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A Better Balan, Wandering Knight

Commander / EDH Competitive Hatebears Land Destruction Mono-White Stax Tempo

DragonLordJippy

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Artifact (20)

Enchantment (10)

Sorcery (7)

Creature (19)

Instant (10)

Planeswalker (3)

Commander (1)

Commander: Balan, Wandering Knight

Land (30)

Sideboard

Creature (1)

Join the team over on The 99 as we discuss the deck. Let's make a better Balan, Wandering Knight!

A Better Balan, Wandering Knight | Mono-White Stax | MTG EDH/cEDH Commander Deck Tech Primer

The Balan, Wandering Knight Stax Game Plan in Three Easy Steps:

  1. Keep a Hand with appropriate Stax elements for the particular Meta
  2. Play the Hand, Foil the Opponents and Proceed to Cast Balan
  3. Head to Beat Street

If you're scouring over the list searching for a Combo, you won't find one. We're strictly playing for value here. As a matter of fact, this Deck only requires two things from you. That you understand your meta and you can mentally manipulate a board. More over any list, this Deck requires you to outwit and outmaneuver your Opponents to exact a Win. Knowing who to take to "Beat Street" first and who to send home last are very important to getting the Win with this list. However, we aren't without some form of finisher and that's where we'll start our tour.

What is Beat Street you ask? Well, you see, unlike most Decks that try and Combo out to Win we're looking to take our Opponents out one-by-one with Combat or Commander Damage. Balan has ways to help in this endeavor.

A Walk Down Beat Street:

Mind you, any one of our Creatures can wield these Equipment to Damage out the board, but Balan puts us on a fast track to Beat Street that allows for less interactions from our Opponents. Truth be told, Balan isn't ever necessary to exact a Win, but he will help drive home a victory should the board allow it.

Ways to get in with Balan:

  • Giver of Runes & Mother of Runes - Tutorable and easy to Cast, both of the Runes sisters will provide you with Protection. This keyword does a lot of things for us, but chief among them is the ability to make a Creature un-blockable from a chosen Color or - in Giver's case - a Colorless Creature.

  • Whispersilk Cloak - Easily the best way to get in with any of our Creatures. Excellent when Attached to Balan as it will provide both protection and a means to go unblocked.

  • Rogue's Passage - This does come with a high asking price, but if it means we can strike out our Opponents with Balan it is worth it. This helps a lot with Sword of Fire and Ice should the board be bogged down with Blockers. Also note, we can still use this Land for Mana.

  • Path to Exile , Swords to Plowshares & Unexpectedly Absent - cEDH is not a Creature heavy Meta. More often than not there aren't a significant number of Creatures on Deck left for Blocking. However, there is usually at least one. Any one of these Spells will remove that nuisance for a finishing blow.

Again, Casting Balan is never our main priority. What we should be doing is assembling the proper board state to enable a win through our various Stax elements...

The Stax elements we run play a big part in how effective our game will be. White has the best Stax suite of any Color, so understanding what it offers and keeping the right starting Hand is essential to Balan's success.

As I mentioned, White truly has the best Stax elements in Magic: from Rule of Law to Hushbringer , we're not short of ways to manipulate how everyone will play. If this is your first time looking through a Stax build, here's a little acronym to help remind you of what to look for when facing off against your Opponents: T.H.W.A.R.T.

If you're counting, we have 24 separate Stax elements for controlling the board. This does not include the Wraths which are meant to put Players on a temporary stall while our own board is flush. I do not recommend using the Wraths featured here if you are behind; but should you be ahead with a strong board presence, you will break parity. Learning how to properly T.H.W.A.R.T. your Opponents will come with time and a firm understanding of how your Opponents play and what they play.

I have an affinity for Mono-White... A bias really. I believe it is the strongest Color in Magic and that's why I enjoy brewing for it and solely for it. You could likely run a different Multi-Colored Commander with a wider Stax package to get "better" results, but I find the simplicity of staying in one slice of the color pie helps to provide a more cohesive game plan. There's nothing White lacks - outside of more efficient Tutors and Drawing capabilities - that cannot be made up for with good threat assessment and keen game play. If you like a challenge and want to prove your salt, this is the list for you. Been wanting to play Balan, Wandering Knight ? Give this list a try and be sure to follow along over on The 99 for a Tech Breakdown and various BREW WARS featuring my number one Cat Commander. Happy Brewing, Babies.

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