Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker - Help Wanted

BlackbirdPlaysMTG · Post by **BlackbirdPlaysMTG** » 2 years ago

Hey everyone

,

In August 2021 a secret lair came out with a number of Kamigawa cards. One of these cards was Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker.

I really like the new art of it, enough to make me want to build a deck with Michiko at the helm. I am also eager to put together a list that is not as strong as Sythis, Harvest's Hand or Feather the Redeemed to fill in a power level void, and I have been playing mono white before (Atalya, Samite Master). That deck was playing the grindy long game with lifegain synergies and mana/lifegain doublers for powerful plays. It was generally well-liked by me and my opponents

.

Michiko is a bit different. She does not promote lifegain in any way, so what route to take with her? Forcing a lifegain package in the deck does not seem right. The first thing that came to my mind when I looked at her was the Monarch mechanic. She deters attackers (especially early on) so I can be the monarch for a longer period of time. A bit later in the game, if an opponent steals the monarch token, it might not be the end of the world. As long as people are not focused on me slowly building up my board I should be sort of alright with it. I am playing a bunch of endgame fliers who can steal the monarchy back as well.

I feel like I should make her a little bit staxier and pillowfortier. Do other people have any recommendations, or a wildly different take on Michiko? I think the biggest problem that the deck (and mono white in general has) is a lack of solid win conditions. You can of course include things like Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista, but I would rather not go into that direction.

This is the current iteration of the deck. Been testing it a bit online. I put it together based on my own experience and this helpful mono white list by toctheyounger (viewtopic.php?t=379):

Michiko, Truth Seeker

Approximate Total Cost:

weltkrieg · Post by **weltkrieg** » 2 years ago

I certainly understand the need for strategies like monarch to entice people to attack you to trigger your commander, but there are notable similarities to an old coldsnap commander, Darien, King of Kjeldor . Like Michiko, he wants people to damage you because you get rewarded for it. I would start looking at lists there to refer to. In a lower power level meta, he can be quite nasty.

Unfortunately, what limits you in mono-white is the ability to force attacks. Adding black (Imps' Taunt effects or red (Fumiko the Lowblood , or similar...too many to count) would get you much closer in terms of michiko punishment. Maybe you could do with some artifacts like Farsight Mask or Angel's Trumpet ?

Alternatively, you can force attacks with Bloodthirsty Blade or an old favorite of mine,Oracle en-Vec . Alternatively, you could use Gideon Jura or similar to force combat and then redirect the damage using Blood of the Martyr , Sivvi's Valor , or Shining Shoal .

There are a lot of uniquely powerful effects that could do work in this deck. However, I don't think pillow fort will let Michiko do its thing.

Ertai Planeswalker · Post by **Ertai Planeswalker** » 2 years ago

Bullwhip is another card that would fit well in this deck.

Having said that, I agree with @weltkrieg that it's hard to have this commander work. Basically, no one will attack you if the sacrifice trigger would hurt them too much, and those who don't mind... well they they don't mind. All in all, it would only lead to people making big attacks instead of smaller ones,

One strategy that could work for that is to play damage prevention effects like Righteous Aura, Protection of the Hekma, Divine Presence, the emblem of Ajani Steadfast, Thunderstaff, Orim's Prayer etc to reduce the damage taken per attacker. That way, people have to attack you in lots of iterations and thus suffer from Michiko the most. This could lead to the situation where opponent's just don't attack you because the cost to them is too high, and that's the most effective pillowfort you can have.

I like the idea of using Monarch, in that case you could run some shadow creatures so you're sure to be able to get them back. They also like being equipped with swords (Of the X and Y variety or the Animists' one) since they are never blocked.

BlackbirdPlaysMTG · Post by **BlackbirdPlaysMTG** » 2 years ago

@weltkrieg Wanting to be attacked is an interesting take. I personally wanted opponents not to attack me (or get punished for it), so I can get around the fact that mono white is often slower than other decks in a pod and thus have time build up my board. But yeah, getting attacked can be quite good if your opponents have utility creatures/commanders out. I looked through the cards that you listed and I liked Bloodthirsty Blade the most, since you can make a player become aggressive towards the other people in the pod. Forcing attacks just seems like too many hoops to get through, as you often need multiple cards for it to make it worthwhile. Maybe, just maybe white gets cards for this in the future?

I think that Michiko herself is an excellent pillowfort card in the command zone that needs to be complemented. I have played a number of games on cockatrice and when she is out people are extremely hesitant to attack you.

@Ertai Planeswalker
I like the idea of prevention effects! You are basically weakest to alphastrikes, or single attacks from really, really big minions when Michiko alone is out. Cards like Rigtheous Aura and Divine Presence can shore up that weakness. I played the card in my Atalya, Samite master deck and it did some work. With Michiko, one of these and a Ghostly Prison on the field, people are probably often like "Yeah, no, an attack does absolutely nothing and sets me back".

Equipments can work I think, especially if you have good targets for them. I guess I could go a bit staxier too, since some of the stax creatures have flying. Shadow creatures like Shadow Visionary could be worth playing. I have to do a broader scan on the shadow creatures to see which could be worth it.

RowanKeltizar · Post by **RowanKeltizar** » 2 years ago

Yeah i tend to view her as a Crawlspace or Ghostly Prison in the command zone which makes for a great mono white mid range control deck.

The scenario I foresee is that people aren't really going to attack you if this is out. After all, you are mono white, how much of a threat are you? This gives you some time to build up your board state and hopefully get some card advantage going. Sooner or later though your commander will be sent back to the command zone via a board wipe or targeted removal. I think this bring up the question of how much protection do you want to run? Or do you just want to slot in redundancy?

Things like Flawless Maneuver or Rebuff the Wicked might find a home here.

I think the big question is how to do you plan to win with this? I hear your reluctance for an infinite combo but maybe there is something that feels on theme?

An alternative would be something like Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Worldslayer. You might even be able to win with something like Luminarch Ascension

Gamazson · Post by **Gamazson** » 2 years ago

I came across Ward of Piety today while looking up white aura's. If you want to be cute, put this on a creature you know an opponent will want to block. The enchanted creature can belong to you or an opponent. When an opponent blocks it, redirect 1 damage to yourself. Re-directed damage will still retail all other information, such as owner. Activating it multiple times on the same source of damage will not trigger Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker multiple times though.

BlackbirdPlaysMTG · Post by **BlackbirdPlaysMTG** » 2 years ago

@RowanKeltizar I guess I am going for redundancy. Being one removal spell away from attacks seems a bit flimsy to me. Yeah, winning seems to be the big question here and honestly I do not have the answer. I have scanned through all kinds of possible mono white win conditions and none really seem to do it. They are either really slow or they require some setup (like Avacyn + Worldslayer). Luminarch Ascension seems like a good fit for this deck but I cannot find any other enchantments that can function as a wincondition. I have tried angel beats but it is just so slow. If I go the angel beats route cards like Flawless Maneuver and Rebuff the Wicked seem pretty good.

@Gamazson Ohhhh that is a cute card indeed. I will try that one out!

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