Yes, there have been many decks that used Spell or Trap cards, and many powerful cards from each of those two card types, but at the end of the day, it is battle damage that wins duels 90% or more of the time
The game's difficulty curve is a steep cliff that can feel insurmountable for newcomers
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar has utility with knights and allies but using the -4 right away to guarantee an untouchable anthem emblem is usually the safest bet
This may seem underwhelming at first, considering it only deals 30 damage, but the wording means that the target critter does not have to be a Metal-type
I have already written about how I crammed as many graveyard-matters mechanics as I could into an Olivia, Mobilized for War deck, but the deck never felt like it had the as-fan to read as a madness or flashback deck