What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Soldiers

Commander / EDH Combo Mono-White Tokens

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Artifact (23)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Blasting Station
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Dingus Staff
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Dawn of Hope
• 1x Endless Horizons
• 1x Fanatical Devotion
• 1x Karma
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Creature (22)

• 1x Boreas Charger
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Emeria Shepherd
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Ranger of Eos
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Remorseful Cleric
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Thalia's Lancers
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer

Instant (6)

• 1x Crush Contraband
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Oblation
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Commander (1)

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Grand Coliseum
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 1x Nomad Stadium
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 22x Snow-Covered Plains
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Cleansing Nova
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift

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Greetings, fellow masochists. If you're a sick bastard like me who enjoys both the challenge of building a mono-white deck based around a 6 CMC commander that can actually win games* and hurting yourself until your opponents die, look no further. Darien, King of Kjeldor is a unique, hilarious, and fun commander that enables a wide array of deckbuilding strategies and combo shenanigans. Let's start by discussing the deck's general gameplan.

*DISCLAIMER This is by no means a cEDH deck, despite being powerful and combo-inclined, as the deck is highly reliant on its 6 CMC commander that doesn't immediately do anything. That being said, this build has enough redundancy, resiliency, and explosiveness to win games in 8/10 and below metas. I also hold no legal responsibility for damages caused by Kelly Clarkson puns.

Preface: What Darien's All About

I like cool decks that win big. It sounds simple, but I think many commander decks struggle to find a balance between being unique and being good. "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Soldiers" represents the heart of the hybrid Timmy/Johnny mindset: when you win, you're either going to be smashing face with 30 40/40s or performing some 5 card combo based around a usually unplayable Urza's block uncommon with 'Dingus' in its name. Additionally, while far from a deck a Spike would run in a cEDH league, it definitely has tuned, Spiky elements in its high-synergy and grindy gameplay. Here are some reasons why Darien may or may not be for you:

You may like this deck if...

• You play any or multiple of the following strategies: combo, tokens, or value town
• You enjoy confusing your opponents with stuff they've never seen before
• You like flexibility and winning through differing methods

You may not like this deck if...

• You prefer decks solely dedicated to aggro or control
• You prefer well-established commanders
• You like very linear decks

Setting Up: Ramp, Card Advantage, and Recursion

It's no secret that white is straight booty butt cheeks at ramping and drawing cards, two of EDH's most integral aspects of gameplay. To offset this problem, this deck is full of fast mana and inefficient but effective sources of card draw that can enable us to zoom past the other players once we get our engines going.

Ramp

Despite being inferior to green vomiting lands from their library and black's swamp-based mana production, being mono-colored gives access to fantastic mana doublers that greatly enhance the ability to cast or recast Darien. Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power are great, but could also help our opponents ramp. Caged Sun is a tad more expensive, but only applies to us. 6 mana rocks at 3 CMC or less helps us get to those doublers more quickly. Being in white allows us to sac and recur creatures like Solemn Simulacrum, all which play nice with our mana doublers by fetching lands. Smothering Tithe has quickly established itself as a white EDH staple and has yet to let me down. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can quickly produce obscene amounts of mana, and is a great target for land tutors. Overall, the deck runs 18 sources of ramp, so getting to Darien or other big white creatures early shouldn't be an issue. I generally look for a way to ramp to at least 6 mana by turn 4 in my opening hands.

Card Advantage

Skullclamp. That's all I have to say. This totally fair and balanced Magic card is easily the singular most important card in our deck, so we have multiple ways to find it. Making tokens and eating them with the Clamp for card advantage is one of the few ways mono-white can accumulate enough cardboard in hand to make a blue player jealous. Mentor of the Meek also works very well with our early drops and tokens Darien produces and Dawn of Hope is great with our Soul Sister effects. Many also overlook white's ability to generate card advantage by fetching lands from library to hand. Land Tax, Endless Horizons, and Weathered Wayfarer are all-stars here, providing a constant stream of cards to hand while also improving future draws by thinning the deck. These turn into legitimate card draw with Scroll Rack. Finally, Mind's Eye and Well of Lost Dreams are necessary evils I wouldn't play in any other color, but definitely add to the deck's late game proficiency and ability to bounce back from disruption.

Recursion

This is where some legitimate benefits of mono-white start to become apparent. Sun Titan and Emeria, The Sky Ruin are two of mono-white's most iconic cards and rightfully so. Since the deck runs 3 sac outlets, the ability to loop our many ETB or LTB creatures and permanents can keep pace with even the grindiest of decks. Karmic Guide and Reveillark are high-value recursion cards that can get back most of our creatures or combine their powers to establish an infinite loop. The last major recursion piece is Emeria Shepherd. I generally am not a fan of 7 mana cards that don't immediately affect the board, but this card is a house. All the other graveyard-to-battlefield recursion sources only grab creatures, but Shep's ability to recur any of our 90 permanents (potentially at instant speed) is a must-have.

Winning: Tutors, Combos, and Other Win Conditions

This is where Darien starts to get really spicy. The ability to turn self-harm into creatures into self-harm into more creatures is the basic idea behind most of the combos with Darien out, and we have a great selection of cards to get us there.

Tutors

Here's a list of every tutor effect in the deck and the 3 cards I usually target with them in a general priority order. This is by no means a definitive list, as tutors are intended to strengthen the toolbox capabilities of the deck as much as find combo pieces, but hopefully serves as a good starting point with what to prioritize with each tutor.

• Enlightened Tutor: grabs Blasting Station; Phyrexian Altar; Karma
• Idyllic Tutor: grabs Karma; Land Tax; Smothering Tithe
• Inventors' Fair: grabs Blasting Station; Phyrexian Altar; Eldrazi Monument
• Ranger of Eos: grabs Soul's Attendant/Soul Warden; Weathered Wayfarer; Mother of Runes
• Recruiter of the Guard: grabs Stoneforge Mystic; Mentor of the Meek; Ranger of Eos
• Thalia's Lancers: grabs Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth; Elspeth, Sun's Champion; Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• Expedition Map or Weathered Wayfarer: grabs Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth; Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx; Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• Stoneforge Mystic or Steelshaper's Gift: grabs Skullclamp; Sword of the Animist; Lightning Greaves

Combos

Yay! We're at my favorite part of the deck! FYI, when I mention 'Soul Warden' in combos, any of the following creatures apply: Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Suture Priest, and Daxos, Blessed by the Sun. Mentioning 2 Soul Wardens can apply to 2 or more of the 1-life-per-creature crew or Daxos on his own. 'Sac Outlet' refers to the free sac outlets Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Fanatical Devotion, or Altar of Dementia, with each having their own advantages. Ok, with that out of the way, let's jump straight into this nonsense:

• Darien, King of Kjeldor + Blasting Station + 2 Soul Wardens + Any Other Creature = infinite life. Ping yourself for 1 by sacking any other creature to the Station, make a token, gain 2 life, untap Blasting Station, repeat with the token. Also turns into infinite damage and tokens with 1 Soul Warden and Anointed Procession.
• Darien, King of Kjeldor + Dingus Staff + Sac Outlet + 2 Soul Wardens + Any Other Creature = infinite tokens, life, and sac outlet benefits. First creature dying deals 2 damage to you, makes 2 tokens, gains 4 life, repeat with a token. Produces infinite mana with a mana-producing sac outlet, which allows for drawing of the whole deck with Skullclamp, or infinite mill for the win with Altar of Dementia and 1 Soul Warden. Also works with 1 Soul Warden and Anointed Procession.
• Darien, King of Kjeldor + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Karma = lots of damage to opponents and tokens. Urborg (which doesn't have a black color identity!) turns all lands into swamps, then each player takes lots of damage on their upkeep. Honestly, this deck would probably be stronger if these two cards were dropped and the list focused only on infinites, but it's just too funny as hell and not that hard to set up. This will burn your opponents out in a few turns and the drawback is negated by a Soul Warden effect. It also gives the deck some extra oomph through effects like Stony Silence or Rest in Peace. Finally, experienced EDH players will see an infinite through a sac outlet coming from a mile away, so this provides a more innocent-looking and more-likely-to-resolve method of making a huge board.
• Karmic Guide + Reveillark + Sac Outlet = infinite recursion of creatures w/ power 2 or less and sac outlet benefits. Sac Karmic, sac Reveillark to bring back Karmic (and another <2 power creature optionally), Karmic ETB brings back Reveillark, repeat. Produces infinite mana with Ashnod's or Phyrexian, infinite mill with Dementia, or infinite damage with Blasting Station (although you do have to stack your triggers properly). This well-known combo gives the deck some reach if Darien is too expensive to cast. Unfortunately, there is no way in white to tutor for Reveillark and Karmic is fetchable only with Recruiter of the Guard, but luckily both cards are strong enough to warrant a deck slot on their own.

Other Win Conditions

Despite our best efforts to tutor and draw cards, it just isn't white's strength. White is, however, quite good at making an absurd amount of absurdly large dorks and doming your opponent for 600. Since our opponents most likely won't attack us with Darien out, we need a way to hurt ourself and manage our life total. 5 colorless or white pain lands, most notably Ancient Tomb, provide a constant stream of bruises and scrapes we can channel into tokens. Additionally, Mana Crypt and Mana Vault's damage-dealing abilities turn into upside (as if they couldn't get even more broken). This stream of a couple tokens per turn while we sit there innocuously can turn into a gargantuan army with the help of Cathars' Crusade, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, or my favorite, Coat of Arms. Just 6 tokens and Darien with Coat represents 51 damage! As with all go-wide decks, an opponent's wrath could induce serious card and resource disadvantage. Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Eldrazi Monument and Selfless Spirit all provide indestructibility against most wraths in the format. Teferi's Protection is a great catch-all for staying alive or protecting any number of permanents from removal.

Notable Inclusions and Exclusions

Finishing up this deck, here's a few notable cards I haven't talked much about yet I felt have either overperformed or stuck out as cool inclusions for your Darien or mono-white deck. Likewise, there's a few mono-white or archetype staples I haven't included as well as my rationale for giving them the boot.

Inclusions

• Remorseful Cleric: Since this list is highly dependent on creatures dying, standard graveyard hate like Rest in Peace or Relic of Progenitus couldn't be used in this deck. Initially, I had Tormod's Crypt in as free targeted graveyard removal, but this spooky and sad boy quickly took over that slot. Its ability to be tutored by Recruiter of the Guard, brought back by creature recursion, and potentially turning into a flying threat or chump blocker has made me very impressed with this card during its tenure.
• Grand Abolisher: Similar to the RiP situation, many staple white hatebears couldn't make this list due to our reliance on noncreature spells and tutoring. However, the Abolisher's ability to prevent counterspells, combat tricks, and combo disruption has proved invaluable.
• Endless Horizons: At first, I thought this card was a bad, budget Land Tax that was useless when cast after turn 4 and had some risk involved. Surprisingly, I've found myself happy to draw this card at any point in the game. It doubles as a consistent source of card advantage that's not threatening to your opponents, while casting this removing all Plains from your deck while in topdeck mode late game is perfectly reasonable too. This is a powerful card that deserves more merit.
• Thalia's Lancers: This card was put in the deck intended to tutor for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, but I've found myself searching up other legends with its ability as much as our swampy friend. The sheer flexibility this card provides is insane: ramp with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, wraths with Elspeth, Sun's Champion, protection with Avacyn, Angel of Hope, pump with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and more all attached to a 4/4 first strike blocker. I can't recommend this card enough.

Exclusions

• Serra Ascendant: I think people are beginning to realize this card isn't an auto-include in any white deck. While no one would say a 6/6 flying lifelinker for 1 mana isn't a mind-boggling rate, it still isn't enough to win a game, nevertheless make much of an impact. From what I've seen of Ascendant, it might gain you 12 life or so if played turn 1, but will quickly get removed and paint a target on your back the entire game. I'd rather devote precious deck space to cards that are synergistic and have more of an effect on the game.
• Knight of the White Orchid: While I do like this card, in my opinion it has become completely outclassed by Boreas Charger in a deck that has lots of blink or sacrifice. When the LTB ability is easily triggered, the upside of Charger easily outweighs the 1 mana difference between the two cards.
• Aetherflux Reservoir: This card that spawned my love for combo in Kaladesh standard unfortunately didn't make the cut here. The first draft of this deck ran Spawning Pit as the third sac outlet and Reservoir as an infinite instant speed win condition. With research and playtesting, I found that Altar of Dementia fills both the role of sac outlet and infinite win condition, so both cards were cut from the list. Aetherflux's first ability is rarely relevant and has been outclassed by the more efficient, lower costed Altar in this deck.
• Divine Visitation: While this card is stellar in a non-combo or budget list, it felt very win-more in this combo-oriented deck. I found that this card was rarely relevant, as Darien provides good protection against flying attackers, while Cathars' Crusade and Coat of Arms pumps the tokens by far more than +3/+3.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading this deck tech! I hope this piqued your interest in Darien, King of Kjeldor, the coolest mono-white commander, or served as a reference to compare with your existing list. I'm open to any and all suggestions as I'm constantly trying to improve my decks, so any input is greatly appreciated. I hope you have a great day! :D

Top Ranked	Achieved #89 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #74 position in Commander / EDH 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-White 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.17
Tokens	Elephant 3/3 G, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Soldier 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Treasure
Folders	Decks