Hey Soul Sister, Ain't that Mr Mister... [EDH]

Commander / EDH Budget Casual Fox Lifegain Mono-White Soul Sisters

AureliaTheMindSculptor

Lifegain Payoffs (26)

• 1x Ajani's Pridemate
• 1x Ajani, Strength of the Pride
• 1x Angelic Accord
• 1x Archangel of Thune
• 1x Attended Healer
• 1x Celestial Unicorn
• 1x Chalice of Life  ^Flip
• 1x Cleric Class
• 1x Cosmos Elixir
• 1x Crested Sunmare
• 1x Dawn of Hope
• 1x Gideon's Company
• 1x Griffin Aerie
• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x Lone Rider  ^Flip
• 1x Nykthos Paragon
• 1x Path of Bravery
• 1x Regna, the Redeemer
• 1x Resplendent Angel
• 1x Righteous Valkyrie
• 1x Serene Steward
• 1x Speaker of the Heavens
• 1x Survival Cache
• 1x The Book of Exalted Deeds
• 1x Twinblade Paladin
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Lifegain Enablers (13)

• 1x Court of Grace
• 1x Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
• 1x Endless Atlas
• 1x Evangel of Heliod
• 1x Linden, the Steadfast Queen
• 1x Reverent Hoplite
• 1x Righteous Cause
• 1x Shattered Angel
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Sunscorch Regent
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Wingmate Roc

Foxes (9)

• 1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1x Farfinder
• 1x Filigree Familiar
• 1x Kitsune Blademaster
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo
• 1x Pious Kitsune
• 1x Samurai of the Pale Curtain
• 1x Silverchase Fox

Land (35)

• 1x Kabira Takedown  ^Flip
• 1x Ondu Inversion  ^Flip
• 27x Plains
• 1x Radiant Fountain
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Seraph Sanctuary
• 1x Throne of the High City
• 1x War Room

Commander (1)

Interaction (11)

• 1x Condemn
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Hour of Revelation
• 1x Mass Calcify
• 1x Reduce to Memory
• 1x Settle the Wreckage
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Valorous Stance
• 1x Winds of Abandon

Ramp (5)

• 1x Heraldic Banner
• 1x Keeper of the Accord
• 1x Oketra's Monument
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Sol Ring

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Patron of the Kitsune may just be the most underrated commander in the entire format, and he's certainly the most underrated mono-white commander. Boasting only 52 decks on EDHrec - putting him below iconic generals like Takeno, Samurai General and Celestial Kirin - what looks like a goofy, fox tribal dud from everyone's (least) favourite block, Kamigawa, is in fact an unbelievably fun and synergistic lifegain strategy. It's hard to understate just how powerful his second ability is; triggering whenever any creature attacks anyone, I've played dozens of games where I've amassed powerful board states featuring 20/20 Ajani's Pridemate and 38/38 Gideon's Company creatures. Sure, I wouldn't recommend taking him to any CEDH games, but at any casual commander table, he's likely to prove capable and entertaining - along with being completely overlooked by most other players, ensuring you are rarely the archenemy - at least until it's too late.

To explain my card choices better, presented below is a breakdown of each category and the choices I've made.

Foxes Show

Unlike some other brewers, my Patron deck doesn't go very heavy on the Fox tribal theme; we want enough to be able to consistently cast our general with a decent discount, but not enough so they clog up our hand late game. Due to the relatively low number of foxes printed, a decent number of them are subpar, but, where possible, we want several things from them:

1. A mana value of either two or three. This is the sweet spot, because it allows us to cast Patron turn four, without needing to sacrifice much. Every single Fox in this list can be cast for one of these mana costs.
2. ETB/ death triggers. What are probably the two premium foxes, Farfinder and one of my pet cards Filigree Familiar, both achieve value even when being immediately sacrificed to their patron.
3. Another form of utility. This is why Silverchase Fox and the (surprisingly expensive) Samurai of the Pale Curtain shine; while they will generally just be offered to our general, occasionally they'll stick and ruin someone's day - Silverchase Fox has shot an rhystic study once or twice, while my friend with a Meren deck isn't the biggest fan of the Samurai, for obvious reasons.

The worst foxes in this deck - most notably Kitsune Blademaster and Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo - fit none of these criteria, and aren't even very good cards, but are included anyway because of the necessity of hitting a critical mass of foxes - with nine in the deck, statistically, you should generally hit one by turn four. Some of the other foxes that are ran, however, are just decent in the deck, regardless of any foxy synergies; Eight-and-a-Half-Tails has protected my huge Ajani's Pridemate creatures before, while his best friend, Pious Kitsune, fits well into the general lifegain theme; Mirror Entity, the deck's only changeling Fox, meanwhile, is just IMO a staple in any deck which is going go-wide to a significant degree.

Interaction Show

Commander is a multiplayer game, not solitaire (you heard me, storm players), and so we're going to need a decent package of interaction; it doesn't matter how crazy the things you're up to are, if you can't rein in the shenanigans of your opponents. Included in this section is both wrath effects and single target removal.

As far as wraths go, the only real wraths that synergise with our broader game plan are Fumigate and Mass Calcify; the others are just what are, in my opinion, the best options for wraths in mono-white.

It's worth taking a deeper dive into my choices of spot removal. Generally, I like one of two things from my removal spells; they either need to be of a very low mana cost (ie Swords to Plowshares or Condemn) because of the tempo advantage generated by using only one mana to answer a threat that costs far more; or they need to be extremely versatile (Generous Gift or Reduce to Memory) - scary things in commander come in many forms, and I want my answers to deal with as many of them as possible.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.31
Tokens	Ajani's Pridemate, Angel 3/3 W, Angel 4/4 W, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Bird 3/4 W, Cat 1/1 W, Elephant 3/3 G, Griffin 2/2 W, Horse 5/5 W, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 3/2 RW, Monarch Emblem, Warrior 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W w/ Vigilance
Folders	Cool decks