Mono red's biggest problem is dealing with enchantments and large creatures. In constrast, mono white has no problem dealing with anything on the board. What mono white struggles with instead is drawing non-land cards and tutoring for anything besides equipment and enchantments. It also struggles to mount a fast, aggressive offense, and other players can usually see a kill coming from white a mile away. Red can always fall back on aggression and quick kills when nothing else is working, but white does not have this luxury. There are ways around these problems with some creativity, but I still think that mono white is currently the most challenging color combination to create a powerful deck with.
LAND DRAW
Before I address the biggest problem, which is quality of card draw, I will focus on one of white's biggest assets - the ability to cheaply and efficiently draw lands. This is mainly due to a few cards:
All four of these are practically staples in everything I build that has white in it. Since white doesn't land ramp much and actually tends to prefer to draw over play, they are usually INCREDIBLY efficient for what they do. Tithe is 2 cards for one mana at instant speed. Land Tax is 3 or more lands for 1. Weathered Wayfarer gets you any utility land you want, over and over. The hugely underappreciated Gift of Estates is 3 lands for 2 mana, an amazing deal! They get even better if you add in another color, but I won't get into that. I also recommend that you run Armillary Sphere, especially since you'll be able to easily recur it. The important thing in mono white is that these cards make sure you make your land drops and get Emeria, the Sky Ruin online reliably.
So if you're in white, making your land drops should be easy. You are like green in that you have no problem grabbing tons of lands, except that you don't ramp nearly as much, and you actually get a much better mana/land ratio. This leaves you with the question of how to draw more cards to use these lands. Here are some of my favorites:
Mentor of the Meek - Very good if you run lots of small creatures and ways of making tokens. Scroll Rack - Very solid on its own, and obscene with Land Tax. Skullclamp - Tutored for very easily, and white is great at making tokens and wrathing so you can benefit. Mind's Eye - Very good card draw, even for an artifact. Illuminated Folio - This is just very solid in a mono deck. Farsight Mask - Monowhite tends to be very defensive, so this fits in perfectly. Don't rely on it to draw you cards, though, although maybe you can convince somebody to attack you. Staff of Nin - Great, solid card. I'm very glad they printed this. Stonehewer Giant - An equipment every turn is amazing. Mimic Vat - Goes well with white's wraths and numerous 187 creatures. Sun Titan - Probably should be run in most white decks, and keeps your hate bears, Emeria, and Eye of Ugin around. Eye of Ugin - With mana doublers and your land draw, using this should be easy. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Always good if you can cast it. Sword of Fire and Ice - You'll probably have some small creatures or tokens to carry it, and tutoring for it is easy. Mask of Memory - If you run enough flyers, this might be worth it. Tower of Fortunes - If you usually get enough mana to cast and activate it in the same turn, try it out. Dreamstone Hedron - It's actually quite good here because you can make reliable land drops to cast it. Three Dreams - Great if you run enough auras. Ranger of Eos - Great if you run enough 1-drop creatures.
You'll also get a lot of card advantage through your recursion engines, which are detailed below.
AGGRESSIVE OR DEFENSIVE
One of the big questions you'll have to ask yourself when playing mono white is whether you want to be an attrition deck or an aggressive deck with land destruction. Armageddon effects are some of the best effects white offers, and your land draw makes recovery easy, but they conflict with a lot of your card draw and some of the threats that your mana doublers would otherwise enable. Consider this:
It's very difficult to run cards from each set in the same deck, so choose wisely! I personally prefer the second list, because white just doesn't have enough Armageddons to be reliable with them, and red or white/red does it better anyway. Of course, if you want to go Stax/Armageddon, there's Hokori, Dust Drinker.
MANABASE
On the issue of manabase, I tend to like Petrified Field and Crucible of Worlds in mono white, because Emeria and Eye of Ugin are SO powerful and you really want to protect them. Sun Titan is great because he can get all of these back. I'll explain that more in depth later.
Kor Haven is another great land you can play in white, and can really help you defensively.
Mistveil Plains is worth running. It counts as a Plains for Emeria, and is very important for protecting the things in your graveyard. One of white's themes is recurring pieces that work in synergy to create huge advantages, and you don't want these pieces removed from the game. You can find this with anything that tutors for a Plains and have ways of recurring it. It's one of the best ways you can protect your graveyard.
(Other ways to protect your graveyard include sacrificing Kozilek or Ulamog at instant speed, and running Elixir of Immortality or Feldon's Cane.)
Windbrisk Heights - You should probably be able to get a free card off of this, so why not run it?
For mana rocks and mana doublers, you have the usual. Doublers include Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, and Caged Sun, but Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, Dreamstone Hedron, and Everflowing Chalice also boost your mana by a lot. Because they can be tapped for mana right away, they really don't cost you that much, considering your land draw makes it very easy to make reliable land drops so you can actually cast these things. You can use Enlightened Tutor to search for any of these. You can also try [card]Basalt
Mololith[/card] + Rings of Brighthearth for infinite mana.
Since Emeria and Eye of Ugin are so important, it's recommended that you run Expedition Map. It also plays nice with Sun Titan.
RECURSION ENGINE
What mono white lacks in card draw, it can often make up for with its recursion engine. The idea is to play defense, wipe the board when needed, and over time your dead things will start to become more and more difficult to keep off the board. Here's how the engine fits together. The first card is what is doing the recurring, and the following cards are what it recurs.
If it helps, you can draw a web and connect all of these visually. It's pretty impressive. Artisan of Kozilek can be shuffled back in by the other eldrazi and recurred with Eye of Ugin.
Here is a list of all of the pieces for convenience:
This is one of white's greatest strengths. It is probably the best color at general removal. Spot, mass, instant, creature, artifact, enchantment, land, exile - it can do it all, and cheaply! Here are some of my favorites.
These following four are VERY important, because they answer creatures cheaply, instantly, and mostly permanently. They should almost always be run, especially in a combo environment.
These are your generally-good wraths, and it's hard to go wrong with any of these. Oblivion Stone is especially good once you get Sun Titan and Emeria online. Yes, there are many to choose from!
These are extremely powerful, and among the best wraths in the format, but you have to be careful that you don't mess up your own recursion engine if it's an important part of your strategy.
The first three are great if you are often the target of creature attacks. Mangara is a great deterrent, but takes a turn to set up. False Prophet is pretty niche, and probably is best in a tokens deck with land-based sac outlets like High Market. Ulamog is obvious if you're going with the Eye of Ugin plan. Banishing Stroke is overcosted, but you might like it with Scroll Rack or if you just want more exiling general removal. Karn is great to fit in if you have a spare slot, since you'll have so many ways to defend him and he can solve so many problems.
RANGER OF EOS TOOLBOX
Ranger of Eos is an amazing card and gives you much-coveted card advantage, but you have to build around it. Here are some of the best cards you can grab with him in mono white.
Pilgrim's Eye - Chump blocker or Skullclamp fodder that finds you a land and later works as a combo piece. Good to recur. Solemn Simulacrum - Great card for so many reasons. Duplicant - Good removal that can be recurred easily. Wurmcoil Engine - Can make you lots of tokens once you can sac and recur it reliably. Goes well with your defensive strategy. Steel Hellkite - Deals with anything, easily recurred, and kills with infinite mana. Artisan of Kozilek - Amazing value with a lot of your stuff. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Probably what you'll tutor for first most of the time. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Call him when you're ready to win. Blightsteel Colossus - Another game-winner.
187 CREATURES
These are some of your best creatures to recur and combo with.
These are good to have around to prevent your opponents from killing you before you get your engine going. They are especially good because Sun Titan and Reveillark get them back for you.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben/Glowrider - Slows everyone down, just how you want it. Also disables some infinite combos. Suture Priest - Good with your tokens, bad for opponents that run tokens, and stops some infinite combos. Ethersworn Canonist - Anti-combo and slows the game down. Grand Abolisher - Stops counterspell nonsense and helps you set up your own combos. Aven Mindcensor - One of my favorite white cards and a personal staple. Stops combo, mana ramp, fetchlands, and tutoring in general, and also carries equipment well. Leonin Arbiter - Similar to Aven Mindcensor, but be careful not to hinder yourself too much. True Believer - Good if people are targeting you often. Phyrexian Revoker - Stops lots of problematic cards, including equipment, sac outlets, and combo-focused generals.
PILLOW FORT
These cards make people think twice about attacking you, allowing you to build your engine in peace.
Stonecloaker - No other color gets anything like this. Instant speed, reusable graveyard hate that also protects your creatures and is a flying, equipment-carrying beater.
Angelic Destiny - A recurring aura that you can fetch with Three Dreams that turns your general into a fast clock.
Evangelize - This can be brutal late game, and if they make tokens, wrath them first.
Eternal Dragon - Finds you Mistveil Plains and can be recurred later.
There are many others that I'm not including here. Feel free to list them yourself if you think they're exceptional.
GENERALS AND STRATEGIES
There are some decent generals in mono white, but your strategies probably won't revolve around them. They are good for a backup plan, or for defending yourself or your permanants. Hokori is probably the most interesting one, as he enables an aggressive Armageddon/stax-based attack plan. Elesh Norn is probably the best one for decks running lots of tokens, and is a very solid pick for her weakening ability alone.
The angels and Yosei are large flyers that offer you various things and have the potential to kill with general damage, but are pretty interchangable. Eight-and-a-Half-Tails and Kemba do Voltron well, and Darien is the most defensive. Lin Sivvi is a strange sort of tutor, but is actually pretty good, although you have to build around her.
Hokori offers you a deck based around early aggression, land destruction, and stax effects like Winter Orb and Thorn of Amethyst.
Isamaru is only good for 1 vs. 1, so you shouldn't run it for multiplayer.
Kemba, Mikaeus, Odric, and Patron are only really good with lots of tokens.
Thalia and Odric require you to run lots of aggressive creatures, which is a risky plan in multiplayer.
Lin Sivvi brings a good rebel toolbox if you have some slots you need to fill.
This leaves us with the rest. They are all good for most mono white control decks, but in different ways, so you should figure out your deck and then pick one of these generals for it, depending on what you need the most. They are pretty interchangeable, depending on your current needs. Here are some ways you can build.
Recursion - Run the recursion engine pieces I mentioned earlier, along with lots of wraths and other forms of removal. You plan to win the long game through attrition, eventually by overwhelming them or assembling a combo.
Hybrid - Run most or all of the recursion engine, a few wraths and removals, some equipment, and some of the most dangerous token generators like Storm Herd, Entreat the Angels, and Luminarch Ascension.
My personal preferences for generals for these strategies are as follows:
Tokens - Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, because she pumps your tokens, protects you, and supports your board-wipe strategy. She is nasty with Angelic Destiny, so I would consider it as part of your Three Dreams package in case the tokens plan doesn't work.
Against Combo - Mangara of Corondor, if you find yourself playing against people who combo off before you can set up. Try to keep him on the board at all times, and he can keep them from comboing off while you execute your own plans.
LAST WORDS
I'll try to update this as I learn more about mono white and get some responses. Let me know if there's anything you think I should add, or any important cards or strategies I've missed. I hope this thread can become the definitive guide for anyone considering mono white.
I for one won't be impressed with your effort until you make a similar post for each color, AND colorless, AND they are all stickied
Or maybe that's just a suggestion :D, incredible post dude, this is the exact material that this forum needs to help new players and refresh the minds of the vets. You've presented a compelling argument for white and red, and while I doubt you've changed the fact that these are still the two weakest mono colors in the format, you've certainly made many of us reevaluate the exact power level of these colors in EDH.
Also, I'm not sure what you were thinking of for Reverse the Sands being a 1-card win-con, but I just wanted to point out that you can't change the life totals. You can only redistribute them. If the table's fife totals are 10-23-5, they have to remain as 10-23-5 but in a different order, not 1-1-36.
I'm liking these posts you've made Gio, keep up the god work!
Having said that, if you run Land Tax(and in mono white why wouldn't you?) you need to be running Scroll Rack. The interaction is just too strong. Scroll Rack is fairly easy to recur and search for in W and is pretty good on it's own as well.
Edit: Nevermind, obviously I can't read.
Edit edit: Armistice is actually decent in mono W, steep mana cost but who caes about the 3 life? Also, Pursuit of Knowledge + Scroll Rack = good times
Again you provide a great read and inspiration. These posts have me brainstorming deck ideas, I'm working on a Kumano list and looking at Lin Sivvi for white.
Teferi's Puzzle Box - I run it in my mono white rebel deck. When you can set it up with the land drawing effects it is as good as draw. I also love it in my rebel deck because I can roll the rebels over and push them back into the deck every turn. Mono white has several land draw effects that buff hand size that this can turn into draw which is great in my opinion. It is totally underestimated and it totally jacks with combo players who normally tutor a few cards into hand and try to go off. It makes it a lot harder to tutor + play things the same turn as well. I have been very happy with it overall.
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You mentioned this briefly, but it can stand to be reiterated: white and equipment are best friends. Not only is there the incredibly powerful equipment tutor (Steelshaper's Gift), but also Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant. :3
You mentioned this briefly, but it can stand to be reiterated: white and equipment are best friends. Not only is there the incredibly powerful equipment tutor (Steelshaper's Gift), but also Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant. :3
And also a bunch of other good equipment based white creatures. Please help if you know specific card names, but the one that let's you equip at instant speed, artifacts cost x less, etc.
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And also a bunch of other good equipment based white creatures. Please help if you know specific card names, but the one that let's you equip at instant speed, artifacts cost x less, etc.
White also loves enchantments a lot. The most wicked enchantments are usually white, or at least for some themes. Token support and combat related has anthem effects, True Conviction, and just general helpful tips. You've already covered the pillowfort and taxing styles.
But you already know that. What I'm suggesting are some fun cards I've played
Soldevi Visionary. It's unblockable to most people, kills enchantments, and is aggressive with or without some help. Throw a sword/boots/protection on it and it'll ruin games so quick.
Academy rector... Did someone mention this card already? How can you not?
Auriok Champion. Whoever said lifegain doesn't matter has never seen this card gain someone 30+ life. 4 players, 40 base life totals, and most players use etb triggers like it's the only thing you can do. Plus, it's harder to remove than it looks, and the WW is also cheap to play with.
Beloved Chaplain. This guy. This effin guy. No more vanilla dump truck attacks, no more 187s, no more anything. If you're playing the pace of SLOW, then this card will kill a player, 1 point at a time. If you like this effect, Commander Eesha is a good general.
Peacekeeper. Prison effect at its finest. Note the p/t.
The title seems a little misleading when you consider that...a lot of those cards listed are artifacts and colorless. The "Eye of Ugin Toolbox" seems....
Why not limit the list to more natural white cards (ie, cards that can only be used by decks with white)? Because every single high mana card listed is better utilized by decks with Green! And also equally utilized well by mono-red or any of the other mono's. Stop using a wholesale list of colorless and artifact staples and make a legit list.
White has:
1. the best removal
2. arguably a better mass-LD suite than Red
3. the two most abused recursive creatures (Reveillark and Karmic Guide) are white
4. Sun Titan which lends itself to accidental combos more often than the other 4
5. the best interactions with equipment artifacts
6. Elesh Norn, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope (basically some of the most hateful fatties to grief with)
7. best lifegain
8. Serra Ascendant, the most aggressive 1cc drop in EDH.
Dust Elemental, Stormfront Riders, and Saftey Cat are great if you have cards that have etb/ltb effects many of which were mentioned or if you have something like rebels and the riders form a token engine these are mostly weaker than stonecloaker but the elemental is a white creature with FEAR... and with flying its hard to block
i really like these threads and like other people they have me brainstorming out deck ideas and im glad that several of these cards were brought to my attention like Salvaging Scout
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I agree with what some others have said, namely that probably 50% of the stuff listed here is colorless and useable by any color. That said, this has really inspired me to put a mono-:symw: list together, and really explore the synergies possible in the color.
The title seems a little misleading when you consider that...a lot of those cards listed are artifacts and colorless. The "Eye of Ugin Toolbox" seems....
Two of mono white's strengths are mana doublers and land draw, which allow you to abuse Eye of Ugin. Everything colorless I listed is an important card to consider when building a mono white deck, and some fit exceptionally well in mono white, such as Dreamstone Hedron.
Why not limit the list to more natural white cards (ie, cards that can only be used by decks with white)? Because every single high mana card listed is better utilized by decks with Green! And also equally utilized well by mono-red or any of the other mono's. Stop using a wholesale list of colorless and artifact staples and make a legit list.
I tried to list most of the good cards mono white can use to do various things. White...colorless...does it matter? Sometimes a colorless card works exceptionally well in a particular archetype (Ebony Owl Netsuke in Owling Mine in Standard, for instance), and I think that should be mentioned. Other times, a colorless card gives a unique effect or an effect normally restricted to other colors that you can really benefit from. Why not list all of the options? How is this list not legit?
Also, I specifically didn't list some cards in the Eye of Ugin toolbox because they just don't usually go that well in mono white. An example is Psychosis Crawler, which is an extremely good card in some decks, but just not usually good here.
White has:
1. the best removal
2. arguably a better mass-LD suite than Red
3. the two most abused recursive creatures (Reveillark and Karmic Guide) are white
4. Sun Titan which lends itself to accidental combos more often than the other 4
5. the best interactions with equipment artifacts
6. Elesh Norn, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope (basically some of the most hateful fatties to grief with)
7. best lifegain
8. Serra Ascendant, the most aggressive 1cc drop in EDH.
I think I've already covered all of this. The purpose of the post wasn't to just list good white cards. We already have a post for that. ( http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=252037 ) I'm trying to tie it all together and go over the different strategies you can follow while building your deck with these cards.
I'm not really sure what you want me to include that I haven't already. I could probably say more on equipment and expand the "strong cards" list, but is there anything else you'd suggest?
Could someone list this out for me. I feel like you'd be hard pressed to fill out a mono-:symw: mass LD suite that competes with :symr:'s...
Haha, I didn't want to make my response too long, but yeah, I was thinking that too. I'll try to make two lists, and I'll even count strong tax effects for white.
This isn't even getting into some of red's targeted land destruction, such as Dwarven Miner, or the fact that it can easily destroy tons of mana rocks as well. Red can even recur its mass LD sorceries! White's only real advantage in this area is that it can use Hokori as a general. Of course, Armageddon and Ravages of War are premium cards, so RW will probably want them. But yeah, red is obviously better at this stuff.
What white LD lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality. Armageddon makes red LD look like trash.
Yeah, but you only have two Armageddons in a mono white deck, so you can't really rely on them enough to build a strategy around them. Red easily has enough mass LD to focus an entire deck around it. But yeah, in RW, you probably should run the Armageddons.
Haha, I didn't want to make my response too long, but yeah, I was thinking that too. I'll try to make two lists, and I'll even count strong tax effects for white.
This isn't even getting into some of red's targeted land destruction, such as Dwarven Miner, or the fact that it can easily destroy tons of mana rocks as well. Red can even recur its mass LD sorceries! White's only real advantage in this area is that it can use Hokori as a general. Of course, Armageddon and Ravages of War are premium cards, so RW will probably want them. But yeah, red is obviously better at this stuff.
I know this is off-topic and sorry for the mini hi-jack but when the hell did Bend or Break get errata'd to read "non-token" lands? I know it's possible to do, but it seems like such a corner case that it's kinda ridiculous to make errata for.
Edit: To stay on topic, white has the best mass LD- red has the most of it. I would personally like to see red get an equivalent to armageddon, just to give it the best in what arguably is one of it's prime colour attributes- but it's never gonna happen.(it should also get a sinkhole equivalent too- but I'm dreaming there as well)
Since some people liked my post on Mono Red's Strengths (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=428949), I figured I'd do one for Mono White.
Mono red's biggest problem is dealing with enchantments and large creatures. In constrast, mono white has no problem dealing with anything on the board. What mono white struggles with instead is drawing non-land cards and tutoring for anything besides equipment and enchantments. It also struggles to mount a fast, aggressive offense, and other players can usually see a kill coming from white a mile away. Red can always fall back on aggression and quick kills when nothing else is working, but white does not have this luxury. There are ways around these problems with some creativity, but I still think that mono white is currently the most challenging color combination to create a powerful deck with.
LAND DRAW
Before I address the biggest problem, which is quality of card draw, I will focus on one of white's biggest assets - the ability to cheaply and efficiently draw lands. This is mainly due to a few cards:
Tithe
Land Tax
Weathered Wayfarer
Gift of Estates
All four of these are practically staples in everything I build that has white in it. Since white doesn't land ramp much and actually tends to prefer to draw over play, they are usually INCREDIBLY efficient for what they do. Tithe is 2 cards for one mana at instant speed. Land Tax is 3 or more lands for 1. Weathered Wayfarer gets you any utility land you want, over and over. The hugely underappreciated Gift of Estates is 3 lands for 2 mana, an amazing deal! They get even better if you add in another color, but I won't get into that. I also recommend that you run Armillary Sphere, especially since you'll be able to easily recur it. The important thing in mono white is that these cards make sure you make your land drops and get Emeria, the Sky Ruin online reliably.
If you want more land fetch in white, there's also Knight of the White Orchid, Wayfarer's Bauble, Kor Cartographer, and Solemn Simulacrum which are all pretty solid and do ramp, unlike the others.
CARD ADVANTAGE
So if you're in white, making your land drops should be easy. You are like green in that you have no problem grabbing tons of lands, except that you don't ramp nearly as much, and you actually get a much better mana/land ratio. This leaves you with the question of how to draw more cards to use these lands. Here are some of my favorites:
Mentor of the Meek - Very good if you run lots of small creatures and ways of making tokens.
Scroll Rack - Very solid on its own, and obscene with Land Tax.
Skullclamp - Tutored for very easily, and white is great at making tokens and wrathing so you can benefit.
Mind's Eye - Very good card draw, even for an artifact.
Illuminated Folio - This is just very solid in a mono deck.
Farsight Mask - Monowhite tends to be very defensive, so this fits in perfectly. Don't rely on it to draw you cards, though, although maybe you can convince somebody to attack you.
Staff of Nin - Great, solid card. I'm very glad they printed this.
Stonehewer Giant - An equipment every turn is amazing.
Mimic Vat - Goes well with white's wraths and numerous 187 creatures.
Sun Titan - Probably should be run in most white decks, and keeps your hate bears, Emeria, and Eye of Ugin around.
Eye of Ugin - With mana doublers and your land draw, using this should be easy.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Always good if you can cast it.
Sword of Fire and Ice - You'll probably have some small creatures or tokens to carry it, and tutoring for it is easy.
Mask of Memory - If you run enough flyers, this might be worth it.
Tower of Fortunes - If you usually get enough mana to cast and activate it in the same turn, try it out.
Dreamstone Hedron - It's actually quite good here because you can make reliable land drops to cast it.
Three Dreams - Great if you run enough auras.
Ranger of Eos - Great if you run enough 1-drop creatures.
You'll also get a lot of card advantage through your recursion engines, which are detailed below.
AGGRESSIVE OR DEFENSIVE
One of the big questions you'll have to ask yourself when playing mono white is whether you want to be an attrition deck or an aggressive deck with land destruction. Armageddon effects are some of the best effects white offers, and your land draw makes recovery easy, but they conflict with a lot of your card draw and some of the threats that your mana doublers would otherwise enable. Consider this:
Armageddon
Ravages of War
Cataclysm
Catastrophe
VS.
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Eye of Ugin
Artisan of Kozilek
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Blightsteel Colossus
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Reya Dawnbringer
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Myojin of Cleansing Fire
Blazing Archon
Entreat the Angels
Storm Herd
Tower of Fortunes
Dreamstone Hedron
It's very difficult to run cards from each set in the same deck, so choose wisely! I personally prefer the second list, because white just doesn't have enough Armageddons to be reliable with them, and red or white/red does it better anyway. Of course, if you want to go Stax/Armageddon, there's Hokori, Dust Drinker.
MANABASE
On the issue of manabase, I tend to like Petrified Field and Crucible of Worlds in mono white, because Emeria and Eye of Ugin are SO powerful and you really want to protect them. Sun Titan is great because he can get all of these back. I'll explain that more in depth later.
Since you're running Crucible, you might as well include things it goes well with. Buried Ruin is obvious because it and Crucible protect each other. Haunted Fengraf is like a Buried Ruin for creatures. Strip Mine, Wasteland, Tectonic Edge, Terramorphic Expanse, Evolving Wilds, Windswepth Heath, Marsh Flats, Flooded Strand, and Arid Mesa are all strong considerations as well.
Kor Haven is another great land you can play in white, and can really help you defensively.
Mistveil Plains is worth running. It counts as a Plains for Emeria, and is very important for protecting the things in your graveyard. One of white's themes is recurring pieces that work in synergy to create huge advantages, and you don't want these pieces removed from the game. You can find this with anything that tutors for a Plains and have ways of recurring it. It's one of the best ways you can protect your graveyard.
(Other ways to protect your graveyard include sacrificing Kozilek or Ulamog at instant speed, and running Elixir of Immortality or Feldon's Cane.)
Windbrisk Heights - You should probably be able to get a free card off of this, so why not run it?
For mana rocks and mana doublers, you have the usual. Doublers include Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, and Caged Sun, but Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, Dreamstone Hedron, and Everflowing Chalice also boost your mana by a lot. Because they can be tapped for mana right away, they really don't cost you that much, considering your land draw makes it very easy to make reliable land drops so you can actually cast these things. You can use Enlightened Tutor to search for any of these. You can also try [card]Basalt
Mololith[/card] + Rings of Brighthearth for infinite mana.
Since Emeria and Eye of Ugin are so important, it's recommended that you run Expedition Map. It also plays nice with Sun Titan.
RECURSION ENGINE
What mono white lacks in card draw, it can often make up for with its recursion engine. The idea is to play defense, wipe the board when needed, and over time your dead things will start to become more and more difficult to keep off the board. Here's how the engine fits together. The first card is what is doing the recurring, and the following cards are what it recurs.
Reya Dawnbringer/Artisan of Kozilek/Karmic Guide/Pulsemage Advocate - each other, Sun Titan, Reveillark, Salvage Scout, Sanctum Gargoyle, Razor Hippogriff, Argivian Archaeologist, Order of Whiteclay
Sun Titan - Angelic Renewal, Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Eye of Ugin, Crucible of Worlds, Mimic Vat, Sword of Light and Shadow, Petrified Field, Buried Ruin, Haunted Fengraf, Salvage Scout, Argivian Archaeologist, Order of Whiteclay, Pulsemage Advocate
Order of Whiteclay - Salvage Scout, Argivian Archaeologist, Pulsemage Advocate
Crucible of Worlds - Petrified Field, Buried Ruin, Haunted Fengraf, Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Eye of Ugin
Petrified Field - Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Eye of Ugin, Buried Ruin, Haunted Fengraf
Buried Ruin/Salvage Scout/Sanctum Gargoyle/Razor Hippogriff/Argivian Archaeologist - Crucible of Worlds, Mimic Vat, Sword of Light and Shadow, Sanctum Gargoyle
Haunted Fengraf - Reya Dawnbringer, Artisan of Kozilek, Karmic Guide, Sun Titan, Reveillark, Salvage Scout, Sanctum Gargoyle, Razor Hippogriff, Argivian Archaeologist, Order of Whiteclay, Pulsemage Advocate
Eye of Ugin - Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Mimic Vat - Sun Titan, Reveillark, Karmic Guide, Salvage Scout, Sanctum Gargoyle, Razor Hippogriff
Sword of Light and Shadow - Sun Titan, Reveillark, Karmic Guide, Reya Dawnbringer, Artisan of Kozilek, Salvage Scout, Sanctum Gargoyle, Razor Hippogriff, Argivian Archaeologist, Order of Whiteclay, Pulsemage Advocate
Emeria, the Sky Ruin/Haunted Fengraf/Angelic Renewal - Sun Titan, Reveillark, Karmic Guide, Reya Dawnbringer, Salvage Scout, Sanctum Gargoyle, Razor Hippogriff
Reveillark - Karmic Guide, Salvage Scout, Sanctum Gargoyle, Argivian Archaeologist, Order of Whiteclay, Pulsemage Advocate
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth/Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - EVERYTHING...eventually...but more importantly they protect the rest of the engine from graveyard hate.
If it helps, you can draw a web and connect all of these visually. It's pretty impressive. Artisan of Kozilek can be shuffled back in by the other eldrazi and recurred with Eye of Ugin.
Here is a list of all of the pieces for convenience:
Petrified Field
Buried Ruin
Haunted Fengraf
Eye of Ugin
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Salvage Scout
Angelic Renewal
Crucible of Worlds
Mimic Vat
Sword of Light and Shadow
Pulsemage Advocate
Sanctum Gargoyle
Razor Hippogrif
Karmic Guide
Reveillark
Sun Titan
Artisan of Kozilek
Reya Dawnbringer
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Argivian Archaeologist
Order of Whiteclay
Pulsemage Advocate
REMOVAL
This is one of white's greatest strengths. It is probably the best color at general removal. Spot, mass, instant, creature, artifact, enchantment, land, exile - it can do it all, and cheaply! Here are some of my favorites.
These following four are VERY important, because they answer creatures cheaply, instantly, and mostly permanently. They should almost always be run, especially in a combo environment.
Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Crib Swap
Oblation
These are solid and double as combo pieces. Fiend Hunter is easily recurred.
Fiend Hunter
Guilty Conscience
These are very good if particular generals are giving you trouble, and running them allows you to get card advantage off of Three Dreams.
Arrest
Prison Term
Faith's Fetters
Here are some more enchantment-based removals, but that exile.
Journey to Nowhere
Oblivion Ring
Here are some more enchantments that keep creatures from attacking you.
Spirit Link
Pacifism
Temporal Isolation
Vow of Duty
These are among the best ways to deal with artifacts and enchantments.
Revoke Existence
Aura of Silence
Return to Dust
Dust to Dust
These are your generally-good wraths, and it's hard to go wrong with any of these. Oblivion Stone is especially good once you get Sun Titan and Emeria online. Yes, there are many to choose from!
Oblivion Stone
Nevinyrral's Disk
Magus of the Disk
Wrath of God
Day of Judgement
Rout
Sunblast Angel
Austere Command
Akroma's Vengeance
Planar Cleansing
Phyrexian Rebirth
Catastrophe
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Mass Calcify
Myojin of Cleansing Fire
Martial Coup
These are extremely powerful, and among the best wraths in the format, but you have to be careful that you don't mess up your own recursion engine if it's an important part of your strategy.
Hallowed Burial
Final Judgement
Terminus
Here are some other powerful options that you might like.
Condemn
Soul Snare
Wing Shards
Mangara of Corondor
False Prophet
Banishing Stroke
Karn Liberated
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
The first three are great if you are often the target of creature attacks. Mangara is a great deterrent, but takes a turn to set up. False Prophet is pretty niche, and probably is best in a tokens deck with land-based sac outlets like High Market. Ulamog is obvious if you're going with the Eye of Ugin plan. Banishing Stroke is overcosted, but you might like it with Scroll Rack or if you just want more exiling general removal. Karn is great to fit in if you have a spare slot, since you'll have so many ways to defend him and he can solve so many problems.
RANGER OF EOS TOOLBOX
Ranger of Eos is an amazing card and gives you much-coveted card advantage, but you have to build around it. Here are some of the best cards you can grab with him in mono white.
Mother of Runes
Serra Ascendant
Weathered Wayfarer
Salvage Scout
Student of Warfare
Gideon's Lawkeeper
Goldmeadow Harrier
Kami of False Hope
Benevolent Bodyguard
Mikaeus, the Lunarch
If you really go crazy and run most of these, consider running Proclamation of Rebirth.
DEADLY COMBOS
Reveillark + Karmic Guide + sac outlet = infinite sacrifices
Sun Titan + Angelic Renewal/Fiend Hunter + sac outlet = infinite sacrifices
Reveillark + Karmic Guide + sac outlet/Mirror Entity + 187 creature = infinite 187 triggers and infinite sacrifices
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Entreat the Angels/Martial Coup/Decree of Justice = infinite tokens
Guilty Conscience + Stuffy Doll = kill one player
Yosei, the Morning Star + Reya Dawnbringer/Emeria, the Sky Ruin + sac outlet - strong soft lock
Yosei, the Morning Star + Mimic Vat - strong soft lock
Blasting Station, Martyr's Cause, and Spawning Pit are among the better sac outlets you have to choose from.
EYE OF UGIN TOOLBOX
Pilgrim's Eye - Chump blocker or Skullclamp fodder that finds you a land and later works as a combo piece. Good to recur.
Solemn Simulacrum - Great card for so many reasons.
Duplicant - Good removal that can be recurred easily.
Wurmcoil Engine - Can make you lots of tokens once you can sac and recur it reliably. Goes well with your defensive strategy.
Steel Hellkite - Deals with anything, easily recurred, and kills with infinite mana.
Artisan of Kozilek - Amazing value with a lot of your stuff.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Probably what you'll tutor for first most of the time.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Call him when you're ready to win.
Blightsteel Colossus - Another game-winner.
187 CREATURES
These are some of your best creatures to recur and combo with.
Wall of Omens
Knight of the White Orchid
Fiend Hunter
Pilgrim's Eye
Stonecloaker
Solemn Simulacrum
Kor Cartographer
Ranger of Eos
Sanctum Gargoyle
Razor Hippogriff
Knight-Captain of Eos
Cloudgoat Ranger
Archon of Justice
Karmic Guide
Reveillark
Duplicant
Wurmcoil Engine
Sun Titan
Captain of the Watch
HATEFUL CREATURES
These are good to have around to prevent your opponents from killing you before you get your engine going. They are especially good because Sun Titan and Reveillark get them back for you.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben/Glowrider - Slows everyone down, just how you want it. Also disables some infinite combos.
Suture Priest - Good with your tokens, bad for opponents that run tokens, and stops some infinite combos.
Ethersworn Canonist - Anti-combo and slows the game down.
Grand Abolisher - Stops counterspell nonsense and helps you set up your own combos.
Aven Mindcensor - One of my favorite white cards and a personal staple. Stops combo, mana ramp, fetchlands, and tutoring in general, and also carries equipment well.
Leonin Arbiter - Similar to Aven Mindcensor, but be careful not to hinder yourself too much.
True Believer - Good if people are targeting you often.
Phyrexian Revoker - Stops lots of problematic cards, including equipment, sac outlets, and combo-focused generals.
PILLOW FORT
These cards make people think twice about attacking you, allowing you to build your engine in peace.
Gideon's Lawkeeper
Goldmeadow Harrier
Mother of Runes
Kami of False Hope
Crawlspace
Wall of Omens
Ghostly Prison
Mangara of Corondor
Moat
Magus of the Moat
Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
Aurification
Knight-Captain of Eos
Lightmine Field
Norn's Annex
Windborn Muse
Batterskull
Archon of Justice
Baneslayer Angel
Wurmcoil Engine
Darien, King of Kjeldor
Yosei, the Morning Star
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Blazing Archon
TOKEN PRODUCERS
Mobilization/Sacred Mesa/Thraben Doomsayer - Good for building up tokens over time, or to feed Skullclamp.
Luminarch Ascension - Great backup finisher, but don't play it too early. Set up your defenses first.
Decree of Justice/Martial Coup - These are deadly once you have enough mana.
Knight-Captain of Eos/Cloudgoat Ranger/Captain of the Watch - 187 creatures that bring tokens with them and make infinite tokens once you get your combo going.
Conquerer's Pledge/Nomads' Assembly/Increasing Devotion/Storm Herd - Drop a whole lot of tokens onto the battlefield.
Darien, King of Kjeldor - Deters attackers. If you have any painlands such as Ancient Tomb or Tarnished Citadel, or a Staff of Nin, you can ping yourself to create tokens.
If you run lots of token producers, consider Mentor of the Meek, Cathers' Crusade, Marshal's Anthem, Mirror Entity, Eldrazi Monument, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Equipment and equipment tutors should also be heavily considered, if only for reliably being able to find Skullclamp.
ONE-CARD WIN CONDITIONS
If you're having trouble actually killing people, try sliding some of these in.
Entreat the Angels
Luminarch Ascension
Storm Herd
Reverse the Sands
Angelic Destiny
Quietus Spike
Grafted Exoskeleton
Sigil of Distinction
Strata Scythe
Serra Avatar
Felidar Sovereign
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Blightsteel Colossus
You could also try making Akroma, Angel of Wrath or Avacyn, Angel of Hope your general.
OTHER STRONG CARDS
Stonecloaker - No other color gets anything like this. Instant speed, reusable graveyard hate that also protects your creatures and is a flying, equipment-carrying beater.
Angelic Destiny - A recurring aura that you can fetch with Three Dreams that turns your general into a fast clock.
Evangelize - This can be brutal late game, and if they make tokens, wrath them first.
Baneslayer Angel - Very solid creature and great on defense.
Serra Ascendant - Good if you're going with aggressive land-destruction. Otherwise, a solid creature that likes Sun Titan.
Mother of Runes - Excellent protection and a Ranger of Eos target.
True Conviction - AMAZING, but only if you're planning on being aggressive.
Steelshaper's Gift/Stoneforge Mystic/Stonehewer Giant - Great if you run equipment, which you probably should, if only for the card advantage. Sun Titan, Avacyn, and eldrazi love Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots.
Karmic Justice/Martyr's Bond/Eight-and-a-Half-Tails - Protect your stuff.
Enduring Renewal - An interesting card with combo potential.
Serra Avatar - HUGE backup win condition. Make sure you keep your life total high and have enough evasion.
Enlightened Tutor - You should probably run it. It's too versatile to pass up.
Idyllic Tutor - Good if you plan on winning with Cathars' Crusade or something.
Sigil of Distinction/Strata Scythe/Grafted Exoskeleton - These really help your general rack up the KOs. It might be worth including one.
Purity - Large, flying beater that protects you from burn.
Windbrisk Raptor/Celestial Force - Large body that gains you a lot of life.
Eternal Dragon - Finds you Mistveil Plains and can be recurred later.
There are many others that I'm not including here. Feel free to list them yourself if you think they're exceptional.
GENERALS AND STRATEGIES
There are some decent generals in mono white, but your strategies probably won't revolve around them. They are good for a backup plan, or for defending yourself or your permanants. Hokori is probably the most interesting one, as he enables an aggressive Armageddon/stax-based attack plan. Elesh Norn is probably the best one for decks running lots of tokens, and is a very solid pick for her weakening ability alone.
The angels and Yosei are large flyers that offer you various things and have the potential to kill with general damage, but are pretty interchangable. Eight-and-a-Half-Tails and Kemba do Voltron well, and Darien is the most defensive. Lin Sivvi is a strange sort of tutor, but is actually pretty good, although you have to build around her.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath - Good backup win condition and way to keep people from attacking you.
Iona, Shield of Emeria - Lock people out late-game.
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails/Avacyn, Angel of Hope - Protect your stuff.
Darien, King of Kjeldor - Discourage attackers.
Yosei, the Morning Star - Lockdown piece.
Hokori, Dust Drinker - Probably your best bet if you go the Armageddon route.
Kemba, Kha Regent - Tokens and equipment theme.
Isamaru, Hound of Konda - Good in 1 vs 1.
Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero - Offers strong tutoring, but must be built around.
Mangara of Coronder - Good for disrupting combos and general defense.
Mikaeus the Lunarch - Token general that likes infinite mana.
Odric, Master Tactician - Token general that might have potential.
Patron of the Kitsune - Token/anti-token.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Anti-combo staxs.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - shuts down weenies and offers a huge pump.
Hokori offers you a deck based around early aggression, land destruction, and stax effects like Winter Orb and Thorn of Amethyst.
Isamaru is only good for 1 vs. 1, so you shouldn't run it for multiplayer.
Kemba, Mikaeus, Odric, and Patron are only really good with lots of tokens.
Thalia and Odric require you to run lots of aggressive creatures, which is a risky plan in multiplayer.
Lin Sivvi brings a good rebel toolbox if you have some slots you need to fill.
This leaves us with the rest. They are all good for most mono white control decks, but in different ways, so you should figure out your deck and then pick one of these generals for it, depending on what you need the most. They are pretty interchangeable, depending on your current needs. Here are some ways you can build.
Recursion - Run the recursion engine pieces I mentioned earlier, along with lots of wraths and other forms of removal. You plan to win the long game through attrition, eventually by overwhelming them or assembling a combo.
Tokens - Run many of the token producers listed above, along with things like Mentor of the Meek, Mirror Entity, Eldrazi Monument, Cathars' Crusade, Marshal's Anthem, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, plus lots of equipment and equipment tutors.
Hybrid - Run most or all of the recursion engine, a few wraths and removals, some equipment, and some of the most dangerous token generators like Storm Herd, Entreat the Angels, and Luminarch Ascension.
My personal preferences for generals for these strategies are as follows:
Recursion - Avacyn, Angel of Hope, because she protects your combo pieces as well as you and doubles as a backup win condition. Try to find her some Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, or a Whispersilk Cloak.
Tokens - Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, because she pumps your tokens, protects you, and supports your board-wipe strategy. She is nasty with Angelic Destiny, so I would consider it as part of your Three Dreams package in case the tokens plan doesn't work.
Against Combo - Mangara of Corondor, if you find yourself playing against people who combo off before you can set up. Try to keep him on the board at all times, and he can keep them from comboing off while you execute your own plans.
LAST WORDS
I'll try to update this as I learn more about mono white and get some responses. Let me know if there's anything you think I should add, or any important cards or strategies I've missed. I hope this thread can become the definitive guide for anyone considering mono white.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
Or maybe that's just a suggestion :D, incredible post dude, this is the exact material that this forum needs to help new players and refresh the minds of the vets. You've presented a compelling argument for white and red, and while I doubt you've changed the fact that these are still the two weakest mono colors in the format, you've certainly made many of us reevaluate the exact power level of these colors in EDH.
Good show.
Also, I'm not sure what you were thinking of for Reverse the Sands being a 1-card win-con, but I just wanted to point out that you can't change the life totals. You can only redistribute them. If the table's fife totals are 10-23-5, they have to remain as 10-23-5 but in a different order, not 1-1-36.
I personally also like Argivian Find (and to a lesser extent, Mine Excavation).
Overall, thanks for continuing this into white. You've been fantastic.
—Lim-Dul, the Necromancer
EDH/Commander
WWMichiko Konda, Truth Seeker Mono-White Control
RWBasandra, Battle Seraph Sunforger Shenanigans
GRWZacama Loam & Lands
Cube
Draft my "Classic Border Cube"
WUBRGCheck out some of my older lists and my Type4 Cube!GRBUW
Having said that, if you run Land Tax(and in mono white why wouldn't you?) you need to be running Scroll Rack. The interaction is just too strong. Scroll Rack is fairly easy to recur and search for in W and is pretty good on it's own as well.
Edit: Nevermind, obviously I can't read.
Edit edit: Armistice is actually decent in mono W, steep mana cost but who caes about the 3 life? Also, Pursuit of Knowledge + Scroll Rack = good times
Good job.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
amazingly epic sig courtesy of DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Planes.
--- Meren of Clan Nel Toth --- Jhoira of the Ghitu --- Prime Speaker Zegana ---
--- Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief --- Ghoulcaller Gisa --- Akroma, Angel of Fury --- Titania, Protector of Argoth ---
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Thank you to Rivenor for this awesome banner!
Palladia-Mors of {The Spirit of EDH}
EDH
WLinvala, Queen of the AngelsW
WUThe Prison of the Grand ArbiterUW [Primer]
URNiv-Mizzet, Handcycling ComboRU
UTalrand, Drake-Slinging to VictoryU
WUGDerevi, Tactical ShufflingGUW
BCao Cao, Discard Stax of Absolute MiseryB
And also a bunch of other good equipment based white creatures. Please help if you know specific card names, but the one that let's you equip at instant speed, artifacts cost x less, etc.
Sig by myself! If you'd like a banner done, pm me! Avvie by DNC from Hero of the Planes Studio
That are some of the most awesome white equipment-cards.
Thanks. I'm on a phone while still trying to be apart of posting and such.
Sig by myself! If you'd like a banner done, pm me! Avvie by DNC from Hero of the Planes Studio
EDH
GWSigarda, Host of EnchantressGW[Primer]
But you already know that. What I'm suggesting are some fun cards I've played
Soldevi Visionary. It's unblockable to most people, kills enchantments, and is aggressive with or without some help. Throw a sword/boots/protection on it and it'll ruin games so quick.
Academy rector... Did someone mention this card already? How can you not?
Auriok Champion. Whoever said lifegain doesn't matter has never seen this card gain someone 30+ life. 4 players, 40 base life totals, and most players use etb triggers like it's the only thing you can do. Plus, it's harder to remove than it looks, and the WW is also cheap to play with.
Beloved Chaplain. This guy. This effin guy. No more vanilla dump truck attacks, no more 187s, no more anything. If you're playing the pace of SLOW, then this card will kill a player, 1 point at a time. If you like this effect, Commander Eesha is a good general.
Peacekeeper. Prison effect at its finest. Note the p/t.
Flickerform. It's toolbox-y.
Alright, I'm out of stuff for now.
:symr::symb: I hate your deck(Kaervek the Merciless)
Wait, how do I even hide it as a name title?
Kemba, Kostume
Ka...Oh god that's not a good alliteration.Wait, how do I even hide it as a name title?
Why not limit the list to more natural white cards (ie, cards that can only be used by decks with white)? Because every single high mana card listed is better utilized by decks with Green! And also equally utilized well by mono-red or any of the other mono's. Stop using a wholesale list of colorless and artifact staples and make a legit list.
White has:
1. the best removal
2. arguably a better mass-LD suite than Red
3. the two most abused recursive creatures (Reveillark and Karmic Guide) are white
4. Sun Titan which lends itself to accidental combos more often than the other 4
5. the best interactions with equipment artifacts
6. Elesh Norn, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope (basically some of the most hateful fatties to grief with)
7. best lifegain
8. Serra Ascendant, the most aggressive 1cc drop in EDH.
i really like these threads and like other people they have me brainstorming out deck ideas and im glad that several of these cards were brought to my attention like Salvaging Scout
R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
Two of mono white's strengths are mana doublers and land draw, which allow you to abuse Eye of Ugin. Everything colorless I listed is an important card to consider when building a mono white deck, and some fit exceptionally well in mono white, such as Dreamstone Hedron.
I tried to list most of the good cards mono white can use to do various things. White...colorless...does it matter? Sometimes a colorless card works exceptionally well in a particular archetype (Ebony Owl Netsuke in Owling Mine in Standard, for instance), and I think that should be mentioned. Other times, a colorless card gives a unique effect or an effect normally restricted to other colors that you can really benefit from. Why not list all of the options? How is this list not legit?
Also, I specifically didn't list some cards in the Eye of Ugin toolbox because they just don't usually go that well in mono white. An example is Psychosis Crawler, which is an extremely good card in some decks, but just not usually good here.
I think I've already covered all of this. The purpose of the post wasn't to just list good white cards. We already have a post for that. ( http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=252037 ) I'm trying to tie it all together and go over the different strategies you can follow while building your deck with these cards.
I'm not really sure what you want me to include that I haven't already. I could probably say more on equipment and expand the "strong cards" list, but is there anything else you'd suggest?
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
Could someone list this out for me. I feel like you'd be hard pressed to fill out a mono-:symw: mass LD suite that competes with :symr:'s...
R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
Haha, I didn't want to make my response too long, but yeah, I was thinking that too. I'll try to make two lists, and I'll even count strong tax effects for white.
WHITE
Restore Balance
Armageddon
Ravages of War
Cataclysm
Catastrophe
Hokori, Dust Drinker
RED
Impending Disaster
Orcish Settlers
Devastating Dreams
Price of Glory
Flashfires
Boil
Boiling Seas
Thoughts of Ruin
Bend or Break
Ruination
Epicenter
Keldon Firebombers
Apocalypse
Boom-Bust
Volcanic Awakening
Wildfire
Burning of Xinye
Jokulhaups
Rite of Ruin
Wake of Destruction
Devastation
Destructive Force
Obliterate
Decree of Annihilation
Myojin of Infinite Rage
Scorched Earth
Tectonic Break
Avalanche
This isn't even getting into some of red's targeted land destruction, such as Dwarven Miner, or the fact that it can easily destroy tons of mana rocks as well. Red can even recur its mass LD sorceries! White's only real advantage in this area is that it can use Hokori as a general. Of course, Armageddon and Ravages of War are premium cards, so RW will probably want them. But yeah, red is obviously better at this stuff.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
Yeah, but you only have two Armageddons in a mono white deck, so you can't really rely on them enough to build a strategy around them. Red easily has enough mass LD to focus an entire deck around it. But yeah, in RW, you probably should run the Armageddons.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
I know this is off-topic and sorry for the mini hi-jack but when the hell did Bend or Break get errata'd to read "non-token" lands? I know it's possible to do, but it seems like such a corner case that it's kinda ridiculous to make errata for.
Edit: To stay on topic, white has the best mass LD- red has the most of it. I would personally like to see red get an equivalent to armageddon, just to give it the best in what arguably is one of it's prime colour attributes- but it's never gonna happen.(it should also get a sinkhole equivalent too- but I'm dreaming there as well)
Good job though, great thread mate.......