My primary form of gameplay on Arena has been draft and brawl. I enjoy brewing the occasional standard or historic deck, but those decks only keep me entertained for so long. Brawl has been a fantastic way for me to complete the daily quests, earn gold, and pay for drafts. While completing one of these quests, I needed to build a deck that could cast white and blue spells. As such, I built Yorion and had a ton of fun.
The fun and success I had playing Yorion in brawl made me curious what the legendary serpent could do as an EDH commander, but I had a dilemma. Should I build Yorion as Mono White or Azorious? I took to the twitterverse for an answer.
Based on a narrow margin, I decided to dive in and build a Mono White Yorion deck, and while doing so, I realized that both Lurrus and Zirda were also interesting commanders that could be built as mono white decks. While building these decks, I came to a frustrating conclusion.
If you’re someone who is tired of hearing about hybrid mana in commander, please feel free to scroll down a bit to the deck lists below.
This is what makes these companion designs slightly frustrating to me. Building these decks was a fairly unique experience in the context of mono white. Prior to the printing of Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel, mono white didn’t have a general that could blink other permanents similar to Yorion. The same can be said for the unique abilities of both Lurrus and Zirda in the context of white. This isn’t to suggest that these companions should have been mono white, but these commanders do represent the potential of the mono white color pie that has yet to be expressed in mono white commanders. There has been a lot of frustration this year about white printings, and while some of it has been unfair, some of it is justified. Clearly there is potential in the white color pie and building these hybrid commanders has opened my eyes to some of that potential that hasn’t been tapped into yet.
That said, if you’re looking to explore the capability of a Mono White deck with some powerful commanders, take these lists for a spin.
Yorion, Sky Nomad
You’ll notice that each one of these decks are “all-in” on their commanders. This deck is all about creating a loop with Yorion and another exile effect such as Charming Prince or Flickerwisp. Once this loop is created, the deck simply oozes value, drawing cards, exiling creatures, or ramping with each cycle. Additionally, you can time the cycles to create one sided board wipes. I also wanted to add one additional hybrid card in the 99 of each deck. For this deck, I added Worldpurge, which can be mean enough on its own, but if you set up your flickers right you can protect your board from the Worldpurge and get way ahead of your opponents. If you want to embrace this space further you can also add Dimensional Breach to the deck.
Decklist: https://archidekt.com/decks/951490#Mono_White_Yorion
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Building a deck around cards with converted mana cost two or less is still a surprisingly open ended restriction. What I noticed while working through my options was that most of the enablers that care about auras and equipment were 2 cmc or less. Kor Spiritdancer, Sram, Senior Artificer, Stoneforge Mystic, and Relic Seeker are just a few examples of the enablers that can be recast with Lurrus. Combine that with the fact that Lurrus can help take away some of the card disadvantage of auras and it was a logical strategy to try. As stated above, these decks are built heavily around the commander, as such a majority of the deck can be recast by Lurrus with the other cards in the deck being powerful payoffs.
Decklist: https://archidekt.com/decks/951510#Mono_White_Lurrus
Zirda, the Dawnbreaker
Searching for cards with activated abilities is tricky, but luckily Scryfall is an amazing sight. I decided to take Zirda in a token direction. This deck is probably the least reliant on its commander because Zirda simply makes all of the cards hyper-efficient. The deck looks to create a board of tokens which can then be turned into a powerful army with anthem effects like Gerrard’s Battle Cry. Additionally, for some added fun I included an interesting combo into this list and it’s not Basalt Monolith. Using Waves of Aggression (the hybrid card I included in this list), Slab Hammer, and Sword of Feast of Famine, you can generate a lot of combat steps. If you also have Sword of the Animist out, you can maintain the number of lands you have rather than having to lose one with each combat step.
Decklist: https://archidekt.com/decks/955497#Mono_White_Zirda
I do hope we see more mono white commanders with abilities as unique and flexible as these hybrid commanders, and the designs of 2020 make me believe it's more of a “when” than an “if”. Until then, hybrid commanders will make an acceptable stand-in for those who are comfortable setting their own restrictions.
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I love flavor. I haven't mentioned it much to this point in my writing, but more often than not I prioritize flavor in my personal decks rather than functionality. The flavor can be based on a tribe or art, but one of my favorite restrictions is building around a single MTG Plane. Building around a single plane can be a great way to enjoy the Vorthos aspects of Magic while still having a functional deck for most metas. Magic sets are built to function on their own. Within each color, there are usually ways to remove threats, build engines, and win the game. When you expand from a set to a plane, you can gain access to multiple sets and supplemental sets that feature art, characters, or scenes from a chosen plane. In a single plane you'll likely find the pieces that you need to make a functional commander deck, but the power level of this deck can be stifled quite a bit. I've found that most of my "Planar Decks" can function against other more optimized decks depending on the power level of the commander I choose. In my personal collection, I had a Sai, Master Thopterist deck that I could play at my local gamestore without fear of being stomped out of a game in only a couple turns. However, I was definitely behind the eight ball. The decks below are perfect for people who love playing with restrictions, enjoy trying to maximize sub-optimal cards, and appreciate the flavorful side of Magic the Gathering. I've also found that "Planar Decks" are great ways to judge the capacity of a commander. You'll find some commanders can carry your deck while others need more support. Because these decks are built around a specific plane, you'll also find yourself playing cheaper cards, draft chaff, and bulk rares you may already have lying around. These five decks each come with their own rewards and challenges, and picking the right plane is important to building a deck that is at a power level you're comfortable playing. Colfenor, the Last yew Colfenor may be the most powerful of the commanders I built for this post and Lorwyn may be the most powerful of the planes I visited. Normally, building from a plane that has only been visited one time can be quite the struggle as options become extremely limited. However, Colfenor benefits from not only being three colors but also being from a plane with four sets rather than three. The unique construction of Lorwyn Block, having two big sets and two small sets, meant that there were a lot of choices for this deck. Someone else could undertake this same challenge and come to a completely different build than myself. Despite all of these benefits, Colfenor suffers from one glaring weakness — there aren't many good sac outlets to enhance his specific strategy. However, even with this missing piece, Colfenor seems like a powerful and flexible option for this type of restriction. Deck List: https://archidekt.com/decks/915773#Vorthos_Builds:_Colfenor Hamza, Guardian of arashinWhile Colfenor may have had the most options, Hamza might have had the fewest. I was excited to build this deck as I love Khans Block, but, similar to Lorwyn, the plane of Tarkir has never been revisited. While the structure was still not traditional (Khans Block was big set, small set, big set), the options for Hamza still felt more limited than Colfenor. In part, Hamza only being two colors also contributed to this problem, but as you'll see other two color commanders still featured plenty of flexibility. Hamza's saving grace was his synergy with the themes of the Abzan and Dromoka clans in Tarkir. Hamza wants a deck to have plenty of ways to put +1/+1 counters on creatures and because this was a theme throughout the block plenty of cards exist to make this strategy happen. Hamza is a great example about how a well-focused commander can enable this deck building restriction. Despite this, Hamza could still use some more boardwipes and graveyard hate that we would see in a revisit of Tarkir. Deck List: https://archidekt.com/decks/916740#Vorthos_Builds:_Hamza,_Guardian_of_Arashin Breeches, Brazen Blunderer / |
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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