In the previous Standard format, Oketra's Monument was a very exciting card that took over for a couple of weeks. Various and builds did a great job of stalling out the board and going wide with Oketra's Monument, typically leading into Hanweir Militia Captain or Westvale Abbey. Those decks have since dropped off, in large part due to the presence of Kozilek's Return and Hour of Devastation in the format. However, that doesn’t meant that there isn’t a different way to build the deck to better suit the new metagame:
Mono-White Monument - Hour of Devastation Standard | BigBoss5150, 5-0 Standard League
- Creatures (25)
- 1 Archangel Avacyn
- 1 Bruna, the Fading Light
- 1 Linvala, the Preserver
- 1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
- 2 Bygone Bishop
- 2 Fairgrounds Warden
- 2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
- 3 Thalia's Lancers
- 4 Glory-Bound Initiate
- 4 Selfless Spirit
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- Enchantments (5)
- 1 Gideon's Intervention
- 2 Cast Out
- 2 Stasis Snare
- Artifacts (5)
- 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
- 4 Oketra's Monument
- Lands (25)
- 14 Plains
- 1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
- 1 Westvale Abbey
- 2 Scavenger Grounds
- 3 Shefet Dunes
- 4 Desert of the True
- Sideboard (15)
- 2 Aven Mindcensor
- 2 Cast Out
- 1 Djeru, With Eyes Open
- 2 Fragmentize
- 3 Fumigate
- 1 Gideon of the Trials
- 1 Gideon's Intervention
- 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
The idea here is still largely the same. Oketra's Monument allows you to cast multiple creatures in a turn to gum up the ground and go wider than your opponent. The difference is that now you have to be slated to have faster starts against aggressive decks while also having staying power against the likes of Hour of Devastation and Fumigate.
The key to this build is the addition of Glory-Bound Initiate and Gisela, the Broken Blade as means of gaining life against opposing aggressive decks. The inclusion of Gisela also leads into Thalia's Lancers, which gives you a great curve of Oketra's Monument into Thalia's Lancers. Thalia's Lancers is a reasonable body, particularly when you can cast it at a discount, but gives you the utility of finding various Legendary cards to take over matchups. For example, Bruna, the Fading Light is a great haymaker in longer games, while Skysovereign, Consul Flagship will end games against many midrange decks on the spot. You can even find Archangel Avacyn if you need to set up great blocks; Linvala, the Preserver if you’re behind on board; or Thalia, Heretic Cathar if you absolutely have to cast multiple creatures in a turn.
On top of this powerful late game, you’ve also got the typical Bygone Bishop engine combined with your cheap value creatures so that you can cantrip through your deck, finding more lands, more Lancers, and plenty of ways to grind your opponent into the ground.