In 2018, Dominaria was released. This is notable for a variety of reasons. Not only is it regarded as one of best draft formats in recent memory, but it also introduced a new term, “historic”, referring to any card with the artifact, saga, or legendary type. Additionally, and perhaps most relevant to commander, Dominaria featured a huge influx of legendary creatures including Aryel, Knight of Windgrace. Aryel is a 4/4 legendary creature human knight with two abilities. Aryel is a delightful fusion of form and flavor. Not only does she call her army of knights to battle, but she can rally them against dragons, goblins, giants, or any other manner of beast a player may find themselves staring down at the commander table. However, there is a place flavorfully where Aryel falls short. Mechanically, the color identity of Aryel works flawlessly. Finally, a commander exists that allows both Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Knight Exemplar to exist together in harmony. Historically, though, knights have been split between white and black. The dichotomy is classic, having origins in Dungeons and Dragons as the battle between Paladins and the Anti-Paladins. Magic’s first set, Alpha, pays ode to this rivalry with the original White Knight and Black Knight. These cards are perfect foils of one and other from the mana cost to the flavor text. Since their original printing, Magic has continued to construct similar foils, most recently Knight of Grace and Knight of Malice. All in all, there have been only 12 brave knights who have crossed the line originally drawn in Alpha. Of those twelve, most have a clear flavor reason for why they are dual-colored whether they are members of the Orzhov, the invading vampires of Ixalan, or “cursed” literally appears in their name. I searched for lore reasons why Aryel might be both white and black. The best synopsis I found was this Librarian Lore Article posted on EDHrec by Casey Spark. In it, Spark suggests that the black depicted in Aryel is an environmental factor rather than a moral choice. If you’re curious, I encourage you to check out the article. However, in my opinion, Aryel presents more as a challenge than an olive branch. Designs like Aryel exist throughout magic. These are the types of designs that enable tribes that previously lacked a potent commander. However, more often than not, these designs are taken as the only option for building a commander of that tribe. The most recent example is Morophon, the Boundless, the “any tribe, tribal commander”. To me, these cards take away the challenging puzzle that many tribes offer of determining how to best accentuate the abilities inherent in any particular tribe. Rather than leaning on Aryel as an easy and powerful option for a knight tribal deck, I wanted to find a way to embrace the historic dichotomy of the tribe and build a mono-white version. So what do knights in the white color pie do well? Let’s look back at White Knight for a moment as it’s the standard by which the tribe has been shaped. There are dozens of knights that share similar features to White Knight. The key features I found include:
As luck would have it, a lot of knights have first strike similar to their predecessor, White Knight. A couple of other legendary creatures also caught my eye. Balan Wandering Knight, Danitha Capashen, Pargon, and Lena, Selfless Champion all have their strengths, but all lack the synergy offered by Kwende. Now, a handful of our two mana knights have to use an ability to gain first strike. The aforementioned Order of Leitbur, as well as, Order of the White Shield both lack first strike without first paying a cost. At first glance, these are rather inefficient versions of White Knight or Youthful Knight However, these cards feature some additional text that allows them to increase their power for two mana. Zhalfirin Commander also lacks first strike but gives the option to increase the power of any knight on the battlefield for three mana. A white deck often lacks the reserves of mana to take advantage of these types of “mana sinks”. In order to take advantage of these cards, and the number of white mana symbols in the deck, some powerful devotion cards are included. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a land that can produce mana equal to one’s devotion to a specific color. Nykthos has seen a lot of success in sixty card formats including pioneer and its original standard format and that’s not surprising. The card is very powerful. This mana can be used to advance the deck’s board state or create huge double striking threats. In addition, a recent printing, Nyx Lotus, offers some redundancy to the devotion strategy in the form of a four mana artifact. Outside of devotion, Caged Sun is another big mana card that takes advantage of the mono colored strategy. Though the deck is playing a lot of relatively vanilla creatures, I spent time looking for knights that also offered utility. The goal being to maximize the number of knights in the deck. To do so (and this applies to most tribes), I tried to find knights that also provided unique or important effects. Thalia’s Lancers is great for finding the big mana pieces in the deck. Usually, Thalia’s Lancers’ trigger will find Nykthos but in the absence of that option a Nyx Lotus or Sword of the Animist are also good targets. Cavalier of Dawn and Pentarch Paladin can answer a wide variety of permanents. Finally, Lena Selfless Captain is a piece of protection similar to Selfless Spirit. She also provides a handful of soldier tokens. Knight Captain of Eos can take advantage of these soldiers to stave off combat damage when necessary. Unfortunately, knights don’t have the same utility that other tribes such as wizards or goblins might offer. What knights do have is quite a few tribal synergies that can serve to make them both larger and resilient. Alongside some artifacts that might be seen in any tribal deck such as Vanquisher’s Banner or Icon of Ancestry (both of which were included for the thematic component as much as the mechanical), The Circle of Loyalty is a recent printing which is a wall of relevant text. The circle is an anthem for creatures and provides token generation while costing as little as two mana most of the time. Additional knight anthems exist between Auriok Steelshaper, Benalish Marshall, History of Benalia, and the powerful Knight Exemplar. Worthy Knight produces a token each time its controller casts a knight creature spell. In addition to Kwende providing double strike, Kinsbaile Cavalier is a piece of redundancy when the commander is no longer an option. One last piece of the puzzle was adding some ways for every creature to gain first strike allowing Kwende to provide all his controller’s creatures double strike. Thematically, Knighthood was just too good to pass up, and in addition, Chieftain En-Dal is a knight that provides the bonus on attack. Rounding out the set is Archetype of Courage which not only provides double strike to other creatures but takes it away from creatures controlled by the opponent. The deck is rounded out by a suite of card draw spells and removal to help it remain in the game. The most notable of this removal is Harsh Mercy. I’ve not run into a lot of knights in my time playing the deck, but the card itself isn’t a true board wipe. Instead its a one sided way to remove a couple of your opponents creatures. Still, for three mana it’s quite efficient. So far, I’ve been very impressed with the deck’s unique play style and ability to win out of nowhere. The big mana theme actually works well when it is drawn, but sometimes I simply don’t draw the pieces. I thought Kwende would be a good general, but he has over-performed as an “overrun” adjacent effect in the command zone. In general, I’ve been content with the number of answers in the deck but I will always recommend more if you play in a powerful meta. However, in more casual metas the deck can answer problem permanents. What I’d be interested in seeing is the antithesis to this deck. If you come up with an idea for a cool Mono Black Knight deck, I’d love to see it. In conclusion, new sets will often throw commander players a bone. In building this deck, I found that sometimes it’s more fun to find a different path. This deck gets to play a lot of knights that would likely never make the cut in an Aryel deck. Not only that, but it plays with a completely different strategy that feels really at home in mono white. I set out with the goal of creating a deck that built on the spirt of White Knight and I feel like this deck does so very well. I can’t say I expected to find the combination of fun and power when I started building this deck, but I’m glad I did. You can find the full deck list on Archidekt or TCGplayer!
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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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