Introduction:
Turning dudes sideways and attacking has always been one of if not my favorite strategy in MTG; it's the original strategy really, and just so satisfyingly elegant in its simplicity. For quite some time, white had the best dudes, at least relative to CMC; ergo, I've always especially liked turning white dudes sideways and attacking.
I originally assembled this deck in 1998-99, during the Tempest-block era; I've been updating it ever since. While at one point white was the best aggressive color and a straightforward white weenie deck was totally viable for competitive play (for instance, when it had the only no-strings--attached one-mana 2/1 in the game), that is no longer the case in light of power creep and the ascension of green and--to a lesser extent, red and black--as the "aggressive creature" colors. This deck is at this point more or less a curiosity better suited to playing other "fair" decks in relatively non-competitive environs.
Due to the constraints I've mentioned, I built this deck more for durability and versatility as opposed to raw speed; if you're looking for the turn four kill, you aren't going to find it here; a burn deck might be more up your alley. In many aggro-on-aggro matchups, you will actually find yourself playing as the "control" player.
However, thanks to the wonder of inevitability (and Umezawa's Jitte), this deck can quickly shift in to kill-mode and has a shockingly potent mid-game. I've had many games where, after absorbing an opponent's attacks for the first few turns. I've found myself counter-attacking out of nowhere for ten to fifteen damage as early as turn five, at which point the game typically ends. Finally, thanks to several creatures that can dominate the board and end the game on their own in short order, such as (a leveled-up) Student of Warfare and Mirran Crusader; the late game isn't a total lost cause, even after a board wipe.
The Main Deck:
Most of the cards in the deck are no-brainers (i.e. Aether Vial, Stoneforge Mystic, Mother of Runes, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Swords to Plowshares, Mirran Crusader, etc.) and see frequent play in the popular Hatebear/"Death and Taxes" decks in Modern and/or Legacy, among many other decks. I will forego an explanation of why these are included, because they're self-evidently good cards.
Beyond what I've already mentioned, the creatures have all been chosen to fulfill certain roles in order to obtain supremacy in relatively "fair" match-ups, typically by having abilities beyond raw power/toughness stats such as "protection" (twelve creatures), first/double strike (fourteen creatures), or some form of evasion (seven-to-eleven creatures, depending on how you look at it.)
As concerns some of the more obscure conclusions:
Student of Warfare is a workhorse. At the very least, she's a 3/3 first-striker on turn two. In practice, I typically hold off on actually leveling her up until turn three so that I can drop another creature on turn two. Student does a lot of things that I think this deck wants to do. First of all, her level-up ability is great for filling out the curve, as it can be utilized one mana at a time. Also, unlike many one-drop weenies, she's actually not all that bad of a play in the mid-late game, because the level-up ability allows her to quickly "size up" to creatures with higher CMCs in the mid-game. Finally, in that same regard, she's not a bad play after a board wipe, because she can quickly become a major threat on her own.
Soltari Priest is likewise deceptively good. Against most decks this card simply reads: ", 2/1, protection from red, unblockable". I chose this over its cousin, Soltari Monk because I believe it is more relevant against burn decks than the Monk would be against aggressive black decks, and in any event I already have Mirran Crusader for such matchups. Feel free to tinker according to your tastes.
Knight of the White Orchid fills the role of the generic 2/2 first strike for two mana that has always been the mainstay of white weenie decks. Replace accordingly with White Knight, Knight of Meadowgrain, etc. according to your tastes, but I personally like having the mana-search ability available. While not always relevant, I personally think it's great--especially on the draw--since you can recoup lost tempo and actually get ahead in land (and creature) drops by playing it on turn three. I also just think it's a nice hedge that occasionally allows me to get away with playing only twenty-one lands since this deck--despite its low curve--has a lot of useful mana sinks.
The mana base is also incredibly straightforward. Aside from the sixteen basic Plains, two copies of Flagstones of Trokair provide a little added synergy with the Armageddon-type effects in the sideboard) and resilience against opposing land destruction, two copies of Horizon Canopy hedge against mana flood and provide an opportunity to draw a little extra gas in the mid-late game, singleton copies of Eiganjo Castle and Cavern of Souls provide just a pinch of utility and resiliency without seriously compromising this deck's ample appetite for white mana, and a miser's copy of Wasteland can occasionally cut off a splash color against mana-intensive multi-color decks, or deal with a problematic utility land.
The Sideboard:
Because the main deck was built with a bias towards winning against fair, aggressive, creature-based matchups, the sideboard is directed more towards tuning the deck against "unfair" combination and control strategies, again with an eye toward versatility and universal application.
Rest in Peace, for instance, is good against any deck that wants to abuse its graveyard, whether through delve, dredge, reanimation, flashback, etc. Similarly, Containment Priest attacks any deck trying to cheat creatures into play by any means other than a hard cast, be it by the aforementioned reanimation, Green Sun's Zenith and Natural Order, or Show and Tell and Sneak Attack. Pithing Needle and Council's Judgment are two of the most versatile "removal" cards in the game. Ethersworn Canonist and Thorn of Amethyst are nice catch-alls against combination strategies or any other deck that wants to regularly cast multiple spells in any given turn; the latter also simply presents yet another speed bump against any control deck that wants to clear the board with a "Wrath" effect or stick an expensive bomb such as a planeswalker before you can kill them.
Conversely, the sideboard contains a limited package of cards to shore up against hyper-aggressive decks; Timely Reinforcements shore up the game against burn decks or token decks that want to "go wide". Cataclysm can serve as either an emergency Wrath of God or an Armageddon (which there is also a single copy of), depending on the matchup; it also hits Planeswalkers. Finally, a second copy of the ever-versatile Umezawa's Jitte is included, because Umezawa's Jitte is a monster in the aggro mirror match.
Bonus: the 1999 Version of the Deck
To the best of my recollection, this is more or less how it all started...
Main Deck:
17x Plains
4x Mother of Runes
4x Soul Warden
4x Soltari Monk
4x Soltari Priest
4x Warrior en-Kor
4x White Knight
3x Order of the White Shield
3x Paladin en-Vec
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Tithe
4x Crusade
3x Disenchant
2x Mox Diamond
Sideboard:
3x Honorable Passage
3x Armageddon
2x Tariff
2x Cursed Totem
2x Null Rod
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Disenchant
1x Aura of Silence
Oh how the times have changed...
