Alright, I know that it's an old joke at this point, but we all know that deacons really aren't that amazing. However, I think they need to be revisited. They have a couple cards that work very well with a few cards from the newest sets to recreate a very popular and powerful strategy that until now has only been enjoyed by red and purple decks.
1 Of One Mind (PC)
1 Bless the Nations
1 Greeting (RoJ)
1 The Suffering Servant
1 Faith of Samuel
1 Not Alone (RoJ)
1 Joy (EC)
1 Narrow Escape (EC)
1 Gamaliel's Speech
1 Hope
1 Ethiopian Treasurer (EC)
1 Nicanor (EC)
1 Parmenas (EC)
1 Paul (Promo)
1 Peter (EC)
1 Luke (EC)
1 The Angel of the Winds
1 Priests of Christ (RoJ)
1 Every Tribe (RoJ)
1 Claudia (PC)
1 Widows' Tables
1 Seven Lamps of Fire (RoJ)
Alright, so what the deal with deacons? The key to this offense is the Ethiopian Treasurer and Parmenas. They are basically sudo ahimilechs, and with joy, you can make one of them cbn, and then just use the plethora of interrupt and band abilities that clay has with One of Mind in territory to make all their banding cbn. Alternatively, you can use narrow escape to add one to battle. Seven lamps makes sure that joy and one of mind stick around. Widow's tables also make sure that your enhancements are never gone too long and don't go to waste. It basically just sets them aside for one turn, which isn't too high a price imo.
I haven't actually tried this deck yet, but it seems fun. Also, I just threw this together, so if there's any other changes I could make to it, I'd love to hear!