Writing this column every week, it’s sometimes hard to keep the ideas flowing. Working under my usual tight budget, coming up with a new deck every week can sometimes become a challenge. This week, I had a little help. A member of the forums here at Gathering Magic called DoctorArgon, or Doc for short, sent in a decklist that was my starting point for what eventually became the deck I’ll be showing off today. Doc is a strong proponent of grindy midrange and control strategies, so naturally, the list he shared was for a white aggro deck.

Life Mate ? Standard | Mike Cannon

• Creatures (23)
• 3 Eidolon of Countless Battles
• 4 Ajani's Pridemate
• 4 Loyal Pegasus
• 4 Seeker of the Way
• 4 Soldier of the Pantheon
• 4 Watcher of the Roost

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Ajani Steadfast

• Spells (12)
• 4 Raise the Alarm
• 4 Suspension Field
• 2 Hall of Triumph
• 2 Spear of Heliod

• Lands (23)
• 19 Plains
• 4 Radiant Fountain

Buy This Deck

The Creatures

Ajani's Pridemate may not be as powerful here as it is when being powered up by Soul Wardens in modern, but if you can trigger it even once or twice, you have a threat much larger than what you’d usually get for 2 mana. There are plenty of ways to gain life in this deck, which can make the Pridemate big enough to take down creatures as large as Siege Rhino.

Seeker of the Way is another way to gain life, and it’s also a solid turn-two threat in a deck that can trigger prowess occasionally. Although it may not seem that this deck has many noncreature spells, remember that Hopeful Eidolon and Eidolon of Countless Battles will also trigger prowess when cast as Auras.

Like the other 2-drops in the deck, Raise the Alarm gives you 2 power with the potential for more. With Spear of Heliod and Hall of Triumph in the deck, those Soldier tokens can easily become 2/2s, making them significant additions to your army. You can also use Raise the Alarm to trigger Seeker of the Way’s prowess at instant speed.

Watcher of the Roost is not the kind of card you’d usually expect to see in Standard, but I decided to give it a shot. It can trigger Ajani's Pridemate when you turn it face up, and after that, it’s an evasive threat that can fly over creatures like Courser of Kruphix that would usually stop a 2/1 in its tracks.

Eidolon of Countless Battles will often give you 4 or 5 power for 3 mana in this deck, but its real power is in its bestow ability. For just 4 mana, you can turn a Watcher of the Roost into a flying Craw Wurm and start wreaking havoc on your opponent’s life total.

The Support

Ajani Steadfast can also give your creatures +1/+1 in two different ways. His +1 ability pumps one creature for a turn, giving it a whole slew of abilities as well. Ajani's Pridemate is a great target for this one. When it deals first strike damage, it will give itself another counter, which could help it survive combat if the blocking creature didn’t die. Since it has vigilance as well, it also leaves you with an even larger blocker should you need it.

Suspension Field is an inexpensive removal spell that can get rid of pretty much anything this deck cares about. Creatures with 2 toughness can’t survive combat with anything in the deck, so they’re not usually a problem. Anything bigger can be exiled for just 2 mana.

One of the advantages of playing a mono-white deck is that you don’t have to worry about the mana too much. That allows me to throw in a play set of Radiant Fountain, which can trigger Ajani's Pridemate for free. Since it doesn’t enter the battlefield tapped, it won’t mess up your mana curve, and having a few lands that don’t produce white is unlikely to affect your games.

Playtesting

Temur Monsters — Game 1

He added Heir of the Wilds to the battlefield, and I attacked with both creatures. Heir of the Wilds traded with Ajani's Pridemate, and my opponent took 2.

I cast Seeker of the Way and ended my turn. My opponent cast Savage Knuckleblade and passed the turn.

I cast Spear of Heliod, triggering prowess. I attacked with both creatures, and my opponent took the damage, dropping to 11. My opponent cast Temur Charm, making the Knuckleblade fight Seeker of the Way. He attacked for 5 and passed the turn.

I cast a face-down creature and passed back. My opponent attacked with Savage Knuckleblade, and I chose not to block. He bestowed a Boon Satyr to get in for 8 damage.

I revealed Eidolon of Countless Battles to morph Watcher of the Roost, gaining 2 life. I bestowed the Eidolon on the Watcher and attacked for 9. With only one removal spell and no way to stop both flying creatures next turn, my opponent conceded.

Game 2

He had a Temple on turn two, and I had Ajani's Pridemate.

My opponent cast Savage Knuckleblade and passed the turn. I played Radiant Fountain, gaining 2 and putting a counter on Ajani's Pridemate. I cast a face-down creature and attacked for 3. My opponent chose not to block, and I revealed Loyal Pegasus from my hand to turn Watcher of the Roost face up and put another counter on the Pridemate.

My opponent used Temur Charm to fight and kill Ajani's Pridemate, attacked for 5, and ended his turn. I attacked for 2 with Watcher of the Roost, cast Seeker of the Way and Loyal Pegasus, and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. He turned the Planeswalker into a Dragon and attacked with both creatures, dropping me to 10. I cast Ajani Steadfast, triggering prowess. I used Ajani’s +1 on Watcher of the Roost and attacked with everything, killing Sarkhan, dropping my opponent to 10, and gaining 6 life. I passed the turn.

My opponent attacked Ajani with Savage Knuckleblade. I chose not to block, and he used the +2/+2 ability to kill my Planeswalker. He ended his turn. I cast Spear of Heliod, triggering prowess. I attacked with everything, and my opponent cast Lightning Strike on Watcher of the Roost. He dropped to 2 life, and I went back up to 20.

My opponent cast Ashcloud Phoenix and ended his turn. I cast Hall of Triumph, triggering prowess. I attacked with both creatures, and my opponent was forced to block both of them. Savage Knuckleblade died to Seeker of the Way, and Ashcloud Phoenix traded with Loyal Pegasus, returning to the battlefield face down. I cast another Loyal Pegasus and ended my turn.

My opponent had no way to deal with both of my creatures, and I killed him on the following attack.

Wrap-Up

This deck may not be quite as fast as some other aggro decks, but it has a surprising amount of staying power. Late in the game, flying creatures can keep getting in for damage while Spear of Heliod and Hall of Triumph can keep your army relevant in combat. Add to that creatures like Ajani's Pridemate and Seeker of the Way that can grow larger by themselves, and you have an aggressive deck that can tangle with midrange and still come out on top.

It’s easy to dismiss life-gain, especially in an aggro deck, but in both games, the incidental life from Watcher of the Roost and Seeker of the Way was enough to take away any chance my opponent had of winning the game before my flying creatures killed him. If you want a white weenie deck that’s a bit different than the usual fare, or if you just want to reminisce about the glory days of Soul Sisters, give this deck a try.