Keep Giada
Calling All Angels Upgrade Plan
- Calling All Angels is the mono-white Foundations Commander precon led by Giada, Font of Hope. The official deck contains 100 cards, including 38 lands.
- Keep Giada as your commander and cast her early. She taps for white mana only to cast an Angel spell, so she won’t pay for your removal or mana rocks.
- Without haste, she can’t tap for mana on the turn she enters. Casting her on turn two normally sets up an Angel on a later turn, rather than giving you an immediate mana refund.
- Her replacement effect adds a +1/+1 counter to an entering Angel for each other Angel you already control. Giada counts as another Angel; the creature entering doesn’t count itself.
- Start by lowering setup costs and improving cheap interaction. The five-card first step is $7.86 in the checked nonfoil references, before shipping and tax.
First five changes
Calling All Angels Inexpensive Upgrades
| Add | Cut | October 19 reference |
|---|---|---|
| Liquimetal Torque | Commander's Sphere | $2.75 |
| Generous Gift | Invoke the Divine | $1.20 |
| Path to Exile | Valorous Stance | $1.07 |
| Angelic Skirmisher | Reya Dawnbringer | $2.54 |
| Wayfarer's Bauble | Secret Rendezvous | $0.30 |
- These five swaps total $7.86. Keep the cuts beside you while making the changes so the deck stays at 100 cards.
- These are Scryfall USD references for the identified nonfoil printings, checked October 19. They are not delivered checkout prices or a promise that one seller stocks every card.
Upgrade 1
Liquimetal Torque
- Replace Commander’s Sphere with this two-mana rock. Casting it a turn earlier helps you reach the next Angel while leaving more room for interaction.
- It makes colorless mana, so it doesn’t replace a Plains when a spell needs several white symbols. The artifact-making ability is optional utility; the mana is the main reason to add it.
Upgrade 2
Generous Gift
- Replace Invoke the Divine with an answer that can destroy any permanent. That gives you a response to a troublesome planeswalker or land as well as artifacts and enchantments.
- The controller gets a 3/3 Elephant, and you lose Invoke’s four life. Save Gift for a permanent whose effect matters more than the replacement creature.
Upgrade 3
Path to Exile
- Replace Valorous Stance when you want a one-mana answer to a creature of any size. Exile also stops many ordinary graveyard-return plans.
- The controller may find a basic land tapped. You give up Stance’s option to protect one of your creatures, so this swap favors flexible removal over that protection mode.
Upgrade 4
Angelic Skirmisher
- Replace the nine-mana Reya Dawnbringer with a six-mana Angel that affects the next combat. Choose first strike, vigilance or lifelink at the beginning of each combat, including opponents’ combats.
- Lifelink can help reach Righteous Valkyrie’s life threshold or turn on Resplendent Angel later. Skirmisher doesn’t return dead Angels, so make this swap for a faster combat plan rather than expecting the same recovery role.
Upgrade 5
Wayfarer's Bauble
- Replace Secret Rendezvous with a basic-land search that doesn’t give an opponent three cards. Bauble costs one to cast, then two mana, tapping and sacrificing it to find a basic land tapped.
- You spend three mana across the two actions, so it isn’t a one-mana ramp spell. The deck loses one draw spell; keep Tome of Legends, Endless Atlas and the existing creature-based draw effects available.
Optional upgrade 1
Resplendent Angel
- Replace Dazzling Angel with a three-mana threat that can make another Angel at each end step if you gained at least five life that turn. Small life-gain events add up during that turn.
- You need the five life before the end step begins. Gaining the missing life after the end step has started won’t create a new trigger.
- Five life is the threshold, not the number of tokens: gaining ten still makes one token from that end-step trigger. The 4/4 flying, vigilant token also receives Giada’s counters if Giada is present.
Optional upgrade 2
Archangel of Thune
- Replace Angelic Destiny if you want life gain to grow the whole creature board. Each life-gain event puts one +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
- Separate lifelink creatures can create separate life-gain events, but one event that gains five life still gives one counter per creature. This expensive upgrade is optional; don’t buy it before the cheaper changes.
Optional upgrade 3
Herald's Horn
- Replace Heraldic Banner and choose Angel. Horn discounts Angel creature spells by one generic mana and can put an Angel from the top of your library into your hand during your upkeep.
- The upkeep ability checks one top card. It doesn’t guarantee a card each turn, and Horn doesn’t make mana or give Banner’s power bonus.
Optional upgrade 4
Pearl Medallion
- Replace Always Watching when casting several white spells matters more than vigilance and a +1/+1 bonus for nontoken creatures. Medallion reduces the generic part of white spell costs.
- It won’t remove white mana symbols or discount the colorless artifacts. Treat it as a cost reduction rather than a land or a mana rock.
Optional upgrade 5
Flawless Maneuver
- Replace Day of Judgment only if you want to protect your own board more often than destroy everyone’s creatures. You keep Austere Command, Cleansing Nova and Sunblast Angel as other sweep effects.
- Cutting Day of Judgment gives up a four-mana answer that destroys all creatures. Cleansing Nova costs five and Austere Command costs six, so keep Day instead if you often need an earlier reset.
- Sunblast Angel also costs six and destroys only tapped creatures. It won’t clear an untapped opposing board.
- You can cast it without paying its mana cost while you control a commander. Indestructible helps against destruction and lethal damage; it doesn’t stop exile, sacrifice or toughness falling to zero.
One free land swap
Calling All Angels Mana and Curve
- Replace Temple of the False God with a Plains you already own. Temple makes no mana until you control five lands; an early untapped white source is more useful while you are setting up.
- The land change keeps 38 lands and raises the basic Plains count from 32 to 33. This is separate from the ten paid nonland swaps.
- With every proposed swap, the deck still contains 100 cards and has 31 cards with the Angel creature type, up from 30. Metallic Mimic is separate from that printed-type count.
- The average mana value of nonland cards, including Giada, falls from 3.53 to 3.40. That is a construction check, not a measured game-speed improvement.
- Giada’s mana is Angel-only; Horn and Medallion are discounts; Bauble is a land-search artifact. Keep those jobs separate when planning a hand.
- Keep hands with white lands and a usable early play, rather than depending on a later discount to make a hand function. Don’t cut lands just because several new artifacts look like mana.
After all changes
Calling All Angels Upgraded Decklist
Open the complete 100-card upgraded list
1 Giada, Font of Hope 1 Pearl Medallion 1 Angel of the Ruins 1 Archangel of Thune 1 Angelic Field Marshal 1 Angelic Sleuth 1 Archangel of Tithes 1 Austere Command 1 Bishop of Wings 1 Cleansing Nova 1 Court of Grace 1 Flawless Maneuver 1 Emeria Shepherd 1 Exemplar of Light 1 Fateful Absence 1 Firemane Commando 1 Grasp of Fate 1 Herald of Eternal Dawn 1 Herald of War 1 Linvala, the Preserver 1 Lyra Dawnbringer 1 Merchant of Truth 1 Metropolis Reformer 1 Norn's Choirmaster 1 Angelic Skirmisher 1 Righteous Valkyrie 1 Search the Premises 1 Sephara, Sky's Blade 1 Seraph of the Sword 1 Serra Avenger 1 Speaker of the Heavens 1 Sunblast Angel 1 Wojek Investigator 1 Endless Atlas 1 Metallic Mimic 1 Tome of Legends 1 Vanquisher's Banner 1 Bonders' Enclave 1 War Room 1 Angel of Finality 1 Angel of Vitality 1 Cut a Deal 1 Resplendent Angel 1 Defy Death 1 Destroy Evil 1 Exorcise 1 Inspiring Overseer 1 Generous Gift 1 Wayfarer's Bauble 1 Segovian Angel 1 Starnheim Aspirant 1 Swords to Plowshares 1 Thraben Watcher 1 Path to Exile 1 Vanguard Seraph 1 Youthful Valkyrie 1 Arcane Signet 1 Liquimetal Torque 1 Herald's Horn 1 Marble Diamond 1 Mind Stone 1 Patchwork Banner 1 Sol Ring 1 Swiftfoot Boots 1 Radiant Fountain 1 Secluded Steppe 1 Seraph Sanctuary 33 Plains
- Giada remains the commander. The list includes all ten nonland swaps and Temple of the False God becoming a Plains.
- Every retained or added card was checked for mono-white color identity, Commander legality, singleton limits and released card text on October 19, 2026. The list has not been playtested.
Where to stop
Calling All Angels Upgrade Priorities
- Make the cheap interaction and early-mana changes first. Try that version before buying the premium package.
- Add Resplendent Angel if your existing lifelink creatures regularly gain five life in one turn. Choose Horn when repeated Angel casts and another chance at a card suit the deck.
- Keep Archangel of Thune as a later luxury. At the checked price, it costs far more than the entire first group of upgrades.
- The Foundations Commander value comparison helps if you haven’t bought a precon yet. The mono-white commander guide compares Giada with other ways to lead white creatures.
- If you prefer a creature-type deck that draws more cards through its larger threats, compare the Ur-Sphinx deck guide before investing in the premium Angel cards.
Deck and prices
Calling All Angels Upgrade Sources
- Wizards’ Foundations Commander decklists supplies the official Giada starting list. The deck released October 2, 2026; this is a post-release upgrade proposal.
- Card text, legality and the identified nonfoil USD references come from Scryfall card records, checked October 19. The dated deck and comparison data retains the exact IDs, source cards, swaps and arithmetic.
- Prices can differ from live retailer offers. Shipping and tax are excluded, and no seller availability or resale value is promised.
- Mana, color identity, card count and swap counts were checked. Wizards’ Comprehensive Rules cover creature tap abilities; Resplendent Angel’s rulings explain the end-step cutoff. No games, win rates or universal Commander bracket are claimed.
For the mono-red companion to Giada’s precon, the Reign of Dragons upgrade guide starts with five inexpensive changes and explains the optional damage engines.
For a separate paid digital Sealed event, the Reality Fracture Arena Direct guide distinguishes its gem entry and physical prize claims. To watch Standard before choosing a deck, use the Arena Championship 13 viewing guide.