Updated February 28th, 2019

6th EDH Deck - Mono-White Equipment Matters


Introduction



"Perfection through Knowledge, Satisfaction through Ruthlessness, Harmony through Acceptance"


I'm the guy who loves playing decks that aren't that popular and will spends thousands of dollars refining them until I deem them complete, yes I am that type of person. I been introduced to Magic the Gathering back in middle school in the year of 2003, the block that I started in was the Kamigawa block and I found it very interesting. During that time I played a constructed deck on and off and eventually life happened and I stopped playing, flash forward almost exactly ten years later and I joined an anime/otaku club. Here I met people playing MTG and I also started getting back into it. Currently I am an avid competitive EDH player who has a tendency to play combo/control decks, I absolutely hate to lose but I enjoy a great match. I've been known in my group as always being threatening and able to win out of the blue so they love to make my life hard and deny me all of my resources, as you will see the reason a lot of my decks are built to win either with flair or questionable commanders. Now enough about me, go read further below that's what you actually came here for!

This is one of my favorite decks to play with and my first EDH deck that I have customized from a pre-constructed deck. Back when I first started to play Magic back in 2003 the first deck I remember having was an mono-white equipment based soldier deck. Now with the new 2014 commanders released, Nahiri seemed like the perfect commander to build back a piece of my childhood with.

Originally the pre-constructed deck was decent when I first tried it out, it was then moved to a more token based theme with anthem effects to go wide. Eventually it transformed towards a wrath-control shell, and even then it was not enough to go against the more optimized/tuned EDH decks. In order for Nahiri to compete with these type of decks she moved towards mass land destruction and never looked back, being mono-white means to win at any cost. This is her answer to that.


Deck Breakdown


Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Nahiri is one of those commanders that have relevant abilities all around, the only thing that bothers me the most is that she only starts with 3 loyalty, but hey you can't have them all I guess. Her +2 is our strongest ability with her. It produces a 1/1 Kor Soldier token yes, but it bypasses certain mechanics as it doesn't target a creature for an equipment to attach on to. Right away this is an engine when used in conjunction with Skull Clamp, as now her ability reads, +2 and draw two cards. Having that Card Advantage (CA) every turn allows us to out value and gives us more options to deal with our opponents.

Nahiri's -2 ability is also relevant in a multitude of ways. It allows to essentially cheat our high cost equipments straight to the battlefield, and since it's an activated ability the placed equipment isn't able to be countered unless it's a Stifle , Trickbind , or anything that stops a activated ability. That isn't the best thing as well! We can also recur our equipments from our graveyards! There will be times where our equipments will be blown up no doubt, Nahiri allows us to gain it back and back to the battlefield. This allows us to have certain synergy as we can afford to pitch away certain cards and use it at a later time.

Unfortunately Nahiri's ultimate is not the greatest. It's good I'll give it that, but definitely not game breaking as there is one everclear ability that I wished it has on it, which is Hexproof or Shroud. The 0 cost to equip as well as being indestructible and double strike with a +5/+5 pump is good to make a threat but the token itself easily stopped by a Cyclonic Rift , Into the Roil , hell even a Chain of Vapor .

Overall Nahiri is a versatile commander in a equipment based deck. All her abilities are relevant with our game plan as well as having an alright starting point where she can protect herself when needed. The de facto reason to run her is the one main ability that mono-white decks tend to have and that is CA, with Nahiri we have an guaranteed engine online once we have access to Skull Clamp and once we start that engine we gain an absurd amount of value.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope : One of the wincons and MVP. If Avacyn is out and Armageddon or Ravages of War resolves, chances are your opponent will concede the game. She's there for protection as well as a beat stick that does a lot of great things.

Aven Mindcensor : Hatebear staple and flash, what's there not to love. Relevant abilities all around. Flashing Aven in when an opponent uses a fetchland is one of the greatest feelings around especially when they get salty about it.

Balan, Wandering Knight : Rather new inclusion, currently testing as he does give double strike as well as equipping all your artifacts on the battlefield for two mana. Seems decent enough to try out.

Containment Priest : This card is amazing by it's own rights. This creature will shut down decks like Muzzio, Mayael, Daretti, Tooth and Nail users, and any other players that attempts to cheat out their creatures.

Danitha Capashen, Paragon : Not only does she reduce the cost of your equipments, she also has some built in evasion, makes her worth running as she does so much for costing so little.

Devoted Caretaker : Essentially replaced Mother of Runes as she can protect our permanents which is more relevant in our meta as targeted removal is a thing in our meta and Mom only protects our creatures.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite : Tool box utility. Counters token based decks, buffs your tokens for the kill.

Grand Abolisher : Protection against them control players, lets you resolve your MLD spells or when going in for the kill. The 2 cmc cost is absolutely perfect for the efficiency.

Kor duelist : Excellent first turn creature can immediately swing on second turn and equipped with an equipment. Great value all around.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence : A great 4 drop creature to have, stops activated abilities of those commanders such as Rhys the Redeemed and Thrasios, Hero of Triton.

Mirran Crusader : Another one of my finishers, giving itself protection from green and black along with double strike means a lot of potential. Especially if I give it protection from white, red, and blue also.

Puresteel Paladin : Card advantage and free equip package for ? Yeah this card has a lot of potential also. Runs great as another card engine and having that 0 cost to voltron your creatures is amazing.

Recruiter of the Guard : This remake has been one of the best additions. The toolbox utility potential is staggering. Equipments? Stoneforge Mystic . Card Draw? Sram, Senior Edificer or Puresteel Paladin . Protection? Aven Mindcensor or Grand Abolisher . Yeah definitely now part of the core build.

Relic Seeker : More redundancy, although not as fast, but a tutor is still a tutor.

Serra Ascendant : Turn one beatstick, mid-late game card draw, or chunk blocker when you need one, last resort Skullclamp fodder.

Silverblade Paladin : Giving double strike to my creatures is good no matter what the situation is. Double strike hurts...a lot. Proc'ing those sword triggers are also value.

Sram, Senior Edificer : Another recent addition to the deck, card draw is super relevant in all decks and now mono-white is getting their own.

Stoneforge Mystic : The other MVP of the deck. Two relevant abilities, able to be tutored from Recruiter of the Guard , yeah there is no reason why SFM should be excluded from any equipment decks.

Stonehewer Giant : People underestimate the usefulness of this card. It is not just a tutor, it has vigilance, which means you can swing and on the swing you can trigger its' ability and tutor on the spot.

Sun Titan : Since a lot of cards are cmc or less, this card is definitely being added in to the deck. Gives the deck that much needed late game recursion when Nahiri can't pull the other stuff from the grave.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar : Doesn't it feel great when you see your opponent's fetches come in tap? Feel the glares that are sent this way, it just makes me grin.

Weathered Wayfarer : A great land tutor, since I use a couple utility lands, Wayfarer deserves a spot on the list. Main uses are for tutoring for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx , Emeria, The Sky Ruin , or Reliquary Tower .

Mana rocks are self-explanatory~

Argentum Armor : Popping permanents on swing is good right? Yeah that is what I thought. Useful for getting rid of those pesky enchantments or planeswalkers. Plus we can cheat this in via Nahiri's ability.

Bloodforged Battle-Axe : No other utility aside from making an absurd amount of equipments, works stupendously with Sigarda's Aid .

Conqueror's Flail : More protection when I want to resolve my MLD spells.

Grafted Exoskeleton : One of the win-conditions, making it up to 10 infect counters is easy with all the pumps and equipments.

Hammer of Nazahn : Free equips as well as a miniature buff in addition to staying clear of boardwipes. Re-added back in to test again.

Lightning Greaves : Paired with Leonin Shikari increase the value why I would run this in my deck. Plus haste is always good.

Mask of Memory : In most scenarios, discarding a card is bad, in this scenario pitch away all your equipments. Nahiri can recur back equipments, any other cards can be recurred by Sun Titan.

Masterwork of Ingenuity : Added back after some more thought, having another pair of any Sword of X and Y becomes crazy good.

Scroll Rack : Old legacy combo with Land Tax but also since we are drawing an absurd amount with Skullclamp , sometimes we wanna pitch our hands away to find better resources.

Sculpting Steel : Makes a copy of anything, hits on curve, and can be great in making two of any equipment in this deck.

Sensei's Divining Top : I don't think I would need to explain this one, staple auto-include in every deck. Filtering your draws are quite essential.

Skullclamp : The MVP artifact in the deck, since I have a constant source of 1/1 creatures, this makes the cut for have an draw engine.

Sword of Feast and Famine : The third best one as I love having my mana open to cast more spells. That and having them lose cards is to my advantage as it gives them more less options to play around with.

Sword of Fire and Ice : Yeah there is a reason why this is the most expensive sword out there, card advantage and the pings do rack up eventually.

Sword of Light and Shadow : The second best sword, as it lets me recur back my creatures, but what makes it shine is the color it gives protection from.

Sword of the Animist : I absolutely love this card, the ability to ramp on attack trigger is too good. Especially in a non-green deck, this makes the cut over Godsend sadly.

Umezawa's Jitte : Recently added back in the deck, the versatility of it is too good to be ignored.

Land Tax : There are times where life is hard and Nahiri does not get the mana she needs to do her fun shenanigans, this will provide the fix for that when the need arrives.

Sigarda's Aid : All these new cards from the recent set definitely improved Nahiri by a ton. This is one of them, that flash advantage and auto equip is amazing.

Smothering Tithe : Recent addition, procs metalcraft as well as nets me mana. Under review atm. Also synergizes with Armageddon plays, as it will net me more advantage than over them.

Disenchant : Most cost effective spot removal. Mono-white staple.

Enlightened Tutor : It is a no-brainer why this should be auto included in the deck.

Faith's Reward : My favorite spell. I don't know why but seeing an Armageddon resolve and Faith's Reward resolve just makes me smile.

Forsake the Worldly : I choose to run this over Return to Dust due to the reason that it is only one mana less. Exile is extremely relevant in my meta.

Oblation : Can double either as a removal or card advantage.

Path to Exile : Staple Removal. Next.

Silence : Can really ruins people's day or can leave your turn undisturbed when going for the Armageddon / Faith's Reward combo.

Swords to Plowshares : Classic removal for white. Better than Path to Exile, even better than Dispatch.

Teferi's Protection : Goes in conjunction with my MLD spells or Wrath spells. It is amazing. Also disrupts infinite combo as they can't make me lose my life, however they can still mill you out so be aware.

Armageddon : One of the main win conditions of the deck. Aside from smashing people's face in, this is also how to win.

Austere Command : Needed for the mass artifact or enchantment board wipe. The selective creature board wipe is relevant as most of your creatures are below 3 cmc.

Hour of Revelation : The direct upgrade from Planar Cleansing . Use this when shit hits the fan.

Open the Armory : Equip Tutor. Redundancy. Next.

Ravages of War : Got my hands on one~ Having more MLD effects is good when opponents like to deny you of winning.

Steelshaper's Gift : More tutors! Next.

Wrath of God : There is a reason why this spell's name became an archetype. Staple all around.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant The most worthy Elspeth to run, with all her abilities relevant. Athough her -8 ult takes 4 turns to build it is worth it in this deck. Plus both her +1 gives me more options to play with.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion : She gives me chunk blockers with her +1 and also card advantage when skull clamp is out. Elspeth's -3 also doubles as a specific board wipe. Her ultimate is great when I want to swing for game. But it also gives me flying so minimal evasion and better chunk blockers.

Arcane Lighthouse : For those with hexproof or shroud, it is troublesome when dealing with those types of permanents.

Buried Ruin : To gain back access to other artifacts aside from equipments.

Emeria, The Sky Ruin : A given to any mono white deck with creatures. Plus with all the wrath effects we run, there are probably a few creatures we like back from the graveyard.

Flagstones of Trokair : Great when your blowing up all the lands, gives you that incremental advantage over them.

Inkmoth Nexus : I kid you not, people least expect an infect death from a land. -Oooh surprising~- Not.

Inventors' Fair : We will guaranteed hit the minimum 3 artifact threshold. So a tutor is awesome.

Kor Haven : Against those aggro players, also efficient for stopping combat triggers.

Reliquary Tower : We do draw a lot of cards and it is consistent. Therefore this makes the cut.

Our main strengths are:

  • Card Engine in command zone
  • Reactive
  • Flexible
  • Unassuming Threat

Our biggest and most noticeable advantage is that we have access to an CA engine in the command zone. Provided that it does require set up to grab our Skullclamp , but luckily enough for us white has a plethora of ways to access our equipment. The next couple advantages that we have is being reactive and flexible, we have just the right amount of interaction to maintain the board state as well as to clear the board when it becomes too much for us to handle. Nahiri is also not a high threat commander so most of the time people will leave you alone, that is until you win the game with an Armageddon and than the next game people will start to be aware of you, but hey mono-white decks can only do so much with a voltron strategy. -shrugs-

Our main weaknesses are:

  • Being Mono-white
  • Permission (Control)/Combo decks
  • Reliance on Skullclamp

We are very weak when we lose Skullclamp that is the most important equipment for our deck. Yes we have other ways for card draw but that is our most consistent equipment we would tutor for, the next one being Sword of the Animist . If it gets destroyed that's fine as we can recur it with Nahiri, being exiled however definitely slows down our advantage. We won't lose outright, it just makes it harder for us to win. Control also messes with us but not entirely, you have to assemble the right pieces or tutor for the right cards so they can't interact with you. Combo decks are also hard for us to fight against, the only thing we can do is deny them of resources quick and fast while laying down the beats.


Skadoosh~


Faith's Reward / Teferi's Protection / Avacyn, Angel of Hope

+

Ravages of War / Armageddon / Hour of Revelation

Any combination of these will lead you to have an overwhelming advantage over the other players. Best when used with Silence or Grand Abolisher on the field so it doesn't get countered.


Mmm Dat CA~


Nahiri, the Lithomancer + Skullclamp

The main reason she is our commander, mono-white has a hard time gaining card advantage (CA). With her at the helm, all we need to do is to grab Skullclamp with our plethora of tutors. Every turn you will be netting 3 cards which gives us an overwhelming advantage over our opponents.


That's Broken!


Puresteel Paladin + Sigarda's Aid / Hammer of Nazahn + Bloodforged Battle-Axe

Every time we connect damage with Bloodforged Battle-Axe we will be getting more and more CA. The longer this triple card synergy stays on the battlefield the more dangerous it becomes. We will literally be doubling the amount of Battle-Axes we get every combat. Add in double strike and you will be a force to be reckoned with.


Deck Piloting


Optimal hand will look something akin to:

  • 2-3 Lands (Preferably 2 that can produce )
  • 1 Tutor that can fetch Skullclamp
  • 1-2 Low CMC Creature
  • 1-2 Equipments

The most important part is having a tutor in your hand or starting the game with Skullclamp . That is your number one goal, you can go as low as having even four cards in your hand as you will eventually gain more CA once you have your engine running.

Here are the goals each game:

  1. Establish your Card Advantage (CA) engine.
  2. Assess threats on board and tutor accordingly.
  3. End game with either smashing them in the face or with an unbeatable board presence.

Nahiri is a simple commander. She is there for you to draw cards and produce tokens as well as recur your equipments should they be destroyed. The biggest factor in your games is what type of equipments you grab when you tutor for them, same goes for creatures. If you see a lot of critters on board early on and you need more CA, you grab Sword of Fire and Ice . You need more mana? You grab Sword of the Animist early game or Sword of Feast and Famine when it's near mid game. Umezawa's Jitte is also great for establishing a presence when you need to clear the board of small utility creatures.

We are a flexible deck so depending on the situation you will adjust accordingly. Don't overextend and patiently draw cards. We end the game in one of two ways. Either we will kill off our competitors one by one with an extremely huge creature that they can't do anything to or we will wiped the board by MLD with a resolved Armageddon in conjunction with a Faith's Reward / Teferi's Protection or Avacyn, Angel of Hope on the battlefield.


If there is any comments on to improve my deck, I'm all ears!

Clicky for +1 If ya like Blowing Up Lands!

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Updates Add

Did some editing and decided to make it into a primer, appreciating any feedback to make it better!

Comments

Casual

93% Competitive

Revision 12 See all

(5 years ago)

Top Ranked
Date added 9 years
Last updated 5 years
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

14 - 0 Mythic Rares

49 - 0 Rares

12 - 0 Uncommons

2 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.75
Tokens Copy Clone, Emblem Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Kor Soldier 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W, Stoneforged Blade, Treasure
Folders 2, try, ideas, EDH, edh, Deck ideas, Oathbreaker, Retired Decks, White, Stampa EDH
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