Which Staples Do I Put In My Mono-White Commander Decks?

[@TheBarvaz]

Happy to see this is a series. Can't wait for the red one, I just built my first mono red deck after one of your older videos

[@BobJones-bg4ui]

Me too. I feel like there for a mono red burn deck, there are staples that I want to know.

[@mjvane46]

I dont think red has staples outside of removal spells. Its colour identity is so diverse that it is all about deck themes. For example small aggro, big aggro, burn, artifacts, chaos, spellslinger, combo all have very different staples

[@ottounojasmund1919]

Jeskas Will and Mana Geyser go in my mono red combo. So even if you are not playing ALL rituals… these are strictly good.

[@mjvane46]

@@ottounojasmund1919 yeh definately true with jeskas will

[@pokugrf4000]

Always blood moon. Just to mess with people's heads. They're expecting blood moon so they'll never expect when you hit them with blood moon!

[@kosche99]

I like replacing those staples by similar effects that benefit the whole theme of the deck. Soul Snare instead of Path if you're enchantment based fe. If my meta is board heavy I tend to combine slots for specific and general removal. Great content as usual, keep it up.

[@blakeirvine5793]

honestly didn't think of this! thank you

[@dominicsandoval2214]

Here's a secret I never see anyone mention. In a mono color deck I run "nykthos shrine to nyx". It's like a cabal coffers for white decks. And I love angel cards and most of them are two or three white pips. My favorite way to ramp In white

[@Grooove_e]

Completely agree, also im with you on the angels. My mono white angels/enchantments lands: Serra's Sanctum Cavern of Souls Nykthos Shrine to Nyx Ancient Tomb Emeria the Sky Ruin Deserted Temple (use w/nyx & sanctum) All 4 White Fetch Lands Wasteland Urza's Saga Kjeldoran Outpost Homeward Path Hall of Heliod's Generosity Ancient Den Flagstones of Trokair Command Beacon Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire Faceless Haven 12x Snow Covered Plains Windbrisk Heights Roadside Reliquary

[@dominicsandoval2214]

@@Grooove_e I'm missing a couple of those but man alot of those lands put in work 👍

[@dylansturm8065]

Extraplanar Lens and Basic Snow-Plains are also an option! But imma look into that shrine card thanks

[@Garl_Vinland]

Angels and enchantments go so well together. A lot of enchantments also make angels, so they synergies naturally.

[@wigglytuffgaming]

..... What? This is literally a requirement for mono colored decks. It has been since release, are you ok, mentally?

[@BobCain2006]

Thanks for the coverage of the Pro Tour. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoy it. Thank you!

[@matthewgallaway3675]

Thank you for this, I’ve been trying to make a deck for each color for a while and I haven’t had much luck with white. This is very helpful! :)

[@jonwagner6220]

I really enjoyed the change up! Always great stuff

[@chef2chiefchef2chief61]

I've always wanted someone to hype the white land 'mana'gement where you need fewer lands to gain advantage. Stoic farmer, archaeomancers map, land tax, tithe, knight of white orchid, loyal warehound, etc. In my jeskai deck I run scorched ruins, lotus vale, other lotus land, a couple karoo style lands, fieldmist boarderpost, and strip mine. Its enough to enable the requirement around 5 or 6 pieces to reduce land count without reducing mana production. Path to exile and winds of abandon also play to the fewer lands for benefit strategy. It's not the best, but its a lot of fun. With the kor cartographers style build, the bodies left over are great for equipment tribal. It's a fun build, plays decent, a solid 7 or 8 power level.

[@olafthemoose9413]

I love the idea of using lotus field and bouncelands etc to reduce your landcount. Never thought about the path interaction either. I feel so dumb rn for not noticing that myself

[@andrewpeli9019]

Like you said, it's not the best. Having to be at a disadvantage to make white cards work is a model that I'm very pleased to see them getting away from.

[@hrocxvid]

I like the use case for unexpectedly absent where you cast it against an opponent who is using a fetchland

[@returnoftheduelist9790]

Cleansing meditation is so good and slept on since its an old card. Also out of time is the best white card from mh2; its phases out the whole board of creatures and its a super oubliette.

[@theOakMonster]

In mono (or heavy) white decks, I slot in the Land Tax + Scroll Rack card drawing engine. And the addition of Archaeomancer's Map to the engine is just absolute gravy. Next, I add Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, and Generous. But that's probably the extent of my auto-includes.

[@brianlinden3042]

One board wipe I think you're overlooking is Tragic Arrogance. In most decks I'd put that one in before even Austere Command, Farewell, or Vanquish the Horde.

[@olafthemoose9413]

Not great in every deck Imo. You have to have quite a few somewhat useful enchantments and artifacts that you can and want to keep. In the decks where it is good, it is really really good tho.

[@aaroncorsini6165]

Was waiting for this thansk

[@arthurbozelli4360]

I like the point you make with comuppance because my girlfriend tends to play A LOT of fog effects, no matter the deck, even the combat oriented ones. I think fogs are very underestimated when it comes to how it can change the tides of the game. Opponent has a big board of creatures swinging at everyone and take the win? Fog. He now is wide open for the table to take him out. Opponent pulls a combat trick that's gonna kill your attackers/blockers and you don't wanna fall into that? Fog. It's alright now. Opponent is swinging at another opponent which you'd like to make friends with? Fog. You get an ally for some time. Protecting yourself might just be as important as taking others out.

[@krgood9008]

Ephemerate, should be up there with protection and offense. You can retrigger ETBs, blink something that would be the target of a spell, and you get to repeat that on your next upkeep. You can use it to untap your creature after it activated an ability or attacked. If your opponent is playing with enchantment aura spells that are tough to remove from your creatures like imrisoned in the moon or darksteel mutation blink the creature and the enchantment falls off. If they enchant it again you get to repeat it for free on your next turn. Brought back also works multiple ways for bringing creatures back after a board wipe or lands back from fetchlands/sac lands. You can use it to get around hexproof/shroud if you recur enchantment auras if needed as well.

[@Narcomoeba1]

I am a big fan of Soul Snare. The reason why I enjoy using the card, is when it's sitting on the table, even if you have no blockers, it discourages opponents from attacking you simply out of fear that you'll kill it. The card just being out there will discourage the attacks, and have them attack someone else. For 1 mana, people will leave you alone for a while.

[@dahuntre]

Valkmira’s showcase art is so sick, adds some bite to a white taxing protection card

[@kingginger3335]

If you're gonna play mdfc lands then you should put Crucible of Worlds in the deck also. You can cast the spell then play the land from the graveyard as your land for the turn. Then if you have bounce lands of ways to return lands to your hand you can reuse the spell. Valakut Awakening is a staple in my Windgrace deck

[@RestingMoose]

As I mainly play late-game decks, I love it when people cast a Path to Exile on one of my creatures.

[@fischerkingsbery6570]

Just subbed for the into music alone

[@certaingloom3797]

I think Ondu Inversion/Ondu Skyruins could see more use as a late game board reset that only takes up a land slot. For mono-White I tend to run creature token spells like Secure the Wastes, Call the Coppercoats, Finale of Glory, Martial Coup, etc. as a way to provide easy mass board presence.

[@chrisdomingo9143]

I’ve learned to use the medallions more over the mana rocks … a mana Rock will help pay for 1 spell where as the medallions help pay for whatever colored spell your casting isn’t that better ?

[@olafthemoose9413]

It doesn't help with casting artifacts (and the colors running the medallions usually play quite a few artifacts). In addition to that they can't help you activate abilitys.

[@olafthemoose9413]

It doesn't help with casting artifacts (and the colors running the medallions usually play quite a few artifacts). In addition to that they can't help you activate abilitys.

[@chrisdomingo9143]

I know that … oppose to all the rocks you can play …. Majority of ur spells will be color so it’ll will save ur mana to activate abilities

[@olafthemoose9413]

@@chrisdomingo9143 medallions can be super effective but they are less flexible. I myself are quite a big fan of the medallions, I just tried to point out why people don't play it as much.

[@chrisdomingo9143]

What I meant to say is the medallion will save you that 1 cost and you can use that to pay activation cost … ina way it helps

[@Beelzebubster]

I'm a big fan of Reckoner Bankbuster in my white decks. Cheap to draw from and you can use it to beatdown and the 3rd activation gives you a creature token and a small refund with the treasure.

[@SnuggyDabbins]

I loooove blacksmiths skill. It wins me games like everyday. Also I've taken ghostly prison and like effects out of all my decks it just makes the table gang up on me. And esper sentinel is hands down the best card of 2021 I draw loads of cards with it and play it in every deck with white. But that all being said I think we definitely play at different levels higher level metas play very few creatures.

[@francischungfs]

I think Crush Contraband is quite a good alternative to Return to Dust in most situations

[@PrimalRockSlapper]

one I used unexpectidly absent to pus someones commander on top of their library, then cast Oblation on one of their enchantments

[@danieltarazonalapena6403]

Esper sentinel is a freaking beast. And not just because you will/might draw many cards. The tax effect slows almost each player each of their 2 turns, so it's insane value for one mana

[@prob094]

Hey Demo, thanks for these lists, they are very useful. I recently realised that 'The restoration of Eiganjo' is probably my second favourite white land ramp spell after Wayfarer's Bauble. The reason being that it doesn't require your opponents to be ahead on lands. It is guaranteed (unless someone is dumb enough to spot removal it) 3cmc land ramp that then flips into a decent token producing creature. Seems more reliable than Keeper of the Accord etc. Thoughts?

[@prob094]

And later in the game if you don't need the ramp part, you can grab a different permanent out of the graveyard instead of the land. Good early game - good late game : )

[@prob094]

I think people miss that it is ramp because they don't realise you can discard the land card that you grabbed with it, then discard that same land card, then put it directly onto the battlefield with the second part. It would be better if it came in untapped but then it would be green level ramp which would probably be too good in white.

[@seejayfranklin]

You forgot to mention Catastrophe as a boardwipe. It gives you the option of being salty or not--that's versatility!

[@ZagrasNixillis]

You mention Wayfarer's Bauble. What about Armillary Sphere?

[@matusalmasi274]

What about heliod’s intervention? It’s one of the best removals for artifacts/ enchants

[@jackblevins1201]

Sera ascendant. 1 cost 6/6 flying lifelink if you get it out early

[@l0k]

I don't particularly like Esper Sentinel, I never seem to draw from it. Ended up replacing it with wedding ring as there's always someone in the pod that tries to draw all the cards. Also makes it hilarious vs aetherflux. I tend to avoid immortal sun because I do like planeswalkers. For ramp, my auto-include is extraplanar lens and shift all the basics to snow. Yes, sometimes it gets blown up, but the upside is huge. I also tend to run land tax as well, which makes your archaeomancer's map and terrain generator better.

[@olafthemoose9413]

Sentinel is definitly a meta dependant card imo. He'll always be great on turn 1 and 2, but after that his powerlevel drops quite fast unless either your playgroup is somewhat spell heavy or you have ways to buff him so the tax get's bigger. Also something I just realized extra planar lense helps with reducing your land count for the knight of the white orchid effects

[@Kryptnyt]

Sun Titan is probably the biggest one you didn't mention that I run a lot. Angel of the Ruins has been extremely impressive to me as well. Often I find myself wanting Court of Grace and Palace Jailer. Restoration of Eiganjo I could see in quite a lot of my decks, actually, card is very good. Also, of course, gotta have me some Skullclamp.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

yeah i was just never a big sun titan fan. not sure why.

[@olafthemoose9413]

Palace jailor is great. I love it. Monarch is quite decent in white already and blinking jailor is just cheating.

[@Kryptnyt]

@@olafthemoose9413 Being a human is important a surprising amount of the time too, Angel of Glory's Rise is a fun card

[@olafthemoose9413]

@@Kryptnyt poor zombie tribal decks at your table. They didn't even do anything wrong to deserve this.

[@Kryptnyt]

@@olafthemoose9413 I can't say it hasn't happened! Haha. Also, I look forward to hitting someone who has a Maskwood Nexus out...

[@MB-ub1qi]

Awesome stuff bro thanks

[@richardcozzuol7452]

I like this as an initial talking point for your decks definitely fleshes out a portion of you deck and you can tweak the options to fit a bit more thematically or to downgrade the power level of a deck. I need to flesh out my own templates soon too. Love all your hard work btw are you on twitter?

[@patrickgydeaskham1530]

comeuppance only works agaisnt aetherflux reservoir if they can use it only 1 time. In my experience people can just shoot you again with comeuppance on the stack.

[@Hazaak.]

do you think Wedding ring is a good white card. My friend's been talking about it recently and idk how to feel about it yet. Seems like nice card draw depending on what opponent you can give it too

[@mrnekomaneki01]

So the white march from neon dynasty is pretty damn good imo. Since its flexible. Out of time is my favorite "board wipe" because it hits commanders as well. I played it and had everyone's creatures locked up for a theoretical 40 turns. Since i see very little enchantment removal its not a big deal.

[@highlander7462]

Flagstones of Trokair is great for mono white.

[@NuSocTheKelDor]

Path is a 1 mana ramp at the cost of one of your token creatures

[@Kaymidsoltari]

Why don't you consider Pursuit of Knowledge backed up with a Heliod's Generosity as repeatable enchantment draw effect for hand refill?

[@kingginger3335]

You must play in a weird Meta. I've never been in a situation where I've needed any of these spells except for Teferi's Protection and Flawless Maneuver. Every other card are always one's seem good in certain situations but I end up cutting them for more synergy or something

[@weishin]

Can you make moxfield templates?

[@tefin420]

weathered wayfarer is dangerous lol I kept a 1 land hand and I got mess mana screwed than other players did 😅

[@littlemrdoom5997]

I think esper sentinel is good in voltron decks, specifically equipment voltron as if your commander gets dealt with you can slap your swords onto esper sentinel and not only do you have a hard to deal with evasive beater it's also almost always going to be drawing you cards or keeping your opponents from playing the game

[@blue99demon]

My question is how many of those lands would u put in ur commander deck?

[@lancekidder9011]

Remember the good old day of commander when tucking didn't give thr option to send to command zone back when chaos warp was good.

[@crawdaddy1234]

Even in mono-white deck, do you even have enough Plains to trigger Emeria? You mentioned non-basic several lands. Like, I have a 1v1 Commander deck (yes, it’s a little different), and I tried Emeria. After it never once triggering, I counted how many Plains I had: I had only 13 Plains. To trigger Emeria, I would have to get over 50 percent of my Plains to trigger it ONCE.

[@olafthemoose9413]

Emeria is definitly a commitment. In the other hand how big is the downside of not triggering it and having a tapped land vs triggering it a single time in 1 in a 100 games.

[@EvilMagnitude]

Depends on the deck. My mono-W decks run over 25 Plains specifically to be sure that they can reliably enable Emeria. Land Tax also guarantees you'll always hit Emeria, so that helps a lot, as does Archaeomancer's Map.

[@returnoftheduelist9790]

Farewell calling all modes then flash in guardian of faith and watch the table scoop lmao…..i did it and it was so grandiose.

[@michaelknight8021]

Enduring renewal is probably one of my biggest pet cards in white.

[@dmajor9982]

I gotta get esper sentinel for my Kyler deck. I regularly turn a 1/1 into a 15/15 😂

[@micahhonig1575]

I think Crush Contraband is just better than return to dust.

[@pianojoker2]

What is your take on Oketra's Monument ?

[@olafthemoose9413]

If you are heavy on creatures it is decent, in God Eternal oketra style decks with a lot of creatures that return creatures to your hand and spin their wheels it is somewhat godly. But if you're not very heavy on creatures it is not a good card.

[@fidde208]

I think Faith's Shield is comparable to rebuff the wicked. They both have upsides. Ex: colorless removal (lands, devoid etc) rebuff is better. Blasphemous Act type cards Faith's Shield is better

[@hammycan]

"white ramps pretty darn good" every color ramps well if your baseline is colorless rocks, and wayfarer's bauble.

[@topo-esploso]

in my opinion swords to plowshares is usually slightly better than path to exile, that bonus land is really dangerous, the life gain isn't that relevant, unless the creature is very big

[@rightmerk4192]

I feel like Angelsong is an underrated card. Also Smothering Tithe is just so good

[@oldshotbotgg]

Dawn charm over angelsong imo.

[@Iamkiwikun]

I usually replace my path to exiles with winds of abandons

[@insomniclipse9400]

What about mass calcify and ravnica at war. Two boardwipes that don’t affect you at all. Also people hate it but dranith magistrate should be in a lot of mono white decks too

[@crawdaddy1234]

But if someone is using Aetherflux Reservoir, don’t they just have enough life to survive and then just hit you on the next turn?

[@joshuaspector8182]

I’ve won many games with my borborgymos deck because I can loop glacial chasm and none of them have a lot to deal with it. Hoping they don’t start running beast/gift 😂

[@OfficialMaddeck]

Im always excited to play against mono white decks. But 3/4 of white decks a face just go: - Now I play "Hokori, Dust Drinker" (God dammit)

[@nelsikegaming]

It's like you read my mind

[@bend5963]

Apostle’s blessing blows rebuff and blacksmith’s out of the water in my opinion, especially in any artifact synergy deck

[@robertcartwright2236]

Path to exile+ young pyromancer + feather

[@garregalen83]

Do all this for all mono colours

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i did.

[@7fatrats]

"30 cards is not that much" Uh.. in a 100 card deck? Thats litterally a third a deck dude, alongside ~30 lands you only have 1/3 left for cards that arent gonna be in every deck you ever build.. i mean you should put staples in, but keep it to 20, or 15. Let unused cards shine more.

[@oldshotbotgg]

Awesome video. Got a sub from me

[@Ouroboros_FuFu]

Literally just built a mono white deck last night wtf.

[@okgut2033]

Endless Horizons is immo the best carddraw for monowhite. Esp if you have maximal 8 non-basiclands. In earlygames it will pull you easy 27 lands. So you have paid 4 mana for 27 cards (again depents if you know someone takes it out before upkeep and you need lands to play cause earlygame). In the lategame you still have ~20 lands that you pull out and your chance to draw lands is drastically degreesed! And in midgame this one is at his sweetspot! There are no other cards for 4 mana or less that let you "draw" 20+ cards. Ofc its only lands but its also never again a land :)

[@pedrobrito2158]

Farewell is an auto include in any deck that has white. The exile effect and the flexibility in this card outvalue everything else

[@andresperez7476]

Riot control good card 🐞🐌🐙

[@Diagloth]

Me who only plays mono white stax:

[@sgtflamingo6532]

Same. I play cedh mono white and mono red lol. Two of my favorite colors.

[@maybeisuckatlife]

Your thoughts on path vs swords are completely backwards. Life hardly ever matters in commander which is why we use so many cards that spend our own life totals, but we devote at least 10% of our deck slots to getting more lands or mana on the field. If you path a creature you give them more resources to defeat you but swords just gives them something they already start with a surplus of.

[@BardtheHowler]

We play a lot of high power and cedh regularly in my group. In my observations of our own games, and gameplay here on youtube, I'd have to say that path to exile is generally better than swords. If you're playing mono white, and not running both you're crazy, but someone at the table is playing black. You don't want to be giving away life like that because that's more ad nauseam or necropotence, or razaketh potential. That's just the black player too. Most high power or cedh decks are going to run things that take advantadge of life totals, and there tends to be a lot of small attacks per turn cycle because certain strategies and commanders need that life so you pressure their life totals. Now to be fair swords is still the most efficient removal ever printed, but when you get up there basic lands become a scarcer card. Some decks dont run any basics or very few. Landfall is a thing sure, but you cant exactly bank on that in the wild. Life totals as a resource you can in general. Most ramp tends to be mana rocks as well, and mana crypt and vault are rude to life totals. If an opponent is going to die potentially to crypt and you have a path and a swords in hand to stop the blightsteel coming your way which would you chose? Seems a pretty easy choice. What you said isnt wrong neccesarily btw, though I'm in the camp of life totals always matter, it just got me thinking about how one card is, meta depending of course, quite better the higher up the power scale you go.

[@olafthemoose9413]

I think the floor (of the downside) of path is a lot higher than swords but the ceiling is so much lower imo. Gaining like 10 life in the lategame is quite a lot more relevant than an extra land, letting you survive that 1 turn that you wouldn't survive otherwise. Upside of pathing you own tokens is fringe but it is an upside.

[@ashdcookie]

True conviction and the new legions loyalty are good combat staples. Little expensive, but scary

[@ryanhunsaker6963]

You forgot the best card in the entire game shaharazad

[@deancole2530]

white ramp "land tax" is the bomb

[@leet9548]

Excluding mana rocks I don't care for staple cards. To repetitive, boring and annoying in my opinion. There's way too many MTG cards out there to chose from Just to be stuck with the same ol' cards all the time. I excluded rocks but even those I don't use the same of in every deck. Take that opinion with a grain of salt cause I'm the type to tear apart a really good deck after it has completely owned the game...or never play it again for several months to a year.

[@Ouroboros_FuFu]

So you know white is the objectively worst color at both ramping and drawing cards right?.

[@joshuaanesdyquiangco3577]

can blue black red search lands?

[@0winskowski0]

Bro likes Worn Powerstone but removes all Sol Rings from his decks. TF?

[@edhdeckbuilding]

bro just isn't that interested in being really fast.

[@SmoothJonny]

Love me some worn powerstone especially with 5 cmc commanders.

[@Murphthemick]

This man is plainly telling you. These are great cards, don't use them. Here are more expensive cmc cards that do less and have drawbacks, play those.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

I think Path to Exile is overrated. Swords to Plowshares is far superior in price and what it does: give your opponent more life in exchange for exiling the biggest problem they have. Do not ever give your opponents more lands they will use it to cast more spells and MOAR spells are bad M'kay. I have lost games to giving them that land, I have rarely lost a game to giving them more life from Swords :P LOL

[@Onetrack320]

Are you trying to mess up peoples play patterns by telling them that you take out soul ring or its a mistake of making arcane signet…. Lol rly! Grow up! 😂😂😂

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i haven't been playing sol ring for over a year. and gavin verhey said arcane signet was a design mistake, take it form him.

[@SmoothJonny]

That path vs swords take is atrocious.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

opinions are like assholes

[@andrewpeli9019]

Lol hating on arcane signet? Sol Ring, Ancient tomb, mana crypt, the power 9... Yeah, those were mistakes and lessons that WotC should learn from. But arcane signet? The card is fine. Saying arcane signet was a mistake because it overpowers diamonds? Heck... coldsteel heart, a card that sees little play, is strictly better than the diamonds. The talismans and the signets are all better than the diamonds. Arcane signet is an appropriately priced and powered card that can go into any deck. And that's a good thing for the health of casual commander. Arcane signet isn't an auto-include. I have many decks that don't run it. Unlike wild growth, utopia sprawl, sol ring, mana crypt, three visits, and nature's lore which I will run in literally every deck that I can, unless I'm intentionally making the deck more casual.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

you can't play the talismans or the signets in a mono colored deck though can you?

[@obadijahparks]

Who here actually thinks white borders kind of look cool with the right cards? The original Nicol bolas white border for example. It's like 2.00$, and such a classic card.

[@maybeisuckatlife]

LOL you didn't even mention the best board wipe in the format... Tragic Arrogance is way better than any of the cards you mentioned including austere command. Maybe farewell beats it but I don't have enough experience with that card yet to judge it fully.

[@aaroncorsini6165]

No it isn't azstere command farewell and vanquish the horde are all better still good tho

[@maybeisuckatlife]

@@aaroncorsini6165 like I said farewell maybe but the others are just not nearly as good. If you think that I'm betting you've never resolved a Tragic Arrogance. None of the others leave you in a better position to win the game.

[@gondwannagondwanna4471]

In most small board decks tragic is superior removal, but in the case of my big board decks I'd never play tragic. Farewell etc is better, most of the time they're one side wipes.

[@maybeisuckatlife]

@@gondwannagondwanna4471 Sure any card can shine if the deck gives you a reason to run it but honestly even in big board decks you get to keep your best things the only time you don't want this is probably token decks.

[@gondwannagondwanna4471]

@@maybeisuckatlife I've not played it a couple times cause it would wipe my combos. My best cards shine with the support of other cards. Here's a example last night I had urzas incubator pearl medallion aetherflux on the field. With my a couple creatures I needed on the board like mentor of the meek kentaro and bounce target for infinity cast. Guy across from me was poping off with goblins, then the other guy was playing shrines with a full board. I rip tragic and didn't want to lose a bunch of combos just to slow down my opponents cause I felt like I'd lose more and rebuild a lot slower. I know it's a rare case but it's been more than not for me personally. Tragic is great tho in anything with replenish type effects

[@entertainmentinc9735]

Dumb choices