Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

First strike

Noncreature spells cost more to cast.

Discussion (51)

plakjekaas on Mono White Ramp/Draw

1 month ago

And if you want more lands in play than your opponents, you play green. It's a concession of the color. Red, black and blue also don't put extra lands in play, save for silly things like Dreamscape Artist .

I'm not against helping white, but just copying the other colors is not the way. I wish they made a Mangara, the Diplomat -like card that gives you a treasure whenever an opponent had a second land enter the battlefield this turn, punishing fetch lands and green ramp. You know, a white way to deal with it, punishing players for trying to get ahead, like Rule of Law and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben do. You could even give it a fun play-on-words name related to Land Tax . Price it right, so it won't ruin modern/legacy though.

plakjekaas on Would a White Version of …

1 month ago

Mcat1999 except that a corrupt emperor who oppresses the masses for its own benefits is not white in philosophy. Selfishness at the expense of others is as black as it gets. Masses of commonfolk rebelling to uphold the laws broken by a corrupt government, those are the white party in the conflict.

The emperor perfoming a ritual to obtain omnipotence, and the valiantly defying masses rising up against him to Cancel the conjured magic, and restore law & order back to the world, that's the flavor of a white Stifle . That's why white has so many weenies with rule-imposing static effects, the little guy upholding the law and ensuring the silly blue, black, red and green Mages obey. That's why they're supposed to be symmetrical effects like on Leonin Arbiter , Tocatli Honor Guard and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , because nobody is above the law, especially not yourself. That's why I think your flavor text would fit a colorshifted - Stifle , and not really a one.

What you're doing is translating your own interpretation of game mechanics, as they are, into color philosophy, by what you think the intended purpose was behind a card like Armageddon ; Instead it should be the other way around, letting established color philosophy guide the design process of the (flavor of the) card.

From the article on Colors found at MTG Wiki:

White

White puts value in the group, the community, and its civilization as a whole. White believes that suffering is a by-product of individuals not prioritizing the good of the group. White's ultimate goal is peace—a world where there is no unnecessary suffering, a world where life is as good as it can be for each individual, a world where everyone gets along and no one seeks to disturb the bonds of unity that White had worked so long to forge. To govern and protect its community, White makes use of and puts value in a number of broad concepts; morality (ethics, grace, truth), order (law, discipline, duty), uniformity (conformity, religion), and structure (government, planning, reason). White is a color commonly associated with good and justice, but if left unchecked or if everyone is not working toward the same unified goal, White can become authoritarian, inflexible, and capable of sacrificing a small group for the sake of a larger one. Everything necessary to preserve the laws, rules, and governance that White created.

I really cannot rhyme these described motivations with a corrupt Emperor oppressing its nation's people, that's why I don't agree with this being the flavor text for a white card as is, no matter how politically relevant the metaphor.

RobRobertson120 on Kick Start My Heart | Winota, Joiner of Forces EDH

1 month ago

Hello, I'm an amateur Boros player from Standard and Modern looking to build my first Commander deck and Winota looks like a great card to build around. I was wondering if you could advise me on whether or not the following cards would be good fits in a Winota deck: Kytheon, Hero of Akros  ^Flip, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar , Sunhome Guildmage , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Thalia, Heretic Cathar , Silverblade Paladin , Hanweir Lancer , Frontline Medic , Bomber Corps , Tajic, Legion's Edge

MagicMarc on Good deck against lanterns control

2 months ago

Modern Humans is really strong with UWB cards: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Meddling Mage , Kambal, Consul of Allocation , It can race Lantern and lock it down..

Heliod life has a good game 1 and strong game 2. Any of the heliod walker variations.

I agree, Tron might make her hate you. Abzan might be good. Strong sideboard for game 2s.

plakjekaas on Please help save this game

2 months ago

EDH was created by judges, who after long days of running big tournaments, wanted to play some magic, but not the magic they had been observing and correcting all day. So they made some 3-color singleton (Highlander) decks, commanded by one of the original Shard-colored legendary Dragons from Legends: Arcades Sabboth , Chromium , Nicol Bolas , Palladia-Mors or Vaevictis Asmadi . 5 Elder Dragons, all 7 power. If you got hit 3 times by one of these, you'd lose the game, regardless of your life total. Elder Dragon Highlander, 21 commander damage is lethal.

This resulted in a casual, fun-oriented, table kitchen style of playing magic. Wizards does know that only a very tiny percentage of their player base is actually playing in sanctioned tournaments in established formats. By far the most Magic players are casual kitchen table players that play the game to have fun, beating their friends, not the world. EDH as a format will speak more to those players than to the PTQ- and pro tour-grinding players. Believe me, the top16 GP players at my LGS usually cower in fear when someone suggests to play a game of EDH.

Wizards knows all this and has been printing cards for specifically that casual multiplayer format for the past 10 years now. The first Commander (Wizards' legally safe name for exactly the same format as EDH is) Set came out in 2011 and gave us mainstay generals like Animar, Soul of Elements , Ghave, Guru of Spores , Kaalia of the Vast , Zedruu the Greathearted and The Mimeoplasm .

What has changed, is that more and more people use EDH as their main way of playing magic. Wizards is a company, to keep existing, they need to make money. So when Commander took over from Standard and Modern as the most popular to spend your Friday Night Magic, Wizards found a way to accommodate their finances accordingly. By including cards that work better for multiplayer than for competitive constructed formats in every single set, they ensure every set will be a financial success.

So the whole hipster "I liked commander before every set had specific cards for it"-attitude is understandable, but not at all useful in the world we live in. We made this format the most massively enjoyed format around the world. By making it that successful, we changed how the company makes its money. As long as those cards sell, we will get more splashy multiplayer nonsense, Arcane Signet s, Jeweled Lotus , etc. And that is why green is the kingpin of colors in multiplayer/EDH right now. Green is famously the color of ramp. The term "ramp" even originates from the green Rampant Growth . Green is also the color of big monsters. Green is the color of nature, of harmony, the color that lets you do everything you want, while generally not hurting other players' cards.

I'm going to talk in stereotypes for a bit. People think of black and see Murder , Damnation , not a friendly environment for your own stuff. Red will Vandalblast , Blasphemous Act , Jokulhaups your stuff away. White will Wrath of God , Rest in Peace , Swords to Plowshares , while Thalia, Guardian of Thraben makes it harder for you to play your game. Blue will Counterspell and Cyclonic Rift everyone out of the game. Green will just play a bigger beast ( Worldspine Wurm , Craterhoof Behemoth ). Of course I know of all the Beast Within and Krosan Grip removal green has, but you generally will think of green as the least board-controlling color of them all. It will execute its game plan without meddling with yours. Green will let everyone do broken stuff, but will be doing the most stuff itself because of its Abundance of mana and resources. That's the most friendly way to let everyone at the table have the most amount of fun without adjusting your strategy to group hug. No wonder people like playing with and against that.

When people like green, Wizards is inclined to print better green cards, which makes people want to play green more. This is a positive feedback loop that spirals out of control of you're not careful. It's also not specifically a green problem. I think people call it Power Creep. It's part of keeping a dynamic game like Magic interesting. I think a hypothetical future Standard set without any Commander playable cards in it will cause much more of an uproar in the Magic community than Kaldheim ever could. Hate it or love it, but EDH is ingrained in the fabric of magic itself now, and as long as we enjoy EDH, that will not change. I plan to have the most amount of fun with available cards, regardless of color or intended format. Your mileage may vary.

meME12 on Teeg stax please help

2 months ago

I would recommend taking out Beacon of Immortality and Staunch Shieldmate to put in something like Glaring Aegis if you are looking for something budget or maybe Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Reidane, God of the Worthy  ^Flip/ Valkmira, Protector's Shield, for some interesting combos.

enpc on What, Exactly, is Wrong with …

2 months ago

"What does everyone else say about this? What, exactly, is wrong with white, currently?"

This is a bad question, sorry DemonDragonJ. Not only does it assume that A) there definitely is a problm with white (as opposed to "do you think there is an issue with white?") but also B) you're not specifying a format, which makes all the difference in the world.

Have you ever heard the expression “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”? It's kind of what's going with this thread. You're primarily and EDH player and a lot of the comments here from you (and a lot of other people) are about how they think white is a weak colour in EDH.

However white is an absolute powerhouse in legacy and vintage with cards like Swords to Plowshares, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Monastery Mentor and Stoneforge Mystic being some pretty format defining cards. Hell, even mono white weenies is a proficient modern deck. So the implication that "white is bad in general because I don't think it's strong in the format I play" is a very shortsighted opinion to have.

If you're refering specifically to "white is bad in EDH", then this thread should not have been created in geneal discussion. And considering all of the cards you're talking about, it seems like this is more what you were referring to.

plakjekaas on What, Exactly, is Wrong with …

2 months ago

What's white known for?

Lifegain? Green and black are as able as white at gaining life, while also progressing the game/board while doing so.

Removal? Black deals with specifically single target creature better than white can. Enchantments and artifacts are removed as easily, if not more so, by green. Oblivion Ring effects? Not a permanent solution, often suboptimal. Boardwipes? Damnation , Toxic Deluge , Blasphemous Act and Cyclonic Rift are more popular than Wrath of God . But Planar Cleansing is a purely white effect right...? Hello Boompile , Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk , which are playable in every deck.

Tokens then? But Doubling Season and Parallel Lives are green cards. White has the best non-tribal anthems, like Glorious Anthem , but most commander decks that actually win by those effects, usually are tribal, and have plenty of lords that synergize better with the deck.

So what does a deck need to actually be functional? Most will say you'll need a decent amount of carddraw and ramp. White ramp is actually catching up lately, but almost all white ramp is dependent on artifacts or your opponents ( Knight of the Reliquary effects). Smothering Tithe helps though. White carddraw is either the Monarch, which every other color has cards for, or it's Mentor of the Meek and Bygone Bishop , which impose fairly heavy restrictions on your deck, to play low-impact creature cards in your 99. There is no white Rhystic Study , Outpost Siege , Guardian Project or Phyrexian Arena .

And finally, what else is white lacking? A (big mana) spell that can win the game on the spot. Like Torment of Hailfire , Craterhoof Behemoth , Insurrection or Thassa's Oracle . White splashy spells will create an imposing boardstate, but you'll need to actually untap to attack and win the game, giving your opponents a full turn to respond. The closest white has is Approach of the Second Sun which you can see coming 7 cards in advance.

So there's no real unique reason to play White in your deck. White only shines in being annoying, with Rule of Law , Drannith Magistrate , Ghostly Prison , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Blind Obedience and Armageddon , which not everyone (understatement) likes playing against. So if you'd ask me, the lack of carddraw, unique strategies & finishers, and the play-stax-or-lose image, are the main problems white is dealing with right now.