Legends Legends - Lady Evangela

Welcome once again to another exciting installment of Legends Legends! We're on a quest to prove that you can build a Commander deck from any legendary creature out there, including and especially 1995's Legends originals. Today, Lady Evangela comes to us to spread the gospel of political fogs. How do we control the table with the threat of preventing combat damage? Let's find out in this Esper EDH!

General Thoughts

Lady Evangela is a rare, three-color legendary creature from Legends. She's a 1/2 that we can tap and pay to prevent all combat damage a target creature would deal this turn. Back in 1995, when creatures ruled the land and were still the most direct path to victory over our opponents, a repeatable fog effect outside of green was probably a stellar effect! These days, it's a little lackluster.

We'll need to hone in on making our opponents attack with creatures, then make those attacks end poorly for them. We'll use our political guile to influence the board into attacking each other, and, when there's no one left standing, seize victory from the ashes of our foes. Part pillow fort, part group hug, part control, this deck splits the difference between these three archetypes for something I think is truly unique!

Goads

Lady Evangela is useless without some attacking creatures to target. Luckily, the goad mechanic gets printed into just about every set these days, so we have a plethora of spells and effects to get this party go(ad)ing! 

The impetuses (Impeti? Impeteses?) form the backbone of our enchantment-based goad effects. This cycle of three-mana Auras are meant for our opponents' creatures, forcing them to attack each combat while also granting us a small benefit. Of these, Psychic Impetus is my favorite: the guaranteed scry 2 each turn really helps us fly through the deck and pick out what we need and when. Ghoulish Impetus is probably the next best since it's just so hard to remove permanently. Once its first target dies, we can move it onto the next scariest thing on the board, keeping us safe and forcing our opponents to deal with whatever frightening haymaker is coming our way.

I like to consider Redemption Arc as a pseudo-Impetus since grants an ability and goads its target, but it also gives us a built-in out for when the enchanted creature has no more opponents left but us. 

Next, we have a whole host of creatures and other permanents that act as a repeatable source for goading our opponents into unfavorable attacks. Alela, Cunning Conqueror is one of the newest goading creatures; while we don't have a whole hell of a lot to cast during our opponents' turns, Alela still counts herself when determining whether or not a Faerie we control did damage to an opponent. 

Besides Alela, we've also got Nettling Nuisance for another repeatable source for goad effects and Faerie Mastermind for all that juicy value he provides. Rankle, Master of Pranks and Brazen Borrower round out our Faeries with a little group sluggishness.

I like Mocking Doppelganger over any other four-mana Clone in Commander. At its very worst, we'll be able to trade it in combat with the original creature that it copies. Better yet, we'll force the creature it copied to attack and then use Lady Evangela's ability to prevent any damage it'd deal. And we're only in the hole for six mana!

Speaking of activated abilities, Maeve, Insidious Singer and The Master, Mesmerist both generate a ton of value all by themselves whenever they goad a creature. Renegade Silent and Sly Instigator also act as once-per-turn goaders with their own slight upsides.

Finally, Coveted Peacock, Oceanus Dragon, and Jeering Homunculus make great simple goad effects for padding out this section. Also, of course, Bloodthirsty Blade. 

Goads?

The goad effect has been present in Magic more-or-less for decades now, only acquiring the keyword and definition with Conspiracy: Take the Crown. Some of those old goad cards are still playable, though, and even fit with the theme of playing with an old Legends Legend!

Courtly Provocateur is an old Innistrad card I've always wanted to find a home for, and this may finally be the deck! Note that forcing a creature to block can have devastating effects as your opponents are forced to throw their creatures at each other willy-nilly.

Shipwreck Singer is another older card with a pre-goad goad effect. Two mana is a bit much to spend on a single goad, especially when we have such consistent access to goads throughout the rest of our library, but its second ability to give attacking creatures -1/-1 can really change the shape of combat when your opponents are already attacking with a host of creatures that they'd rather not be.

Norritt is a weird Imp with some great artwork by Mike Raabe. Besides its ability to untap our Lady Evangela, thus freeing her up for another activation, Norritt also has a pseudo-goad effect that forces a creature to attack that turn, or else it's destroyed. Giving an opponent the choice to destroy their creature rather than lose it in combat is the formula for the prehistoric goad effect. 

Bullwhip pings creatures and forces them into combat that turn for just two mana, making it a good backup plan if we run out of other goading options. Imps' Taunt is useful in the late game when we've used up many of our more reliable goads, or in the early game if we just want to force someone's Blood Artist into combat.

Finally, we've got a really weird one from Tempest. Magnetic Web is a card I'd never seen before starting this deck, and it's got my mind whirling. We can save a ton of our goads each turn by spreading magnet counters around the board and goading just one of those magnetic creatures into combat. Whether or not this effect is worth the cost remains to be seen, but I want to believe this is the secret tech a Lady Evangela deck needs.

Politics

Obviously, this deck falls apart if our opponents aren't running any creatures. Luckily, we can combat that by giving them some creatures to goad! The simplest ways to give them creatures is with spells like Hunted Horror and The War Games, as well as Alliance of Arms. It just doesn't hurt as much when you lose your tokens versus your actual creatures, though, so we want to make sure our opponents can cast as many of their own precious creature spells as possible.

We'll fill everyone's hands with Kami of the Crescent Moon and Minds Aglow, before emptying them just as quickly with Braids, Conjurer Adept. 

Immortal Obligation and Infernal Offering can bring those key creatures back to the battlefield to keep swinging in on our opponents, while Tenuous Truce makes allies out of our enemies. 

We'll protect ourselves from non-goaded attacks with pillow fort staples Ghostly Prison and Propaganda, all while building up a base of creatures with Bitterblossom and Blessed Sanctuary. 

Also, it's an incredibly slim edge case, but has anyone thought about running Hallow as a foil to all those Blasphemous Acts running around? Doesn't that seem like a great counter for one of the most popular board wipes in Commander?

Strategy

So, how does this deck win, exactly? That's the beautiful thing; it doesn't! Your opponents will win the game for you! We let the other three players duke it out across the table, all the while picking and choosing who to save with Lady Evangela's ability in those forced combats, like some sort of Machiavellian mastermind. We'll use her ability multiple times per turn with the help of our Thousand-Year Elixir and Magewright's Stone, making allies and enemies out of the pod as we save certain players from death while forcing others' creatures to whiff in combat. All the while, we slowly bide our time and pull up our Azor's Elocutors to put a hard clock on the game, or keep an Inkshield handy for when that last opponent thinks they have us on the ropes. 

Mana Base

Unlike many of our other Legends Legends, Lady Evangela is a stellar three mana; not hard at all to cast! This frees up a lot of card slots that we'd normally spend on ramp. This deck, however, only needs the three classics to run: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and good ol' Sad Robot. 

Lady Evangel Deck List

Budget

All in all, this Lady Evangela Commander deck will run you about $180. That's really not too bad, considering. The most expensive cards here can easily be replaced with lower-power versions, but if Smothering Tithe is the only really expensive card in your deck, you're still saving quite a bit for a playable Commander deck.

You could definitely ditch Faerie Mastermind and Bitterblossom, moving away from our Faerie creatures subtheme. Either of these could be swapped out for some more tutors or draw spells, or even Jon Irenicus, Shattered One if you feel like playing fast and loose with your own creatures.

Wrap Up

Fogs were such an important part of early Magic: The Gathering design. Creature combat was an essential part of any deck's gameplan, and combat tricks were paramount to coming out on top. While Lady Evangela's fog is broadcast loud and clear, that just adds to the suspense in my opinion. Your opponents know that activated effect is coming, and they know they have to attack with their goaded creature. All you have to do is sit there and smirk.

How would you build around Lady Evangela? Is she your favorite fogging Legends Legend, or is it Angus Mackenzie? How would you go about ending the game with this commander? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!