Iona, and the Mono-White EDH Primer.

Commander / EDH Control Land Destruction Mono-White Multiplayer Primer

bimjowen

Artifact (21)

• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Planar Portal
• 1x Ring of Three Wishes
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Seer's Sundial
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Tower of Fortunes

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Akroma's Vengeance
• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Balancing Act
• 1x Cataclysm
• 1x Hallowed Burial
• 1x Ravages of War
• 1x Terminus
• 1x Tragic Arrogance

Land (35)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Dust Bowl
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x High Market
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Karoo
• 1x Kor Haven
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x New Benalia
• 18x Plains
• 1x Springjack Pasture
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Thawing Glaciers

Instant (10)

• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Lapse of Certainty
• 1x Oblation
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tithe
• 1x Unexpectedly Absent

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Endless Horizons
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Quarantine Field
• 1x Story Circle

Commander (1)

Creature (17)

• 1x Angel of the Dire Hour
• 1x Angelic Arbiter
• 1x Archon of Justice
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Bastion Protector
• 1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1x Emeria Shepherd
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Kor Cartographer
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x World Queller

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

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Maybeboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Glory
• 1x Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1x Hushwing Gryff
• 1x Magus of the Moat
• 1x Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
• 1x Peacekeeper
• 1x Preacher
• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Voidstone Gargoyle

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Curse of Exhaustion
• 1x Moat
• 1x Seal of Cleansing
• 1x Suppression Field
• 1x True Conviction

Land (1)

• 1x Windswept Heath

Instant (2)

• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Rebuff the Wicked

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Divine Reckoning
• 1x Dust to Dust

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Hi folks!

Introduction:

You're here because you're interested in mono-white EDH. You're probably thinking one of three things:

1. I know for certain that mono-white sucks in EDH, and I am morbidly curious about what this guy has to say.
2. I LOVE ANGELS. I want to smack people with them in EDH!
3. I LOVE TOKENS. I want to overrun people with huge token armies in EDH!

If you fall into camp 1, read on, brave skeptic! If you fit in camp 2, read on, fellow lover of heavenly hosts! If you belong to camp 3... well I'm sorry, but you'll have to splash green and play Rhys the Redeemed. More on that later! Regardless which camp you fall into, welcome, and thanks for reading!

This is my mono-white control EDH deck. I play in a meta that ranges from fairly casual to absolutely cutthroat, both at my kitchen table and at my LGS. I consider myself a mono-white EDH veteran. I have been playing EDH since approximately 2010 and I have built many white decks. But before we get to my current deck, let's talk a little bit about playing mono-white in EDH.

Why White?

White has powerful strengths:

• Cards that destroy many permanent types simultaneously ( Purify , Akroma's Vengeance , Austere Command, Planar Cleansing, Council's Judgment)
• Equipment tutor effects (Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant, Open the Armory)
• Enlightened Tutor: so powerful it deserves its own bullet point!
• Cards with keyword "indestructible" (Bastion Protector, Indestructibility, Avacyn, Angel of Hope)
• Bizarre same-turn permanent recursion spells (Faith's Reward, Second Sunrise)
• Powerful mass creature destruction, tuck, or exile effects (Wrath of God, Final Judgement , Hallowed Burial, Terminus)
• The best instant speed, targeted creature removal (Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares)
• Targeted exile of multiple artifacts/enchantments (Return to Dust, Dust to Dust )
• The best instant speed, targeted removal of nonland permanents ( Oblation , Unexpectedly Absent)
• Cards that provide protection from colored creatures or spells (Seht's Tiger, Glory , Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Mother of Runes)
• Powerful flying creatures Baneslayer Angel, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Serra Ascendant)
• The ability to say "no" to conditions, often at instant speed (Containment Priest, Hushwing Gryff, Aven Mindcensor, Angel's Grace, Grand Abolisher, Iona, Shield of Emeria)
• Powerful graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Stonecloaker)
• Enchantment tutors (Idyllic Tutor, Academy Rector)
• Much better land fetch/ramp than people give it credit for (Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer, Kor Cartographer , Tithe)
• Repeatable permanent recursion (Sun Titan, Emeria Shepherd)
• Slow, incremental creature recursion (Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Emeria, The Sky Ruin)
• Mass land destruction ( Ravages of War , Armageddon, Catastrophe, Cataclysm )

Why Mono-Color?

Playing a mono-color deck allows us access to the following powerful cards:

• Gauntlet of Power
• Caged Sun
• Extraplanar Lens

White Strengths That Are Irrelevant in EDH

• A common misconception is that since white is great at making 1/1 soldier tokens we can make a viable deck abusing this effect. While Darien, King of Kjeldor does an okay job acting as a rattlesnake and producing tokens with self-inflicted damage, ultimately he isn't very competitive. A Darien player has to to fill such a deck with a lot of weird jank to get it going. This in turn makes the Darien deck a lot less interactive with what's going on at the table. I feel 1/1 tokens are really only useful in EDH if you can make a HUGE number of them for an alpha strike (IE: Storm Herd + Akroma's Memorial) or abuse them with Skullclamp. Rhys the Redeemed is a notable exception because he costs 1 CMC, adds green to your deck, and Rhys himself acts as both an early-game token generator and win-con since he makes the tokens exponentially problematic.
• Efficient low CMC creatures. While white boasts a few strong low casting-cost bodies worth running in most decks (Mother of Runes + Weathered Wayfarer), in general it's favorable to keep low CMC slots as efficient removal spells and fill the rest of the deck with draw engines, haymaker spells, mass removal, and threats. Weenies typically don't do enough and unfortunately this precludes us from using many powerful white cards like Mentor of the Meek, Proclamation of Rebirth, and Ranger of Eos. These cards can be strong but too often are underpowered or dead draws in EDH.

What Does White Suck At?

• White is nearly incapable of drawing cards without using slow, vulnerable, mana-intensive artifacts (Mind's Eye, Staff of Nin)
• It has very few ways to interact with the stack or stop opponents from comboing off ( Lapse of Certainty and Angel's Grace) are about all we have)
• It is incapable of tutoring for nonartifact, nonenchantment cards without using slow, mana-intensive artifacts (Ring of Three Wishes, Planar Portal)
• It has the least competitive set of EDH commander choices of ANY color combination, mono- and multi-color included

If you're reading this and thinking "Boy, white has so many advantages and so few disadvantages; it should be a lot better," I agree with you, but unfortunately it isn't. Lacking card-draw, tutoring, and good EDH generals are the 3 worst weaknesses a color could ask for.

White Generals I've Built

I've built and tested MANY white generals including:

• Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• Akroma, Angel of Wrath
• Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
• Heliod, God of the Sun
• Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Who Was Pretty Competitive?

I sincerely believe the only four mono-white EDH generals currently that can consistently provide powerful presence at a competitive multiplayer table are Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Mangara of Corondor , Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Iona, Shield of Emeria. The two big angels provide both tremendous threats and deck-building strategies that lead toward a clear win condition. Linvala can hose certain generals but she does nothing against others; her commander power-level is kind of a toss up depending on your opponents. Mangara is rather bizarre but built correctly is a force.

Why Avacyn?

Avacyn decks want to ramp as fast as possible with mana rocks, supported by instant-speed white control magic and cards like Second Sunrise and Faith's Reward to save the rocks if they are destroyed. The game ends with a clear board and a resolved Avacyn + Armageddon/Ravages of War/Catastrophe.

Why Iona?

Iona doesn't quite provide as clear a deckbuilding strategy as her indestructible kin, but she does provide powerful control and an extremely political element. She is simply game-warping, and an effect this powerful is something a white deck really needs. Resolving Iona and calling blue on an Azami player will hose that deck. Other players may WANT this lock to happen since Azami typically will durdle and then instantly win if left unchecked. My Iona deck is extremely powerful, somewhat political, and can answer a tremendous range of threats. However, do not be mistaken -- it cannot beat tier 1 decks 1v1, and it will not typically beat them in multiplayer without the table's help. Interestingly, even Torpor Orb and Hushwing Gryff will not stop Iona's lock-down.

Why Linvala?

Linvala's power lies in her ability to shut down your opponents generals. She crushes certain generals (Arcum Dagsson, Jhoira) but does nothing against others (Azusa, Brago, Meren). In this regard she will typically either be an A+ or an F- in games.

Why Mangara?

I have never actually built Mangara, but I have seen him used to great effect against very powerful tables. Using sacrifice outlets, recursion engines, blink effects and Rings of Brighthearth he is cripplingly controlling and will take over a game if left unchecked.

The Other White Generals Are Simply Much Less Effective

Behind the big 3 in terms of power and competitiveness, we have Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Heliod, God of the Sun, and Hokori, Dust Drinker.

Why Not 8.5 Tails?

8.5 Tails is way too mana-intensive considering he himself cannot win the game for you. He also makes a lousy Voltron general because you constantly have to keep mana open to protect both 8.5 and your equipment from removal spells. If he had hexproof, he'd be a million times better.

Why Not Heliod?

Heliod is extremely mana-hungry and encourages you to build a deck stuffed with enchantments. Unfortunately, building a nongreen enchantment-centric deck means we miss out on several Enchantress draw effects. Also, running tons of enchantments leaves less room for our card-drawing artifacts, instant speed responses, and mass board wipes that white relies on to stay in the game. I've built some fun Heliod decks that have cool interactions with Skybind and Serra's Sanctum but they're super slow and can't reliably assemble all the pieces needed to become oppressive. Unlike my Iona deck which is filled with useful, relevant white spells, I found my Heliod decks often holding a fistful of awkward, janky cards that were nigh-useless when I didn't have my combo assembled.

Why Not Hokori?

Hokori provides a decent lock but the lock is fragile. He doesn't have built-in vigilance, and only swings in for 2 a turn. He requires a tremendous amount of setup that no decent player is going to allow without the Hokori player having powerful counter-magic to back it up -- which mono-white conspicuously lacks. Basically, there is absolutely no benefit to playing a Hokori stax deck when you can run Derevi.

Even Less Effective :(

The following generals are even worse still. In my experience there is no reason to use any of the following white generals at even a semi-competitive table because you will simply get blown-out.

Why Not Michiko?

She's cute, but ultimately she's a rattlesnake general whose only purpose is to make opponents ignore you until you assemble a combo. She's non-threatening for sure, but considering white sucks at assembling combo pieces due to its lack of tutors, generals that simply search up combo pieces (Arcum Dagsson, Captain Sisay, etc.) are just faster and better.

Why Not Elesh Norn?

Elesh Norn shines as finisher for a token deck. She doesn't produce tokens herself, though. Compare her to Rhys the Redeemed and there's basically no contest: Rhys gets you access to green which is also full of fantastic token generators. Rhys also comes down quick and starts producing tokens, which if left unanswered will end the game on their own. This provides virtual, indirect card advantage. He also provides direct card advantage by allowing you to tutor for Skullclamp and draw off the tokens. Elesh Norn fits better in a token deck as one of the 99 rather than in the commander slot.

Why not Akroma?

Oh, Akroma, my old love. I want so badly for you to be good. She's essentially a Voltron general since she provides no utility; her goal is simply swinging in for 21 lethal general damage. Unfortunately, as fun as this is it's the least effective way to win in multiplayer EDH. 8 mana is a tall order for a creature that doesn't affect the game's state. With only 6 power she requires 4 un-buffed attacks to kill an opponent with general damage. That is just too much. Her innate haste and protection are great though. If she was a 7/6 I'd try to make her work, but as-is she requires too many hoops to jump through.

Why Not Isamaru?

Isamaru is unique in the sense he's likely the ONLY competitive mono-white EDH general in 1v1 due to his speed and his low CMC allowing a truly relentless Voltron deck. However, while relentlessly recasting and swinging with a vanilla 2/2 wielding Swords of X&Y works marvelously in 1v1, it just doesn't pan out against a decent multiplayer table. You may kill one person, but ultimately your steam runs out and you're a sitting duck.

Why not Nahiri?

Nahiri is another mono-white general I had high hopes for. Unfortunately she severely underperforms for a few reasons. Her casting cost is simply too high for what she is. For a 5cmc planeswalker she either needs to start with higher loyalty and have a higher ultimate activation cost (start with 6 and ult for -13), be able to protect herself better (make two or three 1/1 flying or unlockable tokens) or provide serious card advantage (her second ability should tutor for an equipment card and put it into your hand, or it should only be -1 for how restrictive it is). She comes into play too late to get early use out of low CMC utility equipment like Sword of the Animist or Mask of Memory. She simply flounders until turn 5, and if we're going to hard ramp into her using Mana Crypt and other rocks we're wasting our efforts -- even a turn 1 Nahiri isn't even close to game ending. This means we need to put low CMC creatures in the deck to cover the early game, which further dilutes our plan. Worse still, her +2 having no board impact without having equipment already in play means we need to stuff the deck with low CMC creatures AND equipment, leaving precious little room for answers to our opponents' threats. At this point we may as well play mono-green stompy because Nahiri simply is not threatening enough. She can be okay in the 99 but even then she's mediocre. I'm really disappointed in WOTC for the design on her; compared to the rest of the walkers in the cycle she is by far the worst. Even Ob-nix has a broken ultimate ability if you can get there. Nahiri's Stoneforged Blade ultimate gets laughed at by a simple Boomerang or Capsize.

More Soon to Come!

I will post descriptions of my deck's interactions soon. If I forgot anything important, please advise! Any suggestions/comments will be responded to. Thanks again for taking a look!

Please +1 Upvote if you enjoyed what you read!

Top Ranked	Achieved #8 position overall 7 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Exclude colors	UBRG
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.85
Tokens	Goat 0/1 W
Folders	EDH (Control), Primers - All of them, Interesting , Food for Thought, EDH/Commandant