Magic 2014 is Standard-legal now, and it seems that a tiny handful of cards is soaking up all the attention. This has had the effect of soaking up most of the value in the set as well, pushing down the prices of other perfectly playable cards. One of these cards is Path of Bravery. This card seems perfect for W/B tokens and possibly even other aggressive white decks, yet is currently sitting at $1.50 on CoolStuffInc. This makes it a prime candidate for budget decks, and aggressive white decks are usually fairly inexpensive to begin with. Here's the list I came up with.

"Brave Tokens"

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Doomed Traveler
• 4 Precinct Captain

• Spells (25)
• 2 Brave the Elements
• 3 Orzhov Charm
• 4 Midnight Haunting
• 4 Gather the Townsfolk
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 4 Intangible Virtue
• 4 Path of Bravery

• Lands (23)
• 13 Plains
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Vault of the Archangel

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 3 Rootborn Defenses
• 3 Oblivion Ring
• 3 Celestial Flare
• 3 Dead Weight

Buy This Deck

The Threats

Doomed Traveler doesn't have as much punch as Champion of the Parish, but it can often get in even more damage in the long run thanks to the fact that it gives you a flying Spirit token when it dies. It's also a better draw than Champion later in the game. It often allows you to block a large creature like Thragtusk, and it gives you an even better threat to swing back with on your turn. In addition, it leaves you with a creature on board after a Supreme Verdict or Bonfire of the Damned, helping you keep the pressure on your opponent.

Gather the Townsfolk allows Champion of the Parish to attack for 3 on turn two, putting you off to a blazing start. With eight pump effects in the deck, it also usually provides you with 4 total power for 2 mana. Although fateful hour won't come up often, you can sometimes play into it against an aggressive deck, taking a bit more damage than you need to in order to allow you to make five tokens and come back in a big way.

Lingering Souls is the heart and soul of this deck. It provides an immense amount of value and longevity, making four evasive creatures with just one card. Since your four Spirit tokens will usually be swinging for 8 damage or more, this card has the potential to end the game all by itself. Do note, however, that these days, you need to be conscious of Scavenging Ooze when deciding when to flash it back.

Midnight Haunting may only give you half the value that Lingering Souls does, but the fact that it's an instant can sometimes make a huge difference. When your opponent casts a spell like Supreme Verdict or Bonfire of the Damned, being able to cast Midnight Haunting and attack immediately can be crushing.

The Support

After playing with it, I have to say that Path of Bravery might even be better than Intangible Virtue. It boosts all your creatures, not just the tokens, and although it might seem that it's only conditionally good, in practice, that's not the case at all. Path of Bravery gives your creatures +1/+1 in the matchups where you really want it. When fighting midrange and control decks that seek to drag things out, Path of Bravery will help you win the game much faster. Against more aggressive decks, your life total generally won't be greater or equal to your starting life total, which is what turns most people off the card. However, Path of Bravery has a second ability that's great in these situations. Although most decks won't want to be attacking when fighting aggro, Path of Bravery will give you 4 or more life every turn if you do, which can be a pretty tough obstacle for an aggressive deck to overcome. Even if you're attacking for significantly less damage than your opponent, Path of Bravery can allow you to win the race.

Orzhov Charm's life-loss may seem to counteract Path of Bravery, but realistically, the 2 or 3 life you lose from killing an opposing creature is rarely going to make the difference between being above 20 or below it when you're gaining life with every attack. If your opponent is blocking, one attack should gain you back more than what you lost to Orzhov Charm, and if he is attacking, you're probably not that close to 20 anyway—in addition to the fact that you were going to lose that much life or more from the creature's attack. Although the removal option is by far the one you'll use most, bringing a Champion of the Parish or Doomed Traveler back from the graveyard can occasionally be relevant, and the option should be kept in mind.

Brave the Elements was a valuable card for white weenie decks when it was first printed, and it should be the same now. It's particularly effective at fighting Bonfire of the Damned and Mizzium Mortars, which can cause problems for token decks. You can use it to protect your creatures from an Angel of Serenity, stop a removal spell, or just make your opponent's Thragtusks and Beast tokens unable to block for a turn. The versatility of this spell is a big part of what makes it so good.

The Sideboard

Oblivion Ring helps fight planeswalkers, and it can be used to get rid of Unflinching Courage against Bant Hexproof. Basically, if the Orzhov Charms aren't cutting it for whatever reason, swap for these.

Rest in Peace significantly slows down Junk Rites, making the deck play like your average midrange strategy instead of reanimating an Angel of Serenity on turn four. Where it really shines, however, is against The Aristocrats. With Blood Artist and Skirsdag High Priest out of commission, the only remaining part of the deck you actually care about is Blasphemous Act and Boros Reckoner, for which you can save your Orzhov Charms. And what if your opponent is playing the Junk version? With Blood Artist and the Priest taken care of, there's not really anything left that can threaten you.

Celestial Flare makes life very difficult for Bant Hexproof. Although traditional sacrifice spells are often thwarted by an Avacyn's Pilgrim or Voice of Resurgence, those creatures generally won't be attacking, especially when you have some large tokens to block with. Note that if you're getting rid of Geist of Saint Traft, you'll need to cast Celestial Flare with the Angel trigger on the stack. Otherwise, your opponent can just sacrifice his token. It's also worth noting that if your opponent does attack with other creatures, and you can kill them all through combat, you can cast Celestial Flare after combat damage has been dealt to force your opponent to sacrifice his only remaining attacker.

Notes

The biggest thing you need to pay attention to with this deck is the order in which you cast your spells. It's very easy to screw up just a little bit, and you can sometimes lose a game because of it. For example, most of the time, you want to cast Precinct Captain rather than Gather the Townsfolk on turn two, even if it means that your Champion of the Parish attacks for 2 instead of 3.

The timing of when you cast your Glorious Anthem effects is even more important. You'll often have the option of casting either Path of Bravery or Lingering Souls/Midnight Haunting, and choosing the wrong one can be a significant mistake.

The first thing you'll want to look at is how much damage you're dealing. Count the number of creatures you're pumping this turn, and compare that to the total damage the extra creatures will deal once pumped by the anthem. For example, if you have Doomed Traveler and two Human tokens on the battlefield on turn three, Path of Bravery will give you 3 extra damage that turn, whereas casting Lingering Souls will give you 4 extra damage next turn. Casting Path of Bravery immediately, however, will gain you 1 more life, with two attacks with three creatures instead of one with five. If the anthem is Intangible Virtue on the other hand, casting it immediately will only give you 2 extra damage, while waiting will give you 4 next turn.

The final thing I'll touch on with this deck is to save your spells such as Orzhov Charm and Brave the Elements until you really need them. Using Brave the Elements to counter a removal spell is usually a bad decision, especially if your opponent is playing a deck with Bonfire of the Damned and/or Mizzium Mortars. Similarly, although large creatures like Thragtusk or the token from Advent of the Wurm are often tempting targets for removal, this deck can frequently afford to simply ignore large creatures while attacking with flying Spirit tokens and gaining life with Path of Bravery. Unless killing it will help you win almost immediately or prevent you from losing almost immediately, you're usually better off saving your removal for something like Restoration Angel that can actually block your Spirits. Running an unusual strategy like this greatly changes the value of different creatures and spells your opponent might have, so you need to reevaluate your assumptions.

Wrap-Up

That's all the time I have for today, folks, but I'll be back next week with another fun budget deck to explore. Until then, give this deck a try if it piqued your interest, and I'll see you next time.