of the deck. The deck obviously focusses on Exert creatures and gives a few different win conditions: - Chandra can win you the game on her own with her ultimate - Resolute survivors deal damage for every exerted creature. If you have 2 or 3 on the field, it adds up - Glorybringer can change the game on his own for you - Combat Celebrant with an extra attack can either untap all your creatures or let you have a second go, with another exert from all creatures. The removal should be able to deal with most of the opponent's threats. However, there is always the sideboard if the creatures are too big to remove. Bring in soul-scar mage to turn the damage into -1/-1 counters. Also good for indestructible creatures. Play Leave // Chance against decks with Hour of Devastation or Fumigate, to save your creatures from a horrible death. The Mirage Mirror in this deck is great. Not only can he copy whichever creature has the most powerful exert ability this turn (or just be a resolute survivor to get an extra dmg for all exerting creatures), but he can also copy opponent's creatures to block and remove big threats. Opponents might overlook this the first time, since the card is relatively unknown. Because of the different threats, your opponent needs to focus on a lot and use his removal spells pretty fast, giving you a good chance to get a Chandra or Glorybringer safely on the board and take control.

How to Play

I normally either want a Glory-bound initiate or a Bloodlust Inciter together with another threat in my hand, and of course mana from both colors. This gives me the opportunity to have an agressive start. This normally means Chandra and Glorybringer can bring home the win. Don't underestimate Inciter here. You can immediately give all your creatures haste and since all Exert abilities add something different to the board, your opponent has to keep figuring out what the main threat is and how he should adapt to the board state.



If I cannot play agressive, I would need a Glorybringer and Chandra with at least 3 lands (2 red) in my hand. This would give me a good opportunity to take control at turn 4/5. Ideally, I would also have a Mirror on the board at turn 3, so I can immediately copy Glorybringer in turn 5, using Chandra's mana ability. I would consider mulliganing a hand with 2 Resolute survivors and a Combat Celebrant, as these cards are not agressive enough and would still need a Glorybringer to bring home the win. However, the hand should be good enough to take you to the mid game, if you have some removal in hand.



I play very agressive and might exert my Initiates even with no creatures available to block. As long as I can attack every turn, I'm comfortable, if not, the lifelink from Initiate's exert really can be a difference as it buys you a few extra turns.



If it goes into mid game, I like to have a mirror on the board. This is another opportunity to have a creature I cast immediately active, by copying it with Mirror.



Sideboarding:

Against a lot of small creatures with no real main threats I probably keep Harnessed lightning in (kill plus extra energy for Aether Hub if needed), maybe also Cast out as it has cycling and is more versatile. Furthermore, I would add Steward of Solidarity to make sure you can produce some more creatures as well. I would aim for being agressive enough to kill before the opponent's army goes wide.



Against Zombies I might need more removal, meaning Farm to Market can be sideboarded in for Celebrant, as his ability isn't great if the opponent has a wide army.



Not a lot of experience against Control or Vehicles. For Vehicles, obviously Abrade is important and I might need another Abrade in the sideboard instead of a Farm to Market. For Control, Speed is of the essence. Try to get an Initiate on the board and sideboard in the cheap creatures for removal so you can put a lot of pressure on your opponent and make him choose to either use removal/counter on cheap creatures or run with a cheap army. At some point, he has to deal with the cheaper targets, which is when you can go for the kill and bring the Glorybringer or Chandra.