by Johnny Cycles, February 14th, 2024
Welcome to another Murders at Karlov Manor in Commander article! Today I’ll be discussing the cards from Magic’s latest set that should, could, and might could find a home in my Mono White Prison Commander deck featuring Heliod, Sun-Crowned. Before I get to the new cards, here is the decklist for your reference:
Decklist – Mono White Prison with Heliod, Sun-Crowned
| Heliod, Sun-Crowned |
Creatures (32) with 1 mfdc
| Esper Sentinel | |
| Giver of Runes | |
| Mother of Runes | |
| Archivist of Oghma | |
| Containment Priest | |
| Drannith Magistrate | |
| Ethersworn Canonist | |
| Hushbringer | |
| Imposing Sovereign |
| Avacyn, Angel of Hope |
Planeswalkers (1)
| Elspeth, Sun’s Champion |
Artifacts (12) with 1 mfdc
| Jeweled Lotus | |
| Mox Amber | |
| Grafdigger’s Cage | |
| Pithing Needle | |
| Shadowspear | |
| Cursed Totem | |
| Pearl Medallion | |
| Crawlspace | |
| Damping Matrix |
| The One Ring | |
| Valkmira, Protector’s Shield (mfdc) | |
| Norn’s Annex |
Enchantments (12)
| Authority of the Consuls | |
| Deafening Silence | |
| Land Tax | |
| Ashes of the Abhorrent | |
| Blind Obedience | |
| Rest in Peace | |
| Runed Halo | |
| Aura of Silence | |
| Tocasia’s Welcome | |
| Smothering Tithe | |
| War of the Last Alliance | |
| Worship |
Instants (2)
| Flawless Maneuver | |
| Teferi’s Protection |
Sorceries (5) with 2 mfdcs
| Winds of Abandon | |
| Day of Judgment | |
| Farewell | |
| Emeria’s Call (mfdc) | |
| Ondu Inversion (mfdc) |
Lands (38) with 2 mfdcs
| War Room |
| Plains (25) |
Should Be Included
Doorkeeper Thrull
This card is perfect for our deck! Shutting down ETB triggers is essential to our gameplan of preventing our opponent from executing theirs. We already play four creatures that stop creature ETBs. Doorkeeper Thrull brings the added benefit of hating on artifact ETBs. The first such card that comes to mind is Soul-Guide Lantern, which exiles a card from a graveyard when it enters the battlefield. Another staple of Commander, Solemn Simulacrum, has its first half nerfed by Doorkeeper Thrull.
That it has flash gives us some blowout potential when our opponent thinks they’re about to revel in all their 2-for-1 value upon resolution of Imperial Recruiter or Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Flying is nice for our grow-our-team plan, even if 1 power is pretty meh. Still, I will find room for this Thrull, either by cutting Hushwing Gryff, which is , or trimming from a different set of hate cards.
Trouble in Pairs
This enchantment from the Commander Precon hates on something nothing else in our deck does…extra turns. And while there’s a special place in hell for people looking to chain extra turns together and be the only one playing Magic, not everyone subscribes to this belief. Seriously, though, who doesn’t want to take a bunch of extra turns? Anyway, it’s the second block of text that puts this card in the Should Be Included section. Wizards is really, really, really trying to give White more card draw in Commander. That’s three different things that will trigger Trouble in Pairs AND it’s possible our opponent will trigger each in a single turn, drawing us three cards. I think this is a very powerful card that punishes our opponent simply for playing Magic, while addressing one of White’s perceived weaknesses. I say perceived, because at this point, I’m not sure we can argue White doesn’t have enough card draw.
Could Be Included
Assemble the Players
We play 21 creatures we can cast with this enchantment on the battlefield. That’s two-thirds of our creatures and a fifth of our deck. That leaves us with the question: is looking at the top card of our library worth losing a hate piece? After all, we can’t count on gaining any other value from this enchantment. I definitely think this card is worth testing out, but I would tweak our mana base and add more fetch lands to give us ways to shuffle away cards we don’t want. I’ve played enough games with this deck to know how easy it is to flood, miss our mana, or just not draw the correct pieces. Assemble the Players plus shuffle effects is a great way to address these issues.
Case of the Uneaten Feast
Earlier versions of this deck played 1-drop creatures like Soul Warden and Soul’s Attendant to trigger our commander as often as possible. However, over the years I’ve cut many of the cards that only gained us life as I’ve moved the deck away from this strategy to more of a Prison-Control one. Also, since this is an ETB effect, many of our cards will shut it down. However, gaining a lot of life each turn to grow our team of underwhelming hate pieces is a perfectly fun and acceptable strategy. If that’s more your style, then I recommend playing this card as another 1-drop that will gain you a whole bunch of life over the course of a game. The solved portion of the case can be amazing in the right spot, or it can be a total dude, especially if we’ve played a Rest in Peace.
Might Could Be Included
Aurelia’s Vindicator
Our best analog for this mythic Angel is Angel of Serenity. Is it better than the former Standard and Commander all-star? I’d say no, but Aurelia’s Vindicator does bring some flexibility to the table. For 4 mana, we get a 4/2 flying lifelinker with a bit of protection to ameliorate its low toughness. Thus, we can play this on curve if we’re in need of a creature, or we can cast it a turn early as a 2/2 creature with ward that for the same mana as Angel of Serenity does the same thing in the late game.
I’m kind of surprised at just how much mana we have to spend to get the extra value out of Aurelia’s Vindicator. Typically, the mana up-front reduces the amount we have to pay to flip the disguised creature. This doesn’t seem to be the case here. Instead, we’re paying the full 7 mana to get the same effect of Angel of Serenity, but on a much weaker body. We also have to hope our opponent doesn’t play a sweeper in the turns between us disguising Aurelia’s Vindicator and us flipping it. This is a lot of hoops and a lot to hope for.
Furthermore, the 4-drop spot for most Angel tribal decks is full of more powerful and impactful angels, like Sublime Archangel, Archangel of Tithes, and Linvala, Keeper of Silence. In our deck, Aurelia’s Vindicator is competing against the latter two, as well as against Myrel, Shield of Argive. I don’t see us finding room for this angel, but if you’re looking to increase your potential for removal without reducing your creature count, Aurelia’s Vindicator might could be the card for you.
I am excited about adding it to my Boros Triple Keyword deck, wherein every creature has three keywords! I can also see Aurelia’s Vindicator finding a home in a lifegain deck or in a deck looking for additional ways to abuse the graveyard.
No Witnesses
This is an interesting wrath that I would only include if you’re looking for another boardwipe. When I first read this card I thought, it’s a wrath with some card draw. Sounds great! Upon rereading it, however, the card draw goes to the player with the most creatures on the battlefield and it’s only a single Clue, not one for each creature destroyed. So, in spots where we’re behind on board, we’re giving our opponent a card. And in spots where we’re ahead on board, will we really want to wrath? Sure, there will be games when we have more creatures than our opponent and just need to kill a problematic creature like Narset, Enlightened Master, but White has enough other boardwipes available to it to make No Witnesses low on the list of options.
Conclusion
As always, thanks for reading and watching! Let me know in the comments which cards you’re most excited about. Which new White cards should, could, and might could be included in your Mono White Commander deck?
