#mono-white

[commandtower]

Austere Command ~ Iconic Masters ver. art by Anna Steinbauer

[the8x8theory]

@eienshi09​‘s Balan Equipment Tutor Package - $12.52

As with any Voltron build, you want to find the pieces to suit up Balan as quickly as possible to get your beats on. Alternatively, you need to find a specific piece to deal with a certain board situation. Regardless, these cards will add some redundancy to your desk, which is hard to come by in mono-White due to a lack of easy card drawing.

Steelshaper’s Gift - $4.04 Cheap on mana (but relatively pricey fiscally), this is as simple and clean an effect as you’ll find. Only downside is sorcery-speed, I guess, but for a single White mana, I’m not gonna complain too much.

Open the Armory - $0.30 Like above but at 1W instead. Most of the time, it’ll just be a “worse” Steelshaper’s Gift, which admittedly isn’t so bad in this case; the option to grab Darksteel Mutation or any random Aura you happen to be running is also neat.

Stonehewer Giant - $5.69 He’s a little pricey in money and mana AND a huge target, but he can take over the game without much difficulty if you can untap with him. Because he puts the card onto the battlefield AND attaches it to something, he can pay for himself in a single activation and will definitely save you a few mana on a second. Anything more than that is straight value mana-wise. Also worth noting, he doesn’t target so your opponents won’t know who’s getting what until it’s already done.

Inventor’s Fair - $1.06 Though a bit slow and mana-intensive, it being a land mitigates that somewhat. Also, the metalcraft requirement shouldn’t be too much of an issue with all the Equipment and mana rocks you’ll likely be running.

Quest for the Holy Relic - $0.20 This one is slightly dependent on how many creatures you end up running in your deck, so it might be too slow if that number is low enough. But it’s essentially a Stonehewer activation, which, again, doesn’t target so you can sit on an “active” one for tricks.

Taj-Nar Swordsmith - $0.21 Can be pretty expensive mana-wise, but he does put the searched card directly onto the battlefield at least, so it’s like immediately casting the thing you searched up. Also, the extra body isn’t totally irrelevant but admittedly is on the small side.

Relic Seeker - $0.41 He’s cheap, and can be useful throughout the game. Early on, he can poke someone without a blocker yet for a quick tutor. Later on, you might need to give him some pants first but it shouldn’t be too difficult to connect.

Steelshaper Apprentice - $0.61 Although slow and mana-heavy, he is one of the few cards in Magic that offer repeatable tutoring.

This article was written by @eienshi09​. Thank you for taking the time to, not only make a great package, but give an in-depth write-up about each card. Keep getting that Commander damage in and...

Victory shall be yours.

--- Jake M, @apok-the-combomancer​

All cards are priced according to Magiccards.info mid price on the date it was written. These prices are subject to change.

If you have questions, comments or concerns, please head on over to our commentary blog to discuss it.

[commandtower]

Marrow Shards ~ Art by Raymond Swanland

[the8x8theory]

Mono-White Ramp Package - $15.95

Mono-White is pretty poor at ramping. It has plenty of mana fixing in Mono-White, but that’s not ramp. There are only 2 mana dorks in White’s color identity: Alloy Myr, Gold Myr. There are colorless mana dorks, but we’d rather have White if we can. There are zero Instant and/or Sorceries that add mana to our pool. No Enchantments that trigger off of something. So all that’s left it Artifacts. Considering we need ramp to be as fast as possible, we are foregoing the dorks in lieu of artifacts.

Caged Sun - $7.36 This one is the most costly in every sense, but it provides the most bang. It doubles all our land mana and beefs up our, more than likely, weenie creatures. If we are using things such as Sculpting Steel and its kin, it makes this much more powerful.

Pearl Medallion - $2.76 This one isn’t ramp necessarily, but making everything cost a colorless less definitely helps out. It won’t effect things like Puresteel Paladin or Hour of Revelation with its own cost reduction, but it definitely helps with Commander tax and other high costed spells.

Commander’s Sphere - $0.79 We don’t need mana fixing if we’re running mono-white as we naturally don’t have other colors and we won’t be running treason effects. What we can do with this is ramp a turn and create card draw. If you don’t have that board wipe you need on turn 4, you can tap for a mana then sac it to hopefully draw into it.

Marble Diamond - $0.23 This is slow just like the mana dorks, but it doesn’t die as easily to board wipes. That makes it better than them, even if ever so slightly.

Mind Stone - $0.52 This can be ramp or draw. Granted, it’s not nearly as good as Commander’s Sphere because it can’t be both, but it is a turn 2 drop. Turn two it ramps you into turn four. Any turn you drop it, you can crack it for a card if you desperately need that draw.

Tooth of Ramos - $0.41 This is nice because it can be a White, fast version of Worn Powerstone. It ramps you a turn normally and in a pinch, you can sac it for another White. If you have a way to reanimate it, that’s two extra mana per player turn.

Sol Ring - $3.29 Unlike most, I don’t believe this is a staple that needs to go in every deck. Late game, this is basically a dead draw in my opinion and I’ll gladly take a Cluestone over this because it at least offers draw. That said, it is the strongest ramp Mono-White has available to it. Turn one goes to turn three and it’s a free pass on Commander tax.

Worn Powerstone - $0.59 Again, it’s a slower version of Palladium Myr, but it survives better. This and Sol Ring together will ramp you four turns ahead. For White, that’s unheard of.

There you have it, folks. Even though Mono-White is in the bottom half of ramp, we can still ramp pretty well to keep us in the game. Ramp into those wraths and...

Victory shall be yours.

--- Jake M, @apok-the-combomancer

[commandtower]

Priests of Norn ~ Art by Igor Kieryluk

[radramblog]

Planeswalkers in Cube: White

It’s been a while since I’ve discussed cube, I think, and also a while since I’ve just dived into a stupidly long topic without thinking too hard about it. And so here we go.

Planeswalkers are kind of in an interesting place in Cubes. Most of the time, they’re powerful midrange or control threats, but a lot of them have more specialised roles that can make them better suited to particular cubes. They’re also popular to include, seeing as they’re big, cool, and splashy, and a lot of people really like playing with them. What home exists for something like Liliana, Death’s Majesty in any other format? (I know it’s fine in commander hush)

However, you can only afford so many slots for Walkers in your cube, depending on how you treat them. And so, you’re not going to see all of them very often. Here, we’re going to go through all of them, colour by colour, and figure out why you should or shouldn’t play them, and which go better in different builds. Starting off, as many things do, with Mono-White.

Some ground rules: I’m not going to talk about the Planeswalker deck cards in this post, because the answer to whether you should play them is pretty much universally “no, why”. I’m also not going to talk about the creature->planeswalker transform cards, because they get treated more like creatures in a Cube environment. Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy is kinda just Merfolk Looter.

My next point before I talk actual cards: I’m far from an expert on this sort of thing, and this is going to be my opinions! If you want a different perspective, Season 4 episode 6 of Solely Singleton is a great podcast about this exact topic, though it’s two and a half years old at this point so some things might be a bit outdated.

Finally: White is a colour that tends to get more good Planeswalkers than other colours. Turns out, most Gideons and token-producing walkers are good in slower decks, who’d a thunk it. So unlike, say, Black, the average here is a bit higher than most of the time.

Let’s get into it!

 Ajani Goldmane

Ajani is kind of a classic, but the original iteration is kind of showing its 14 years of age. It’s a 4-mana walker (which is a very competitive slot) with a +1 that doesn’t really do anything, a turn-3 ultimate that dies to removal, and while the minus is good (see cards like Unbreakable Formation, or other Ajanis), it requires a board and isn’t really worth a four mana cast.

I had thought he’d be good in more budget lists, though. Except he hasn’t been printed since 2010 and so even though he sees no play he’s still like 5 bucks. So I’d pass on this version of cat dad.

 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

On the other hand, Elspeth pt.1 is still one of the best Planeswalkers you can play. She makes blockers for days, can push through some serious damage, and does both of those things while getting more resilient rather than less. Her ultimate might not be game-breaking, but since she’s constantly pushing towards it anyway you don’t really mind. Also she’s only 4 mana, holy moly.

Elspeth is good in aggro, good in midrange, and arguably still more than playable in control. At 12ish dollars, it’s not the ideal price point, but if you can afford it (or have one sitting around), she’s absolutely worth the include.

 Gideon Jura

Gideon 1 is a bit more specific. Aggro is not going to want him, seeing as the minus does basically nothing in that deck and the +2 isn’t really worth your time at 5 mana. On the other hand, this card is nuts in control. It’s a hard-to-kill wincon that is also removal that fuels its own condition and survives boardwipes. Gideon Jura is a chad in those decks, and kind of takes over the game the moment he comes down.

The other nice thing about Gideon Jura is that due to recent reprints in Mystery Booster and his Signature Spellbook, as well as not being very good in Commander, he’s ludicrously cheap. You can get one of these for under a dollar, making it perfect for budget cubes (that still include rares). Although, at that point, he might be warping to a cheaper format where aggro is worse, so keep an eye on him.

 Elspeth Tirel

Elspeth’s second incarnation (which is the one with her last name, because ???) is significantly worse than her first. If you’re in a slower deck where you want the ultimate, she’s probably not going to live to make it there. If you want the tokens, there are better options at cheaper mana costs. And you don’t want the +2, unless you somehow have a decent board against a red aggro deck.

I remember really liking this card when I first started playing Magic. That was a long time ago, and we have had much better options in the near-decade since then.

 Ajani, Caller of the Pride

The first 3-mana walker on this list, and one that shows the conservativeness WoTC had when first testing them at that mana cost. Just kidding, this came out after Liliana of the Veil.

Ajani 3is theoretically fine in an aggressive deck, but white has some seriously good 3-drop creatures that you’d rather just cast instead. Because when your options are a Blade Splicer or putting a +1/+1 counter on your two drop…I’m taking that token. And let’s not act like this card has any place in a midrange or control deck.

 Gideon, Champion of Justice

This was the first Planeswalker I ever opened, so I have a soft spot for it. But not enough of one to put it in my cube.

As potentially threatening as this Gideon is, he basically doesn’t do anything? While token decks might have a hard time taking him out, seeing as his loyalty can get pretty huge against them, they can also just block him forever. The ultimate is a game-ender, but also would leave Gideon so small that your opponent might just have enough time to draw lands and get back in the game. And he doesn’t do anything to protect himself aside from get big, and doesn’t really progress your board, so. Sorry Gids, you’ll get them next time.

 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

Elspeths alternate being good, I guess. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is basically unplayable outside of slow midrange or control, but is utterly incredible in those decks! She wipes out anything that would threaten her and makes enough blockers to easily protect either herself or you, and stalls long enough that those tokens can turn into a wincon via her ultimate.

It is not as universally powerful as the four-drop Elspeth, but the 6-drop one undeniably shapes the game when she hits the table. She stops aggro in its tracks, and nukes the shit out of midrange, especially green-based decks. I suppose there are times when she might be awkward to cast because she hits your own threats…but then just hold her back or +1, dude.

 Ajani Steadfast

Ajani Steadfast is kind of trying to be a better version of Ajani Goldmane. And yet, funnily enough, the Vigilance on Goldmane’s -1 is so important, as is being a -1 instead of a -2, so he’s kind of in a similar tier. The loyalty counter upside is so utterly niche that it might as well not exist, but the +1 is unquestionably much better at least.

Like with Goldmane, Ajani Steadfast isn’t really doing anything at 4 that cheaper cards don’t do better. And he’s at about the same price point. At least the ultimate is better?

 Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Nahiri is really specific. Like, if you’re at a power level where you have equipment worth playing Nahiri with, then you’re probably at a power level where she’s completely outclassed by things like Angel of Invention or…I mean, most other playable 5s. And some unplayable ones.

…I just remembered this card has 3 starting loyalty. On a 5-drop walker. You can -2 her and she’ll die to literally a goblin token. I sure hope that Equipment you got had Living Weapon!

 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

The first 4-drop that really steps to Elspeth, Knight-Errant. This Gideon is kind of just good in any deck- aggro decks like a 5/5 top end that makes a token T1 or just is an unkillable Glorious Anthem, midrange loves an infinite source of 2/2 to block or beat down with, and control loves an infinite source of blockers that can clean up after a wipe. He’s just kind of a disgusting piece of cardboard for a whole variety of decks, making him easily one of the best walkers in the entire format.

Also he’s…surprisingly cheap? After one “real” printing, and being on The List (which doesn’t do much, trust me), Gideon Ally of Zendikar is still only like 5 bucks. So if you can justify spending that much on one card…probably do that? He won’t let you down.

 Gideon of the Trials

Unlike our first 3-mana walker, this one is more than playable in slower decks. Gideon of the Trials is kind of awkward for aggressive decks, put what he does do is effectively remove some seriously big threats, adjust for whichever is the biggest problem around, and still punches peoples as a 4/4 Gideon. And he also has the unique benefit of being a Planeswalker that makes combo decks think twice, given that Emblem- though you’ll still go to 0 life if Splinter Twin or a similar combo is in play, and then die since they probably killed him too there.

Once again, though, this card is pretty cheap, sitting at about 3 bucks. As we get towards the more recent end of this list, a lot of these cards are going to look like that. I remember when I made my first cube, with the restriction of “Rares/Mythics that are under $2 US”, and getting 0 white Planeswalkers. I was playing the Planeswalker deck Gideon, for fuck’s sake! Things are so much better now.

Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

I could never really get a good read on this Ajani. It’s obviously something control doesn’t want, and the +1 isn’t doing a huge amount in midrange decks. But the -2 is powerful in creature-based decks, and the +1 is solid for quicker builds, but not enough to really justify 4 mana? There’s a lot of power here, but the parts kind of form a strange whole.

I guess it depends a lot on how deep that 2-drop slot is in your cube, and how deep the 4-drop slot is. Because you kinda need good 2s and medium 4s for Ajani to really shine. I’m a little bothered by how meh Ajanis are apparently in general in Cube, but the multicoloured ones are a bit more solid.

 Gideon Blackblade

Take Gideon of the Trials, make it not playable in control, and make it really fucking good in aggressive decks. There you go, that’s Gideon Blackblade. Cheap in money and in mana, he’s here to die, aside from the part where he’s hard to kill.

The +1 on this card is not super great, but you have to keep in mind that you get that at the same time as Gideon being a creature. Honestly, it’s kind of easier to think of this card as a creature with a triggered ability than as a planeswalker, at least as far as cube is concerned. It also helps that the -6 isn’t actually that hard to hit, considering you can keep a creature back by giving it vigilance. He’s quite solid, and might just be the best aggro walker White gets. Certainly at 3, at least.

 Teyo, the Shieldmage

A bit of a step down from our last 3-drop, Teyo is clearly not built for the same formats as Gideon Blackblade. But with him, we can talk about weaker formats, like Peasant, where Teyo is…still not great? 3 mana gets you a pair of 0/3s and immunity to burn spells, which I suppose control might like in formats where you don’t really get board wipes, but I can’t imagine any other deck wanting him. And that’s not a great place to be.

 The Wanderer

Much like Teyo, I don’t think even Peasant wants this. I do think it’s kinda better- their static abilities are virtually the same, except Mx. ??? here extends the burn protection to your creatures. And they do serve as removal, but its both expensive and narrow. Like, how often is this just going to kill a 4/4 and then get killed by their 2/2? I wouldn’t play Smite the Monstrous but it gains 2 life.

I’m interested to see this character return at some point. Maybe next time they can be playable. Some of the uncommon walkers from WAR were great for Peasant (and some even in higher formats), but this isn’t one of them.

 Serra the Benevolent

Okay, so. 4 mana Serra Angel that can stick around to make another one is quite powerful! Though the +2 basically does nothing, it’s still a +2, meaning you can get an unkillable Worship the turn after you play this if you aren’t under pressure, or go token into pump into token. Serra is clearly quite solid!

However, it suffers from two issues. One, it’s competing for that 4-drop slot, and is less playable than Elspeth or Gideon in slower decks since she makes tokens slower than those two do. The tokens are more threatening for sure, but token decks generally want more tokens rather than bigger tokens. And two: it’s more expensive than Gideon and similar in price to Elspeth, not to mention another card we’ll get to later, so she’s not even getting into cheaper cubes. Since a lot of cube slots like this are taken by cards with more general playability, Serra is going to sit on the sidelines more often than she maybe should. If you’re at like a 720 list, though, spare her a thought.

 Ajani, Strength of the Pride

Take everything I just said about Serra, and make it worse, basically. I suppose 4 mana for two Ajani’s Pridemates is fine, but the plus doesn’t do anything (unless you have those tokens, in which case it’s okay) and you are never activating that 0 unless you’re already winning.

Oh also he’s more expensive than she is and is still at the same mana cost. Yeah nah I wouldn’t bother. Ripper in my Cat EDH deck though.

 Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis

This card is actually really interesting. Our last Elspeth is still mono-white, despite the art and flavour, but she almost doesn’t play like she is. I think most of the time, she’s likely to make 4 tokens and then probably cack it, but the Escape on this is really interesting. By the time you reach 6 mana, you probably will just have enough cards in the yard to cast this again.

I really don’t know how to interpret this card. She’s in my own cube, but I don’t remember seeing her cast yet, so that’s not really any help. My guess is that she’s mostly good in slower decks, but also making and pumping tokens does output a fair bit of damage over time. She’s only like a dollar, so maybe try her out? At least she won’t be an expensive mistake if she is one.

 Basri Ket

Mr. Sandman here is pretty much just a better Ajani, Caller of the Pride. The +1 does more, the -2 actually puts things on board and is better for aggressive decks to get value out of, and the ultimate is actually attainable. He’s basically aggro-only, but he’ll get the job done in those decks.

However, the 3-mana Gideons kind of just outshine Basri here. He does literal jack squat without a creature on board, and his -2 is quite weak with only one or two attacking creatures to work with. The ultimate is nice, but +1ing over and over is extremely bleh, and you probably have better things to do. So sorry, Basri, maybe next time.

 Grand Master of Flowers

Bahamut, you aren’t fooling anyone, it’s on the typeline. For reference, Monk of the Open Hand is a 1/1 for W that gets a +1/+1 counter if you cast two spells in a turn- so it’s not really worth running? And even if you do put it in your cube, there’s no guarantee you’ll have both in a deck, or want to play both in a deck…so…

Okay, fine, let’s assume you just get a copy of Monk of the Open Hand when you draft the card. I’m still not super enthused about this Planeswalker. The lockdown ability is going to miss more than you think it will, and a lot of the things it misses are the things likely to kill you. It can make a 1/1 every turn, but only one at a time, and if they exile it then the ability does stone nothing. And that “ultimate” takes forever to actually get to. Also it’s another 4-mana White Walker. I think I’ll pass on this one. Somehow, both Tiamat and Bahamut were disappointments.

 Teyo, Aegis Adept

I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this, but I didn’t really want to end on GMoF, so. I’ve done a whole post on the digital-only cards, and I do think Teyo, despite being a Planeswalker, is one of the less fucky ones. You will need to track a lot of things, though.

So how does the card stack up? Honestly, I think it’s surprisingly solid. Aggro probably isn’t that interested, though Lumbering Lightshield’s ETB (makes a random card in the opponent’s hand cost 1 more) could be a real pain if you’re lucky. It makes a 4/4 every other turn for a bit, which is quite solid, and the ultimate isn’t that unobtainable. And you don’t have to worry about money, because this could only ever exist as a proxy.

I’d be really interested to see how Teyo, Aegis Adept plays. I don’t think I’m likely to, outside of Arena-based cubes, with the whole stigma around these cards and the added layer of having to proxy them. But in an Arena cube, with a restricted list of cards he’s competing with (It’s Adversary of Tyrants forward), he could really shine.

 This concludes White Walkers, the post. Please join next week when we discuss Blue Walkers. Make your own Game of Thrones joke here, I haven’t watched or read it.

[titanic-ultimatum]

White's New Card Advantage: Verge Rangers

White’s New Card Advantage: Verge Rangers

Hallelujah! Mono-white has a new form of card advantage. While it’s not quite drawing a card, it lets you look at the top card and play lands from the top of your deck so long as you meet the condition that an opponent has more lands in play than you. It’s similar in that way to most land searching effects that white gets like Land Tax, and Gift of Estates. It doesn’t search for lands, but…

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[greenmageatheart]

Aether Revolt: Mono-White Servos

I haven’t been playing much Magic, but after looking through the Aether Revolt spoilers (and looking at this post), I was inspired to build a standard deck around the idea. I would greatly appreciate advice on the deck, particularly removal and numbers. Here’s the list so far:

Servo Exhibition x4 Metallic Mimic x4 Cogworker’s Puzzleknot x4 Declaration in Stone x4 Thopter Arrest x3 Master Trinketeer x4 Chief of the Foundry x4 Odric, Lunarch Marshal x2 Sram’s Expertise x4 Angel of Invention x4 Westvale Abbey x4 Plains x19

The idea is to make a bunch of Servos and beef them up. Topping off with Odric and Angel of Invention gives Servos flying and lifeline and us the game. Alternatively we could use the Servos to summon Ormendahl and win that way.

Like I mentioned, this is far from the final draft. Angel could get switched for Thalia to keep the curve at four or less. The deck could also add black and become an updated version of BW Fabricate.