White

Question of the day: Where are all the Snow-covered Plains?

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Question of the day: With all of the Magic cards that we have in our house, why is it that I’m two Snow-covered Plains short for my new Ruhan Commander deck?

I asked the boys and neither one could provide even one! Not sure if it’s a lack of said cards so much as a lack of organization on their part. Given how many packs of Kaldheim we opened, I’m sure they have those snow lands somewhere but just can’t find them.

I don’t think that the two additional Snow-covered Plains would have made much of a difference in Ruhan’s first game though. Noah brought out his Breena, the Demagogue deck, upgraded from its precon days while Christian chose his Xanathar deck. Needless to say, Christian earned himself a lot of attention early in the game and found himself out before his beholder could behold!

From there, it was between Noah and I. He brought out an Archfiend of Depravity which limited the number of creatures I could have on the board. Meanwhile, he was able to build up his side of the board and Ruhan found himself beaten in short order.

I’ll post the full deck in a bit.

Good card synergy with Exile

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Mono White has been quite strong in MTG: Arena BO1 for a while. My latest iteration (not completely my own invention) features great synergy around the Exile mechanic.

The mana curve works well with Stonebinder’s Familiar able to come down on the first turn, followed by Sungold Sentinel and then a number of options depending on the board state. They allow you to exile both cards on the board as well as in hand.

Here is the full deck:

  • 17 Snow-Covered Plains (KHM)
  • 2 Cave of the Frost Dragon (AFR)
  • 1 Legion Angel (ZNR)
  • 4 Luminarch Aspirant (ZNR)
  • 4 Skyclave Apparition (ZNR)
  • 2 Fateful Absence (MID)
  • 4 Usher of the Fallen (KHM)
  • 4 Faceless Haven (KHM)
  • 4 Elite Spellbinder (STX)
  • 2 Expel (STX)
  • 4 Brutal Cathar (MID)
  • 2 Intrepid Adversary (MID)
  • 4 Stonebinder’s Familiar (STX)
  • 3 Maul of the Skyclaves (ZNR)
  • 3 Sungold Sentinel (MID)

Sideboard:

  • 3 Legion Angel (ZNR)
  • 2 Sungold Barrage (MID)
  • 1 Vanquish the Horde (MID)

While featuring potent removal, the deck itself suffers from being easy prey to removal. This is less of an issue in BO1 but would need to be addressed for BO3 matches.

One card that I see played often in this deck but cut early in mine is Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. I’ve not found it to be as synergistic and the 1/1 Human token it generates upon attack does not materialize much as Adeline is often the target of a quick removal spell. Likely a better fit in Commander.

All in all, a fun deck to play.