2016 B/W Token Primer

Modern xzzane

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xenith4127 says... #1

You are most welcome xyzane.

May 14, 2015 10:46 a.m.

Nef says... #2

Would you consider Go for the Throat for the removal section? It hits many important creatures.
The major concern is how useless it can be vs tron and affinity.

May 14, 2015 3:07 p.m.

xzzane says... #3

Thanks, I'll add that in a minute. I'll also add that it is useless against those decks as well.

May 14, 2015 3:34 p.m.

Nef says... #4

"This card can be good if you have a meta that has no tron or affinity, but I heavily advise using this card if you have either of these decks in your meta."

This is your explanation for Go for the Throat. It should say "... but I heavily advise against using this card if you have either of these decks in your meta."

May 17, 2015 8:54 p.m.

xzzane says... #5

This is why one should never do updates on their phone haha. Thanks for pointing that out!

May 17, 2015 8:56 p.m.

Nef says... #6

No problem haha xD Just trying to make this the best primer it can be xD

May 17, 2015 8:59 p.m.

GreenGhost says... #7

Yeah the whole reason I have tirel is so that along with the leylines I can gain more life than they can deal damage. That coupled with solemn visitor and I just can't be killed by them.

May 17, 2015 9:47 p.m.

xzzane says... #8

Appreciate that! I do as well. Anything else you see that I could improve on potentially?

May 17, 2015 9:47 p.m.

xzzane says... #9

Green_Ghost, care to explain what you mean a bit more? It seems a tad random.

May 17, 2015 9:48 p.m.

GreenGhost says... #10

Sorry I remember someone mentioning that elspeth tirel wasn't the best inclusion in the deck and I'm now entirely sure why I just posted that here. Guess I'm just tired. Anyway I've got it in the sb but since storm and burn are pretty popular at my shop would it be worth it to take out of the knight errants out for a tirel?

May 17, 2015 9:58 p.m.

xzzane says... #11

Ahh. And why not have Sorin, Solemn Visitor if you're having problems with burn?

May 17, 2015 10 p.m.

GreenGhost says... #12

I already have two. She works in conjunction with him for stupid amounts of life. There is also a guy who plays bloom titan and a couple of guys who play infect. The thing is I'm not sure if replacing one of the two knight errants weakens any of those other match ups.

May 17, 2015 10:07 p.m.

xzzane says... #13

Infect should be a fairly easy matchup. Lots of chump blockers, hand disruption, etc. Bloom Titan is a good matchup due to hand disruption, but it can get out of hand if they stabilize with their Primeval Titan. Trample is a pain. The pros of Knight-Errant are that she can push some extra damage through flying. Elspeth can deal 9 extra damage if you purely count her +3/3 flying by the time Tirel's 3 tokens are capable of attacking. Tirel is fantastic with refilling the board state, but bloom titan is really an all or nothing kind of deck; it doesn't have many creatures out at one time, it has one massively powerful titan attacking. You want to be able to keep dealing damage with knight-errant in my opinion. Do you run Auriok Champion mainboarded? I would say keep your Knight-Errants, and if you have both auriok and solemn visitor that should be more than enough to be able to deal with burn.

May 17, 2015 10:20 p.m.

GreenGhost says... #14

Ok thanks I've yet to get auriok campions because no one seems to have them around me plus they aren't the cheapest cards either. I'll just leave tirel in the sb then.

May 17, 2015 10:28 p.m.

xzzane says... #15

Kor Firewalker would make a much better sideboard option against burn if you don't already run it.

May 17, 2015 10:49 p.m.

GreenGhost says... #16

Huh thanks for that I'll have to get a couple.

May 17, 2015 10:50 p.m.

xzzane says... #17

No problem! Good against storm too actually.

May 17, 2015 10:54 p.m.

Glogan92 says... #18

Fantastic post. I'm assembling this now, but with some budget cuts.

Why would you run a max of 3 Caves of Koilos?

My landbase is currently:4x Caves of Koilos4x Windbrisk Heights4x Isolated Chapel2x Vault of the Archangel5x Plains5x Swamp

The fetches and shocklands are a bit pricey. Caves seems like a decent compromise that still allows turn-1 mana flexibility.

May 19, 2015 4:37 a.m.

xzzane says... #19

Thanks! And caves can cost a lot of health over time as opposed to just getting the shocks out of the way. You don't want to be running that many swamps because it will make a turn 3 Spectral Procession very difficult. The manabase can be a little tricky for this reason. If you don't have the money for shocks, then it's acceptable

May 19, 2015 4:40 a.m.

Adamantium13 says... #20

xzzane I love the build. I, too, am a big fan of B/W tokens. Would you mind taking a look at my deck and give me a little advice? Thanks!

B/W Tokens for the Win

May 30, 2015 5:48 p.m.

xzzane says... #21

Thanks! And I'll take a look at it in a minute.

May 30, 2015 5:51 p.m.

Nice deck bro +1. I run a tokens deck too (Mentors of the Lost Arts), and I agree with a lot of your points. Have you tried running Gideon Jura as a one-of? I like him in decks like these. He's a nice fatty to have down on the board next to your tokens, especially if the opponent slams down a wipe. Gideon and Elspeth also combine to swing big for the finish if not immediately answered (and once one of them is answered, the other will continue bashing). Just a suggestion (: The deck is pretty shweet regardless.

June 1, 2015 9:56 p.m.

xzzane says... #23

Thanks! And I think there are better cards to run than Gideon personally. I'm glad you liked it!

June 1, 2015 10:32 p.m.

Mainies says... #24

Hey xzzane, I really like this deck and B/W Tokens is a fun deck to play. I have just about all the expensive staples. I have 4 Bitterblossom but I am thinking of taking them out, they feel good to play against decks with big beaters, but obviously as you said they're quite slow. I was wondering what is your opinion on a blue splash for a Polymorph combo for Emrakrul? is this viable in a competitive environment with the proper counterspells added such as Remand and Dispel? I am quite new to the competitive magic and have been going all random directions including a Liliana, Hero of Bladehold, even considered Dark Confidant for drawing, but that means removal is strong again.

I think my main questions are the emrakrul blue splash, if not would you ever splash a different colour?

June 9, 2015 10:45 a.m.

xzzane says... #25

Splashing blue is not worth it. Whenever you target a spell with something like Polymorph all the opponent has to do is play a removal spell on the targeted token, and the spell fizzles. Tokens is better off just being b/w. If I were to make a splash I would probably choose a very small splash of green, perhaps a single Temple Garden and a Gavony Township.

June 9, 2015 11:37 a.m.

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