I have another rules question

Commander / EDH* WU (Azorius)

DWM024

Native Banding (12)

• 1x Benalish Hero
• 1x Benalish Infantry
• 1x Camel
• 1x Icatian Skirmishers
• 1x Kjeldoran Knight
• 1x Kjeldoran Skyknight
• 1x Kjeldoran Warrior
• 1x Knights of Thorn
• 1x Mesa Pegasus
• 1x Pikemen
• 1x Shield Bearer
• 1x Teremko Griffin

Tokens (9)

• 1x Castle Ardenvale
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Felidar Retreat
• 1x Grand Crescendo
• 1x Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1x Kjeldoran Outpost
• 1x Legion's Landing  ^Flip
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Secure the Wastes

Vigilance Enablers and Static Buffs (5)

• 1x Always Watching
• 1x Angel's Trumpet
• 1x Benalish Marshal
• 1x Crescendo of War
• 1x Honor of the Pure

Rocks (4)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Banding Enablers (3)

• 1x Baton of Morale
• 1x Cathedral of Serra
• 1x Helm of Chatzuk

White Legends (10)

• 1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
• 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1x Bushi Tenderfoot  ^Flip
• 1x Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
• 1x Commander Eesha
• 1x Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• 1x Kytheon, Hero of Akros  ^Flip
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Masako the Humorless
• 1x Sensei Golden-Tail

Card Draw (9)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Infiltration Lens
• 1x Mind Spring
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Rumor Gatherer
• 1x War Room

Ramp (6)

• 1x Deep Gnome Terramancer
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Other (4)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Moorland Haunt
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer

Burst Buffs (1)

• 1x Unbreakable Formation

Wrath (1)

• 1x Wrath of God

Commander (1)

Lands (25)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 5x Island
• 13x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Sea of Clouds

Interaction (5)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Block Shenanigans (4)

• 1x Basalt Golem
• 1x Dream Fighter
• 1x Saprazzan Heir
• 1x Tolarian Entrancer

Forced Block (1)

• 1x Odric, Master Tactician

---

Maybeboard

Native Banding (1)

• 1x War Elephant

---

Ayesha but cleaned up a solid amount

Lessons from past sins (High level strategy and gameplan)

The Plan

This deck is meant to be primarily played as a white weenie aggro deck. This deck wants to leverage its aggressively costed creature curve to consistently flood the board.

What went wrong with banding 1.0?

The primary issue with the original decklist was its lack of early game tempo, and lack of sustain. In accordance with this the following changes have been made

• Significantly more thought has been put into the mana curve of creatures included in this list, and more blue spells for card advantage have been included
• Cathedral of Serra Has been included in this list, primarily because white legends are aggressively costed, and having this land gives us access to a second suite of banding creatures to better maintain control over the combat step.
• The original decklist also wasn't designed to be super functional, with pet inclusions like licids having been cut from this decklist.
• Reliance on non-token creatures to act as damage holes has been reduced in favor of a wider array of cheap token generation, reducing the risk of eating a poorly timed wrath and struggling to rebuild.
• The mana base has been streamlined to only have fast mana
• The number of mana rocks has been drastically increased, to help smooth the early game curve.

Technical Details

Banding 101

I'm not going to sugar coat it. This section is just the full comprehensive rules for banding. As far as I'm concerned this is the "you much be this deranged to play" for the deck. Experiencing the Magic the Gathering (tm) comprehensive rules for banding is a rite of passage. Pay attention to 22k and 22j

• 702.22a - Banding is a static ability that modifies the rules for combat.
• 702.22b - “Bands with other” is a special form of banding. If an effect causes a permanent to lose banding, the permanent loses all “bands with other” abilities as well.
• 702.22c - As a player declares attackers, they may declare that one or more attacking creatures with banding and up to one attacking creature without banding (even if it has “bands with other”) are all in a “band.” They may also declare that one or more attacking [quality] creatures with “bands with other [quality]” and any number of other attacking [quality] creatures are all in a band. A player may declare as many attacking bands as they want, but each creature may be a member of only one of them. (Defending players can’t declare bands but may use banding in a different way; see rule 702.22j.)
• 702.22d - All creatures in an attacking band must attack the same player or planeswalker.
• 702.22e - Once an attacking band has been announced, it lasts for the rest of combat, even if something later removes banding or “bands with other” from one or more of the creatures in the band.
• 702.22f - An attacking creature that’s removed from combat is also removed from the band it was in.
• 702.22g - Banding doesn’t cause attacking creatures to share abilities, nor does it remove any abilities. The attacking creatures in a band are separate permanents.
• 702.22h - If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature. Example: A player attacks with a band consisting of a creature with flying and a creature with swampwalk. The defending player, who controls a Swamp, can block the flying creature if able. If they do, then the creature with swampwalk will also become blocked by the blocking creature(s).
• 702.22i - If one member of a band would become blocked due to an effect, the entire band becomes blocked.
• 702.22j - During the combat damage step, if an attacking creature is being blocked by a creature with banding, or by both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the defending player (rather than the active player) chooses how the attacking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as they choose among any creatures blocking it. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1c.
• 702.22k - During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as they choose among any creatures it’s blocking. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1d.
• 702.22m - Multiple instances of banding on the same creature are redundant. Multiple instances of “bands with other” of the same kind on the same creature are redundant.

The interaction between Banding and Trample

Banding is a little known hard counter to trample. Whats important to know here is rule 702.19b

• 702.19b - The controller of an attacking creature with trample **first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking.** When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.

Say for example our opponent is swinging at you with a Giant Adephage. We can block with a band of Benalish Hero and a 1/1 token. Normally what would happen is

1. The Adephage's controller would assign enough damage to be lethal to each blocker
2. Because of trample, excess damage can then be assigned to the player
3. Both blockers die and 5 damage makes it through

Because our two blockers are in a band what now happens however is

1. Because of banding we choose to assign all the damage to a 1/1 token
2. No trample damage is assigned to us or Benalish Hero
3. All that dies is the token, and we dont lose any life

On what it means to "Become Blocked"

//TODO: Final Check on cited cards

This section goes into the implications of how blocking works with banding. Specifically,

• 702.22h - If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature.

normally creatures that trigger on becoming blocked are weak enough that they risk being killed. However if you get them in a band, you can divert the damage from them and abuse their triggers. The cards selected for this role are

• Basalt Golem - Errata text is important here, this card specifies that the blocking creatures are SACRIFICED. This means that this will get around indestructible blockers, and is about as strong a deterrent to blocking as there is
• Dream Fighter - This one is unique because it trigger when you are blocked OR block. Opponents who swing into this can end up being left open to up to a full turn around the table of attacks
• Saprazzan Heir - If you can protect it well enough this is an insane engine for reusable card draw. Even without a way to divert damage in a band, sacrificing a 1/1 for 3 cards is a great rate.
• Tolarian Entrancer - This card deserves a deck all of its own. Unlike the above 2, this card triggers on each blocker. Swing with a band containing a sacrificial lamb equipped with Nemesis Mask, then watch as your opponents board blocks the entrancer without killing it and becomes yours, all while he survives to do it again

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.43
Tokens	0/2 C Artifact Creature Wall, Angel 4/4 W, Cat Beast 2/2 W, Cat Soldier 1/1 W, Citizen 1/1 GW, Elephant 3-3 G, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Enchantment Cleric 2/1 W, Human 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Vampire 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W