Mono-White Mono-Legends - No fixed Commander

Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

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So I'm very slowly doing the 32 deck challenge, and a few years ago decided to see what the options were for mono-white. Every legend basically felt like it wanted me to make some kind of white weenie deck and that the cards in the deck would work pretty much regardless of who was at the helm, which left me a bit down about the whole thing. Then my brain provided the following idea: 'If the general doesn't matter, make the deck out of all the generals!'. So I ran it past a few people to check if it was an unworkable idea or not, then spent several hours poring over the list on Gatherer. At the start of each game, I'll shuffle up and then reveal cards until I hit an eligible Commander, then shuffle for the actual game.

The non-legendary stuff basically has to feel like a legend would cast it, hence it being mostly wraths and powerful spot removal. The Retainers are both on-theme and I had one I otherwise wasn't going to use, so in it went. I'll probably be swapping the Norn's Annex for Parhelion II once I get my hands on one.

The usual route to victory is attacking people with a non-specific mass of stuff. Sometimes you voltron, sometimes you get lucky and you commander is decent enough to get in for commander damage, but usually you just lob the army at someones face.

Dragonlover

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Last edited by Dragonlover 1 year ago, edited 13 times in total.
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

For completeness' sake, M20 considerations for this deck:

Ajani, Strength of the Pride: Lifegain just isn't a major component of the deck, and I don't think I've ever reached 55 life except by accident, so the ult's kinda not relevant. Doesn't make the cut.

Sephara, Sky's Blade: That alternate cast is never happening, and one mana more gets me Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Hard pass, but would probably have made the cut on the first couple of runs of the deck.

Ajani, Inspiring Leader: Yes it's the precon one, but I like to check them just in case. Sadly this guy is just too expensive, as the abilities are pretty cool, but at 6 mana I want to be dropping actual threats.

Dragonlover
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Throne of Eldraine considerations:

The Circle of Loyalty: I currently have two Knights, which will at best make this a four-drop anthem that gives me a reasonably steady stream of 2/2's. Well, 3/3's I guess. I'm not really sure this is the deck for this card, but if I end up with one I'll give it a whirl.

Linden, the Steadfast Queen: I mean, a 3/3 vigilance that's on curve isn't dreadful, and the incidental lifegain is probably going to come in handy. No idea on the cut though, and again I'm not gonna worry about picking one up right away.

Syr Aylin, the Lion's Claw: It's not really doing enough at 5 mana I don't think. I mean, that's Jazal Goldmane territory.

Dragonlover
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Theros: Beyond Death is here, and with it a slightly delayed set review! One thing I like about checking sets for this deck is that the criteria are incredibly specific, so I only have to consider like, six or seven cards tops.

Daxos, Blessed by the Sun: That would rapidly be a near insurmountable toughness and I'm always up for a bit of incidental lifegain. On the other hand, I don't need a giant blocker and I'm really not sure what I'd cut for him. One to consider for when I trim down the planeswalker suite maybe.

Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis: I just don't see me wanting to cast it, and a lot of my other planeswalkers make guys and/or make guys bigger. The escape probably wouldn't be a problem as there's not loads of recursion, but she just doesn't excite me.

Elspeth, Undaunted Hero: Now that's more like it! Obviously the middle ability is never happening, but that ult is really sweet and will provide a way to break board stalls, which I am currently lacking. Maybe cut Gideon, Champion of Justice?

Heliod, Sun-Crowned: Yeah this is going in. Life gain, makes my guys bigger on lifegain to take advantage of all the random effects in here already, what's not to like? Probably the Iona cut tbh, I've just been exiling her when she's drawn and drawing the next card because I've been procrastinating actually taking her out.

Taranika, Akroan Veteran: I like this one, because I've got enough stuff that's just better if it's an indestructible 4/4 with pseudo-vigilance. Not a scooby on what to cut though, again a possible look to replace a planeswalker.

Nyx Lotus: I mean, there's the potential for a lot of mana here, but it'll also fold to a wrath. On the third hand it's not like I have any other ramp, so it's probably worth the punt. Maybe cut Reverse the Sands? I don't think I've ever actually cast the Reverse.

Shadowspear: Well. Not gonna complain about a source of trample in here, although no idea what I'd cut for it as my equipment suite is pretty honed by now. This might be an 'if I get it I'll try it' card.

As alluded to earlier, I'm thinking of trimming out some of the planeswalkers. Nahiri is just underwhelming as I don't have the equipment density, and at least one Ajani can probably go without too many issues.

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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 3 years ago

Ikoria is supremely underwhelming for this deck. Why couldn't Mothra have been legendary?? Ah well, let's take a peek...

Trynn, Champion of Freedom: I mean, it's not bad per se, it's just not really doing anything and works much better with access to the partner. At 3 mana I might even have considered it, for curve purposes if nothing else.

The Ozolith: I need to check to see if I'm doing much with +1/+1 counters, cause if not the only thing I can think of here is really convoluted plays with animated Gideons, which probably aren't worth it in the long run. However if there's more +1/+1 counter stuff than I remember, it's worth a punt.

Incidentally, if you're considering trying this style of deck out I've now seen it done for all the colours except blue, and all the decks have worked to a reasonable degree, so the options are definitely there.

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

Dragonlover wrote:
3 years ago
Ikoria is supremely underwhelming for this deck.
Same for my Daxos, Blessed by the Sun. I get a little more than you just because I'm not legendary only, but not much more.
Dragonlover wrote:
3 years ago
The Ozolith: I need to check to see if I'm doing much with +1/+1 counters, cause if not the only thing I can think of here is really convoluted plays with animated Gideons, which probably aren't worth it in the long run. However if there's more +1/+1 counter stuff than I remember, it's worth a punt.
Anafenza, Mikaeus, Heliod 2.0, Ajani. Not much.
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

Just doing some decklist admin, due to its nature the one doesn't get updates all that often, was kinda surprised it got anything from New Capenna for example. I've put Giada, Font of Hope in, I'm wondering about Luxior, Giada's Gift. I've got 8 planeswalkers and 3 vehicles, so just over 10% of the deck directly benefits from it.

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Post by RxPhantom » 1 year ago

How much of an occasionally useful flex would Rashida Scalebane be here?
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

Hmm. There's a changeling tribal deck and a Shadrix Silverquill deck I sometimes face, but otherwise I can only think of one other annoying dragon that might show up, so probably not that much.

I guess I might want to point it at Ao or Yosei, but five mana is a lot. There are a couple of scenarios I could get cute with though such as Yomiji, Who Bars the Way and an active Emeria, the Sky Ruin.

I'd be a lot more tempted if she had reach honestly, but I'll roll the idea around in my head. Might be a do nothing planeswalker I can cut.

Dragonlover
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

Right, Commander Legends. This is bound to have some cool stuff for us right? Err, not really, as far as I can tell.

In terms of non-Legends, the only thing that might go in is Ascend from Avernus. That feels like the kind of thing that would be a Legendary Sorcery if they'd kept making those, and a bit of mass reanimation is always fun.

As for the legendary stuff:

Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward: I'm not sure that turning all my cool legends with funky abilities into a pile of 1/1 Soldiers is really what I want to be doing.

Ellyn Harbreeze, Busybody: I have just enough token generation to make it feel like this would be worth it, but not enough that it'll actually do anything regularly enough. Shame, cause card filtering would be really good for the deck.

Far Traveler: Pseudo-vigilance is sweet, but a fair amount of the deck gets actual vigilance and I'm not really capitalising on the flicker. Not something I feel I *need*, but if I open one then hey, it might get thrown in.

Flaming Fist: The floor on this is giving Mangara of Corondor double strike, which is still not necessarily bad, since if need be he can block and kill an X/1 then exile something else. yeah, I might put this in, especially since very few of the creatures have native double strike, it's rarely a dead card.

Inspiring Leader: There's just not enough tokens to make this worthwhile.

Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion: I also don't do enough with counters, which is sad because this is a cool effect to move into white. maybe if they make more counter based white legends she can come in.

Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant: This might make it in on the basis it's a 3/2 flyer for four. I often find Hope of Ghirapur uninspiring, so might just swap it for this to maintain flyer parity.

Noble Heritage: I feel like this just makes everyones creatures bigger then they choose not to use it and then kill me with the creatures I embiggened. Am I wrong here?

Rasaad yn Bashir: If this didn't have the initiative clause, I'd probably run it. My guys have mostly square stats or higher toughness than power so it'd only be an upside in most cases, but I'm almost never going to have the initiative in this deck so the real meat of the card is locked away.

Veteran Soldier: A single 1/1 is just not enough of a boost really.

So yeah, not as much as I'd hoped really. Why couldn't Battle Angels of Tyr have been a legend?? That would have been a slam dunk for sure.

Dragonlover
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

Once again, a set I was expecting to get a lot of options from is impressively low on them. Didn't foresee the heavy multicolour weighting, which in hindsight may have been a mistake.

Main set:

Danitha, Benalia's Hope: Relevant keywords, good stats for the cost and helps with equipment stuff. Likely to go in, almost certainly better than Myojin of Blooming Dawn, which I had as the commander the other week and was very sad.

Golden Argosy: Not a lot of ETB shenanigans going on in the deck, otherwise I'd definitely be considering it. As it goes though, I don't need a vanilla 3/6.

Karn, Living Legacy: If I could use Powerstones for everything, he'd be a slam dunk. As it goes, just doesn't do anywhere near enough.

Karn's Sylex: I'm already running six wraths, although only one of them is specifically legendary. I'd like to run it for theme if nothing else, I'll cut Day of Judgment for it if I end up with one.

Weatherlight Compleated: I'm not exactly turning this on myself, but I'm not doing a whole lot else turn two, and I'm not exactly drowning in good card draw options. Not a clue what the cut would be, because it is incredibly do-nothing on the wrong board. I'm 50/50 on this, likely to be swayed more if I open one than anything else.

Commander decks:

Zeriam, Golden Wind: At this point, this doesn't even get in on 'vaguely decent flyer for the cost' consideration. If only it'd come out a few years ago.

Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant: I don't know anybody that's running extra turns, and I'm not comboing, so this is a pass.

The Peregrine Dynamo: I had a look, and I have 17 things with a copiable ability, which is more than I thought. Might have to look at actually getting one of these, that's enough stuff that I'll likely always have something to do with it.

The Mana Rig: Yeah this is going in. It's 3 mana draw a card, and it gets better from there. Man, I got ramp a few sets ago and now I get card draw? This is almost a real deck now!

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