Topic: Mono white in Standard?

Hey guys!

So as of last Friday, i'm ditching Mono Black. Its becoming far too popular, and while it was fun while it lasted, I don't like when people know what i'm playing. That, and I got destroyed at FNM because everyone had prepped against it...

So I'm going to be switching gears here this week. I'm shooting for a sort of White Weenies, Mono White tempo-esque build. What I have so far (http://deckbox.org/sets/528489) has, in testing, been very effective against all non-aggressive strategies. Every Control or Midrange build that I took it up against pretty much fell by turn 10 at the latest (It's usually around turn 6-7 that I find the win). Anyway, I'd like to get some feedback from this community on this build. Ive got the drop (Hardly even a splash) of red in there for Akroan Hoplite MB and some other stuff SB that i'm still yet to get proper numbers on.

The main idea of the deck is to have at least 1, possibly 2 plays every turn and just out tempo your opponent. Spot removal is a very big thing right now, what with all the Demons and Dragons running around, and I think that this deck is a good answer to that. I curve out at 3 with Frontline Medic and Path of Bravery, so I should be seeing a new guy hit the field every turn. Then I try to take advantage of that with cards like Akroan Hoplite and Path of Bravery. The Hoplite can get very nasty very quickly. With an unchecked Precinct captain, I had him swinging in for 6 and 7 very often, though at that point its pretty much gg....

Anyway, aside from the obvious things (Gates into shocks, get a playset of SotP), what do you feel that I should do to make this deck more efficient, if anything? I'm thinking that I need at least one, possibly two more frontline medic, but i'm not sure if that's all I need to do.

Thanks for any/all input!

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Re: Mono white in Standard?

It's alright to be frustrated by the flood of people to the mono-black and mono-blue devotion decks.  Just keep in mind that they both have rather sizable weaknesses that can be exploited if people know what you're going to be running.

So mono-white weenie... I would suggest taking a look at the Orzhov Aggro build that managed to place 5th at the TCG Max point championship (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1169015) and using it as the starting point for what you're building.

I'm admittedly torn on whether Path of Bravery or Spear of Heliod is the better anthem... on the one hand Path gives you life gain and potentially can pump, but on the flip side, it's often a dead card and won't pump your guys.  Often you REALLY want that pump to win the game in a single swing...  I would suggest testing with both options to see which is the better option.

Second, you're splashing a touch of red, so I would say that Boros Charm is a MUST for your SB and possibly even in the MB.  Giving double-strike to a Precinct Captain is no joke as it will do four AND produce two tokens.  Simply zapping them in the face for four is nothing to scoff at.  Lastly, being able to spare your guys from a board wipe, well, that WILL end the game in a lot of instances.

Third, I can definitely see the argument for Judge's Familiar as it essentially adds one to the CMC for opponent removal, but perhaps Cavalry Pegasus could prove useful to this build?  Practically EVERY creature you're running is human... and pretty much making all your guys unblockable turn-after-turn could be huge.  I know it's not a very efficient creature, but even if it just causes them to use removal spells on the pegasus rather than your other threats, it's doing something solid.

Fourth, if you're mono-colored, I can see where you might be able to capitalize on some devotion shenanigans with either Nykthos or Heliod.

Lastly, I don't really see Gideon doing nearly the work for you that Ajani, Caller of the Pride will.  Whether you're pumping threats or giving double-strike on curve to your Precinct Captains or just giving the opponent an extra target to deal with he can be a huge help for you.

On average, it looks pretty solid.  Hopefully some of the points I've made help.

Good luck!

Re: Mono white in Standard?

Thanks for the feedback!

I chose to use Path over the spear for a couple of reasons, the first of which is that I'm not running Devotion anything, but I am running 4 mutavaults. If I keep a hand that has Plains Mutavault Mutavault as the lands, I want to be able to play it out with the path. Secondly, my red splash is for Akroan Hoplite, which encourages attacking with as much as possible every turn. Path also shares this encouragement, and can save me in a hyper aggressive mirror. While being able to remove creatures is nice late game, I don't really expect there to be a late game. Even if there is, I have Banisher priest and Azorius Arrester to get rid of big problem blockers.

In regards to Boros charm, it is definitely something that I considered. but unfortunately I traded away all 20 copies that I had accumulated back at the dawn of rotation when everyone in my playgroup was specing that Naya Hexproof would become dominant. As soon as I get some, They'll be in the Sideboard. I don't think that I'll be putting them main board because I feel that it's too obvious. 'A bunch of plains with some red splash, he's obviously running boros charm.' I believe that the opponent will be playing around it without me even having to show it, which will allow me to run more threats and answers main board. I could be wrong though, but this is at least what I have seen happen with other similar builds (I ran Jund for about a week, and all of my opponent were playing around thragtusks that weren't there).

I like Cavalry pegasus, but I would rather keep my 1 drops high. As I mentioned in my origional post, This is meant to act as a tempo deck, so I want to be playing as much as possible every turn, and by replacing a 1 drop with a 2 drop, I'm cutting back on my tempo potential. I will, however, be putting the pegasus in my sideboard to replace what is currently Viashino Firstblade, which is admittedly in there to help justify running red mana...

Nykthos is not really necessary here. I think it'd be a sort of Lili of the Dark Realms situation; Here's a bunch of mana, hope you have something to do with it. I do want to get a couple of Heliods though for the SB just in case things slow down for me and I need something to power through.

I think you're right about the Gideon, but I put him in because he provides a large body that evades removal in the control matchup. While Ajani is very good utility in the midrange / aggro matchup, I'm much more afraid of being shut out by board wipes and having to face an AEtherling. I  want the Gideon because he is a constant, practically non-removable threat, whereas the Ajani doesn't do anything by himself when he's left alone after a wipe. Again, I may be wrong about this, but how I see it, Gideon is just so much better as a last resort card. I am very excited for the new Ajani that's coming in one of the later Theros sets though, and I really want to see what he can add to this deck.

I do have another question here, is Boros Elite something that I should be picking up? Sure, it's a 3/3 for 1, but the battalion is very situational, and he seems very unreliable as a 1 drop. Yet, I see a lot of the white weenie decks using him...

Again, thanks for the posts.

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Re: Mono white in Standard?

DarrenM wrote:

I chose to use Path over the spear for a couple of reasons, the first of which is that I'm not running Devotion anything, but I am running 4 mutavaults. If I keep a hand that has Plains Mutavault Mutavault as the lands, I want to be able to play it out with the path. Secondly, my red splash is for Akroan Hoplite, which encourages attacking with as much as possible every turn. Path also shares this encouragement, and can save me in a hyper aggressive mirror. While being able to remove creatures is nice late game, I don't really expect there to be a late game. Even if there is, I have Banisher priest and Azorius Arrester to get rid of big problem blockers.

Certainly understandable.  I don't know that anyone is really worried about Spear for the removal so much as just being able to guarantee your guys get the boost.  But admittedly if you've had success with Path, go with it.  I have two in my GF's Selesnya Aggro and I agree that the life-gain can be worthwhile.

DarrenM wrote:

In regards to Boros charm, it is definitely something that I considered. but unfortunately I traded away all 20 copies that I had accumulated back at the dawn of rotation when everyone in my playgroup was specing that Naya Hexproof would become dominant. As soon as I get some, They'll be in the Sideboard. I don't think that I'll be putting them main board because I feel that it's too obvious. 'A bunch of plains with some red splash, he's obviously running boros charm.' I believe that the opponent will be playing around it without me even having to show it, which will allow me to run more threats and answers main board. I could be wrong though, but this is at least what I have seen happen with other similar builds (I ran Jund for about a week, and all of my opponent were playing around thragtusks that weren't there).

I would argue any time you force your opponent to play around a spell, it's doing its job.  This means that Boros Charm would be forcing them to adjust to what you're doing, which is the first step toward winning the game.  Additionally, as you reference about the issue of Ajani after a board wipe, but in the same respect, the charm simply negates the threat of a board wipe altogether.  Additionally, I'm telling you, there will be games where you get them down to 4-8 life before they stabilize the board.  If you have the ability to just blast them for four direct damage and swing out, as long as a FEW of your guys get through, the game is over.

DarrenM wrote:

I like Cavalry pegasus, but I would rather keep my 1 drops high. As I mentioned in my origional post, This is meant to act as a tempo deck, so I want to be playing as much as possible every turn, and by replacing a 1 drop with a 2 drop, I'm cutting back on my tempo potential. I will, however, be putting the pegasus in my sideboard to replace what is currently Viashino Firstblade, which is admittedly in there to help justify running red mana...

I would argue that Cavalry Pegasus could come into the deck in place of something like Azorius Arrester.  Yes, detain is good for the turn it buys you, but on the flip side, I'd trade that for most of your guys being largely unblockable for the remainder of the game.  As such, you can keep the one drops and still gain access to the Pegasus.

As another two-drop I cannot believe I overlooked at first glance, Imposing Sovereign is CRITICAL to this working.  Their blockers coming in tapped is absolutely huge in the matchup.

DarrenM wrote:

Nykthos is not really necessary here. I think it'd be a sort of Lili of the Dark Realms situation; Here's a bunch of mana, hope you have something to do with it. I do want to get a couple of Heliods though for the SB just in case things slow down for me and I need something to power through.

I don't dispute this fact.  I just know that Nykthos lets you get to crazy amounts of mana rather quickly, allowing you to outpace the opponent.  Again, it's a take-it or leave-it sort of deal.  Certainly not necessary but it might have some promise if you were to slide things like Elspeth or even Evangel of Heliod into the SB for mid-range matchups.

DarrenM wrote:

I think you're right about the Gideon, but I put him in because he provides a large body that evades removal in the control matchup. While Ajani is very good utility in the midrange / aggro matchup, I'm much more afraid of being shut out by board wipes and having to face an AEtherling. I  want the Gideon because he is a constant, practically non-removable threat, whereas the Ajani doesn't do anything by himself when he's left alone after a wipe. Again, I may be wrong about this, but how I see it, Gideon is just so much better as a last resort card. I am very excited for the new Ajani that's coming in one of the later Theros sets though, and I really want to see what he can add to this deck.

I don't doubt that Gideon can do some work for you, but given the amount of "destroy target PW" spells people have access to, he really isn't as resilient as you'd think.  Dreadbore, Hero's Downfall, and Detention Sphere take him out when he's in PW mode... I can see him in the SB, but not really MB.

That being said, Ajani actually helps against board wipes too.  If you use his double strike with Precinct Captain and have a Path in hand, you literally do not need to play another creature as you're likely going to be sitting on the dominant board state.  They wipe and then you resume dropping creatures like normal, pumping them in the process with his counters.

DarrenM wrote:

I do have another question here, is Boros Elite something that I should be picking up? Sure, it's a 3/3 for 1, but the battalion is very situational, and he seems very unreliable as a 1 drop. Yet, I see a lot of the white weenie decks using him...

Boros Elite might be situational.  He fits right into the mold and gives you access to something else on the low end if you're needing to speed the deck up even more.  He'll hit the battalion quite a bit in actuality and he forces them to burn another spell on a 1/1... so I'd say to test with him in the build and see what it does.

In reality we're not talking about major changes, you're sitting on really evaluating the differences between five or six cards out of 60.

Re: Mono white in Standard?

Seems to me that Daring Skyjack is the perfect card to replace with Cavalry Pegasus.  I also agree that Imposing Soveriegn is a must. Fabled Hero would also be a big plus to the deck too hes pretty ridiculous.

Path seems to  be best if you ever plan on having Archangel in the deck. Otherwise Spear is pretty solid. It is kind of weak compared to traditional anthems though given that you can only ever have one on the board at any time.

Re: Mono white in Standard?

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Fiendslayer Paladin

Some awesome white cards