Why You Should Play: Mono White in EDH | Commander

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Hello and welcome back to the channel. I am your host and friendly neighborhood WHITE mage. White is a color in Magic that excels in 1 on 1 gameplay. White likes to go wide with many small creatures that can make one big attack or block efficiently. Where Mono White falls off is when life totals are doubled and 2 extra players are added to the game. But how can we solve the Mono White issue in Commander? I seek to answer that question in this video.
Azoreign

[@orangelex44]

For ramp: White's best ramp remains it's ability to reanimate permanents. Brought Back, Sevinne's Reclaimation, Sun Titan, and Serra Paragon are a way better package than the catch-up land cards. White's also the best mono-color to use equipment ramp, i.e. stuff like Sword of the Animist. Finally, white also has ways to fetch lands out of the library - I'm a huge fan of Tithe, but even something like Ambitious Farmhand is a very good card that synergizes with a lot of what white wants to do. There's also the oft-forgotten Endless Horizons and Oreskos Explorer. For draw: You missed out on Tocasia's Welcome for weenie draw. Again, white is happy to default to the equipment package here if it needs to, just like with ramp. Second, everyone wrote off the "you and target player draw a card" mechanic after Secret Rendezvous but there's actually been some solid cards released for that in recent history too: Cut a Deal, Tenuous Truce, and Loran of the Third Path are the main standouts but others exist (I'm trying out the new Teyo planeswalker in a couple decks). There's also a developing "when you attack with two or more creatures" draw package too, with Minas Tirith and Chivalric Alliance. I'll note as well that white is very well-positioned to introduce and maintain the monarchy and/or initiative into games. For removal: Yep, it's a very long list with enough decent cards that you can/should start picking based on theme and not just for effect. I'll keep it short with just two mentions I rarely see: Unexpectedly Absent and Soul Partition. Both are much better effects than people give credit for, both can be used in a pinch to protect your own stuff, and both can hit any nonland permanent. Wincons: Sigarda's Summons is fun. White also has some sneaky-good support for voltron auras (Unquestioned Authority, Mantle of the Ancients). Honestly I still think Moonshaker Cavalry is wildly overrated, white's had similar effects for ages (Mirror Entity, Goldknight Commander, Cathar's Crusade, Starlight Spectacular). There's also Brave the Elements-type effects that can serve double-purpose as overruns or as protective options. Graveyard: You forgot Emeria The Sky Ruin, Hall of Heliod's Generosity, Karmic Guide, and Sevinne's Reclaimation. More generally, everyone drastically underestimates white's recursion - there's a million cards to get back low-CMC stuff, but you can also get enchantments, creatures, and equipment at decent rates. Other Notables: The biggest thing that you haven't mentioned is that white is a great color for *defensive* interaction. Teferi's Protection is more-or-less unique, but if we're just looking to keep our things alive (as opposed to our face) there's things like Clever Concealment, Cosmic Intervention, or Unbreakable Formation as well as Brave the Elements that I already discussed. It's also got Reprieve, the "of Runes" family, Selfless Spirit, and several Brought Back-like effects.

[@Azoreign]

Pinning this comment to show at the top for anyone who wants an in-depth recommendation on cards that I missed or forgot to talk about for Mono White. Thank you Orangelex for taking the time to craft this!

[@andrueurbane7361]

Nice. I will die on the hill of "Shared Card Draw is Great in Commander". There are many board states where giving select opponents cards gives you collectively more chances to draw an out against an arch-enemy. I am a huge fan of Your Temple is Under Attack, it gives you either board protection OR shared card draw with a select opponent.

[@RENEG4DE4NGEL]

Flare of Fortitude is another banger. Play it while tapped out and make use of a chump creature you played for its ETB.

[@jamesclare1858]

I'm a bit late to the mono-white party. Really enjoyed your talk. I have been playing variants of Lin SIvvi, and Defiant Hero almost exclusively for the past ten years. One thing I'd like to add is how well WOTC has been at making distinct mono-white commanders that also have unique 99's to that commander. I took a quick look through EDHREC mono-white commanders. We have Giada, Light Paws, Elesh Norn/Preston, Heliod(s), Darien, God-Eternal Oketra, Oswald, Sram, Odric, Teshar/Gandalf, Mondrak/Bennie Bracks, Lin Sivvi, Celestine the Living Saint. As a mono-white player, I have enjoyed what WOTC has done and look forward to seeing what they will do with white.

[@sirtroba]

Commenting for the algorithm😋 you’re vids are getting really good my dude!!

[@Azoreign]

Thanks @sirtroba! Credit for the opening theme will be placed in all my video descriptions. Make sure to respond to this comment and tell everyone where they can find you!

[@Beelzebubba1983]

Hope to see your channel grow and grow!

[@jasoncartagena3341]

Just discovered this channel accidentally through KZbin reels. I must say, I am interested to learn more about the mechanics of this game. It sounds a lot of fun, considering I have my fair share of experience playing card games. Keep posting more videos, bro!

[@Azoreign]

Welcome aboard! Thank you for your comment. If you have any questions about anything make sure to drop a comment. I have taught quite a few people how to play MTG over the years and I love explaining interactions and such, hence the KZbin channel.

[@jasoncartagena3341]

@@Azoreign A reply from the man himself! Continue posting, bro! I would like to see more of your future videos. For sure you'll have my support. 🤙

[@bdienes20]

this is my first time seeing all the Elder Dragons, thank you!

[@WIBYTIEDH]

Some other notable mentions for boardwipes are Mass Calcify which wipes all nonwhite creatures and Phyrexian Rebirth that wipes the board but gives you an X/X Phyrexian Horror in return where X was the amount of creatures that died. For card draw, there's also Tocasia's Welcome from Brother's War that works the same as Welcoming Vampire

[@notveryoften]

just found this channel and i'm loving the content already, you deserve way more subscribers, the quality of this content is amazing

[@jessecalexander]

I build a mono-White EDH deck about five years ago and still run it on a consistent basis, granted it isn't anywhere near a CEDH deck, but it's something I've enjoyed over the years of playing Magic. I remember the biggest issue with mono-White was the complete lack of reliable card draw, so much of that time I dedicated various kinds of artifacts and enchantments that allowed me to filter out lands or get an additional draw. Today mono-White has a much easier time drawing cards, which has made mono-White way more viable than before. It's an old statistic, but White has/was considered the weakest color of the color wheel when it comes to EDH. That was the main reason I built a mono-White EDH deck, out of spite. (I man: Oketra, God- Eternal and main theme anthems with an angel/cleric sub-theme.)

[@MemoriaGaming628]

Video was awesome dude. This video is a couple months old, but every deck I run has some form of White in it, wether it be Gishath for Gruul stompy with white's protection or Caesar for Mardu aristocrats strategies. A few of my faves that i run in Caesar are Grand Abolisher, Myrel, Shield of Argive, Ojer Taq, Divine Visitation, and Cathar's Crusade

[@jevry4307]

jazal goldmane: card draw? where we're going we won't need card draw! *puts on time traveler goggles and steppes into his delorean 88x88 army of white soldier tokens* jokes aside still very much love my jazal goldmane on a stick, its just a craterhoof behemoth/moonshaker cavalry in the commandzone. a killer combo is secure the wastes for x=7 just before your turn and then drop jazal and pop his ability and swing in for a bajillion damage

[@Azoreign]

Jazal Goldmane supremacy😎

[@Sinistra359]

White is green's younger brother. I honestly dont understand why white needed land ramp. I mean the other non-green colors dont have land ramp. But i do think giving white more card draw is going in the right direction. White's power is in building a board state and board wiping. I think giving white more ways to protect their board/permanents is where they can improve on monowhite's power level. But idk im not a designer so what do i know lol 😅😂

[@Azoreign]

I think that if WOTC gives white the ability that was Greens bread and butter (land ramp) they need to give all the colors at least some way to do it as well. It also seems that WOTC has addressed the card draw issue with white, now is focusing on lands and at some point these will catch up and white could fight for a top 3 spot with Black, Blue, and Green. Now....we just need some Red focus.

[@Sinistra359]

@azoreign2481 I'm not so sure those other colors need land ramp though. And if they did then they'd be taking away from green's identity and then they might as well just give every color boardwipes, etc and at that point why even bother having a colorpie. I think it's more important to accept that some colors won't be as affective in certain formats (for example white is really strong in standard) instead of trying to balance them because it's almost impossible to achieve an equal balance between 5 colors that are trying to do 5 different things. But who knows maybe they'll print some bonkers ability/commander in monowhite one day that will overtake the format. Just my friendly take on it. Your opinion is just as valid as mine. 🙂

[@Azoreign]

@@Sinistra359 No, I agree with you! Giving other colors access to Greens signature play style makes it harder for Green to stand out. Even if they make lands enter tapped or if they make it harder to search for lands.

[@orangelex44]

I disagree. Mechanically, white is the color of long-term investment and incremental value. What's a better investment than putting an additional land into play? All these cards are still following white's general restriction of "meet the condition, get the reward". I think white is well suited to be the secondary land ramp color. @@Azoreign

[@jamesclare1858]

@@orangelex44 completely agree.

[@LoreExplore369]

Working on my Giada/Artifact deck and this has helped loads! Great video! Mono white will get the love we need....hopefully 🤣

[@jonahkeeton3206]

White is my fave mono color in edh. Ive got a Greymond humans deck, and a Delney Streetwise mentor deck.

[@RENEG4DE4NGEL]

Rick/Greymond is amazing. So many great humans and anthems to pump them all up. A wall of vigilance and first strike is very hard to deal with!

[@Executioner9000]

My fav color is white. I use Darian King of Kjeldor as my mono commander. It always gives my enemies pause when they realize attacking me just increased my soldier army count, and thanks to the Soul Sisters, I've even increased my life total 😁

[@andrueurbane7361]

Mono white land ramp has fun tricks with fetch lands, prismatic vista, myriad landscape, and lotus vale/field. It has a bunch of cards that return low MV permanents to the battlefield that entered the yard this turn. Crack your fetch, get your land, cast a return permanent spell to bring the fetch back, do it again. Lotus vale/field works that same way except you return the 2 lands you just sacrificed to the battlefield. [Brought Back, Cosmic Intervention, Court of Ardenvale, Faith's Reward, Invoke Justice, Jailbreak, Samwise the Stout, Shepherd of the Cosmos, Sudden Salvation] Some of these are too expensive to be exclusively ramp focused but they are all modal. Cosmic Intervention is the all-star with these tricks as you can trigger it again in the end step with proper trigger stacking. Sevinne's Reclamation and Sun Titan can get any low MV permanent back to the battlefield with no time restriction. Finally, I regularly run both Paths to Exile and Settle the Wreckage against my own creature tokens as primary ramp in white token decks with their backup being removal if needed.

[@Azoreign]

This comment^ I never even thought to talk about the classic strategy of Pathing your own creature for a land, not even mentioning Settle the Wreckage! And the fact that white has gotten access to bringing things back that went to the graveyard that turn OR bringing back small, low cost, permanents (including lands). BTW Cosmic Intervention is finding its way into more and more of my decks the more I use it.

[@andrueurbane7361]

@@Azoreign I even play some of these strategies in budget decks. Slow fetches are dirt cheap, but they are vastly better if they also ramp. Budget meta is generally slower anyway, so the extra turn for the ramp isn't much of an issue.

[@davidcardoso3525]

The first pack I ever opened had a Wrath of God in it & I've been a fan ever since. The first EDH deck I built was Brimaz, King of Oreskos. I am a proponent of White Power...ummm...wait...that might've come out wrong.

[@RENEG4DE4NGEL]

I have a Heliod clerics and angels life gain deck (no cheats like Triskelion/Ballista or Felidar Sovereign/Test of Endurance) that all my friends marvel at the amount of synergy. I gain life, create angels for gaining life, then gain life for creating angels, all the while putting a mountain of +1/+1 counters on my creatures. Less powerful but still fun is Rick, Steadfast Leader. There are tons of great humans to turn into a wall of vigilance first strike, but my favorite combo is either Beregond of the Guard or Lossarnach Captain with Horn of Gondor, or with Riders of Gavony or Odric, Master Tactician I can just go for an unblockable strategy.

[@arxzo7122]

I have 2 mono-white decks and an Orzhov aristocrat deck for EDH. I want to add that hatebears are one of the best things Mono-white has to offer to let you play the game. All the other colors usually have an answer to anything, but with cards like Grand Abolisher and Dranith Magistrate solve and equalizes board state problems. My group hates it, only because they're combo players in which they deserve it lmao

[@Azoreign]

YES! White is a great color to equalize the table. With the various amounts of removal and board wipe options as well as effects like you listed above. And I applaud you for standing up to the combo players of your group. I actually used to be that guy in my old play group 😅. I was the problem player looking to combo when no one else was, but I have since changed my ways to that of ultimate, overwhelming value!

[@evanbutler4347]

I agree, people just think that is "toxic" when in reality it is a totally valid playstyle as infuriating as it may be to play against.

[@westindoney6963]

Dispatch has always been a personal favourite, just a better path/swords in any artifact themed deck.

[@CommanderVizzerdrix]

Until recently every single time I have tried to make a mono white deck I've failed. Not because they wouldn't be well designed but because honestly every other color in magic would accomplish the goal I was trying to do better and with less financial investment. Honestly it wasn't until I just decided to go full jank that I managed to make a mono white deck that feels powerful... and you know what? It still would have been stronger and cheaper as a green deck. The ramp is restrictive, the card draw is nearly non existent or forced group hug. About the only thing white does well is tokens and if we're all being honest here a token strat is still more powerful splashed with another color. White doesn't even have life gain anymore as green and black both have some really good options. I'm not sure why wizards seems to hate mono white.

[@Azoreign]

I think WOTC has given white some straight bombs (Smothering Tithe, Esper Sentinel, Mondrak, Anointed Procession) but that being said White tokens is only made better with green, white control is only made better with blue, and so on and so forth. It is hard to nail down what White does way better than any other color that isnt removal.

[@CommanderVizzerdrix]

@@Azoreign Right but the problem is the cost! White has so few good cards that almost every good card you would want to slot is $20+ A mono white deck with the good card draw spells, the good ramp cards etc is like $300 just to do what every other deck can do for less than $20

[@orangelex44]

I think the biggest problem for mono-white at this point has nothing to do with the cards in the 99. White's main issue is that it just doesn't have a great list of exciting commanders. Just go look at scryfall, it's pretty miserable with a lot of generic "I do tokens", "I do +1/+1 counters", "I do equipment", or "I'm a generic keyword top-end beater that was really great in 2010 limited play". WOTC has made some attempts, but ultimately when they come up with a neat idea it makes more people happier to tack on extra colors. The "but mono-white is better when you add X color!" argument is kinda dumb because it works equally well the other way. Mono-green tokens is made better with white, mono-blue control is made better with white, etc. There aren't a lot of reasons to play towards a mono-color unless there's a unique commander, you enjoy the thematics, or you like the deckbuilding restriction. Mono-white can hang just as well as any mono-color. It's not 2015 anymore, white has the staple effects for ramp/draw to make a functioning deck at basically any power level. In my experience people just play the color wrong. White has a lot of incremental value with a focus on permanents that win at sorcery speed, so build the decks accordingly: you need more and more flexible removal, you need to have a midrange-y mana curve, you need to be able to protect your on-board investments, you need some graveyard recursion, you should try to extend the game a couple turns longer and - this is the big heresy - you need to prioritize hitting land drops and useful on-board permanents over playing mana rocks (except for the Sol-Ring-or-stronger category to immediately accelerate your first couple turns, depending on the table's power). Thought Vessel is a waste of a slot in mono-white, you probably want Spirited Companion or a Sword of the Animist instead. Don't build or play mono-white like black or green or blue, because . You aren't going to get that explosive turn out of nowhere, but what you *will* be able to do surprisingly often is have the most lands in play on turn 10, with an engine that draws you three cards for playing a creature, a board of 6+ 4/4 fliers, a "protection from X" overrun getting played and have it all protected by a clever concealment in hand.

[@RENEG4DE4NGEL]

White is way better at life gain than green. Two of the 3 soul sisters are white, then there's also Daxos, Authority of the Consuls, and several other life gain triggers. Then there's all the life gain +1 like Angel of Vitality and Cleric Class. Then there's life gain doubling with Rhox Faithmender. Then we just double our life total with Beacon of Immortality, which shuffles back into the deck. Want to triple your life total every turn? Put Spirit Link and Spirit Loop on a Serra Avatar and swing. Wanna get nasty with all that extra life? Throw some Ajanis in your deck. Tokens? White has Anointed Procession, Mondrak, AND Ojer Taq!! (while Green only has Parallel Lives). White has Ocelot Pride, Divine Visitation, Luminarch Ascension, Adeline, and Myrel. And then what better to make all your token production lethal than Cathar's Crusade? White also has some of the most brutal board control. Ashes of the Abhorrent, both Thalias, Authority of the Consuls, Blind Obedience. Cards like Grand Abolisher shut down spell casting in your turn while Iona can shut down an entire color. Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Angelic Arbiter, Archangel of Tithes, Blazing Archon, or pillow forts like Windborn Muse, Ghostly Prison, Nils, or Sphere of Safety. White can out-control blue if it wants to. We know that white's removal is better than black's, so I won't even bother there. Bottom line, y'all are just sleeping on white. White is amazing. Humans and Angels alone make some of the best cards in the game.

[@jakemikosh3696]

Great video, thank you!

[@djentile7773]

My mono white h Heliod deck always does well. I can either win with walking ballista, I can add +1+1 counters and beat everyone down, or I can win with life total with test of endurance or felidar sovereign.

[@Azoreign]

Heliod is a very good, low mana cost commander that can grant lifelink super early. He is a scary card in any white deck.

[@WarrickRanger]

Few other Wilds of Eldraine cards for mono white that I think are pretty good: Stroke of Midnight (a second copy of Generous Gift), Court of Ardenvale (similar to Sun Titan), and Discerning Financier (ramp and card draw with some politics for good measure)

[@Azoreign]

I havn't really gotten a good chance to interact with alot of WoE cards yet. Getting back into MTGA is a good way to learn the most recent cards being pushed into Commander.

[@edravago-oo7hl]

I am playing Light-Paws Emperor's Voice and every aura with flash becomes a tutor-like effect for auras for my commander that goes directly onto the battlefield.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Great video!

[@fillmorejives2284]

Ironically, id say red and white are amongst the best colours in cEDH. Not on their own per se, but white has the best control and red has the most busted wincons. Green actually seems to be the weakest colour as, althoigh it does a bit of everything, its very rarely the best at something and it plays stightly too fairly

[@Makakikishk]

I pulled Greymond, Avacyn’s Stalwart out of an eldraine pack and I’m going to build mono white human tribal deck

[@Azoreign]

Love to hear it! Thanks for sharing.

[@frionelhero]

The gaffer is good card draw in life gain, rumor gatherer and Bennie bracks for token decks, and tocasias welcome and dawn of the new age are good too.

[@Azoreign]

All great suggestions for Mono white. Bennie Bracks is always so GOOD.

[@rafaellage8608]

I've been playing monowhite and regreting for years, but let's take a look at this video and see if it changes my mind.

[@Azoreign]

Well....did it change your mind? And drop your Mono White commanders!

[@rafaellage8608]

@@Azoreign It changed a little, made me want to build a monowhite little tokens because big tokens with oketra I just can't make it work. I already built: Oketra, Akroma, vision of ixidor, Akroma angel of wrath (voltron in 2018), Lyra angels, Giada Angels, odric equips, Reya dawnbringer (2019), heliod without combo and avacyn.

[@dsp3660]

Great summary.

[@warehousegames4945]

Subbed , found challenge this morning

[@Lord-Pepsi]

As a White Mage, giving Mono White is so powerful it almost shouldn't be given card draw. It does so good protecting itself AND YOU! i.e. Healing Salve was the meme of the og 3for1 but it was the only one that kept you alive for one more turn, perhaps the final turn you needed to win. I built a (99%) mono white Heliod Radiant Dawn deck pillowfort heavy enchantment followed by instants then artifacts and some support creatures. Approach of the 2nd sun win con My opponents absolutely hate the fact how hard it becomes to kill me And get rid of my wincard Approach. I got big beaters for 1v1 endgame. Imagine robe of stars on kozilek butcher phased out, instant speed board wipe while my commander is swiftly reconfigured as an vehicle surviving creature hate and protected by greater auramancy. Replenish all my dead enchantments n start all over again. Throw in all the new white counter magic: Aven Interruptor and Reprieve then lapse of Certainty, warping wail, mana tithe stopping a force of will lol oh and Boromir, Warden of the Tower. Point is shown that Mono White is very powerful, azorius is not my style. I dont want to control or stax the board. It's better to have your opponents fight thru the battlefield killing each other vs being the 3v1 Azorius enemy. Any white paring gives that protective and removal support. Now go on and build the Best (or worst, evil, degenerate) Mono-White deck and make the bullies cry lol

[@oxpolitik]

Love my King Darien deck.

[@Azoreign]

King Darien sooooo goood!

[@joebaumgart1146]

I don't play edh, but in Vintage I play mono Colorless with a splash of wubrg.

[@SomethingLog]

Id actually say my best commander deck is my mondrack token pile

[@Azoreign]

I actually really like the Dominus cycle. Giving indestructible at will is really sweet.

[@DawnshieId]

I want to play white because I love what it represents: love and community. 💛🏥

[@sinisterpuddle6655]

Use lotus field and lotus vale in mono white to have less lands than your opponents

[@probablyapigeon]

I love white in edh and I am a card carrying member of super weenie hut jr’s 😂

[@Qua7riz]

Much prefered the ''Why you should play: Mono Black'' format. Short and straight to the point with what the color is good at.

[@Smilepunkllc]

What best cause mondrak and elesh norn…dont @ me 😂

[@Snailster111]

First

[@phenix4181]

White is always my least favorite color, let's see if this somehow changes my mind

[@Azoreign]

Well...did it!?

[@MvRcscIsM]

Myrel 🎉

[@BurgerSmother]

White really is one of the best support colors in the game. Really specialized into control, like any permanent removal, full on wipes, and literally the best protection spell in the game bar none, but frankly beyond a few cards powerful wincons, white just isn't good enough to play as a mono colored deck. It has none of the explosiveness that others colors have in a mono colored deck, and generally plays the tempo game while every other color storms off and does mana cheating shenanigans. I always love when white is a suplementary color, but frankly mono white seems unplayable.

[@Azoreign]

The point of my "You Should Play Mono:" videos are to explore the value that the single color can give BUT I totally agree with your statement. White is great and has SOME areas were it excels and supplies us with banger cards. But unfortunately White is a better background color than the main Win-Con push of the deck.

[@RENEG4DE4NGEL]

I have two mono-white decks I would absolutely challenge you with. White is stronger than people realize, it's just more expensive to build.

[@BurgerSmother]

@@RENEG4DE4NGEL I acknowledge above that white is very powerful, and has been steadily getting very good cards over the years, but my statement above still holds. Mono white has very few finishers beyond the couple you can think of (moonshaker, akromas will, cathars crusade, etc), but in every deck I have it is either the blue part of azorious or the red part of boros thats winning the game. White is through and through a go wide weenie color or a full on stax + control color, but other than approach both of those strategies heavily rely on external colors to actually pull off the win. You can certainly win with mono white, its just trying 2x as hard for half as many wins. White is by far the best support color, easily beating out blue and green, but at the end of the day the other colors actually end, white just makes sure the game goes how you want it to with board protection, wipes, and targeted removal.

[@wesleygrootjans8906]

I'm curious about this video, but let's face it; I'd rather play MTG than watch an (almost) hour-long video

[@Azoreign]

I would rather play MTG than make an (almost) hour long video as well😅. But you could listen on your way to play Magic, on your way to work, at the gym, or while you play MTGA?

[@sinisterpuddle6655]

Use lotus field and lotus vale in mono white to have less lands than your opponents