The first deck that I built in Magic: The Gathering was a 60-card casual White Knight deck. To my surprise, my friends told me that it was Modern-playable, but I doubted its success. 1 year later, I'm here returning to my roots in an attempt to take advantage of new cards (For example,
Fiendslayer Paladin
) so that I may make my first competitive Modern deck!
The Knights Themselves:
The most important card (and my favorite MtG card ever) is
Knight Exemplar
. I'm running a play-set of her for obvious reasons, as giving my Knights +1/+1 and indestructibility is crucial in dishing out fast damage. Of course, cards like
Mutilate
still cause major problems, so there's some tinkering I will have to do to make my knights fully invincible.
Some more obvious choices are
Student of Warfare
and
Hero of Bladehold
.
Student of Warfare
makes for an amazing one-drop beater, and makes it possible to run a one-creature-only hand if I must, especially since I can usually buff her to a 3/3 first striker turn 2. As for
Hero of Bladehold
, battle cry always helps, and churning out 2 1/1's every turn makes for more damage and blockers if I need them. Too bad they aren't knight tokens...
Kinsbaile Cavalier
is a card that I have a love-hate relationship with. It's an amazing Lord for knights, but I don't like the mana cost. Still, it beats
Silverblade Paladin
, which was my previous choice.
Now for the newest additions to my deck.
Mirran Crusader
is... well godly. A 2/2 double striker with protection from black and green is amazing, especially given black decks kill my best knights all the time. When I pair it with
Angelic Destiny
or
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
's +1 ability, it wins games.
You've probably noticed that I'm running
Fiendslayer Paladin
as well. I used to run a play-set of
Knight of Meadowgrain
, but I've decided to up the ante for a major reason. Red-burn spells and black-kill spells are the major two causes of death to my knights. With
Mirran Crusader
and
Fiendslayer Paladin
having protection from the major kill spells that I hate (cough cough
Doom Blade
) my deck preforms better. Plus, life link and double-strike is awesome.
To wrap things up creature-related, we have
Leonin Skyhunter
and
Knight of the White Orchid
. To be honest,
Leonin Skyhunter
is there for the flying, which I need a lot.
Knight of the White Orchid
is a decent Turn-2 fighter, but bringing out
Plains
from my deck just makes things run smoothly.
Other Spells: Starting with Instant-spells, we have
Brave the Elements
. Though it protects my knights from spot removal like
Doom Blade
and
Dreadbore
, it doesn't stop
Mutilate
, which is something I need to find a way around. As for
Path to Exile
, well a turn-one exiling spell is always good. Not to mention I could combo it with
Knight of the White Orchid
to force a second land out of my deck.
When it comes to enchantments,
Honor of the Pure
is an obvious must-have. It helps with an early-game
Mutilate
, and helps bring out damage.
Angelic Destiny
is usable with most of my knights (I don't like swinging with
Knight Exemplar
), especially with
Mirran Crusader
. Being able to swing for 12 on turn 4 is always nice.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
makes a cameo in the deck, especially with her second +1 ability. Chances are I won't be able to use her -8, but if I do, the game will end in my favor.
Sideboard: This is where I need help. I'm not good with sideboards, so I will take any and all suggestions!