Magic 2015 is on its way, and it’s bringing with it a whole slew of new cards for deck-builders everywhere. This set definitely has a lot of potential, and one of the first cards that caught my eye was Obelisk of Urd.

+2/+2 is a pretty big boost, and convoke makes this pretty reasonable to cast in an aggressive deck. It might take a turn of not attacking, but you’ll often be casting it when most of your creatures aren’t making it through anyway. Playing with all one creature type isn’t too difficult either, especially if you choose Soldier. Most of the best aggressive white creatures available in Standard at the moment are already Soldiers, and there are also plenty of ways to create Soldier tokens in the format. Here’s the budget deck I built around the Obelisk.

Mono-White Obelisk ? Magic 2015 Standard | Mike Cannon

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Banisher Priest
• 2 Fabled Hero
• 4 Boros Elite
• 4 Dryad Militant
• 4 Precinct Captain
• 4 Soldier of the Pantheon

• Spells (19)
• 4 Brave the Elements
• 4 Raise the Alarm
• 4 Launch the Fleet
• 3 Banishing Light
• 4 Obelisk of Urd

• Lands (21)
• 21 Plains

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Creatures

Boros Elite grows even better with the return of Raise the Alarm. Now you can easily attack with three creatures to trigger battalion on turn three. Launch the Fleet can also help guarantee you have enough creatures to attack with, although, since they enter the battlefield attacking, you won’t benefit from the trigger the first time unless you already have three creatures.

Precinct Captain is a pretty reasonable threat already, giving you an extra token if you manage to hit your opponent. If you have Obelisk of Urd on the battlefield, those tokens become three times as relevant. Suddenly, your opponent may be forced to throw away creatures blocking the Captain just to make sure you don’t make more Soldiers.

Banisher Priest helps increase the creature count in the deck while also providing removal for large blockers. Desecration Demon and Polukranos, World Eater are two common targets, but it can sometimes be worth it to get rid of a smaller creature just to put that extra threat on the battlefield. A 2/2 may not be particularly threatening in most cases, and the Priest isn’t a Soldier, but every creature counts in this deck, especially with cards like Obelisk of Urd and Launch the Fleet that require you to have several creatures on the battlefield.

Spells

Launch the Fleet can also make two Soldiers for 2 mana—or three for 3 mana—and it even puts them onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. The downside, of course, is that you have to already have a creature on the battlefield for each token you want to make, but with a large suite of 1-mana creatures and Raise the Alarm, you’ll usually have more creatures than you have the mana to target.

Brave the Elements gives you a way to punch through damage even when your opponent has assembled a superior board position. It can even protect your creatures from removal spells in a pinch. If you run into any red board sweepers such as Mizzium Mortars or Anger of the Gods, Brave the Elements can be used to essentially counter the spell for just 1 mana, preventing all the damage that would be dealt to your creatures. Knowing when to cast Brave the Elements can be difficult, but you’ll often want to wait until the damage dealt will be lethal. However, don’t assume this will always be the right play. Sometimes, you can make an almost-lethal attack and then use the token from Precinct Captain or a removal spell to push through just enough damage on the following turn.

Banishing Light gives you a solid out to Planeswalkers such as Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Jace, Architect of Thought, and Xenagos, the Reveler that could make it difficult to kill your opponent with hordes of small creatures. It can also get rid of large creatures just like Banisher Priest, but it isn’t as vulnerable to removal. Although it’s among the most expensive spells in the deck at 3 mana and doesn’t come with a free creature, the ability to deal with nearly any threat that comes your way is too valuable to pass up.

Playtesting

Mono-Blade Devotion — Game 1

I attacked for 1 and then cast Boros Elite and Dryad Militant, and I passed the turn. My opponent killed the two Elites with Bile Blight and passed back.

I attacked for 2 and ended my turn. My opponent cast Lifebane Zombie, and I cast Fabled Hero. My opponent cast Desecration Demon before passing the turn.

I cast Obelisk of Urd, and my opponent attacked for 6 with the Demon and ended his turn.

I cast a second Obelisk and attacked for 12 with Fabled Hero. My opponent killed it with Hero's Downfall. On his turn, my opponent attacked with both creatures, dropping me to 5. He played a Mutavault and passed.

I drew my card and conceded.

Game 2

I attacked for 1 and cast Precinct Captain before ending my turn. My opponent played Mutavault and cast another Thoughtseize, taking Launch the Fleet.

I attacked with both creatures for 3, making a Soldier token. I then cast Dryad Militant and passed the turn. My opponent killed Precinct Captain with Bile Blight and passed back.

I attacked with everything to drop my opponent to 6, and he cast Bile Blight on Dryad Militant. I cast Brave the Elements to give it protection from black in response.

I attacked with all three creatures, and my opponent activated Mutavault to block Dryad Militant. The two traded, and he dropped to 2 life. My opponent cast Hero's Downfall on Boros Elite, but I had another Brave the Elements to stop it and win the game.

Game 3

He cast another Thoughtseize to get rid of Raise the Alarm. I attacked for 2 with Dryad Militant, cast my second Raise the Alarm, and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Pack Rat and ended his turn. I attacked with everything, and my opponent took the damage. I cast Boros Elite and passed.

My opponent passed back with no play, and I tapped all my creatures to cast Obelisk of Urd. I ended my turn, and my opponent made a Rat during my end step.

My opponent cast Mutavault and ended his turn. I cast another Obelisk of Urd and passed. During my end step, he cast Hero's Downfall on Boros Elite.

He passed back with no play, and I attacked with everything. He blocked one token with a Pack Rat and activated Mutavault to block the other. He cast Hero's Downfall on Dryad Militant, but I used Brave the Elements to save it. My opponent dropped to 4, and I cast Soldier of the Pantheon and passed the turn.

He drew his card and conceded.

Wrap-up

This deck can enact remarkably quick kills, but Obelisk of Urd also allows the tiny creatures to tangle with those that would normally be much larger. Even if it takes up an entire turn and leaves you unable to attack, that massive power boost is often worth it in the long run, especially if your creatures are already in danger of being shut down by larger threats.

Brave the Elements also gives the deck a lot of play in avoiding cards that might otherwise be problematic. Here, it countered removal spells, while in a different matchup, such as against Jund Monsters, it would more likely give protection from green to punch through an army of attackers.

There are two cards currently being played in Standard that this deck can have a tough time dealing with: Stormbreath Dragon and Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Thanks to protection from white, they can’t be killed by anything in the deck. In order to address the issue, I would recommend including between two and four copies of Celestial Flare in the sideboard, depending on how often you expect to run into them.

So far, M15 looks to be among the strongest core sets in some time, and it should bring a lot of new tools to Standard. Some cards will add new angles to existing decks, while others may enable entirely new archetypes. Join me next week to take a look at another inexpensive deck built using some of the new cards.