MTG Salvation

So, the idea here is more or less full on pillowfort Akroma. I have a bunch of spicy old expensive cards that I love playing and Akroma tends to want to play with just a few creatures in combat so this is me full on hating on other people's fun and forting / oppressing the way they play. DOWN WITH THE TOKENS!!!

In all reality, I have no idea how overboard and redundant some of these are going to be. Obviously its a little overkill to have a bunch of these in play at the same time but Akroma tends to be very strong vs a few threats and weak to swarm so it seems to fit her nicely for a concept at least.

Lol!!, love the title... Decapodians also like Blind Obedience while they Crackdown on their subjects.

Throne of the High City is surprisingly good in a defense deck and so is Palace Jailer. Remember a creature actually has to hit you to get the Monarch away from you, so in your deck, it's probably going to mean just drawing a card for the rest of the game.

Hundred-Handed One and Avatar of Hope as blockers.

You really want magus of the balance in this deck. It's hugely effective at slowing down the swarms that will be your weakness. I picked up two for some of my white decks and damn, is that card mean. Balance at 7 mana and 2 turns is still pretty busted

I know it's expensive, but Cavern of Souls would help make sure Akroma gets to do her thing (and you have a Tabernacle, so $$ really shouldn't be an issue).

Endless Horizons is an underrated mono-white gem. I usually dig out about 5-10 Plains each time and it's fine even if it gets blown up right away.

I put a bit more thought into some different concepts as I was reading comments, building some of the deck, ordering cards and considering where I could go with it. I think there are a few things that are worth mentioning and considering yet on directions that I can go with a deck like this.

Quote from TEMUJIN »

Lol!!, love the title... Decapodians also like Blind Obedience while they Crackdown on their subjects.

Thanks

Blind Obedience I have often found that it doesn't do enough for me. Where it does and would shine tends to be more when you want to hate on haste or play a stasis style of build. It would get more value as well if you did resort on some card]Crackdown[/card] / Meekstone effects which was your other suggestion but I think as it is, its just not quite good enough. It does a number of things but I don't find it does enough for mono white considering I often need my card advantage I find it to be a bit too situational. Once Akroma is online I don't worry as much about haste and in a lot of cases taxing to attack me can be a haste deterrent as well.

Crackdown / Meekstone I considered both of these cards considering that Akroma has vigilance but my concern is far more towards decks that will kill me in one combat than over a few. Akroma is often more than other commanders can handle and if they are bigger than her I probably don't want to be taking their first hit. The question in my mind I guess is why not have some sort of removal or means of stopping the bigger creature rather than relying on them turning sideways and trying to catch them with their pants down. Its the reason I have often not resorted to these sort of effects as I find that they really only seem to work against an opposing voltron deck. If you see a lot of voltron then its something that could work but I also think that other things like Story Circle or Righteous Aura are also considerations then. If I saw more voltron then its something I would probably consider but its right now a lot less common in my meta.

Quote from darrenhabib »

Throne of the High City is surprisingly good in a defense deck and so is Palace Jailer. Remember a creature actually has to hit you to get the Monarch away from you, so in your deck, it's probably going to mean just drawing a card for the rest of the game.

Hundred-Handed One and Avatar of Hope as blockers.

Yea I like that idea. I will see if I can mix some Monarch in. I think that Protector of the Crown could be nice as well. I will have to do some testing with them.

Hundred-Handed One / Avatar of Hope - it might just be easier to try out some fogs over that. Dawn Charm really isn't such a bad card but I think the cheap cost of it and surprise probably is stronger than a weak and expensive card that players see coming.

Quote from weltkrieg »

You really want magus of the balance in this deck. It's hugely effective at slowing down the swarms that will be your weakness. I picked up two for some of my white decks and damn, is that card mean. Balance at 7 mana and 2 turns is still pretty busted

I like the effect but the speed of use is very questionable to me still. I will give it some more thought but tap to use magus often feel incredibly clunky to me. He reminds me a lot of Nevinyrral's Disk to be honest and I have seen that card backfire for players FAR more often than I have seen it work out for them.

Quote from OCPunisher »

I know it's expensive, but Cavern of Souls would help make sure Akroma gets to do her thing (and you have a Tabernacle, so $$ really shouldn't be an issue).

Endless Horizons is an underrated mono-white gem. I usually dig out about 5-10 Plains each time and it's fine even if it gets blown up right away.

Ok you caught me I felt like being cheap just because counter magic isn't really something that I see much of in my meta. I do own 6x Caverns (four of which are foil). If I start seeing more countermagic I will shift it in but its really not fixing here and without seeing much countermagic in my meta its something I think I can live without. I will see if I have one in my Bruna deck and if I do have one there I might shift it here because its probably more important to resolve my commander here. I have one of them in my vampire deck for fast fixing and 4 of them in use for modern so its more that I use them here and there rather than not having copies.

Endless Horizons - yea its a decent card. I have used it in the past and maybe I will make room for it. My only issue with a lot of these upkeep card advantage things is just how dang slow they are to give me anything back. I often don't find the difference in speed between 4 and 6 mana card advantage that different but I do tend to value something a little less conditional like Staff of Nin not to mention the token hate it brings over having a known few basic lands I will be getting. Still though, enchantments like this feel like they get swept up in removal rather than targeted but they also feel like if I don't draw them early I am generally not very pleased. If I topdeck a Tithe on turn 8+ assuming my hand is low I can cheaply get my land and play it immediately where as this card feels a lot slower to get value back not to mention the cost to play it being much higher.

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DECK CHANGES:

• Mangara of Corondor -> Expedition Map Mangara is a little underwhelming due to speed of use and I don't have any cool sac / flicker / rez loops to make her better and more acceptable here. I also didn't realize that I didn't have a copy of Expedition Map here so that seems kind of important given how many sweet value lands I have here.
• Seer's Sundial -> Palace Jailer both are card advantage but I like that the Jailer can be kind of political and spins up faster card advantage for me as well as being more robust card advantage in that once the Monarch is active it sticks around.
• Wall of Reverence -> Protector of the Crown The wall was kind of for staying power, defense, and some life gain but I think its probably kind of a weak add still. Protector will give me some defense and card advantage that I want.
• Lightmine Field -> Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Lightmine field seems kind of easy to get around and narrow in its defense. Elesh Norn on the other hand will make it hard for my opponents creatures to be relevant and kill a lot of things on entering play. The ultimate hope of Lightmine would be to deter token swarms but I think there are too many ways for them to get through or wait to blow up my enchantment and run me over. Plus it had the downside of dissuading them from going anywhere but murdering me which is what I want to avoid in fort effects when I can. Elesh also moves Akroma to a 3 turn clock and isn't the end of the world if stolen or cloned which tends to be the situations I like her for more.

Quote from ISBPathfinder »

it might just be easier to try out some fogs over that.

I'm currently working on Kambal, Consul of Allocation Bears/Lifegain/Lifedrain and found Ethereal Haze to be disgustingly good. Aside from the usual Holy Day impression it already blind-sided several Niv-Mizzets and Purphoros, God of the Forge with "too much" devotion, among others.

Anyway, good luck with mono-W, you have my upmost appreciation going that route. I certainly know how akward, yet rewarding, that can be.

Quote from NoNeedToBragoBoutIt »

I'm currently working on Kambal, Consul of Allocation Bears/Lifegain/Lifedrain and found Ethereal Haze to be disgustingly good. Aside from the usual Holy Day impression it already blind-sided several Niv-Mizzets and Purphoros, God of the Forge with "too much" devotion, among others.

Anyway, good luck with mono-W, you have my upmost appreciation going that route. I certainly know how akward, yet rewarding, that can be.

Thanks, I think this is my 9th mono white undertaking now lol.

Teferi's Protection and Prismatic Strands can also be very helpful on that front as well if you are looking for more ways to not die to purphy. Comeuppance can also be used but these all cost more than one mana which can be detrimental depending on how the deck is built.

Quote from ISBPathfinder »

Yea I like that idea. I will see if I can mix some Monarch in. I think that Protector of the Crown could be nice as well. I will have to do some testing with them.

The Protector of the Crown is perfect. Just from experience, I had never heard of Throne of the High City until an opponent played it, and just got card draw for the rest of the game. I was very impressed. It's surprisingly difficult to get it off a person in a way that you can meaningfully keep it yourself. So you'd need to over-extend a mass attack as such to get it, but then that leaves you defenseless. So what ends up happening a lot is that nobody is willing to commit to the initial attack to get it off the original Monarch, and they just happily keep drawing cards.
So if you can swap a land for Throne of the High City at least for testing, then I think that would be worth it.