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Back in the day, I used to have a column called Modern Monday. I think I wrote it for a crazy amount of time, like seven years or something. Every Monday, I would write about and feature a new Modern deck that I had found, that no one was talking about. Sometimes they were bad, and sometimes they were great, but they were always unique. It was always one of my favorite columns to write, and it was also some of the most consistent and popular Modern content out there. I still have people ask me about it!
That's a little exposition for me telling you that I will likely be writing about the sweet Modern decks I find every so often, even though they will be published on Wednesday instead of Monday. Sometimes I will include video if I happened to play the deck on stream, and sometimes we'll solely talk about it here. Today happens to be a case of the former, and we're looking at a pretty interesting list, chock full of legendary permanents.
Mono-White Legends | Modern | cccaspar, 5-0 Magic Online League
- Creatures (21)
- 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
- 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 2 Boros Reckoner
- 3 Auriok Champion
- 4 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Thalia's Lancers
- 4 Weathered Wayfarer
- Planeswalkers (5)
- 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
- 1 Gideon of the Trials
- 1 Karn Liberated
- 1 Karn, the Great Creator
- 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
- Enchantments (9)
- 2 On Thin Ice
- 3 Runed Halo
- 4 Leyline of Sanctity
- Artifacts (8)
- 4 Fieldmist Borderpost
- 4 Wildfield Borderpost
- Lands (17)
- 13 Snow-Covered Plains
- 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
While we only played the deck for three rounds, and went 1-2, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Modern is a really weird format, and it's one of the most matchup-dependent formats there is. More so than things like Legacy or Vintage even, because you're going up against a tremendous amount of unfair decks, that all do different things, that all want to kill you by turn three or four, and you have a lot fewer tools, like Mental Misstep, Wasteland (which I reluctantly look at as a tool), and Force of Will (although Force of Negation has definitely helped).
During our matches, there were a few cards that felt out of place, or fragile, or niche, but awkwardly they also help the deck run.
One thing I have always loved from playing years and year of Mono-White Enchantment decks, is that Modern is one of the best formats for maindeck Leyline of Sanctity. The only problem is that they didn't feel tremendously useful in our matches, and I worry that one of their main purposes is getting a two-mana advance from our Nykthos activations. Despite not being useful in the games I played, Modern is a format where decks can be severely punished by a card like Leyline of Sanctity, so I'd be reluctant to cut them, even if they aren't at their peak in a good number of matches. While the ability to even shut off simple, common interactions like one-mana discard spells or Liliana of the Veil, I do wonder if Leylines are the best choice for the deck; drawing them any time other than your opening hand has the potential to be rough.
Runed Halo is a similar card in this sense, but it's a little more flexible in different matchups. It also only costs 2 mana, and, again, helps Nykthos, which I think was a central consideration when choosing the specific cards we have here.
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Some other cards that are great in conjunction with Nykthos are the Borderposts. I'm going to be honest: I didn't love them, but I understand them. I'm not a huge fan of artifacts that pose as lands, that can be killed by anything that kills artifacts (Ancient Grudge, Abrupt Decay, etc.), while also being completely shut off by a ubiquitous Modern card: Karn, the Great Creator.
Auriok Champion is another sideboard staple that completely shuts down certain decks. It's a beast against things like Death's Shadow and against midrange or aggressive decks, the life it can gain you could be a huge boon. The problem is that when you aren't playing against those decks, the Champion ends up being a fairly mediocre 1/1 for two. This is another example of "when it shines, you're likely getting free wins, and when it doesn't, you might be holding a blank." I'm not sure the deck wants this many cards of that nature, but the conflict arises when you're forced to acknowledge that the deck did 5-0.
A lot of the Mono-White Enchantment decks main deck all of these similar hoser cards that shut down entire archetypes - Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Suppression Field, etc. - and while you're sure to draw a few blanks here and there against different decks, the deck has such a high concentration of disruptive effects, that you're more than likely going to have a few relevant ones to play. I'm not sure that's the case here, but I'm also not sure it isn't just worth the risk for such strong cards.
One thing I would definitely do is add more removal. Path to Exile is great because it can help turn on our Knight of the White Orchid more easily, but more copies of On Thin Ice (another gem from Modern Horizons seeing some action!) end up making our Nykthos stronger (are you sensing a theme?). One thing to consider is that, in a format with things like Ghost Quarter, Abrupt Decay, and Kaya, Orzhoz Usurper, On Thin Ice does have the potential to be a liability. I think either removal spell is okay, but only having the two copies of On Thin Ice did feel a little limiting.
While we're looking at cards that we can search for the deck's centerpiece, Thalia's Lancers, a cool addition to the deck could be one God-Eternal Oketra. This might be a better option to Heliod, and it would give us a lot more action when we're drawing things like Auriok Champion and Knight of the White Orchid in the late game. As a 3/6 for five-mana, it also dodges a ton of removal.
Ugin, the Ineffable is another great choice alongside Elspeth, Sun's Champion, which works as a way to churn out threats and deal with a ton of problematic permanents.
We could also harken back to our previous Mono-White Legacy deck and add one Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to search out our Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, but that might be a little too cute. Another combination that might be too cute is the pair of Gisela, the Broken Blade and Bruna, the Fading Light. I'm not sure the deck needs another 7 mana card, and I think Gisela is a little too fragile at only 3 toughness, but I still think this is a very powerful pair, and at least worth considering.
As I mentioned, you can see how the deck performed for us here:
We didn't make any of the aforementioned changes to the deck in the video, so I'd love to hear what you folks think. Be sure to leave a comment and hit me with your thoughts, and if you're in the market for any of the cards present here (or anywhere, really), be sure to use promo code FRANK5 to get 5% off! As always, thanks so much for reading, love you all, and I'll catch you next week!
Frank Lepore
