If you’ve been playing Standard on MTG Arena in the past month or so, then you’ve most likely run into Mono-White Aggro. The deck surged to the top of the metagame with the release of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, dethroning Izzet Turns as the best deck in the format. If you’re a ladder grinder and are just looking to find something efficient and consistent to ladder with, then look no further. We’ll break down the deck and talk about some alternate cards you can choose to play.
Mono White Aggro Deck List
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The deck list that we’re going to highlight today is from Rafael Quinta Pozo, who won the Redbull Untapped Tournament from a couple of weeks ago. There’s a fair bit to unpack here. While this deck is hyper aggressive, there’s some slight variations to this list.
The simple inclusion of these two 1 drop creatures really pushed the envelope in terms of pace.
Usher of the Fallen
Usher of the Fallen
Boast — {1}{W}: Create a 1/1 white Human Warrior creature token. (Activate only if this creature attacked this turn and only once each turn.)
helps us to build a wider board, while
Stonebinder’s Familiar
Stonebinder’s Familiar
Whenever one or more cards are put into exile during your turn, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. This ability triggers only once each turn.
synergizes with many of the exile effects that the deck has in its creature base.
Mono White Aggro Changes
To compare the changes that you could make to the deck, we’ll take a look at another list, this one being how the deck has evolved in the metagame.
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The real story here is that this is more of a Humans deck than anything that the other. This version is playing
Hopeful Initiate
Hopeful Initiate
Training (Whenever this creature attacks with another creature with greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
{2}{W}, Remove two +1/+1 counters from among creatures you control: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
as it’s 1 drop over Stonebinders Familiar, and aims to curve out nicely into
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
First strike
Noncreature spells cost {1} more to cast.
and
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
Vigilance
Adeline's power is equal to the number of creatures you control.
Whenever you attack, for each opponent, create a 1/1 white Human creature token that's tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control.
.
Where this deck also differs is in it’s removal. This deck opts to play a couple copies of
Fateful Absence
Fateful Absence
Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Its controller investigates. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
over
Skyclave Apparition
Skyclave Apparition
When this creature enters, exile up to one target nonland, nontoken permanent you don't control with mana value 4 or less.
When this creature leaves the battlefield, the exiled card's owner creates an X/X blue Illusion creature token, where X is the mana value of the exiled card.
. This deck also is playing a
Sejiri Shelter
Sejiri Shelter
Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
to make sure that it can protect it’s threats and seal the deal.
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Mono White Aggro Sideboarding
For sideboarding, I’m going to look at the 2nd list, as I believe it to have a more well rounded sideboard.
Against Mono White Aggro, you’ll want to cut the Thalias and the Reidanes in place of Skyclave Apparitions and Fateful Absence, and cut 2
Elite Spellbinder
Elite Spellbinder
Flying
When this creature enters, look at target opponent's hand. You may exile a nonland card from it. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may play it. A spell cast this way costs {2} more to cast.
for
Brutal Cathar
Brutal Cathar
Whenever this creature enters or transforms into Brutal Cathar, exile target creature an opponent controls until this creature leaves the battlefield.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
and
Circle of Confinement
Circle of Confinement
When this enchantment enters, exile target creature an opponent controls with mana value 3 or less until this enchantment leaves the battlefield.
Whenever an opponent casts a Vampire spell with the same name as a card exiled with this enchantment, you gain 2 life.
.
Against Mono Green, I would cut
Portable Hole
Portable Hole
When this artifact enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value 2 or less until this artifact leaves the battlefield.
s, and the Adelines for the Fateful Absenses, the Brutal Cathar, and
Valorous Stance
Valorous Stance
Choose one —
• Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)
• Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
s. Mono Green has some bigger creatures where portable hole is not as good. While Adeline can block well, being able to deal with the much bigger creatures is more important.
Against Control / Izzet Dragons, Portable Holes come out, along with Brutal Cathar. In it’s place, we’ll bring in the the 3 Sejiri Shelters and the 2
Guardian of Faith
Guardian of Faith
Flash
Vigilance
When this creature enters, any number of other target creatures you control phase out. (Treat them and anything attached to them as though they don't exist until their controller's next turn.)
. These are to help protect against removal and board wipes that these decks will bring.
For Midrange decks like Jund, we’re going to do a similar plan to Mono Green. For Vampires, we’re going to do a similar plan to mono white.
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The deck’s match ups are generally positive. Mono Green can give us some trouble, as they often tend to have trample creatures, and cheap, efficient removal spells. We want to make sure that we get Thalia down early to tempo out their
Esika’s Chariot
Esika’s Chariot
When Esika's Chariot enters, create two 2/2 green Cat creature tokens.
Whenever Esika's Chariot attacks, create a token that's a copy of target token you control.
Crew 4
turn, and follow that up with Elite Spellbinder to tax their haymaker spells.
Control can feel tricky at times. There’s a lot to play around, but ultimately you just want to be faster than them. Pressuring their life total very quickly makes their decisions a lot more difficult.