This is the second part in what I hope will be a continuing series looking at the most successful deck archetypes in the Classic Restricted (Type 1.5) Magic format. To recap, this series is necessary because there just isn't a lot of information about Type 1.5 currently on the web. Classic Restricted is something of a redheaded stepchild in terms of Magic formats; however, the coming set rotation in Extended bodes well for future interest in Type 1.5. I expect that in coming months there will be growing interest in Classic Restricted, and hopefully these articles will give new players somewhere to start.

Okay; if you read my previous article, then you know the basic rules of successful deckbuilding in Type 1.5:

1. Your deck must be fast.

2. You should play as few colors and as few non-basic lands as possible

3. Unfortunately, card advantage is banned.

Last time out, we took a look at the"eternal" Sligh/Deadguy Red archetype. Sligh represents the absolute fastest deck in Classic Restricted. It sometimes kills third turn and usually kills fourth-turn with a halfway decent hand and little or no resistance.

Today we are going to look at another aggressive deck, albeit one that is slower but has more utility than Sligh: White Weenie. White Weenie was one of the first successful archetypes in the game, built around inexpensive and efficient creatures like Savannah Lions and White Knight. It has also historically been one of the most versatile deck types, because it can inexpensively remove any permanent in the game except land using such undercosted cards as Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant.

However, in addition to all those advantages in Type 1.5, White Weenie has something else going for it: It violates the third rule. Savagely.

White Weenie decks have access to what is easily the most broken card-drawing engine in Type 1.5: Land Tax/Scroll Rack. This two-card combo enables you to draw an extra three cards a turn for the cost of just one mana (hence the term"Landcestral") and also acts as a hedge against land destruction decks. Virtually every other abusive card-drawing engine in the format is banned on the basis of having at least one of its pieces on the Type One restricted list - but somehow, this survives unscathed.

Combine broken card drawing with efficient creatures, many of which have Protection from one or more colors, and cheap removal and you have a recipe for a pretty solid deck archetype.

The following decklist is a classic example of a White Weenie deck in Type 1.5:

=Creatures (22)=
4 Savannah Lions
3 Mother of Runes
4 Soltari Priest
4 White Knight
3 Warrior en-Kor
2 Paladin en-Vec
2 Masticore

=Spells (14)=
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Land Tax
3 Abolish (or Seal of Cleansing)
2 Crusade
1 Reverent Mantra

=Artifacts (3)=
3 Scroll Rack
1 Zuran Orb

=Lands (20)=
15 Plains
4 Wasteland
1 Kjeldoran Outpost

=Sideboard (15)=
4 Sanctimony
4 Seal of Cleansing (or another Disenchant effect)
3 Light of Day
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Reverent Mantra

=Mana Curve=
0cc: 5
1cc: 15
2cc: 16
3cc: 2
4cc: 2
5cc+: 0

(As a sidenote, many thanks to the users of Beyond Dominia for helping me come up with a starting point for this deck and for helping to tune it.)

My own version of this deck is slightly different than the one listed above (-2 Crusade, +1 Reverent Mantra, +1 Jihad), however the above deck is a much more"typical" tuned deck list. (Not too many folks play with jank like Jihad!)

A short rundown of the card choices:

The Creatures (Savannah Lions, Mother of Runes, Soltari Priest, White Knight, Warrior en-Kor, Paladin en-Vec, Masticore):
Twenty-two creatures in the deck, of which ten have Protection from either Black or Red (or both, in the case of Paladin en-Vec). Another three (the Mother of Runes) have the ability to grant Protection to a creature. Four more (the Warrior en-Kors) have the ability to transfer damage dealt to them to another creature - hopefully, one that has protection from the color in question. That's sixteen out of twenty-two creatures with some sort of Protection from a Color ability. Additionally, six of those creatures have First Strike and four of them have Shadow. Obviously, this deck has creatures that are not only evasive but also very hard to remove with anything short of Wrath of God or Anarchy.

The other six creatures in the deck are just beyond good, even without Protection. Savannah Lions is the best one drop ever.* If you haven't ever had a chance to play in a format where Savannah Lions is legal, I pity you. There is nothing more beautiful than a 2/1 creature with no drawback for just a single white mana. You can see me wipe a tear from my eye every time I drop one of these bad boys.

As for the two Masticores, well... You already know how good Masticore is, don't you? Yeah, I thought so. The 'Cores are an extra source of colorless damage, provide flamethrower-like removal, and are just plain hard to kill in addition to being a 4/4 beatstick for just four mana. Yipes.

The Removal (Swords to Plowshares, Abolish/Seal of Cleansing):
No question about it: White Weenie simply has the best spot removal in the game. Swords to Plowshares is another"best ever" kind of card, and it does not disappoint. The choice of whether to run Abolish or Seal of Cleansing is one of metagame and personal taste; after much playtesting, I have come to prefer Abolish, since it can be cast for free. It is card disadvantage, but the engine more than makes up for it and the deck usually has Plains to burn anyway. Still, Seal is strong and it probably gets the nod if you have a lot of Donate decks in your local metagame. The old standard, Disenchant, is a dark horse consideration for inclusion, but seems to be shunned by the better players in the format. Your own mileage may vary.

The Protection (Crusade, Reverent Mantra):
Personally, I am not a big fan of Crusade-type cards. They simply don't do anything by themselves, and I hate drawing them in situations where I would rather have a creature. There are times, however, when your creatures just won't be big enough. Sometimes the extra +1/+1 per creature can just swing the day. As such, two Crusades make their way into the deck. Likewise, some additional Protection makes its way into the deck in the form of Reverent Mantra. Mantra can be cast for free, and provides protection from global damage (such as Earthquake, Pyroclasm, and Pestilence) - or, more often, provides a way to force an alpha strike past blockers in the late game.

The Combo (Land Tax, Scroll Rack, Zuran Orb):
Tax/Rack is sick; this really is the best card drawing engine in the entire format. The Zuran Orb provides both a panic button against Sligh and other beatdown decks, enabling the swap of excess lands for life (and therefore extra turns), and it also keeps one from being locked out of Land Taxing simply because your opponent stops playing land. This combo could only be more stable if you could play Enlightened Tutor in the format - but even without a tutor, the cards will still come up quite often. You have to love two-card combos.

The Lands (Plains, Wasteland, Kjeldoran Outpost):
Only twenty lands. This is made possible both because of Land Tax and the extremely low mana curve of the deck. The Wastelands are a matter of personal taste and could just as easily be more Plains, depending on your metagame. The one Kjeldoran Outpost is an interesting addition that sometimes just wins games by creating card advantage. It is especially sick with a Crusade (or Jihad) on the table.

What's Not in the Deck: Empyreal Armor.
Personally, I am not a big fan of creature enchantments, and this build of the deck is slightly too fast for EA anyway. Still, some folks really love them, and it is fun against Sligh to drop one on a Soltari Priest and ride to victory behind some arbitrarily large Pro Red Shadow dude. If you want to make room for them the right call is probably -2 Masticore, -4 Wasteland, +2 Plains, +4 Empyreal Armor.

Battle Plan: The general idea when playing this deck is to drop two or three creatures, hopefully creatures that your opponent can neither block nor remove, and just keep attacking with them until you win. Don't overcommit, though; you don't want to put yourself into a situation where global removal (read Anarchy) will ruin your day. Keep two or three creatures out at all times. If he manages to kill one of your dudes, drop another one to replace it. Keep the pressure on. Attack into blockers, even, just as long as you keep the clock running and keep forcing damage through.

If along the way you can manage to get the combo into play and working, then congratulations! You've almost certainly won. Keep a close eye on the number of land you have in play, though; the deck can easily run on two or three lands and you probably only want to drop four at most, most of the time anyway. Holding extra land in your hand gives you a measure of protection against discard, allows you to Land Tax at will (assuming your opponent doesn't stop playing land), and it will also give you extra cards to trade to Scroll Rack when you get one out.

Land Tax every time you have the option, even if you wind up discarding excess land. This helps to thin your library and assures that you will draw into additional creatures and spells rather than excess land that you don't need anyway.

Conclusion:
White Weenie's aggressiveness and utility certainly make it a contender for the top deck in the Type 1.5 format. It's decidedly Tier One. Although it takes a bit more thought to play than Sligh does, it has more answers than Sligh and less metagamed against and it less vulnerable to sideboard hate.

It makes a nice bookend with Sligh to start this series with. These two aggressive decks help define this format, providing a level of aggression that cannot simply be ignored by other deck types. In the next article in this series, I'll take a look at one of the top combo decks in the format; a deck that uses Oath of Druids in a slightly unconventional way.

Ken Collier
kennethcollier@msn.com
Level One Judge
Tournament Organizer: Sunday Type 1.5 in Placentia, CA

* - Okay, Jungle Lions earns a tie for the title"best one-drop ever" - but it's in Portal, so you can't play with it anywhere but your kitchen table.