[Deck] Knights

[Amber VII]

Knights Immortal



History

Long before Wizards sought to make every creature type a tribe, knights were a favored class in Magic. Black Knight and White Knight are two of the most iconic cards in Magic's lore. Their terrible symmetry averred the two colors' diametric opposition to each other. Protection from evey color meant a single Knight could rule over the battlefield.

The advent of modern knights began with the printing of Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. This obscure legend from Cold Snap was the knights' first Lord. Unlike other lords, Haakon's role in the Knights deck was less obvious, but the potential for unfair things was there. Among these innovations was Mikael J's "Haakon Goes Lorwyn" decklist from Time Spiral-Lorwyn.

The printing of Knight Exemplar officially christened knights into mainstream consciousness. Recent printings of several powerful knights have pushed the deck to the cusp of tournament playability.

Why Play Knights?

With the switch from Legacy to Modern, most tribes ratcheted down in power. Merefolk lost access to free counter magic. Elves lost Glimpse of Nature. Faeries lost Bitterblossom and Brainstorm. Goblins were neutered. Knights lost very little. Aside from Mercenary Knight shenanigans, the Knights deck is left intact for Modern.

Card Choices

The Lords

Haakon, Stromgald Scourge

Honoring the deck's namesake, Haakon grants your knights immortality. The ability to recur threats from the graveyard is what separates Knights as a tribe. Aside from Path to Exile or Oblivion Ring, your opponent has few options for permanently dealing with Haakon. In wars of attrition, the knights will emerge victorious.

What if your opponent has dedicated graveyard removal? Then Haakon has already done his job. The deck does not need Haakon to win. Haakon is a means to an end; he is not an end to the means. Knights is not a graveyard deck, Haakon simply supplements a winning game plan.

Knight Exemplar

The second reason for the deck's namesake. Knight Exemplar bestows arguably the most powerful ability of any lord to your sacred band. Admittedly, indestructibility is not a catchall for the format. Path to Exile, Oblivion Ring, and Dismember all get around indestructibility, and these cards will see play in Modern. But against Red burn spells, most forms of black removal, and mass removal, indestructibility reigns eternal.

The Sacred Band

Student of Warfare

The best (and perhaps only) 1-drop Knight in the format. Student of Warfare is a must against aggressive decks that want to pressure early (Zoo). A turn 2 3/3 first striker can be quite the wall.

(Editor's note: Does anyone else think the artwork for Student of Warfare bears an uncanny resemblance to Alexander the Great at Issus?)

Knight of the White Orchid

A 2/2 First Striker for feels underwhelming in this format. The ability to gain the advantage on the draw and smooth out manabases makes for it. Path to the Exile is this knight's best friend.

Mirran Crusader

Power creep. That is the only explanation for this noble brute. The Crusader does it all. He double strikes, has protection from two very relevant colors, and carries equipment like a king.

Knight of the Reliquary

Coincidence the second best creature in Modern shares the knight sub-type? I think not.

Dark Confidant

The only non-knight I considered. Okay, I considered Tarmogoyf, but who doesn't? Dark Confidant is very powerful in a deck like Knights. Your curve peaks at 3 and your average mana cost is 1.3. Dark Confidant also serves as a lightning rod for removal, allowing you to push through bombs (i.e. Exemplar and Crusader). The tantamount problem is the amount of self-inflicted damage the deck takes. The move to shocklands has not done the deck any favors and Thoughtsieze and Haakon are major pains. It remains to be seen if greatness can be achieved at any costs.

Removal

Nameless Inversion

Dispatching a creature of 3 toughness is nothing to scuff at in this format. Nameless Inversion and a first striking Knight is often enough to slay Tarmogoyf. The fact the card is tribal and therefore recurrable with Haakon is righteous.

Crib Swap

If you're hesitant to play Nameless Inversion, Crib Swap may be up your alley. Crib Swap is unconditional removal that also synergizes with Haakon. Crib Swap does cost more however.

Path to Exile

Path to Exile is the premiere removal spell of Modern and is included to deal with the bigger brutes of the format.

Acceleration / Disruption

Aether Vial

Much has been said about Aether Vial that will not be restated here. Even though counter magic is less meddlesome in Modern, four copies of Aether Vial are absolutely necessary. Aether Vial allows us to cheat Haakon into play and allows for clever tricks via Knight Exemplar.

Thoughtseize

Too powerful not to contemplate, Thoughtseize is targeted hand removal turn one. It also provides a secondary outlet to Haakon should the need arise.

Inquisition of Kozilek

Ditto above. Inquisition of Kozilek may be superior to Thoughtseize in this format, given the vast majority of spells in Modern are in the 1-3 cmc range. Inquisition functions as Haakon outlet 9-12.

Equipment

Sword of Fire and Ice & Friends

The knights' Excalibur. Choose wisely. A knight's survival depends on such arms.

Sample Lists

I have provided some lists of what a typical Knights build might look like. Keep in mind these decklists are totally untested in the Modern environment. I hope to change that soon.

The first decklist is W/B/g Knights Immortal. We splash Green to grant us access to Knight of the Reliquary and better options in the board (e.g. Maelstrom Pulse, Krosan Grip). The second decklist is W/B Knights Immortal. We remove Green to give us a more stable Manabase. Due to the large amount of Blood Moon effects I expect to see in my meta, I am currently leaning towards W/B.

W/B/g Knights Immortal

Creatures (22)

4 Dark Confidant
4 Student of Warfare
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Mirran Crusader
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge

Discard (8)

4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize

Removal (3)

1 Path to Exile
2 Nameless Inversion

Artifacts & Equipment (6)

4 Aether Vial
2 Sword of Fire and Ice

Mana Sources (22)

4 Marsh Flats
4 Godless Shrine
2 Arid Mesa
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Gardens
3 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Forest

Sideboard (tentative)

3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Path to Exile
1 Crib Swap
4 Pithing Needle
4 Extirpate


W/B Knights Immortal

Creatures (23)

4 Dark Confidant
4 Student of Warfare
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Mirran Crusader
3 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge

Discard (4)

4 Inquisition of Kozilek

Removal (6)

4 Path to Exile
2 Crib Swap

Artifacts & Equipment (6)

4 Aether Vial
2 Sword of Fire and Ice

Mana (21)

4 Godless Shrine
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
6 Plains
3 Swamp

Sideboard (tentative)

3 Oblivion Ring
4 Duress
4 Extirpate
4 Pithing Needle

[Amber VII]

Auxiliary Knights

These knights didn't make the first cut, but they may a find a place in your deck depending on playstyle.

2-drops

Accorder Paladin

Aggressively costed for a knight, Battlecry may not be the best fit for this deck

Knight of Meadowgrain

Lifelink is very desirable in this deck making this knight playable

Puresteel Paladin

Knights Immortal doesn't field enough equipment to make Puresteel Paladin worthwhile

Leonin Skyhunter

Flying is a solid ability, but is the Skyhunter better than the knights you're already playing?

Knight of the Holy Nimbus

Ditto for flanking, except even more narrow

Sigiled Paladin

Ditto for Exalted

White Shield Crusader / Stromglad Crusader

These knights are worth a gander if you want evasion plus abilities. My belief is these knights are too mana intensive and you already play Student of Warfare

Silver Knight / White Knight / Black Knight

All of these knights represent a part of Magic's history, but sadly the format has passed them by

Steward of Valeron

Being able to attack and accelerate is nice, but what are you accelerating into?

3-drops

Mirror Entity

Changelings who masquerade as knights! Being able to pump all of your knights can be back breaking. Playable

Stillmoon Cavalier

Similar to the Coldsnap Crusaders, except for double protection, the Cavalier is a good creature with a fragile body prohibitive to Modern

Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers

A potential candidate for a W/G Build

Paladin en-Vec

An oldie but a goodie, Paladin en-Vec may warrant some play. Pro-Red and answering your opponent's Dismembers is pretty huge

Arrogant Bloodlord

The Bloodlord is interesting. Provided the format isn't filled with 1/1's (Grim Lavamancer, Elves, and Sakura-Tribe Elder come to mind), is a 4/4 vanilla for good enough?

Phyrexian Crusader

Phyrexian Crusader is extremely powerful on paper. Yet, I feel the Infect-clause is a deal breaker. The Crusader may end games on his own but he runs counter to what the rest of your knights are doing, which is winning by damage. Much as how I don't pair Dark Confidant with Tombstalker, I wouldn't jam Phyrexian Crusader into a deck as the only infect creature

4-drops

Hero of Bladehold

As much as Hero is a one woman army, I consider any 4-drop knight to be nigh unplayable

Wilt-Leaf Liege

The Liege works well with Knight of the Reliquary but feels mediocre alongside everything else

Sideboard Options

Much like predicting the stock market, I cannot say what decks will be played in the new format. I suspect Zoo and 12-Post to be popular, as does most else everyone here.

Extirpate

The Knights deck is extremely susceptible to any deck running Punishing Fires. Extirpate deals with all that and more.

Pithing Needle

Pithing Needle is your anti-combo Swiss Army Knife

Maelstrom Pulse

The format's new Vindicate, Maelstrom Pulse answers all non-land permanents (especially tokens) that get in your way. The 3cc does make the deck top-heavy though

Krosan Grip

Krosan Grip deals with annoying artifacts like Engineered Explosives, though I prefer Maelstrom Pulse in most situations

Oblivion Ring

Similar to Maelstrom Pulse, Oblivion Ring may deserve a spot in W/B Builds

Gaddock Teeg

Not a Knight, but an all-around useful card to have, Gaddock Teeg may fill a niche role against control and combo decks.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant

The Queen of all Knights, Elspeth fits in well with deck's theme. A brevetted Mirran Crusader is a fearsome sight indeed. Best of all Elspeth can protective herself by chumming the field with 1/1 soldiers.

Tormod's Crypt / Relic of Progenitus / Leyline of the Void

With the best graveyard decks in Legacy large absent Modern, these cards are no longer auto-includes in the sideboard

Matchup Analysis

Coming Soon

Results & Discussion

1. What is the correct number of Haakon's in the deck?

2. Namesless Inversion or Crib Swap or neither?

3. Or any other builds (e.g. W/G or W/R) worthwhile to consider?

[apprentice]

I think you missed Kinsbaile Cavalier.
any thoughts on mono W knights?
Adaptive Automaton could also act as a pseudo lord as well...

[TRS-Jo]

Haakon is a really unusual choice for a knights deck in modern in my opinion. He is much too dependant on Vial and Discard (and using discard on yourself is a really awful tech).
I think Knight of the Meadowgrain or Automaton is just better for this deck.

This is the list I am using:
4 Knight Exemplar
3 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Mirran Crusader
4 Student of Warfare
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Adaptive Automaton
4 AEther Vial
4 Path to Exile
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Dismember
4 Temple Garden
5 Plains
3 Arid Mesa
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Forest
3 Marsh Flats
1 Sejiri Steppe
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

It´s a slight variation from some decklists on mtgsalvation and not perfect for sure, but the maindeck strategy is working really well.
The focus is mainly on 10 lord effects so the clock Knights provide is quite similiar to Merfolk. With more crusaders it might be even faster than Merfolk.
Will need some optimizations for sure as 12Post and combo matchups are rather weak but Zoo has a really tough time beating this deck.

[Amber VII]

@ apprentice

My experience with Kinsbaile Cavalier is that the card is underwhelming. The Cavalier occupies a space at the top of the 4cc pyramid. Playing a Cavalier on an empty board doesn't affect the game state as much as Hero of Bladehold, which isn't played either. I think you're better off with Elspeth, Knight-Errant if you want a 4cc bomb.

I feel Modern has enough mana fixers that you don't gain much from playing a mono-color deck. You could play Mutavault I suppose. Also, splashing black at least gives you access to better sideboard options.

Adaptive Automaton seems lackluster as a lord and it really hurts that it gives you other knights no special abilities. Of course I could be wrong on this and what knights needs is another lord.

@ TRS-Jo

I was actually thinking of lowering the Haakon count from 3 to 2 and adding Mirror Entity or an extra land. There are times where Haakon is a dead card in hand with no discard outlets. Other times a Haakon is absolutely amazing, returning entire armies to the battlefield and clearing your opponent's board. Haakon is more of a lategame card so perhaps only having 2 prevents the card from being drawn early. Using your own discard spell to get rid of Haakon is not as bad as you think. By the time you're ready to dump Haakon, your opponent has generally played his hand.

I like your list, but why only 2 Mirran Crusader? The card is unbelievable. I'm not sold on Wilt-Leaf Liege either.

You're right, I haven't tested the 12Post Matchup, but I don't think it's going to be incredibly favorable to knights.

[orange tabby]

Auriok Steelshaper might work as another almost-lord.

[Amber VII]

As long as we're brainstorming ideas here, I suppose you could construct a Knights deck with a strong equipment package. Perhaps something like:

Creatures: 24

4 Puresteel Paladin
4 Auriok Steelshaper
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Student of Warfare

Spells: 7

3 Steelshaper's Gift
4 Path to Exile

Equipment: 5

1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Ballisk Collar
1 Batterskull

Land 24

4 Ghost Quarter
20 Plains

Basically we have white weenie with a bit of a tribal theme and equipment thrown in. It hurts that Auriok Steelshaper isn't a knight himself and does not received bonuses from Knight Exemplar.

[apprentice]

yes, I have been hoping another lord for knights or maybe a "ring leader effect" like goblin ringleader

a two 2cc lord/3cc lord that gives special abilities would really help knights

[Amber VII]

I think most tribal decks are itching for a "ringleader effect," not just knights. Luckily you do have some card advantage in the form of Dark Confidant and Haakon.

I would love to see another Knight Lord. I don't think we'll see one in Innistrad because knights aren't a major creature type. But in the Return to Ravinca block following, I can see that happening.

[rocketrae21]

How do you get Haakon into play/graveyard?

[Amber VII]

Ideally you cheat Haakon into play with Aether Vial. Barring that you target yourself with Thoughtseize/Inquisition to discard Haakon in the graveyard. The latter is less ideal, hence the move towards playing only 2 Haakons.

[apprentice]

since you have green in your first build... fauna shaman might be a good addition... it fetches and discards a card(hakon)

[Amber VII]

It's an interesting idea. You dilute your deck of non-knights and I think there are more broken things you can do with Fauna Shaman. Still the deck is difficult to beat with Haakon in the yard. It's worth testing.

[apprentice]

you could also run some kind of toolbox with utility creatures like gaddock, quasali, mirror entity, eternal witness and so on...

[Amber VII]

I think at that point you have a whole different deck. They deck really doesn't have the slots to devote to a toolbox.

[Mr. Safety]

I'm looking at your list in the OP, and I can't help but make a couple of comments:

1) Why Crib Swap when you can play Unmake?

2) I think you would be well suited to use Stillmoon Cavalier. He's immune to all removal save burn, and lets be honest, burn is a real problem with the deck before Knight Exemplar lands. Red Deck Wins and Zoo will own this deck six-ways from sunday if you don't figure out how to play the red matchup.

3) I would seriously consider using 4x Inquisition of Kozilek and 2-3x Raven's Crime. Thoughtsieze will most likely hurt too much, and again, it makes your red matchup lousy. I'd probably even use Duress over Thoughtsieze. Duress works against the combo decks and IoK works against the aggro decks. Raven's Crime can be a discard outlet and can turn spare lands (which you may have considering Aether Vial) into a discard outlet in the mid-game. You're also splashing green for KotR...Life from the Loam x2 and Raven's Crime x2 may be powerful enough to warrent some slots somewhere in your 75. Honestly, your deck isn't a weenie deck...it's a mid-range aggro deck. Loam/Crime is pretty awesome in mid-range aggro decks.

Good luck!

[Amber VII]

1. We play Crib Swap because it synergizes well with Haakon.

2. As you yourself stated, one of the greatest weaknesses of Knights is its frailty to burn. Stillmoon Cavalier doesn’t solve that problem. It still is a very good creature.

3. In my W/B List I dropped Thoughtseize for Duress for precisely the same reason. I hadn’t considered Raven’s Crime; it certainly merits testing. I’ve primarily been testing the W/B build of the deck, maybe I should switch gears and focus more on the W/B/g version.

Any good sideboard suggestions against Zoo?

[Nabbydian]

Brave the element will be a good sideboard against Zoo. Saving your Knight Exemplar or Haakon against PtE is critical against zoo matches. This is why I prefer brave over Timely Reinforcements anytime.

[Nabbydian]

Brave the element will be a good sideboard against Zoo. Saving your Knight Exemplar or Haakon against PtE is critical against zoo matches. This is why I prefer brave over Timely Reinforcements anytime.

[Amber VII]

It's a sideboard consideration. I can see it taking the place of Extirpate if Punishing Fires decks don't show up in force. I was also thinking Basilisk Collar belongs somewhere in the 75. Deathtouch is great with first striking knights and the life gain is relevant.