Darien's Trumpet [Primer] (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Darien's Trumpet [Primer]

Commander / EDH Mono-White

thoughtsinknots

Removal (16)

Pain (8)

Life Gain (6)

Tutors (6)

Basics (23)

Ramp (10)

Card Advantage and Selection (7)

Commander (1)

Protection (10)

Anthem (7)

Pain Support (6)

This is my first EDH and I've been working on it for a few years now. It plays fairly consistently and I am happy where the deck is at, so here's my primer for my favourite general.

You'll like this deck if...

You like a deck that is centered around your commander.
You like your lands having extra value.
You like synergy and explosive turns.
You like political commanders and table talk.
You like using unique cards that don't have a home in other decks.
You like gaining life.
You like token decks.

You won't like this deck if...

You like drawing cards.
You like interacting with the stack.
You like ramping and big mana spells.
You like being hyper aggressive.

Darien is a very unique card, one of only 6 with the text "whenever you're dealt damage" printed on it. While mono-white does have a varied amount of strategies to use in EDH, they typically will center around creatures though tribes or hate-bears, artifacts, or wraths. Darien gives mono-white a different strategy, one that is focused around lands. While he is expensive at 6CMC, he can immediately build a board presence on his own, and he can be used politically and amass an army.

Darien is deceptively powerful and even experienced playgroups will usually not think of Darien as a major threat until it is too late. The perceived weakness of mono-white can be a benefit to you as other people try to take control of the game.

Essential Cards

The core of the deck is built around damaging yourself in the most efficient way possible. The premier cards of the deck are the five lands that deal you damage: Ancient Tomb , Tarnished Citadel , City of Brass , Nomad Stadium , and Grand Coliseum . It is unquestionably wrong to not include these cards in any list; however, according to EDHRec only 50% of decks are running them (the colisuem and nomad stadium are cheap too!). These cards allow us to play Darien and immediately get 1-3 tokens just by leaving a mana up. Effectively, with Darien in play, every card in the deck has the text "and put a 1/1 soldier token into play" printed on it.

Because the lands are so important to make the deck function and we only have 5, we want to make sure we can replicate and find them. Cards like Vesuva , Thespian's Stage , Manascape Refractor , and Deserted Temple will allow us to double up on any pain land in play. We can also tutor for lands with Expedition Map and the very underplayed Weathered Wayfarer . Wizards is starting to print cards that search for plains if you're behind but I want another wayfarer so badly. Typically the best pain land is Ancient Tomb followed by Tarnished Citadel or a copy land but we run a lot of non-basics that this little one drop can REPEATEDLY tutor for 27 unique cards in the deck.

The only non-mana source of pain this deck runs is the namesake card, Angel's Trumpet . Another card I believe should be in every Darien list. It serve's two purposes: the first that it damages us and allows us to double our board every turn cycle; the second is that it puts our opponents in tight spot. Do they attack us and give us more tokens, swing at another player and either suicide their creatures or lower someone else's life total, or do they leave their creatures back which deals them some damage and leaves them open for a fatal attack from someone else. This card is amazing in Darien and does everything you want a card to do.

Similar to the Trumpet is Luminarch Ascension . Just a fantastic card in its own right, it puts the same pressure on our opponent. Do you attack me and give me soldiers or wait and give me angles? In general, cards that encourage other people to attack you should be considered for Darien and this is one of the best cards that immediately make people want to attack you.

After dealing yourself damage, the other combo with Darien is gaining it back. White is very good at this and we get to pick our preferred package of gaining it back. Angelic Chorus and Healer of the Pride allow us to go "infinite" and gain more life than we lost whenever we are dealt damage and are the most powerful on their own. We then have Soul Warden , Soul's Attendant , Ajani's Welcome , and Auriok Champion which are the most mana efficient cards that have this ability. This deck rounds out its life gain with a land Blighted Steppe , which is a tutorable Congregate that doesn't take up a card slot and can be re-bought with a number of cards such as Crucible of Worlds or Sun Titan. At this point you have the option of going more life gain heavy than me at which point I would remove some of the pump effects.

Alternates

If you have it, I would try and slot in Candelabra of Tawnos . It acts as a powered up Deserted Temple and will double the amount of damage you can deal to yourself with your lands.

Scout's Warning can potentially blow your opponents out by flashing in Darien after a big swing your way when they think you are still setting up. At its worst, it cycles for 1 mana. Very low cost to run for a big benefit. It is hard to hold up 7 mana and not seem suspicious so you need to time it correctly.

Contested War Zone is a fun idea, and minimal cost if you are okay giving up a land drop one turn cycle. You shouldn't be worried about your opponents getting a mana boost from this card as it will almost always be given to them tapped.

Ankh of Mishra with a lot of fetchlands can deal you a lot of damage at once but it does require landfall which is not guaranteed and without fetchlands is always going to be sorcery speed. Has the upside of punishing heavy ramp strategies early and can also annoy the table into targeting you.

Suture Priest , Anointer Priest , Daxos, Blessed by the Sun are the other Soul Warden cards you could run if you want to go heavy with that effect.

Elspeth Tirel is a fantastic planewalker in this deck. She has the ability to add to our board and heals us after we've built a board. A solid card that was in the deck for awhile but had to take her out for new toys.

True Conviction is another card that was in the deck for awhile. It pumps our team and allows us to gain a lot of life quickly. This is a card that should strongly be considered if making a more aggressive deck as it doubles as an anthem and can recoup the life you lost.

Exclusions

Jinxed Idol is cute but very bad. It is very slow dealing you damage and a minor annoyance if you donate it to your opponents.

Impassioned Orator is outclassed by soooo many other cards.

Congregate too minimal to be worth a slot in the deck. Blighted Steppe can be recurred, Elspeth Tirel's +2 activation can be repeatedly used, and there are many other cards that give our creature's lifelink.

Old Cards to Try Once

All of these cards are not that great, but I think any Darien player should have some slotted up to throw in and change the deck up from time to time because they make the deck interesting and a little hilarious.

Jade Monolith is an interesting card that I had in the deck in its infancy. While it has the potential to deal you a lot of damage, in my experience it just reads "Creature's your opponents control can't block" which is good but I have never been able to make the card work. I encourage you to try it because I want to make the card great.

Blood of the Martyr is a one time Jade Monolith activation that has the upside of being hidden. I actually like this card more than the Monolith because it can be used in aggressive soldier tribal builds to protect your attackers and build to your board.

Dingus Staff can potentially turn your soldiers into hydras where if one dies two take it's place. This is always going to be win-more and can open you up to dying to a wrath, but that is a pretty sweet way to lose.

Bullwhip puts the smell of blood in the air for your soldiers to come out. Your opponent might not attack you, but it can put an opponent in an uncomfortable situation and lead to bad attacks.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Karma . You can run Urborg in a mono-white deck hilariously enough and combo that with Karma to deal a lot of damage each turn cylce. This combo is actually kind of good, but each half of the combo does nothing without the other.

Blasting Station can go infinite with Darien and a Soul Warden. If you have multiple you can gain infinite life, with Anointed Procession you can get infinite creatures, with Cathars's Crusade you can make your board +inf/+inf. A little janky as it doesn't do a whole lot on it's own and requires two other cards plus Darien to be infinite, but a fun accomplishment to pull off regardless.

Supporting Cards

These cards are split into 3 main categories: Ramp to facilitate the high CMC of Darien; anthems that make our soldier army stronger; and protection for our life or permanents.

Ramp

Darien is expensive, but luckily early magic was broken and we can play Mana Crypt , Sol Ring , and Mana Vault . The crypt and vault have the added bonus of dealing us damage once Darien is in play. There is nothing sweater winning flips on your Mana Crypt when Darien is out of play and "losing" once he is.

We then have our "big" mana rocks with Thran Dynamo , Smothering Tithe , Gilded Lotus , and Caged Sun . Notably in this build Caged Sun is not the standout mana ramp spell it traditionally is in mono coloured decks since I run so many colourless producing lands, but it will consistently give me 3-4 more mana the next turn and pumps the board. Not amazing but does a serviceable job (although it would be one of the first cards to be cut). Not much else needs to be said for the other 3. Just good cards that help us cast our expensive general multiple times in a game.

The last but of ramp is more flexible and does double duty. Heraldic Banner is a new addition and pumps out team without negating Skullclamp which has been amazing! Mind Stone is a valuable two drop that can replace itself late game if needed. Sevinne's Reclamation and Brought Back can be combined with fetch lands to make a white Rampant Growth, but also allow us to recur other important permanents. Both have different draw backs but because of the amount of fetchlands they are never just a situational card.

Alternates

Worn Powerstone , Hedron Archive , Everflowing Chalice , Pearl Medallion are mana rocks worth considering. Not that exciting, but if Mana Crypt and Mana Vault are not an option I would slot these in although there is no real replacing them.

Coveted Jewel is something I have considered in a more political build of Darien. It does a lot of what you want in adding 3 mana, drawing you cards and encouraging people to attack you. A lot of upside, but I'm always hesitant to allow my opponents to draw cards. Still I think this card should be played more in Darien builds as it is a genuinely fun card.

Exclusions

Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power are great, but you would need to build a very different mana base to make these effective.

Nyx Lotus is a card I don't think is very good. Too situational and I think most of the time I would be happy getting 2 mana from it in which case just play Hedron Archive or Worn Powerstone. Change my mind about this card but I'm surprised it is in so many lists.

Anthems

We'll start with traditional power/toughness boost. Mirror Entity , Cathars' Crusade , and Coat of Arms are all must-answer-threats or get ready to take a bunch of damage and die. I know some people dislike the symmetric effect of Coat of Arms, but in my experience it ends the game the turn it's played. We also run Eldrazi Monument to give evasion and protection from most wraths, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite as it can destroy some decks and pump our army.

Rounding out boost effects we have Anointed Procession and Divine Visitation which put our token production into overdrive. If you are going to run a token deck in white, you need to start with these and can decide how you want to compliment them after. As this deck is more controlling and less aggressive, it is important that we use the little slots we have for pumping our board as effectively as possible.

Alternates

Archangel of Thune is a second Cathars' Crusade if you go a bit more heavy with the life gain. With a Soul Warden in play this is exactly Cathars' Crusade, but just a little situation that it is not in the current build. Could very easy slot in though.

Field Marshal (Coldsnap version) is a major flavor win and I would not fault anyone slotting him in for that reason alone. The card itself pairs well with Darien and first strike on a token army can build a very strong defense should Darien be removed.

Crovax, Ascendant Hero is a mini Elesh Norn and worth playing for that reason alone. Be aware that he does pump ALL white creatures, but can still kill a lot of utility creatures.

Valor in Akros , Goldnight Commander are light versions of Cathars' Crusade which is one of the best enchantments in the deck so while these will never be as good, they offer the potential to give our team +3/+3 or more. Both were in the deck at some point and both did a good job of killing opponents.

Exclusions

Intangible Virtue , Honor of the Pure , Dictate of Heliod . These cards are so minimal and not that powerful that they are not worth a slot unless you are playing a dedicated aggressive token deck in which case I don't think Darien is the commander for that.

Akroma's Memorial why are so many people playing this card on EDHrec? If you play in a red and black heavy metagame then maybe, but I think there are much better options available.

Protection

While we are very liberal dealing damage to ourself, we need to take care that the table doesn't smash us into the ground while we set up or have a change to deal us a lethal swing with Darien in play. To encourage our opponents to attack someone else early we have Maze of Ith , Kor Haven and Ghostly Prison . While any table can join forces and overcome a single player, these will allow us time to set up with life to spend once Darien is in play. We also have Knight-Captain of Eos which can stop other aggressive strategies and fog every turn. Very good against commander damage and while he is a bit expensive at 5CMC, he can still dissuade attacks against you while prepare to make an army.

Since Darien is such an integral part of the deck, we want to protect him when he is play. Darksteel Plate and Lightning Greaves are the best shroud and indestructible granting pieces of equipment in the game and can be found with Stoneforge Mystic or Enlightened Tutor. To protect against counter magic a Cavern of Souls allows us to cast Darien without fear and is one of the top lands we want to find with our land tutors if we are playing against heavy control decks.

To protect our artifacts and enchantments we also have Buried Ruin and Hall of Heliod's Generosity to recur powerful permanents. People don't usually let Cathars' Crusade stick around very long if they know what's good for them.

Rounding out is the best white card Wizards has printed in the last 5 years: Teferi's Protection . This card is bananas and combining it with effects like Armageddon is just dirty. Primarily we want it to protect our board or permanents from being destroyed, but this also removes us from the game in case we are facing a lethal attack. One of the best cards in the deck without question.

Alternates

Karmic Justice and Martyr's Bond function in a similar way that discourage your opponents messing with your board, lest they also lose theirs. Both were in the deck at some point or another and I have a soft spot for Matry's Bond in particular. Even just the Grave Pact aspect of the card would be enough for me to want to play it in a more creature focused build.

Grand Abolisher and Defense Grid if counter magic has you down in your meta, come prepared with these two hate cards. Ranger-Captain of Eos is another one I am currently thinking of putting in the deck as it acts as a second Weathered Wayfarer or Soul Warden.

Flawless Maneuver is the new card that can act as a free negate to protect Darien and our board. If you go heavy creatures, the value of this is much higher than in the current build.

Story Circle and Martyr's Cause add fog effects for specific creatures. I used to play against a lot of voltron and heavy hitting commanders and these cards were very valuable in ensuring we had enough life and didn't lose to commander damage were life gain wouldn't help.

Exclusions

Bastion Protector I have not been impressed with this card as it is very easily answered and if you want to run this there are more versatile effects that protect more permanents in white.

Worship shows up in some Darien decks and I think there are so many better effects. While it does make you immortal it is extremely situational and most of the time will be a 4 mana card slot that does nothing the entire game.

Card Advantage and Card Selection

One thing white is not very good at is drawing cards. It is getting better, but draw is going to come from artifacts.

Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack are already good cards, but paired with our fetch lands they become all stars. We are able to see a lot of cards very easily and when using Scroll Rack with cards like Land Tax, it allow us to draw a new hand every turn. We then have Skullclamp which turns our pain lands into "Tap: draw two cards", and The Immortal Sun as the do-everything pump/ramp/draw. A new addition is Cryptic Caves as a free cycle card that can be recurred for card advantage.

Aside from pure card draw, we can get card advantage through recurring our graveyard. Crucible of Worlds and Sun Titan allow us to re-buy fetch and other utility lands as well as protecting the most important pieces of the deck.

For tutors, we can start with Stoneforge Mystic which is usually a second copy of Skullclamp but has the option of fetching a greaves or plate for Darien. Enlightened Tutor and Idyllic Tutor are the premier tutors in white and get a lot of powerful spells. Usually Scroll Rack is the best artifact you can find and Smothering Tithe is the best enchantment. We then have Recruiter of the Guard and Ranger of Eos to find Weathered Wayfarer or a Soul Warden, but the recruiter can also find Mirror Entity if we need to close the game.

Alternates

Mind's Eye and Staff of Nin are both fantastic cards in the current deck. Mind's Eye is of course amazing in multiplayer and the staff has the benefit of pinging us for a soldier token if there are no X/1s we want to kill. They could both be in the deck but we need to cut something for them!

Well of Lost Dreams and Dawn of Hope are great if you go a bit more heavy life gain. Currently there is not enough life gain for these to be good when we are behind and need to catch up.

Mangara, the Diplomat and Mentor of the Meek the new and old standard for white draw spells! I don't like my draw on fragile creatures but Mangara has a ton of potential and is worth play testing.

Inventors' Fair is a card I am currently considering as a replacement to Buried Ruin. Getting metalcraft isn't that challenging and being able to find Crucible of Worlds and then re-buy the fair seems like amazing value.

Exclusions

Slate of Ancestry is a trap card and only draws you when you are ahead and winning. I have played with it and it feels amazing to draw 40 cards, but this deck does not need a hand that size. It needs repeatable card advantage that can last a long game.

Emeria, The Sky Ruin would work in a very different deck. We have too few plains to run this effectively and too few creatures to recur. A good card, but not in this deck.

Academy Rector is a powerful enchantment tutor, but we don't run any sacrifice effects that we are waiting for our opponents to kill it. If you wanted to play this you should be running at least 5 sac outlets.

Removal

White has amazing removal and these slots are very flexible based on what your removal to do. I have tried to split it as evenly across multiple targets.

Beginning with creature removal, the premier removal spells are Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile . Nothing better in all of magic than these two. For mass removal we have Wrath of God , Day of Judgment , and Elspeth, Sun's Champion . WoG and DoJ are likely sub-optimal but they are full art and beautiful and I will never cut them. Elspeth is amazing and can act as a second Darien with how she creates tokens so quickly.

To remove artifacts and enchantments we have Aura of Silence which combos with Sun Titan and Sevinne's Reclamation, and Return to Dust which is still one of the best removal spells in EDH. Council's Judgment rounds this out as the best catch all removal spell.

We have a few cards to deal with graveyard strategies: Relic of Progenitus , Rest in Peace , and Scavenger Grounds . While we like to re-use our graveyard with crucible and Sun Titan, I would not want to play a game of EDH without some disrupting for dedicated graveyard strategies. More mono coloured decks should play Scavenger Grounds as it is arguably better than Bojuka Bog being able to exile at instant speed.

Finally we can deal with lands and play the most powerful removal spells white has access to: Armageddon , Cataclysm , and Catastrophe are our mass land destruction and take a favourable board position into a winning one. While we need our lands, we have ways to recur our lands, play a decent amount of mana rocks, and a low curve to still be effective after playing one of these. Cataclysm is amazing as we can keep Darien, a pain land, mana rock, and anthem to build our board much faster than anyone else. Catastrophe does double duty as a back up WoG when we're behind and Armageddon when we're ahead. We also have Strip Mine and Wasteland to deal with problem lands and we can lock someone out with crucible and Sun Titan.

Alternates

Hallowed Burial , Terminus , Austere Command are better wraths than WoG and DoJ.

Darksteel Mutation is a great answer to problem commanders and is a 2 drop which this deck doesn't have many of.

Generous Gift is an instant speed Council's Judgment and if you want to make the deck more controlling is a great inclusion (also gives our opponent an elephant to hit us with).

Dust Bowl , Ravages of War for more land destruction. Dust Bowl was a recent cut for Cryptic Caves and Ravages will likely find it's way into the deck sooner or later.

Exclusions

Oblivion Ring and Banishing Light are liabilities when used. Unless you are flickering Oblivion Ring for permanent exile these should not be run.

Disenchant we have so many better pieces of removal in white than this classic (unless it is full art textless, that card is to pretty to not be considered).

Oblation was great when playing with tuck. Now it is outclassed by Council's Judgment and Generous Gift.

Basics and Making Land Drops

The last section is not that exciting, but it showcases how white has be given card advantage in the past (and now being pushed further). It is very good at finding land provided other people have more. With a commander that costs 6CMC I want to hit my land drops every turn and be able to rebuild after an Armageddon. Land Tax , Tithe , and Gift of Estates give us easy access to our basics and give us fuel for Scroll Rack that we can turn into real card advantage. We also have Thawing Glaciers as a slower Land Tax, but still very effective. We can play the slow game and this card ensures we make it there.

We also play as many fetch lands as possible to make Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack better. Arid Mesa , Windswept Heath , Flooded Strand , and Fabled Passage are the best while Myriad Landscape can ramp us too. I am making another sub-optimal choice in running Esper Panorama and Evolving Wilds , but again I love the art too much to cut these. In total we have 11 different cards that can fetch the 12 Plains in the deck. I would be hesitant to run few basics with the amount of ways we have to find them.

Alternates

Endless Horizons a very good second to Land Tax. While we don't get the 3 basics every turn it does provide card advantage with Scroll Rack and is usually not targeted unless you get more than 5 basics. At 5 or fewer, the table usually does not pay much mind to the fact that you do draw an extra card each turn. Just don't exile all your basics!

Armillary Sphere is a bad Tithe, but still gives us two cards in hand that is nice with Scroll Rack and helps make more land drops. I have run this in the past and never felt bad about cracking it.

Marsh Flats and Prismatic Vista are the clear replacements for the panorama and Evolving Wilds.

Exclusions

Verge Rangers is a card I do not think is very good (change my mind!). It draws you a card 1/3 of the time and is on a very fragile body. If it said graveyard I would be all over that, sadly it is a bad Courser of Kruphix.

Cartographer's Hawk is a good card I think, but I am not that interested in putting more lands in play which could turn off Weathered Wayfarer. I like Brought Back and Sevinne's Reclamation as they do more than ramp.

Current Chopping Block

Any deck should have 3-5 slots that change regularly just to try new cards and see how old cards perform. These are the current cards under consideration.

Promotion

Inventors' Fair : Want to see how often I get metalcraft and how effective the line of getting Crucible of Worlds is. I am optimistic about this card, we'll see how often I activate it.
Ankh of Mishra : Want to see if I can damage myself every turn while this is in play and how the table reacts to it. I am less optimistic of this card as it only does damage to players and is not very versatile without Darien and not the most powerful with. If it can pressure ramp strategies my mind could change.
Ranger-Captain of Eos : Want tp see if this improves seeing Weathered Wayfarer and how useful the sacrifice ability is. Will also track Sun Titan use and this card. I am pretty confident this will be a good add. Will have to see if I should cut Soul's Attendant over Auriok Champion.
Coveted Jewel : It is expensive at 6CMC but it could be a lot of fun. I am a little nervous that it doesn't help cast Darien since I need to play Darien first before incentivizing people to attack me.

Relegation

Buried Ruin : Swapped for the fair. Will see how changing from reactive to proactive changes this slot.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion : Didn't want to remove her, but needed to make room for a fourth card. I am sure she'll be back before long.
Auriok Champion : Since adding the Ranger-Captain gives another Soul Warden if needed we can remove one.
Caged Sun : Replaceing a 6CMC ramp spell with another one.

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Top Ranked	Achieved #94 position overall 12 years ago
Date added	12 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.03
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Soldier 1/1 W, Treasure
Folders	Cool Decks, EDH deck ideas, proxy, zCommander, White Control EDH, Mono-White, Z for Inspiration, Finds tourney - Use rules for type, inspiration, EDH
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