Mono White Riddle of Steel (65% win rate so far during 150 matches)
Overview of the Deck
What is steel compared to the hand that wields it, right? This deck runs 31 creatures that wield enough steel crush your opponents. And while they're crushing your opponents they also present them with a riddle. This fact, and being a big Conan fan, led me to the title for this primer. Hopefully it's catchy enough so that at least a few players will actually read it
I've played Jeskai Tempo for years and always created my own lists instead of using netdecks. About two months ago I started working on a mono white list and after a lot of changes and tuning I think that my deck is good enough to deserve it's own primer.
The deck keeps pressuring the opponent while making it difficult to remove the threats since they're very good at protecting each other. They also hinder the opponent in the execution of his own plan so that you'll have enough time to win.
I proudly present...
Card Choices
Champion of the Parish - Perfect T1 play. Pressures opponent or draws a Bolt/Push that doesn't hit SFM.
Giver of Runes - Protects SFM and Hero of Bladehold or makes a big Champion of the Parish unblockable.
Stoneforge Mystic - Searches up Sword or Batterskull and puts them into play...
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Disrupts opponents that play more non-creature spells than you (almost all of them).
Thalia's Lieutenant - Pumps all Humans in your team (22) and can do it again when Broodmoth brings him back.
Knight of the Holy Nimbus - Perfect early blocker, hard to remove. Opponent's that don't read the card hate Flanking
True Believer - Prevents hand disruption mainly, also Lily edict and burn to the face.
Ranger-Captain of Eos - Pure value, tutoring for Giver mainly. Can also prevent unfair decks from going off and buy that one turn.
Hero of Bladehold - Finisher! Attacks for 7 and for even more when you have other attackers in play.
Luminous Broodmoth - Brings back your dead creatures, giving you additional enter-the-battlefield triggers!!!
Now I want to explain some of the other card choices.
Sword of Light and Shadow is the best sword for this deck because it brings back all your fallen creatures.
Soul-Guide Lantern is better than Rest in Peace in this deck because of Broodmoth which is also shut down by RiP.
The combination of Spirit of the Labyrinth, Sorcerous Spyglass, Eidolon of Rhetoric and Nevermore has proven to be very powerfull against combo/control decks. Soul-Guide Lantern, Celestial Purge and Mirran Crusader are very good against GBx decks. Kor Firewalker and Worship work well against aggressive red decks.
Matchups
The deck has a good matchup (win rate above 65%) against Jund, Death's Shadow, Eldrazi Aggro, UW Control, Bant Control, Dredge, Gruul Utopia, Ad Nauseam, UR Storm.
The matchup is balanced (50-50) against Boros Burn, Humans, UrzaTron, Amulet Titan.
The deck doesn't win often against Infect, Bogles or creature-based combo decks like Toolbox, Goblins and Elementals, because it doesn't have enough removal. It also looses often against the new Hardened Scales deck because of Ballista.
Here are a few short vids that show the deck in action.
First I want to show how Ranger-Captain and Thalia can help you win against combo decks like Gyruda. In this game a Fragmentize from the SB and a lot of early pressure were enough to win (in the older version I was still running Fragmentize). In the next game Ranger-Captain bought me the time I needed and even came back thanks to Broodmoth.
Here's another vid that shows how powerful the Moth is in my deck. I am able to beat hand disruption, removal, Batterskull and several planeswalkers! (Unfortunately I can only record 5 minutes but the next turn my opponent conceded in face of the second Giver of Runes.)
Last but not least I want to show a convincing 2-0 against Grixis Shadow. You can watch game 1 here and game 2 here.
Conclusion
I hope that some players have actually made it to this paragraph and that I have been able to spark their interest in my deck. Please give this a try and post your constructive feedback so that we can work together to make this deck even better. Thanks
1
On the other hand I hate it because there are so many choices I don't understand in this list like 1 of Brave the Elements, Charming Prince & Mangara of Corondor are really random. Also True Believer is something I don't understand as this deck doesn't seem to be in real need of shroud/hexproof effect from discard and other stuff.
Playing some other strong 1-drops though makes more sense with Ranger-Captain of Eos already in the deck, e.g. Dauntless Bodyguard to protect stuff, Kytheon, Hero of Akros being strong and resilient threat later on and in SB Burrenton Forge-Tender instead of Kor Firewalker and even Martyr of Sands vs matchups where this life gain burst is godsend (burn, GDS, etc.)
Dunno if Basri's Lieutenant is even that good, or at least better than Hero of Bladehold.
Manabase-wise I think you could up the Canopy lands count to 3-4.
Nevertheless I will happily try it on next FNM and see how it rolls.
1
2 Boros Elite
2 Dauntless Bodyguard
2 Dryad Militant
4 Judge's Familiar
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Signal Pest
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Countless Gears Renegade
2 Selfless Spirit
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Benalish Marshal
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Venerated Loxodon
3 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flats
5 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Declaration in Stone
4 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Rest in Peace
2 Selfless Spirit
19 1-drops (+3 Paths) is wild and very agressive. Lot of cards I've played/considered playing are here, the numbers are somehow weird to me though (1 Kytheon, 2 Dryads etc.). Signal Pest is something I never really considered in this deck (which is kind of retarded as I thought a bit about Accorder Paladin after all) but could be potentially quite strong and cheap anthem effect. Boros Elite is easly 1 mana 3/3 swinger in this type of deck.
15 White fetchlands is a lot of gas for Steppe Lynx and Revolt enabler for Countless Gears Renegade which is some sweet 2 mana 3/3 spread in 2 bodies, great value in a deck with so many ways to pump a body. Makes me want to buy some more fetches but...
Also, Venerated Loxodon appears here as a high-end threat. He does wonders in standard right now but I don't know if he's strong enough to see modern play. Convoking does cost quite a lot of damage but sometimes it can't be pushed anyways in creature matchups (Humans and Spirits mainly) so it might be worthwhile to sacrifice the turn for huge amount of extra power.
Very straightforward SB. A lot of 4-ofs to distrupt enemy gameplan + some fillers from mainboard. Simple and efficient, just like the SB should be done for aggro decks.
Not really sure how the deck would work without fetches, Lynxes and Renegades. It's awesome that this archetype has some potential to steal games and make perfect record in a league during meta full of wicked, unfair stuff.
1
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Ghost Quarter
7x Plains
4x Silent Clearing
1-Drops (17)
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Dauntless Bodyguard
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
2x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Thraben Inspector
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3-Drops (10)
4x Benalish Marshal
2x Gideon Blackblade
4x Ranger-Captain of Eos
Spells (6)
2x Brave the Elements
4x Path to Exile
2x Damping Sphere
2x Ethersworn Canonist
3x Rest in Peace
3x Selfless Spirit
3x Stony Silence
2x Mirran Crusader
Deck was strong and fast. Turn 1 Parish, t2 Bodyguard + Kytheon, t3 Blackblade, swing all, flip Kytheon and concede happened.
There are 12 cards that replace themselves, quite a lot for an aggro deck. That gives quite a lot of gas for longer games.
Mardu made a lot of 1 for 1 trades with its removal and after some time it got upper hand. Knowing when to sac Ranger-Captain is hard - I lost a game because he resolved Anger of the Gods later in the game. I had Kytheon on board and no mana open to make him indestructible. If I'd sac R-C Kytheon would live and he'd probably end the job.
Brave the Elements proved to be very strong as a finisher and was the only card that could win that last game vs Pyro, but I didn't draw it. Card overperformed and I can see it being played as 3 or even 4-of.
Auriok Champion would've been amazing vs Pyromancer. Increasing Brave the Elements count to 4 would make me drop Selfless Spirits from SB and throw in Aurioks.
Benalish Marshal wasn't as good here as in earlier iteration of the deck. This deck is dependent on early Parish or Lieutenant going big and didn't seem to go as wide. I think reducing the amount of Marshals to 2 is good enough. Also thought about changing the last remaining 2 for Field Marshals, even though he doesn't pump whole team (but that touches only Bodyguards and sideboard creatures so I think it's worth it). That first strike for the whole team actually might be very handy in creature matchups.
I don't know if Quarters are worth keeping as I really need all W sources with so many 1-drops. I think that sacrificing some Tron hate and land filtering for more consistant mana base is worth the trade. Maybe I could possibly go with 1-2 Sunbaked Canyon while throwing away Quarters for more card advantage. With new Horizon Lands being printed I'm not sure how many of them I really want.
Or maybe adding in some [card]Smuggler's Copter[card]s would be better/safer for card filtering while keeping smaller/more important creatures in base (Marshals, Bodyguards, Inspectors).
It felt like this deck trades some resiliency and hate for raw power and speed compared to the old one. It should be able to close games 1 turn sooner on average. I have more big haymakers in sideboard rather than couple of different options to counter opposing gameplans and I think it's better approach for White aggro decks. Gideon Blackblade gives me mainboard options vs Burn or Ensnaring Bridge decks and resiliency vs Control.
I'm not sure I like this iteration more, as limiting myself to Humans only is quite crippling, but I think the deck is better than the last one.
1
Right now I think you have way too many 2 and 3 drops. 3 CMC should be top end of your curve not the beginning of real whooping.
I suggest increasing the amount of 1-drops to ~18-20 (there are a lot of efficient 1 CMC creatures right now really), reducing the amount of 2-drops to ~4-6 and 3-drops to ~8-9. History of Benalia and Benalish Marshal clearly outshine Gideon Blackblade here if you're supposed to go wide to the extreme. I still think Gideon should be played as 1-of mainboard since he's rather bad on draw vs aggro.
Also playing more Unbreakable Formations is good idea with the amount of such cheap creatures in this deck.
1
WAR gave 2 huge additions for this deck.
1st and most obvious is Gideon Blackblade which is bonkers vs control and Reclamation decks but is weak vs aggro decks while on draw. The fact that he can't block as well as he's fighting over 3-drop spot with History of Benalia and Benalish Marshal makes him great fit for sideboard in mono White version. For decks without such heavy 3-drop slot filled, like Selesnya or Orzhov, he might be great even mainboard.
2nd which I had to experience before I've settled my opinion about is Law-Rune Enforcer. This little 1-drop is amazing, stops lot of pressure and breaks the walls. Ghalta, Primal Hunger from Rhythm of the Wild? No problem. Lyra Dawnbringer? No problem. Thief of Sanity threatening to gain huge card advantage? Nope. 2 toughness allows to dodge Goblin Chainwhirler and is finally another maindeckable answer for annoying Rekindling Phoenix. Right now I'm playing 3 because 1 power is something that isn't that spectacular for aggro deck and he mostly sucks vs control.
Other than that I added 1x Tomik, Distinguished Advokist. What I've always lacked in this deck is lack of decent flyers. For 2 mana I have legendary 2/3 flyer that dodges every single popular early Black removal - Moment of Craving, Cry of the Carnarium and Cast Down - and is relevant in creature matchups during stalls. He was sometimes relevant but being legendary 2 drop with no real relevant effect or ability forces me to play only 1 copy.
Right now the deck looks like this:
4 Dauntless Bodyguard
3 Law-Rune Enforcer
2 Skymarcher Aspirant
3 Snubhorn Sentry
2 Adanto Vanguard
4 Tithe Taker
1 Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
4 Benalish Marshal
4 Venerated Loxodon
4 History of Benalia
1 Unbreakable Formation
4 Conclave Tribunal
2 Adanto Vanguard
4 Baffling End
4 Tocatli Honor Guard
3 Gideon Blackblade
2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
Deck feels really smooth, sideboarding is very easy and intuitive and has game vs literally every single deck in the metagame. The worst matchups are probably Black control decks with loads of maindeck creature removal but improves greatly after sideboard, Sultai which became less popular lately and mono R where a lot depends on starting hands and is around 50/50.
1
Student of Warfare is much better topdeck than Soldier of the Pantheon in mid-late game. Also he's the only real mana sink. Either oponent deals with him early enough - spending removal on 1 mana 1/1 - or he grows to huge unstoppable threat. These kind of games may and will definately happen more often or not. SotP is always just a 2/1 with mediocre ability.
Obviously I didn't test Knight but I see the potential and am willing to test this guy anyways. Him or Figure of Destiny.
Maybe will go with 2x Judge's Familiar in place of Legion's Landing and 1 SotP...
I also have problem with sideboard. In 2 weeks we have a bigger modern tournament and I'm willing to play this deck. I'm pretty sure that there will be top meta decks and my sideboard isn't properly build for this environment.
For now I'm sure on:
4x Path to Exile - for nasty creature decks;
3x Rest in Peace - GY hate
2x Leonin Relic-Warder - for Tron, Vial, prison, Hardened Scales
6 slots I'm unsure about.
Martyr of Sands - vs burn, Storm, Scapeshift, much bigger counter vs "deal 20 dmg ASAP" decks.
Leyline of Sanctity - vs burn, Storm, Scapeshift, discard, some parts of Lantern, more flexible and all rounded than Martyr but it's not as explosive and Repeal is a thing
Ethersworn Canonist or Eidolon of Rhetoric - vs Phoenix, Storm, other combo/draw-a-lot decks, canonist is faster but more vunerable to removal, Eidolon is more expensive but survives Bolt and Push (mostly)
Damping Sphere vs Phoenix, Tron, Storm
Kataki, War's Wage - mostly vs affinity and prison decks but seems too narrow and weak
Stony Silence - strong but has no legs,
I think 2x Damping Sphere, 2x Canonist/Eidolon and 2x Kataki/Stony is the way to go. Makes me vunerable to burn matchups though... Thoughts?
Also thinking about Worship as a card of choice vs combo (and control if I get Kytheon) decks because I'm so heavy creature/low spell deck.
1
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Ghost Quarter
8x Plains
2x Shefet Dunes
3x Windbrisk Heights
1-drops (13)
4x Dryad Militant
1x Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1x Legion's Landing
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
3x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Selfless Spirit
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3-drops (6)
4x Benalish Marshal
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4-drops (3)
3x Wilt-Leaf Liege
6-drops (4)
4x Spectral Procession
3x Martyr of Sands
4x Path to Exile
1x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
2x Rest in Peace
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathat
2x Leyline of Sanctity
Match 1 vs Bant Toolbox, won 2:0
Game 1 named Birds of Paradise with Phyrexian Revoker denying him the much needed ramp. Because of that he couldn't keep up with me and I just stomped him with superior forces.
Game 2 was pretty much the same - Revoker on his mana dork slowing him down and smashing him good. He did have some defences up and running but I went wider. 2x Soldier of the Pantheon on board vs his 2 mana dorks and Spell Queller dealt a lot of dmg in this game. Kytheon flipped but didn't matter that much.
Match 2 vs Ad Nauseam, won 2:1
Game 1 I wasn't fast and distruptive enough to stop him from going off. Little Thalia slowed him for 1 turn but that wasn't enough.
Game 2 Revoker named Pentad Prism and screwed his mana to combo off - he lacked 2nd to cast Ad Nauseam.
Game 3 got Revoker from Windbrisk Heights naming his Lotus Bloom just in time for him to combo off next turn. Again Shefet Dunes buffed the team for lethal but I still think I had this game already.
Match 3 vs 8Rack, won 2:0
Game 1 was a race but I managed to win this. Selfless Spirit prevented him from wiping my board with Bontu's Last Reckoning
Game 2 mulled to 6, kept 4 lands, Soldier and WLL, he played turn 1 Blackmail, gave him 3 lands, my turn 1 drew land, played Soldier, he then turn 2 Thoughtsiezed me and was forced to discard WLL. After that I top decked little Thalia and he conceded
Phyrexian Revoker was HUGE. Distrupting their mana fixing was crucial in first 2 matches. Without him I'd definately lose at least 3 games. Obviously he isn't doing much vs Drakes or Dredge but against rest of the field (and my local meta) he's doing wonders.
Soldier of the Pantheon isn't looking good right now. His protection mattered against one deck but overall it's very narrow and most of the time he's just a Savannah Lions.
Haven't seen Legion's Landing for a long time in this deck and I don't think it's something I want to see in my hand.
I may try Student of Warfare next time. Maybe will come back to Judge's Familiar as well.
1
I thought a little about this deck and decided to roll with old, more agressive and less hatebeary list but with some new additions:
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Ghost Quarter
8x Plains
2x Shefet Dunes
3x Windbrisk Heights
1-drops (13)
4x Dryad Militant
1x Isamaru, Hound of Konda
2x Judge's Familiar
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3x Soldier of the Pantheon
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
3x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Selfless Spirit
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3-drops (6)
4x Benalish Marshal
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4-drops (3)
3x Wilt-Leaf Liege
3x Martyr of Sands
4x Path to Exile
2x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
2x Rest in Peace
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathat
2x Leyline of Sanctity
Match 1 Bye
Match 2 vs Dredgevine??? Some dredge'y brew, won 2:1
Game 1 he started with Stitcher's Supplier and got Gravecrawler and 2x Prized Amalgam from it... Not cool. But I started with t1 Dryad, t2 nothing, t3 Marshal, t4 WLL, t5 Spectral and I had my defences strong enough to stabilize the board. I would've won that but he topdecked Narcomoeba to chump the lethal and then topdecked Skaab Ruinator that just screwed me over. We both had defences up and running and it was flyers fight. My 3 2/2 Spirits vs his Narcomoeba and Skaab - Skaab did the work.
Game 2 I was on some real agression but he just recurred Darkblast over and over and just killed my 2/1's at the cost of not casting any creatures whatsoever. After some time big Thalia and 2 Spirits pushed through so I could play WLL from Windbrisk Heights for the win.
Game 3 was tough and even game board-wise. He had some bad luck because he threw all removal with Stitcher's Supplier and dredge. After some time I pushed through with superior numbers. Shefet Dunes buffed for perfect lethal.
Match 3 vs Bant Eldrazi, lost 0:2
Game 1 after mull to 6 I kept veeeery bad hand with 3 little Thalias and 1 big one. He just bashed me with Thought-Knot Seer and I had nothing to really defend with. My bad, should've mulled further to 5 especially that I was on draw.
Game 2 was better, Phyrexian Revoker naming Noble Hierarch slowed him down a bit. Still he got 3 Seers on board + Eldrazi Displacer blinking them over and over and preventing my Kytheon from flipping. After some time he played Worship, and my only way to win the game was to flip Kytheon. Drew all 3, every single one got Pathed. I threw away Leo-RW's into sideboard... A mistake that pretty much lost me this one.
Match 4 vs Mardu Pyromancer, won 2:0
Game 1 Phyrexian Revoker named Lilianna of the Veil and it was well worth it as he had one in hand. He traded 1 for 1 well but Spectral Procession was too much value for him. Also had Marshal and 2 Selfless Spirits and just stomped him with bigger creatures.
Game 2 was similar, he traded 1 for 1 early game generating tokens but t4 WLL into t5 WLL he just couldn't beat. Ensnaring Bridge was eaten by Leo-RW and I swung for lethal.
Match 5 vs my favourite Bant Toolbox, lost 0:2
Game 1 was favorable at the beginning, had 5 creatures turn 4 but couldn't find any pump for the rest of the game. He just had bigger creature. Swinging with Spell Queller for 5 every turn while having enough defence dealt with me.
Game 2 I lost because of my own mistake - I went greedy and smashed t4 WLL. Instead I should wait with Path because he had Basilisk Collar and he only needed to tutor Walking Ballista and wipe my board. Which he did.
Shefet Dunes won 2nd game in last 2 weeks. But had 2 in my opening hand once as my only W sources and dealt ~6 dmg to me. I don't really think it mattered during this matchup because I was already far behind in board during this game. I think I'll cut 1 for simple Plains because if it was some other deck it would probably be fatal.
Isamaru was relevant twice - vs Dredge player he survived -1/-1 removals and vs Eldrazi he actually traded because of Eiganjo.
Soldier of the Pantheon dealt free 6 dmg vs Toolbox player because he had nothing to block him with... He actually flashed Spell Queller to block him and had no creatures afterwards.
Judges Familiar didn't matter in any single game.
Kytheon didn't flip once but he was a threat opponents always wanted to kill in the first place.
Revoker was very cool, I wish I had him vs Toolbox player. Sucked that he didn't get buffed from WLL and he was just a 2/1 for the rest of one game while Dryad was a whooping 6/5.
Spectral Procession regularly overperformed, I don't know why I even though about cutting them.
Sometimes Familiars overperform, sometimes Leo RW overperform, sometimes they feel underwhelming, never something in the middle.
Games I won felt like it was because of my opponents doing mistakes or having bad luck.
Games I lost felt like it was because I did mistakes or they had great hands.
Not a single game felt like we both did our best and just the one that played better won.
I know I could play ~3 games better and could've won like 1 or 2 of them but oh well, I didn't.
Overall not the best performance from my side. But hey, I got foiled Flagstones!
1
Arbiter, while not amazing, is overall good hatebear that works around whole field. Other bears aren't that versatile. Turn 1 Familiar into turn 2 Arbiter screwes with most decks hard especially on play and makes cat resilient. Also Arbiter makes Path and GQ better.
Going vs tribal decks is hard as they most of the time grow even bigger than mine. Still there is a chance to fight them with 7 anthem creatures and I'd rather cut Spectral Procession rather than these. 3 mana is a lot and without pump all they really do is chump.
Maybe I should move big Thalias to sideboard though and actually play with Procession main. Something to consider.
Speaking of sideboard - I'm still working on it. I think Kataki isn't that good nowadays and adding 4th Leo-RW in side alongside 2 Stony Silence would be decent enough as he really overperformed during my games. Phyrexian Revoker hates on artifacts with activated abilities as well and playing him maindeck also does some work. I don't think Affinity is that scary and it's the only reason to play Kataki.
Leyline of Sanctity is here not only for Burn but mostly for hand distruption. I've already lost way too many times because I had some crucial hate card discarded and that was true mainly vs Lantern and 8Rack when my only out was Leo-RW catching Ensnaring Bridge. Also does some work vs Storm and Ad Nauseam.
Also though I have not enough GY hate with literally nothing maindeck and only 3 RiP in side. I think I should try to play some maindeckable GY hate but everything seems underwhelming with Remorseful Cleric and Jötun Grunt being only viable options for me.
Containment Priest would fix this hole so good WotC pls.
Maybe Grafdigger's Cage is an answer to my problematic matchups...
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Ghost Quarter
8x Plains
2x Shefet Dunes
3x Windbrisk Heights
1-drops (10)
4x Dryad Militant
3x Judge's Familiar
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Leonin Arbiter
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Selfless Spirit
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3-drops (6)
4x Benalish Marshal
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4-drops (3)
3x Wilt-Leaf Liege
Other (4)
4x Path to Exile
4x Martyr of Sands
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
1x Selfless Spirit
3x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
3x Leyline of Sanctity
@magic_geek How would you build your mono W version right now?
1
Match 1 vs Izzet Phoenix, won 2:1
Game 1 won - enemy flooded and couldn't find phoenixes, not much to talk about. Pathing TITI before he flipped was crucial as well.
Game 2 he was beating me with 2 Phoenixes since turn 2, way too fast for me.
Game 3 won - turn 1 Judge's Familiar into turn 2 little Thalia into turn 3 Dryad and Selfless Spirit slowed him hard enough. Felt amazing to do such thing while still giving beats. Leonin Relic-Warder caught stacked Pyromancer Ascension which was crucial as well.
Match 2 vs Boros Burn, won 2:0
Game 1 again opp flooded and after some time I had 2 spirits, Marshal and 2 WLL's.
Game 2 won - opening hand with Leyline of Sanctity and 2x Martyr of Sands, on turn 3 I had 39 health. After that I had plenty of time to build up. Leonin Arbiter did some job too as opponent sat with 2 mana whole game.
Match 3 vs Bant Toolbox, lost 0:2
Game 1 was even but I missplayed picking wrong Path target and he went off with his combo.
Game 2 I sat on 2 mana and he turn 3'd CoCo into Kira and some other creature that was relevant for him (forgot what it was). Couldn't even Path anything in response...
Overall he had amazing hand in both games and played 3 great CoCo's which was harsh.
After these I played another game vs 8Rack for funzies and lost 2:1. I lost mostly because of mistakes and I think it should've done much better if I didn't make my mistakes. Something to learn from.
Eiganjo saved little Thalia once.
Kytheon flipped once vs Phoenix and made Thalia indestructible.
Shefet Dunes gave enough dmg to finish 8Rack off.
Leonin Arbiter denied land from Path once but it didn't matter that much. Also denied land from GQ - didn't matter neither.
GQ on Flagstones gave me white mana to Path TITI. It was still a thing even while playing Arbiter.
Judge's Familiar saved little Thalia once from removal. He felt like little Selfless Spirit!
Overall I liked this variation more than the one before. The distruption package really paid off, Judge's Familiar overperformed, can't say the same about Leonin Arbiter. Me and Bant player both agreed that cat would be much better in deck with Aether Vial and he should be the target to change in this deck. Still he's doing work against every deck equally and will stick to him for now.
Next time I'll try 4x Arbiters and add 3x Phyrexian Revokers. He can name a lot of stuff nowadays, be it ramp creatures, planeswalkers, Devoted Druid, Aether Vial, Cranial Plating, Mox Opal, Lantern cards... Lot of utility but no hate vs graveyard decks...
Probably I'll go down with Spectral Procession. I dislike this idea but it's the only one I have as I feel they're least relevant in this deck now.
I really hope Containment Priest will be printed in Modern Horizons as it would be fantastic to have in current metagame.