In 1847, Joseph Fry invented the first candy bar. A combination of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and sugar poured into a mold, the original chocolate bar was far more bitter than what we have today. Thankfully, since Fry’s first bar, we’ve all but mastered the art of the candy bar, and your local convenience store probably has a plethora of options to satisfy any desire you might have. Whether you’re looking for something salty, sweet, milk chocolate, or no chocolate at all, there’s no shortage of options from which to choose. At times and with the number of legendary creatures available, choosing a commander can feel the same way. Even when you narrow it down to a singular theme you can still be left with a handful of different options. Commander players have a variety of different needs, interests, tastes, and preferences when it comes to building their decks, and, even though the themes may be the same, different commanders can drastically change the direction of a deck. The themeA strength of mono white is its interactions with equipment. White features several ways to tutor for and take advantage of the artifact subtype. As such, it’s one of the most popular strategies in mono white and can really be worked to go alongside any commander. Even so, equipment are not without some glaring weaknesses. Most notably, the weakness of equipment is the mana investment required. Few equipment provide any instantaneous value and some of the most powerful equipment have expensive equip costs. In addition, most equipment require that you have a creature to gain any benefit from the card at all. Six commanders in white reference equipment in their text and these commanders seek to overcome these weaknesses in a variety of ways. Each commander has their own strengths and weaknesses depending on the strategy a player wishes to employ. Below I’ll highlight these differences and how one might best utilize each option. Sram, Senior EdificerIf you’re looking to draw cards in mono white then there are few better commanders, possibly no better commander, than Sram, Senior Edificer. While Sram can absolutely want a deck full of equipments, he doesn’t necessarily care what the equipments do. Many Sram decks are full of zero and one mana equipments that allow the player to churn through their deck with unbridled efficiency. That said, it doesn’t mean Sram can’t be at the helm of a more traditional equipment deck. Turning each of your equipments into a cantrip is valuable if you can protect Sram, and equipments aren’t a bad way to protect him either. However, Sram doesn’t cheat on equip costs and tacking on the text “draw a card’ to an Argentum Armor doesn’t necessarily make it that much better. Nor is Sram the best champion with which to equip the artifacts that may be in the deck. However, drawing a card after casting a Mask of Memory, Sword of Feast and Famine, or Shadowspear is a fantastic upgrade to these low cost utility pieces. Regardless, it’s unlikely that equipment will be the star of your sram deck, but if you’re looking to run a versatile deck that draws cards and features a lot of equipment, Sram is a great option. Danitha Capashen, ParagonDanitha was printed as an uncommon in Dominaria along with the introduction of several other uncommon legends. Her power level is reflective of her rarity, but that doesn’t mean that she should be underestimated. While her ability isn’t as flashy or explosive as others on this list, she comes with a bevy of keywords to help her out when she’s been equipped. One of the things I like about Danitha is her unique combination of keywords. First Strike, Vigilance, and Lifelink is a combination you won’t find outside of Danitha and Sphinx of the Steel Wind — and Danitha is five mana cheaper. This makes Danitha a much better equip target than sram and work well as a Voltron style commander, a strategy into which equipment decks often lean. Her ability also works nicely in this function as well. In the context of an equipment deck, Danitha would ideally reduce equip cost, but her ability reduces the casting cost instead. However, on the first turn you cast an equipment, you’ve essentially reduced the cost to equip your creature. Being that voltron decks are looking to cast, equip, and attack with one creature in the same turn, this ability has slightly more function in the strategy. However, as Danitha doesn’t actually cheat on equip costs, you still have to remain cognizant of that feature of equipment unlike a similar commander later on the list. Kemba, Kha RegentKemba might be the most unique of the equipment commanders in mono white. Her ability has baffled many regarding the best way to build her. On one hand, she wants to be a voltron commander with several equipment attached to her at once, but she lacks the variety of keywords that Danitha has. On the other hand, she wants to be a token commander, but tokens and equipment don’t necessarily go hand in hand especially when you have to commit to heavily to the equipment gameplan. If a player is looking for a deckbuilding challenge, Kemba is a great commander to choose. The difficulty with Kemba is that it’s hard to get the strategies to work together while also protecting Kemba till the next upkeep. Kemba requires her controller to invest enough mana and resources into equipment that there are plenty of items with which to equip her. On top of that, those equipment need to be oriented on protecting kemba so that her controller can actually get the trigger. Then, upon getting that army of tokens, the player needs resources to synergize with that army as well. In most scenarios, a player can only expect to get three or four tokens from Kemba, and that might be a bit generous. It’s a deck that is pulled in a variety of directions and without the tools to necessarily achieve all of its goals. Balan, Wandering KnightThroughout this post I’ve talked about cheating equipment costs. Cheating on cost is a theme throughout magic and when trying to build the fastest and most linear decks cheating on costs is often a key. Balan is the first commander in this list that can cheat on equip costs and this can allow his caster to take advantage of some very powerful equipments with the utmost efficiency. On top of that, Balan can conditionally have double strike giving him the potential for surprisingly quick lethality via commander damage or even infect. These abilities makes Balan a natural fit as a voltron commander that can be suited up with several equipment at once. Balan’s efficiency and linear gameplan make him a great option for higher power level players trying to make a more equipment centric deck than Sram would necessarily encourage. Balan can arguably take the best advantage of equipment like Grafted Exoskeleton and allow you to win out of nowhere. When paired with flash enablers like Sigarada’s Aid and Vedalkan Orrery, these equipment can also become powerful combat tricks as well. Raksha Golden CubSo far the equipment oriented commanders in mono white have, unsurprisingly, required a critical mass of equipment to function. Kemba and Balan both want several equipment attached to them while Sram wants to be able to cast equipment repeatedly to draw cards. Raksha is fundamentally different than these commanders as he doesn’t care about the number of equipment attached to him. After the first equipment, Raksha doesn’t get any additional value. The critical mass of equipment required is much lower than other commanders. This creates an interesting dilemma for Raksha: how much emphasis do you put on the equipment synergies? Enough equipment are required that Raksha is equipped, but beyond that the commander benefits far less than other equipment strategies. Raksha makes the most since as a cat tribal commander that uses several different leonin from Mirrodin to assist in equipping him. These Leonin can protect, tutor, and recover equipment so that Raksha can always remained equip with a relatively small investment of equipment. With this plan, Raksha works best with equipment that protect him by giving him hexproof, indestructible, or other forms of protection. Raksha is fairly casual though. Being a seven mana commander and attached to a specific tribe, makes him very slow and very niche. However, for those players who like to have a tribal element to their decks, he is a natural fit. Nahiri the lithomancerNahiri is the only commander on this list that can’t be equipped because she isn’t a creature. This means that the first obstacle to consider is: what will the equipment in this deck equip? Nahiri does provide a 1/1 with her plus ability so leaning slightly out of equipment and into tokens may be a solid line of thinking. These tokens are Kor creatures as well which means one could consider focusing on the tribal component. Similar to the Leonin of Mirrodin, Kor is a tribe that actively cares about equipment as well. Leaning into this token strategy is an intriguing option as well because Nahiri, like Balan, can cheat on equipment costs, and unlike Kemba doesn’t require several equipment to be equipped at once allowing the room for flexibility. In this way, Nahiri actually does an effective job combining the two strategies as a 1/1 token can be turned into a menacing threat when attached with some powerful equipment. Nahiri actually covers up a lot of the problem that equipment decks can run into as well. If an opponent destroys the equipped creature, Nahiri can make another. If an opponent destroys the equipment, Nahiri can return it from the graveyard. The challenge with Nahiri is ensuring that she is protected as equipment won’t help with that. However, tokens work well at protecting a planeswalker as they can be blockers as well as attackers. Nahiri serves as a well rounded option to lead a commander deck, however, she is not explosive especially being at five mana. A deck with Nahiri at the helm is likely going to be grinding out advantage over the course of a longer game. In conclusionIn commander, choosing the right commander is often more subjective than objective. Unless a player is trying to create the optimal equipment list, there are numerous factors that can affect their choice, none of which is more important than what best fits their playgroup. While a voltron deck built around Balan may be more powerful, perhaps their group is more comfortable at the power level of a Danitha. They may want to build a tribal deck that’s equipment centric, in which case Raksha might fill that roll better than Sram. The key is to way the pros and cons of each commander and the playstyle to which they best lend themselves.
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Conceptualized by Bradley Rose, #MTGMoxtober is a variation of the ever growing monthly challenge, #Inktober. For those not familiar with the now annual tradition, Inktober was started by Jake Parker in 2009 as a daily challenge to create a new drawing for each day of October. Moxtober is the MTG variation of this challenge originally intended as a card design challenge for each day in October. Inspired by a prompt, card designers create new MTG designs every day throughout the month.
As much as I love seeing new card designs, and occasionally conceptualizing my own, card design is not my passion. The goal of these monthly challenges is to form a habit, and forming a habit of something I don’t really want to do on a regular basis isn’t very constructive. Instead, inspired by Bradley’s video at the beginning of the month, I decided to use each prompt to inspire a new Mono White Commander deck build. When I started creating content, my goal was to display the capabilities that Mono White has in commander. What better way to display the diversity, complexity, and depth of the white color pie than building a brand new commander deck for 31 days in a row? My objective for this challenge was not to build perfect decks, optimized decks, or even necessarily finished products. Instead, my goal was merely to display a new deck concept in mono white. Now at the halfway point, I’m still going strong. So far, I’ve created 15 new decks, with 15 different commanders. Some days have been more challenging, inspiring, or tricky than others, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process thus far and look forward to the next 16 days of building.
If you’re curious to see a full list of decks you can find them here.
The following is my extremely arbitrary rankings of my five favorite brews from the first 15 days of #MTGMoxtober:
#5: Anafenza Counter Combos
Prompt: Brew – October 10th
View the deck here:
This prompt provided me with my toughest challenge, and for that, it sneaks onto the list at number five. It also helps that I stumbled upon a great beer while looking for inspiration. This deck was inspired by the Old Rasputin Imperial Stout by North Coast Brewing. The deck is full of tons of combos that take advantage of the variety of counters in the deck. How good are the combos? I’m not sure, but they are combos none-the-less.
#4: Frankie “The Cynic” Peanuts
Prompt: Cynic – October 5th
View the deck here:
I had always wanted to build a black border Frankie Peanuts deck, but the impetus for doing so was never really there. I love the character, Loxodons are my favorite fantasy lineage, and the idea of a Loxodon Mobster definitely sounds like a D&D character I would make. Moxtober finally gave me the drive to make it happen. This deck gets to run a ton of niche cards and effects while simultaneously featuring a ton of politics. This deck does drop down to number four since, in the end, you’re still going to have to get permission from the table to play it.
#3: Kwende Life Gain
Prompt: Lance – October 6th
View the deck here:
Kwende comes in at number three because I like the take on the traditional white life gain strategy. This deck is all about swings; both swinging with creatures and the huge life gain swings you’ll generate with it. If you can’t win with dealing huge amounts of damage, the back up plan is to use a variety of life gain payoffs to steal the game. There’s not as many individual cards that stand out in this list but the unique spin on a classic strategy is something I enjoyed creating.
#2: Divine Intervention Pact
Prompt: Pact – October 11th
View the deck here:
There was really only one direction I could go when I saw the prompt was “pact”, and let me say, building a deck around Intervention Pact was not easy. This deck is not ranked at number two because it’s powerful. The reason it’s so high on the list is because finding a use for Intervention pact was extremely satisfying, even if the combo is extremely mediocre and doesn’t win the game. You can see the tweet below for a description of the combo.
As I said, it’s not good, but it is a combo!
#1: Oriss Grandeur
Prompt: Firstborn – October 14th
View the deck here:
This deck take the top spot for two reasons: 1) Using Grandeur in a singleton format is hilarious and 2) I actually think this deck is kind of good. Creating a situation where you can use grandeur isn’t actually too hard and the pieces that let you use grandeur are actually just good cards. Paired with a variety of White’s best enters the battlefield effects, these effects become a great engine for the deck. This deck has a ton going for it, and I can’t wait to actually be able to build and play it in paper.
Conclusion
To those of you who have seen and commented on my decks, thank you, it’s greatly appreciated. I’d love to hear what your favorite #MTGMoxtober creation has been thus far. There have been a ton of awesome people contributing to the hashtag and a big thank you again to Bradley for championing the idea!
View the full list of decks here:
We’ve all been in this position. We find a commander we love. We find all these amazing cards that go in the deck to make it good. We take it to our local game store or play group and hear the collective groan. When I first started playing commander, it was Zur, the Enchanter or Kaalia of the Vast that caused this collective frustration. Now it feels that there’s a new commander every set that fits this description.
More often than not these commanders have powerful combos or stax elements that create a repetitive or un-fun play experience for the average play group. Teshar fits into the combo side of this equation. A lot of Teshar decks play the same basic engine cards. These cards are normally three mana or 2 mana creatures that bring back a low cost artifact to your hand. You can then use a sac outlet such as Altar of Dementia to mill your opponents or Ashnod’s Altar to generate infinite mana. If you’re curious about these loops you can check out Budget Commander Article from MTG Goldfish.
Let me clarify, there is nothing wrong with playing a Teshar Combo deck. In fact, I think Teshar has been a great addition to the format. One, Teshar is a powerful Mono White commander that can be extremely budget friendly. Many of the key cards in a Teshar deck are commons or uncommons that are extremely easy to obtain. This makes Teshar an accessible and powerful deck for new players and budget players alike. However, it can sometimes be difficult to make your Teshar deck feel unique and certain playgroups may find the play patterns to be stale and repetitive.
What follows are four different Teshar decks in which I avoid all the key cards that create infinite loops with Teshar. The goal of this exercise was to create new starting points for a commander that normally starts with its most powerful combo pieces, and find new ways to utilize Teshar’s ability fairly. Some or all of the combos that are normally found alongside Teshar can be included within these build, but the goal of these builds is to steer Teshar away from combo to aggro, midrange, and control strategies. Teshar Affinity
First up is a deck inspired by one of the most memorable modern decks of all time, Affinity. The goal of this build was to replicate that feeling of dumping your hand onto the table with Affinity in modern. While I’m normally a control player myself, I do love the feeling of playing out a handful of cards very quickly and passing the turn. The trick was making sure that this deck didn’t run out of gas and create a miserable play experience. Cards like Slate of Ancestry, Null Brooch, and Ghirapur Orrery reward you for being empty handed and/or help you refill your hand. If you like playing aggro, this might be the build for you.
Teshar Myr
Next is a tribal deck inspired by a tweet from @BentoBoxProxies.
— Bento (@BentoBoxProxies) September 25, 2020
The deck features the combo above, but is centered on the tribal component of myr. Myr are a great tribe for Teshar as they all can trigger his ability. When paired with something like Vanquisher’s Banner, which also triggers Teshar, this creates a great source of card advantage in a mono white deck. Additionally, the deck takes advantage of the number of colorless cards by playing Forsaken Monument which does a little bit of everything for the deck. Not to mention you get to play Myr which is one of the most unique tribes in Magic.
Teshar Birds
One of the best parts about building Tribal decks with Teshar is that many of the tribal payoffs are historic spells. While almost every card in the myr deck triggers Teshar, Birds don’t have that same luxury. This list plays a lot more like a traditional tribal list, but uses Teshar as a consistent piece of recursion. You also get some powerful synergies in the list via Glint Hawk and Junk Diver which are both coincidentally birds. Since every bird in the list has flying cards like Sephara, Sky’s Blade and Serra the Benevolent find a home in this list as well. If you’re interested in bringing an unexpected tribe to the table, this one could be for you.
Teshar Superfriends
Commonly when we think about triggering Teshar, we focus on artifacts. This is for good reason. Artifacts are very easy to exploit. However, historic applies to not only artifacts but also sagas and legendaries. This list uses Planeswalkers to trigger Teshar. In this list you’ll also find cards like Kor Skyfisher that can help to reset your planeswalkers so you can aggressively use some of their powerful minuses and trigger Teshar. This deck leans a lot more into the control role in a magic game. You have several boardwipes that avoid your planeswalkers such as Urza’s Ruinous Blast. Additionally, a pillowfort subtheme helps protect both your walkers and your life total. If you’re looking for a strange take on not only Teshar but also the superfriends archetype this might represent a starting point.
Conclusion
These lists clearly aren’t the optimal way to build Teshar, but EDH isn’t always about building an optimal deck. Whether you’re looking to bring something unique to the table or tired of hearing the table groan as you combo off, I hope these lists can give you some inspiration on doing different things with otherwise homogenous commanders.
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AuthorMonoWhiteBorder -- A man who loves MtG and his small dog. Archives
June 2021
Categories"MonoWhiteBorder" and corresponding content is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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