Lockdown

Caitlin had a 'cute animals' theme deck--essentially a version of Zoo using cute animal pictures--but didn't have any enchantment or artifact removal.

I had Bubble Matrix.

And while her deck was fast (in each game I found myself below five life rapidly) I was able to stabilize the creature attack and once Pariah came out, it didn't matter if she drew Lightning Bolt or not.

I think Defensor has been taken as far as it can go. It didn't need a lot of tweaking at all, really. I'm a little surprised by that but definitely pleased. I know the matchups here: Midrange creature decks? Good! Combo decks? Bad. Aggro decks? Maaaaaybe.

But let me tell you what my favorite moment in playtesting this deck has been:

Up against a stranger, playing mono-red burn. In very short order, he had me down to 3 life-exactly what you'd expect out of a burn deck, though I had Bubble Matrix out on turn 4.

And then I played Pariah on his Eidolon of the Great Revel. 

"Would you like to concede?" I asked, and he laughed. Then conceded.