I agree. You can fill your deck with land destruction (ghost quarter, tec edge, field of ruin) and make this a winning deck against tron. The problem is that you lose so much to your good match ups it isn't worth it unless your field is tron.
None of the cards you suggest will improve any of the matchups that are problems now. Tron is pretty much an autoloss. You can win, but the odds have to be heavily in your favor.
Rest in peace hoses all of the strategies that Surgical does and will do it better and more consistently. You don't need a graveyard. Those strategies do.
The value of BW tokens is the manabase. Splashing for Assassin's Trophy is counterproductive.
Unless you get really lucky, almost all builds will lose to Tron pre and post board. I won one match against Tron with a "normal" or stock build after my opponent mulled to 5 in game 3. I only won game 1 because I ran outside cards like Castigate and Memoricide. Sideboard Surgical Extraction and Memoricide would really help you out. In general, it's one of those matches that you just let it go and board for all of your other matches.
If Tron is big in your meta, you cut spectral procession and run 5 copies of Ghost Quarter and/or Tectonic Edge/Field of Ruin. Tidehollow Sculler is also a good card in addition to all of your other discard effects. Aven Mindcensor also deserves a nod. Basically, you delay tron and then you strip their hand of anything they could do once they have the mana. The problem with this strategy is you give up so many points against the rest of the field that the benefits of Tokens are negated.
Rock/Jund/and Abzan are pretty much auto wins. If you lose the match then it is entirely on your playing the deck wrong. MVPS include RiP, Zealous Persecution, and Auriok Champion.
I'm not surprised to see these decks doing well. Tokens preys on all of the winning strategies that we are currently seeing. Izzet Phoenix would be another "oops I win" match.
A note on Rest in Peace, if you struggle with a match up, RiP is almost always a strong consideration for inclusion. It always hurts your opponent more than you (losing flashback on Lingering Souls isn't that big of a deal when opp has an 0/1 Tarmogoyf or Snapcaster Mage becomes two mana 2/1 pit viper for no value).
Zealous Persecution provides the same role for our deck as Temur Battlerage does for Shadow. It has the added advantage of versatility in creature matchups because it can be a board wipe and/or alter the combat maths so you can effectively kill their creatures for only slight card disadvantage (you might lose 1/2 of the front side of Lingering Souls+Persecution to kill an opposing Tarmogoyf).
I mostly play Shadow now and I think that, even with battle rage, the matchup would favor tokens. Pyromancer seems to be about 50-50, but that's only because there are clear targets for the removal. Tokens could be anything and that makes it tougher to judge. Discard hits Grixis decks VERY hard. They rely on card advantage and Shadow takes advantage of the painful mana base and the fact that lots of small spells can steamroll into a lot of damage later. If you take away their ability to interact, limited threat base, and/or countermagic the deck just folds. RiP is okay in that matchup, at least against me, because I will tend to board out Anglers when I suspect graveyard hate in favor of some stickier threats. That isn't true of all players. Also, if you can keep a continuous set of tokens available, chump blocking will eventually put you in a position to pull ahead. Tokens will almost always be better in the long run.
If anyone has matchup data for Arclight Phoenix, Dredge, Grixis Shadow, Humans, etc, then please post.
Also, I feel like BW Tokens might actually be decent against the present meta. Dredge and those types of matchups were decent. Humans might be a problem. Merfolk isn't really a problem with Fatal Push around. Tron always has sucked (but you can't win them all).
I haven't updated the primer in a while, namely because I felt like there just weren't new cards worth mentioning. Also, it seemed like Mardu was eclipsing tokens.
1- Lingering Souls by far. You can't run the deck without them.
2- 2-3 Auriok Champion in your 75 is a must. It will single handedly win you games agains Jund, Grixis, and burn. They can't attack past it, it chumps for days, and you get extra life for playing the deck. I never lost to Jund with an Auriok in play and the match up is already heavily favored.
3- I wouldn't run any other walkers other than maybe Sorin.
4- Windbrisk Heights depends on meta. If anything, I would run more card draw or splash red for Faithless Looting.
5- Anthems depends on creature suite. If you only run tokens, then virtue 4x is fine. If you run other creatures, then Honor of the Pure should be favored. Zealous persecution is a must have in the current meta at a 2-3 of. That card itself will win games especially against Jund and affinity.
Persecution works well against Jund or affinity. If your meta doesn't have either one, it isn't worth it.
In a meta with either, it is, at worst, a board wipe for 2 mana or a combat trick. At its best, it finishes the game in one turn out of no where. I wouldn't run it unless I was running an aggressive shell though.
But, if you lost to Jund or Affinity, then I think you have other issues to look at.
The shell is the same: sub raise the alarm for bitter blossom. Use Honor of the Pure instead of the token pump. You don't necessarily need Bitterblossom and there are good arguments against it. Instant speed on your opponent's turn is nothing to sneeze at. Arguably midnight haunting is better than spectral procession for that reason.
Liliana of the Veil is also not a must. There are plenty of other control cards in white that accomplish the same end as her.
What is necessary are the stock token producers, pump spells, life gain, and discard. Fatal push and path to exile are essentials also.
Really, all the deck is is an late game aggro deck that has you playing control the first few turns. You discard and kill their stuff and then get some tokens out and pump them. I know its in midrange, but having played it for a long time, it is different from Jund. If it is close to anything I would say it is Grixis Death's Shadow.
If you really want to punish a deck like 8 rack, play into it. Run some delve creatures in your side board and things that recur from the graveyard. Life gain effects will prolong the game.
Separate topic,
Can someone give some evidence about our extant Tier 1 match-ups? I am afraid I don't have much. I noticed they have Jund as Tier 2. Obviously Tron is still bad, but can anyone give more insight into Eldrazi or DS Aggro? I have played some Eldrazi and it seemed close to 50-50 pre and post board got worse (possibly because my board was not well adjusted to Eldrazi), but I don't think my perception is that accurate.
My burn deck runs 2 Ensnaring Bridges in the side. Beware.
If you play tightly with the deck and keep your goal to preserve your life total, I can't think of a standard build that will lose to burn on average Game 1. Just weather the storm and if you have tokens on the battlefield and they have one or two cards in hand, you will probably win.
I second that about bridge. I have thought about running it, between our mulligan strategy and massive throughput of cards we can find ourselves with no cards in hand quickly. The only issue i can forsee is hate cards.
I would never cut a procession for a timely. Timely is just not reliable enough. I have been in burn matches where my opponent had more creatures and less life than me or where I had more creatures and life than them.
The thing you have to realize about life gain versus a deck like burn is that it doesn't do anything if they can still out clock it. Timely gives you 6 life, which is essentially two cards in a burn deck. In the late burn game plan, that is two draws or two turns. If you can't close out the game in those two turns, then you didn't buy anything. That is why cards like Sorin, Auriok Champion, and Vault of the Archangel are so good in tokens versus burn and other decks: they are sources of incremental and long term life gain. Burrenton Forge Tender and Auriok Champion also do blocking duty and negate the creature suite for burn.
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Rest in peace hoses all of the strategies that Surgical does and will do it better and more consistently. You don't need a graveyard. Those strategies do.
The value of BW tokens is the manabase. Splashing for Assassin's Trophy is counterproductive.
3 Concealed Courtyard
3 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
4 Flooded Strand
1 Fetid Heath
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Shambling Vent
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Windswept Heath
Token Generating 13
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
4 Raise the Alarm
1 Secure the Wastes
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Path to Exile
3 Fatal Push
2 Tidehollow Sculler
Other effects 9
3 Intangible Virtue
1 Honor of the Pure
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Duress
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Auriok Champion
2 Collective Brutality
2 Surgical Extraction
If Tron is big in your meta, you cut spectral procession and run 5 copies of Ghost Quarter and/or Tectonic Edge/Field of Ruin. Tidehollow Sculler is also a good card in addition to all of your other discard effects. Aven Mindcensor also deserves a nod. Basically, you delay tron and then you strip their hand of anything they could do once they have the mana. The problem with this strategy is you give up so many points against the rest of the field that the benefits of Tokens are negated.
Rock/Jund/and Abzan are pretty much auto wins. If you lose the match then it is entirely on your playing the deck wrong. MVPS include RiP, Zealous Persecution, and Auriok Champion.
Burn is a favored match up for us. Again, running Auriok Champion, Sorin, Solemn Visitor are necessary. Collective Brutality just means "oops, I win."
I'm not surprised to see these decks doing well. Tokens preys on all of the winning strategies that we are currently seeing. Izzet Phoenix would be another "oops I win" match.
A note on Rest in Peace, if you struggle with a match up, RiP is almost always a strong consideration for inclusion. It always hurts your opponent more than you (losing flashback on Lingering Souls isn't that big of a deal when opp has an 0/1 Tarmogoyf or Snapcaster Mage becomes two mana 2/1 pit viper for no value).
Zealous Persecution provides the same role for our deck as Temur Battlerage does for Shadow. It has the added advantage of versatility in creature matchups because it can be a board wipe and/or alter the combat maths so you can effectively kill their creatures for only slight card disadvantage (you might lose 1/2 of the front side of Lingering Souls+Persecution to kill an opposing Tarmogoyf).
Thanks for the info.
If anyone has matchup data for Arclight Phoenix, Dredge, Grixis Shadow, Humans, etc, then please post.
Also, I feel like BW Tokens might actually be decent against the present meta. Dredge and those types of matchups were decent. Humans might be a problem. Merfolk isn't really a problem with Fatal Push around. Tron always has sucked (but you can't win them all).
1- Lingering Souls by far. You can't run the deck without them.
2- 2-3 Auriok Champion in your 75 is a must. It will single handedly win you games agains Jund, Grixis, and burn. They can't attack past it, it chumps for days, and you get extra life for playing the deck. I never lost to Jund with an Auriok in play and the match up is already heavily favored.
3- I wouldn't run any other walkers other than maybe Sorin.
4- Windbrisk Heights depends on meta. If anything, I would run more card draw or splash red for Faithless Looting.
5- Anthems depends on creature suite. If you only run tokens, then virtue 4x is fine. If you run other creatures, then Honor of the Pure should be favored. Zealous persecution is a must have in the current meta at a 2-3 of. That card itself will win games especially against Jund and affinity.
In a meta with either, it is, at worst, a board wipe for 2 mana or a combat trick. At its best, it finishes the game in one turn out of no where. I wouldn't run it unless I was running an aggressive shell though.
But, if you lost to Jund or Affinity, then I think you have other issues to look at.
Liliana of the Veil is also not a must. There are plenty of other control cards in white that accomplish the same end as her.
What is necessary are the stock token producers, pump spells, life gain, and discard. Fatal push and path to exile are essentials also.
Really, all the deck is is an late game aggro deck that has you playing control the first few turns. You discard and kill their stuff and then get some tokens out and pump them. I know its in midrange, but having played it for a long time, it is different from Jund. If it is close to anything I would say it is Grixis Death's Shadow.
Midnight haunting is a good alternative to Spectral Procession and doesn't have triple white.
Legion's Landing won't replace Auriok Champion.
Thanks for the update. I was wondering these about bridge.
Can someone give some evidence about our extant Tier 1 match-ups? I am afraid I don't have much. I noticed they have Jund as Tier 2. Obviously Tron is still bad, but can anyone give more insight into Eldrazi or DS Aggro? I have played some Eldrazi and it seemed close to 50-50 pre and post board got worse (possibly because my board was not well adjusted to Eldrazi), but I don't think my perception is that accurate.
If you play tightly with the deck and keep your goal to preserve your life total, I can't think of a standard build that will lose to burn on average Game 1. Just weather the storm and if you have tokens on the battlefield and they have one or two cards in hand, you will probably win.
I would never cut a procession for a timely. Timely is just not reliable enough. I have been in burn matches where my opponent had more creatures and less life than me or where I had more creatures and life than them.
The thing you have to realize about life gain versus a deck like burn is that it doesn't do anything if they can still out clock it. Timely gives you 6 life, which is essentially two cards in a burn deck. In the late burn game plan, that is two draws or two turns. If you can't close out the game in those two turns, then you didn't buy anything. That is why cards like Sorin, Auriok Champion, and Vault of the Archangel are so good in tokens versus burn and other decks: they are sources of incremental and long term life gain. Burrenton Forge Tender and Auriok Champion also do blocking duty and negate the creature suite for burn.