#mono white

List: cubecobra.com/c/pink

3 player draft. 4 packs of 15 each. Take 2 cards each pick. Discard the last 3 cards of each pack. 3 Cogwork Librarians each.

This is a case study in draft parameters. On the spot, I decided to go with the quickest, simplest, draft procedure I could think of. It worked, kind of, but ended up (predicably in retrospect) feeling a lot closer to Sealed than I would like.

There's a whole bunch that goes into what experience you get from a draft procedure, but I was going for quick and simple, and parameters. Most importantly, I had a lovely time with my friends, and I'm glad they had me over to hang out, and playing Magic was a small part of that 🩷.

But since I can't shut up, once you've figured out satisficing draft parameters (i.e. you have a procedure that will give players a pool of cards of the desired size), the biggest driver of "draft feel" is the percentage of cards you see that you get to pick.

Some key limited set ups:

Typical 8 players, 3 packs of 15: 360 cards opened, 276 cards seen, 45 cards picked = 16%

8 player roto draft: 360 cards opened, 353-360 cards "seen", 45 cards picked = 13%

Sealed: 90 cards opened, 90 cards seen, 90 cards "picked"= 100%

This draft format: 180 cards opened, 156 cards seen, 51 cards picked = 33%

There is nuance when it comes to hidden, public, and inferable information, pool sizes, the way drafters influence each other, and so on, but I find this number is a great first order approximation of player agency and the expected level of focus in deck building. Where a draft procedure falls on this spectrum trickles down to deck power, focus, the draft experience, and gameplay.

This draft, as a result, felt a lot more like Sealed, as we had to make do a lot more than you normally would. Decks have more hole-fillers (and conspicuous gaps) than you'd find in a typical draft.

This was my 1-1 (3-2) Gruul Field of the Dead deck. Field came online repeatedly, fueled by my suite of check lands, which felt almost free here. Who needs ABUR duals (especially when you've got no fetches)?

I was leaning to forcing Green, cuz I don't play it much, but ML was taking a lot of the pieces so I ended up here. I was able to power through the Mono-White matchup, with Plow Under sealing off both games for me. Pest Infestation for X=2 was repeatedly great.

As we've seen many times, Sublime Archangel can provide the game-defining clock. SH used it in this 1-1 (2-2) Mono-White build in combination with Angel of Invention to quick swing a game where the life totals had been at 28 to 8 or something.

Elspeth continues providing value that isn't super exciting but helps alter game states. I also keep getting higher on both mono-colour lands, and cards that reward commitment to colours, like Figure of Destiny and Spectral Procession, both well-used here.

On the other end of the spectrum, here's one of the grindiest decks I've seen in a long time: ML's 1-1 (2-3) Abzan Tokens. This machine makes big boards. We got cats, wolves, and zombies going all at once. Grave Titan keeps being a menace that feels just this side of fair. The Achilles heel was the sky—faced up against angels and failing to draw End-Raze Forerunners, this deck ran out of gas.

In my match I didn't have anything that could help me break open the board, and it reached the point where decking myself was a possibility, but Parallax Wave provided a merciful finish.

Really interesting was seeing how much this deck was punished for running 3 colours. We see a lot of 3 colour decks, and with the lands I took to fuel Field of the Dead, ML didn't have the strongest fixing suite, which lead to some disappointing plays for Intrepid Adversary and Wolfbriar Elemental. I love 3-colour decks being viable, but I also like the dynamic of some cards being knee-capped in those situations.

Mono-White Draw Package - $12.78

White does a lot of things well, unfortunately drawing is not one of them. Therefore, we will have to rely heavily on artifacts to get cards into our hands. None of them are as easy as “draw one, lose one” like Black is chock-full of, but we can still get the job done.

Armistice - $0.31 5 mana can be a hefty price for a card sometimes, but a few reasons make it worthwhile. It is never restricted to once per round, so you can draw as many cards as you have mana for. It has the added benefit of possibly gaining you an ally. The politics of that 3 life gain put someone in your debt because you kept them from dying. If one of your opponents is about to die and you grant them 3 life because you need them alive to take out another player, it can end up winning you the game.

Staff of Nin - $0.99 This nifty little glowing rod gets you 2 cards a turn with not additional effort. It can also tick down an opponent or rid the board of those pesky little */1 utility creatures.

Deal Broker - $0.44 Though we may not be in blue, we can still loot. It may not give us card advantage, but it will definitely help us shape our hand to the cards we need. Since it’s a creature, it can also provide us with a chump blocker in a pinch.

Mind’s Eye - $9.29 This card takes up nearly half our budget, but with good reason. This is a toned down Consecrated Sphinx. Assuming you’re in a 4-player game and leave 3 mana open, you can easily get a card on each opponent’s turn. This is massive card advantage. You’ll be leaps and bounds ahead in answers. Should you have to discard because of your huge hand, you can just use it to draw out the cards you need and get rid of the ones you don’t.

Palace Jailer - $0.33 A Banisher Priest with the Monarch mechanic added to it. Monarch is a great mechanic that adds more politics to the game. It may make us a target, but we have plenty of protection to keep us the monarch and keep drawing cards. In fact, we can play cards like Protector of the Crown and make it indestructible.

Horn of Greed - $1.00 This card is a staple in all of my decks. It makes sure late game land drops aren’t dead because you instantly replace it. I actually find myself playing lands even if I don’t need them just to draw with this. In the early game, it helps you find those lands faster so that you miss land drops much less. I find myself drawing into another land for next turn about half of the time this card triggers. I cannot sing its praises enough.

Inheritance - $0.26 This is White’s version of Harvester of Souls. Yes, we have to pay 3 for the ability, but we know that creatures will be dying left and right in this format. Since we are in White, we can force a massive draw in the late game by playing a board wipe and drawing off all that death. So, the only thing we need to worry about with this card is keeping mana open for it.

Farsight Mask - $0.16 How Armistice gains us allies, this card helps keep the fighting off our front porch. If someone deals damage to us, they have to risk making us draw into a response to their threat. Nobody wants to swing in with 10 1/1 elves only to lose them all to a wrath because you forced the person to draw into it.

Well there you have it, folks. White may not be the strongest color concerning drawing power. With a little help from our colorless friends though, we can pretty easily make up for this shortcoming and stay in the game. Keep that card advantage going and...

Victory shall be yours.

--- Jake M, @apok-the-combomancer​

All cards are priced according to Magiccards.info mid price on the date it was written. These prices are subject to change.

Mono-White Flickering Spirits drafted by ML, June 3, 2023 (2-2).