Let’s not talk about the impact of Planar Chaos this week.
Well, that was a short article.
What, you want more? Okay, okay.
The Burning Issue
(Note: Burning Issue is the meat of this week’s article, and just up front I’d like to say I release all legal ownership of the cards below or their general likenesses to Wizards of the Coast to use or not use as they see fit. I’d rather good cards – if that’s what these are – see print than niggle over who has a right to use them or whatnot. Yeah, I’m pretty sure some tiny little aspect of intellectual property laws prevents them from actually doing this directly, but if nothing else, I’m saying here I won’t throw a fit if they use my ideas, with way too many witnesses to back out of having said it.)
Much ado has been made about Black Hole Sun and its effect on White; namely that it removes White’s identity as the "weenie and Wrath" part of the pie, leaving it just the "weenie" part, and that’s been admittedly subpar. White’s having a tough time holding its breeches up right now, because lots of other good weenies are available in other colors. It certainly has nothing on par with Bob, and Scryb Ranger and Silhana Ledgewalker often embarrass White too… although being fair, that’s primarily because of their interactions with other Green cards.
Still, as fantastic as White is as a support color right now – due in large part to being the primary casting cost on Momentary Blink – it does a fairly poor job of being the backbone of decks anymore, and many worry that Black Hole Sun is going to be a rather large, if not final, nail in that coffin.
So this week, I propose solutions. First, let’s look at the problems:
A) White’s weenies tend to be barely if any better than what anyone else is getting.
B) Without Armageddon, White Weenie lacks a lot of its punch; its ability to slow the opponent down when it’s ahead.
C) White has no reach; it can’t burn the opponent out, or really make much of a recovery from Wrath (oh, the irony) in general.
D) There’s a tendency for there to be an overcrowded two-drop slot, and few good candidates for one or three mana.
E) White Weenie typically wants to tap out every turn, on its own turn. This leaves little room for reactive effects. When exceptions like Shining Shoal exist, White-based decks seem to thrive.
Some of these issues seem to converge on the point that White simply doesn’t get enough stuff in its pie that is actually useful. Sure, damage prevention, enchantment removal, and lifegain are nifty, but they won’t win games on their own. Ironically, the best way to work with White in aggro anymore is to pair it with one of its enemies – Red, currently good in both Standard and Extended; and Black, which kicks off well in Extended, primarily on the back of Vindicate. While I’m fine with that to a point, it seems to me that there’s something inherently wrong with a color when its best option is to make strange bedfellows with its supposed enemies. I understand the reasoning – Black and Red fill most of White’s holes (lack of card draw, good spot removal which isn’t anti-synergystic with aggro’s game plan, reach, good one- and three-drops).
Let’s turn an eye towards filling White’s holes while tapping Plains to do it. We’ll start with point B, because basically everything between B and E will answer A.
Without Armageddon, White Weenie lacks a lot of its punch; its ability to slow the opponent down when it’s ahead.
I think the key here is to print more weenies with taxation effects – you slow the opponent down without blowing up the whole world under everyone’s feet. Some of this could be handled by tweaking existing cards – for example, Glowrider would probably have done a lot better as a WW 2/1 or even 2/2, or a 2W 2/1 Flier – or 1WW 2/2. He’s a lot more relevant on the play coming down turn 2 instead of 3. Delaying Signets and two mana Counterspell effects another turn is utterly huge, so it might be he’s really better off at three mana, but if so, at least let him be evasive.
For another example, how about this?
Warbred Oracle
1WW
Creature – Human Cleric
First Strike
Each spell costs 2 more to play except during its controller’s turn.
2/2
Yep, that’s mini-Defense Grid on a creature, for those of you playing at home. If it hits the table, it can slow down counterspells, other peoples’ instant speed removal or combat tricks, and generally make people miserable. Putting it on a body makes it more vulnerable, true, but it also helps advance the plan of doing damage. The weenies like this kind of effect, but it’s hard to ask them to pass up turn 3 playing something that won’t turn sideways the turn after.
White has no reach; it can’t burn the opponent out, or really make much of a recovery from Wrath (oh, the irony) in general.
While one could indeed give White some limited kind of burn, any really versatile or good burn would probably be out of its pie. Just for funsies, though, it could have something with a bit of style. Consider:
Holy Lance
1W
Sorcery
Choose one; Destroy target Goblin, Vampire, or Zombie, or deal 3 damage to target player if they control a Swamp or Mountain.
Sure, it’s not the best spell ever, but it would be a bit of reach. I think the better out overall, though, is to print better Wrath / BHS resistant creatures.
Immortal Hero
WW
Creature – Human Soldier
Whenever Immortal Hero would be put into a graveyard from play, return it to play tapped under its owner’s control.
2/1
This touches a bit on point E – White Weenie likes to tap out on its own turns, which is one of the reasons Reborn Hero never really kicked off; you don’t want to hold WW open every turn just in case it dies. Note that there’s still plenty of ways to rid oneself of it; tapping it down repeatedly or permanently, having a Desert handy, removing it from the game, a shuffle effect like Condemn or Oblation, or simply putting something in front of it that it can’t get past – it doesn’t have evasion or anything without help.
Steelcrown Aven
1WW
Creature – Bird Warrior
Flying
Whenever Steelcrown Aven is put into a graveyard, draw two cards.
3/1
Yep, it’s a 2/2 flier wearing a Skullclamp. I’m convinced Skullclamp had its heart – so to speak – in the right place, but being cheap and repeatable just made it too good. The effect as a one-shot seems a lot more fair. Sure, someone could reanimate and kill it a lot, especially with Enduring Renewal around, but I’d think there’d be easier ways to get a draw engine going. I’d put a line about not being able to be equipped, since putting an actual Clamp on it would be slightly unfair, but since Clamp is banned in all sane formats anyhow, I don’t really see the need.
There’s a tendency for there to be an overcrowded two-drop slot, and few good candidates for one or three mana.
Let’s be honest here, Icatian Javelineers and Savannah Lions is the best line-up we’ve had for the White one-mana slot for years. [Isamaru deserves a mention here too. – Craig.] Let’s see what we can do for interesting one-drops.
Spiritual Armsmaster
W
Creature – Human Cleric Soldier
As long as Spiritual Armsmaster is equipped, it gets "Whenever this creature deals combat damage, you gain that much life".
1/1
This, of course, requires the return of at least semi-decent equipment to Standard in order to function, which is another thing White Weenie benefits from. Still, it gives a nice bonus; lifegain might not win games on its own, but if this survives to swing equipped a couple of times, it might give you enough of a pad to live a crucial extra turn or two to finish people off.
Zealous Collector
W
Creature – Human Advisor
At the beginning of your upkeep, if target opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for a Plains card, reveal it, and put it in your hand. That opponent may pay 2 to prevent this.
1/1
Basically a much less berserk Land Tax. It’s more limited than Weathered Wayfarer, but it helps White Weenie run a lower land count and can still attack while doing its thing. Plus, the opponent has the option of stopping it, at the risk of using mana that might have been useful for an Instant.
On the other end of the scale, the three drops, it seems that some of White’s more unique defensive capabilities might be more applicable if they were attached to aggressive bodies. Plated Pegasus might have been a contender if only it had been a 2/1, for example. White Weenie can’t afford to pay three mana for a one-power guy in general, flying or not. Three is generally the top end of White Weenie’s curve, so multiple ability things like Paladin en-Vec should be more common. Consider also possibilities such as:
Warded Custodian
1WW
Creature – Human Cleric
Vigilance
If a Red or Black source would deal damage to you or a creature you control, prevent 1 of that damage.
2/3
Sort of a blending of Sphere of Law and Sphere of Grace that both loses and gains in the transition to bodydom (I’m coining a new word, yay!). Also a great help against the eternal nemesis, Pyroclasm. Yes, this is somewhat nutty in the presence of Pestilence or Pyrohemia, but then again there’s a reason all of these creatures over one mana are including WW in their costs – no sense in giving White a bunch of neat toys only to see other colors splashing them almost effortlessly.
Youthful Seraphim
WWW
Creature – Angel
Flying, Vigilance
T: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player.
2/2
Another underused ploy is creatures with Vigilance and a tap ability. First seen on Militant Monk, and later on Razia, Boros Archangel, there has been little exploration of the untapped design space here. While Vigilance is a good ability, I don’t feel it typically does enough on its own, particularly in duels. It works out fine on things with fairly large butts, though, and after its first turn, Youthful Seraphim can at least fool most things aside from –X/-X into thinking it has a large butt, if there’s no other particular use for its ability readily apparent.
White Weenie typically wants to tap out every turn, on its own turn. This leaves little room for reactive effects. When exceptions like Shining Shoal exist, White based decks seem to thrive.
This is why we don’t see anyone playing Ghostway; White Weenie doesn’t want to hold three mana open "just in case." Every turn it does that and case turns out not to be just, it’s basically given the opponent a free turn, unless it has something like Raise the Alarm. As such, the solution seems to be either giving White more zero- or one-mana effects which it can use, or give it more incentive to run reactive cards by giving it more useful Instants to use if it so happens you don’t need to prevent a Wrath / BHS on a particular turn.
Divine Companion
1WW
Instant
Play this only during any opponent’s end of turn step. If you control another creature, put a 3/4 White Angel token with Flying into play. At the end of your turn, sacrifice this token.
"Didn’t Wrath? Tsk, you missed your chance." This pairs nicely with a Ghostway style of effect; if they Wrath, you save your team, and if they don’t, you beat them over the head for it and try to force it. A fairly lose / lose situation seems fair for a two card combo.
Saving Grace
WW
Instant
You may return a Plains to your hand instead of paying Saving Grace’s mana cost.
Return target creature you control to its owner’s hand.
Anti-Wrath, anti-theft, and a dodge for targeted removal, in exchange for some tempo. It’s like Whitemane Lion, except it has the option of being free instead of having a body. Also can function as an anti-LD spell so long as you control a creature, and I think the added versatility earns it the WW cost.
I should point out that not all of these ideas need (or should) be implemented in the same block (or even the same Standard environment), but I think ideas like these would help White reclaim its throne as the weenie wedge of the pie. I’m sure there’s dozens of other cards along these general veins of ideas that could also be used to improve the color as a whole, presuming that the solution isn’t just giving White more pie.
These ideas are a springboard, and might not be balanced (guess I’m not in R&D for a reason, mm?) but if nothing else, the general gist is there and should hopefully assist someone, somewhere. Anyhow, you’ve been good and sat through my rambling (okay, maybe you just scrolled right down to this part but I won’t tell if you don’t), so you deserve a decklist.
Creatures (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (28)
What can I say? A trend is no good if people don’t follow it, even if I had to give it my own little twist so I could pretend to be at least a little original for the sake of my own conscience. That, and I’ve heard unconfirmed reports that Talen Lee does in fact shill for nannies in an attempt to earn money to fund his burning Magic addiction, but you didn’t hear that from me. As for snot, well, you do know what a nanny does, don’t you?
What the deck does: It plays second, every game. You really, really want to shoot for the turn 1 Fall, Rakdos Guildmage or Rakdos Signet (off of Gemstone Caverns), although moreso the Signet than the others. Turn 1 Signet into turn 2 Phyrexian Arena can set up the rest of your game all on its own. An amusing oddity of this deck is that it uses Blue primarily to run lifegain effects (Ribbons of Night, Sol’Kanar the Swamp King), which of course exist to help you shrug off early drubbings, or to pay for the use of your own Arena. Indeed, the synergy between Sol’Kanar and Phyrexian Arena is simply sweet. So far as what to pitch to Gemstone Caverns, your dream is to pitch a second Caverns, leaving only two blank cards in your deck (although even blank cards work fine for fueling the Black ability of Rakdos Guildmage). Failing that, your next option would either be Vesuva or your most expensive spell – Vesuva can be very difficult to play as your second land, and you can’t rely on the opponent playing one that will help you at all. Whatever you do, don’t try copying Gemstone Caverns; you will not like the results, as it is legendary. Typically I like to hold Vesuva as long as possible in hopes of copying an opposing Karoo, since this deck only runs twenty-one lands that can actually be in play at once, but really couldn’t afford to run Karoos itself except in Vesuva’s more versatile slot (I’ve actually copied an entire Tron with Vesuvas at one point… I won that game). And yes, this deck will want to drop a Swamp or even two for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth – Sol’Kanar loves it when all lands are Swamps.
Who this deck is for: People who like Sol’Kanar himself, Void, or just plain strategy should cotton to this deck easily. It’s versatile, quirky, and has a place for several cards which seem like they ought to be good, but don’t typically see much Constructed play. Strangling Soot, Ribbons of Night, Void, Hit of Hit / Run, and both halves of Rise / Fall all fall into this category. It’s probably not PTQ quality (okay, almost certainly not) but slap together a sideboard for it and it could do well at an FNM, especially a fairly heavily aggro one. You have lots and lots of removal, with Void having the potential to be mass, along with multi-card discard and combined Unsummon / Raise Dead option. Also note that it is possible, if expensive, to use Rakdos Guildmage to lower a creature into Strangling Soot range. It won’t come up often, but it’s something to be aware of in case it does. This deck is not for people who just want to smash face or expect a quick game. Also, come prepared to mulligan; you can end up with the bad "Gemstone Caverns and Vesuva as only lands" hand, which is really risky to keep, and you probably want to mulligan once just to try for the Caverns if you didn’t get them the first go around. You’re going second anyhow, so a mulligan is a tad more forgivable than it might be otherwise.
What to watch out for: Enchantments, since you can do squat all about them. On the other hand, both Hit and Void ignore untargetability or Protection from Whatever, so a lot of your other worries are less worrisome. Speaking of Void, however, examine the board very carefully before naming two or five; you might end up blowing up your own Guildmages, Signets, or Sol’Kanar elsewise, and while there are situations in which that is worth it (or simply required for survival), look for other outs first if at all possible. All sorts of removal has difficulty killing Sol’Kanar, but on the off chance you run into people running the proper tools, Rise is typically good for getting him back, and making them kill him all over again. Also, again, be very careful with what kinds of lands are in the hands you keep – this deck’s manabase spends a fair amount of time being both its own worst enemy and best friend. It’s kind of like cross-breeding a man, a cat, and a dog, except a lot less gross and hopefully a lot more fun.
Beyond that, I’ll be back next week after my vacation to the Cayman Islands, or maybe just after playing a bunch more Magic and finding more stuff to write about. Oh, and for the curious, I did manage to find a Forest, but I had no luck finding a herring sharp enough with which to cut down the mightiest tree. I guess I should have seen that coming, though.
Signing off,
Rivien Swanson
flawedparadigm a(aye Carumba!)t gmaSPAMSUCKSil d(.)ot co[Girls just wanna have fun.]m
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