10 Underrated Cards for a Giada Commander Deck

Giada, Font of Hope is the most popular Angels Commander by far. She comes down early, gives you mana, and helps to get those Angels even bigger so that you can eliminate opponents much faster. While you might have gotten to grips with the more straightforward powerful cards, we believe these 10 Underrated Cards can help a Giada Commander deck truly blossom. 

GIADA, FONT OF HOPE

Giada is a two mana Commander, which is quickly emerging as an ideal mana cost for decks that want to just get started setting up asap. Where other Angel Commanders come down a lot later, her strength is allowing you to get a head start on curving out. For this reason, she’s great with Equipment, and also wants you to flood the board with as many Angels as possible, so the +1/+1 counters can really rack up. 

Her weakness is that she doesn’t offer card advantage (which is less good in mono-white than other decks), and she requires you to go ham playing out your hand, leaving you open to interaction. 

Today’s picks aim to shore up some of her weaknesses while playing to her inherent strengths. Here are 10 Underrated Cards for a Giada deck.

10 UNDERRATED GIADA CARDS IN COMMANDER

10. SERRA AVENGER

Giada cares about you curving out, sure, but she also cares about playing plenty of Angels onto the board. A two-mana 3/3 Flying Vigilance is a great deal here, even if you can’t play it until later. You’re more than happy to play it down after putting Tocasia’s Welcome into play, and also once you have plenty of Angels in play. If this comes in with even three +1/+1 counters, you’re laughing. 

9. RAVNICA AT WAR

Mass Calcify is a lot of mana, right? While it does remain the best one-sided option, for something a little lower on the curve that can slow down multiple opponents you can’t beat Ravnica at War. Think of this as a Dismantling Wave that hits Commanders, with the upside of hitting popular set up cards like Lotho, Corrupt Shirrif, Rhythm of the Wild and Warleader’s Call. Hitting just three permanents with this still feels great. 

8. URZA’S CAVE

Mono white loves Emeria the Sky Ruin and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. You want to see them more often, right? While you can absolutely play World Map or even Expedition Map, porting that effect into your manabase is arguably way better. As an upside, this can also go and get a Wasteland or Ghost Quarter in a pinch. We don’t have Bojuka Bog, but even Pit of Offerings works in a pinch. 

7. MOX AMBER

White can have a little fast mana, as a treat.

We suspect that this one is played less mostly due to the cost of buy-in, but it’d be a shame not to cover this powerful mana rock because Giada is one of the best decks to put your Mox Amber in. A two-mana Commander means this thing is usually always going to be online when you need it. 

6. GALADRIEL’S DISMISSAL

We mentioned earlier that boardwipes were the bane of this deck, and that goes double for bounce-wraths, as you lose all of those precious +1/+1 counters and your equip costs. One that’s really great in Giada is Galadriel’s Dismissal, as it phases out either just Giada or Avacyn, or your whole board. It can also phase out an opponent’s entire board to give you a free path to murder them. Win win?

5. PYRE OF HEROES

Speaking of Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and Serra Emissary for that matter – how do you reliably fish them out of your deck? Well, that’s where Pyre of Heroes comes in. Pyre is like Birthing Pod for typal decks, and acts to facilitate a stepping stone approach to build out your board. Just slot in Karmic Guide, Angel of Indemnity and maybe Dawnbreak Reclaimer to help you keep a healthy board as you hunt for your win conditions.

4. JACKDAW SAVIOR

Speaking of keeping a healthy board – Jackdaw Savior is not on anyone’s radar, and we’re not sure why. This one allows you to bring back a bunch of creatures when your Angels die in a board wipe, and also triggers if you sacrifice an Angel to High Market or the aforementioned Pyre of Heroes. It’s not an Angel, but it sure acts like one. 

3. RAMMAS ECHOR, ANCIENT SHIELD

One thing we’ll always encourage in a Giada deck is more card draw, and another? Well, it’s to keep your curve lower, given Giada grows your cheaper Angels and turns them into threats. Enter Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield, which is in only 36/31366 decks on EDHRec, which to us is mad. You should be trying to get to double spell turns as fast as possible in every  Commander deck, and with cost reduction and ramp, you can absolutely do this in Giada. As a bonus? Helps a little toward Giadra Voltron kills. 

2. DOWSING DAGGER // LOST VALE

Dowsing Dagger is a shoe-in for Giada decks, which makes us wonder why it’s only played at a 5% rate. It’s the same cost to play and equip as the Sword of the Animist that’s played in a third of Giada decks. You get an immediate return on your investment of a lotus-land, and for Sword of the Animist, you need three turns to get that, and it comes in tapped each time. That’s three more chances for your creature to be removed in response. Plus, you get to make a deal with a deck that can make use of some 0/2 plants, which can buy you some good grace.

STAR PICK: 1. CONJURER’S MANTLE

Not even 5% of Giada decks are running this one, and you have to ask – why? Conjurer’s Mantle is exactly what a deck like Giada needs. It digs for more Angels, which is often way better than drawing a single card. It helps you find your win conditions, and keep the Angels coming. It’s cheap to play and equip, and it has the upside of giving one of your massive Angels vigilance to let it attack and also block. What’s not to love?

If 13% of decks are running Monumental Henge for a similar reason, then these are rookie numbers. Get playing this one, too.

END STEP

Giada is a very fun and powerful option for an Angel deck in Commander. Consider a few of these top picks that can smooth your experience and offer more power in your deck.

If you want an example Giada list, check out “Two Steel Blades & The Wings of Freedom On Our Backs” over on Moxfield. Speaking of which, it’s time to update this list – Starfield Shepherd from Edge of Eternities deserves a spot at the very least. Any suggestions for a cut?