Hello again, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Superbowl weekend, enjoyed your friends and the game, or at the very least watched the commercials. That one with the Clydesdale and the Rocky theme made me want to start jumping rope – although I must say, shouting “Yo Adrian, I did it!” here at StarCityGames.com probably has a totally different meaning. And a different target as well.
This week, I had been planning on continuing through the last of the Lorwyn tribes, since I still haven’t looked at Goblins or Kithkin. But seeing how a good number of Kithkin are Soldiers as well, and seeing as how Morningtide is the new hotness, I think I’m going to make this a hybrid Kithkin-Soldier article. We’ll look at how the new Soldier cards interact with the old Kithkin white weenie archetype, and also poke around to see if any of the old Soldiers card can come out to play with Morningtide’s goodies.
Kithkins: Bigger Than They Look
The concept of “White Weenie” decks have been around Magic forever. I remember playing in a Grand Prix in Philadelphia around the time Exodus had come out, playing White Weenie with Empyrial Armor and the Shadow creatures from Tempest. It’s a very straightforward concept: make a little guy, attack, make the next guy. Pump where possible. Eat your opponent.
The Kithkin as a race were designed to fit into the White Weenie mold. Take a look, for instance, at this deck, which won an English tournament shortly after Lorwyn was released:
White Weenie deck by Matthew E. Clark
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Wizened Cenn
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Amrou Scout
4 Mirror Entity
3 Serra Avenger
2 Thoughtweft Trio
4 Militia’s Pride
4 Crib Swap
4 Mana Tithe
1 Bound in Silence
19 Plains
3 Windbrisk Heights
The deck does double-duty, acting as a quick beatdown deck that can search up a Mirror Entity when necessary to finish the game out of nowhere. However, Mirror Entity ($5) might not fit into a budget player’s card pool, at least not as a four-of. Luckily, he’s just as efficient as a singleton, as you rarely want to play him, and would much rather tutor him out at the end of your opponent’s turn.
In place of the Serra Avengers ($7.50), we can run another Kithkin flyer (albeit conditionally), Order of the Golden Cricket, who is “essentially” a 3/3 flyer for 2 just like Serra Avenger. Sorta. The Militia’s Pride is also a little spendy ($4), but the Windbrisk Heights ($1) are in the right price range. We can substitute Kinsbaile Borderguard ($2) for the Militia’s Prides, as the Borderguard should come into play with at least two counters on him to start, giving us the token generation that we want. We can replace the missing Mirror Entities with Cenn’s Tacticians, again giving us synergy with the Borderguard, as well as the other Soldiers in the deck (Stalwart, Trio, Mirror Entity).
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Wizened Cenn
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Amrou Scout
4 Kinsbaile Borderguard
3 Cenn’s Tactician
3 Order of the Golden Cricket
2 Thoughtweft Trio
1 Mirror Entity
4 Crib Swap
4 Mana Tithe
1 Bound in Silence
19 Plains
3 Windbrisk Heights
Flagbearer Joke Twice In One Week? Nah
Let’s move on to the Soldier/Kithkin interactivity. Ballyrush Banneret is at the forefront of anything Soldiery. Hrm, “soldiery” is a real word? Anyway, because he drops the casting cost of both Kithkin AND Soldiers, and is a worthy body to boot, he has the potential to push a Soldier or Kithkin deck into overdrive – provided he’s surrounded by the right fellows.
As I mentioned in last week’s article, some of the Kithkin staples, like Goldmeadow Stalwart, Knight of Meadowgrain (not a Soldier), and Wizened Cenn (neither is he) don’t benefit from the Banneret’s cost-reduction. However, Kithkin / Soldier cards like Thoughtweft Trio ($2.50), Cenn’s Heir, and Kinsbaile Borderguard ($2) DO benefit, so they would be better candidates if you want to maximize your usage of the Banneret.
Super Soldier Serum
I’ve gotta make a few references to my nerdy past every now and again; there will be those amongst you who remember that as the serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Morningtide has a similar thing to turn one of your Soldiers into a superhero: Veteran’s Armaments.
A lot has been said so far about the Warrior tribal equipment, Obsidian Battle-Axe. Because you don’t automatically get haste just by equipping the Armaments, you have to play with this card a little differently, which is okay. With the Armaments, you can have it equipped to one of your attackers, attack, and then play out another Soldier to act as a one-man blockade, re-equipping the Armaments. Because the Armaments trigger whenever your Soldier attacks OR blocks, and the pump is based on the number of attacking creatures, your single blocking Soldier should be able to withstand whatever horde your opponent is chucking at you – and then be ready to attack himself the next turn.
Playing out a Ballyrush Banneret on turn 2 means you have the possibility of dropping the Armaments, AND a man to wear them, on turn 3.
Yes, the Armaments may inspire you to over-commit, in the hopes that you will be able to pump up your Soldier by +3/+3 or greater. Which is why I recommend investing in some Militia’s Prides to prevent that from happening, even if you can’t afford four. Two or three of the Kithkin enchantment will help you generate Soldiers without emptying your hand.
Kithkin: An Army of One… Half
To focus on the Kithkin Soldiers, we want to use Ballyrush Banneret and concentrate on guys that he helps us accelerate into – I mean, 1/1 Kithkin Soldiers like Mosquito Guard are cute and all, but the real reason we want to run acceleration like the Banneret is to get to the big boys.
4 Cenn’s Tactician
4 Cenn’s Heir
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Ballyrush Banneret
4 Kinsbaile Borderguard
3 Thoughtweft Trio
2 Preeminent Captain ($4)
4 Coordinated Barrage
4 Veteran’s Armaments
3 Surge of Thoughtweft
2 Militia’s Pride
22 Plains
The land is hard to judge for this deck. There are plenty of nonbasic options. Forbidding Watchtower, for instance, is a Soldier creature now, which would help bump a point into Coordinated Barrage. New Benalia helps smooth out your draws and move you closer to the land or creature you need. But ultimately, with so many low-casting-cost creatures, you really don’t want to be limited by having your lands come into play tapped — you want to be coming out, fast and furious, from the starting pistol.
Soldiering On
Let’s now shift away from the Kithkin Army and take a look at some of the other Soldiers currently available to us in Standard:
Aven Riftwatcher: Already seeing play in Standard in a number of decks, this Bird Rebel Soldier is cheap with a good ability and evasion, thanks to his Vanishing.
Benalish Commander ($1): Either coming into play as a big force thanks to an all-Soldier creature base, or sitting in the Suspended zone generating his own army of Soldier tokens, the Commander should come into play around turn 4 or 5 and make an impact.
Field Marshal ($3): Any budget player who wants to try out the Soldier deck should find a way to get at least three, probably four (as they aren’t Legendary) of these guys for their deck. They pump up your Soldiers, and grant First Strike to boot. And still for a cost that can be reduced by Ballyrush Banneret.
Jotun Grunt: A big 4/4 Giant Soldier for two mana, the Grunt’s cumulative upkeep might be a little stiff to pay if you use him as an early drop. However, he does keep opposing Tarmogoyfs at a reasonable size, so that in itself is reason for consideration.
Kithkin Zephyrnaut: He doesn’t really match up with the Kithkin build of the deck, but he might squeeze into the middle of the mana curve in a higher-costed Soldier deck.
Stormfront Riders: Another Soldier-token-generating machine that can also help you reset the cumulative upkeep on Jotun Grunt, for instance, or the Vanishing on Aven Riftwatcher. As a 4/3 flying Soldier, he’s not too shabby either.
Veteran of the Depths: Wrong race, I know, for this article, but left unchecked the Veteran can get out-of-hand quickly. You’re already going to want to attack with him, and that means he gets bigger and bigger each turn.
4 Ballyrush Banneret
4 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Cenn’s Tactician
3 Veteran of the Depths
3 Stormfront Riders
3 Benalish Commander
3 Field Marshall
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Coordinated Barrage
4 Veteran’s Armaments
2 Militia’s Pride
4 New Benalia
20 Plains
Because your Soldier curve has a higher top end, you can go ahead and use the comes-into-play tapped land of your choice. I picked New Benalia, but I’m not sure that Forbidding Watchtower isn’t the right choice here, just as an early defensive option while you move yourself towards your bigger Soldiers.
The Best of the Rest
It would be nice to be able to have some variety here, much like Warriors are Green and Red, but it appears that Soldiers are mostly white. That being said, there are some blue Soldiers that may merit a second look. For instance, Fencer Clique, Scion of Oona, and Sentinels of Glen Elendra are all Faerie Soldiers, with good stats and abilities. Merrow Reejerey and Inkfathom Divers are Merfolk Soldiers to go along with Veteran of the Depths. But the overwhelming majority of playable Soldiers appear to be White, which means that it probably behooves us to stick with the mono-colored look, passé as it may be after Labor Day.
Kithkin and Soldiers, surprisingly, have some varied applications in a deck. Whether it’s pouring out small, cheaply-costed fellows and attempting to overrun your opponent, or playing for the mid-game through a slew of Soldier tokens, the Kithkin-Soldier contingent makes for worthy members in your army.
Next week: Possibly another new race-class interaction will get delved into, but I’m also heading to a PTQ up in Denver, and will hopefully have good stories to share from there. Until then!
Dave