Boros Control | BLB Standard | Tulio_Jaudy, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge 8/18/2024

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 4 Sanguine Evangelist

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 The Eternal Wanderer
• 2 Archangel Elspeth

• Instants (4)
• 4 Get Lost

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 White Sun's Twilight
• 2 Sunfall
• 4 Lay Down Arms

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Caretaker's Talent
• 4 Virtue of Loyalty

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Carrot Cake

• Lands (26)
• 16 Plains
• 2 Mirrex
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Fountainport

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 2 Elspeth's Smite
• 2 Imodane's Recruiter
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 2 Sunder the Gateway
• 2 Temporary Lockdown
• 1 The Stone Brain
• 2 Tocasia's Welcome

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I originally interpreted White Tokens as an extension or evolution of the Big Boros deck... Largely because I had seen the Red-heavier Boros first.

It is in fact a strategy in its own right; with its own incentives and disadvantages.

I've spent the last week playing almost nothing else... And while I'm not sure I can say that I've mastered the deck, I at least know what it does well, where it could use a little help, and where it could use a LOT of help.

Or: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

First and foremost this is an excellent Caretaker's Talent deck. That is, it exploits Caretaker's Talent better than almost any of the other decks in Standard [all trying to exploit Caretaker's Talent].

White Tokens does this in a couple of ways... Not the least of which is simply playing thirty-six cards that can all make tokens!

But it goes beyond that: Between Virtue of Loyalty (or more specifically, Ardenvale Fealty) and the life-gaining side of Carrot Cake, the deck can also make tokens on the opponent's turn (it can also do this with Mirrex and Fountainport).

Why does this matter?

If you have a Caretaker's Talent on the battlefield, you can draw an extra card the good old fashioned way by making a token on your turn; perhaps by leveling Caretaker's Talent to Level 2. But the real opponent-burying tech is to make tokens on both players turns, allowing you to draw two extra cards per turn cycle.

Now a lot of those cards are going to be random 1/1 and 2/2 token-making tools... But that just means you'll be drawing more and more cards.

It's important to note that Caretaker's Talent doesn't require you specifically to be making creature tokens. If you cast Sunfall, you'll draw an extra card thanks to the Incubator. If the opponent takes out your Archangel Elspeth with a Get Lost, the Maps will similarly trigger Caretaker's Talent.

Moreover, the deck is surprisingly good at turning the corner and going aggro.

In my original writeup I said something like "Honestly Sanguine Evangelist would not have been my first, second, or third choice to back up Beza," but I severely underestimated the number of parts of the buffalo that Sanguine Evangelist utilizes.

It's a good card to play before or after Caretaker's Talent. It's an outstanding blocker, because you can essentially sacrifice the Sanguine Evangelist in combat to get two blocks on incoming Slick-Shot Showoffs (or, I suppose, giant Angels). But where this card is underrated is its Battle Cry. The tokens you're making every turn (or twice every turn cycle) add up and can benefit from a little +1/+0 action. Ardenvale Fealty into Sanguine Evangelist two-three is a clock many opponents have to respect in the abstract.

While the deck's power level is not the highest, it's still pretty high. There isn't a lot better going on in Standard than The Eternal Wanderer resetting Beza, the Bounding Spring every turn with a Caretaker's Talent on the battlefield. Who is going to beat that? Okay Atraxa. And maybe Urabrask's Forge. But there aren't a lot of decks that can match this one in the late game, especially if you have multiple Virtues or a ton of open mana to fiddle around with your utility lands.

Finally, the White Tokens has a ton of synergy. It's the definition of a deck whose sum is greater than its individual parts. Beza and The Eternal Wanderer teaming up is a fun example; but so is Fountainport + anything. I've never done this myself, but it's not for lack of trying: Archangel Elspeth in a long game can re-buy any number of lost Caretaker's Talents, Sanguine Evangelists, and Carrot Cakes. Okay, I lied. I once bought back a single Sanguine Evangelist just to prevent my opponent from getting it with Virtue of Persistence (every other creature that game had bought it to Sunfall).

"The Good" of White Tokens is mostly that it beats up on most fair decks. Is your opponent a regular deck? If they don't run you over in the first three or four turns, you're likely going to be able to put together a wall of White permanents so wide and tall that they never will. Eventually you'll bust through with seven or so Crusades after fifteen turns of not attacking. It'll be glorious.

The Bad

There are two things that I'd deem as "bad" about this deck, and they're both matchup-driven against decks with some kind of Mountains.

First of all, White Tokens isn't nearly as good against Red Aggro as I imagined it would be. My frame of reference from the Red Aggro side was the Boros deck with Torch the Tower, Lightning Helix, and many of the same cards as in this deck. Big Boros always seemed like a nightmare as the Red mage, so I assumed that its cousin with Lay Down Arms would be similarly unbeatable.

It's not!

I put the Red v. White matchup near 50/50 in Game 1. I'm constantly shocked at how often Red can pull out a turn three kill through interaction. If you can weather the early assault, or their draw wasn't ideal, yes - White will generally overwhelm red with life gain from Beza and Carrot Cake... But a good chunk of the time you don't even get to four mana.

The other "bad" I'd cite is actually Boros itself.

For reference:

Boros | BLB Standard | malekz, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

• Creatures (3)
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring

• Instants (12)
• 4 Get Lost
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 White Sun's Twilight
• 2 Sunfall

• Enchantments (9)
• 2 Virtue of Loyalty
• 3 Temporary Lockdown
• 4 Caretaker's Talent

• Artifacts (8)
• 4 Carrot Cake
• 4 Urabrask's Forge

• Lands (25)
• 2 Mountain
• 4 Plains
• 1 Mirrex
• 3 Battlefield Forge
• 3 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Fountainport
• 4 Sunken Citadel

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Abrade
• 3 Archangel Elspeth
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 2 Kutzil's Flanker
• 2 Loran of the Third Path
• 2 Sunspine Lynx
• 1 Temporary Lockdown

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Two words: Urabrask's Forge

Game 1 is ROUGH if they draw Urabrask's Forge. Your options are mostly to draw The Eternal Wanderer (where you'll keep phasing the Forge out, and hope they don't draw a second copy) or hope you can overwhelm them with Virtue of Loyalty.

This is pretty draw dependent. You have more copies of Virtue of Loyalty, but they still have some of their own; and the default setting is their running you over with Urabrask's Forge.

It can get better after sideboarding between Boon-Bringer Valkyrie, Sunder the Gateway, and Loran of the Third Path... But they have sideboard cards, too.

This is the biggest knock against the deck overall, I think. Boros offers many of the same incentives as White Tokens - and in fact plays many of the same powerful cards. But heads up, it has a huge advantage... And even some super cute combos.

Urabrask's Forge triggers Caretaker's Talent (obviously). But did you know you can copy the Phyrexian with Caretaker's Talent's Level 2... And the token won't be sacrificed at the end of turn? How cool is that?

Basically, you're trading the Boros deck's awkward - but powerful - mana base for more consistency out of White Tokens... While losing the single most powerful token maker in the matchup in the process.

Both the Boros matchup and the mirror are all about one answer:

I mean, Get Lost doesn't destroy Urabrask's Forge... But it does take out Planeswalkers and Caretaker's Talent. This makes it the second most important card in either matchup. Often the winner of a match heads up will be whoever drew more Get Losts early. Yeah, they suck. Yeah, it sucks to give the opponent a ton of free lands (or filtering). But when you consider that whatever Get Lost took out was going to generate two cards of value per turn cycle, those Maps suddenly look a lot more palatable.

The Ugly

In a sentence: White Tokens is simply not the greediest deck in Standard.

That's its ultimate problem.

Boros Control is an example of a deck that is a bit greedier main deck... And the token producer from its second color becomes the breaker in the matchup.

There are worse, far worse, opponents, though.

Ever see a Heaped Harvest?

Anything following that card is a disaster ("anything" being a mana Angel, generally).

You Beat Boros Control in the double digits. Not more than 51%, but still you have game if you draw a lot of Virtue of Loyalty and Get Lost (and they don't run you over with Urabrask's Forge).

On the other hand, I don't know if I've ever beaten a Heaped Harvest.

You can actually keep pace on card advantage... Even through Atraxa!

The problem is that the opponent's individual threats can be individually overwhelming. How are you going to deal with Atraxa? Get Lost? Unless it's Sunfall (or the game has gone long enough that it can be Lay Down Arms) most Atraxa decks can get her back for another turn, and a full grip.

But the bigger issue than Atraxa is actually Jace, the Perfected Mind. There are a ton of decks in the format that just randomly play two copies of Jace. You're unlikely to beat them, especially if they can re-buy Jace or are supplementing with some other form of Mill.

Ugly or no, I've really enjoyed trying out White Tokens.

If the opponent's got a "normal" deck, you tend to have the advantage; and the games can be interesting. Frustrating for the opponent as you are so good at building advantages (and not leveraging any of them in the short term)... But interesting going long.

You have a surprisingly good time against Control, because your individual enchantments can all bury the opponent if they resolve. Life sucks against Ramp strategies, graveyard combo, and anyone else explicitly trying to go over the top, though.

Here's some game play (with the backdrop of one of my favorite Cool Stuff Inc. articles):

LOVE

MIKE