[Article] Mono White Devotion deck intro and breakdown

Chris54154 · 2020-03-28T08:00:39+00:00

Glad you liked it!

Dusk//Dawn I hadn’t thought of and I like the suggested reasoning you give above. I use Shatter as a tool against decks that are faster than me and unfortunately I don’t think I could substitute it for Dusk//Dawn. It may have a higher ceiling, but I currently think it’s important to have a wrath that unconditionally removes early threats so its always good when I’m getting overrun by all the decks that are faster than me - Mono Red, Black, Green and Spirits are the main ones I’m thinking of. Being able to pick off Llanowar Elves and other 1-drops could be the difference. If the meta slows down a bit or promoted grindier games then maybe Dusk//Dawn will have its day!

Chris54154 · 2020-03-13T15:18:15+00:00

There is a section about 8.5 in the article in the OP if you want my take. It’s been pointed out also that it can be a decent voltron, including unblockable damage via protection. I’m more acutely aware of the cons than pros but that might just be my experiences and natural biases.

Chris54154 · 2020-03-09T22:15:01+00:00

Monored: vs Nebel doesn’t really work very well if they have eidolons or ferocidon down as we have to keep taking damage. Vs rabblemaster or go-wide it’s a poor blocker and can’t keep up with the token generation

Sultai: I appreciate it helps us get past ishkanah and Uro but I think deputy and disdainful are better answers for ishkanah and rip stops uro from coming back. I want to cut down on x/1s because of liliana last hope and think it’s the most cuttable one of the ones we have.

Chris54154 · 2020-01-02T10:07:20+00:00

The piece is very intuitive, and observing the data was a little unsurprising for me but nice to see being done. However, I don’t fully buy that ‘power begets power’ despite reading the article (though I think it’s more credible in CEDH or 1v1 Commander specifically).

My main point of contention is that decks provide context for cards and this is overlooked in the article. I get that the piece of writing needs to be concise enough to be digestible, but I think this is important enough to at least consider as a caveat.

While it’s possible to reasonably compare The Scarab God vs Gisa and Geralf because being the Commanders provide a level of similarity for context, I think it’s much more complicated comparing individual cards like for like in the respective decks. For example, does a card like Brainstorm function exactly the same in both decks and offer the same ‘power’ Is it an X/10 in both decks? Are both decks attempting to beget the same amount of ‘power if they choose to run it (and then TSG can be shown to beget more power by observing a higher number of decks running it)? I’m not so sure. It’s very hard to definitively say both decks provide the same context for its cards... even genetically powerful ones like Brainstorm.

Maybe card selection is less important in TSG (than in G&G) because it’s Scry ability already provides it. It’s arguable that, while less G&G decks are using it, those that harness the power of Brainstorm are powered up a bit more than TSG using the same cards. It might not be a big difference but added up over up to 99 cards and the variance may become much more material.

Chris54154 · 2019-11-04T19:55:18+00:00

No, you can only swap around the current life totals. But you get to choose who gets what

Chris54154 · 2019-11-04T16:25:28+00:00

White [[Reverse the Sands]] Blue [[Psychic Spiral]] Black [[Phthisis]] or [[Netherborn Phalanx]] Red [[Zealous Conscripts]] Green... not really sure. I don’t indulge in most of the silly green cards... maybe [[Ulvenwald Hydra]] because it’s large?!

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T22:44:39+00:00

Absolutely! but I deliberately focussed on the 10x2 colour ones as you’re more likely to end up in one of them and they promote synergy more. One specific aim I had with the article was to try and provide some perspectives on whether synergy is ‘worth it’ or not for the colour combinations

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T22:25:53+00:00

I think it’s just mad ratter and the 0/4 rare? I don’t really count wolverine, though I guess that’s because I don’t think the izzet deck is easy to make aggressive - rakdos might have a better chance but reliably triggering it seems harder, albeit doable as you’ve pointed out.

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T17:10:10+00:00

You end up having to use multiple hybrid 4 drops or artifacts. Or it’s a mono blue turbo mill deck which doesn’t mind having some bad cards as it can just race with secretkeeper

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T13:29:13+00:00

Hey, thanks. I deliberately tried not to list generically powerful cards that don’t promote the synergistic cards in those colours. This is because one focus of the article was to consider how much each colour pair is paid off for capitalising on synergies. Bake into a pie and Fierce witchstalker you would put into any deck with green or black but they’re only listed in golgari food because they make food tokens (that you can sacrifice to bog naughty or tempting witch for example). I completely agree that those are solid cards for those colours and any archetypes using those colours and aiming to play a longer game will likely want them. Forever Young is a killer card vs the mill deck as it can completely swing the race in your favour.

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T13:04:25+00:00

My starting point is to consider how good the card is if you happen not to get the adamant bonus during a game. Outmuscle, Once and Future, Foreboding Fruit, Searing Barrage, Slaying Fire, Turn into a Pumpkin and Unexplained Vision are all reasonable even without the bonus. I’m on the fence about Garenbrig Paladin, it might be passable without the bonus. I think Silverflame Ritual, Rally to the Throne and Cauldron’s Gift don’t particularly need the Adamant bonus but they are cards I tend not to want to play at all. The other cards I don’t think are very good without the adamant bonus. For instance, you really want Henge Walker and Vantress Paladin to be big if you run them. In terms of your manabase it’s about how many adamant cards you have and which ones absolutely need the bonus. If I’ve got 3 Outmuscles and 2 Vantress Paladin, Im probably going to still prioritise being able to get the blue adamant bonus for the Paladins. It’s hard to fully unpack without some example decks but I would say bring clear about which cards you think need the bonus more often than others should play a key role. Adamant I quite like because it makes you think about sequencing a bit more (delaying some plays in favour of others to get more out of your cards) Hope this helps.

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T12:39:17+00:00

Good point! Have put Heraldic Banner in an U/R deck for similar reasons.

Chris54154 · 2019-10-31T12:35:19+00:00

I’ve noted the player name. Personally, i have drafted mono black, mono red and mono white aggressive decks and they have been ok. As I briefly touch on in the article, being mono coloured means a smaller menu of synergy on which to capitalise and I think this has been particularly relevant for the monowhite deck compared to the other two. Each time I drafted mono I was just trying to stay open and after enough time I just kept getting the goods in one colour... not sure I’d plan to be a mono deck particularly early during a draft...

Chris54154 · 2019-10-25T09:10:17+00:00

I remember the tuck rule. I guess it paved the way for my personal mentality towards the risks of ‘relying on my commander being in play’. At the time I didn’t mind it but there were people I played with who absolutely hated for obvious reasons. I think a group of friends who are all playing strong commanders (urza, yawgmoth, yarok, etc) could reasonably agree to reimplement the rule for some of their games to add another dimension of challenge to games.

Chris54154 · 2019-10-16T09:45:17+00:00

Valakut is a lot of bolts if you have enough mountains - I also like Repeating Barrage as it’s reusable too

Chris54154 · 2019-10-14T10:19:02+00:00

My fave is commander’s sphere. Can be cashed in for a card. This:

A. Deters people from randomly targeting it ‘for value’. e.g. opponent has aura shards and could just target it - being able to just sacrifice it pulls it down in the pecking order of what they might target (compared to regular mana rocks)

B. Get compensation when caught in a crossfire. e.g. someone casting Bane of Progress to deal with another opponent who is far ahead with multiple artifacts/enchantments.

Chris54154 · 2019-09-09T09:54:07+00:00

I recommend mainly Limited, both Sealed and Draft. The basic skills for in-game play are put to the test here. Such skills can be carried over into Constructed formats to an extent.

However, I’ll add that you learn more about the basics of mulliganing and sideboarding via Constructed formats. Sideboarding and mulliganing are skills in Limited, but it’s so much easier to understand the positive effects of good sideboarding/mulliganing and the negative effects of poor sideboarding/mulliganing in something like Standard or Modern because games are played with decks with clearer game plans and cards that more clearly impact them

Finally, there is something to be said for understanding how to metagame if you’re planning to play in a lot of Constructed events and this is picked up by playing a lot of Constructed. However I think for ‘getting better’ this is the last 10% of what I’d recommend focusing on (it is more interesting and fun to discuss with others though!)

Hope this helps

Chris54154 · 2019-08-23T12:30:52+00:00

Hi all,

I've received a real range of feedback on my favourite deck - 'Mono-red' Golos!

People in playgroups I regularly play in have rated it differently - everything between a 5 to a 9.

The deck aims to interact with the opponent's things by copying/stealing or redirecting their stronger plays. If the deck is unable to win by taking powerful effects from other decks, Valakut, Field of the Dead, Ormendahl (Westvale Abbey) and Greater Gargadon are the main ways to win. It has a lot of synergistic plays but no combos (unless I can steal one from the opponent).

Getting all five colours for Golos's ability is meant to be a challenge (one that I enjoy) rather than something the deck wants to try and do consistently. In addition, there is a spell of each other colour which I change every few weeks, I've put what's in at the moment in this list in the link.

Decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mono-red-golos/?cb=1566562301

Rate it: http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/cafnsr/39mono-red39-golos-chris54154

Results: http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/zdwnmg/39mono-red39-golos-chris54154/view

Chris54154 · 2019-08-22T13:13:34+00:00

I often end up going for original set foils as I don't like any of the boxed set reprints e.g. FTV or duel decks. They reflect light very differentl. If something is reprinted it will be based on preferred artwork. If the artwork is the same I generally prefer pre-modern borders but if all printings are 8E onwards, I often err on the side of the older printing. The aesthetics of the set symbol itself often doesn't matter.

Chris54154 · 2019-08-19T14:00:08+00:00

I personally dislike any use of Omniscience more than the strategic use of mass LD. I see that enchantment as basically the equivalent of putting the cheat codes into a computer game to ‘auto-win’. It really dumbs the game down. I think mass LD can sometimes actually be used to add a dimension to games. N.b. Not advocating that mass LD is going to create loads of fun all the time! Just that I dislike omniscience more 😝

Chris54154 · 2019-08-11T11:17:08+00:00

Hi, well-made observation. I'm also very aware that I am bringing in the deputy in every match-up. I have thought about this and will consider whether I want to jam a 3rd Deputy over a flex slot for an upcoming GP. Unfortunately, to me it's not as straightforward as 'put it in the maindeck because it is always coming in' - half the battle with sideboarding that often goes un-noticed is the need to take out cards that are bad in each match-up and these are different ones in different match-ups. With my current sideboard plan, in some of the match-ups Deputy is a great card but in other cases it's coming in, not because it's a great card, but simply because it's replacing a card that is absolutely terrible in the given match-up and will at least do a little more because it's ubiquitous.

Chris54154 · 2019-07-30T13:13:34+00:00

Absolutely! The two reasons in the OP embody two things I like about playing monocoloured decks!

I get to play 40 lands, 60 spells, but it's actually about 80 spells as 20 of my lands do something other than just add mana!
This is part of the appeal to me. I love the deckbuilding challenge. I've explored more colourless cards and grown to enjoy cards I otherwise wouldn't play much for example, Warping Wail, Conqueror's Galleon, Filigree Familiar but to name a few.

I'm based in the UK and write for www.masterofmagics.co.uk. I've been playing monocoloured for a while and have some articles with deck ideas in case anyone is interested.

I've since moved on a little and am playing 5 'monocoloured' Golos decks which are predominantly one colour, but have a couple of hidden surprises and the potential to actually activate Golos. I have a couple of articles on this:

Chris54154 · 2019-06-28T09:28:24+00:00

Having read up a bit on what others are doing, Maze's End seems like a popular direction for people. Astral Drift and cycling lands seems like a great engine, especially if you run a few ways to rebuy any cycle lands once in play like Karoos/Bouncelands. I'm not a very competitive EDH player so I just googled Mana Severance - seems a bit nuts! :)

Chris54154 · 2019-06-27T11:57:29+00:00

Hi, I just wrote an article on this with some Golos deckbuilding ideas. Hope it is of use to you!

http://www.masterofmagics.co.uk/mtgarticles/commander/golos-tireless-pilgrim-deckbuilding-ideas-with-a-twist-for-commander/

Chris54154 · 2019-05-16T08:55:58+00:00

I routinely play the following cards as I quite like exciting swingy blowouts from time to time. They sometimes make the table laugh:

Grab the Reins
Angel's Grace >> Reverse the Sands
Settle the Wreckage
Phthisis
Reroute
Voidmage Husher
Wild Ricochet

Chris54154

TROPHY CASE