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[Primer] Mangara, the Field Researcher (UC)

Commander / EDH* Control Mono-White Multiplayer Primer Prison Value Engine

Aystogon

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Instant (23)

Sorcery (8)

Artifact (21)

Enchantment (10)

Commander (1)

Commander: Mangara, the Diplomat

Land (29)

Creature (8)

Welcome to the Field, a complete tentative guide to Mangara, the Diplomat

Underdog decks have always had a place amongst my decks. The more unique a deck was, generally the more interested I was in it. Eventually with the reveal of Mangara, the Diplomat, a third deck was inevitably added to my collection. Being a fan of control decks but also not enjoying the state of blue, Mangara, the Diplomat became the commander of choice. Here you will find a tentative and continuously updated guide of Mangara, the Diplomat. Since the release of Mangara, the Diplomat, this deck has gone under many changes and will continue to evolve with the release of new cards, testing of current cards, and card-packages.

Want to check this deck out on Moxfield?

Moxfield version


Introduction to the Deck

Mangara, the Diplomat  

Mangara, the Diplomat is a relatively medium cost commander along with only having a single white mana in his casting cost, making him splashible. This means its incredibly plausible to power out Mangara, the Diplomat with a bunch of artifacts in the early turns.

Lifelink

This ability unfortunately does not come up to much in practice. It has never yet won me the game or seem to have helped me from losing. It does however make Mangara, the Diplomat effectively block for six damage under the correct circumstances.

Whenever an opponent attacks with creatures, if two or more of those creatures are attacking you and/or a planeswalker you control, draw a card.

This usually stops early aggressive decks, but sometimes it means being swung at directly or a planeswalker with a single big beefy boi due to the fact it won't trigger the ability. This can also essentially make your planeswalkers cantrip.

Whenever an opponent casts their second spell each turn, draw a card.

This is the ability. From my experience, unless no one has anything to do, which usually isn't the case, you'll draw at least a single extra card sometime during the turn cycle. In the event that no one casts two or more spells a turn, you managed to slow one of your opponents to mono white's pace.

Power 2 / Toughness 4

The toughness means Mangara, the Diplomat blocks a bunch of things and perhaps importantly, a majority of commanders that cost less than four - especially the higher the power level. It's a fairly decent stat line especially for a creature that usually doesn't care to attack as much.

Conclusion

Mangara, the Diplomat is pretty cool and open-ended. While provoking opponents to casts spells may draw you a few extra cards, hedging on planeswalkers, due to their nature seems to also be a relatively strong way to build him.

The current iteration of this deck is made to compete in a blind-high=power meta. This is generally somewhere between competitive-edh and mid-power.

White is generally known for being the worst at drawing cards, which maybe the result of being able to answer any permanent type. Thanks to Mangara, the Diplomat, this problem is solved. While stax pieces may be the most efficient way to answering your opponents in a multiplayer format while maintaining card parity, it's not an incredibly conducive strategy with Mangara, the Diplomat. It seems the best route is to play removal that hits multiple targets. This allows mono white to break parity thanks to being able to draw cards off the opponents spells, putting you ahead of other opponents.

Example, assuming a four person game where Mangara, the Diplomat player is second and commander is on the battlefield:

  • Player 1: Plays a mana rock and then casts a tutor, triggering Mangara, the Diplomat.
  • Player 2(Mangara, the Diplomat): Casts a mana rock and a removal spell, removing a permanent from every player. Player 3 and 4 are now down in card parity, on board, thanks to player 1.
  • Player 3: Plays slow, only playing a land, not triggering Mangara, the Diplomat.
  • Player 4: Plays two mana dorks, triggering Mangara, the Diplomat.
  • Player 1: Plays slow, only playing a land and a cantrip, not triggering Mangara, the Diplomat.
  • Player 2(Mangara, the Diplomat): Casts a removal spell, removing a permanent from every player. Player 1 and 3 are now down in card parity, thanks to player 4.

This deck is meant to be played similarly to a legacy control deck. Like most control decks, most plays are reactive. In this deck, most controlling the board through removal spells is the plan. Thanks to the Mangara, the Diplomat, strong proactive plays generally revolve around casting planeswalkers that will not only generate value by themselves, but also draw cards when the opponents attack them, creating a catch-22 for the opponents.

Early on, the main game plan is ramping up as fast as possible to cast Mangara, the Diplomat. After jamming Mangara, the Diplomat, since the decks win conditions are generally slower than its opponents, preventing opponents from winning generally takes up the entire mid-game along with searching for win conditions. Mid-late game is generally where the deck starts to shine where most opponents have used removal and win conditions can make it interaction light hands.

You'll probably enjoy this deck if:

  • You enjoy playing planeswalkers and protecting them.
  • You enjoy playing control decks.
  • You enjoy playing pillow fort decks.
  • You enjoy having your opponents second guess whether or not to let mono-white deck draw some cards.

You'll probably hate this deck if:

  • You enjoy playing aggressive creature based decks.
  • You enjoy playing top-tier planeswalkers.
  • You enjoy playing free spells.
  • You enjoy fast-paced combo decks.

This deck has some trouble against primarily blue-based decks. This is generally due to access of better permission spells along with the inability to access threats as fast as the blue-based decks. However, this generally can be overcome if you can slowly chip away at their life total fast enough. This requires some finessing via deterring attackers in a creature based meta or being able to jam early threats. The second best deck against Mangara, the Diplomat is white or green based decks that run artifact hate due to the incredibly high amount of artifacts run in this deck.

Cards to watch out for:

Card Choice Discussion

Much of the removal seen here is generally more costly than other decks with the upside of handling multiple permanents. Targeted removal should be held in hand for problematic cards like Opposition Agent and Notion Thief more importantly. Removal that hits more than one permanent should be used generally after being able to hold up mana to cast them and being able to hold up instant speed interaction.

Examples of Multi-Targeting Removal:

Examples of Single-Targeting Removal:

The general role of thumb is to keep the mana rocks under 2 CMC. Keeping them this low grants the opportunity to cast Mangara, the Diplomat before turn 4. Due to high density of low CMC spells, it's important that most if not all the mana rocks come into play untapped. The earlier we can start drawing card, the sooner we can get ahead. This is also incredibly important early because most of the time, low CMC ramp spells are only being played and board state is being setup for the mid game. The opponents will have to slow their early game down or give up card advantage.

Examples of Accelerants:

Because Mangara, the Diplomat functions as the general card advantage engine in the deck, there's less of a need have an incredibly high density of other sources of card draw. However, there should be some engines in case Mangara, the Diplomat gets removed too often. Card draw should be cheap and relatively efficient. Anything that costs less than 2 mana to cast is generally acceptable. Engines that require discard are acceptable due to the already high amount of innate Plains fetching White has.

Examples of Draw Engines:

Due to the lack of counterspells and reliance on the commander, there is a need to have protective spells for Mangara, the Diplomat. The best of the protective spells will be modal such that, when they are drawn and there is no need for protection, they can be used for other things. Being versatile and useful are the most ideal of these type of effects.

Examples of Protection

Piloting Discussion

During the mulligan, it's incredibly important to open the game with a strong start. Thanks to the amount of white-catch-up cards like Land Tax and Weathered Wayfarer, its probably best to mulligan aggressively. Having an opener with at least two lands and a two-mana rock like Marble Diamond or Arcane Signet is pretty typical and the most practical opening hand that can lead to a turn three Mangara, the Diplomat. The average amount of lands in the opening hand, with this deck, is ~2.25 which means it will be easy cast anything from turn two on due to the average cmc of the deck being about ~2.25.

Playing mana rocks to jam Mangara, the Diplomat is usually the main plan during the early game. This allows a quick refresh generally, especially the more competitive the meta is. Developing the board is important to having late game success which is what this deck is looking towards.

Mid game is usually when most decks are looking to find their win condition if not already having it. This decks win conditions are generally slower and thus ends up policing other players during this time. While policing, it's important to look for win conditions as well as preventing others from winning.

Attempting to win is ideal in the late game. People usually have used a lot of their removal by this time making it a little easier sticking a win condition on board.

While not the most flashy of decks, this deck has a few ways to win that are relatively slower than what other colors may have. This is just what comes with playing mono-white.

How to Win:








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Top Ranked
Date added 3 years
Last updated 1 year
Exclude colors UBRG
Splash colors W
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

9 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

23 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.08
Tokens Angel 4/4 W, Boar 2/2 G, Clue, Construct 0/0 C, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Elephant 3-3 G, Goat 0/1 W, Ox, Treasure
Folders Inspo, Other decks, Y, EDH
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