Justin Vizaro
8/6/2012 10:15:00 AM
In this tale of two cities, it was only the best of times, the epoch of belief, the spring of hope, and the season of light. It was on this weekend's day of games that a last-minute brew recorded a combined 12-0 record in two different cities, (5-0 and 7-0 by two players with different play styles and skill levels) and regardless of whether or not both results were flukes, the deck is at least good enough to make it into today's column. The deck actually features many cards that you've seen in other brewery articles, and is nearly devoid of cards from M13. I'm actually developing an algorithm to determine how rapidly a deck's playability approaches zero as the number of M13 cards in its 75 exceeds four, but until that's complete, I will continue to bring you decks that ogle over the power level of Avacyn Restored instead. I think this week's list is one that you can quite easily take to your next FNM, but don't let its simplicity fool you, as the nuances of the deck are the things that make it just barely better than the other mono-white lists that quickly fell out of favor when RG Aggro became popular.

Turbo Blink by Justin Vizaro Main Deck Sideboard 4 Blade Splicer 1 Cathedral Sanctifier 4 Doomed Traveler 4 Inquisitor Exarch 4 Mirran Crusader 4 Restoration Angel Creatures [21] 2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride 1 Venser, the Sojourner Planeswalkers [3] 2 Cloudshift 2 Dismember 4 Honor of the Pure 4 Oblivion Ring 1 Sword of War and Peace Spells [13] 4 Cavern of Souls 4 Glacial Fortress 2 Moorland Haunt 10 Plains 4 Seachrome Coast Lands [24] Deck Total [61] 2 Conjurer's Closet 2 Fiend Hunter 2 Leonin Relic-Warder 1 Mimic Vat 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 3 Revoke Existence 2 Sword of War and Peace 1 War Priest of Thune Sideboard [15] View a Sample Hand! Solitaire this Deck! Click for full deck stats & notes!

The deck is vaguely similar to the deck that I posted two weeks ago, and certainly looks like a few of the UW human decks I proposed months ago, but when working with a set pool of cards, and certain ones are good, it's quite easy to repeat and Recycle cogs through the system until you find a few things that work. We can make pretty short work of this week's card selection and move a little more deeply into the little things that separate this deck from others like it, as well as how we can test it to possibly make it better.

CMC 1

Doomed Traveler is pretty decent in decks that like to modify dudes, as he provides redundancy against the decks that pack sweepers or large amounts of removal. Traveler is more stable against Bonfire than any of the other 1-drops in the format, so it stands to reason that as long as you can follow him with Honor of the Pure, he will be a pretty great little man on turn 1.

High Mid Low

Cloudshift

$0.53

$0.15

$0.03

Store QTY Price   NR Store 1 $0.02 The End Zone 8 $0.06 The MTG Place 8 $0.06 Tweaks Cards 5 $0.06 Millennium Games 3 $0.06 Miniature Exchange 4 $0.07 Cloak and Dagger 8 $0.08 TheWarStoreCCG 4 $0.09 adventuresON 37 $0.09 >> View all Prices for Cloudshift << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

Cloudshift opens the focus of this week's list, and begins the string of cards that make this deck a little different than other aggressive options. Many of the creatures in this deck like to enter the battlefield, and the ones that don't still enjoy evading spot removal spells and the like.

Dismember is here to mitigate the problems this deck has with creatures like Huntmaster of the Fells that give the opponent a bounty of value extremely early. This deck hates seeing Ravagers, and even more than that, hates seeing Birds of Paradise carrying swords into the red zone on turns 2 and 3. It also helps us eat Wolfir Silverheart when the soulbond trigger is on the stack, which saves us one turn. We always pay life for Dismember, and a different iteration of this list has been trying to make that a little less frequent, but remains to be tested.

Cathedral Sanctifier seems out of place, and to be honest, he was most assuredly just a filler dude until he won me some games against RG aggro. I chose this man over the likes of Champion of the Parish, Elite Vanguard and Gideon's Lawkeeper mostly because he is the only one of the remaining 1-drop dudes that actually has an ability upon entering the field. I figure I might get a few points of value out of gaining some life in my race matchups, but also that I might even end up blinking this guy every so often. I really wanted 5 dudes to cast on turn 1, and since I didn't really care what they do aside from get larger when Honor of the Pure is in play, I figured that the least-badgering creature would be the best fit. So far, he has been pretty ordinary, which is exactly what he was supposed to do.

CMC 2
Honor of the Pure goes in a deck like this- all of the dudes are White, and the best thing you can do to small White men is make them larger early. The larger you can make your small White men, the better you will be in most games.

High Mid Low

Inquisitor Exarch

$0.50

$0.15

$0.03

Store QTY Price   The Mana Fix 2 $0.02 HVCCM 1 $0.03 The MTG Place 8 $0.04 Cloak and Dagger 8 $0.05 IDeal808 74 $0.05 The End Zone 8 $0.06 Millennium Games 9 $0.07 Asgard Games 11 $0.08 TheWarStoreCCG 4 $0.09 >> View all Prices for Inquisitor Exarch << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

I really can't believe that we've had this card nearly one full season, and I'm still the only character that has ever had a single word to say about him. He's so incredibly perfect at being slightly above average, which is just behind insanely broken in terms of two-drop creatures. If the dude costs two and isn't bonkers, you would much rather it be just slightly better than mediocre so other players are more tempted to let it sit around for a while. Part of what Exarch has going for it is the perceived notion that once an opponent allows it to resolve, it doesn't do anything else, and therefore doesn't need any attention (read: removal) directed its way. A bear is as a bear does, and this bear rams for two after he nugs the opponent's grill or bumps you back up to a more satisfying life total. The number of times this man sits in the hand until the opponent allows near-lethal combat damage to pass is staggering, and it's insanely satisfying when we win the game by dropping him in. In conversations after matches and in the test group, many people say that his mediocrity compared to other critters like Thalia is what keeps him out of decks, but for me, that's one of the things that is making him that much more playable, especially in decks that have Honor of the Pure and Restoration Angel.

CMC 3

Mirran Crusader is extremely strong right now, as a large number of the creatures in the format are Green, and an even larger number of them have 3 or less toughness. When discussing White Weenie strategies, it's usually easier to consider the creature selection as if there will always be some kind of anthem effect making the creatures at least +1 power larger. Given Honor, Ajani, and Sword, Mirran Crusader will rarely be a 2/2, and his average size will be about 4/4. He poses a huge problem for Delver decks, especially when Honor of the Pure hits, as the only way the deck can handle it is to Vapor Snag it back to the hand a few times and hope it's enough to contain him. Cavern of Souls makes the assurance of Mirran Crusader that much more devastating against them.

Ajani, Caller of the Pride serves a few different purposes in this deck, and actually fits pretty well into its primary mode of operation. The deck doesn't really seek to overwhelm with a large number of men, but rather to apply fast and heavy pressure from a few above-curve threats. Ajani speeds up the clock and actually forces counter action from the opponent as well because Cat Bomb happens pretty quickly when he costs 3 and essentially starts with 5 loyalty. Curving with Ajani often puts you in a situation in which you will be able to Cat Bomb immediately after forcing the opponent to cast a wrath effect. Ajani also provides a nice insurance policy against decks that actively Stifle the aggro plan, as he very quickly Threatens a lethal team of dudes.

High Mid Low

Blade Splicer

$2.48

$0.96

$0.62

Store QTY Price   Phyrexian Games 12 $0.62 Static Age Games 1 $0.65 IDeal808 16 $0.70 Mox Monkeys 1 $0.71 Amazing Discoveries 20 $0.73 Untap Upkeep Draw 1 $0.74 Mox Monkeys 3 $0.75 ManaVault 2 $0.75 Strategyproducts 2 $0.75 >> View all Prices for Blade Splicer << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

The poster child for under-appreciation up until about two months ago, Blade Splicer was once a $5-$8 card, and for some reason disappeared off the planet, even when humans were popular. People collectively stopped liking four power for three mana, even with a relevant creature type and two bodies, one of which can block Sword of War and Peace. To this day, I can't understand what that drop was all about, but it's nice to once again be getting value out of some dudes that I bought for less than $1 each on pre-order. Blade Splicer also fits directly into the blink strategy of this deck, but that's most certainly not news to anyone who has been playing Magic in the past few weeks.

Oblivion Ring is almost necessary for this type of deck that doesn't win as quickly as others. It is common for this deck to be forced to remove things, even things like Birthing Pod, which most aggro decks tend to ignore because of the fact that it won't activate that many times before the game ends. This deck tends to focus on using its Oblivion Rings for cards that add value for a given player repeatedly over a longer series of turns, like Huntmaster, Birthing Pod, Sword of War and Peace, and Planeswalkers.

Speaking of Sword of War and Peace, the one-of in this deck is pretty cute, and wins games as often as you would expect it to at this point. I don't like having a lot of these in the main, as they tend to help me sit around and not do much if I get more than one in matchups against which they are relatively mediocre.

CMC 4+

High Mid Low

Restoration Angel

$20.58

$16.95

$13.75

Store QTY Price   Xanadu Games 1 $13.75 joeyslater 1 $14.00 CodyCat 1 $14.32 TheStuffSeller 1 $14.99 NickSL 1 $14.99 Asgard Games 5 $15.00 Gamercraze 2 $15.24 MTGHero 1 $15.25 ATKM Games 1 $15.26 >> View all Prices for Restoration Angel << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

The marquee card of late, Restoration Angel makes this deck fire on all cylinders. It's White, so it will often be a 4/5 in this deck, which is always cool, and it has a few very good targets both pre and post-board. I've quite often been satisfied with just flashing it in at the end of my opponent's turn so that I can alpha strike on mine. Her size advantage in this deck versus the others makes for a huge turning point in games with clogged boards and air-only combat phases.

High Mid Low

Venser, the Sojourner

$8.23

$4.64

$3.79

Store QTY Price   Anthem Games 2 $3.79 Top Tyr Games 1 $3.79 Cloak and Dagger 1 $3.80 Mythic Realm 1 $3.83 Anthem Games 1 $3.99 MTGHero 2 $4.00 Geeks MTG 1 $4.02 Mox Mania 2 $4.09 Gamers Den 4 $4.17 >> View all Prices for Venser, the Sojourner << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

The bullet one-of Venser is a trick I picked up from Grand Prix Orlando earlier this season, when I added a 76^th card to my list to end the long stalemated games against aggro mirrors. Get to five mana with Venser in hand and you have actually got an alpha strike window that is quite thoroughly palpable. He was a snap-include in this list because of his synergy with the other creatures as well, making him the ideal dagger card for the deck.

The Sideboard

In the past, the bogeyman of White Weenie style decks has been Birds of Paradise carrying Sword of War and Peace early in the game. This deck looks to combat that play in a few different ways, and the sideboard help comes in the form of Sword Removal. I don't particularly love the idea of giving the Sword back if/when Leonin Relic Warder gets killed by Bonfire, but I also Despise the idea of four non-creature dead spells in my board. Against Naya variants and other decks that I might want some potential Artifact removal, Warder does a great job of eating my opponent's Golems, and then blinking to eat other things. War Priest of Thune is in the deck mostly as a nod to Black/White tokens, which is a bit of a thing in my meta, and I like blinking it in and out to remove the anthems. I don't like boarding in the Revokes against that deck, but sometimes I'll slide in one or two.

Fiend Hunter is another nod to Black/White Tokens because of the fact that he can be blinked perpetually, especially if you devote to blinking and slide in the two closets with him. Hunter is also pretty solid when you need a few extra options against early creatures, as he helps tempo stay in your favor early.

The bonus Swords come in somewhat frequently, but Mimic Vat is a special case, and tends to come in against Pod decks and other things that like to cast guys with really strong ETB triggers. Those creatures do actually die, and it's nice to be able to make copies of them.

Phyrexian Metamorph is my catch-all multipurpose board card, and I bring it in every so often. I find myself not needing it much, but if I dedicate to the blink board, I likely bring them in so I can make them the best creature every turn.

High Mid Low

Conjurer's Closet

$1.98

$0.75

$0.40

Store QTY Price   The Casual Gamer 1 $0.40 TemporaI Emporium 1 $0.45 From the North 4 $0.50 TCGWarehouse 4 $0.53 Miniature Exchange 4 $0.55 GG Cards and Trading 2 $0.57 GameTimeCC 1 $0.60 Lucky's Card Shop 1 $0.60 Gamer Apocalypse 2 $0.62 >> View all Prices for Conjurer's Closet << Store.TCGplayer.com allows you to buy cards from any of our vendors, all at the same time! Shop, Compare & Save with TCGplayer.com! - [Store FAQ]

This card is actually pretty decent, and it gives me some options in games against control decks, Turbo Fog, and some other fringe decks that don't exactly allow delayed aggro decks to get rolling. Part of a package, this card allows me the ability to swap my tires in games 2 and 3 and play the blink combo deck. I have won three post-board games with this card, and I am still very excited to explore it a little more deeply.

Conceptually, the deck is pretty simple, but as mentioned, there are a few things that just tip the scales at times, and there are some cards that have been on the chopping block that need to be discussed.

Originally in the maindeck was Geist of St. Traft, and while he is extraordinarily powerful against some decks, he's painfully un-powerful when he can be blocked by everything, and the only removal spell that people are playing kills him effectively. I moved him to the sideboard for a time, and then cut him entirely.

Isolated Chapels in this deck would make the odds of paying a ton of life for Dismember lower, the odds of playing tapped lands higher, and the odds of being able to play Lingering Souls in the deck 100% better. The justification for this would be a sound argument and clarity of open space for Lingering Souls in this deck.

Cathedral Sanctifier getting the bump from 1 to 3 across the 75 is possible, especially because of what it does in the deck's worst matchup.

I had a great time playing this deck this weekend, and a buddy of mine took it to first place at his Game Day as well, so if nothing else, give it a proxy and see if it can fit into your local meta and net you a few wins. You'll only have a few more months with it if you like it, so I would recommend going for it sooner than later; good luck if you do.