White sets rules, so I like the idea of forcing someone to interact with you in the combat step. And this also makes white’s reliance on creatures less of a liability. I’m sure there’s a better way to do it, but forcing people to attack you in combat seems like an interesting thing to give white.
Forcing people to play "fair" seems like a decent idea, but giving a single, fairly narrow enchantment, doesn't seem like a reasonable solution. You have to assume that (1) you'll actually draw this card (2) it won't get removed, and (3) it'll actually be relevant.
1 can only really be remedied by increasing the number of cards with that sort of effect that are actually worth playing. An enchantment that does nothing against, realistically, the majority of decks, and not enough versus quite a few more, is not a card I would expect to see play in a format without sideboards.
2 I think is best remedied by making it something that isn't telegraphed. If you have this enchantment in play, your opponent probably won't cast exsanguinate until it's removed. If it was an instant the lasted until end of turn, though, then you could get them to actually use their big bomb, rather than just waiting and winning later. Or, again, making it something that exists on a lot more cards in various forms.
3 is the biggest problem, though. Sure, exsanguinate is a good, commonly-played card, but many "unfair" strategies still use the combat step. kiki conscripts? combat step. infinite turns? usually combat step. craterhoof? combat step. Or they just don't ultimately care about how they win - planeswalker ults off doubling season or leaving them on an empty board after jokulhaups, drawing their deck via any number of combos, or just winning via alt wincon like lab man...there are just a ton of ways to win. The percentage of decks I see that are mill-focused primarily is definitely less than 1%, and the number of noncombat damage focused decks is probably less than 5%, although of course some decks use a mixture of combat and noncombat. So I think you need to cover a lot more bases with a directed hate card like this before it becomes reasonable to include it, especially because - for it to really be worth it - it needs to be good enough that you're encouraged to tutor for it, so you actually have the answer reliably when you need it.
In terms of things I think would be (1) not out of color pie and (2) actually make a significant impact, I think the top two are:
(1) give white big win-conditiony things (like secure the wastes for XWW and the tokens have prowess? just spitballing), and
(2) give mono-white some really good commanders
The former because wincons are the most likely things to get tutored, and therefore cast in more games and have a bigger impact (ofc mono-white sucks at tutoring nonenchantment/nonequipment cards, so maybe make some of those) and the latter because, well, they sit in the command zone and get played a lot, obviously. These little hosers and tech cards are fine but they won't get played much and they won't have a significant impact on the color as a whole unless there are just, like, a crapton of them, because you'll rarely draw them.
In terms of what I actually WANT for mono-white, it's more unexpectedly absent-quality removal, because that's what I want to play, when I want to play white. But in terms of what the common EDH-player would need to see white as a viable color, it's probably those two things.
enchantment would not get played (At least not by me or anyone else who isn't building toward a specific meta).
Lin Sivvi would be sweet but preeeetty dangerous. Would be a very strong card in multicolor white decks, though, not just as a commander. Idk why 1 stat point would make any difference whatsoever.
Fixing is brokenly strong in EDH. WWW is perfectly castable in 5-color, let alone 2. not a good idea. If you want "real" balance, that isn't just a veiled board/land/hand wipe, play balancing act. Except no one plays that card because it's terrible.
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.
Unfortunately the worst way to win multiplayer commander, is having too much one-for-one removal in a deck. So although it's efficient at that, every color now has options, and we know that you can only run a certain number of them before you weaken your ability to actually be proactive and win.
Phelddagrif takes offense to that. That deck is roughly 30-35% 1:1 answers. And 45% lands. And it's a very winning deck. But in terms of how most people play commander, white doesn't do the normal ramp/draw/bomb strat very well. (again, mostly because of the lack of the third category, although their relative lack of draw is also a factor)
Really although white has some very good spot removal, it's less deep than people think. After a couple really good ones, the rest of it is pretty meh. STP, PTE, unexpectedly absent, oblation...council's judgment can be sweet despite being a sorcery...skywhaler's shot is ok...and then there's some decent disenchant effects...but overall it's really pretty shallow. Drops off pretty quick after the top 3-6 imo, with really only stp, pte, and ua being especially great. In terms of good creature removal, white has the top 2 but black has much more depth.
In terms of things I wish wotc would give white, more great answers like UA are really at the top of my list. What would actually make people respect white as a color more is probably bombs and maybe some draw that doesn't require tokens, but that's not really what I'm personally interested in. I like white as a political control color that forces you to play a tight game, because you don't get any auto-wins or easy hand refills. So you have to actually, y'know, play well.
(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.
Blue and red have a lot of artifact synergies.
Lots of tutors for artifacts, cost reduction for artifacts, draw from casting artifacts, and ways to cheat in artifacts, graveyard recursion for artifacts, etc, etc.
Red also has spells which can generate a lot of mana. Storm is an archetype in Izzet, cost reduction and spells which generate mana.
Blue has High Tide, and in combination with spells which allow you to untap lands and artifacts is potent. Although white can also play cards like Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun, it just doesn't have any color specific cards to untap your artifacts and lands the same way that blue does.
Black has a lot of double your mana creatures as well. Cabal Coffers, etc.
I didn't include black in the tie because of coffers and ritual and such.
Blue has a couple cards that search for artifacts, neither of which exactly reek of efficiency when you're tutoring for a mana rock of some sort (enlightened for a sol ring/crypt, on the other hand, pretty good t1). Red even less so (although I do like gamble). As far as artifact cost reducers I'm seeing etherium sculptor and that's about it. draw from casting artifacts is, y'know, draw, not ramp. With a few interesting exceptions like goblin welder I'm also not really seeing how this artifact synergy really RAMPS you. Sure, it's nice to get synergy from your artifacts but in terms of getting X mana on turn Y I don't see hardly any of them changing the equation.
Red does have a couple rituals but, outside of tuned storm lists and a few combos with reiterate or w/e, they're pretty awful imo. I don't think I've run a single one in the hundred-odd decks I've made.
Are there some really minor ways that red and blue can get extra ramp? I mean, kind of. White also has knight of the white orchid, land tax, tithe, and a bunch of other land-draw cards. I don't really see any of them being obviously ahead of the others in any significant way. If I had to pick a last place I guess it'd be white, but they're all pretty equivalent imo.
I think the bigger problem is that white has nothing to ramp INTO. People don't have ramp-heavy white decks, not because ramp is less available in white, but because there aren't adequate payoffs for it. Explanar lens does the same thing in black as it does in white, but it shows up in a LOT more black decks than white decks, because black actually has good finishers worth dumping mana into. And then people assume white is worse at ramp because white doesn't tend to ramp, but it's correlation, not causation.
I think that the main problem of white is that there aren't enough good general. The existing general are either too expensive (considering that white is the worst at ramping) or too "small", meaning that their effect as little impact on EDH tables, especially during late game.
Name a white commander that is on par with Azami or Azusa... you can't.
I think that the biggest challenge is not to find white color pie space, but to find legendary design space: design something that is "big" without being too expensive.
I'll name one: lin sivvi, defiant hero. She's an INSANE card. Kind of a sisay except costs 1 less, with a different type restriction, and puts it directly into play as an instant. It's the rebels themselves that let her down - if she could search for a creature type that didn't suck she'd actually be great. Wotc just needs to print rebels that aren't total garbage.
Also I don't get this "white sucks at ramping" thing. How do you ramp in blue? mana rocks. How do you ramp in red? mana rocks. How do you ramp in black? Mana rocks and like a couple other cards. White even has land tax and such that ensures consistent land drops. White is "the worst at ramp" in the sense of being 3rd in a three-way, almost four-way, tie. So basically the complaint is "white isn't green".
I think white is basically fine as a support color. Sure, other colors have good answers for a lot of stuff, but they don't have the density and quality of white. And frankly nothing touches white's sweepers, except I suppose toxic deluge and damnation. Plus there's mass LD that's far more efficient and reliable than other colors.
The biggest problem is how bad mono-white sucks on its own, but I don't think people have hit the nail on the head as to why. Its lack of ramp is pretty irrelevant considering all the excellent mana rocks that exist, and really only green has non-rock ramp. Besides, with geddon et al, you'd rather have rocks than land ramp anyway. Lack of draw is definitely part of the issue, but there are quite a few serviceable colorless options at this point.
I think the real issue is simply how difficult it is to close out a game in white. Few of the wincons are explosive, which is something that red is actually quite good at and why I think it's the superior mono-color (though imo worse as a support color). In terms of things that actually win games, being able to win suddenly, before people get the chance to untap and answer your stuff, is a big deal, and white suuuuuucks at winning out of nowhere on its own. Its best shot is to have board superiority and then drop a geddon, but that requires being able to get board superiority AND it's often frowned upon. It's also exacerbated by the lack of draw and tutor, which makes it a very unreliable strat.
So I think what white needs, more than anything, is good finishers that don't break the social contract. Maybe something like comeuppance except everything punches its controller instead of itself? Get some good retaliatory stuff in there, which punishes people for overextending. Some sort of socially-acceptable LD, like maybe a fixed-for-multiplayer limited resources could be good. Making powerful enchantments seems like a good way to go, since white can most easily tutor for enchantments (and equipment, but those are usually colorless). Maybe humility except it makes everything a 2/2, to buff tokens while shrinking enemies? Or maybe it only removes etb effects and not other abilities? That's obviously less explosive, but it's really hard for some decks to deal with humility.
I don't think we'll ever get better than land tax tbh.
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
1 can only really be remedied by increasing the number of cards with that sort of effect that are actually worth playing. An enchantment that does nothing against, realistically, the majority of decks, and not enough versus quite a few more, is not a card I would expect to see play in a format without sideboards.
2 I think is best remedied by making it something that isn't telegraphed. If you have this enchantment in play, your opponent probably won't cast exsanguinate until it's removed. If it was an instant the lasted until end of turn, though, then you could get them to actually use their big bomb, rather than just waiting and winning later. Or, again, making it something that exists on a lot more cards in various forms.
3 is the biggest problem, though. Sure, exsanguinate is a good, commonly-played card, but many "unfair" strategies still use the combat step. kiki conscripts? combat step. infinite turns? usually combat step. craterhoof? combat step. Or they just don't ultimately care about how they win - planeswalker ults off doubling season or leaving them on an empty board after jokulhaups, drawing their deck via any number of combos, or just winning via alt wincon like lab man...there are just a ton of ways to win. The percentage of decks I see that are mill-focused primarily is definitely less than 1%, and the number of noncombat damage focused decks is probably less than 5%, although of course some decks use a mixture of combat and noncombat. So I think you need to cover a lot more bases with a directed hate card like this before it becomes reasonable to include it, especially because - for it to really be worth it - it needs to be good enough that you're encouraged to tutor for it, so you actually have the answer reliably when you need it.
In terms of things I think would be (1) not out of color pie and (2) actually make a significant impact, I think the top two are:
(1) give white big win-conditiony things (like secure the wastes for XWW and the tokens have prowess? just spitballing), and
(2) give mono-white some really good commanders
The former because wincons are the most likely things to get tutored, and therefore cast in more games and have a bigger impact (ofc mono-white sucks at tutoring nonenchantment/nonequipment cards, so maybe make some of those) and the latter because, well, they sit in the command zone and get played a lot, obviously. These little hosers and tech cards are fine but they won't get played much and they won't have a significant impact on the color as a whole unless there are just, like, a crapton of them, because you'll rarely draw them.
In terms of what I actually WANT for mono-white, it's more unexpectedly absent-quality removal, because that's what I want to play, when I want to play white. But in terms of what the common EDH-player would need to see white as a viable color, it's probably those two 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
enchantment would not get played (At least not by me or anyone else who isn't building toward a specific meta).
Lin Sivvi would be sweet but preeeetty dangerous. Would be a very strong card in multicolor white decks, though, not just as a commander. Idk why 1 stat point would make any difference whatsoever.
Fixing is brokenly strong in EDH. WWW is perfectly castable in 5-color, let alone 2. not a good idea. If you want "real" balance, that isn't just a veiled board/land/hand wipe, play balancing act. Except no one plays that card because it's terrible.
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
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
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
Really although white has some very good spot removal, it's less deep than people think. After a couple really good ones, the rest of it is pretty meh. STP, PTE, unexpectedly absent, oblation...council's judgment can be sweet despite being a sorcery...skywhaler's shot is ok...and then there's some decent disenchant effects...but overall it's really pretty shallow. Drops off pretty quick after the top 3-6 imo, with really only stp, pte, and ua being especially great. In terms of good creature removal, white has the top 2 but black has much more depth.
In terms of things I wish wotc would give white, more great answers like UA are really at the top of my list. What would actually make people respect white as a color more is probably bombs and maybe some draw that doesn't require tokens, but that's not really what I'm personally interested in. I like white as a political control color that forces you to play a tight game, because you don't get any auto-wins or easy hand refills. So you have to actually, y'know, play well.
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
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.
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
Blue has a couple cards that search for artifacts, neither of which exactly reek of efficiency when you're tutoring for a mana rock of some sort (enlightened for a sol ring/crypt, on the other hand, pretty good t1). Red even less so (although I do like gamble). As far as artifact cost reducers I'm seeing etherium sculptor and that's about it. draw from casting artifacts is, y'know, draw, not ramp. With a few interesting exceptions like goblin welder I'm also not really seeing how this artifact synergy really RAMPS you. Sure, it's nice to get synergy from your artifacts but in terms of getting X mana on turn Y I don't see hardly any of them changing the equation.
Red does have a couple rituals but, outside of tuned storm lists and a few combos with reiterate or w/e, they're pretty awful imo. I don't think I've run a single one in the hundred-odd decks I've made.
Are there some really minor ways that red and blue can get extra ramp? I mean, kind of. White also has knight of the white orchid, land tax, tithe, and a bunch of other land-draw cards. I don't really see any of them being obviously ahead of the others in any significant way. If I had to pick a last place I guess it'd be white, but they're all pretty equivalent imo.
I think the bigger problem is that white has nothing to ramp INTO. People don't have ramp-heavy white decks, not because ramp is less available in white, but because there aren't adequate payoffs for it. Explanar lens does the same thing in black as it does in white, but it shows up in a LOT more black decks than white decks, because black actually has good finishers worth dumping mana into. And then people assume white is worse at ramp because white doesn't tend to ramp, but it's correlation, not causation.
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
Also I don't get this "white sucks at ramping" thing. How do you ramp in blue? mana rocks. How do you ramp in red? mana rocks. How do you ramp in black? Mana rocks and like a couple other cards. White even has land tax and such that ensures consistent land drops. White is "the worst at ramp" in the sense of being 3rd in a three-way, almost four-way, tie. So basically the complaint is "white isn't green".
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 biggest problem is how bad mono-white sucks on its own, but I don't think people have hit the nail on the head as to why. Its lack of ramp is pretty irrelevant considering all the excellent mana rocks that exist, and really only green has non-rock ramp. Besides, with geddon et al, you'd rather have rocks than land ramp anyway. Lack of draw is definitely part of the issue, but there are quite a few serviceable colorless options at this point.
I think the real issue is simply how difficult it is to close out a game in white. Few of the wincons are explosive, which is something that red is actually quite good at and why I think it's the superior mono-color (though imo worse as a support color). In terms of things that actually win games, being able to win suddenly, before people get the chance to untap and answer your stuff, is a big deal, and white suuuuuucks at winning out of nowhere on its own. Its best shot is to have board superiority and then drop a geddon, but that requires being able to get board superiority AND it's often frowned upon. It's also exacerbated by the lack of draw and tutor, which makes it a very unreliable strat.
So I think what white needs, more than anything, is good finishers that don't break the social contract. Maybe something like comeuppance except everything punches its controller instead of itself? Get some good retaliatory stuff in there, which punishes people for overextending. Some sort of socially-acceptable LD, like maybe a fixed-for-multiplayer limited resources could be good. Making powerful enchantments seems like a good way to go, since white can most easily tutor for enchantments (and equipment, but those are usually colorless). Maybe humility except it makes everything a 2/2, to buff tokens while shrinking enemies? Or maybe it only removes etb effects and not other abilities? That's obviously less explosive, but it's really hard for some decks to deal with humility.
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