Topic: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

Here is a Mono White Exalted deck i'm building I was looking for some input and what would be some good things to add to the sideboard, while maintaining a low cost. I just bought a house so I'm on a tight budget.

http://deckbox.org/sets/223562

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

A few quick thoughts.

Let me begin by saying this looks like a pretty good build.  It's certainly kept close to the theme well enough to be effective.  You have a good mix of flyers and some spot removal if you need it.

But I see two things that could be improved.

1) You're sitting with almost HALF of the deck as lands, and yet you have no additional means to draw or speed up your drawing.  Since your curve tops out at four (with the exception of one card) that translates into a LOT of dead land draws, turns where your opponent won't just be sitting around.  Sadly, white doesn't have a lot of help for you here, or at least nothing that's really coming to mind.  Even something as simple as Jayemdae Tome or Trading Post (if you prefer a little added flavor/flexibility) will help in this department, as you won't be short on lands by any means, but speeding up your draws will win the game.

2) For as powerful of a mechanic as exalted is, it has a TON of flaws.  Most notably being, the chump blocker.  Without trample, a single Fog Bank brings this deck to its knees for the most part and then you're simply trying to overrun the enemy, which, to be honest, isn't the goal here and could be done much more effectively with a different white build.  BUT, white does have something in spades that would work well with exalted that can influence the game in another direction - lifelink.  Then when you swing and your creature gets pumped to 20/20 and chump blocked, you at least gain 20 life, putting you further out of reach.  Options here are numerous - Ajani's Sunstriker and Seraph of Dawn both come immediately to mind.  That then guarantees you're getting SOMETHING out of your exalted attacks until you can land Akroma's Memorial.

I don't imagine any of those changes would cost more than a dollar or two in total... so that should help.

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

If you're willing to add another color, my favorite card for exalted aside from the angel is Rancor, simple elegant trample with an attack boost and little risk of losing it since it always just comes back to your hand, but I'm biased since I think Rancor is the best card in standard

Otherwise apostle's blessing is pretty nice to get in the swing for the kill or something in blue for unblockable, Mirran Crusader is good sideboard since its protections can be invaluable and it comes with double strike

I agree about the Serra Angel but if you've already got them and you don't have the paladins I don't think it's too important to switch them out, however I love Nearheath Pilgrim, it helps out with the lifelink that was mentioned above, and if you can pair with a silverblade that's pretty lethal right away.

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

TyWooOneTime wrote:

1) You're sitting with almost HALF of the deck as lands, and yet you have no additional means to draw or speed up your drawing.  Since your curve tops out at four (with the exception of one card) that translates into a LOT of dead land draws, turns where your opponent won't just be sitting around.  Sadly, white doesn't have a lot of help for you here, or at least nothing that's really coming to mind.  Even something as simple as Jayemdae Tome or Trading Post (if you prefer a little added flavor/flexibility) will help in this department, as you won't be short on lands by any means, but speeding up your draws will win the game.

actually my thought would be- add a splash of green to your deck with Sunpetal Grove and add
a few Boundless Realms. this would help boost up your Mana for spells. also note, allot of good ramp cards in green smile hope this helps.

with four Sunpetal Grove in your deck, you run a pretty good chance of pulling at least one without crippling your dominant White mana pool. also note Boundless Realms only needs one  Green to play. It may be a heavy cost to drop, but figure this- Even if you only have seven mana on board to play it, you're pulling seven more whites onto the battle field.

Last edited by Monolith (2012-09-09 05:41:09)

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

while I 100% like green I'm not a huge fan of Boundless Realms, it's so high casting cost and by the time you do it there's not much you need mana for that you can't already cast, at least in this deck, another strong thing about going GW is that Temple Garden is among the the first shocklands being re-printed so it's gonna be there for you right away, (You've also got Avacyn's Pilgrim as a Mana-Ramp option, but I don't really think you need it unless you're planning to add something larger as a finisher aside from the Monument

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

can't argue with that imsully2 smile

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

also, If you even feel the need to step away from standard format with your mono white deck. here's a fun Offensive / Defensive combo to play.
Norn's Annex & Gideon Jura.

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

Haha I like that combo as I play defensively in monowhite. (My only one being an old Life Gain deck)

Rather than Pacificism I prefer Bonds of Faith, because you get additional benefit for your creatures.

I also do agree with imsully2 in that you should run more than one color.

Splash green and get:
Rancor (reusable trample)
Champion of Lambholt (for getting around chump blockers)
Hunter's Insight (card advantage)

and so on...

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Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

If you do decide to go with another color, I'm going to differ from everyone here suggesting green and say that you could include black.  4x Tormented Soul and all those exalted triggers = game over.  Also you could throw in a few more spot removal spells, as exalted decks tend to be pretty limited in their ability to block anything with size.

Either way, I would say to add the pilgrims as per imsully's suggestion, as those will give you a more versatile use of lifelink.  If you decide to stay mono-white, you just need to be wary of the chump blockers, as flying only gets you so far.

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

I was most likely going to keep the deck mono white and try my hand at FNM with it. This is my first time at trying a white deck so i'm not sure what i have at my disposal, should i add more fiend hunters and pacifism to the sideboard in case i come up against a lot of big blockers or maybe some life gain like the lifelink and angel's mercy.

Re: Looking for comments/ideas for tweaking.

srrogers1985 wrote:

I was most likely going to keep the deck mono white and try my hand at FNM with it. This is my first time at trying a white deck so i'm not sure what i have at my disposal, should i add more fiend hunters and pacifism to the sideboard in case i come up against a lot of big blockers or maybe some life gain like the lifelink and angel's mercy.

4 o-rings 2 pacifisms and fiend hunters is way more removal than most people use already, lifelink is worth including tho