(By the way, about Lin Sivvi, um, rebels are too parasitic to be "as big a threat as Azusa or Azami", IMO. There are only three blocks with rebels other than Whipcorder: Masques, Time Spiral, and Lorwyn.)
There's nothing that says rebels can't exist outside of those sets, it doesn't add any mechanical complexity and would make flavor sense for a lot of cards. The only difference between rebels and goblins is that goblins happened to get printed a lot more, so they ended up with a critical mass of good ones to support a commander deck, while rebels did not. No one complains about goblins being parasitic.
Lin, as a deck, is much worse than azami, no question. But in a vacuum I don't think she's a weaker card. The theoretical power is there in the commander, white just doesn't have the payoffs to make it work. Imagine if something like elesh norn or sun titan were a rebel.
It would, but if wishes were horses we'd all be nigh-unblocakble. Playing Sivvi (I was always under the impression "Lin" was a title, or surname first à la Chinese or Hungarian, e.g. Sivvi's Ruse.) is also bad politics because all that tutoring (and shuffling) takes added time, and while I have no problem with bad politics that keeps opponents from doing things, I draw the line at bad politics that just annoys people. I do think rebels could come back, but it would be something like, on a creature with CMC X, "2X: Look at the top N cards of your library. You may put a Rebel with CMC X+1 or less on the battlefield. Shuffle your library afterward." N could be a constant, or also related to X, e.g. "Rebel Sergeant" gives you the top 3 cards, "Rebel Lieutenant" gives you the top 4, "Rebel Captain" gives you the top 5, etc. Also, some might look in the graveyard. There are several ways to get the recruitment flavor of rebels, which I would love to see the game use.
And of course, also rebels could expand colors. Black ones could be the smarmy faux-populist whose plans help him, not you; or the smugglers, mercenaries, pirates, and other types who are the lifeblood of rebellions but are hated at all other times. Red ones could be the "goblin rebellion", if you will: Rebelling just for the sake of rebelling. (Also, rebelling against oppressive theocracies.) Green ones could be a sort of return to tradition, or, you know, ecoterrorists. I have trouble imagining blue rebels, but I'd imagine they'd be holding out against an inquisition, Lysenkoism (the denial of scientific consensus for political reasons, named after the Soviet denial of heredity), or some other "government wants to hide the truth" situation. Different settings, different colors. (Since, obviously, totalitarian states are always at least partially white.)
As it is, it is parasitic, though. Tribes with a go-to mechanic that doesn't easily fit in every set tend to be parasitic just because they're only in a small number of sets. (I mean, tapping creatures for mana, sacrificing creatures for effects, returning creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield, and various expressions of hunger, those types of things will be in every set, so for elves, goblins, zombies, and vampires, it's more a matter of flavor if they're not included.) Though as they're printed more, they may become less parasitic.
Though to be fair, we do clones in every set, but again, this doesn't help rebels because 1) white (and black) lack clones, and 2) clones aren't clones outside the battlefield.
Anyway, back on topic, I think what's forgotten (and this talk about rebels reminded me of it) is the flavor reason as well. White can't get as good card draw (and as long as it's significantly worse and white stays in its lane, e.g., white gets enchantresses and Collective Unconscious, but worse than green, or "something green wouldn't do", e.g. equipped creatures, artifact creatures, I have no issues) because white is the color most opposed to learning. Red actually can learn by experimentation, but generally doesn't care to much for fancy book-learning. Blue learns by research (and experimentation and observation). Green learns by observation, much more (typical green) passively than red or blue. Black...doesn't care how it learns, just the old adage, "knowledge is power", is enough for black to be interested. White, as I said, white believes in the noble lie. It's white's biggest weakness, and one of the things typical of "evil white". (The other is suppressing all individuality.) So, the balance reason is, white has all the answers, and the flavor reason is...white has all the answers.
They literally don't have to have the rebel mechanic. Merely putting the creature type on a few good creatures is enough. Hell, slapping it on a few made for limited utility creatures would open up the deck without doing anything to standard. It could be seeded in over time, one or two a set when appropriate. New players would just see a flavorful creature type, while established players would see rebel support without it being a major enough theme to warrant bringing back the mechanic. Arguably, there should have been rebels in Aether Revolt, but they'd have probably had to type all the resistance fighters as rebels which would have both had people expecting the mechanic and possibly added creatures that would be too good in the deck.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
They literally don't have to have the rebel mechanic. Merely putting the creature type on a few good creatures is enough. Hell, slapping it on a few made for limited utility creatures would open up the deck without doing anything to standard. It could be seeded in over time, one or two a set when appropriate. New players would just see a flavorful creature type, while established players would see rebel support without it being a major enough theme to warrant bringing back the mechanic. Arguably, there should have been rebels in Aether Revolt, but they'd have probably had to type all the resistance fighters as rebels which would have both had people expecting the mechanic and possibly added creatures that would be too good in the deck.
^ Also I could really get along with another cycle of changeling creatures with decent stats. Some sort of flying / vigilant white creature with good stats would be sweet. Changeling creatures that are just well built for their colors would go a long way to help out tribes that lack enough creatures for commander.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
It is noticeable that the other thing white does really well rarely comes up in this thread because it becomes rarely relevant in Commander for a number of reasons being Life Gain, a lot of white card space especially in constructed sets goes to a mechanic that becomes not very good in this land of Commander damage and board killing combos, that and most of the ways to really transform this lifegain into ways to win are more often than not on cards that are not just white, or that other archetypes can just do better (like Aetherflux Reservoir).
(Also added on to the others mentioned in this thread Heliod, God of the Sun can be real good)
Beyond that, it does let you (and everyone else) draw an additional card off Brainstorm; of course, you're the only one actually drawing X cards, so for everyone else, "an additional" is off their zero cards.
Personally I worry about card draw connected to lifegain in white. It steps too close to the best black draw spell of all time. After all, if my lifelinked creature does five damage to you, Necro just says I get five cards (but don't actually draw them) at EOT. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad except Dawn of Hope creates lifelink tokens, and every last one of them, so long as it lives, is a little Phyrexian Arena.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Beyond that, it does let you (and everyone else) draw an additional card off Brainstorm; of course, you're the only one actually drawing X cards, so for everyone else, "an additional" is off their zero cards.
Personally I worry about card draw connected to lifegain in white. It steps too close to the best black draw spell of all time. After all, if my lifelinked creature does five damage to you, Necro just says I get five cards (but don't actually draw them) at EOT. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad except Dawn of Hope creates lifelink tokens, and every last one of them, so long as it lives, is a little Phyrexian Arena.
How about making white enchantments for Stax/Control? White already has a ton of hate-bears and stax-esque components but it relies on artifacts and squishy creatures for virtually all stax play (minus rare gems like Moat or Authority of the Consuls).
One other mechanic that I feel would fit in with White is punishing the opponent for having "a lot" instead of for having "more than you". Cheap creatures and spells that get extra effects if your opponent controls 7+ lands or 5+ cards in hand would allow early game cards to see use in the late game, adding a degree of utility that mitigates difficulties with ramp and card advantage (without requiring you to be in a worse situation).
Example
Microcosm
Instant
Exile target attacking creature.
If your opponents control five or more creatures, instead exile all attacking creatures.
I don’t agree with the idea that White is suffering the most from draw. I don’t think any color suffers that badly from lacking enough draw to fuel an EDH deck. There are things like Mind’s Eye and Skullclamp which keep cards coming as fast as you can play them. White has plenty enough tutors for these options.
No, I think the main thing that White is lacking is a strong approach at winning the game outside of combat. Blue untaps things, which tends to generate combo’s aplenty. Black drains copious amounts of life, and ways to sacrifice resources of one type for resources of another. Red has cards like Goblin Bombardment, and plenty of direct damage effects. Even mono-Green has ways to making the combat step more explosive than White does – e.g. Craterhoof, Pathbreaker Ibex, etc.
White is somewhat good at making a bunch of tokens and mass pumping them, but not as good as Green. It has some recursion, but not as good as Black and Green. It generally has no way of sacrificing things for damage, untapping things, or otherwise a lot of cards that could generate wins. About the only thing I can think of is Karmic-Lark, or Titan-Fiend Hunter, and tellingly the only game-winning sac outlet I can think of available to Mono-W is Blasting Station.
White can and should be considered the best color at winning the game by fiat. It plays into the identity as a color that is all about law. Things like Test of Endurance, Near-Death Experience, and Approach of the Second Sun. The only problem is that a) there very few of these type of cards printed, and b) the ones that are any good like Coalition Victory tend to be banned, and relatedly, are viewed as anti-fun.
But at the end of the day, not hard to figure out why a color that is known for Voltron-like setups that rely on attacking is having trouble with its win-rate in a multiplayer free for all format.
In fact sometimes it's necessary to play white and it's exiles and board wipes to even have a chance of winning or something indestructible or hexproof will just ruin things.
Now to another topic. Did I miss something about the statistics? I think they show us that white was 3rd when played as mono color and really bad when added to another color.
which stats? You mean the command zone ones? I hope not, their color breakdown was pretty laughable. 8 white decks does not a trend prove.
I looked at noncreature white mythics. Decent number of wraths but many expensive things.
Devout Invocation didn't work because you're just creating more creatures waiting to get blow away by a wrath, but Divine Visitation is a good angle (angel): Make the little things that white does well...mean more.
Beyond that, it does let you (and everyone else) draw an additional card off Brainstorm; of course, you're the only one actually drawing X cards, so for everyone else, "an additional" is off their zero cards.
Personally I worry about card draw connected to lifegain in white. It steps too close to the best black draw spell of all time. After all, if my lifelinked creature does five damage to you, Necro just says I get five cards (but don't actually draw them) at EOT. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad except Dawn of Hope creates lifelink tokens, and every last one of them, so long as it lives, is a little Phyrexian Arena.
How about an enchantment that produces mana off life gain?
Mana Life Gain Enchantment 2WW
Enchantment
Whenever you gain one of more life add 1.
Mana doesn't accumulate, though. So it wouldn't be as bad as (the obvious card you're comparing it to) Channel. Like, I add 1 off Ajani's Mantra or Baneslayer Angel, big whoop. It'll probably just disappear when my upkeep or combat ends. Drawing a card? Unless I draw more than 7 cards (without Thought Vessel, Reliquary Tower, and the like, and even then, having no maximum hand size can be a bit winmoar at times) I can keep all those cards at EOT.
(Actually, now that I think about it, Alms Collector really ****s over anyone with Sylvan Library out, since you're basically forced to pay 8 life every turn.)
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I have a Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle infinite combo deck, that I posted a primer when he was spoiled back in March.
But I was inspired by this thread to make a deck that tried to go big with as much draw and mana ramp in mono-white that I could work into a competitive and fun deck, without purely focusing on infinite's. Obviously Teshar is amazing at assembling infinite combos, but he is also hands down the best at using your graveyard as a resource for commander period, for sheer value. Put's Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Glissa, the Traitor to shame.
Why would nissa be a marquee reanimation commander? Surely you mean chainer or karador or Alesha or teneb...
Reanimation is the wrong term I used, I mean graveyard as a resource (I edited the post to reflect this). Glissa (you had me confused with the Nissa :P) is another commander that can return specifically artifacts. Teshar is great to combine with artifacts because of Salvage Scout and Restoration Specialist, along with the other creatures that with converted mana cost 3 or less that return artifacts from graveyard.
The reason Alesha, Karador, Teneb are nowhere near as potent as Teshar, is that they are restricted to one activation a turn, even if they do different things. Chainer, Dementia Master is basically restricted by mana needed, where as Teshar can trigger for much cheaper interaction.
I have absolutely no problem in claiming Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle reins supreme in being able to use your graveyard as a resource, just because you get to trigger it multiple times in a turn, if not infinite.
The problem isn't with Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle the problem is that GB can use Dredge (mulch effects, exhume etc.) to turbo fill their graveyard and mono-white cannot.
Its almost complete lack enablers for mono-white commanders. Including the ability to ramp into the expensive ones. Artifacts are available to everyone so its not really relevent to bring them up because we are complaring between other mono colours. Mono-red has a lot of whites issues but their commanders are better and much much better supported by reds colour pie.
Why would nissa be a marquee reanimation commander? Surely you mean chainer or karador or Alesha or teneb...
Reanimation is the wrong term I used, I mean graveyard as a resource (I edited the post to reflect this). Glissa (you had me confused with the Nissa :P) is another commander that can return specifically artifacts. Teshar is great to combine with artifacts because of Salvage Scout and Restoration Specialist, along with the other creatures that with converted mana cost 3 or less that return artifacts from graveyard.
The reason Alesha, Karador, Teneb are nowhere near as potent as Teshar, is that they are restricted to one activation a turn, even if they do different things. Chainer, Dementia Master is basically restricted by mana needed, where as Teshar can trigger for much cheaper interaction.
I have absolutely no problem in claiming Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle reins supreme in being able to use your graveyard as a resource, just because you get to trigger it multiple times in a turn, if not infinite.
I feel like you are blinded by a recent deck if you actually feel Teshar reins supreme at this, I wouldn't pick out Alesha or Karador myself either but I would pick out those colors before I would pick out a Mono-W deck.
Because the important part about GY stuff is not the actual engine you choose because there are so many of them it is how you get the cards there in the first place and Mono-W is by far the most inefficient at doing that.
Why would nissa be a marquee reanimation commander? Surely you mean chainer or karador or Alesha or teneb...
Reanimation is the wrong term I used, I mean graveyard as a resource (I edited the post to reflect this). Glissa (you had me confused with the Nissa :P) is another commander that can return specifically artifacts. Teshar is great to combine with artifacts because of Salvage Scout and Restoration Specialist, along with the other creatures that with converted mana cost 3 or less that return artifacts from graveyard.
The reason Alesha, Karador, Teneb are nowhere near as potent as Teshar, is that they are restricted to one activation a turn, even if they do different things. Chainer, Dementia Master is basically restricted by mana needed, where as Teshar can trigger for much cheaper interaction.
I have absolutely no problem in claiming Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle reins supreme in being able to use your graveyard as a resource, just because you get to trigger it multiple times in a turn, if not infinite.
I feel like you are blinded by a recent deck if you actually feel Teshar reins supreme at this, I wouldn't pick out Alesha or Karador myself either but I would pick out those colors before I would pick out a Mono-W deck.
Because the important part about GY stuff is not the actual engine you choose because there are so many of them it is how you get the cards there in the first place and Mono-W is by far the most inefficient at doing that.
I should have made it clearer, I'm not comparing decks, or the abilities of the colors themselves, just the commanders ability in a vacuum.
So I'm not saying that a Karador deck is worse than a Teshar deck or vice versa. At the end of the day, Karador has access to Survival of the Fittest and Living Death, etc.
I'm just saying comparing abilities of Teshar to any other graveyard a resource commander, Teshar is the best.
I would still put Chainer higher given what he has to work with in Mono-B or Gitrog actually given how his ability works with the graveyard and cards entering it or maybe if you are pushing me Mimemoplasm.
Teshar is very good (I have found more benefit personally in hiding a Teshar deck inside a 2 color deck with a different Commander for support) but not even close to best.
We must remember that each color and combination must retain its characteristics. They need to be buffed base on their traits, rather than homogenize to become like others (like giving them Dredge).
Green is the master of recursion, but absolutely *****ty at reanimation.
Anyway, I was thinking maybe political card draw? Something like
Serra's Basilica3WW
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent gains 5 life and you draw a card.
This is a simple version. You can also have them create tokens or draw cards themselves or play permanents for free or recur things or things of that nature. Just make sure to include a lot of knobs to follow two rules:
1. It must be bad. Nothing as good as Prosperity. I mean, it doesn't have to be too bad, but it does have to be such that no one's splashing white for card draw. You can (and should) overcost things like Armistice does, for instance.
2. The benefit to opponents must be generally good. Recursion (card of their choice), tokens, cards of their own, lifegain, that sort of thing.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
The issue is that we cannot undo what has been undone unless we ban so many things. Terror used to be the staple black kill spell. Murder was something saved for gold cards a la Terminate.
Red for the longest time couldn't get card draw and now it does, it is no blue, but even with the "OMG SAVE TEH PLANET! STOP LAND DESTRUCTION!!!1!11!" mindset it still has its speed. Red also has Blood Moon effects.
Blue is and always has been blue. Teferi's Protection is the best counter to Cyclonic Rift so that is at least a start.
Green started the whole stop land destruction movement and has only gotten bigger creatures and better spells over the years.
So what White needs:
A reprint of the runes of protection (like Rune of Protection: Red). The cycling on these makes sure that these don't remain as dead cards. White used to be king of Hosing. They reprinted Iona, Shield of Emeria; they can reprint these Urza's Saga Commons.
A Swords to Plowshareseffect for 3 or less CMC that lets the opponent draw two cards and you draw a card (a la Words of Wisdom). This would not let you draw three cards if you exiled your own creature. I feel like this would be fair.
To strengthen white, besides making better artifact draws (which I think is the right approach), WOTC could do more mentor of the meek or Puresteel Paladin style cards - hypothetically, printing say 5 more of each with different names would make white very good at card draw in EDH, while not influencing other formats (maybe add a mana cost to puresteels draw though to be safe).
I should have made it clearer, I'm not comparing decks, or the abilities of the colors themselves, just the commanders ability in a vacuum.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker's ability is even greater in a vacuum I think. With a simple set up, Shirei gives you a ton of resources each turn (i.e. a sac outlet gives you all your etb/leave the battlefield triggers from creatures with 1 power or less every turn), while Teshar doubles your spells (by bringing something back if it was historic).
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"Hail to the speaker, hail to the knower; joy to he who has understood, delight to they who have listened." - Odin
I should have made it clearer, I'm not comparing decks, or the abilities of the colors themselves, just the commanders ability in a vacuum.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker's ability is even greater in a vacuum I think. With a simple set up, Shirei gives you a ton of resources each turn (i.e. a sac outlet gives you all your etb/leave the battlefield triggers from creatures with 1 power or less every turn), while Teshar doubles your spells (by bringing something back if it was historic).
The reason why Teshar is the best is that it's an ability that can be triggered any number of times in a turn, from many to infinite. Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker and Marchesa, the Black Rose, although are excellent because they are able to stretch out value on each players turns, are still limited that they can only trigger once each time.
So putting aside anything to do with how the engines work i.e. "+1/+1 counters" or "creatures with power 1" or "creatures with converted cost 3 or less", it's simply based on the ability to string the triggers together, which Teshar has unlimited potential.
If white cannot be better at drawing cards, maybe it should become better at preserving it's cards to prevent it from getting X for 1'ed so often. Maybe more cheap ways to give your stuff indestructible or blink it out so you are less hampered by your own sweepers (white's strength). Some higher volume of niche draw cards like Mentor of the Meek or Puresteel Paladin - cards that only work with a specific strategy - can help a lot.
Also, some better recursion. Theoretically, the more recursion you have the less card draw you need to still even out on cards. A general rule of thumb could be that cards at cmc 5 or lower have a restriction to work on small permanents only (CMC or Power 3 or less) whereas more expensive cards can get any permanent. In both cases, either to hand or directly onto the battlefield.
All in all, white could be the color that "recovers naturally" moreso than other colors and that could, with adequate cards, compensate for bad card draw.
I think.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Balance that costs WWW - We know the big problem with this spell is the cost, since Magus is legal. This would be very slow outside monowhite and Balance is probably fine in monowhite.
Lin-Sivvi, Veteran Commander - Same as Defiant Hero but abilities reference Humans instead of Rebels and she has +1 power or toughness. She’d be really abusable only as a commander, where monowhite again limits the her scope while bringing some oomph to the color.
An enchantment that reads, “Spells and abilities opponents control cannot change your life total or move cards from your library to any other zone.” Not sure what it should cost, but the idea is that it forces opponents to fight you with creatures (“fight fair”). There would be ways around it (including removing the enchantment itself), but it would be a roadblock to Exsanguinate or mill wincons and would have occasional interesting interactions like immunity to Bribery.
Obviously cards like these would be printed in Commander products, as they’d be unsuitable for standard (although they could print that enchantment in standard as a terrible rare).
They literally don't have to have the rebel mechanic. Merely putting the creature type on a few good creatures is enough. Hell, slapping it on a few made for limited utility creatures would open up the deck without doing anything to standard. It could be seeded in over time, one or two a set when appropriate. New players would just see a flavorful creature type, while established players would see rebel support without it being a major enough theme to warrant bringing back the mechanic. Arguably, there should have been rebels in Aether Revolt, but they'd have probably had to type all the resistance fighters as rebels which would have both had people expecting the mechanic and possibly added creatures that would be too good in the deck.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
^ Also I could really get along with another cycle of changeling creatures with decent stats. Some sort of flying / vigilant white creature with good stats would be sweet. Changeling creatures that are just well built for their colors would go a long way to help out tribes that lack enough creatures for commander.
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[Modern] Allies
(Also added on to the others mentioned in this thread Heliod, God of the Sun can be real good)
It doesn't do much on its own, in my experience. The thing is, it only hits "draw N cards, where N>1". It does shut down Brainstorm, Tidings and friends, Blue Sun's Zenith and friends, wheels, Greater Good, Skullclamp, Garruk, Primal Hunter's -3, Grim Flowering, Sign in Blood and friends, Shamanic Revelation, and Sylvan Library, but it leaves staples like Phyrexian Arena, Argothian Enchantress, Fecundity, and Bident of Thassa untouched, along with things like Necropotence and Act on Impulse that don't technically draw a card. (And using a cantrip like Aggressive Urge on something like Mirrorwing Dragon is still possible: You only draw one card between each SBA check, after all.) But the key word is "shut down". Opponents won't play/activate them until Alms Collector is gone, which is a huge tempo loss. And it does have an effect on things like Damia, Sage of Stone.
Beyond that, it does let you (and everyone else) draw an additional card off Brainstorm; of course, you're the only one actually drawing X cards, so for everyone else, "an additional" is off their zero cards.
Personally I worry about card draw connected to lifegain in white. It steps too close to the best black draw spell of all time. After all, if my lifelinked creature does five damage to you, Necro just says I get five cards (but don't actually draw them) at EOT. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad except Dawn of Hope creates lifelink tokens, and every last one of them, so long as it lives, is a little Phyrexian Arena.
On phasing:
How about an enchantment that produces mana off life gain?
2WW
Enchantment
Whenever you gain one of more life add 1.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
How about making white enchantments for Stax/Control? White already has a ton of hate-bears and stax-esque components but it relies on artifacts and squishy creatures for virtually all stax play (minus rare gems like Moat or Authority of the Consuls).
One other mechanic that I feel would fit in with White is punishing the opponent for having "a lot" instead of for having "more than you". Cheap creatures and spells that get extra effects if your opponent controls 7+ lands or 5+ cards in hand would allow early game cards to see use in the late game, adding a degree of utility that mitigates difficulties with ramp and card advantage (without requiring you to be in a worse situation).
Example
Microcosm
Instant
Exile target attacking creature.
If your opponents control five or more creatures, instead exile all attacking creatures.
No, I think the main thing that White is lacking is a strong approach at winning the game outside of combat. Blue untaps things, which tends to generate combo’s aplenty. Black drains copious amounts of life, and ways to sacrifice resources of one type for resources of another. Red has cards like Goblin Bombardment, and plenty of direct damage effects. Even mono-Green has ways to making the combat step more explosive than White does – e.g. Craterhoof, Pathbreaker Ibex, etc.
White is somewhat good at making a bunch of tokens and mass pumping them, but not as good as Green. It has some recursion, but not as good as Black and Green. It generally has no way of sacrificing things for damage, untapping things, or otherwise a lot of cards that could generate wins. About the only thing I can think of is Karmic-Lark, or Titan-Fiend Hunter, and tellingly the only game-winning sac outlet I can think of available to Mono-W is Blasting Station.
White can and should be considered the best color at winning the game by fiat. It plays into the identity as a color that is all about law. Things like Test of Endurance, Near-Death Experience, and Approach of the Second Sun. The only problem is that a) there very few of these type of cards printed, and b) the ones that are any good like Coalition Victory tend to be banned, and relatedly, are viewed as anti-fun.
But at the end of the day, not hard to figure out why a color that is known for Voltron-like setups that rely on attacking is having trouble with its win-rate in a multiplayer free for all format.
Best removal from Swords To Plowshares and Path to Exile. In addition to all best board wipes.
Mana rocks for ramp. Angels like Akroma, Angel of Wrath. Zetalpa, Primal Dawn the best Elder Dinosaur. Late game big mana into a Martial Coup, White Sun's Zenith or Decree of Justice.
In fact sometimes it's necessary to play white and it's exiles and board wipes to even have a chance of winning or something indestructible or hexproof will just ruin things.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Devout Invocation didn't work because you're just creating more creatures waiting to get blow away by a wrath, but Divine Visitation is a good angle (angel): Make the little things that white does well...mean more.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Mana doesn't accumulate, though. So it wouldn't be as bad as (the obvious card you're comparing it to) Channel. Like, I add 1 off Ajani's Mantra or Baneslayer Angel, big whoop. It'll probably just disappear when my upkeep or combat ends. Drawing a card? Unless I draw more than 7 cards (without Thought Vessel, Reliquary Tower, and the like, and even then, having no maximum hand size can be a bit winmoar at times) I can keep all those cards at EOT.
(Actually, now that I think about it, Alms Collector really ****s over anyone with Sylvan Library out, since you're basically forced to pay 8 life every turn.)
On phasing:
But I was inspired by this thread to make a deck that tried to go big with as much draw and mana ramp in mono-white that I could work into a competitive and fun deck, without purely focusing on infinite's. Obviously Teshar is amazing at assembling infinite combos, but he is also hands down the best at using your graveyard as a resource for commander period, for sheer value. Put's Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Glissa, the Traitor to shame.
I'm calling it "The Great White Hope". Please check it out to help with cards that I could use to enhance the experience.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/790445-teshar-ancestors-apostle-mono-white-combo-or-the#c2
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
The reason Alesha, Karador, Teneb are nowhere near as potent as Teshar, is that they are restricted to one activation a turn, even if they do different things. Chainer, Dementia Master is basically restricted by mana needed, where as Teshar can trigger for much cheaper interaction.
I have absolutely no problem in claiming Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle reins supreme in being able to use your graveyard as a resource, just because you get to trigger it multiple times in a turn, if not infinite.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Its almost complete lack enablers for mono-white commanders. Including the ability to ramp into the expensive ones. Artifacts are available to everyone so its not really relevent to bring them up because we are complaring between other mono colours. Mono-red has a lot of whites issues but their commanders are better and much much better supported by reds colour pie.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I feel like you are blinded by a recent deck if you actually feel Teshar reins supreme at this, I wouldn't pick out Alesha or Karador myself either but I would pick out those colors before I would pick out a Mono-W deck.
Because the important part about GY stuff is not the actual engine you choose because there are so many of them it is how you get the cards there in the first place and Mono-W is by far the most inefficient at doing that.
So I'm not saying that a Karador deck is worse than a Teshar deck or vice versa. At the end of the day, Karador has access to Survival of the Fittest and Living Death, etc.
I'm just saying comparing abilities of Teshar to any other graveyard a resource commander, Teshar is the best.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Teshar is very good (I have found more benefit personally in hiding a Teshar deck inside a 2 color deck with a different Commander for support) but not even close to best.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Green is the master of recursion, but absolutely *****ty at reanimation.
Anyway, I was thinking maybe political card draw? Something like
Serra's Basilica 3WW
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent gains 5 life and you draw a card.
This is a simple version. You can also have them create tokens or draw cards themselves or play permanents for free or recur things or things of that nature. Just make sure to include a lot of knobs to follow two rules:
1. It must be bad. Nothing as good as Prosperity. I mean, it doesn't have to be too bad, but it does have to be such that no one's splashing white for card draw. You can (and should) overcost things like Armistice does, for instance.
2. The benefit to opponents must be generally good. Recursion (card of their choice), tokens, cards of their own, lifegain, that sort of thing.
On phasing:
Terror used to be the staple black kill spell. Murder was something saved for gold cards a la Terminate.
Red for the longest time couldn't get card draw and now it does, it is no blue, but even with the "OMG SAVE TEH PLANET! STOP LAND DESTRUCTION!!!1!11!" mindset it still has its speed. Red also has Blood Moon effects.
Blue is and always has been blue. Teferi's Protection is the best counter to Cyclonic Rift so that is at least a start.
Green started the whole stop land destruction movement and has only gotten bigger creatures and better spells over the years.
So what White needs:
Puresteel Paladin style cards - hypothetically, printing say 5 more of each with different names would make white very good at card draw in EDH, while not influencing other formats (maybe add a mana cost to puresteels draw though to be safe).
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker's ability is even greater in a vacuum I think. With a simple set up, Shirei gives you a ton of resources each turn (i.e. a sac outlet gives you all your etb/leave the battlefield triggers from creatures with 1 power or less every turn), while Teshar doubles your spells (by bringing something back if it was historic).
So putting aside anything to do with how the engines work i.e. "+1/+1 counters" or "creatures with power 1" or "creatures with converted cost 3 or less", it's simply based on the ability to string the triggers together, which Teshar has unlimited potential.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide is a beast, but often I'll win games before they can setup properly.
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed is another interesting "unlimited" graveyard recursion commander.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Also, some better recursion. Theoretically, the more recursion you have the less card draw you need to still even out on cards. A general rule of thumb could be that cards at cmc 5 or lower have a restriction to work on small permanents only (CMC or Power 3 or less) whereas more expensive cards can get any permanent. In both cases, either to hand or directly onto the battlefield.
All in all, white could be the color that "recovers naturally" moreso than other colors and that could, with adequate cards, compensate for bad card draw.
I think.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Balance that costs WWW - We know the big problem with this spell is the cost, since Magus is legal. This would be very slow outside monowhite and Balance is probably fine in monowhite.
Lin-Sivvi, Veteran Commander - Same as Defiant Hero but abilities reference Humans instead of Rebels and she has +1 power or toughness. She’d be really abusable only as a commander, where monowhite again limits the her scope while bringing some oomph to the color.
An enchantment that reads, “Spells and abilities opponents control cannot change your life total or move cards from your library to any other zone.” Not sure what it should cost, but the idea is that it forces opponents to fight you with creatures (“fight fair”). There would be ways around it (including removing the enchantment itself), but it would be a roadblock to Exsanguinate or mill wincons and would have occasional interesting interactions like immunity to Bribery.
Obviously cards like these would be printed in Commander products, as they’d be unsuitable for standard (although they could print that enchantment in standard as a terrible rare).
A one-sided Second Sunrise would also be nice.