Alrighty then, updates ahoy! First off, this is a deck built around creatures with protection from at least one color, which causes headaches for your opponents when it comes to interacting.
The Plan
This is pretty much a mono-white beat down deck that utilizes
Mind Bend
to change the protections on your creatures in a pinch, among other random uses. You're an aggro deck with innate resistance to single target removal and being chumped, though with a little help from Mind Bend when things get rough. Get some creatures down, buff them up, and try not to over-extend into Wrath of God.
The Main Board
Soldier of the Pantheon
-
This little guy does some work, he's a 2/1 beater for W that not only has protection from multicolor, which makes him excellent against Abzan/Junk decks, but you even gain life every time they play a multicolor spell, which can add up. Sadly, you can't
Mind Bend
him.
Kor Firewalker-
One of the best cards to hose Burn, it also does work against Grixis decks But the true fun comes when you Bend it, since it also changes the life-gain color, which means the combination can hose any mono-based deck.
White Knight
-
Just a bear with upsides, the deck needed more two-drops and pro-black and first strike on a 2/2 for 2 ain't bad.
Stillmoon Cavalier
-
Speaking of cards that hose Abzan/Junk, this one has protection from their removal and the ability to give itself flying, first strike, or +1/0. Lingering Souls becomes a lot less annoying when this guy is around, and the ability to pump and first strike allows you take out any mono-green threats they happen to draw. He's also our saving grace against Tokens and Affinity game one.
Mirran Crusader-
Here's our biggest beater, protection from Black/Green and double strike? If they can't block him, he puts a clock down which only gets faster with our Honors and Watching. He also has protection from two colors, which means Mind Bend becomes the top-deck of nightmares against decks that rely on two colors.
Path to Exile-
What needs to be said? It's your main removal and gets rid of anything that threatens you. Having these makes Wurmcoil Engine slightly less scary.
Mind Bend
-
The fun card of the deck, it can literally do whatever you want. Having trouble with Merfolk because of those stupid Spreading Seas? Now it turns it into a Plains. Opponent playing his own Honor that's giving you trouble? Now it's
Bad Moon
. Someone play
Blood Moon
against you for some reason? More Plains! Valakut, the Molten Pinnacles getting you down? Well, you can't stop the combo-kill via scapeshift, because the triggers are already on the stack. This is important, because that means you can't Bend that
Master of Waves
ETB either. However, the card has tons of uses, and the jankier your meta is, the more likely it is to come up.
Glamerdye
-
Bend number four, mostly because the retrace is really useful, especially in the long games.
Valorous Stance-
Speaking of versatile cards, this one protects your creatures or destroys their beater, both of which are extremely useful. Kills all of the big guys, or you can also hold it to save a creature from a sweeper. Supreme Verdict can't be countered, but that doesn't matter if your creature can't be destroyed. It's not the best removal card, but being W/u we don't have many choices. The card also teaches you to never overlook the indestructible mode, even if it is mostly used as removal.
Honor of the Pure
-
Pretty self explanatory, this one. It buffs your team, making them bigger threats and potentially putting them out of Bolt/Anger/Pyroclasm range. You usually want one, maybe two, but getting flooded with them is generally not what you want to be doing.
Brave the Sands
-
I touched on this one already, but the amount of games that this card has practically locked my opponent out of is just insane. Vigilance, combo'd with the ability to block an extra creature and the built-in protections of our creatures create a seriously strong board state against any creature deck. With some of the First Strike creatures, it even gives Affinity a headache at times, especially if you have a Cavalier on the field.
