In my opinion Squadron Hawk is excactly the type of cards that looks weak and useless, but actually pulls a lot of weight and complete the configuration of the deck better that any (on color) equivalent.
Sure 1/1 Flying for 1W is nothing special, but they have lot of hidden value.
1) It increase the number of white cards for Martyr of Sands, nice even if you only have one since you can tutor it with Ranger of Eos.
2) At CMC2 it fits the curve nicely and provides cards to play in the next turns even if you are without lands (with 21 lands it happens)
3) More cards in hands means more resilience against Liliana of the Veil and Kolaghan's Command.
4) More flying threats means more vaule for Honor of the Pure and Windbrisk Heights.
5) You can use the hawks to chump, trade or pressure the opponent into a wrath without losing card advantage.
6) Shuffle effects are nice with Windbrisk.
I've found them really usefull against Control and Midrange, they are bad Vs Combo and Aggro. Since most of my sideboard is mostly tailored for combo it's aeasy to just swap Hawks for that.
The only thing that really works is Lingering Souls, but at that point you are faced with the splash black route and things become difficult to assess. You now have the option of discard to fix the combo matchup, but to get a first or second turn black mana source you need to use the Fetch/Shock package... And all in all I really like my Mono-White approach!
Archangel of Thune is a good card, but in my experience you need Brave the Elements maindeck in order to increase his chance of surviving. The most logical course would be to replace Honor of the Pure with the Archangel, but I'm struggling with the fact that on a board without sisters it would be ineffective and that with 5 mana cards the land count of the deck would really need to increase.
One of the cards I'm struggling now is Martyr of Sands: I found it to be very useful as a target for Ranger of Eos or as a kickstarter for Serra Ascendant, but it's card disvantange and tempo loss against lot of decks. Currently I'm using 2 of them but I can see myself going down to 1.
The other issue is with Squadron Hawk, It's really inefficient but it provides something that no other card (in mono white) does:
-Card advantage (not really good cards, but usefull to counter Liliana of the Veil and provide rebuilding power after wraths)
-Flying blockers and threats (not very good threats without Honor of the Pure, but still better than nothing)
-On curve spells (usefull if we get stuck on 2 lands for a while)
The only card that seems to be able to fill this roles better is Lingering Souls but it requires a black splash.
We are doing a good work at putting together ideas here!!
Yes I admit Desolate Lighthouse is a corner case. Against Merfolk is good to destroy Mutavault, but the real deal is removing your own lands if they got hit by Spreading Seas: being able to block is often crucial here.
Infect is not easy, 4 Path to Exile is not even close to enough. Still we have a lot of blockers and they have little to none trample, there are ways to bring it home.
Token is a deck that can really put us in trouble. Serra Ascendant and Ajani's Pridemate are the main players here, the Sisters will provide lot of life even without the Martyr of Sands and they will need to chump block a lot of thing during the game. BUT they usually have 1/2 Vault of the Archangel and if they manage to get it active it's game over, this is one particular case where Ghost Quarter makes the difference! I'm testing Hallowed Moonlight in the board and it's not bad here.
On the issue of land count I have found that with 21 lands and 4 Ranger of Eos the deck is still quite reliable, we have ways to gain time if needed and we can close up the game with just 2/3 lands in play.
Hi there, just starting the online activity here on mtgsalvation.
I've been playing the deck both on paper and online for a while and I just want to add to the discussion regarding Ghost Quarter: I think it's a very important part of the deck.
About the reduced consistency in some cases you can destroy your own land to fix the colors, and with Flagstones of Trokair you don't really lose anything in the process (just watch out for your own Suppression Field/Rest in Peace).
I can see Cavern of Souls playing a part in the deck, it would allow us to push through counterspell and is a colorless source only regarding Spectral Procession. My issue is that the Human tribe is about 30% of the deck, merfolk players use 2 Caverns and have 40% merfolk cards, elves use 4 Caverns but are close to 50%; I'm worried that our opponents will have plenty of stuff to counter and just save the removal for the humans. Would need some testing, but 2 may be worth it.
Sure 1/1 Flying for 1W is nothing special, but they have lot of hidden value.
1) It increase the number of white cards for Martyr of Sands, nice even if you only have one since you can tutor it with Ranger of Eos.
2) At CMC2 it fits the curve nicely and provides cards to play in the next turns even if you are without lands (with 21 lands it happens)
3) More cards in hands means more resilience against Liliana of the Veil and Kolaghan's Command.
4) More flying threats means more vaule for Honor of the Pure and Windbrisk Heights.
5) You can use the hawks to chump, trade or pressure the opponent into a wrath without losing card advantage.
6) Shuffle effects are nice with Windbrisk.
I've found them really usefull against Control and Midrange, they are bad Vs Combo and Aggro. Since most of my sideboard is mostly tailored for combo it's aeasy to just swap Hawks for that.
Lingering Souls is better 90% of the time, but you have to splash. With that in mind it's hard not to consider Orzhov Charm, Zealous Persecution and even Thoughtseize and Castigate from the board.
On the other hand Squadron Hawk is something that I've tried replacing with a lot of stuff: Secure the Wastes, Midnight Haunting, Archangel of Thune, Brave the Elements, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Aven Mindcensor, even Shining Shoal!
The only thing that really works is Lingering Souls, but at that point you are faced with the splash black route and things become difficult to assess. You now have the option of discard to fix the combo matchup, but to get a first or second turn black mana source you need to use the Fetch/Shock package... And all in all I really like my Mono-White approach!
For reference this is my current list:
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Ajani’s Pridemate
4 Serra Ascendant
3 Auriok Champion
3 Soul’s Attendant
3 Soul Warden
2 Martyr of Sands
4 Spectral Procession
4 Honor of the Pure
11 Plains
3 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Windbrisk Heights
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Mistveil Plains
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Sundering Growth
2 Suppression Field
2 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
One Martyr will probably become a Return to the Ranks
One of the cards I'm struggling now is Martyr of Sands: I found it to be very useful as a target for Ranger of Eos or as a kickstarter for Serra Ascendant, but it's card disvantange and tempo loss against lot of decks. Currently I'm using 2 of them but I can see myself going down to 1.
The other issue is with Squadron Hawk, It's really inefficient but it provides something that no other card (in mono white) does:
-Card advantage (not really good cards, but usefull to counter Liliana of the Veil and provide rebuilding power after wraths)
-Flying blockers and threats (not very good threats without Honor of the Pure, but still better than nothing)
-On curve spells (usefull if we get stuck on 2 lands for a while)
The only card that seems to be able to fill this roles better is Lingering Souls but it requires a black splash.
Yes I admit Desolate Lighthouse is a corner case. Against Merfolk is good to destroy Mutavault, but the real deal is removing your own lands if they got hit by Spreading Seas: being able to block is often crucial here.
Infect is not easy, 4 Path to Exile is not even close to enough. Still we have a lot of blockers and they have little to none trample, there are ways to bring it home.
Token is a deck that can really put us in trouble. Serra Ascendant and Ajani's Pridemate are the main players here, the Sisters will provide lot of life even without the Martyr of Sands and they will need to chump block a lot of thing during the game. BUT they usually have 1/2 Vault of the Archangel and if they manage to get it active it's game over, this is one particular case where Ghost Quarter makes the difference! I'm testing Hallowed Moonlight in the board and it's not bad here.
On the issue of land count I have found that with 21 lands and 4 Ranger of Eos the deck is still quite reliable, we have ways to gain time if needed and we can close up the game with just 2/3 lands in play.
I've been playing the deck both on paper and online for a while and I just want to add to the discussion regarding Ghost Quarter: I think it's a very important part of the deck.
Of course it has a price in the reduced stability of Auriok Champion/Specral Procession on-turn casting, but the benefits are big. Almost any deck in the format has good targets for Ghost Quarters: Tron, Amulet, Affinity, Infect (Inkmoth Nexus, Pendelhaven), Grixis Control (Creeping Tar Pit), Twin (Desolate Lighthouse), Jund (Raging Ravine, Treetop Village), Merfolk (Spreading Seas, Mutavault), Company (Gavony Township), Token (Vault of the Archangel, Windbrisk Heights).
About the reduced consistency in some cases you can destroy your own land to fix the colors, and with Flagstones of Trokair you don't really lose anything in the process (just watch out for your own Suppression Field/Rest in Peace).
I can see Cavern of Souls playing a part in the deck, it would allow us to push through counterspell and is a colorless source only regarding Spectral Procession. My issue is that the Human tribe is about 30% of the deck, merfolk players use 2 Caverns and have 40% merfolk cards, elves use 4 Caverns but are close to 50%; I'm worried that our opponents will have plenty of stuff to counter and just save the removal for the humans. Would need some testing, but 2 may be worth it.