Mono White Vial Aggro

[nightmaster]

I have been building a mono white deck using vial that is different than Death and Taxes. I don't want it to be D&T because I don't like what happens to it post rules change. I have some different ideas of where the deck can go. I am well aware that combo will still be very difficult. I am not focusing on that right now as I rarely play against combo anyway and the sideboard will contain combo hate. Ok, here is the core of the deck:

Creatures:
4 Mother of Runes (Removal protection)
4 Serra Avenger (Great with vial)
4 True Believer (Can randomly disrupt the opponent like stopping discard)
3 Jotun Grunt (Great to vial in respose to attackers)

Other:
4 Aether Vial (Part of its namesake. Avoid counters, provides combat tricks, and leaves mana open for other things)
4 Swords to Plowshares (Spot removal)
2 Umezawa’s Jitte (Just too good to pass up)
1 Mask of Memory (Card draw)

Land:
17 Plains
2 Flagstones of Trokair

45 Cards

From here I have 4 different options I can go. This is where I would like some input on which option would be the most powerful.

Option 1:
+4 Soltari Priest
+4 Silver Knight
+3 Oblivion Ring
+1 Mask of Memory
+1 Umezawa’s Jitte
+2 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
This is the most aggressive of the options, adding in the most creatures and equipment. Oblivion Ring acts as more removal of a variety of things.

Option 2:
+4 Soltari Priest
+4 Silver Knight
+4 Mana Tithe
+2 Oblivion Ring
+1 Mask of Memory
This is similar to the first but decides to go a little more controlling. Mana Tithe has its uses and late game can be discarded to Mask.

Option 3:
+1 Jotun Grunt
+4 Knight of the Holy Numbus
+4 Mana Tithe
+4 Armageddon
+1 Flagstones of Trokair
+1 Mask of Memory
This option tries to abuse Armageddon. Mana Tithe and Knight become much better post Armageddon. Also, it becomes very easy to keep a Jotun Grunt around for a while.

Option 4:
+4 Soltari Priest
+4 Silver Knight
+3 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Ancient Den
+1 Runed Halo
+1 Parallax Wave
+1 Aura of Silence
The last option involves a Enlightened Tutor Toolbox. Parallax Wave for removal, Aura for artifacts and enchantments, and Runed Halo for utility. Tutor is also good since it can go get equipment.

The sideboard for the deck differs between options so for now I won't post it.

Thoughts?

[The Wes]

May I suggest Aven Mindcensor? Its so much fun to mess with fetching, tutoring, and combat math.

[XSivPSI]

8-Spells
4 Armageddon
4 Swords to Plowshares

25-Creatures
3 Isamaru, hound of Konda
3 Mother of runes
4 Knight of the Holy Nimbus
4 Serra Avenger
3 Jötun Grunt
4 Soltari Priest
4 Tarmogoyf

7-Artifacts
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Aether Vial

20-Lands
4 Ancient tomb
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Plains
4 Windswept heath
4 Savannah


I played something like this a while ago with chant's and grips and cataclysm and such in the side. I don't remember the exact deck list.

Tomb gets Jitte and Geddon online alot faster

Not much help I know but if you have goyfs try the green splash, he is awesome and vial doesn't care if you have forests or not.

[keys]

I would run Qasali Pridemage instead of Soltari Priest if you're doing the splash. One or two Horizon Canopy could be good, too.

[XSivPSI]

I would run Qasali Pridemage instead of Soltari Priest if your doing the splash. One or two Horizon Canopy could be good, too.

Yea that sounds good. I didn't know about him. It might be better to drop hounds though b/c its nice to be able to attack through beef with a priest, especially carrying a jitte. I haven't been playing much at all over the last year or so and am contemplating selling my collection.

[Paradigm Shift]

If you run the E. Tutor toolbox, definitely maindeck an O. Ring, and sideboard Rule of Law and Ghostly Prison (and if it seems worth it, Supression Field.)

You could try a singleton copy of Steelshaper's Gift in the maindeck, because it's not card disadvantage like E. Tutor is, and allows inclusions of singleton equipment like SoFI and SoLS, and acts as an extra copy of MoM or Jitte.

Also, consider Pulse of the Fields in the board, because it can allow you to race and then win out of nowhere in aggro mirrors, and just totally owns burn, especially post-M10.

[TheCramp]

Glowrider

[MasterC]

Silver Knight isn't good anymore. Protection from Red is completely useless except against goblins and maybe sligh.
And 2/2 First Strike isn't too impressive as well.

I would rather play Samurai of the Pale Curtain, who cripples a huge amount of legacy decks.

[MTG-Fan]

I ran something like this in Extended.

- True Believer is indeed very sick in this type of deck because he will completely shut down discard effects, and even stuff like Gifts Ungiven and Mindslaver (more relevant in Ext tho).

- One option that I tried is Stillmoon Cavalier. He has both Pro:Black and Pro:White and some pump effects. He was decent in Ext, I don't know if he's costed efficiently enough for Legacy.

- Burrenton Forge-Tender is amazing against many decks. Not only will he stop stuff like Goblins, but you can also sac him to Bridges, sac him to stop a burn player's entire turn, etc. I would definitely put him in the sideboard, maybe even maindeck. I think this guy has sort of taken the place of Silver Knight as the red hoser.

- Kitchen Finks is costly but an interesting option.

- You should look into Figure of Destiny. He's a weenie that will stay relevant at every stage of the game.

- Someone else had a weenie deck that ran Weathered Wayfarer. It was kind of interesting in that Wayfarer could fetch stuff like Wasteland repeatedly.

Enchantments:

- Worship is an interesting way to hose alot of decks if you can ensure that you will have creatures on board at all times.

- I know it sounds janky, but if you're running alot of guys with multiple white symbols in their mana cost, there is this enchantment called Light from Within that sort of turns them ridiculous. With one on the board, each successive guy you play will be buffed regardless of removal. It's kind of like a super Crusade for white weenies. I ran it in Standard and Extended and it was quite cool... haven't tried it in Legacy yet.

Maybe if you run the E-Tutor package, you can include these as 1-ofs or something.

Splashing green will open you up to several excellent options: Qasali Pridemage, Gaddock Teeg, Tarmogoyf, etc.

[kidsmokin]

A quick run-through yields me this list, synthesizing a bit here and there:

// Lands
8 [ALA] Plains (2)
2 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
4 [U] Savannah
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
2 [TSP] Flagstones of Trokair

// Creatures
4 [10E] True Believer
3 [EVE] Figure of Destiny
2 [ON] Exalted Angel
3 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
2 [TSP] Serra Avenger
3 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
3 [CHK] Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4 [UL] Mother of Runes
3 [FUT] Aven Mindcensor

// Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
3 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
4 [A] Swords to Plowshares

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [DS] Pulse of the Fields
SB: 1 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender
SB: 1 [LE] Glowrider
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg

SB is obviously rough as heck, hence only "4" slots filled. Some notes about the main:

1. G splash opens up Goyf, which I had to knock down to 3-of sadly, and Qasali Pridemage, and good SB options like Teeg, so that seemed worthwhile.
2. No eTutor toolbox, because there isn't room, and you have plenty of pseudo-disruption main.
3. Every mono-W deck is required by law to MD O-Rings.
4. Exalted Angel could probably go, but I have a soft spot for her and perhaps she can win you fights out of nowhere. Probably can get cut for an extra Goyf and an extra of something else, i.e. Serra Avenger, Qasali Pridemage or Samurai of the Pale Curtain.
5. Only thing about Wg is no REB/BEB :(, but splashing U doesn't seem worthwhile (no critters of good use), and R makes you a slower Zoo deck. So neither option is good.
6. I also don't like Mana Tithe. Got to be proactive.
7. I have no real good idea as to what SB options W has.

[MTG-Fan]

I just thought of something else that's kind of janky but fun:

If you're running Aven Mindcensor, you could run Ghost Quarter and it wouldn't be terrible as long as you had the Mindcensor in play. Then you could do a sort of LD theme with 4 Ghost quarter and 4 Wasteland. Of course, if your opponent is playing ANY basics and you can't consistenlty get Mindcensor in play, it's terrible, but it still is kind of cute.

[nightmaster]

Ok, so I am getting the feeling that from the options I listed before either 1 or 4 is the way to go. Basically, do I want to go aggro or do I want an E-Tutor Toolbox?

Samurai of the Pale Curtain: The only problem I have with him is he works againt Jotun Grunt. I know Samurai is good but I don't feel like I can run both. Maybe switch Samurai for Silver and Grunt for something.

Figure of Destiny: Yep, got to work on getting some.

3cc Creatures: The deck usually likes to put vial on 2. Is having 3cc creatures (Mincensor, Cavalier, Finks) going to go against this or will there not be enough to change anything?

[NERER0CKET]

It wont really go against the grain, multiple vials will equal multiple counters. 2cc's to consider are Knight of the white orchard, or knight of meadowgrane.

[The Wes]

The deck does seem to be turning more and more into a w/g angel stompy list. If you wanted to take it back a bit you could always go the armageddon route and add winbornmuse in for fun.

[_erbs_]

Hello,
With the m10 just on the horizons alot of nice cards could boost a white winnie deck (Honor the Pure, Harm's Way, etc). Having that said even with those addition is it better compared to D&T ? I don't know but D&T is a solid deck and i think is has the best matchup against the current meta in legacy if you want to play a white aggro deck. It has lots of answers to your opponents tricks and threats.

I don't know if D&T would use m10 but im guessing it will cause stonecloaker has lost its magic combat tricks because of the of m10 combat rules, maybe it would be cut in the D&T lineup.

D&T slowly is ditching its higher curve cards like cataclysm which was replaced by erthersworn canonist and now maybe stonecloaker... maybe after m10 D&T would just become a vial aggro white deck... but who knows im not the creator of D&T.

I've played angel stompy pre goyf and goblins where all over the place. It was a very very good deck thats most of the time has good finishes in tournys. Im sure anyone who tried angelstompy before would agree to me on this.

I hope another competitive white winnie deck could come out after this m10, soldier deck maybe ?

[nightmaster]

@erbs: do you think that Angel Stompy, despite being outdated, if given maybe some of the same chages (Aven Mindcensor, FoD) could be better than this? I have the cards for Angel Stompy too so I could go that route instead.

Otherwise, here is an updated lst:

Creatures:
4 Mother of Runes
2 Figure of Destiny
4 Serra Avenger
4 True Believer
4 Soltari Priest
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
3 Aven Mincensor

Other Spells:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Aether Vial
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Mask of Memory

Land:
19 Plains

[Rizso]

Shouldnt sword of fire and ice be considered? Priests and angels carring the swords and the other equipments and fly over your enemies tarmogoyfs.

Also think some Crusade effects should be used. Crusade or the new Honor of the Pure in m10

[nightmaster]

What do you think is a better creature to use that still has a disruptive element, True Believer or Aven Mindcensor? I feel like having too many disruptive creatures is lowering the quality of my creatures in combat. Aven flies and is useful against fetchlands and tutors. True Believer is probably more disruptive but bad in combat.

So which do you think?

[freakish777]

Have you considered Augery Adept? They swing with dudes, you end step a card drawing creature with Vial, seems pretty good (and the random life gain can't hurt).

Also, I'd encourage some testing with Mana Tithe + Wastelands.

Figure of Destiny should definitely be a 4 of, True Believer really doesn't do what you want it to (ANT just goes "Oh, that's cute, I'll play Ad Nasuem, reveal 15 cards, one of which is Slaughter Pact, gg?").

If you're deciding between Samurai and Jotun Grunt, you always go with the Grunt. That guy is ridiculous. Getting in for 8 over 3 turns and then having your guy die is almost always better than getting in for 8 over 5 turns.


My immediate recommendations are:

-4 True Believer
+2 Figure of Destiny (if your opponent ever tries to steal him with Sower of Temptation remember you can turn him back into a 2/2 for )
+2 Augury Adept
-4 Samurai
+4 Jotun Grunt

My secondary recommendations are (as in I'm less sure of them):

-1 Aven Mindscensor
-1 Mother of Runes
-1 Oblivion Ring
-1 Soltari Priest
-3 Plains
+4 Wasteland
+3 Mana Tithe

[MTG-Fan]

Have you considered Augery Adept? They swing with dudes, you end step a card drawing creature with Vial, seems pretty good (and the random life gain can't hurt).

Augury Adept is a cool card, but I think he's a tad overcosted for Legacy. Also, how often do you think he'll actually connect and not just run into a Goyf wall and die, or get Plowed on sight?

Figure of Destiny should definitely be a 4 of, True Believer really doesn't do what you want it to (ANT just goes "Oh, that's cute, I'll play Ad Nasuem, reveal 15 cards, one of which is Slaughter Pact, gg?").

Of course he won't protect you from Combo (although he will win some G1s against them - how many ANT lists run Slaughter Pact pre-board?), but he will randomly stop your opponent from Hymning/Thoughtseizing you long enough for you to win with your dudes, or randomly win Burn matchups for you by drawing enough fire away from your head for you to survive.