Tokens-Clearly the Best Deck in Modern (Guide)

Modern Aggro Competitive Midrange Primer Tokens WB (Orzhov)

ZackBinks

Land (24)

• 4x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 4x Godless Shrine
• 4x Marsh Flats
• 3x Plains
• 2x Shambling Vent
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 3x Windswept Heath

Sorcery (12)

• 4x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4x Lingering Souls
• 2x Spectral Procession
• 2x Thoughtseize

Planeswalker (4)

• 1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Creature (3)

• 3x Auriok Champion

Enchantment (10)

• 4x Bitterblossom
• 2x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 4x Intangible Virtue

Instant (7)

• 3x Fatal Push
• 4x Path to Exile

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Sideboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 2x Blessed Alliance
• 2x Disenchant
• 1x Zealous Persecution

Enchantment (7)

• 3x Leyline of Sanctity
• 2x Rest in Peace
• 2x Stony Silence

Artifact (2)

• 2x Grafdigger's Cage

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Of course, statistically speaking, B/W Tokens is not the greatest deck in Modern, but that doesn't mean it can't be. The idea of the deck is to start with early hand disruption, followed by getting tokens on the field, and finishing your opponent with an anthem effect and attack for lethal! This deck is my pride and joy, as I have been playing it practically ever since I started playing Magic (around the time Khans came out) and has even led me to a Top 8 finish at a Star City Games IQ. If you have any opinions, questions, and/or recommendations, please let me know! Also, if you would like to upvote, that would be much appreciated! Also, special thanks to xzzane for helping me out with some fine tuning of the deck.

Below is an organized description for each of my card choices, as well as a guide that will hopefully help you further your understanding of the deck. If this does not answer any of your questions, I welcome you to ask them in the comments and I will be happy to answer them!

Lands

Marsh Flats : Our primary fetchland that unfortunately has really boring card art. Despite its lack of artistic intrigue, it functions just like any other fetchland. For those new to Magic and confused as to why fetchlands are so integral to competitive Magic, allow me to explain. Fetchlands allow you to fetch out lands that you need at any point as long as the land you fetch out has a subtype (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest) that the fetchland you use can get. For example, I cannot use a Marsh Flats in order to get a basic Island or a Stomping Ground because neither of them has Plains or Swamp in their subtypes. As long as the land you plan on grabbing has at least one subtype that matches the fetchland you are using, you are in business. Another reason why fetchlands are so important is that they help thin your deck out so you have a higher chance of drawing something you need or something more relevant and reduce the chance of drawing an excess amounts of lands. A final tip is that if you plan on fetching for a shock land but do not immediately need it, wait until your opponent's end step, and then fetch out the shockland you want and have it come into play tapped. The land will immediately untap after your opponents end step at the beginning of your turn. Doing this instead of fetching and then having the shockland come into play untapped when you don't need to allows you to conserve your life total.

Godless Shrine : Our color combination's shockland. Shocklands are staples in most Modern decks, so it is understandable that Godless Shrine is in ours. The only thing that is special about it compared to the other shocklands is that it has hands down the greatest Zendikar Expeditions art.

Windswept Heath / Flooded Strand : At first glance, one may just assume that I needed an 8th fetchland, so I used a Flooded Strand that I had lying around instead of completing my playset of Windswept Heath . Though entirely plausible, this is not the case. The reason that I have 3 different types of fetchlands is to make cards like Pithing Needle and Surgical Extraction less effective. Since they are primarily in the deck to fetch out white mana sources, not having them be all the same card and yet still can fetch for white plays around a fair amount of hate cards.

Concealed Courtyard : This is the new kid on the block. Wizards of the Coast finally decided to give us a toy that Jund has been playing with for years. The addition of Fastlands gives our life total a much needed break.

Plains : The backbone of our deck. Being able to play more basics than other top decks like Jund and Abzan usually play provides us with a lot of additional resilience against Blood Moon , Path to Exile , and Ghost Quarter , while also making our manabase slightly less painful. If you are running my shell, it is important to note that white mana is more important than black mana, a perfect example of which is to maximize the likelihood of a turn 3 Spectral Procession . This is why there is more basic plains than there are basic swamps in the list.

Swamp : Though the description for Plains really suffices for this, I did want to explain why I chose to include only 1 basic swamp instead of more. Since I do not run any cards that have double black in their casting cost, I realistically only need one source of black mana on the field to run my entire deck. I will fetch this out if I anticipate a Blood Moon or if I have a turn 1 discard spell and a Fetid Heath in hand to play during my next turn, as that will allow me to still stay on the path to a turn 3 Spectral Procession while allowing me to conserve my life total by not having to play an untapped Godless Shrine .

Shambling Vent : Thanks to Battle for Zendikar, we now have our very own manland! Now I know that it is no Celestial Colonnade , but I still feel that Vent is undervalued, especially when everyone compares it to its older Zendikar siblings. The card has personally dug me out of a lot of close calls and has even stolen games before. The lifelink is also a valuable perk. If you plan on attacking with it and have a Sorin, Solemn Visitor on the field, be sure to activate Vent BEFORE you use Sorin's +1 so that it gets the +1/+0 too.

Vault of the Archangel : Speaking of land sibling rivalries, Vault has been in Gavony Township 's shadow for a long time, and though Gavony is certainly powerful, allow me to explain a weakness it has compared to Vault. Though by no fault of its own, Gavony Township is a known threat. Easily recognizable by most people who have even a slight understanding of the game. In contrast, my personal experience has shown me that many people either do not respect the power of Vault or straight up don't know what it even does. By not checking what the card does or by not respecting it enough to try and play around it, I have had players attack with their mighty Tarmogoyf and their Tasigur, the Golden Fang , allowing me to activate Vault and block with my tiny 1/1 Spirits, killing their creatures and allowing me to gain some life in the process. It is also great on offense as well, as it discourages our opponents to block our tokens and gains us life as well. Moral of the story, never underestimate Vault of the Archangel .

Fetid Heath : Filter land that allows us to play a turn 1 basic swamp and still be able to play a turn 2 Auriok Champion and to remain on the path to play a turn 3 Spectral Procession . Also has a great card art, which admittedly doesn't add to its usefulness in battle, but if the game was based on style points, you would be winning.

Creatures

Auriok Champion : A very powerful ability that our deck has is reducing the effectiveness of our opponent's spot removal. Cards like Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile are far less scary if they can only deal with 1/3rd of a card like Spectral Procession . This is one of the biggest reasons why I do not run many creatures. However, there is an exception to this in the form of Auriok Champion . She allows us to gain valuable life when our tokens enter the battlefield and when creatures our opponents control enter the battlefield too. She also virtually eliminates the life loss from Bitterblossom . What makes her go above and beyond is the fact that she also has protection from black and red, allowing her to be unaffected by much of the popular removal in magic and be able to block a lot of creatures and come out unscathed. Cards like Terminate , Lightning Bolt , and Abrupt Decay ? Psh, don't make her laugh. An opponent attacking you with creatures like Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet ? She can block him and deny the life gain from his lifelink in the process (Protection is a crazy ability). With the release of the new efficient 1 mana removal spell Fatal Push , she has become even more powerful because she is unaffected by it. Fun Fact: Apparently, her real name is Dafri.

Sorceries

Lingering Souls : Welcome to Value Town. A card that can create 2 Spirit creature tokens initially and then can be cast again from your graveyard at a discounted price. Having flashback makes it still have value if it is initially countered or if you are made to discard it.

Spectral Procession : A very powerful card and the biggest reason why white mana is so important to our deck. Having 3 white mana allows us to play this card as early as turn 3. Something important to remember about this card is that though we usually cast it by paying 3 white mana, it's converted mana cost is technically 6, so an opposing Inquisition of Kozilek cannot take it.

Inquisition of Kozilek / Thoughtseize : Just like every other deck in Magic, our deck has its fair amount of weaknesses. Our deck takes a little bit to set up, meaning we are not as fast as decks like Zoo and Infect. We also do not have any game breaking combos like Storm and Scapeshift. Lastly, though our creatures are numerous in number, we do not have big creatures like Tron and Eldrazi. One of our main solutions to these weaknesses is hand disruption. Hand disruption is key to slowing our opponent down and taking away their hard to deal with threats and/or key pieces to their combo. I advise using more Inquisition of Kozilek than Thoughtseize , as Inquisition can take most threats in Modern without the loss of life. However, both should be in the deck regardless, and you can customize the amount of each that you include in your deck based on the meta you are going to play in.

Instants

Path to Exile : Arguably one of the best removal spells in Modern. Gets rid of creatures that have the Indestructible ability and creatures with graveyard synergies. There are also decks that run few to no basic lands, making this an easy include. Something to keep in mind, unless you are in a situation where it is necessary or best for you to use it on an opposing creature during your turn, it is usually best to wait and do it on your opponent's upkeep, as it gets rid of their creature and your opponent doesn't get to untap that land they get until their next turn.

Start : A token producer and a removal spell all in one? Count me in! I was one the fence about it at first, but it tested very well! The fact that the first portion of the card can be cast at instant speed is also huge.

Fatal Push : A one mana removal spell that hits almost every relative threat in Modern. It hits many of these threats even before the Revolt mechanic is triggered, which is relatively easy to trigger with our fetchlands. Not so tough now, are you, Tarmogoyf ? (Full disclosure, it still is a very tough card. Just because we have access to Fatal Push does not mean that we get to laugh when an opposing Tarmogoyf enters the battlefield). Do note that it also works against manlands too, like Inkmoth Nexus and Raging Ravine .

Enchantments

Intangible Virtue : This is one of the key cards that makes our deck so powerful. Pumps up our swarm of creature tokens and gives them vigilance, allowing them to attack and still be able to block during our opponents turn. With such a cheap converted mana cost, it is easy to get multiples of this card on the field.

Bitterblossom : My personal favorite card in all of Magic. Giving us a creature during each of our turns allows us to recover from a board wipe, and can be devastating when paired with Intangible Virtue . This card is devastating against control decks, and can slow down more aggro decks by providing us with a blocker each turn. The life loss is not very relevant since our deck has plenty of ways to gain life, and pairs really well with Auriok Champion for this reason.

Planeswalkers

Sorin, Solemn Visitor : A powerful card that truly shines in our deck. His +1 is super powerful with our deck, and pairs tremendously well with Intangible Virtue because the ability is in effect until our next turn, meaning that we can attack and gain the advantage of the +1/+0 and lifelink and be able to block during our opponent's turn thanks to Intangible Virtue and still benefit from his +1 ability. His -2 helps us recover from a board wipe and gives us a bigger token. Though his ultimate is good, you'll mostly use him for his first 2 abilities.

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar : A planeswalker who's abilities are all relevant to our deck. Something very powerful about him is that you can use his ultimate ability the turn he comes into play, which helps us win a turn or 2 early thanks to the added power it gives. His 0 ability also makes tokens that though cannot fly, they are bigger to compensate. His +1 is also great, especially when paired with Sorin's +1. Something to keep in mind is that you can use Gideon's +1 the turn he comes into play, but he cannot attack the turn he comes into play because of summoning sickness. Also, though he does have indestructible when he is a creature, he is still vulnerable to spells like Path to Exile and Vapor Snag . If you play around those weaknesses though, Gideon can be a powerful ally, pun slightly intended.

Sideboard

Leyline of Sanctity : Few things feel better than having this in your opening hand against decks like Burn, Scapeshift, 8 Rack, and other decks that target you often. Also cannot be destroyed with Abrupt Decay , which is always nice. This also causes Ad Nauseam decks to be unable to win with Lightning Storm unless they find a way to remove Leyline. Don't let your guard down just because you have this in your opening hand, you still have to win the game, and Leyline can be removed by cards like Destructive Revelry .

Rest in Peace : The card that keeps Dredge and Living End awake at night. Can be completely backbreaking for Dredge and Living End and can also turn off the effectiveness of Snapcaster Mage and Tarmogoyf . A good idea to board in when going up against decks that utilize their graveyard. Just like Leyline, don't just kick back and relax when you play this, it can still be removed.

Stony Silence : Slows affinity down to a crawl. Also good against Lantern Control and other artifact based decks.

Zealous Persecution : Though rare, you may one day find yourself facing the mirror match. If you do, this card will be your best friend. Even against decks that have a lot of creatures with one toughness, it can potentially wipe their board while simultaneously pumping up your creatures.

Blessed Alliance : Now I know at first glance this may seem odd, but allow me to explain to you why this card is a hidden gem, especially for us, in my favorite way to do so: an overdramatic analogy. Have you ever gone up against a Bogles player? Has he or she made your Paths useless with that pesky Hexproof ability? Have they suited that hexproof creature up with so many enchantments that it is basically the creature version of the Death Star, about to do to you what the Death Star did to Alderaan? Scary, I know. However, much like the actual Death Star, this lone, seemingly invincible agent of death has one critical weakness. In order for a Bogles player to win, they must kill us with their creature by attacking us with it. Enter: Blessed Alliance , your Luke Skywalker in this situation. For just 2 mana, you can stop their vile plan, leading to you winning the game and saving the galaxy in the process. In all seriousness, this card is just really good against a variety of matchups, especially against Infect and Burn. It gives us a more reliable source of life gain compared to Timely Reinforcements , and can use another of its abilities for just 2 extra mana. The card has done plenty of work for me personally, and I hope you take my advice and try it for yourself.

Disenchant : For those pesky artifacts that are not hindered by Stony Silence .

Grafdigger's Cage : Very effective against decks like Dredge, Kiki Chord, and Abzan Company. Do note that it effects us as well and does not effect Living End because the creatures come out from exile, not the graveyard. This card is now more powerful against Dredge with the banning of Golgari Grave-Troll , since Dredge now cannot cast a big Grave-Troll with a fully stocked graveyard to beat down on you. Even if you get this down in time, you still need to try and end the game quickly, as they are a Back to Nature or another artifact removal away from getting back into the game.

Anguished Unmaking : A modern legal Vindicate has a wide variety of reasons why it belongs in our mainboard, in my opinion. Providing an answer to Ensnaring Bridge , Blood Moon and removal of Karn Liberated , Ugin, the Spirit Dragon , and really any planeswalker is also a plus. Extra points for flavor to you if you use it to kill a Nahiri, the Harbinger or any of the Avacyn cards.

Possible Mainboard Inclusions

Though I have a preference to my version of B/W Tokens, that in no way means you have to follow it card by card. Here I will briefly go over some cards that you could include in the maindeck that may suit your personal playstyle more without deviating too far from what B/W Tokens is as a deck:

Raise the Alarm : Though each version of B/W Tokens usually has some differences, they all usually fall into one of two builds: The Bitterblossom build (Your's truly) or the Raise the Alarm build. Some categorize the Alarm build as the budget build, and while that is usually true, that doesn't mean it is completely inferior to the Blossom build. The appeal of the Alarm build is that you have more instant speed token producers, making it a much more aggressive version of the deck. People with a more aggro playstyle usually flock to this version of tokens. However, while it has a more explosive start, it is not as resilient as the Blossom build, and will lose steam in the later turns if this is not taken into consideration.

Dismember : A very effective removal spell that can be used as early as turn 1, which is great against Infect, if you pay 4 life. As long as their toughness is 5 or lower, this also gets rid of creatures with Indestructible. This is a wise inclusion of the meta you are about to play in has a big Bant Eldrazi presence.

Collective Brutality : I had some reservations initially regarding this card. However, just like when I thought the actor who played Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter and the actor who played Thranduil from Lord of the Rings was the same person, I was wrong. I am thoroughly impressed by how it has performed. With such a large array of abilities, it is hard to find a matchup where this is a dead card. Its discard to pick more modes also combos well with our Lingering Souls .

Hero of Bladehold : A powerful creature that can tip the game into your favor or even win the game if she survives long enough to attack. Being able to survive Lightning Bolt is also a plus. The only problem with her is that she is an effective removal target, and opponents will save their removal spells specifically for her game 2 if they know you are running her in your deck. However, the fact that she is that much of a threat and works well with our deck makes her a worthy inclusion.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos : A creature that has decent power and toughness? Check. Costs only 3 mana? Check. Produces tokens? Check. Is a cat? Double Check. Though not as game changing as Hero of Bladehold , Brimaz works well on offense and on defense, and thanks to the Vigilance ability innately given to him and the tokens he produces, he can do both very well.

Secure the Wastes : Typically found in the Raise the Alarm build, this is an instant speed token producer that is great at helping you recover from a board wipe or surprising your opponent. It is a great card to draw late in the game when you have a lot of mana at your disposal, but a less than ideal card to find in your opening hand.

Honor of the Pure : Another anthem effect that can make your tokens beefier and meaner. This card isn't usually found in the Blossom version of the deck, as it specifies "White Creatures". The fact that it doesn't give Vigilance as well makes it less effective than Intangible Virtue . However, it is a fine card overall that can help push your tokens to their limit.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant : A great planeswalker who's abilities all work well with our deck. Works best with the Raise the Alarm build, as many of the tokens produced in that build do not fly. However, if you choose to include her in your Blossom build, I would not say that you were wrong.

Windbrisk Heights : A Hideaway land that can be easily activated by the innate nature of our deck. Can surprise our opponents by suddenly putting cards like Intangible Virtue onto the battlefield or one of our planeswalkers for a discounted price. Though a tad slow since it enters the battlefield tapped, it does give us a little card advantage and can potentially steal a game if the right card is found.

Liliana of the Veil : One of the Modern format's all-stars, Lili is insanely powerful, especially for 3 mana. Her +1 combos well with Lingering Souls , her -2 helps against Bogles and Infect, and her ultimate is game winning. She is just a powerful, well-rounded planeswalker, even though none of her abilities really specifically help towards token making.

Ghost Quarter : Though it does make it harder to achieve a Turn 3 Spectral Procession , having this card in your maindeck strengthens your chances against Scapeshift (targeting Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle ) and strengthens your chances against Tron, which is arguably our worst matchup.

Possible Sideboard Inclusions

While there is some personal customization that you can include in your mainboard, our deck as a lot of cards that are necessary to be in the deck in order for it to work. However, the sideboard can be, for the most part, built in accordance to be most effective in the meta you play in. Since I go to tournaments that aren't in the same location and therefore have different metas, I have structured my sideboard to be able to answer many of the common threats in Magic. However, it is by no means the absolute right choice. The following are some examples of cards that could possibly be a good choice for you to include in your sideboard. Note that some of the cards in the "Possible Mainboard Inclusions" part of this guide could also be good sideboard inclusions as well. However, I will only be talking about cards that are best in the sideboard in this section.

Engineered Explosives : A great sideboard card that can answer a lot of threats if your opponent plays many nonland permanents with the same converted mana cost. Does really well against Elves, Zoo, Infect, and Affinity.

Chalice of the Void : Solid sideboard tech against a lot of decks. Setting it to 1 sets Burn, Infect, Bogles, Lantern Control, and other decks pretty far back if left unanswered. You can also just play it without paying any mana, thus setting it to zero. This is best against Affinity, as if left unanswered, it stops our opponent from playing Memnite , Ornithopter , and Mox Opal , as well as against decks like Living End and Restore Balance, as setting it to 0 causes the cascaded spells to be countered. Remember that it does affect us as well. So for example, if set to 1, any hand disruption or Paths we play will be immediately countered as well.

Selfless Spirit : A great creature that can save our creatures from a board wipe like Anger of the Gods , Supreme Verdict , and the infamous Engineered Explosives on 0.

Leyline of the Void : Another graveyard hate card that is very powerful if you expect or know that the meta you are about to play in has an abundant amount of graveyard based decks. Run multiples in your sideboard to maximize your chances of drawing them at the start of the game because like all of the Leylines, they are most useful when they are played from your opening hand.

Pithing Needle : A hate card that can be played as early as turn 1. Great against stopping opposing planeswalkers like Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon . You can also name a fetchland, causing your opponent not to be able to use that specific fetchland.

Surgical Extraction : Does really well against combo decks, as you can use hand disruption to get one of their combo pieces out of their hand and then pay 2 life or pay 1 black mana if you have it available to get all of the other copies of that card out of the deck.

Timely Reinforcements : Helps heal some of our lifeloss in the early turns and has the chance on giving us 3 tokens, allowing us to potentially turn the tides of a game.

Duress : I am sure by now that you have realized that our deck does a fair amount of damage to itself in the early turns. Against decks like Burn, this can leave us at a disadvantage. However, taking out our Thoughtseize and replacing them with these 2 can help lower our self-inflicted life loss. Also great replacements for Thoughtseize against decks that run mostly noncreature spells like Storm and Ad Nauseam.

Fulminator Mage : Great if your meta has a lot of Tron and Scapeshift decks.

Celestial Purge : Hits important threats like opposing Liliana of the Veil and Inferno Titan . Do note that this does get rid of creatures with Indestructible because it exiles, not destroys them.

Sundering Growth : A card that can destroy one of our opponent's artifacts or enchantments and can potentially make another token. The double white makes it a tiny bit harder to cast than Disenchant , but not enough to make it incredibly noticeable.

Kor Firewalker : Great against Burn and Zoo decks. Can be an efficient blocker against red creatures and provides some life gain as well.

Ghostly Prison : Can really slow aggressive decks down if you play it quickly. Does really well against the mirror matchup as well.

Runed Halo : Great against decks that only have 1-2 specific win conditions like Ad Nauseam decks (naming Lightning Storm ). Also very effective (and hilarious) against Skred Red, naming Snow-Covered Mountain . That way, you are unaffected by the abilities of Koth of the Hammer that utilize those lands.

Ravenous Trap : Even more graveyard hate. This one is really awesome in that it can be cast for free if your opponent has put at least 3 cards in the graveyard that turn. However, it should also be reserved primarily for decks who's main win conditions center around the graveyard.

Mirran Crusader : With the coming of Fatal Push , I suspect there will be a rise in the popularity of Black-Green (aka Rock) decks now that they have an efficient 1 mana removal spell. If my prediction is true, this guy will be a viable threat that will be difficult for them to deal with.

Relic of Progenitus : Helps fight against Dredge, Living End, and other decks that utilize their graveyard. And hey, drawing a card is always nice.

Cards I Advise Against Using

While I strongly believe that as long as you have fun with the cards you include in your decks, whether it be Tokens or any other deck, that's all that matters (unless of course you're playing at the competitive level). However, I also believe that some cards just don't belong in certain decks. So while I in no way intend to be the Magic Police and ruin your fun, if you intend to include any of these cards in your tokens deck, please at least consider the following:

Westvale Abbey  : A perfect example of a "looks good at first glance" card. When you first look at the card, it seems to be a great addition to our deck, as if Wizards of the Coast made this card with us in mind. But alas, I can assure you from personal experience that this is not the case. I tried so hard to make this card work in our deck, but despite all of my effort and how much I defended it, the card kept letting me down time and time again. Let's look at it piece by piece. First, it is a land that only produces colorless mana. Makes casting Spectral Procession by turn 3 slightly more difficult sometimes, but otherwise not a big deal. Second, it has an ability that if we pay 5 mana and tap it (so basically takes up a net total of 6 lands/mana sources) and pay 1 life, we can create a 1/1 Black and White Human Cleric Token. A land that creates tokens is sweet in theory, but not when it is executed like this, specifically in a format like Modern. All of this work and paying 1 life is a bit expensive when all we get for our troubles is a single 1/1 token. Finally, if we again pay 5 mana and tap it while also sacrificing 5 of our creatures, we can transform the land into Ormendahl, Profane Prince . Now this is a real flashy ability that is pretty cool, a 9/7 creature with Flying, Lifelink, Indestructible, and Haste! This ability looks great.....at first glance. It really is a shame, for the card is missing one keyword that stops it from being a great addition to our deck. That keyword is "Hexproof". If Ormendahl had Hexproof, you would not find this card where it is currently at in my guide. Unfortunately, since it does not have Hexproof, Ormendahl is vulnerable to frequently played cards like Path to Exile , Cryptic Command , and even Vapor Snag . Producing a creature that requires us to have at least 6 mana available (5 plus tapping the land itself) and essentially wiping most, if not all of our creatures off the board, and being vulnerable to such simple answers, causing all of this hard work to be for nothing is not worth including in our deck.

Dark Confidant : An awesome creature that provides card advantage to decks like Abzan, Jund, and Mardu. However, there are cards in our deck that are dangerous to get from his ability. Primarily, Spectral Procession and its 6 converted mana cost.

Shrine of Loyal Legions : Another card that looks great at first glance. However, when looked at closely, its true colors shine (yes I know it is a colorless artifact, but you know what I mean). The card is just far too slow to produce any significant value, and is weak against cards like Cryptic Command and Kolaghan's Command .

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad : The inferior Black/White version of Sorin. Comes in with fewer loyalty points, makes smaller tokens that do not fly, no mass lifegain, and the little emblems do not have that big of an impact on the board. I have tested both extensively, and Sorin, Solemn Visitor is the clear winner.

Gather the Townsfolk : Since our deck does not have any Human tribal synergies and does not consistently find itself with 5 or less life, Gather the Townsfolk is a lackluster sorcery speed token producer. If you really want to play a card like this, play the infinitely superior Raise the Alarm .

Monastery Mentor : Like I said before, a big advantage that our deck has is that it takes away much of the effectiveness of our opponent's single target removal spells. Mentor is a 2/2 for 3 mana, with a token making ability that is fairly strong, to be fair. However, it dies to all of the popular removal in the format, including the not as popular removal spells like Shock . Since our deck can't run cards to protect it without deviating from our game plan, it is a creature that dies too easily and we waste 3 mana that we could have spent casting a Lingering Souls .

Elspeth, Sun's Champion : Now don't get me wrong, this version of Elspeth is incredible with abilities that would really help our deck go above and beyond. However, the card costs way too much mana for our deck to consistently produce on time. Unfortunately, she'll always be the one that got away.

Orzhov Charm : Does close to nothing significantly relevant for our deck. I can't really think of anything fun to end this description with, just don't include this card.

Tragic Slip : While there are certainly worse removal spells in Magic that you could add, this card isn't quite what we want in our deck. In theory, a one mana spell that can potentially cause a target creature to get -13/-13 until end of turn is sweet and basically kills almost every relevant creature in Magic, it is not consistent enough to always get the full value of this card.

Harsh Sustenance : Another card that seems great at first glance. However, it has a converted mana cost of 3, conflicting with Lingering Souls and Spectral Procession . It also requires a developed board full of creatures to be of any significant use. If you plan on using it for a removal spell, it takes casting this plus at least 4 creatures to kill something as simple as a Wall of Omens , and if you are planning on using it to drain your opponent, you need to cast this plus have at least 2 creatures you control on the field for it to drain them just as much as Collective Brutality does.

Blackmail : The inferior hand disruption spell unless you play it when your opponent has 3 or less cards in their hand. Ideally, you want to cast a hand disruption spell turn 1, and by playing this, you give your opponent the option of having some control as to what you take.

Celestial Flare : Inferior to Blessed Alliance in every major way. As far as making your opponent sacrifice a blocking creature, it then makes it inferior to all of our one mana removal spells.

Spear of Heliod : While it does pump up our creatures, it comes down a turn slower than Intangible Virtue and its second ability requires us to leave 3 mana open and requires our opponent to damage us with a creature. Against decks like Infect, 1 or 2 attacks is sometimes all they need to win the game.

Smuggler's Copter : Now let me preface this by saying Copter is in no way a bad card. It has proven to be a significant upgrade for certain decks, especially Blue-Black Faeries. It provides card draw and a solid early game beater. As I have said before, card draw is one of the few weaknesses Tokens has, and in theory, Copter could help with that. However, once I tested Copter, I realized that it wasn't a good fit for the deck. Our tokens get big fairly quickly, which lowers the value of Copter as a beater in our deck. While the card draw is certainly nice, we have little to no ways of protecting it against common cards like Kolaghan's Command and Abrupt Decay . One of the reasons it is great in Blue-Black Faeries is that they have access to counter spells that can protect Copter. I know that there is a shell of B/W Tokens that uses Copter, but it is pretty significantly different from this list that I would classify it more as B/W Control. In summary: it is a powerful card, just not in this deck.

Anointer Priest : While this card does have the Embalm ability and an easier casting cost to meet than Auriok Champion 's double white mana cost, it is still inferior compared to Auriok Champion in the end.

Anointed Procession : I will admit that I was really excited about this card when it was first announced. Doubles the amount of tokens that our token spells produce AND has really beautiful card art? Sign me up! Unfortunately, my excitement clouded my ability to thoroughly inspect this card when it was first announced, so it was not until I tested the card out personally that I came to the following conclusion. In my personal opinion, Anointed Procession misses the mark to be Modern viable. Notice I did not just say it isn't really viable in BW Tokens, but in the Modern format as a whole. Allow me to elaborate. Anointed Procession is fundamentally the white version of Parallel Lives , a card that sees virtually no competitive play in the Modern format. The main reason behind this is that the card will not produce any value until after turn 4, providing that you hit all of your land drops up to turn 4 and have a way to produce tokens that doesn't cost mana on turn 4 after you play it or wait until turn 5. Therefore, Anointed Procession suffers from the exact same reasons. Modern is a fairly quick paced format (unless you are playing a Control deck), so a card that produces only moderate value so late in the game isn't something you generally want in your deck. Sure, you could put it in a deck that has a bunch of mana creatures like Noble Hierarch to ramp it out earlier than turn 4, but doing so means you have even less room for token producers to take advantage of Anointed Procession .

As a side note, though I do not feel it is Modern viable, it is VERY viable in the Commander format. Parallel Lives is already very prevalent in Commander, so token focused commander decks like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Rhys the Redeemed just became much more powerful by having access to another card that does the same thing.

Tips and Tricks

Now that you have a fair understanding of the deck and it's components, let me mention some tips, tricks, and things to keep in mind while playing the deck:

1. Sometimes it is a good idea to not flashback Lingering Souls the absolute second you have the mana available to do so. If you believe or know that your opponent has access to board wipes, keep Souls in the graveyard, and if they wipe your board, then flash them back. Souls is a very versatile card, and can do just as well on offense as it can to help you recover. In contrast, if you believe or know that your opponent has graveyard hate in their deck, flashback those Souls as fast as you can.

2. Remember that Spectral Procession has a converted mana cost of 6, despite us usually only having to pay 3 white mana to cast it. Among other things, the most important thing to remember about this is that Inquisition of Kozilek cannot take this card. If your opponent does not believe you, calling over a judge may be necessary. If you are not in a place where a judge is readily available, feel free to pull up my guide on your smartphone/tablet/laptop.

3. Do not be "that guy/that girl" when it comes to Bitterblossom . During the beginning of each of our upkeeps, we lose a life and get a 1/1 Faerie Rogue creature token with flying. You know it, I know it, though our opponent may not know it or remember it each turn. That does NOT give you the excuse to "forget" it if you are low on life. If played around correctly, the lifeloss is never a big issue, and can easily be healed. Bad sportsmanship, however, is a disease to the game that can never be healed. If you honestly have a hard time remembering this trigger or are new to the deck, than I suggest putting a dice or a little scrap of paper on top of your deck so that before you draw a card, signifying the end of your upkeep, so that you remember the trigger.

4. Make sure that you have all the tokens that you plan on having on the field this turn actually on the field BEFORE you activate Sorin, Solemn Visitor 's +1. That also includes activating Shambling Vent if you plan on attacking with it. Also remember that Sorin's +1 is in effect until your next turn, so if you block with any of your creatures that are boosted by the +1, lifelink still occurs.

5. Anger of the Gods does not kill Auriok Champion , but Damnation does. The reason for this is that Anger specifically deals damage to creatures, to which the protection ability shields her from. However, even though Damnation is a black spell, it does not specifically target and does not deal damage.

6. Keep in mind that even though Bitterblossom is an enchantment, it is more specifically a TRIBAL enchantment. The reason I bring this up is because it will power up Tarmogoyf because it will be seen as the Tribal card type.

7. If you have a Bitterblossom and an Auriok Champion on the battlefield, Blossom's ability still triggers and triggers first. You lose 1 life and then gain 1 life because of Champion. Which is great, however, if you are at 1 life and then Blossom triggers, we still lose despite Champion's lifegain triggering afterwards.

8. Shambling Vent can block just as well as it can attack. It is also big enough to overpower smaller threats like Goblin Guide and Dark Confidant .

9. If you are being attacked by an opposing Goblin Guide and have a removal spell that you plan on using, let the "reveal the top card of your library" trigger happen first, in case you flip a land and get a free card draw. You can then use the removal spell before damage is dealt.

10. If you know your opponent has access to board wipes, it is a good idea to not play all of your token producers as soon as possible, and instead hold a few back in order to easily recover from a board wipe like Supreme Verdict or Anger of the Gods .

11. If you have tokens on the field but no Intangible Virtue and plan on casting more token producing spells, it is usually correct to attack first before playing more token producing spells, as that increases the likelihood that your opponent will respond to that attack with a spell instead of countering your token producers. Also allows you to still have blockers up if your opponent decides to tap down all of your creatures with Cryptic Command before combat.

12. Against Infect, it is okay to be a little less conservative with your life total as long as it efficiently forwards our path to victory, but do not be careless with your life total. If you allow your life total to become too low, they always have the ability to use their pump spells on their Dryad Arbor or Noble Hierarch and win that way.

13. If your opponent is casting Maelstrom Pulse targeting one of our tokens, you can use one of your removal spells like Path to Exile to get rid of the token that they are targeting, which will save all of the other tokens of the same type because Pulse would no longer have a target.

14. When choosing what to make your opponent discard when playing one of your hand disruption spells, really take your time with thinking before making your decision. Fully analyze the hand, think about what they plan on doing with their current hand, think about what they may draw and what it would do in conjunction with their current hand, and think about what you could take that would either disrupt them the most and/or what would be most troublesome for you. After you have thought about all of that, you should be able to make the best decision possible.

15. Practice with your deck as much as possible, even if it means just laying down your playmat and playing your deck by yourself or by putting your decklist into TappedOut and playtesting again and again. The more you practice, the easier it will be for you to see various plays you can make, makes you more comfortable with the deck, allows you to know what your outs are when you play against opponents, and just makes you overall better with the deck and better at Magic in general.

Long Live Tokens!

Top Ranked	Achieved #11 position overall 8 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 10 Rares 17 - 3 Uncommons 0 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.19
Tokens	Emblem Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Emblem Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Knight Ally 2/2 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Vampire 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Ideas, Modern, Stuff i like, Modern, zzInspiration (not own), I like, Modern archetype decks, Templates, modern, Tabletop