Some thoughts on MonoWhite
Standard forum
Posted on May 3, 2014, 11:26 a.m. by Indigoindigo
MonoWhite went from quite good to quite bad after BNG, but I never stopped playing with the deck. With JIN out, here's a few thoughts and suggestions for the future of the deck.
Brave the Elements is still great.
Play 4.Spear of Heliod
A lof of decklists play 2x Spear. I think one should be substituted for Dictate of Heliod , and here's why:- Most good cards in White cost 3 CMC, and most times you rather want to play those rather than the spear. Brimaz, etc. There's too many good cards in that spot already
- The removal part is i trap - it seems good, but is mostly irrelevant. A lot of times I would rather cast a cheap weenie for my mana instead of taking a lot of damage to kill a creature. Cheap creatures give me a blocker or an additional threat, and I don't have to take the damage.
- The bigger boost is protection against -x/-x-removal in black.
- Drawing 2x Legendary is boring
I'm leaning towards playing 1x Spear, 1x Dictate and possibly 1x Hall of Triumph .
Replacing Daring Skyjek
The Skyjek is still showing up in a lot of decklists, and I think that's a bit weird. On a lot of boards it's a 3/1 and nothing more: Post-Verdict it takes a lot of time to get flying, against flyers/reach it's stuck on the ground, and in a lot of cases you don't want to attack with (and sacrifice) 1-2 guys on the ground just to get to the 3 damage in the air.Spirit on the Labyrinth on the other hand is always a 3/1 that stops U/W/x Control and MonoBlack's card advantage. I will chose the 3/1 with a consistent upside rather than the 3/1 with a conditional upside from now on.
Replacing Banisher Priest
In control matchups it's a 2/2 for 3 CMC, and it dies to a lot of removal and burn. Also, it can only exile creatures. I think Banishing Light will be a great improvement.
My suggestions
With 3-4x Banishing Light
and 4x Spirit of the Labyrinth
added the deck is more enchantment-heavy. I like to play 3xEidolon of Countless Battles
as well, and want to try 3xEthereal Armor
. With a few threats on the board, Ethereal Armor
-ing a Spirit, -2 an Ajani, Caller of the Pride
and possibly a Brave the Elements
, I think MonoWhite will be able to hit harder than in a long time.
Any opinions?
I tend to prefer Banisher Priest to Banishing Light because for the same CMC you are getting a 2/2 creature. Light gives you no permanents. It does kinda depend on the opposing deck, though; I'm much more likely to sideboard the Priest against a red burn deck and play it against a green ramp.
Regardless, neither are as good as Pacifism . 90% of the games I've played, pacifism is worse than sending a card to the graveyard.
For slower decks I've actually had success with Burnished Hart . White has terrible card advantage (I tend to run WU just to keep from running out of cards) and not only does the hart let you chump and ramp; it lets you thin lands out of your deck, so you're more likely to draw usable spells late game. It does tend to make decks with a bump at the 3 CMC point, though.
May 3, 2014 12:16 p.m.
Indigoindigo says... #4
@spyroswiz: I've run a similar deck, and decklists like that won a few tournaments before BNG. However I think they became weaker post-BNG, and they almost disappeared from the meta.
@Egann: Yeah, you get a creature, but creatures dies to A LOT of removal: Hero's Downfall , Doom Blade , Bile Blight , Drown in Sorrow , Rapid Hybridization , Dreadbore , Abrupt Decay , Lightning Strike , Shock , Magma Jet , Searing Blood , Last Breath , and more... All these are often played mainboard in tier 1 decks, but enchantment removal is maybe a 2-3-of in the sideboard. Also, as mentioned, in control matchups a 2/2 for 3 CMC (and Pacifism) ain't very effective. Banishing Light however can remove plainswalkers.
May 3, 2014 1:01 p.m.
@ Indigoindigo: Yeah, but you're missing the other half of the equation: the colors of the cards you just listed are a lot of red and black. In fact, the only cards I would really worry about while deck-building ARE the red and black ones. I think this is probably a sideboard thing.
And creatures are useful for more than blocking or attacking. You can tap them, for instance, for Devout Invocation .
I know I wouldn't want to run Banishing Light against a green deck with removal. Green has Fade into Antiquity and Naturalize just to start.
May 3, 2014 4:15 p.m.
Since you guys all seem to be pretty knowledgeable about white weenie aggro strategy would you mind taking a look at my deck? Its USA Aggro and I use both Banisher Priest and Detention Sphere main board ...
White Weenie Avenger Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 3 | 3 COMMENTS | 744 VIEWSMay 3, 2014 4:26 p.m.
JTetris11 add some Ephara, God of the Polis or Iroas, God of Victory .Also Brimaz, King of Oreskos is a bomb in white weenies.
May 3, 2014 4:31 p.m.
Indigoindigo says... #8
If anyone wants a complete example for how I imagine playing white the coming weeks, including sideboard, take a look:
Hard-hitting white devotion
Any feedback welcome both here and in the comment section.
May 5, 2014 6:49 a.m.
Quadsimotto says... #9
Shoot i wanna plug my mono whites too. Blinding White and Roar of the King The spear is useful for more then just buffing a creature. You can use it for removal too. I like to run Fiendslayer Paladin mainboard now that i have used it some. Pretty hard to get rid of with direct removal.
May 5, 2014 10:42 a.m.
garguell100 says... #10
Please help me upgrade my deck, it stands pretty well but I want to hear some critics.
I want to incorporate Banishing Light , Dictate of Heliod and Hall of Triumph
Please your comments.
spyroswiz says... #2
The power of Weenies! Playtest
Standard spyroswiz
SCORE: 7 | 17 COMMENTS | 779 VIEWSMay 3, 2014 11:31 a.m.