Friends of Men

Commander / EDH* Legendary Matters Mono-White Partner Protection Stax Weenie

Andramalech

Creature (25)

• 1x Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 1x Archivist of Oghma
• 1x Archon of Emeria
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Boromir, Warden of the Tower
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Doorkeeper Thrull
• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Guardian of Faith
• 1x Leonin Arbiter
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 1x Solitude
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Welcoming Vampire

Artifact (12)

• 1x Anduril, Narsil Reforged
• 1x Commander's Plate
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Luxior, Giada's Gift
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Tarrian's Soulcleaver
• 1x The One Ring
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte

Land (27)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x City of Traitors
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Eiganjo Castle
• 1x Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Kor Haven
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Minas Tirith
• 1x Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 4x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rath's Edge
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x War Room
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Chivalric Alliance
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Flowering of the White Tree
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Paladin Class
• 1x Smuggler's Share
• 1x Tenuous Truce
• 1x Tocasia's Welcome

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Farewell
• 1x Ravages of War
• 1x Search for Glory
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift
• 1x Winds of Abandon
• 1x Wrath of God

Commanders (2)

Instant (17)

• 1x Akroma's Will
• 1x Brave the Elements
• 1x Clever Concealment
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Flawless Maneuver
• 1x Galadriel's Dismissal
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Get Lost
• 1x Loran's Escape
• 1x Mana Tithe
• 1x March of Otherworldly Light
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Rebuff the Wicked
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Unexpectedly Absent

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Maybeboard

Instant (3)

• 1x Everybody Lives!
• 1x Repel the Darkness
• 1x Scout's Warning

Artifact (2)

• 1x Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice

Creature (3)

• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x Oswald Fiddlebender
• 1x Walking Ballista

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Love Song of Night and Day
• 1x Smothering Tithe

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This build is a Mono-White ({W}) colored EDH, revolving around two low mana value Commanders, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Keleth, Sunmane Familiar.

Overall this is a High-Powered Build, meant to be somewhere around {8}/{10} on the power scale.

Theme

Number 1 : Mono-White

This is the first in a series of 32 decks total, a chronicle to have a deck for each color identity throughout Magic.

This first one is simply a feels-good (for me) type deck that does wonderful work with the casting provided. Everyone is put together for the means to perform at the highest level, if not competitively driven.

Most of this list was a case-study for me, since I had Formerly looked at what performed best for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; most lists want to splash for Abzan colors and partner with Reyhan, Last of the Abzan.

The overall package includes a lot of Stax driven pieces, that prevent your enemies from walking away with the game.

In the meantime, amass counters on Yoshi for a good-boy swing. Keleth, Sunmane Familiar is also a prime candidate, being that both feature some semblance of beefing themselves.

I think the main features of this deck are Stax with benefits. You prevent your table from walking away from the game, and finish with Voltron, or fetch the combo.

More than likely I'll make an update post to detail the addition of Swords-to-Mention, better lands included, etc.

I'll detail more individualized notes on a card by card basis and by composition in the next tab.

Construction

Stax

A large component of this deck is built on removing what other colors are absolutely grand at exploiting, but White remains the king of checks and balances. This deck is focused on retaining a low curve and not picking up pieces that are larger, more oppressive, and functionally obsolete for the speed we operate at.

• Archon of Emeria is a way to secure the field from walking away on like, 3 to 4 spells in a single turn. Especially good at stopping the multiple-colored decks from ramping into oblivion and then running away with the game on turn 2, 3.. you get the point.

• Aven Mindcensor is just WOW a super fast and rude way to ruin ramp and search strategies for your opponents. In Bird Culture, that is considered a dick move.

• Boromir, Warden of the Tower is so good at stopping early nonsense and also great for the on-flavor ability to sacrifice himself to the greater good of the party.

• Containment Priest will prevent big Green Timmys and Big Black Bobbys from making the scene. For when you've already exhausted a Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile on turn one for the Blightsteel Colossus they turned up.

• Doorkeeper Thrull is a recent addition but also a welcome addition, because why not. More restrictions for them that meet the under 2 mana criteria means more efficient ways to make them scoop in the face of Horse and Doggo.

• Drannith Magistrate just sucks, my guy. Like damn, I just put down my Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Keleth, Sunmane Familiar on turn one with a Jeweled Lotus and was also able to land for turn, Mana Crypt and cast this guy all on one. WHAt THE F-

• Eidolon of Rhetoric is a harsh toke for people who need to cast their turns in two parts; that typically means it's like ramp, THEN draw, or draw, THEN burn. This essentially breaks their stride, increases your ability to work with what's already established because like we've said before, you're going to be very low to the ground.

• Ethersworn Canonist is a valuable piece for our cast because we're going to unload all of the super cool artifact-centric cards like Esper Sentinel and then Anduril, Narsil Reforged without having to eat the restrictions.

• Grand Abolisher has been a long time favorite stax cast member for me, from the flavor to the ability to the casting cost, what a behemoth.

• Leonin Arbiter works really well alongside the Mindcensor above, super cool to provide them the option, and then potentially slam down the Censor anyways.

• Linvala, Keeper of Silence is one of like.. five cards total that are {4} mana value or more. She really carries her weight though, and R.T.F.C.. Normally I wouldn't say such a thing in the description tab, but do that twice, and then ask yourself if it answers your question. If not, it's not time to ask for a judge, it's time to scoop.

• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a fan-favorite stax cast pick, and that's because you can gain SO much value out of an early set up if you lead with her, preventing your opponents from responding to your spells as quickly.

• Thalia, Heretic Cathar is just Thalia part two, electric boogaloo.

• Blind Obedience is absolutely just a superiority complex and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying and doesn't have the sack on them to tell you to your face.

Adding Counters

Both of our commanders rely on adding counters to themselves in a strict sense, which is a selfish tactic but surprisingly effective when the majority of the table can't over-pump and outclass these tiny dudes at first chance. The stax will hold down the majority of the issues and removal (we can get to that in a second) will help spot check issues. Beefing Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful or Keleth, Sunmane Familiar is a great way to Voltron a victory.

• Anduril, Narsil Reforged is just so much value, it's like the Horse Commander doesn't need to make the scene if you're going to be swinging with Yoshimaru.

• Luxior, Giada's Gift is a double-value effect for either of your commanders, and such a value even if you do have to pay the three in order to equip it. When you have a game-contesting swing with one equipment, that is some serious power.

• Tarrian's Soulcleaver is very similar to the other equipments in this list because with very little output on your own terms, this has the capability to kind of explode in value and potentially bring the game to an end.

• The Ozolith saves all of your previous games data and allows you to access it at a later time. It's like reincarnation for dogs and horses.

Removal

As a key piece of any EDH build, removal for white is just so plentiful. In this case it's a matter of cherry-picking your best options.

• Generous Gift is a long time fan-favorite for removal, and sees play here for the best reasons; because why not have ANOTHER way to blow up what they have?

• Get Lost comes from Ixalan, I think.. and just happens to be spot removal at the right cost.

• March of Otherworldly Light is a favorite of mine, as it comes from a recent (2022) cycle of cards in Kamigawa. By exiling from hand, you can eliminate a very huge target from the board.

• Stroke of Midnight will reduce your problems and replace them with a manageable 1/1 that can be punted.

• Unexpectedly Absent will be cast for zero as it's {X} cost, and put that pesky punk right back on top of their library.

Protection

White also provides arguably the most elements of protection and evasion around other sources of damage.

• Mother of Runes or otherwise affectionately referred to as "mom" by older Magic players, is an incredible way to spot check a piece of worth for the rest of the turn. It's the original "sorry mom said no".

• Giver of Runes was a recent print (and by recent I mean Modern Horizons recent) that is an ode to the card above, "mom". It's very similar to mom and does similar things; so it's like your baby-sitter that's really only like two years older than you, or maybe your older sister.. whatever.

• Brave the Elements is a classic example of White protecting itself from whatever it says this turn. A nice, effective protection for turn alongside what we're doing here, and the only critical example of where I see this being super necessary is up against Painter's Servant, where you can get pumped for next to nothing.

• Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is arguably one of my most favorite lore-focused creatures from Magic. It was hard not to put this guy at the head of my build and then base a stax/prison theme of 'White Priviledge', and the warnings about its impact. The metaphor is there, feel free to laugh because it is just a card game. :)

• Clever Concealment provides a great way to use your own bodies in an efficient way to protect themselves for the turn.

• Teferi's Protection is just the all-star pick for holding your hands up over your eyes and pretending you disappeared for a turn.

• Loran's Escape will spot-save your creature's progress and allow you to see the future as well.

• Galadriel's Dismissal is kind of a confusing card for me because i just as likely will use this to "remove" a board state for a turn and then "remove" that player from the game with my full swing incoming. I mean you CAN use this to protect yourself, or something.. but maybe just.. do the other thing instead?

Draw

Draw power is traditionally a hard tactic for white to have access to, but within the last 16 calendar months (2024) we've received a lot of printing that has added value and edge to the color. Detailed below are my best picks for the job, since white is still kinda sucky about it's relevant access to draw power. Not that we can't include it here, it just wasn't as powerful or fast as we would have liked for a deck that is averaging a mana value around 2 at most.

• Archivist of Oghma is a beautiful vibe check card; I am just infatuated with the idea that as you multiple color running duelists take off for your non-basic land bases that need two to four odd colors, I'm getting value back out of each search. Free real estate energy.

• Esper Sentinel is the White equivalent "aRe YoU GOnNa Pay FoR tHaT?" since we're not going to be running Smothering Tithe in the initial list.

• Chivalric Alliance is low-key slept on and should be more utilized. I'm only ashamed because I couldn't find something more relevant to horses OR dogs with this inclusion, but the free knight who does technically have the capacity to ride a horse.. so.. we're going to give it a ({3}/{10}) for flavor.

• Tenuous Truce is kinda like the card above, but especially valuable in table politics with a pod of 4, and even more valuable in a plus-sized pod.

• Tocasia's Welcome just kinda guarantees you're going to hit at LEAST one draw extra on a turn since you've got a really low curve of creatures available.

• Smuggler's Share is multi-functional, providing not only draw, but access to additional mana each turn when against land-ramp strategies. Remember how we mentioned Archivist of Oghma doing heavy lifting? knock knock that's an extra draw.

Discussion

This is only the first of many decks along the project, so I'll have to think of a more cohesive way to document the updates, the discussion, etc. but right now I'm thinking it'll resemble how I traditionally do it, with discourse on each deck individually. I'm really excited about how these decks will shape up, and what I'll be able to document or build.

Date added	2 months
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 67 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.15
Tokens	City's Blessing, Construct 0/0 C, Elephant 3-3 G, Human 1/1 W, Knight 2/2 WU, Map, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You, Treasure