MTG Salvation

For type and mana cost break-downs, you can view this deck on TappedOut.net.

Signed by Christopher Moeller, altered by BlackBull.

Soltari Visionary altered by Seesic.
Spirit of the Labyrinth & Stoneforge Mystic were purchased from eBay.

Angel of Serenity & Blazing Archon were purchased from eBay (though the subtle alter on my Archon is one of my favorites).
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite was signed by Brad Nelson after a tournament win.

Cataclysm altered by Seesic.
Unexpectedly Absent altered by Galspanic.
Tithe, Catastrophe, & Idyllic Tutor were purchased from eBay.

Karoo signed and altered by my closest friends within the game.

Great with Michiko
These cards are all here because they perform some of those crucial tenets I mentioned in the introduction, or add something amazing to MK that I thought was worth it.
Crovax, Ascendant Hero – He’s reducing the damage you take from most opponents. He’s acting as a pseudo-Night of Souls’ Betrayal and taking out most of the utility guys your opponents had. And he is acting amazing by pumping up all of your tokens, making your group of 1/1’s into something a little scarier. I really like what I’ve gotten from him.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Everything I mentioned with Crovax, but double. The only drawback is that she is a much larger target than Crovax, and has no way of protecting herself.
Thunderstaff – Amazing is all I can say. It reduces all the attackers coming in. It pumps all your tokens once you’re on the offensive. I once won a game from this card shutting down all my opponent’s Ophidian-like creatures, and he never dug himself out of a slow start. Do not try to play this deck without this card. Seriously. It's that good.
Guardian Seraph – Acts like a near Thunderstaff on legs. Err.. Wings.
Forcefield – An absolutely tailor-made coupling. MK makes every one of their beaters into a massive detriment to their board state. Love it.
Strionic Resonator - This could just as easily be grouped under "general utility cards", but its first use should be as a threat to copy the sacrifice trigger on Michiko. You also get the benefit of copying other hits like Sun Titan's resurrection trigger and Stoneforge Mystic's tutor trigger. Have fun!


Small, Utility Creatures
Argivian Archaeologist – I wanted some artifact recursion, and this guy is an oldie but a goodie. He's quick to come down if need be. He's perpetually re-useable. I think that's exactly what you're looking for in this format.
Academy Rector – Took the place of my Lost Auramancers, and I'm happy about it. I loved the guys, but they were just too darn slow when I needed to find an answer to a threat. It is really useful at finding that silver bullet quickly when you’re under extreme peril (like a Sacred Mesa to clog up the board, or a Crackdown to stop a player in their tracks).
Mirror Entity – Better than any straight “pump” card for your guys. With a moderate amount of mana, you turn your six 1/1’s into six 6/6’s, which is much scarier. It will also turn your utility creatures into deadly beaters once they seem to be “out-classed”. A top notch card when you have so many small, utility men.
Weathered Wayfarer – Gets any land, rather than just basics. And there’s always somebody playing ramp, so there’s always going to be someone with more land than you.
Silverchase Fox – End-all enchantment destruction. Was once a Kor Sanctifiers, but has more recently taken the place of a Ronom Unicorn in the list. I like being able to drop this out of my hand and affect the play-style of the rest of the table ever-so-slightly. I switched to the 'Fox, since I wanted another exile effect in the wake of the Theros gods being printed.
Aven Mindcensor – Insanely disruptive. Effectively shuts down all fetchlands and tutors. You are completely untouched by him, which puts him well above his friend Leonin Arbiter. And he has flash, so you can be extra sneaky to tutor-heavy opponents.
Glory – Allows for extra protection, or gives you alpha-strike capabilities against lots of decks.
Knight of the White Orchid – Gets you another land, with a body attached.
Soltari Visionary – Reusable enchantment destruction. Nobody ever plays with shadow, so you get through nearly every time you try.
Stonecloaker – Your only real grave hate. Acting as a bounce outlet to reuse your own triggers is just gravy.
Solemn Simulacrum - I finally made some space when I realized how low my land count was. He's always welcome.
Stoneforge Mystic - I'm only running a handful of equipment in the deck, but every one of them is worth searching up. While not essential to your deck functioning, all of the equipment in the deck offer a very powerful source of protection and card advantage. Taking the extra step to tutor for one of those few equipment is still worth it.


Larger, Offensive Creatures
Angel of Serenity – A very flexible threat. It has an immediate impact on the board, and can act as removal or recursion depending on what you need.
Sun Titan – A recursion engine for just about everything useful. Get back utility creatures. Get back enchantments. Get back your Strip Mine or Dust Bowl to go the mana denial route. It’s just a great beater for you.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath – A crowd favorite for a reason. She’s a very quick and efficient beat-stick. She also works really well with your Wrath-effects, thanks to haste.
Baneslayer Angel – One of the most efficiently costed aggressive beaters available to the mono-white mage. Just don't run it out right away unless you're sure you won't be buried in retaliation/fear.
Blazing Archon – I know I’ve said over and over that you want things to be able to attack you, but sometimes you just want some peace and quiet from the world. I currently run this over Iona, Shield of Emeria because it has a larger breadth in a multiplayer game. It also makes you less of a target than something like Iona, since decks can still function on their side of the table, they just can send their creatures your way.
Archon of Justice – A pretty good rattlesnake. I’ve never been disappointed to see it.
Eternal Dragon - Does a halfway decent Tithe impression in the early game, and it can come back around for card advantage or a pretty good sized body in the later game. It's a strong beater and pretty difficult to ultimately deal with for an opponent. A lot of people are turned off by the high mana investment to recur + cast in the same turn, but I look at it as more options for you in the late game. If this slot was any other creature, once it was dead, there would be nothing else to do with it. You at least have options when playing with the 'Dragon. Plus, nobody said you had to recur + cast in the same turn. Take your time.


Spot Removal
Oblivion Ring/Banishing Light – It’s often only a temporary solution to a problem with all of the sweepers played in this format, but it can hit anything. Remember you can hide your own card (as a sneaky play) to get it back after a Nevinyral’s Disk or Austere Command blows the world. It's also tutor-able with your enchantment search, which makes it useful enough for me to want to keep it in. It's not a true "silver-bullet" per-say, but it is still a great target in case of emergencies.
Seal of Cleansing – It sits on the board until you need it. It’s like paying for something on layaway, and helps keep people from messing around with you. It acts as a "rattlesnake" and forces players to act subtly different while on the battlefield.
Aura of Silence – Similar to the Seal, this will actively disrupt many players, so be careful about when you play it. In some games it will simply make some people mad at you, but in other games you’ll slow everyone down and blow them out.
Path to Exile – Your opponent gets a land off you, but it is a very efficient way to take out a scary creature. The side effect of boosting your ability to Land Tax helps with the drawback slightly.
Unexpectedly Absent – Tucks any problem permanent at instant speed. This can range from buying you a turn or 2, to slipping something to the top of your opponent's deck in response to a shuffle trigger. While not as strong now, thanks to the recent Commander "tuck" rulings, it still has enough flexibility as a "catch-all" answer to whatever may be on the other side of the board.
Swords to Plowshares – The classic. Still the benchmark for all great removal spells.
Return to Dust – An almost strictly superior version of Disenchant. It can exile your big threats (read: Theros gods), or you can get super value from it if you're not in a hurry.
Mouth of Ronom – This gives you another Snow-type permanent for Scrying Sheets, as well as providing a repeatable source of removal when paired with Crucible of Worlds. (Plus, it can't be countered by any normal means!)


Sweepers
Austere Command – It’s super-flexible. That makes me happy to run it, even without a non-regeneration clause.
Martial Coup – Board sweeper and token generator. It hasn’t let me down yet.
Cataclysm – Mass board wipe. Be careful where you play it though. I once saw a player cast this against a Sasaya deck, with a blowout on the other end quickly following.
Phyrexian Rebirth – I don’t like the fact that the creatures can regenerate or about the 6 cmc I’m paying for it. I really like the big token I get afterwards though. Try it with a Lightning Greaves on your board. It makes you smile.
Rout – Giving an instant speed way to wrath the board is pretty handy.
Catastrophe – I've won many, many games on the back of Cataclysm leaving me in a much better board position than my unsuspecting opponents. This card gives me the flexibility to save me when I need it, or to put me way ahead when I want to put someone away.
Wrath of God – The classic. It’s far better than Day of Judgment due to the non-regeneration clause. And it’s much cheaper than basically everything else.


Card Advantage
Land Tax – Really, the true reason to ever run mono-white.
Sensei’s Divining Top – One of few “auto includes” for nearly every deck.
Skullclamp – With some tokens on the board, you’re quickly drawing lots of cards. With the sweepers you're running, you also draw lots of cards.
Sword of Fire and Ice - Protection for your creatures, removal on your opponents' utility men, and card draw all in one package. That's what you call card advantage.
Crucible of Worlds – It’s in nearly every deck I make. You just need a way to come back from a late game Armageddon or Obliterate. You get the added benefit that you can replay any lands you discarded from over-taxing earlier in the game. There is also the synergy with Cataclysm and your "land destruction lands".
Scroll Rack – Part two of your draw engine. It’s also a great way to filter your hand in conjunction with any shuffle effect, or a way to hide a card from mass discard.
Scrying Sheets - I was resistant to run this in the deck at first, but there is very little downside to including it in the deck. If you are trying to use this as a pure CA-engine, you're going to be disappointed with it. But in the mid and late game if you have this to sink your extra mana into, you will slowly build up incremental card advantage through improving your draws for the turn. You can see more of the discussion to including this in later posts in this thread (posts 21 and 22).
Mimic Vat – So absolutely crazy with the number of sweepers in the format (and in my deck). Sometimes you'll get a Solemn Simulacrum or the like, and go crazy with advantage. Sometimes you'll get an opponent's Puppeteer Clique and laugh a lot. You should just be playing this card.
Crystal Ball – A “poor man’s” SDT, it’s also very synergistic with the Scroll Rack in the deck. You can always scry away any dead cards that you don’t want to see coming back.
Argivian Find – Gets back quite a bit in the deck, but you’re probably going to be using it most often to get back your Land Tax. It's an instant and it's so cheap that I don't really ever want to run anything in its place.
Enlightened Tutor – A great tutor for white, and significantly more flexible than its younger cousin, Idylic Tutor.
Idylic Tutor - More search! Conducive to the "silver bullet" strategy that I want to be playing.
Tithe - Cheap and basically invisible, Tithe helps to improve your draws later in the game, and can be real card advantage if you get to search out 2 Plains instead of 1. You're probably not using your early mana much, so there's no harm in using it as a chance to thin your deck a little. Remember that it says "plains" and not "basic land"; get that Mistveil Plains out of the deck in the late-game!
Secluded Steppe – Sometimes you want a land, sometimes you want a different card. You can also get added benefit by cycling it, then playing off of a Crucible of Worlds
Drifting Meadow – See above.
Emeria, the Sky Ruin – You find lots of Plains from the deck. This land likes when lots of Plains are in play. If it sticks around on the board, you’re usually going to take over from there. Also, copying this with a Vesuva is completely hilarious.
Thawing Glaciers – Deserves to be in every deck supporting enough basics. There is a reason that this land was banned in several formats back in the day. You dig yourself out of slow starts, and it turns questionably low-land starting hands into very strong ones.
Mistveil Plains - I guess its technically not card advantage per say, but it will allow you some re-use of your enchantments or any other card that ended up in the grave. With all the shuffling in the deck from Land Tax, Thawing Glaciers, and other such goodies, you have a pretty decent chance of getting your card back in the game.


Controlling Elements
Spirit of the Labyrinth - Keeps control decks in check, while you ignore it with your Tax-Rack combo. Plus, you can tutor it easily as part of your suite of silver bullets. AND it comes back from the trigger on Sun Titan. There's just so much to love.
Staff of Domination - What can't it do? This just does whatever you need it to for your current game state. Tap down a potential attacker. Get an extra use out of your Weathered Wayfarer. Call back one of your creatures for defense after an attack. Draw some cards. Or, if you have enough mana available, untap it a few times and do all of the above.
Karmic Justice – Everyone loves to nuke permanents. When you’re in a multiplayer game, someone always has removal. This will either leave you laying low, or punish the most aggressive of the players at the table.
Crackdown – It’s one of the reasons I can classify this as a controlling deck. And again, nobody plays white, so its drawback is usually minimal.
Blind Obedience - Gives you a mana sink in the late game. Slows down any ramp decks using Artifacts. Buys you a ton of time against attack-based Tooth and Nail or Genesis Wave plays. Does a great job of stopping last-ditch efforts at defense. And it can disrupt token strategies. Seems like a great addition, especially since it fits into my enchantment "toolbox". Plus, synergy with Crackdown!
Thespian's Stage – Copy your opponents’ most effective land, or make a new copy of a Strip Mine to take out any pesky ones. Slightly better in my deck than a Vesuva due to targets like Karoo or Kjeldoran Outpost.
Dust Bowl & Strip Mine– I find that two "land destuction"-lands is about right so you have a decent chance of getting one, while not being overly oppressive. You have a choice between several for these spaces: Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, and Tectonic Edge in addition to these two that I've chosen. I like the Dust Bowl because it allows to to control your number of lands for things like Land Tax, while providing increased ability to hit problem areas like Coffers+Urborg or Gaea's Cradle. The Ghost Quarter does the best job of contributing to your "lay-low" strategy, so you may want to consider that piece as well. Wasteland definitely looks "nicer" than a Strip Mine when there is also a Crucible of Worlds involved, so be careful not to frighten anyone with that. I run the Strip Mine pretty much just for nostalgia. Wasteland will often keep you at a lower profile at the table.
Mystifying Maze – It generates mana, and protects you from attackers. And it’s un-counterable. Sounds good to me.
Kor Haven - Another poor-man's Maze of Ith, I like it for it's creature control, as well as the fact that it makes mana. It's pretty close to a white Mystifying Maze


Token Generators
Sacred Mesa – In the Mobilization camp of effectiveness. I prefer this one, despite the upkeep, due to the flying on the Pegasus tokens.
White Sun's Zenith – Flexible. Instant-speed. Re-usable. It's whatever you need it to be depending on the game state: a few chump blockers, or a late game assault.
Kjeldoran Outpost – It’s slow, and can potentially equate to massive card disadvantage if it gets destroyed quickly, but it’s also an un-counterable token source. And it’s awesome because nobody knows how to pronounce the name. (Seriously, is it Jell-doran? I’ve also heard Kell-jorian, and several others.) Really fun when you drop this through countermagic to pair up with an on-board Skullclamp


The Oddballs
Lightning Greaves – It is always a good idea to protect your best creature, whether it’s your commander, something like Blazing Archon, a card-advantage engine like Argivian Archaeologist, or just a big, fat Baneslayer Angel.


Mana Development
Gauntlet of Power – Effectively doubles your mana capacity, as well as making the win conditions better. One of the best cards to have in a mono-colored deck.
Extraplanar Lens – It’s potentially card disadvantage, and it’s probably the reason I don’t run Endless Horizons. Having said that, you get a huge boost in mana if it sticks around. Running a snow-land mana base also mitigates some of the risk of your opponents getting a benefit from the symmetrical nature of this effect.
Sol Ring – Another of those rare “auto include”s. Turn one Sol Ring just puts you so far ahead in the game.
Snow-Covered Plains – Gives you your "Snow"-type permanents for Scrying Sheets while improving your Extraplanar Lens (since snow-covered is far less common than regular Plains).
Karoo – Simply a great card to run with land tax. It all but ensures that you will be behind in land count (but not mana development) compared to your opponent.

These are all cards that I didn’t include in the deck, but if you are looking at creating something similar, I think you should consider. Many of them are strong choices in the right metagame.

Nevinyral's Disk, Oblivion Stone, & Perilous Vault - Great sweepers to use in most decks, but I feel like they hit too many of your own permanents in a deck such as this. If you feel otherwise, then by all means, run them in your version.

Ghostly Prison - One of the tougher cuts I made from my list. I love the card as a deterrent against weenie swarms, and it should be one of the first cards you look at when contemplating a white control deck.

Solitary Confinement, Ivory Mask, & Aegis of the Gods - Strong against targeted combos, but they usually don’t do enough to give you real value in the format. I'd probably give preference to the Solitary Confinement as a more utilitarian protection option. Your card advantage from the land tax will also let you keep it around for a long time, and a Scroll Rack will keep you “drawing” cards from under the enchantment. Aegis of the Gods could also be very useful, as it is not only tutorable as an enchantment, but also your cheapest option in regards to cmc. The drawback to the Aegis: splash damage from your Wrath effects.

True Believer – Not tutorable within your deck, and dies by accident from your sweepers. Not really worth it other than as extra redundancy if you're already running the options above in a combo-heavy metagame.

Spirit of the Hearth – It’s another option against combo, although a slower one. The fact that it has a good sized body attached makes it too expensive (cmc-wise), which really eliminates it from usefullness. If I need protection against a combo deck, I really need to be dropping that protection on the first few turns.

Seht’s Tiger – Again, if you have combo in your metagame, this is a really strong card. It’s a combat trick. It’s a pseudo-counter against most combos. It bounces back to your hand from Stonecloaker or Dust Elemental for multiple uses.

Rule of Law & Eidolon of Rhetoric - Useful in some combo metas, or against "swarm" decks that are designed to play lots of spells every turn (think: [card=Edric, Spymaster of Trest]Edric[card]).

Ivory Tower, Beacon of Immortality, Invincible Hymn, Pulse of the Fields – Straight life gain is never that good in any format, unless you are running something to take advantage of it. Especially in EDH, where all it takes is 21 commander damage, you don’t need to be wasting your time with any of these.

Felidar Sovereign, Serra Ascendent, Resolute Archangel – These work well as a package. There’s always the possibility of the turn one 6/6, flying, lifelinker, but I’ve found that most people don’t appreciate seeing it that early, and it really goes against the idea of staying under the radar. Also, if someone knows you're running an "instant win" creature like Felidar Sovereign, you're not likely to ever fly under the radar.

[Ghostly Prison[/c]/Windborn Muse/Norn's Annex – Great options for the deck. They really shine in metagames with several token decks, but they just don't do much when you're staring down a possible Worldspine Wurm or the like.

Urza’s Armor – It acts like a Thunderstaff at twice the cost, and doesn’t include the pumping ability on the side. I just don’t feel like that’s worth it.

Hedron-Field Purists – Acts like Urza’s Armor on legs. Too much of a mana-sink compared to the Guardian Seraph. It is another decent option if you want to focus all your energies onto maximizing Michiko.

Ghosts of the Innocent – I like it, but I think it’s just too expensive to be worth it. I may be wrong (wouldn’t be the first time), but I think it’s on the outside looking in.

Ajani Steadfast - Amazing ultimate for this deck, but nothing else is remotely intriguing to me.

Spear of Heliod - Can act as additional deterrent in conjunction with your general, but I feel like there's probably too much overlap in this area.

Darrien, King of Kjeldor - Another card that is fantastic as an attack deterrent. I had it in the deck for a while, but opted for a slightly cheaper cmc alternative.

First Response - Similar to Darien, but doesn't get hit from Wrath-effect splash damage.

Oblation - A great utility removal spell, with the added possibility of drawing you a few cards if you need them in a pinch. Could easily take the place of the Unexpectedly Absent I run in my list.

Condemn & Oust - Both great in certain situations, it's just not necessary to have a huge number of 1-for-1 removal spells. If you like these better than one's I'm currently running, please feel free to make whatever switch you prefer. They're all pretty similar. Please note though, that Condemn requires the creature to be attacking, so can significantly limit the versatility of the card.

Decree of Justice – It can make a bunch of soldiers, or a few bigger angels. It’s almost never a dead card, since you can just cycle it away even if you don’t make any tokens. I simply chose not to run it as a one-shot token generator in favor of White Sun's Zenith.

Storm Herd - A had this in the deck in the earlier stages of construction. I loved the look of this as a potential blow-out. But then after seeing it sit in my hand all game a dozen times with me never able to cast it until it only provided around 7 tokens, I gave up on it. If you have different results with the card, please feel free to run it to your heart's content. I for one would not recommend this.

Akroma’s Vengeance, Final Judgment, Hallowed Burial, Mass Calcify – All great cards. There is a point though where running wraths just to have them stops being fun. Any of these can replace any other wrath effect in the deck.

Fated Retribution - Instant speed wrath! It deserves its own mention just based on that fact. The scry effect will probably rarely be relevant when playing it.

Eldrazi & Titans – They’re both very good. If you have some mill decks around in your metagame, you should probably include one of the eldrazi titans. I choose not to, simply due to the enormous target it turns you into. The deck is also a little soft to Bribery so I prefer to leave the Eldrazi at home.

Maze of Ith - Certainly a great option to use in the slots I have dedicated to either Kor Haven or Mystifying Maze. Since it cannot produce mana on its own, and due to my heavy use of Land Tax in the current deck, I don't want to have a lot of lands in the deck like this.

Luminarch Ascension - I ran it for quite a while in here, but found that it gathered too much hate. It's a very powerful card in a slow environment, so definitely keep it in mind. I found it to make me look like too big of a threat, which the deck does not want to do. I rarely ever got the enchantment active from attacks and burn, so it usually ended up as a dead card that actively killed me. Not great.

Reya Dawnbringer - A great source of potential, recurring card advantage. My issue with it is two-fold. You need to wait until your following upkeep to gain any benefit, and the mana cost is pretty high for a creature without any real protection or offensive ability.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope - Truly an awesome tool when things come together, as it transforms all of your board-wipes into one-sided effects. However, Avacyn carries a good deal of hate just by reputation. I think you're better off utilizing this creature in a deck specifically built to take advantage of her.

Soul of New Phyrexia - An intruiging option when paired with all the [card=Wrath of God]Wrath[card]-effects in the deck. Probably too mana intensive, though, and you're likely better off just running Avacyn, Angel of Hope.

Vesuva - Another "clone" effect for lands. I wanted to keep my Snow-land count relatively high, so I'm running Thespian's Stage in its place. Still a great card, and a particularly good option if you're running into a lot of troublesome legendary lands in your playgroup.

Wing Shards & Celestial Flare - If you're running into a lot of Voltron-style decks (such as Zur the Enchanter, Rafiq of the Many, or Uril, the Miststalker), then I'd recommend having at least one of these in there. The sacrifice ability is not targeted at the creature, and gets around things such as hexproof or indestructibility.

Culling Dias & Homeward Path - Both are pretty great options if you foresee running up against decks with a lot of Control Magic-type effects. Both can also be tutored through various means currently in the deck (Enlightened Tutor and Weathered Wayfarer respectively).

Hushwing Gryff & Containment Priest - Great metagame calls for decks with lots of EtB effects. If mono-white had better tutor options, I'd probably want to play one or both of these as-is. On it's own, I feel that they would just be too inconsistent of an answer for me.

Ronom Unicorn / Kami of Ancient Law - Another tool for the hardcore "rattlesnake" approach to deckbuilding. It forces players to think differently, and these cards can be recurred with your Sun Titan. These can also carry a Sword well, and should be considered for a more equipment heavy build of the deck. If you're running a Reveillark in your build, you should probably also have one of these.

Dispeller's Capsule - Provides that "rattlesnake" appeal like Seal of Cleansing, but can be recurred with your Argivian Archaeologist as well as your Sun Titan.

Soul Snare - Another "rattlesnake" effect. Its up to you if you can find some room for it in your list.

There are clearly some things from the old Deck Parfait lists that this EDH is missing.
Soldevi Digger and Reito Lantern – These let you reuse a lot of your cards very well. I don’t have a lot of search in the deck aside from lands or enchantments, but if you want to explore that possibility on your own, I do really like these cards. I'm running a Mistveil Plains to cover this capacity currently.

Balancing Act/Restore Balance – Seeing Balance on the ban list for EDH made me very sad indeed. I fully understand the RC’s reasoning for excluding it from the format, and there are a few cards that give similar effects. If you want to play a version of the deck with fewer creatures, and more token generators, I would strongly recommend looking at these two cards. As it stands with my list, I doubt I would be disrupting much of anyone but myself by running them.

Zuran Orb and Planar Birth – If you’re concerned about aggro, put them in. The Planar Birth allows for the “combo finish” with your token generators. 1) Land tax all of your lands from the deck, and discard them all to the grave: 2) Cast PB: 3) Profit. The ZOrb is a strong option regardless, because you can control your ability to Land Tax, Weathered wayfarer, and the like.

Jester’s Cap – If you have combo decks in your area, it may be a good idea to put this in. You can neuter a good number of strategies by taking a few key cards from their deck.

Story Circle – I like it as an emergency out with the couple of enchantment searchers, but it’s only effective with a mono-colored opponent. How many times have you played a multiplayer game with multiple mono-colored decks of the same mono-color?

Endless Horizons – If you want more deck thinning, this is another great option. There is always the strong possibility that it will be destroyed by something, so make sure you never remove all of your lands when you play this, or you’ll be paying for it the rest of the game. Generally, ~5-7 is all you’ll need to get a strong value from it, without facing the crippling sorrow of its destruction.

Leonin Arbiter - A very disruptive "hate-bear". In a combo or tutor heavy metagame, I'd recommend running it. For me, I was the one being disrupted more often than not.

Worship – It goes really well with a token generator on the board. If you’re having trouble with aggressive decks, slide one of these into the deck.

Mine Excavation - It's like a double Argivian Find. Well, it has the potential to be like a double Find, but it's double the cost and has the potential to be redirected. I may come around on it, but probably not.

Moat – If you have the money, go for it. I don’t have a copy of this card anymore, so I don’t have it in the deck. Usually, you’d only want either this or the Humility I'm currently running, but in 100 card singleton, you’re probably safe running both. If you want a silver bullet against aggro, you can’t go wrong with either of these. Just be wary of the $200 price tag.

Update: June 2015
-Ronom Unicorn
Replaced with a copy of Silverchase Fox to be able to exile the Theros gods. The "rattlesnake" effect is still present, and it gives me a bit more redundancy when up against those big bullies.

--W--

Update: July 2014
-Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Elspeth just never did enough on her own. There was always the "magical Christmas-land" vision of gaining her emblem and repeatedly wrathing the board, but it never once came to fruition. (It's an important lesson in not playing a planeswaker only for the ultimate effect.) I've replaced her with Staff of Domination, which offers a veritable cornucopia of options, which are (almost) all useful, and can all effect the board right away.

--W--

Update: February 2014
-Culling Dais
It was my only sac outlet in the deck, but its uses never really made a large enough impact for me in games. I'm trying out Spirit of the Labyrinth in its old slot, which I think should help to mitigate some of mono-white's disadvantages in the card-advantage department compared to opponents'.

--W--

Update: November 2013
-Condemn
Very nice against Voltron commanders, but needing to target an attacking creature just made it more trouble than I wanted to deal with. Really, how often is that Volron really attacking with no protection on itself? I think replacing this with Unexpectedly Absent gives me a little more utility in the slot, while still keeping the mana-cost low enough to really want to have it.

--W--

Update: August 2013
-Ghostly Prison
One of my least favorite cuts I've had to make. Ghostly Prison is such a fantastic card against weenie swarms and Edric-style swarm decks, but it really does nothing against the guy who ramps up to an Eldrazi or Worldspine Wurm. This was replaced by my Strionic Resonator, since it can be used to double the sacrifice trigger on Michiko, or with any number of other triggers in the deck. It's just a much more flexible and versatile option in the deck.

--W--

Update: March 2013
-Vesuva
-Saltbast
I replaced my Vesuva with a copy of Thespian's Stage. They serve basically the same function in the deck, but I feel like the Stage has the edge. Since the Stage will be in play when making a copy of whatever land, it won't trigger the "land bounce" from my own Karoo or the "land sacrifice" from my Kjeldoran Outpost. It is slightly slower overall, since you need to invest 2 plus the Stage itself to make a copy, but it has the benefit of entering the battlefield untapped to begin with. This should assist in making the early game smoother, while giving more utility in the later stages of the game.

Saltblast was always good, but not great. It has a lot of utility to it, but it was just sooooo sllloooowwww... And I can't even begin to tell you how many times I wished that it was an instant rather than a sorcery. I'll be trying out Blind Obedience in its place.

--W--

Update: January 2013
-1x Snow-Covered Plains
Following TK's second campaign for the inclusion of Tithe, I wanted to revisit its inclusion. While I do think that the Eternal Dragon I originally replaced it with is a much better card, on reconsidering, I feel like I can afford to include Tithe as well. Tithe acts as a 1:1 with a Plains in effect, but only if you can regularly have a W available to cast it. Even after making the replacement, I still have better than 85% chance of having an untapped W available to me by my second turn. With the looser mulligan rules in EDH, I think that's good enough to assume I'll be able to take advantage of my Tithe on a regular basis. While this slightly weakens my Scrying Sheets effect, I think that I'm still better off for it.

--W--

Update: November 2012
-Reya Dawnbringer
I kept Reya around for a long time, and probably longer than I should have. It was definitely a great potential source of card advantage, but I rarely saw her last until my next upkeep. I'm making the switch to Angel of Serenity in this spot. The angel is a much more flexible space in here. I can recur a creature or two back from my own graveyard if I need to. I can hit the graveyard from any reanimator (read: Karador players if they're threatening action. I can hit creatures on the battlefield with a pretty decent o-ring impression. And probably most importantly, the effects are immediate rather than taking until my next upkeep. The angel is also much more aggressive than Reya was, so I can hit harder when trying to close out a game.

--W--

Update: August 2012
-Dust Elemental
-Luminarch Ascension
These were two cards that didn't provide any real value to the deck. The Ascension usually turned the entire table against me while never becoming active. As soon as it hit the board, no matter what else was around in other players' field, this made me appear to be a huge threat. Since everyone can prevent this just by ganging-up on me, that's what happened every single time. This whole phenomenon goes against the idea of staying under the radar during the game.

The Dust Elemental was a card that I really wanted to like. I could bounce my own utility creatures to reuse their enters-the-battlefield effects, or I could bounce my creatures to save them from an impending wrath-effect. The problem was that I no longer really have creatures with etb effects in the deck. And saving them from a Wrath was never efficient enough.

To offset the intended card advantage of the Elemental, and the offense lost from the Ascension, I added in Sword of Fire and Ice. This lets me draw into cards that I need, and acts as a source of removal on utility creatures at the same time. I had mentioned once before that if I added in one additional piece of equipment, that I would find space for a Stoneforge Mystic, so this was the logical second addition.

--W--

Update: July 2012
-Transcendent Master
-Wing Shards
I hated to remove my Wing Shards, but it was just time to move on. I brought in Mouth of Ronom in this update to boost the effectiveness of both my Scrying Sheets and my Crucible of Worlds. Recurring, uncounterable removal is really quite good.

The Transcendent Master came out as another effort to reduce the mana curve of the deck slightly. Although the Master only had a cmc of 3, I needed to spend another 6 mana after that to make him effective, or 12 total after casting him to fully level him up. If he was bounced back to my hand, I needed to start over with it. I did like the lifelink ability on him, so I took this opportunity to replace him with the Baneslayer Angel that had been on my wish-list for a while. As a secondary benefit, Baneslayer can be quite a house against a Kaalia of the Vast deck.

--W--

Update: February 2012
-Flagstones of Trokair
-Ghost Quarter
-Plains
-Mass Calcify
-Jade Monolith
At this point, I was simply fed up with my Jade Monolith. I really wanted it to work, and I left it in this deck far too long in retrospect. The card always seemed like a great trick to get synergy with Michiko Konda, but I don't think I ever ended up casting it and activating it against any opponent. I had always dreamed of adding in a Forcefield as a huge synergistic effect with Michiko, but I never wanted to drop the money to upgrade. Luckily for me, one of my best friends knew about my wish, and provided me with a copy of Forcefield as a belated wedding gift. Thank you, Justin.

After some discussion on here and some testing on Cockatrice, I decided to make the switch from regular basics to snow-covered and bring in a Scrying Sheets for a repeated source of card advantage. Not only that, but the switch also helps to make my Extraplanar Lens more effective by comparison. Once this was done, it effectively made my Flagstones of Trokair worse than a regular Snow-Covered Plains, so it came out to reflect that. My testing while looking at the inclusion of the Sheets also gave me some good feedback on another aspect of the deck. I was winning a lot of games on Cockatrice through destroying all lands with Cataclysm and rebuilding faster than everyone else thanks to my Sun Titan, Land Tax, and Crucible of Worlds. To supplement this ability, I decided that I wanted another option for land destruction. I settled on Catastrophe because it would still act as a Wrath effect when I needed that, but could also be used as my 'geddon effect when I was looking for that end-game.

At this time, I also re-evaluated my Ghost Quarter. While it did provide the land destruction I wanted, I decided that running Dust Bowl would allow me to more effectively control when I could activate my Land Tax. Even without the tax on the board, it would allow for repeated activations to take care of multiple troublesome lands.

--W--

Update: December 2011
-Disenchant
-Everflowing Chalice
-Deathless Angel
-Darrien, King of Kjeldor
-Sculpting Steel
-Kor Sanctifiers
Ultimately, this update was an attempt to get the mana-curve lower for the deck, while adding in a bit of synergy and some upgrades. Disenchant was replaced with Return to Dust when I finally tracked one down. Kor Sanctifiers was replaced with Ronom Unicorn to provide an on board threat to enchantments and pair with the effect from my Sun Titan (the sanctifiers cannot have the kicker activated if I bring it right back onto the battlefield with the Titan). A Solemn Simulacrum made his long overdue arrival in the list, while bringing in a few lands to boost my precariously low count at the time. Guardian Seraph works just as well with my commander as Darrien did, and brings my curve down a bit. And finally a Ghostly Prison provides some more defense for me while taking out the mana-hog that is Deathless Angel.

--W--

Update: September 2011
-Ajani Goldmane
I picked up an Elspeth, Knight Errant right around this time. I felt that Elspeth was much more useable in this deck. Ajani's +1 ability was essentially useless, and I never made it up to ultimate with it. The -1 on Ajani was somewhat useful, as it provided vigilance as a way of protecting itself, but it's gas would still run out pretty quickly going -1 each turn. I briefly considered Elspeth Tirel as a replacement, but ultimately decided that life gain was again not going to be too great for me and going -2 each turn was going to run out even faster than Ajani had. I settled on my Knight Errant, since both non-ultimates were +1, soldiers were a decent source of chump blocking, and the +3/+3 ability turns all of my utility wimps into legitimate attacking threats. Not super, but at least a small chunk of life from a defender. If I could ever get her up to ultimate, that would also certainly make it hard for me to lose.

--W--

Update: June 2011
-Isochron Scepter
-Storm Herd
-Eight-and-a-half Tails
-Leonin Arbiter
-Magus of the Tabernacle
-Razor Hippogriff
-Lost Auramancers
-Tithe
This was the first update to the list using the initial feedback from members of the mtgsalvation community. A few cards went in as strict upgrades to what I had in the list already. Academy Rector for my Lost Auramancers and Argivian Archaeologist for my Razor Hippogriff. Isochron Scepter is a card that I always have liked, but I really didn't have a high enough instant count to justify really running it. Mimic Vat was an easy replacement that has synergy with all of the board sweepers in the deck.

I wanted to adopt a more "silver bullet" style like the old Deck Parfait, so I needed to find some room for Idyllic Tutor and a Humility. The Magus was the closest approximate to a controlling element to switch out for the Humility, and it was also anti-synergy with my own token producers.

Storm Herd never, ever worked out for me. I always sat in a game with the Herd in my hand without being able to do anything with it. Eventually I'd get up to the necessary 10 mana, but I'd only be at about 10 life by that point. Then I was an even bigger target since I just made more tokens, and I swiftly died at the hands of the remainder of the table. I replaced it at this update with a copy of White Sun's Zenith, which makes larger tokens at variable levels of mana availability. I can make a handful of tokens now to provide some defense, then draw it later in the game and create a large army with help from a Gauntlet of Power. And it's an instant, so I don't paint a target on my head for a full round if I do create a good 15 tokens or so.

A Tithe also made it's way into the deck temporarily around this time, but this was swiftly replaced with a copy of Eternal Dragon. Essentially the same effect, but repeatable several times with the dragon, and a difficult to truly answer threat for the long game.

My recommended Planar Deck is as follows:


A few other planes you may want to take a look at:

If playing with classic Vanguard cards, I'd recommend using Takara or Tawnos as your Vanguard avatar. In environments using many steal or Control Magic effects, Takara is going to be your best friend. The current list is light on the number of sac-outlets, so this provides you with constant access to one of the best available. If on the other hand, you're looking to play a more controlling game, and do not have fears about the theft of your permanents, Tawnos gives you the ability to play everything on someone else's turn. You'll rarely need to use your mana on your own turn, giving you the best knowledge of the board state before playing your permanents for the turn. Tawnos and Takara also give you an invaluable +3 hand-size bonus for the game.

If you are playing with the Magic: Online avatars, I would recommend using Prodigal Sorcerer as your Vanguard avatar. You get fantastic filtering ability every turn of the game, and a small boost to your hand size. This filtering can pair with your Scrying Sheets very well, or just help dig through your deck for a card that you really need. The effect is a "may" rather than a "must", so you never have to bin a card that you aren't completely happy with doing.

Icy Manipulator - My favorite card of all time. It's not extremely efficient in a more recent sense, but I still love it. I would be able to run with the old-school "combo" of Wrath effect + Icy: the fewer creatures they have in play, the more effective the Icy is at keeping them tapped down.

Evangelize - With the wrath effects in the deck, it is much less of a choice on the opponents' part. It's something that could act as semi-board control, as well as a repeatable threat for me. My only concern with it is that you are paying 9 for each creature. That's an awful lot.

Karmic Guide - I'm wrathing a whole lot. I could potentially use KG to bring back a threat against a depleted board, or just grab a pre-used utility man like my Silverchase Fox.

Faith's Reward - Definitely a great way to turn your Wraths into a landslide in your favor. Using this with Cataclysm or Catastrophe would be a complete blowout. I need to think about it, and keep it in mind when I'm playing games in the near future.

Adarkar Valkyrie - Just about the only other Snow-type permanent I would think about running. If I decide that I want some more graveyard diving, I'll have a few options to decide from.

Fated Retribution - As I repeatedly say, instant-speed wrath effects are hard to come by. I may end up slotting this into the deck as time goes on.

Burnished Hart - I've been strongly considering the 'Hart as a bit of a ramp enabler for the deck. It's miles stronger than Kor Cartographer on its own, it can be recur'd with my Argivian Archaeologist, and it is a valid Sun Titan target. It's here for now, but don't be surprised if it soon ends up in the actual deck.