I got a Rapid Fire Starter Deck back when I first started playing Magic and loved Red and White from there. It's been a slow transformation, but I think I've taken just about everything from that starter deck out and replaced it with something. Also, it helped to mix in Boros cards from recent sets. Here's the breakdown of what I picked--Essential Knight Cards
- Knight Exemplar: This one should be obvious. The +1/+1 for knights is something you see in other tribes, but the indestructible? Not a chance. If you're running knights, you need 4 in the deck. No if's, and's, or but's. It's that important. Having this means your 1/1's and 2/2's become 2/2's and 3/3's which is a huge advantage early on. 1 point might not seem like much, but when you and your opponent have the field covered in 2/2's and suddenly your Leonin Skyhunter is a 3/3, you don't even have to worry about their blockers. Furthermore, it allows you to leave some of your monsters behind as blockers. You don't need to worry that they aren't 0/6 defenders, you have indestructible for goodness sake! Overall, great card.
- Mirran Crusader: While this card isn't in the win condition section, it might as well be. A 2/2 double striker is nothing to shrug at. A 2/2 double striker with protection from black and green is amazing. A 3/3 indestructible double striker with protection from two colors is...practically redundant when you think about it, but thats still 6 damage potentially! The fact it has protection means it can almost guarantee a hit against decks running those colors. Even if that isnt the case, your opponent is definitely going to want to block this guy. And with three cmc and 4 of them in the deck, theyre almost guaranteed to come out and do some damage to your opponent. While I didnt include the sword cards in the main deck (theyve been in previous iterations), slapping one with the right protection makes him damn near unstoppable. One thing to note: cards like Black Sun's Zenith and Mutilate will take this guy down even if hes indestructible. Remember that.
- Leonin Skyhunter: Yeah, shes kind of wimpy, but trust me, shes worth it. Two drop for a 2/2 flyer is decent. The main drawback is that its two white mana, but seeing as this deck only splashes, thats not so bad. It gives you good flying coverage and with Knight Exemplar on the field your opponent cant even fly over your defenses. I know its not really a game changer, but its important to have simple cards like this one to cover your bases with flying. If your opponent has flying too, youve got blockers. If they dont have flying, you have a way to attack. Its that simple.
- Student of Warfare: This card is great for two reasons. 1) Shes a one drop knight card so you can play her pretty much whenever you want. 2) Her level up only costs 1 white mana making her one of the easiest cards to level up. Getting her to level 7 isnt too difficult, but its ok if you dont because having her as a 3/3 with first strike is usually enough. And with Knight Exemplar out, shes even better. Getting her one turn one is great because you can drop her then, and on turn 2 level up twice to swing for 3 damage with first trike.
- Knight of the White Orchid: With 21 lands, its important to not fall behind. Having four really helps thin the deck while keeping up with your opponents mana. While the deck doesnt require much to function, it requires some and this guy can get it. His first strike on top of that is just added fun. Even if your opponent has more or the same land as you, you can drop this for extra coverage. Also, note that it says Plains card not just Plains. That means, any card that is a Plains card can be used, meaning cards like Sacred Foundry can be brought out as well. Also (and you can look this up to verify) this card says that you can put it into play from your library. That is different from playing a land. So, one strategy is to play this guy, search for a land, then play one from your hand. So yeah, have fun with that.
-
Knight of Meadowgrain
: Ill probably put a 4th one in here because this card is a lot better than I thought itd be. Two drops like Leonin Skyhunter and Knight of the White Orchid are perfect for filling the gap between playing Student of Warfare and Mirran Crusader. The lifelink may seem rather useless, but with Sunforger, Knight Exemplar, and Kithkin Caviler to beef her up, youll rack up points in no time. That extra life will let you leave yourself open so you dont have to keep your knights back to block.
--Other Creatures
- Sun Titan: This guy is in the trial phase. I like him a lot and Ive seen him in play enough to know that hes a potent card for keeping low cost creatures in the field. Ive kept him out since hes A) not a knight and b) six cost but I figured itd be time to try him out.
-
Truefire Paladin
: Hes also in the trial phase. He keeps coming back every time I feel like Ive taken too much red out of the deck. As dumb as this might sound, Im not ready to take all the red out and I feel I need some knight card in here for that. Unfortunately, this is the only guy that only needs 1 red mana to play and is actually kind of decent. Hes not the best, but he can be a solid blocker when you need him to be and his vigilance lets him put pressure on the opponent.
--Four Cost Cards. Aka: the Win Conditions
- Day of Judgment: I chose not to include anything that is more than four cost (Sun Titan will probably be replaced soon) so these cards are the best four cost ones around. You might be able to think of better ones and if thats true, go ahead and suggest some. But for now, these are the ones Ive been using and theyve been working pretty well so far. Anyway, Day of Judgment. Its a great card. No getting around it. Your stuff has indestructible because of Knight Exemplar so you dont even have to worry about losing your stuff. It doesnt target so protection isnt a problem either. And, even if you only have one Knight Exemplar, you can activate this card and youll only lose that one Knight Exemplar while everyone else will live. Yeah, itll weaken your stuff, but sometimes thats what you have to do to be aggressive. Why didnt I pick Wrath of God? Because this one is cheaper to buy and more common. Thats it, really. If you have the extra cash and you can find one, yeah, pick up a copy of WoG instead but for me, this works just fine.
- Kinsbaile Cavalier: This card turns your knights into double strikers which, like Knight Exemplar should be pretty self-explanatory as to why its a good thing. Four cost is a tad high, but honestly, this card can turn the tides or straight up end a game by doubling your damage output .Yeah, its redundant on Mirran Crusader but its still a great card for every other knight you have. Not much else I can say about this one other than that I recommend it. I keep it at one just because having 2 on the field with Mirran Crusader and Student of Warfare was a little too pointless for me. One is just fine though.
- Hero of Bladehold: This card, if let through, will do 7 damage. 7 friggin damage! Thats a lot. Yes, you have to wait a turn and thats why I held off putting her into the deck, but when you get down to it, putting in two soldiers on every attack and beefing up every other creature is just too good to pass up. If anything, itll force your opponent to use their removal spells on her rather than use them on Knight Exemplar. Plus, if you can manage to keep her alive to attack multiple times and your opponent lets the solider tokens live, youll just build up a little soldier army. Not bad.
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant: I probably should have put this at the front because Elspeth is by far the best win condition. Any knight deck willing to cough up the cash for her will tell you how great she is. Here are the basics for why. Good 5 cost cards like Baneslayer Angel are win conditions. Elspeth is a win condition on turn 4, one turn earlier. Most planeswalkers follow the +1, -2, -7 (or some variation) pattern of abilities. Elspeth has two +1 abilities, meaning that no matter what she does, shell gain counters. And since she comes out with 4, it means your opponents cant simply Lightning Bolt her from the get go. With someone like Chandra or Ajani, it is sometimes better to put out the planeswalker so your opponent will waste a turn killing it rather than you. With Elsepth, her extra loyalty counters make it so that theyd have to waste more than just a turn to do so and even at one counter, she can still do things.Abilities wise, her effects are very potent. Putting in a 1/1 solider token can be a great way to defend herself if youve recently board wiped and need to buy time to get knights out. Her second ability is the selling point, though. Basically, it turns Mirran Crusader into a 5/5 double striker with protection from green and black, and flying. That means, it can deal 10 damage in one swing. If you can pull that on turn 4, your opponent is done. No question. The synergy between those two cards alone make them the primary win condition for the deck. Obviously, there are other uses like getting more life out of
Knight of Meadowgrain
or doing 14 damage with Student of Warfare but this is 10 potential damage on turn 4 and thats a game winning possibility. As for Elspeths last ability, its very unlikely youll ever need to use it. If you do, though, youll probably have the game locked up. There will be no more trading or worrying about Day of Judgment or burn spells plucking off your knights one at a time. I should point out, though, that Elspeths +1 abilities are her selling point, not the -8. Even if you got her to a high loyalty counter count, I would still suggest keeping her. Her abilities will wreck your opponent and theyll be unable to do the damage to stop her. Overall, probably the most potent card in the deck.
--Removal Spells
- Path to Exile: This is definitely the best removal spell for white and one of the best in any deck. I would even suggest splashing white in non-white decks just to use this sucker. While not supper great in casual because youre helping your opponent mana ramp, theyre great against more competitive decks that use more nonbasic land cards. Furthermore, you can use it on your own stuff if youre really in a bind. Really, though, the fact that you can spend one mana and exile a creature (meaning effects that say die or put into the graveyard wont work) is awesome. One of the best uses is to play it at the end of your opponents turn and swing through on your turn. Unlike burn spells, you dont have to use multiple ones to get rid of a big creature; you can simply knock it back. And like Day of Judgment and Knight Exemplar, you can use this in conjunction with Knight of White Orchid to turn the drawback into a boon.
- Lightning Helix: Another great removal, this one can also be used to get 3 life back which can make a big difference and help you pay for your Battlefield Forges and Sacred Foundrys. A great card for removing low toughness creatures and weakening the ones your opponents will be blocking with. Moreover, you can use it in tandem with first strike to kill bigger targets before they even get a chance to touch your cards. Not bad, huh? The numbers on this one vary depending on who you talk to. I settled on three partly from personal preference and partly because I only happen to have that many.
--Equipment
- [Basilisk Collar]]: Ive seen people run two and if this were mono white, that would totally be the case. Its a good card for first strikers and the extra life can make a difference in close games. Its low cost makes it easy to get out and a great card to have on hand.
- Sunforger: This card is in here for kicks and nothing else. It makes the double strikers and lifelink users absolutely insane. On top of that, you can tap red and white to get Path to Exile and Lightning Helix whenever you want. This will help thin the deck out in addition to getting exactly the removal spell you need. The mana cost is what keeps this from being perfect, but its still a fun card for more casual games.
--Land Base
- Plains: Going down to 21 lands was odd, but it was necessary. The cost of things is so low that it just makes sense to keep it bellow 24. 20, I think, is a bit much, even with Knight of the White Orchid but 21 is just enough that it can get buy. It doesnt seem like much of a difference, but it really is. Also, with mostly 2 cost things, the deck can consistently make a few moves early one when it runs into mana trouble.
- Sacred Foundry: Fantastic. Works great with Knight of the White Orchid and if you have it in your opening hand and nothing to play, you can just drop it and not worry about the cost! Id put 4 in but they cost $10 each and thats a tad spending for me right now. See Proxy Section below for more details.
- Battlefield Forge: Also fantastic. This time its because they dont come into play tapped. I like to use these guys when I need a certain color and Im in kind of a bind. Could not recommend them enough.
- Boros Garrison: This card is only in here since it puts you back one land but doesnt set you back any mana. In other words, it combos with Knight of White Orchid. Not much else. Itll probably get swapped out for Proxies.
- Cavern of Souls: Every tribal deck should have one of these on hand but only for playing against counter decks. The fact that you can use any mana is nice, but since this runs mostly white, it isnt much help. Furthermore, it doesnt work with Student of Warfare, Sunforger, or
Truefire Paladin
so I find myself saving this for when I dont have any other land in hand. Still, it is a good card overall and it has saved my butt in games against blue.
Aggressiveness:Generally, this deck is not as crazy stupid aggro as a lot of red/white decks or even knight decks. I would look at it this way: every deck has to build up until they can win. At a certain point, though, your building is going to stagnate. For instance, an all-in deck will burn through everything and if they dont win, theyll be top-decking for the rest of the game, hoping to get something to win with. Thats because their opportune time to win has passed. On the flip side, Mana ramp decks have a slower rate of buildup, but it is still build up. For them, they may get out a massively huge creature, but if it doesnt crush the opponent within a few turns, theyll be left building up more and more mana with nothing to cast it on because their win condition is right there on the field not doing its job. This deck is on the latter part of aggro decks. Its still more aggressive than most 24 land decks, but it definitely isnt as aggressive as 20 land decks. And honestly, I think thats ok. Its not very competitive, but it does well in casual and the occasional modern tournament I take it to.If you have suggestions or you disagree, please comment! Ive been playing Magic for a while, but I know there are a lot of people who know more than me and there are newer people who see things with fresh eyes that I dont.
Proxy Section:The place I play modern tournaments allows for ten proxies so Ive been trying some out for now. Ive taken out the Battlefield Forges for Arid Mesass and the Borros Garrison for another Sacred Foundry. There arent any big costing creatures or planeswalkers outside of the ones I have in here so the best place to change it up is the land base. Well see how it runs for a while but those are some very, VERY expensive cards.
Previous cards. These are cards that have been in the deck previously and our now things that everyone can consider playing. Some worked well, others just kind of failed. Either way, heres the list.
- Skyknight Legionnaire: Not exactly the best card ever, but its a fun one. I only have one becausewell frankly I havent found anything Id rather include. Plus, I like another card with haste and flying. 3 cost from two mana types for a 2/2 is the main reason I took it out. It just wasnt enough to make a huge difference here.
-
Legion Loyalist
: This is a great card in any creature based deck. Its haste and one cmc means it could hit at any time and trigger its battalion that much more easily. Plus, his battalion covers everyone so your fully leveled Student of Warfare is going to trample right on through. And on top of that, it removes any chance of your opponent swarming your attackers with creature tokens. Overall, a great card. I would put four in if it was a knight, but sadly its just a soldier. For that reason, I took it out of the deck.
- Tajic, Blade of the Legion: I debated putting this guy in for a while, but ultimately I decided he was too good to pass up. Yeah, he would do better with decks that swarm the field with soldiers, but hes still very powerful here. He works nicely with
Legion Loyalist
and Skyknight Legionnaire because of their haste abilities, and he himself can be given haste with Legion's Initiative. While it would be nice to make him a knight for Kinsbaile Cavalier, a 7/7 indestructible creature is nothing to laugh at. Plus, he can be a solid blocker even if you dont have Knight Exemplar out. I took him out because he requires two kinds of mana and doesnt give anything to the other knights like the other four drop cards do. He is a card that receives bonuses rather than giving them and he wouldnt get enough from the others to make a difference.
- Chandra, the Firebrand: This might just be my vanity that wants to keep her in here, but she really is a solid card to have around. I used to run [Chandra Nallaar]]s but, this one is easier to get out and her abilities are much more versatile. For instance, her +1 can be used to clear the way of weaker monsters that your opponent is using to chump block with. On top of that, you can use it to weaken bigger ones that would normally survive your attacks. Her -2 works great with Lightning Helix and Path to Exile. And the -6 will probably end a game if you can pull it off while you have enough creatures out. So yeah, this is a solid planeswalker. Unfortunately, Elspeth is just way too powerful to pass up so I had to swap them.
- Lightning Bolt: This is THE burn spell. No other burn spell does something so efficiently (besides the one right above this). Instant speed, one mana to cast, 3 damage. Done and done. You can also use this and the others to finish your opponent off if you get the chance. If you dont have your fill of single target removal/burn spells from the previous two cards, fill in the rest with this bad boy. You wont be sorry. Plus, you dont have to worry about protection! I took it out since Lightning Helix was basically doing its job and then some. The mana cost would be the same to me since its so much easier to get white mana than red.
-
Fight to the Death
: Ill be honest, I havent used this one enough to know if it was worth it. Its pretty cool because it straight up kills your opponents creatures and you can survive with either Knight Exemplar or Legion's Initiative. But, again, I havent been able to use it enough to give you an answer that is absolutely certain. I took it out since there were enough situations where it ended up as a dead card in my hand. But if you have a different experience tell me what you think of it!
- Legion's Initiative: This card is pretty solid in this deck since the creatures are mostly low cost and you can use this to dodge your own Day of Judgment or
Fight to the Death
if you have the mana. The bonuses to creatures dont help too much beyond helping you dodge some burn spells here and there but it can make a difference. The fact that its an enchantment is a bit of a double-edged sword . On one hand, you can keep using it whenever you have the mana open. On the other, your opponent knows you have it and they will plan accordingly. Luckily, if they target it with a spell like Nature's Claim, you can just activate the ability to dodge it since exiling this card is part of the cost and doesnt go on the stack. The fact that it blinks creatures works against Student of Wafare though and thats something you NEVER want in a decent deck. Cards should only synergize and never clash like that.
- Aether Vial: On paper, this card looks great, but there is a serious issue with it. Its only real use is in the early game so you can start building it up immediately. The only way to make that more likely, though, is to put four in the deck. And if you do that, youll have multiples which you dont really need because its likely that youll be able to play a creature with the mana you have and play one with this without problems and an extra wont help very much. Now, if you have more draw power, it can help you empty your hand and thats pretty awesome. I put it in the sideboard because it is great against counter spells which this deck struggles with. At the end of the day, its a pretty solid card all around.
- Figure of Destiny: A fun as hell card to play. He isn't a knight so he doesn't get the benefits of the others. Still, it's the inner Timmy player in me that loves to see this guy get all the way to Avatar and swing for massive damage. A very cool card and very fun. I only took it out because i wanted something that would better help the deck rather than a 2/2 that could possibly turn into a power hourse.
