SEARCH
Please hold while we load your cart... Please hold while we load your cart...
Advanced Search
Deck Builder
MY ACCOUNT

Email:

Password:
Note: You will need to have cookies enabled on your browser to log into StarCityGames.

STORE CATEGORIES

Remaking White Weenie for Type One

Pedro Godinho

By Pedro Godinho
06/07/2001

Eric Spinelli's White Weenie deck is quite good, and far better than most I usually see, since some get too junky (they are still WW decks; I just don't like them that way). The mono-white version has a lot going for it, such as the possibility of the Tax-Rack engine and the added consistency of just playing one color.

This is Eric's deck:

4 Savannah Lions
4 White Knight
4 Soltari Priest
4 Soltari Monk
4 Warrior en-Kor

2 Abolish

3 Seal of Cleansing

4 Land Tax
3 Scroll Rack

1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Balance

3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Zuran Orb

1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
17 Plains

The creature pool is good; it's a standard creature pool that anyone would use. Although it's a good creature pool, it can still improve. Warrior en-Kor is nothing but a bear that needs another creature in play to become effective. White Knight is good, but Orders (of Leitbur/of the White Shield), are far better because they can be pumped up, and that extra damage they can deal can be crucial in winning the damage race. Here's what I consider a better creature pool for type 1 White Weenie:

4 Order of Leibur

4 Order of the White Shield

4 Savannah Lions
4 Soltari Monk
4 Soltari Priest

I don't remember if Eric explained, but the reason why Mother of Runes usually doesn't see play in Type 1 is because she is quite overrated. She can die to Scroll/Masticore damage — and when she taps, she can provide some other creature protection, but denies her own. Although it's a formidable blocker, in type 1 White Weenie tends to be a lot more aggressive, and as such Mother becomes quite useless unless you were playing with a larger creature pool.

Eric's choice of Disenchant-style effects are also very good, although Aura of Silence can be very crippling when opponents rely so much in artifacts and enchantments. Abolishes are great with Land Tax, though. Seals of Cleansing are good because they can be fetched with the Tutor as well.

Some more utility:

1 Aura of Silence

3 Seal of Cleansing

4 Empyrial Armor

Empyrial Armor is a MUST with Land Tax! Tax provides more cards to hand, thus increasing the enchanted creature's power. Armor wins games! Other reasons for which I'd rather use Armor rather than global pumpers such as Crusade/Glorious Anthem, is that usually I don't need more than two creatures in play at a time. The other is that for me to deal X damage with an armor, I would need X cards in hand and at least the enchanted creature in play, while with a global pumper I would need X creatures in play. It's easier to deal more damage with Armor without undergoing the risk of overextending myself.

1 Enlightened Tutor

4 Land Tax
2 Scroll Rack

The Tax-Rack engine is well known, and abused when possible. Although I've already played for a long time without it (and to some success), I decided to pack it in the deck. With Enlightened Tutor, you really don't need more than three to four Taxes and two Scroll Racks. Using more than two Scroll Racks would mean wasting a slot; less than those would be too few to get the combo. Remember you want to try to play the combo and keep it in play.

Scroll Rack is also good on its own, so you can virtually draw a card a turn with it. Draw the card you usually draw on your draw phase, and then use Scroll Rack to replace it (or any other else you don't need) for the top card of your library. This virtually makes you draw the card while digging through an extra card a turn, can make things go faster.

Creature removal:

3 Swords to Plowshares

2 Powder Keg

Swords to Plowshares get over the most annoying creatures you have to face, such as Masticore other WW staples. I don't pack Balance, though; although it's one of white's best cards (if not the best), in WW it rarely works very well, since you're aiming to have more cards in hand and have about two creatures in play at all times, so that would mean that Balance rarely can be effective in WW.

Just like Black Vise lost its power because of its restriction, and thus it's now useless in actual Type 1 WW, I believe Balance would be just as good if it was unrestricted. Thankfully, it isn't! Even so, if you can get a slot, pack Balance, since it can be very devastating if played right. Personally, I really don't use it (not in WW at least).

Powder Kegs are there because they're so good! They can wipe out most of Sligh and Stompy's 1cc creatures or Suicide Black's hippies, and other 3cc critters. Powder Kegs can eventually kill your own creatures, but they are far better than spot removal, since it can kill more than one creature at once. Will my creatures get killed? Maybe — but remember, with Wrath of God all creatures would get killed, and that was never a reason for not using it in WW. In other words, Kegs are good in the deck. Trust me.

Kegs are good because they're cheap, you don't want to play too many lands when you use Tax, they're versatile, and they can be fetched with Tutor. The problem is that they won't take care of creatures that cost 4cc and beyond as easily.

The rest of the deck is fairly obvious: Zuran Orb protects you from losing right when you're near death, and Moxen and Lotus allow you to skip land drops, thus allowing for the tax-rack engine working better. You should never play with less than sixteen plains, even if you do pack Mox Pearl. Remember that all decks can be played on a budget, and powered down. White Weenie can be powered down very easily.

So, this would be the final version of the deck:

4 Order of Leibur

4 Order of the White Shield

4 Savannah Lions
4 Soltari Monk
4 Soltari Priest

1 Aura of Silence

1 Enlightened Tutor

4 Empyrial Armor

4 Land Tax
2 Scroll Rack

3 Seal of Cleansing

3 Swords to Plowshares

2 Powder Keg

1 Zuran Orb

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Pearl

16 Plains

As I said, you can power down the deck. WW doesn't necessarily need power cards to run. Taking off the power cards (lotus and pearl) would make it look more like this (just need to change the mana sources around):

1 empty slot
1 Mox Diamond

17 Plains

or

2 empty slots

17 Plains

Those empty slots can be just about anything, from Kjeldoran Outpost (works fairly well in mid-game with Land Tax), Strip Mine and Wasteland, Balance, Abolish, Masticore, etc...

Remember that we're aiming for the use of Land Tax here, with or without the use of Scroll Rack. This means that rarely you'll be interested in having more than three lands in play so you can repeteadly tax. Scroll Rack, of course, allows you to dig further.

Since we're aiming to not have many mana sources in play (unless they're artifacts), going over the 3cc can harm the use of tax. Don't try to use any 4cc spells unless it's something gamebreaking or very good on itself.

The sideboard is also very easy to make, so I suppose it doesn't need much explaining. Remember, though, that you rarely need to worry about land destruction and discard, for which the appropriate sideboard cards can be (somewhat) dispensed. Remember that Land Tax is just about the best answer vs random discard and land destruction. This means that cards like Sacred Ground and Spiritual Focus are good, but I don't see them being very significant in WW's sideboard, unlike like some decks that to use them.

White Weenie is a very versatile deck and can make use of many other cards even when it's mono-white, and can pack a whole lot more if it's splashing. Here's some examples:

Academy Rector: One of my favourite cards, the Rector could be used in WW... If you had some very important spell to tutor for. Enlightened Tutor is cheaper and more versatile, and playing a 4cc weenie to have it die isn't very good in WW. I might end packing this one in a WW deck with a splash of black (which allows for the use of some very interesting cards, such as The Abyss, which is good with Pro: Black creatures).

Armageddon: An old WW staple. This one is very good with Land Tax and can kill control decks. The reason why I don't use it is because of lack of space, and because by the time I can cast this my opponent's artifact mana (if he has it) can make it up for the loss of his lands until he recovers... Or he can counter it for sure. Geddon is still a very good card, though.

Blinding Angel: I'm not joking when I say I actually considered this in my WW deck. It's a four-toughness creature, so it can survive Bolts, Incinerate, Masticore, Cursed Scroll, etc. It's a good creature, if somewhat expensive, but it can stop your opponent's creatures from attacking. It also flies, which means that it can go over Moat and block Morphling (hopefully it survives...). Unfortunately, the Angel dies to Abyss, Swords, and Diabolic Edict (if it's alone in play). It's good because it can stop my opponent's creatures for once and for all, as long as it's in play. I'm still considering it...

Cataclysm: Cataclysm would be something similiar to 'Geddon, only that it's better. Unfortunately, if the creature that the opponent leaves is Masticore or Morphling (he could also leave both!) and the enchantment is something like Moat/Abyss, a Mox, and a land, then you'd rather have played 'Geddon.

Erase: If you have 1W untapped, the opponent will expect Disenchant. If you have W untapped, he won't expect anything. Erase is a good card against some combo decks, and can be used to take out those pesky enchantments that make your life difficult. This one is quite good, since it prevents the opponent from re-using the enchantments with the help of recursion - Argivian Find, Timetwister, Yawgmoth's Will... Erase is a great sideboard card.

False Prophet: A 2/2 for four mana isn't good. Now if you think this is a Wrath with legs, this becomes very interesting. Your opponent will think twice before attacking you. Of course, he can still attack you a last time so as to allow him to deal more damage, which can also be the final damage the opponent needs to kill you. Wrath kills when it's played, so against control decks it won't be very good, since it'll be a dead card most of the time... The Prophet, however, can attack, making it somewhat better than Wrath.

Remember that the Prophet removes the creatures from play. Since you aren't concerned about recycling the library, that shouldn't be a problem as much as it can be to your opponent.

Glittering Lion/Lynx: Virtually unkillable, I've used these creatures in former WW decks with some success, and others have liked these as well. Good against more aggressive decks until your opponent starts having mana to block/attack and disble the Glitterings. Although I don't use them any longer, that doesn't mean I eventually won't use them again, nor that they're not good.

Mageta, the Lion: A power card in Standard, the Lion is something I considered for Type 1 WW. Unfortunately, you'll be mostly playing it by turn 5 and use its ability by turn 6, which means that he's rather dead by then. I've thought about Mageta as an answer to Morphling and Masticore, but it didn't make the cut. It's just too damn slow for type 1.


Paladin en-Vec: It's good. Pack it if you can, but just two or three, since more would be a nuisance. Remember that it can be easily killed by Masticore and Cursed Scroll.

Serra Angel: A very, very old card in type 1, Serra once occupied Morphling's place in Keeper and found its way into many WW decks. Not any longer, though, since there are better creatures, and I think that Blinding Angel can be better than Serra.

Spectral Lynx: A GREAT card. This can block or be blocked by just about anything, or be damaged by any source of damage and survive. This pretty much means that the Lynx is a 2/1 for 1W, AND with protection from green and virtually all other colors and artifacts. I suppose this was the reason why they made it a rare. But considering it's a creature that regenerates with black mana, this makes the Lynx a bad card for our mono-white version, although I wouldn't hesitate in using it in a deck that splashed black.

Chimeric Idol: Phyrexian War Beast is a better deal at 3cc for WW rather than Idol is. As a 3/3 it dies easily to Bolts, Incinerates, and the like.

Cursed Totem: An obvious sideboard card, this can stop two of WW's greatest threats: Morphling and Masticore. It'll also stop the Orders, but that's a small price to pay for what it does.

Masticore: One of the very few 4cc cards I'm seriously considering for WW, (with Land Tax 4cc is already expensive if you wanna keep Taxing), since the Masticore alone is a very big threat.

Null Rod: Similiar to Totem, the Rod stops Masticore, Kegs, and artifact mana, stopping two major threats as well, and slowing the opponent a lot if he's relying on artifact mana. In my previous WW version, with no Scroll Rack, Null Rod won me many games.

Phyrexian War Beast: This can actually be better than Paladin en-Vec in this deck. It costs the same - three mana - it's an artifact, so The Abyss won't affect it either, and its four toughness makes it nearly invulnerable vs DD and unkillable by Masticore pinging and Cursed Scroll. Has a good synergy with Land Tax, too.

Static Orb/Winter Orb: At 3cc, Static Orb is a good disruptive card, since it slows down the opponent. I'm not very sure yet on how disruptive it can be, and whether WOrb can be better or not than Static Orb. I might test them both, since they seem worth a shot.

Kjeldoran Outpost: This is a good card, if somewhat slow. Goblin Trenches from Apocalypse works far better with Land Tax. Kjeldoran Outpost is begging to be destroyed, although it works well with Tax as well. If you want to give it a test, pack two or three Outposts, but be ready for some land destruction hate...

Strip Mine/Wasteland: If I had an extra slot, I would pack a Strip Mine. If I had two, I'd pack a Strip and a Wasteland. Working with more land-destructing lands like Eric Spinelli did (see the deck above at the beginning) only takes away the chance of packing other necessary cards.

I hope this makes for a good example on mono-white, type 1 WW and inspires your own deck designs.

Cya!

Pedro Godinho, a.k.a. White Knight on Beyond Dominia.


StarCityGames.com
5728 Williamson Road N.W, Roanoke, VA, 24012
Phone: (540) 767-GAME (4263)
Online Customer Support Hours: 10am-6pm EST Mon-Fri;
Store Hours & Info: Check out our Facebook page
Fax: (540) 265-0544
Contact Us!

All content on this page (c) 2011 StarCityGames and may not be reproduced whole without consent.

Refund/Return Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms and Conditions

Magic the Gathering is TM and copyright Wizards of the Coast, Inc, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved.
StarCityGames.com - Always Buying!
Get SCGMobile for your iOS device!
PREMIUM
Financial Value of Avacyn Restored StarCityGames.com Premium Article!

Get the Ascension Deckbuilding Game on StarCityGames.com!
Get Next Level Magic by Patrick Chapin
Tha Gatherin featuring Bill Boulden AKA Spruke & Patrick Chapin the Innovator
Get Next Level Magic by Patrick Chapin
EVENTS
Magic the Gathering Events
Buy, sell and trade with StarCityGames.com at each of these upcoming events!

05/26/12 - 05/27/12
Nashville, TN

StarCityGames.com Open Series

06/02/12 - 06/03/12
Columbus, OH
at Origins

StarCityGames.com Open Series

06/09/12 - 06/10/12
Worcester, MA

StarCityGames.com Open Series

06/15/12 - 06/17/12
Indianapolis, IN

StarCityGames.com Open Series featuring Invitational

06/23/12 - 06/24/12
Detroit, MI

StarCityGames.com Open Series

06/30/12 - 07/01/12
Seattle, WA

StarCityGames.com Open Series

FORUMS
If it's happening in Magic: the Gathering, it's being talked about in our forums! Join, and share your thoughts with the rest of the Magic: the Gathering community!

Magic: the Gathering discussion forums

GAME CENTER
  • When in southwest Virginia, visit the Star City Game Center!

    Star City Game Center
    5728 Williamson Rd.
    Roanoke, VA 24012
    Ph: (540)767-4263
    [Info & Pics!]
RESOURCES
MAGIC ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
StarCityGames.com is proud to be a Wizards of the Coast Authorized Internet Retailer