Welcome to the Historic format. Thanks to a recent round of bannings, the format as a whole is more wide open than ever. The removal of both Memory Lapse and Tibalt’s Trickey has made venturing into the ranked ladder a bit more exciting. Players can now play decks that don’t need to worry about a sudden turn four Ugin or a turn two Memory Lapse into a wrath of some sort. The format has been unlocked at least for the moment, until someone finds another deck to dominate the meta.
[Related: How to Check the MTGA Server Status]
In a new series from TGH, the Daily Deck Tech column takes a look at individual lists across multiple metas. In the first foray into the Historic format, this deck tech looks at one of the decks that exceled in the previous meta. Mono White Humans is a powerful deck that aims to take concepts from its Modern cousin. An aggro deck that can disrupt the opponent is a lethal deck, and Mono White Humans utilizes that combo to smash through the competition.
If everything goes according to plan, Mono White Humans is a lightning fast aggro deck that can build up large threats very quickly. Starting off a game with a Dauntless Bodyguard, followed by a Luminarch Aspirant and a Thalia’s Lieutenent, creates a board with eight power across three bodies assuming the opponent hasn’t killed anything. And that’s just the first three turns. The following plays just increase the power on board, and threaten lethal each and every turn.
Example Deck List – Missing Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
When the deck doesn’t have extremely devastating starts, it has the power to catch up to speed and rapidly end the match. Esper Sentinel is one of the best cards in the format, thanks to its ability to be the draw engine for aggro decks. Esper Sentinenl, combined with Elite Spellbinder and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, allow this deck to have some game against previously bad matchups. Giant Killer and Brutal Cathar are the main removal spells, with the only non-human in Skyclave Apparition coming in to handle any other nonland permanent.
Mono White Humans feasts on slow, spell based decks. The fast clock combined with the taxing effects makes life extremely difficult for decks just trying to cast Expressive Iteration. Funnily enough Humans had a pretty OK matchup against decks like Jeskai Control, especially on the play. Other decks that try to play on curve will have a tough time as well against Mono White Humans.
One of the worst matchups for Humans is Jund Sacrifice. Mayhem Devil is one of the hardest creatures to deal with as a Mono White deck. Because Mayhem Devil can simply ping down a creature each turn, it becomes incredibly hard to stabilize against the Jund deck. Even worse is staring down a resolved Korvold on the other side of the board. Once the engine is rolling, there aren’t many outs for the white deck.
The other rough matchups are the tribal, combo-type decks. More specifically elves and Goblins can present a bundle of problems for the Humans deck. Elves in particular causes issues because they generate too much mana to care about the tax effects. Lifegain decks are equally obnoxious in best of one matches as they can make attacking incredibly difficult.
If there is one thing that White does best, it’s have the best options for sideboarding. Rest in Peace is a lock, alongside Grafdigger’s Cage to stop any graveyard shenanigans. Drannith Magistrate still has some value with other decks trying to cast foretell cards or cast spells from Emergent Ultimatum. The same goes for Containment Priest
The big ‘gotcha’ card is Mana Tithe. Why white has a counter spell, no one will ever really know, but if it is here then why not use it. The other options include things like Fateful Absence to deal with large creature, or Mikeus, the Lunarch for other go-wide strategies.
The deck used to be one the top options in the meta. As of now, it may need some tweaking to be able to put up a fight again. Now that control decks are much worse, midrange decks are out in full force. The more removal heavy decks make Mono White’s life really difficult, making the deck about a ‘maybe’ in terms of playability.
For the more brave players, sleeve this up and head into the Historic queues to witness some of the really exciting and explosive starts. For those looking for a more top-tier option, wait and see about this version of the deck. Save the wildcards for now and start looking towards those Jund decks in the future.
Featured image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook! And make sure to follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other TGH writers.
Follow Bryan on Twitter @esportsbrock for more updates on Overwatch, VALORANT, and the LCS
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
