Deck
16 Plains
2 The Fair Basilica
2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
2 The Seedcore
3 Mirrex
4 Lunarch Veteran
4 Crawling Chorus
4 Virtue of Loyalty
4 Skrelv’s Hive
4 Fateful Absence
4 Charge of the Mites
4 Rumor Gatherer
3 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
4 Mondrak, Glory Dominus
Sideboard
3 Destroy Evil
3 Lion Sash
1 Sunset Revelry
2 Phyrexian Vindicator
3 The Wandering Emperor
3 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
I’ve been doing fairly well with this mono-white tokens deck in Bo3 ranked Standard on Arena. I hit Mythic for the first time while playing an earlier version of it, so it can’t be too bad, right?
I’ve only once seen an opponent playing something like it, so if you want something rogue, give this a try. Unfortunately it’s full of irreplaceable rares so I definitely can’t market this as a budget option.
Virtue of Loyalty was the finishing touch for this deck. Previously I had Invasion of Gobakhan in that slot, which was awkward because it meant the deck didn’t have any two-drops that could attack on turn 3. Virtue is great on turn 2 and great when it’s using up your excess mana in the late game. It’s also pretty good as counterspell bait or a surprise blocker, or two if you have Mondrak out.
Rumor Gatherer is unimpressive by itself but becomes very good in combination with a Skrelv’s Hive, Adeline, or Mirrex. Add a Mondrak to that and you’re drawing two cards every turn. I often sideboard out some Gatherers against decks that apply too much pressure to get the combo going, but once or twice I’ve seen an opponent concede just to the Gatherer engine.
That said, − 1 Gatherer + 1 Adeline is probably correct, I just don’t feel like crafting the last Adeline.
Is this a toxic deck or a regular damage deck?
It’s both. Plan A is to win with regular damage, but poison counters are a very good Plan B. They can help you squeak out a last-minute win against Sheoldred or Atraxa.
Even if you don’t win with poison, turning on Corrupted for The Seedcore and Skrelv’s Hive can be a big deal. If you have a choice between playing Lunarch Veteran or Crawling Chorus on turn 1, lead with the Chorus since it helps you get Corrupted sooner. Plus it’s more resilient to Cut Down.
Sideboarding
Destroy Evil – for Sheoldred, Atraxa, Etali, and the various Virtues. Against Atraxa ramp decks, take out Fateful Absences for Destroy Evil, since it hits pretty much all of their creatures. Against Sheoldred and most other decks, take out Charge of the Mites instead, since your Fateful Absences will still be very useful.
Lion Sash – believe it or not this is mostly for the mono-blue Djinn/Terror decks, which I’m actually not seeing much of since WOE, but it’s also sometimes useful against stuff like Virtue of Persistence. Not useful against Cemetery Desecrator.
Sunset Revelry, Phyrexian Vindicator, The Wandering Emperor – for mono-red, and secondarily for any other creature deck that’s faster than you. Against mono-black I would probably bring in the Emperors but not the other two. Against mono-red specifically, take out all your Hives and a couple of Mondraks for these six and don’t worry about prosecuting your own plan. If you can stabilize, you can beat them with whatever you have when the dust clears. I was lucky enough to open two Vindicators but I wouldn’t tell you to craft or buy them just for this deck; fill the space with more copies of Revelry. Emperor is neat in combination with Mondrak except that you’ll likely be taking out some Mondraks for Emperor, since they’re both four-drops.
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines – for Atraxa ramp decks and their cousins the Cascade combo decks. Sunfall is about the only thing they have that can kill Norn, so try to bait that out first if you can. I usually remove two Mondraks and one Rumor Gatherer to make room for the three Norns.
Great writeup! This looks like a ton of fun and Standard in particular seems pretty fun as well, I’ve been looking for something rogue-ish to play like this.
Aside but I wish I didn’t need to craft so many rares and mythics to play it :-/ I’d need to craft 13R 14M for the whole thing in Bo3, but 11/7 if I just took it into Bo1. Curious if you have any idea how it might fare there?
As a Pauper aficionado and F2P Arena player, I feel your pain. I don’t know how I ended up piloting such an expensive deck; I just tweaked it little by little and now here we are.
I haven’t played much Bo1 with this but I’m happy to speculate wildly. The main deck has a solid gameplan and you can definitely get some people with it, especially if you’re playing first. Your worst Bo1 match-up is probably mono-red aggro; my strategy with this deck and a lot of other decks is to accept that mono-red will win game 1 and then sideboard into something they can’t beat. If possible, try to hold Skrelv’s Hive until after you hit the Corrupted threshold; otherwise you’re doing their work for them. Many-color ramp decks will also be a bit of a challenge; you probably have to go all-out and hope they don’t find [[Sunfall]].
Alternatively you could try a budget-ish build. I would hang on to Elesh Norn in the sideboard but replace the Vindicators with Revelries, Wandering Emperor with [[Knockout Blow]], and Lion Sash with [[Soul-Guide Lantern]] or [[Lantern of the Lost]]. In the maindeck, [[Ossification]] is a tolerable substitute for Fateful Absence, we certainly have enough basics for it, but I hated how I kept losing it to [[Farewell]]. If converting rare lands to Plains, I’d go in this order: 1 Eiganjo, 1 Mirrex, 2 Seedcore, then whatever. You could trim 1 Skrelv’s Hive and/or 1 Virtue, but there aren’t a lot of other token-producing two-drops in the format. I considered [[Resolute Reinforcements]] but it doesn’t seem impactful enough in this deck.
Glad you like the deck, and if you try it out, good luck!
This is super helpful, thank you!
I think I’ll first try some of your budget replacements and stick with Bo3 to get a feel for the deck. This has been beaten to death I know but I don’t mind spending WCs on a deck I’ll play, I just wish there was a nondestructive way to test drive on Arena.
there aren’t a lot of other token-producing two-drops in the format
Actually, I don’t know why I forgot this, but [[Hopeful Vigil]] probably does a decent budget Virtue of Loyalty impression. Makes a token on turn 2 and helps use some of your extra mana later.
