This week I will look at War of the Sparks impact on Mono-White Aggro / Azorius Aggro. The deck has been very successful in the previous two standard formats and I expect it to remain the same with the additions War of the Spark brings.
War of the Spark Mono-White Aggro
Creatures (26) 4 Benalish Marshal 4 Dauntless Bodyguard 4 Snubhorn Sentry 3 Tithe Taker 4 Venerated Loxodon 4 Law-Rune Enforcer 3 Adanto Vanguard Planeswalkers (3) 3 Gideon Blackblade Spells (2) 2 Unbreakable Formation Enchantments (9) 3 Conclave Tribunal 3 Legion’s Landing 3 History of Benalia Lands (20) 1 Karn’s Bastion 19 Plains | Sideboard (9) 2 Prison Realm 3 Baffling End 1 Conclave Tribunal 1 Unbreakable Formation 1 Tocatli Honor Guard 1 Legion’s Landing |
War of the Spark brings a few new cards that increase the power of the deck. Gideon Blackblade is the big addition to the deck. He may move the deck away from the Azorius build. Gideon Blackblade gives you a threat on the board during your turn as a 4/4 creature that is indestructible while buffing up another creature with vigilance, lifelink, or indestructible. In my play testing, Gideon became the focus of my opponent’s attacks, which allowed other creatures to attack freely.
A second upgrade is Law-Rune Enforcer. Its ability to tap an opponent’s creature with converted mana cost 2 or greater takes away the biggest threat on the field your opponent controls.
Two other potential pieces for the deck are Prison Realm and God-Eternal Oketra. Prison Realm is a cheaper Conclave Tribunal, but only is useful against creatures and planeswalkers. I see it as a replacement for Baffling End because of its increased flexibility.
Oketra has the ability to take over a game, but the 5-mana cost limits its usefulness in a deck that wants to overwhelm an opponent early in the game. Oketra probably is a better option against control and other decks that want to grind out the game.With all the new decks being talked about using War of the Spark cards, I think Mono-White will be a strong and consistent deck early and throughout the format.Until next time, good luck playing your, win condition.