Hyena umbras are nice, good choice, I don't see the need for a true conviction though, in MB nor in SB, what would you put it in against? Perhaps you could replace the one in the SB for a card:Victory's Herald. It should help in mirror matches or matches where you expect heavy creature resistance. And i just like the card. :P

On the White kinghts vs. signal pests:

I disagree with Nightwielder. The Pests fit better on your curve and give your whole squad a bonus, while being pretty much untouchable itself, unless people wan to wast removal on them, which should be fine with you :)

Another thing: Have you thought of Emerge Unscathed ? It might be nice evasion as well as anti-removal - for 2 turns.

also -2 Mystifying Maze

+2 Contested War Zone

You want this to be aggro or what? :P

yay!! comments!!

@ Nightwielder

im still on the fence for tossing a true conviction in, mainly for the hefty 6cmc cost. I've tried it a couple of times with three of them, but i just found that i don't have the mana to play it effectively. Most of the time i would have 5 lands when the game ended. I have also thought very, very hard about having White Knight s in the deck, but I can't seem to decide what to take out. The most likely candidate to substitute out - in whole or in part - would be the Leonin Skyhunter , because of the bang for the buck for the same CMC. Not having anything flying, though, does make the deck vulnerable to things that do fly. And I don't want to substitute the Signal Pest s because a near-guarunteed battle cry every turn, for 1 mana, is too invaluable for an aggro deck (IMO).

@ jessetaverne

good call on the card:Victory's Herald. I bought 4 of them at launch because they seemed irresistible, and I am sure Wizards put them in this particular set for a reason. I will SB one. As for the Emerge Unscathed , in a cost-benefit sense, I often have multiple creatures out by the time it comes to play one, and I have found Brave the Elements more useful because it allows a huge, unblockable swing, usually carrying lots of damage, to go through. The only knight who can really benefit from it is Hero of Bladehold , but the odds of having both cards together at the right time in a 60 card deck isn't enough to justify it for me.

Also, for the Contested War Zone , i have thought long and hard about massing it, but with the lack of vigilance in this deck I don't want to risk giving it to my opponent for an attack or air attack i miss, losing it for a turn or more, then getting it back tapped. Thats why the Mystifying Maze covers my life (especially against buffed infect drops) where my attackers (committed to offence only) cannot.

I have also considered putting in 4x Squadron Hawk for added creature aggro (+ flying damage bonuses), but i'm not sure if instead having 4x Hyena Umbra s is still strictly better for complimenting knight synergy and stability.

What do you guys think? I really want your thoughts on this. Anything else that should be changed?

Keep your MB as is. It's slick and works well. The only reason i'd change anything is when you do playtesting against top archtypes (U/W control, Valakut). If they keep winning, then you can change some cards around to better match up against them. As of right now, you can't deal with a dropped Jace, that needs to change.

As for sideboard, get rid of Conqueror's Pledge, there is better things to drop for 5 mana. I would put in some white knights for their pro black.

There is that one card that gives +1/+1 for each white mana symbol in its CMC, that would be beastly with this deck.

Which card is that one? Is it in standard? I know which one you mean but I can't remember the name. And also? How would you recommend dealing with a dropped jace? I thought what was devastating for blue was to overrun them with cheap creatures and hit hard quickly.

Also, the card:Conqueror's Pledge is for if i really, really need to overrun an opponent. With all the buffs its pretty devastating and guarunteeing of a win. An additional 6 1/1's, with battlecry and enchantments, is a difficult to bring-down wincon, unless the board is cleared with a Day of Judgment or a card:Black Sun's Zenith, which is less likely. I am not as worried by a black zenith either because the power/toughness of the knights will be too high for black to afford a conclusive board wipe (unless, of course, a good 6-8 mana is paid to cast the spell, and I am for the game to be over by that many turns).

it was in ROE i'm pretty sure.

J/K, it's not. Might have been in X edition.

lol alright. let me know if you find it.

Also, i bet card draw could really help improve the attack speed of this deck.. i wonder how this would work if i added 4x Wall of Omens instead of 4x Hyena Umbra ?

To be honest, every game I play this deck in playtesting I never see Hyena Umbra lol

I would definately playtest Wall of Omens in it and see how it goes, it has potential and the 4 toughness pulls it from bolt range.

lol weird, every time i do playtest it i get Hyena Umbra , last time i got 2 of them with 2 Knight Exemplar s out and it was ridiculous. ill try the Wall of Omens .

The only thing Wall of Omens will do to your deck is slow it down. Wall of omens should not be considered 'draw' or 'card-advatage' in this deck, as it will be of little use to you. A 0/4 defender on the spot of your accorder paladin/leonin/umbra-on-pest/honorofthepure? I think not. Your deck is agressive, keep it that way. About the fact that it's out of bolt range: that's not a good thing, if anything you'd want them to bolt your walls so they have less against knights. I think squadron hawks will take up too much space in the deck. You could try to replace the umbras with those, might actually help a bit with deck thinning and the ability to keep throwing creatures, i say try that if you feel unsure about the umbras, although i think those are nice too.

In fact, i changed my mind, please try the hawks in the umbra's stead, theyre a good temporary solution to caw-go and combine well with signal pest and honor of the pure, especially against non-flier creature heavy decks.

Also, are you gonna take this to FNM?

Thanks for the comment man! I'll definitely try the hawks.

As for FNM, I always end up working friday nights, so I have never actually been to one. I play competitively with friends though, and I've been to all the pre-releases for the Scars block. Otherwise, my magic life consists of tapped out and private playing, lol. I do plan on getting to FNM at some point, though.

Me too! Starting soon!

I've found that the Squadron Hawk s are working pretty well, although a lot of the time they seem to serve more as handy chump blockers. They are indeed a nice fit in this deck overall. I am very tempted, however, to try and replace them with 4x of one of my favorite white cards, Repel the Darkness , to help with faster deployment, as well as protecting knights via unblockability and/or regular enemy attacks.

My other thought kind of eating away at me is to sort of "patch up" or "repair" the deck with 1x Plains , 1x Signal Pest , and either 2x Ajani Goldmane or 2x Day of Judgment . This would (hopefully) help synergize the deck's speed and versatility.

Thoughts? I'm really stuck on this one.

What about 1x Plains, 1x Signal Pest, 2x Repel the Darkness, 2x Day of Judgment.

Still not sure Leafs...

Well, the rotation for Zendikar will be upon us soon, and I've been thinking of some changes, some which I may just apply now. So far, I was considering:

-1 Leonin Skyhunter -1 Student of Warfare -1 Signal Pest -1 Sejiri Steppe -3 Brave the Elements -4 Sword of Vengeance

+2 White Knight +1 Plains (or any new, corresponding lands from the next set) +2 Sun Titan +2 card:Victory's Herald +4 Whispersilk Cloak OR, +4 Strata Scythe

Analysis:

A lot of the time I worry about the longevity of the creatures I have out, especially once Knight Exemplar or Hero of Bladehold hit the battlefield because they have massive bullseye's painted on their faces. This can especially hinder by cautious nature when playing MTG, which makes me hesitate to attack if i can foresee a blocker ruining one of them. I also can't afford to wait around for adequate protection or alternatives to come into play.

Perhaps I should just consider adding 8x spot removal, like Smite , Condemn or Oust ? Or maybe consider the lesser protection spells for Standard after Zendikar, like Emerge Unscathed , Safe Passage or Repel the Darkness ? Or more equipment will do the trick, especially since its a permanent and I can equip among my creatures as needed (i.e Whispersilk Cloak . It would be especially useful for the Hero of Bladehold .

I guess indestructibility is what I am looking for, so maybe I should try and maximize that? The knights tend to do enough damage on their own without the need for added aggro equipment (although I have also considered 4x Quest for the Holy Relic and 3x Argentum Armor ). With 22 lands, I also tend to find myself having plenty of mana, and against other aggro or control decks the matches can start to heat up by turn 6ish. I always seem to be laying down a land every 1 to 2 turns, sometimes every 3 turns, but by the time things are heating up I've got plenty of land to spare (hence the use of the Mystifying Maze s). Thus, I can afford some bigger purchases. So maybe, just maybe, I should consider:

4x Darksteel Plate 4x Whispersilk Cloak 3x Eldrazi Conscription OR 3x Armored Ascension

Maybe some combos of Safe Passage and Day of Judgment ? Thoughts? Please don't tl;dr me :)

If the deck were to be improved and made less cost effective, I would run a few Stoneforge Mystic in exchange for a few sword of vengences. then consider Sword of Feast and Famine or Sword of Body and Mind . this would allow flexability versus your opponents. The swords are damn good against most of the field. sword of bm is a win condition with mirran crusader. I would main board one ajani for a sword of vengeance at least. I would put in a Dread Statuary in for the mazes would allow you to swing for the win in some cases or defend yourself.

I really like knight decks, and ran one myself for a while. I recently took it apart because of just getting stomped in proper standard tourneys. Occasionally I win a round with it when it just pulls a really smooth combo, but overall I find it to be inconsistent. I'm playing against the global top 8 meta at my local shop (BW Control, Quest, Boros, Caw-Blade etc).

Issues with the deck is that it has no tricks, it is what it is, and it never gets ahead turn wise due to no draw or mana ramp at all to get you ahead of your opponents curve. Surprisingly the two cards that would just end people most often were Student of Warfare and Mirran Crusader. People also know what to expect when they see it and hold on to there counters until Exemplars and Heroes hit the board.

In concept I think it's a sweet deck, and hope the next expansion makes it a little more viable. I've contemplated trying to splash some green in to make it faster but haven't given it a try yet.

I think you're wrong - infect utterly thrashes this. Indestructible is a moot point and first strike doesn't mean anything Phyrexian Vatmother when your strongest guys only have four power.

I think you're wrong - infect utterly thrashes this. Indestructible is a moot point and first strike doesn't mean anything against Phyrexian Vatmother when your strongest guys only have four power.

@burningpony,

I admire the boldness of your criticism, but you have missed a couple of key points here, and I am guessing you haven't playtested against a deck of this type before.

Yes, while the object of this deck is not to pump out individual heavy hitters, the knights buff one another like crazy with battle cry. Also, Knight Exemplar gives +1/+1's all around with indestructibility (which counters common black killing spells of Doom Blade and Go for the Throat ). The only thing that can ignore the exemplar's indestructibility bonus are cards like Disfigure or Grasp of Darkness . On top of that, Whispersilk Cloak slapped on a Knight Exemplar is nothing to scoff at.

Not to mention Honor of the Pure .

I have been playing around with 7 slots, where you saw the Whispersilk Cloak and Darksteel Plate . Many sorcerys, instants, equipment, enchantments, creatures and so on have passed through those as I continue to try new strategies to see what works best.

If you honestly think that this deck is weak compared to infect (especially with reference to Phyrexian Vatmother , who puts your game on a timer without a way to remove it), then playtest it and let me know how it went. I have destroyed many infect decks with this one.

@geomonty,

Thanks for the comment! I'll let you know first off that I have ran the swords in this deck before (3x Sword of Body and Mind and 1x Sword of Feast and Famine , simply because they are cards I own, along with the cards in this deck), but amazing as they are they don't really synergize as nicely as I would have liked. They are amazing with double strike, of course, or with prot from Brave the Elements or Whispersilk Cloak or flying, but they lack filling the void that this deck needs, and that is a bit of versatility in addition to straight aggro. The Sword of Vengeance worked quite nicely because it offered +2 to attack, and added first strike (which half the creatures in this deck lack), vigilance (very valuable for defence), and to a lesser extent, haste and trample.

I am currently still trying an equipment combo though, with 2x Quest for the Holy Relic and 2x Argentum Armor , which is pretty devastating when it works. I may consider the special swords again though... I did have high expectations for them, and they didn't stay in the deck for long.

As for the Dread Statuary idea, I like it, and I have swapped 2x of them for 2x Contested War Zone . The war zone has worked against me more often then not, and has even backfired a few times, which isn't good thing when fighting against infect. Thanks again for your input!

@shadowlessmass,

I agree, this deck definitely is limited to whatever opportunities are presented in the knight cards for standard. Swapping out too many knights to combo it destabilizes the deck and takes away the aggro element, which is what the knights are made for.

I have been fiddling and tweaking this deck for some time, and I think I've come close to something versatile enough to compete with most of the common strats in the meta. What seems to be mostly lacking is ensuring the longevity of your creatures, which are vulnerable to so many things (killing spells, stat-reducing spells, mind control, etc). So, if I can help promote their durability and life expectancy, their stats buffing one another and massive attack damage (and believe me, especially with battlecry and Hero of Bladehold , it hits like a dumptruck) take care of the rest.

I've limited myself to 7 slots to do this (currently filled by 3x Brave the Elements , 2x Quest for the Holy Relic and 2x Argentum Armor . I have also considered Sun Titan but he is too easily controlled, and I've also considered True Conviction , which would be game-ending, i think, if I got it out. But, the 6cmc is unsettling.

Nonetheless, thank you for your thoughts! Hopefully we'll see a Mirrodin Pure expansion that offers alot of variety, or alternatively a New Phyrexia expansion that features some badass knight cards, or knight-associated cards.

Either way, I think Wizards has a vested interest in helping along knights, especially given their large presence in Mirrodin Besieged.

@shadowlessmass,

I know speed for getting set up is critical in this deck as well; have you considered anything like Repel the Darkness , Crystal Ball or Survival Cache ? Those are decent, accessible catalysts for powering up.

Should I -2 Sun Titan and +2 True Conviction ? With that and the swords, it's beyond a game ender :0

Ok, I have upped the lands in the deck to 24 - this means getting a 6CMC card out is no longer an issue, and also makes this deck semi-aggro. In most cases, especially in my current meta, this helps balance this deck for potentially longer games against combo decks.

This opens alot of options... so does anyone have any suggestions? Right now I have took out -3 White Knight and added +1 Sun Titan , +1 card:Victory's Herald and +1 True Conviction . I have also considered Armored Ascension again (only relative to the mana curve), but im still edgy on that one: I only want to be able to drop it on pro-black creatures.