A Pillow of Winds

Commander / EDH Control Mono-White Pillow Fort TurboFog

irisfibers

Artifact (19)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Commander's Plate
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Endless Atlas
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Marble Diamond
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Quietus Spike
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x The Immortal Sun

Land (38)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Scrying Sheets
• 30x Snow-Covered Plains
• 1x War Room

Creature (18)

• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Archon of Absolution
• 1x Archon of Coronation
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Cavalier of Dawn
• 1x Keeper of the Accord
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Painter's Servant
• 1x Peacekeeper
• 1x Protector of the Crown
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Soul of Eternity
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Verge Rangers
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Windborn Muse

Instant (7)

• 1x Dispatch
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Flawless Maneuver
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Karn, Scion of Urza

Commander (1)

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Circle of Protection: White
• 1x Court of Grace
• 1x Crackdown
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Endless Horizons
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Rune of Protection: White
• 1x Story Circle

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Glare of Heresy
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Open the Vaults
• 1x Wrath of God

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** This primer isn't up to date with some changes I've made to the deck, though the main points are still the same. Will update when I have time

This is my third discreet build of Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. My first was equipment voltron and while she works fairly well with equipment, there are other commanders that outshine her by far (think Akiri, Line-Slinger). Then I tried mono-white stax, this worked well enough but the natural downsides of mono white meant that it was very difficult to break the symmetry. Furthermore, tails is quite mana hungry and so traditional stax is hard to pull off if you want to protect your pieces.

Recently, I've finally come upon a build that I think compliments Tail's natural ability exceptionally well and that build is Pillow-fort.

Why Eight-and-a-Half-Tails

Firstly, the reason I keep coming back to her as a commander is that art. In my opinion, it is one of the best art pieces in the whole game (drawing inspiration from the Japanese Kitsune legends). Despite the limitations of mono white in EDH, tails is a phenomenal commander. If she had any other color than white she would be one of the strongest commanders in the game. Unfortunately, she doesn't but despite all odds color-wise, tail's ability to protect her assets on the battlefield is unparalleled. You can easily lock out your opponent's ability to do damage indefinitely and you can get damage through by using protection: white, combat tricks.

Overcoming the Mono-White Limitations

Mono-white will never be a truly competitive color identity in multiplayer, it's too slow and has too many limitations (particularly in the areas of ramp and card draw) but it can be a very strong casual deck. To overcome the limitations of Mono-White you have to be creative. There are obvious cards like Mind's Eye, Scrying Sheets, Sensei's Divining Top to add to make your deck more consistent but you inevitably, due to a simple lack of options, you are forced to resort to jankier means to overcome those flaws. Things like mana rocks that will sacrifice for card draw add incremental value. Ultimately, you need cards that serve multiple purposes so that you can get extra value (Protector of the Crown and Commander's Sphere are perfect examples of this). You also want to squeeze as much value out of any card you can which is why spells have been left out in favor of permanents that accomplish similar ends.

Deck Strategy (Fog/Funneling Damage)

I conceptualize the strategy as "funneling" damage and ultimately fogging them indefinitely. Traditional fogs are significantly less powerful because they are a one time deal and getting instants/sorceries back from your graveyard is difficult in this color. Tails can however, protect permanents quite well so permanent based fog effects are the golden ticket. There are a lot of synergies/strategies that support this in the deck. Firstly, you have the Circle of Protection effects. These are essentially fogs for 2 mana per creature:

• Circle of Protection: White
• Rune of Protection: White
• Story Circle

You have the bodyguard creatures:

• Guardian of the Gateless
• Palisade Giant
• Protector of the Crown
• Veteran Bodyguard
• Pariah's Shield (turn any creature into a bodyguard)
• Kami of False Hope (this is not explicitly a bodyguard but provides a lot of synergy with the recursion in the deck)

Those aforementioned are great effects but when an opponent goes wide it takes a lot of resources to keep them at bay. Here is where the "funneling" comes in. These cards simply reduce the number of creatures coming at you:

• Archangel of Tithes
• Silent Arbiter
• Windborn Muse
• Ghostly Prison
• Crawlspace
• Crackdown
• Maze of Ith

These effects are how tails makes it into the late game. Essentially, pillow-fort yourself enough so that you aren't explicitly threatening but you have a strong enough position to incentive your opponents to attack each other. After they have sufficiently weakened each other (or even better killed off a couple players) then you are in position to strike.

How to Win

The deck wins through damage (commander or normal combat) and there are a number of pieces in the deck that will facilitate the win:

• Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• Serra Avatar
• Sublime Archangel
• Luminarch Ascension
• Eight-and-a-Half-Tails + Sword of Fire and Ice/Sword of Feast and Famine/Quietus Spike

The Rest of the Deck

The rest of the deck is pretty much removal/control or ramp. While there are classic spells like Wrath of God and Swords to Plowshares much of the removal is permanent based to make sure things stay gone. Cards like Admonition Angel are great because it take's advantage of what you were going to do anyways (play lands) and tails will help keep her in play. Another particularly brutal combo is Guardian of the Gateless + Gorgon's Head/Quietus Spike/Basilisk Collar (especially if you are able to afford tricks with tails).

I'm always excited for feedback on my decks so feel free to give it a +1 vote or suggest any cards that I missed (all my decks are perpetually under construction.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.11
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, City's Blessing, Construct 0/0 C, Copy Clone, Golem 3/3 C, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, The Monarch
Folders	Active Decks