A Variety of Playstyles

In commander, White offers support for a wide variety of playstyles - from friendly to apocalyptic. It is a slice of the color pie with flavors beyond lifelink, stax, and weapons of mass destruction. White offers a home for the small, the mighty, the pet cards saved from draft chaff.

Aim Small

Removal in White covers a wide spectrum of destruction. The standard package includes Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares - classics. But spot removal with the power of friendship is a great place to start by leveraging Generous Gift, Afterlife, and Darksteel Mutation. This trifecta starts with removing target permanent, while Afterlife is specific to creatures - both are Instant speed. Darksteel changes this style of play as an Enchantment-Aura. All three are quick ways to shut down the nearest individual threat on the board. The result is not entirely one-sided however as your opponent will be granted a 3/3 Elephant, 1/1 flying Spirit, or a 0/1 indestructible Insect Artifact. All manageable.

Hit Big

But maybe you want to go a little bigger? Are you prepared to rain down brimstone and reap the ire of your pod-mates? Can you survive until your turn to cast a Sorcery? Day of Judgment for will destroy all creatures. Bigger? Final Judgment to exile them instead. Like options? Say Farewell for to exiles all artifacts, creatures, enchantments, and/or graveyards - pick and choose one or more. Speaking of more, we left out a very particular card type... Lands. We can destroy those too with Armageddon for .

Now that we have that out of the way.

Invest in Land

So now you're back where you started with a clean board state. Ramping may be the best option, but is there really ramp in White? In a way, yes. It's more of an anti-ramp that minimizes cost or leverages your opponents' resources to your benefit. Pearl Medallion for decreases the cost of all White spells by . Land Tax your opponents for and get up to three basics if an opponent controls more land than you. If you prefer to purchase outright, Smothering Tithe and Monologue Tax will help you to accrue a nice little nest egg.

Now Hold Up

Wait. Ramping via popular stax pieces? Well in a way you still can.

Ramping up some card draw? Enjoying asking if opponents will pay the one? Try Esper Sentinel for .

Ramping up your opponent's mis-management of resources? Try Ghostly Prison for or Aura of Silence .

Spells in White can cause minor or major delays in spellcasting, similar to the range of destruction available. They can also manipulate playability on a wide scale. Stony Silence for will prevent activated abilities of artifacts to occur while Deafening Silence at prevents each player from casting more than one noncreature spell a turn. A step up from Stony Silence would be to leverage a Suppression Field covering non-mana activated abilities.

We will just gloss past Grand Abolisher and Drannith Magistrate . You all know what they do, and how they affect the game - at both the board and player levels..

A Cavalcade of Characters

Spells are fine, but in the end, players need creatures to help with the meaningful reduction of life totals. In White there is a Kindred for everyone to show their style, and it extends well beyond the "White weenies" archetype - you can even mix-and-match for added flavor. Angels tend to be the first considered, maybe humans or spirits after that. From warriors to cats, Kor and Kithkin. Knights, soldiers, monks, samurai, birds, clerics, and a mix of pairings between them all. The list of creature options is rife with mix-and-match capabilities. Keep track of how many you on the field regardless of type, though. Then windmill slam Moonshaker Calvary to the entering the battlefield trigger of +X/+X and flying to all creatures you control, where X equals that number you control.

Don't Let the Sun...Close Down Your Game

Maybe the White "Craterhoof" can't close out the game. White has a nice selection of alternate win-/lose-cons to choose from, plus a selection of last-minute salvation cards. Most popular is probably Approach of the Second Sun putting a clock on the game, and gaining you a bit of a reprieve from life gain. Phyrexian Unlife and Transcendence can stop death in its tracks at zero.

Near-Death Experience on the other hand rewards you on your upkeep with the win should your life be exactly one. Felidar Sovereign rewards you for beginning your upkeep with more than 40 life.

Angel's Grace, Cloudsteel Kirin, and Gideon of the Trials prevent you from losing the game at Instant, Equipped, and Emblem speed, respectively. Faithbound Judge // Sinner's Judgment act as a Cursed version of these, bringing a loss to target opponent.

With White you can win, lose, or prolong any game - use wisely, of course.

A Slice of a Slice

The above is only a slice of life for Mono-White in Magic that might fit your playstyle for Commander. There is truly something for everyone, including more common archetypes in this color: lifelink, token generation / multiplication, enchantments, tutors, afterlife effects, protection effects. White can be quite versatile on its own, and in combination with other colors for guilds, schools, shards, and clans to add some fun and flavorful synergies. If you've avoided it until now, give it a shot; or maybe just add a Kill Shot.