Saturday, July 21, 2012

White half deck from the 2013 Deck Builder's Toolkit

I have counted 186 cards excluding basic lands. We have a play set of Evolving Wilds to start with.


There is also a single Seraph Sanctuary, with which you gain 1 life if you have an Angel. I will use it to build a small troupe of white creatures.


There is also two of the Scroll of Avacyn artifact, and one Bladed Bracers artifact. These three cards go best with White.



I have 14 White creatures. If I split a two color deck evenly, each deck will have 12 creatures each of two colors (24 creatures), 24 lands, and 27 other cards. That's 60 cards and a 15 card sideboard (60+15=24+24+27). 

Because I want to use the Scroll of Avacyn artifact to the fullest, I will pick out the six angel card: Emancipation Angel, (2) Seraph of Dawn, Serra Angel, Voice of the Provinces, and Archangel. 



I need to drop two of the remaining eight cards to get 12 White creatures. 


I will drop Angelic Wall, which only has Defender, and Chapel Geist, which only has Flying. The six creatures I have left have useful qualities:

Cathedral Sanctifier-AVR-C: Gain 3 life when it enters the battlefield.
Crusader of Odric-M13-U (Nice card!): P/T same as number of creatures you control, which can be a good six of seven if you are playing White with cards that drop tokens on the battlefield.
Attended Knight-M13-C (two of these, one from the M13 pack): First Strike and drop a 1/1 token when it enters the battlefield.
Elgaud Inquisitor-DKA-C: Lifelink and  drop a 1/1 token when it enters the battlefield.
Griffin Protector-M13-C: +1/+1 until end of turn when a creature enters the battlefield.
...and then there's the Thalia, Guardian of Thraben-DKA-R out of the Dark Ascension pack.






Wait a minute...that's seven creatures: let's drop Griffin Protector because it depends on other actions than its own.



With three artifacts, and giving White between 13 and 14 of the 27 "other" cards, I will use 10 White Sorceries, Instants, and Enchantments.


I pulled a Purify the Grave-ISD-U out of the Innistrad booster pack. I can use it to exile a card from a graveyard and can play it a second time using Flashback.

I will also use these four cards:

Pacifism-Enchantment Aura-M13-C (two of these): Enchanted creature can't attack or block. This card is a reprint from previous core sets.
Oblivion Ring-Enchantment-M13-U: exile a non-land permanent and then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. This card is similar to Geist-Honored Monk.
Defy Death-Sorcery-M13-U: Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield-similar to Unburial Rites-and if its an Angel, put two +1/+1 counters on it. Six of the twelve creatures in this half deck are Angels.

I have five slots left but will only use three:

Safe Passage-Instant-M13-C: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you and creatures you control this turn. 
Righteous Blow-Instant-AVR-C: 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Faith's Shield-DKA-U: Fateful Hour and target permanent you control gains protection from a color of your choice until end of turn.