I don't know how much it's already been discussed yet, but now that Mesa Enchantress is an option, how good do you guys think a deck with her at the helm would be? Just curious.
I'm not sure mono-white is where I want to be in a Pauper enchantment focused Commander deck. You lose a lot from not having access to Green or Blue, and I'm really not sure a mono-colored Enchantment focused deck in Pauper could be all that effective. You'd have to really stretch to fill out the deck effective enchantments in a single color. I think I'd still rather play a Selesnya Commander to have access to Yavimaya Enchantress, Armadillo Cloak, Ancestral Mask and the like.
Haha... there is a bit of quality discussion on her and at least 2 decklists in that thread titled "EMA commons." Maybe a mod can move those posts here
She has serious problems with hexproof voltrons, there are literally no answers besides celestial flare
Mono-white answers to hexproof: celestial flare, rebel-> bound in silence, dawnglare invoker.
Mono-white answers to coalition honor guard: eeeeh, anything? Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring - basically any hard removal? Besides, that card is trouble for the whole table. Basically the next removal spell from anybody kills it, and that's all she wrote. Not sure it's worth spending 4 mana on to piss everybody off and making YOU responsible to handle the next fatty someone decides to drop.
Looking forward to Upkeep's list, I'm pretty sure this is the best mono-white commander available in PDH, regardless of whether an "enchantment theme" in itself is more powerful in bicolor. Truth is, if you're not playing certain commanders in mono blue or mono black, most bicolor will be more powerful than most mono color, so it's not a fair comparison.
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So here's the list I've been slowly working on. It's currently at 113 cards.
I've grouped the cards roughly by function and then separated them by mana cost. I feel like this is the best way to view the deck. The weakness of this is that we don't see the number of enchantments, so I'll just tell you that there are currently 41 enchantments in the deck. This is a very large amount. Considering that some of them can be spammed and that there are multiple creatures that either tutor or recur enchantments, there is more than enough to abuse the commander's ability, in my opinion.
The deck is certainly not an auto-build like I had originally thought it was. There are many avenues to go down, and many playstyle decisions to make, which is interesting.
I included the Rebel secondary strategy because I like the card advantage it allows for, as well as searching up Bound in Silence and other otherwise narrow rebels at 3 cmc (the rebel sweet-spot in Pauper). Lawbringer and Lightbringer might seem bad, but being able to search them up at the end of the opponent's turn and activate them on mine makes the tap cost in the ability a lot less of a liability, and my current meta has very annoying Red generals that I want to deal with. Maybe Lightbringer could come out, actually.
The Gliders are also there for similar reasons. The pro-black Rebel will survive Pestilence and Crypt Rats effects (of which there will be several), and the Thermal Glider will block Red generals all day and doesn't die to Red board wipes and burn. I like both of these a lot for now.
I'm not sure if Righteous Aura will make the cut, but it seems pretty decent. What do you think?
There are a ton of Pacifism-like effects, perhaps too many. Are there any that in your experience are just not good enough? Are there any good ones I missed?
I'm not happy with the lack of good pump auras in White. I thought there were more. I took what I thought were the best ones. I have high hopes for Heroic Defiance. I don't think many people will be playing White, so this should be a good pump spell in multiplayer, anyways.
I currently don't have room for Mana Rocks. Should I be using some? Hopefully with all the card draw I think I'll be doing, I should be hitting most of my land drops, right?
A lot of sweet choices here like Ward of Lights. I'm just barely dipping my toes into Pauper EDH so its hard for me to determine what the weak points of the list are or if you need more mana rocks. Since it's Pauper though I'm probably just going to build this list and test it for myself (I'm kind of a 'hands on' learner). If I find a glaring weakness in my meta I'll be sure to post it here. Thanks for the starting point Upkeep
If anyone has any other ideas as to what can come out, I'm open to suggestions!
Really not into the whole rebels thing TBH
guardian of the guildpact just blocks forever, seems meh
Am I missing a reason you want angelic purge and isolation zone? We already have a billion pacifisms for creatures, I'd probably rather play revoke existence/fate forgotten. Zone not hitting artifacts is lame
floating shield seems kinda third-rate
honestly not sure how much work bonesplitter does here.
I like the small rebel theme, Law- and Lightbringer a pretty good effects to tutor up. Zealot il-Vec is probably another rebel that should be in there. It's removal or a real threat with a Ethereal/Empyrial Armor attached.
Righteous Aura is similar to the Runes of Protection but it costs you life to use it, instead of caring about the color. It's like Paupers Story Circle. It's good against Voltron and doesn't care about Hexproof. So if you have a problem with those, especially Ascended Lawmage, it's worth another consideration.
The weakest cards in your list atm seem for me to be Kor Skyfisher, Custodi Squire, Griffin Dreamfinder, Guard Duty, Cessation, Brilliant Halo, Hobble. Maybe also cut another Pacifism effect? It's hard because they are all really close.
I agree with most of Trigunner's additions, but you wanted to know what to cut - not more goodies to add! Interesting though that mono white has so many quality options to consider.
I would probably start by cutting the worst pacifism effects. The thing is, in multiplayer PDH, you WANT people to be attacking each other, just not you. Pacify the board and then what? That's 3-4 life totals for you to overcome, with little help from the others. This risks targeting you as the biggest threat too - not a good idea. And if you're playing 1v1, you don't NEED 20 pacifism effects on top of exiling removal. Guard Duty, Pacifism, Muzzle, Hobble and Supression Bonds all seem a bit lack luster compared to the alternatives.
Creatures are the hardest to cut I think, your decision to run rebels makes it difficult to cut much. Custodi Squire maybe? If you play strictly multiplayer. Coalition Honor Guard is also more trouble than his worth in multiplayer IMO. I'd include Zealot but pay close attention to what rebels you're not tutoring for. Maybe Lawbringer is always more effective than Thermal Glider against red decks? Maybe you never get the Zealot after all?
As for pumps, I think you should think carefully about Heroic Defiance. All your removal stays in play, and makes you draw into more white permanents. How many permanents do blue decks have? Red decks? I think it's risky. Sun Clasp, Brilliant Halo and Grasp of the Hieromancer could probably all go without being missed. Siegecraft can go too. I'd much rather have Vulshok Morningstar if you need more pump. And/or instant speed mass pump - good with the rebels.
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Righteous Aura is similar to the Runes of Protection but it costs you life to use it, instead of caring about the color. It's like Paupers Story Circle. It's good against Voltron and doesn't care about Hexproof. So if you have a problem with those, especially Ascended Lawmage, it's worth another consideration.
If ever I end up going up against some Hexproof Voltron commanders, Righteous Aura will definitely go back in.
I think you're absolutely right about this. in my mind, I wanted to have plenty of cheap protection, but I suppose having higher quality is likely more important. I'll be including these and cutting other cards from the protection section.
This seems like a really complex combo to pull off with a bunch of 1-ofs. I figured Fanatical Devotion was not worth running because I did not have enough expendable creatures. Do you think it's worth a slot on its own?
As for pumps, I think you should think carefully about Heroic Defiance. All your removal stays in play, and makes you draw into more white permanents. How many permanents do blue decks have? Red decks? I think it's risky. Sun Clasp, Brilliant Halo and Grasp of the Hieromancer could probably all go without being missed. Siegecraft can go too. I'd much rather have Vulshok Morningstar if you need more pump. And/or instant speed mass pump - good with the rebels.
Thanks for the great suggestions for cuts. I'm going to keep Heroic Defiance for now and try it out. When I pacify something, that permanent also stays in play, which means I'm probably at least at parity with an opponent. As this deck is pretty much strictly for multiplayer, I'm assuming that multiple non-White opponents will make up the majority of the field, out-numbering White. It's a metagame call, and we'll see how it turns out.
I wanted to keep Sun Clasp because it can be abused to draw lots of cards more than it is a pump spell. Is this effect not worth it, in your opinion?
Thanks for the great suggestions for cuts. I'm going to keep Heroic Defiance for now and try it out. When I pacify something, that permanent also stays in play, which means I'm probably at least at parity with an opponent. As this deck is pretty much strictly for multiplayer, I'm assuming that multiple non-White opponents will make up the majority of the field, out-numbering White. It's a metagame call, and we'll see how it turns out.
I wanted to keep Sun Clasp because it can be abused to draw lots of cards more than it is a pump spell. Is this effect not worth it, in your opinion?
Don't like rebels because they are mana-intensive and bound in silence is the only really good thing they bring to the table IMO. This deck has plenty of card advantage just from its commander. Also drawing them probably sucks and they take up a lot of deck slots. If we just want random chump-blocking/edict-absorbing dorks, you can play cantripping nyxborn shieldmate
Sun clasp seems cute and playable but cuttable, but not as good as conviction or even forced worship/shackles/cage of hands. These are all fine removal options here that also improve your ability to never run out of gas
Skyfisher is usually at worst 2WW for a cantripping 2/3 flier (bounce any 1W enchantment) with potential additional utility (bounce an auramancer or something.) It's better if you run more enchantments that cost just W. I can see cutting it but it's good here.
I would 100% play ALL the 1 mana instants that grant protection or indestructible. Keeping mesa enchantress in play is critical and these are the most reliable cards for accomplishing that. Gods willing, stave off, blessed breath, apostle's blessing, ajani's presence, are auto-include IMO. Ephemeral shields is also castable with 1 mana open so long as Mesa is untapped, and can possibly be cast even when you're tapped out.
Feat of resistance - uh, why? A single +1/+1 counter is in no way worth costing 2 mana instead of 1. Also shelter is infinitely better than feat. I mean, feat of resistance is playable, but like not even in the top 10 protection effects this deck can play
Cloudshift is interesting as it can protect Mesa for just W and has the additional utility of flickering Auramancers or whatever, but ultimately I passed on it because it makes us lose any auras we've played on Mesa
I would also play all 1 cmc enchantments that are reasonably effective (guard duty, cowed by wisdom etc) The value is too real.
I don't understand how Sun Clasp is useful. You play it, fine. Then you can pay W to put the enchanted CREATURE into your hand, sending Sun Clasp to the graveyard. So it's a self-bounce spell. You'd need enchantment recursion to play it again with the commander, but then again your graveyard should not be thin on enchantments to recur, so. It's not at all in the same league as the auras that bounce themselves.
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Wow I misread Sun clasp and thought it was the same as Conviction. That's a terrible card and it's coming out.
I kinda like Feat of Resistance because it saves a creature but also permanently pumps it, which this deck needs a good amount of in order to win. I'm going to keep it for now, but I don't disagree that 1-mana spells might be better. Shelter is already being run, as well (it's easy to miss stuff in such a big list).
I liked the Kor Skyfisher because it could allow me to replace a Pacifism effect on something more threatening, as well as drawing me a card. This is one of the first cards I'd like to fit back into the deck.
What I like about the Rebel package is the consistency it brings to the deck. It lets me fetch up specific answers and gives me tons of card advantage. This is well worth the high mana cost, in my eyes.
I've been thinking about how the deck is likely to play out, and I do see how difficult it could be to control the board and win with just pacifisms and card advantage. I was thinking that the deck needs some way to discourage opponents from attacking me and instead go after the other opponents. Fortunately, White is the colour that has Vigilance as one of its main evergreen abilities. Vigilance creatures would allow me to attack and leave up a huge blocker to make attaking me more difficult. Some playable cards that I don't already have are Marked by Honor and Triclopean Sight. Bladed Bracers and True-Faith Censer are also equipment that work well with my human general. It's also making me rethink taking out Razor Golem. Any thoughts on this strategy?
I misread Sun Clasp too. It would be great if it were another Conviction.
Maybe we are trying to hard to stay on theme with the win cons? Instead of more enchantments just try to fit in Eldrazi Devastator and Hand of Emrakul? If your Commander doesn't get killed all the time you should draw one or two extra cards a turn, be able to make your landdrops and hopefully draw one of the eldrazi too. (And maybe Eldritch Moon brings us more fatties at common?) I mean your Commander won't be a real threat with only a Marked by Honor, so maybe try something else.
It is hard because after empyrial armor and ethereal armor, the biggest buff a white aura grants is +2/+X, and there are only a few that are even that big. Bonds of faith is the next most efficient by far and has nice flexibility.
If you don't mind dipping into unglued, wordmail gives +2/+2 for just W.
I really dislike the eldrazi as they are easy to answer and result in a huge tempo loss (and no card advantage.) I'd honestly rather pile up auras on our 0/2 commander (lol) and/or hold out until we can draw into one of those armors/tutor them. At least those cards replace themselves and don't require committing 8 at sorcery speed
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I think a blend of strategies will have to do in a deck such as this, because there aren't enough fatties to rely on that win condition and there aren't enough good auras to depend on winning with our commander.
If I were going to go with the fatties as a win condition, I would include some reanimating effects, like Breath of Life. This could be an interesting avenue for anyone else trying this deck.
Choking Restraints is an excellent Pacifism effect. Getting it back with Auramancer or any of the other similar creatures seems like great value! I'm not quite sure what to take out for it, however. In testing, Shackles has been a bit overpriced for the effect that is sometimes hard to use. Seems like a solid swap?
Ironclad Slayer is a aggressively costed creature with good stats that brings back an aura (or equipment if necessary) to be re-cast. I like this card a lot as this effect gets even better with both Weight of Conscience and Choking Restraints now in the deck, and it can also be used to recycle our win conditions like Empyrial Armor. But what to remove?
Overall, the deck has been really fun to play. The main way I've been winning has been through general damage after cleaning up a board with auras. The card draw really makes this strategy go over the top.
The side of the deck I've been enjoying the least has been the Rebels, actually. They can be quite clunky sometimes, but other times they are lifesavers, getting me removal or a creature with the appropriate protection. I'm on the fence about taking them out.
Good catches. I haven't played pauper EDH in quite a while, so I wasn't looking at the new cards through that lens.
I think the activated ability on choking restraints is just barely better than flavor text, though. 5 mana for that is a ton. The mantle and slayer are definitely great though.
I wouldn't cut shackles or any other self-bouncing enchantment, it's pretty awesome to be able to guarantee you never run out of gas.
Not related to mesa enchantress, but displace is 99% of a functional reprint of ghostly flicker, possibly the strongest card in the format, so there's that.
I got my hands on a Choking Restraints at the prerelease and have tested it in the deck a few times. The exile clause is actually pretty relevant, as sometimes the deck has nothing else to do.
What would you cut from the deck other than the shackles?
I still haven't quite figured out what to remove for Ironclad Slayer either.
The lifegain from recumbent bliss doesn't seem worth it to me, so I would switch that out for Chocking Restraints. Deciding what to take out for Ironclad Slayer is harder, as the list seems really tight. Aven Riftwatcher maybe?
Agreed. Rebels are tutors that find cards that overall are worse than average for pauper white. Their redeeming quality is that they give you card advantage otherwise hard to find in mono-white. OTOH, this deck already has that and is better off with either better card quality or more enchantments, or both.
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She has serious problems with hexproof voltrons, there are literally no answers besides celestial flare
Also auto-loses hilariously to coalition honor guard
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Mono-white answers to coalition honor guard: eeeeh, anything? Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring - basically any hard removal? Besides, that card is trouble for the whole table. Basically the next removal spell from anybody kills it, and that's all she wrote. Not sure it's worth spending 4 mana on to piss everybody off and making YOU responsible to handle the next fatty someone decides to drop.
Looking forward to Upkeep's list, I'm pretty sure this is the best mono-white commander available in PDH, regardless of whether an "enchantment theme" in itself is more powerful in bicolor. Truth is, if you're not playing certain commanders in mono blue or mono black, most bicolor will be more powerful than most mono color, so it's not a fair comparison.
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I've grouped the cards roughly by function and then separated them by mana cost. I feel like this is the best way to view the deck. The weakness of this is that we don't see the number of enchantments, so I'll just tell you that there are currently 41 enchantments in the deck. This is a very large amount. Considering that some of them can be spammed and that there are multiple creatures that either tutor or recur enchantments, there is more than enough to abuse the commander's ability, in my opinion.
The deck is certainly not an auto-build like I had originally thought it was. There are many avenues to go down, and many playstyle decisions to make, which is interesting.
I included the Rebel secondary strategy because I like the card advantage it allows for, as well as searching up Bound in Silence and other otherwise narrow rebels at 3 cmc (the rebel sweet-spot in Pauper). Lawbringer and Lightbringer might seem bad, but being able to search them up at the end of the opponent's turn and activate them on mine makes the tap cost in the ability a lot less of a liability, and my current meta has very annoying Red generals that I want to deal with. Maybe Lightbringer could come out, actually.
The Gliders are also there for similar reasons. The pro-black Rebel will survive Pestilence and Crypt Rats effects (of which there will be several), and the Thermal Glider will block Red generals all day and doesn't die to Red board wipes and burn. I like both of these a lot for now.
I'm not sure if Righteous Aura will make the cut, but it seems pretty decent. What do you think?
There are a ton of Pacifism-like effects, perhaps too many. Are there any that in your experience are just not good enough? Are there any good ones I missed?
I'm not happy with the lack of good pump auras in White. I thought there were more. I took what I thought were the best ones. I have high hopes for Heroic Defiance. I don't think many people will be playing White, so this should be a good pump spell in multiplayer, anyways.
I currently don't have room for Mana Rocks. Should I be using some? Hopefully with all the card draw I think I'll be doing, I should be hitting most of my land drops, right?
Please let me know what you think!
1 Mesa Enchantress
Creatures (22)
1 Defiant Falcon
1 Ramosian Lieutenant
1 Amrou Scout
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Observant Alseid
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Monk Idealist
1 Auramancer
1 Dawnglare Invoker
1 Kor Sanctifiers
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Lawbringer
1 Nightwind Glider
1 Thermal Glider
1 Coalition Honor Guard
1 Guardian of the Guildpact
1 Seraph of Dawn
1 Custodi Squire
1 Griffin Dreamfinder
1 Totem-Guide Hartebeest
1 Ruin Processor
1 Ulamog's Crusher
Pacifisms (18)
1 Guard Duty
1 Kirtar's Desire
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Bonds of Faith
1 Weight of Conscience
1 Gossamer Chains
1 Muzzle
1 Forced Worship
1 Arrest
1 Shackles
1 Bound in Silence
1 Cage of Hands
1 Cessation
1 Hobble
1 Recumbent Bliss
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Suppression Bonds
Other Removal (6)
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Celestial Flare
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Angelic Purge
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Isolation Zone
Pump (11)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Hyena Umbra
1 Ethereal Armor
1 Sun Clasp
1 Heroic Defiance
1 Brilliant Halo
1 Grasp of the Hieromancer
1 Empyrial Armor
1 Siegecraft
1 Knightly Valor
Other enchantments (3)
1 Rune of Protection: Black
1 Rune of Protection: Green
1 Rune of Protection: Red
Protection (10)
1 Ajani's Presence
1 Stave Off
1 Gods Willing
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Shelter
1 Cho-Manno's Blessing
1 Ward of Lights
1 Angelic Renewal
1 Floating Shield
1 Pentarch Ward
Lands (37)
32 Plains
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Quicksand
1 Desert
1 Opal Palace
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BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
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Keep in mind this list is currently at 113 cards.
I'm cutting Cowed by Wisdom, Oppressive Rays, Lightbringer, Razor Golem and Righteous Aura. That puts the deck at 108 cards.
If anyone has any other ideas as to what can come out, I'm open to suggestions!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
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Really not into the whole rebels thing TBH
guardian of the guildpact just blocks forever, seems meh
Am I missing a reason you want angelic purge and isolation zone? We already have a billion pacifisms for creatures, I'd probably rather play revoke existence/fate forgotten. Zone not hitting artifacts is lame
floating shield seems kinda third-rate
honestly not sure how much work bonesplitter does here.
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Righteous Aura is similar to the Runes of Protection but it costs you life to use it, instead of caring about the color. It's like Paupers Story Circle. It's good against Voltron and doesn't care about Hexproof. So if you have a problem with those, especially Ascended Lawmage, it's worth another consideration.
I miss Eland Umbra and Feat of Resistance as protection, those are way better than Stave off and God's Willing imho.
Fanatical Devotion + Angelic Renewal + Auramancer/Monk Idealist is another card draw engine with Mesa Enchantress. Fanatical Devotion is also another protection piece.
Cenn's Enlistment should be in as another win con/something to do with your lands lategame.
The weakest cards in your list atm seem for me to be Kor Skyfisher, Custodi Squire, Griffin Dreamfinder, Guard Duty, Cessation, Brilliant Halo, Hobble. Maybe also cut another Pacifism effect? It's hard because they are all really close.
I would probably start by cutting the worst pacifism effects. The thing is, in multiplayer PDH, you WANT people to be attacking each other, just not you. Pacify the board and then what? That's 3-4 life totals for you to overcome, with little help from the others. This risks targeting you as the biggest threat too - not a good idea. And if you're playing 1v1, you don't NEED 20 pacifism effects on top of exiling removal. Guard Duty, Pacifism, Muzzle, Hobble and Supression Bonds all seem a bit lack luster compared to the alternatives.
Creatures are the hardest to cut I think, your decision to run rebels makes it difficult to cut much. Custodi Squire maybe? If you play strictly multiplayer. Coalition Honor Guard is also more trouble than his worth in multiplayer IMO. I'd include Zealot but pay close attention to what rebels you're not tutoring for. Maybe Lawbringer is always more effective than Thermal Glider against red decks? Maybe you never get the Zealot after all?
As for pumps, I think you should think carefully about Heroic Defiance. All your removal stays in play, and makes you draw into more white permanents. How many permanents do blue decks have? Red decks? I think it's risky. Sun Clasp, Brilliant Halo and Grasp of the Hieromancer could probably all go without being missed. Siegecraft can go too. I'd much rather have Vulshok Morningstar if you need more pump. And/or instant speed mass pump - good with the rebels.
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What do you not like about it?
If ever I end up going up against some Hexproof Voltron commanders, Righteous Aura will definitely go back in.
I think you're absolutely right about this. in my mind, I wanted to have plenty of cheap protection, but I suppose having higher quality is likely more important. I'll be including these and cutting other cards from the protection section.
This seems like a really complex combo to pull off with a bunch of 1-ofs. I figured Fanatical Devotion was not worth running because I did not have enough expendable creatures. Do you think it's worth a slot on its own?
Thanks for the great suggestions for cuts. I'm going to keep Heroic Defiance for now and try it out. When I pacify something, that permanent also stays in play, which means I'm probably at least at parity with an opponent. As this deck is pretty much strictly for multiplayer, I'm assuming that multiple non-White opponents will make up the majority of the field, out-numbering White. It's a metagame call, and we'll see how it turns out.
I wanted to keep Sun Clasp because it can be abused to draw lots of cards more than it is a pump spell. Is this effect not worth it, in your opinion?
My cuts now are Custodi Squire, Kor Skyfisher (as good as this card is, there aren't really enough good permanents to bounce), Floating Shield, Stave Off, Gods Willing, Muzzle, Guard Duty, Cessation, Brilliant Halo and Isolation Zone. That puts me down to 98 cards. I'm going to add Eland Umbra and Feat of Resistance to make it 100.
1 Mesa Enchantress
Creatures (20)
1 Defiant Falcon
1 Ramosian Lieutenant
1 Amrou Scout
1 Observant Alseid
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Monk Idealist
1 Auramancer
1 Dawnglare Invoker
1 Kor Sanctifiers
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Lawbringer
1 Nightwind Glider
1 Thermal Glider
1 Coalition Honor Guard
1 Guardian of the Guildpact
1 Seraph of Dawn
1 Griffin Dreamfinder
1 Totem-Guide Hartebeest
1 Ruin Processor
1 Ulamog's Crusher
Pacifisms (15)
1 Kirtar's Desire
1 Pacifism
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Bonds of Faith
1 Weight of Conscience
1 Gossamer Chains
1 Forced Worship
1 Choking Restraints
1 Bound in Silence
1 Cage of Hands
1 Hobble
1 Recumbent Bliss
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Suppression Bonds
Other Removal (5)
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Celestial Flare
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Angelic Purge
1 Oblivion Ring
Pump (10)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Bladed Bracers
1 Hyena Umbra
1 Ethereal Armor
1 Conviction
1 Heroic Defiance
1 Lunarch Mantle
1 Empyrial Armor
1 Marked by Honor
1 Knightly Valor
1 Rune of Protection: Black
1 Rune of Protection: Green
1 Rune of Protection: Red
Protection (9)
1 Ajani's Presence
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Feat of Resistance
1 Shelter
1 Cho-Manno's Blessing
1 Ward of Lights
1 Angelic Renewal
1 Eland Umbra
1 Pentarch Ward
Lands (37)
32 Plains
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Quicksand
1 Desert
1 Opal Palace
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Don't like rebels because they are mana-intensive and bound in silence is the only really good thing they bring to the table IMO. This deck has plenty of card advantage just from its commander. Also drawing them probably sucks and they take up a lot of deck slots. If we just want random chump-blocking/edict-absorbing dorks, you can play cantripping nyxborn shieldmate
Sun clasp seems cute and playable but cuttable, but not as good as conviction or even forced worship/shackles/cage of hands. These are all fine removal options here that also improve your ability to never run out of gas
Skyfisher is usually at worst 2WW for a cantripping 2/3 flier (bounce any 1W enchantment) with potential additional utility (bounce an auramancer or something.) It's better if you run more enchantments that cost just W. I can see cutting it but it's good here.
I would 100% play ALL the 1 mana instants that grant protection or indestructible. Keeping mesa enchantress in play is critical and these are the most reliable cards for accomplishing that. Gods willing, stave off, blessed breath, apostle's blessing, ajani's presence, are auto-include IMO. Ephemeral shields is also castable with 1 mana open so long as Mesa is untapped, and can possibly be cast even when you're tapped out.
Feat of resistance - uh, why? A single +1/+1 counter is in no way worth costing 2 mana instead of 1. Also shelter is infinitely better than feat. I mean, feat of resistance is playable, but like not even in the top 10 protection effects this deck can play
Cloudshift is interesting as it can protect Mesa for just W and has the additional utility of flickering Auramancers or whatever, but ultimately I passed on it because it makes us lose any auras we've played on Mesa
I would also play all 1 cmc enchantments that are reasonably effective (guard duty, cowed by wisdom etc) The value is too real.
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I kinda like Feat of Resistance because it saves a creature but also permanently pumps it, which this deck needs a good amount of in order to win. I'm going to keep it for now, but I don't disagree that 1-mana spells might be better. Shelter is already being run, as well (it's easy to miss stuff in such a big list).
I liked the Kor Skyfisher because it could allow me to replace a Pacifism effect on something more threatening, as well as drawing me a card. This is one of the first cards I'd like to fit back into the deck.
What I like about the Rebel package is the consistency it brings to the deck. It lets me fetch up specific answers and gives me tons of card advantage. This is well worth the high mana cost, in my eyes.
I've been thinking about how the deck is likely to play out, and I do see how difficult it could be to control the board and win with just pacifisms and card advantage. I was thinking that the deck needs some way to discourage opponents from attacking me and instead go after the other opponents. Fortunately, White is the colour that has Vigilance as one of its main evergreen abilities. Vigilance creatures would allow me to attack and leave up a huge blocker to make attaking me more difficult. Some playable cards that I don't already have are Marked by Honor and Triclopean Sight. Bladed Bracers and True-Faith Censer are also equipment that work well with my human general. It's also making me rethink taking out Razor Golem. Any thoughts on this strategy?
For now, I'm going with -1 Sun Clasp, -1 Siegecraft, +1 Marked by Honor, +1 Bladed Bracers.
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Maybe we are trying to hard to stay on theme with the win cons? Instead of more enchantments just try to fit in Eldrazi Devastator and Hand of Emrakul? If your Commander doesn't get killed all the time you should draw one or two extra cards a turn, be able to make your landdrops and hopefully draw one of the eldrazi too. (And maybe Eldritch Moon brings us more fatties at common?) I mean your Commander won't be a real threat with only a Marked by Honor, so maybe try something else.
If you don't mind dipping into unglued, wordmail gives +2/+2 for just W.
I really dislike the eldrazi as they are easy to answer and result in a huge tempo loss (and no card advantage.) I'd honestly rather pile up auras on our 0/2 commander (lol) and/or hold out until we can draw into one of those armors/tutor them. At least those cards replace themselves and don't require committing 8 at sorcery speed
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If I were going to go with the fatties as a win condition, I would include some reanimating effects, like Breath of Life. This could be an interesting avenue for anyone else trying this deck.
Maybe they'll downgrade Blessing one day...
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Choking Restraints is an excellent Pacifism effect. Getting it back with Auramancer or any of the other similar creatures seems like great value! I'm not quite sure what to take out for it, however. In testing, Shackles has been a bit overpriced for the effect that is sometimes hard to use. Seems like a solid swap?
Ironclad Slayer is a aggressively costed creature with good stats that brings back an aura (or equipment if necessary) to be re-cast. I like this card a lot as this effect gets even better with both Weight of Conscience and Choking Restraints now in the deck, and it can also be used to recycle our win conditions like Empyrial Armor. But what to remove?
Overall, the deck has been really fun to play. The main way I've been winning has been through general damage after cleaning up a board with auras. The card draw really makes this strategy go over the top.
The side of the deck I've been enjoying the least has been the Rebels, actually. They can be quite clunky sometimes, but other times they are lifesavers, getting me removal or a creature with the appropriate protection. I'm on the fence about taking them out.
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I think the activated ability on choking restraints is just barely better than flavor text, though. 5 mana for that is a ton. The mantle and slayer are definitely great though.
I wouldn't cut shackles or any other self-bouncing enchantment, it's pretty awesome to be able to guarantee you never run out of gas.
Not related to mesa enchantress, but displace is 99% of a functional reprint of ghostly flicker, possibly the strongest card in the format, so there's that.
What would you cut from the deck other than the shackles?
I still haven't quite figured out what to remove for Ironclad Slayer either.
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Still rebels
Agreed. Rebels are tutors that find cards that overall are worse than average for pauper white. Their redeeming quality is that they give you card advantage otherwise hard to find in mono-white. OTOH, this deck already has that and is better off with either better card quality or more enchantments, or both.
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