Does mono-white soldier tribal make you think of storm-troopers?

A long time ago...in a galaxy far far away....I created a mono-white soldier tribal Commander/EDH deck based around Odric.

It wasn't a bad plan to be honest. Odric himself is a walking win-con you can attack with impunity and even decide if you want his creatures to block in match-ups that favour your side. There were plenty of ways of generating soldier tokens too so numerical advantage was often assured.

And arguably the archetype has only gotten stronger over the years.

Don't knock Evangel either. In a mono-white Commander deck you're guaranteed to have plenty of devotion to white and it adds 2 to that count. I expect Evangel to always offer plent of bang for the 6 mana it costs to cast.

So it's clear that I could refresh the deck and probably make it stronger. So why not? Well because I've been there and done that.

So my first thought was switch Odric for Brimaz but, I didn't think that would be the change I was looking for.

Instead I turned my attention to Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit

Let's take a better look at her:

With a converted casting cost of 2CMC and offering 2 White mana for devotion (should it come to that) she's likely to be the first creature you cast every game.

She's a soldier which ticks my tribal box.

The key here is 'nontoken creature' if she just said creature she would scary. Not as bad as Cathars' Crusade (more about that a little later on) but not far off it either.

This does mean that any deck built around Anafenza will be very different from any deck built around Odric or Brimaz.

She's a 2/2 which is to be expected for the casting cost. 

A quick word about Odric while he may have been demoted he has not been forgotten and he still merits a place in the deck. In attack he is still a game winner.

With Anafenza in mind there are two ways I'm going to look at this deck creatures that feature +1/+1 counters and are Soldiers. 

But, first an exception to the rule. White isn't the best colour for +1/+1 counter tech but it does have a couple of choice cards that I want to play.

When you're playing with +1/+1 counters in white, then Mikaeus has to be one of the first names on your team sheet.

The only other non-soldier creature in the deck is Adaptive Automaton and let's be honest as soon as he hits the battlefield he will become one. He is also a shoe-in in nearly every tribal deck I've ever built.

As we are talking about +1/+1 counter tech then there are certain keywords that are bound to catch our attention:

• Outlast
• Bolster
• Renown
• Heroic

Let's start with there creatures with Outlast:

I'm not a big fan of Outlast it's sorcery speed and taps the creature which makes it very slow when compared to someone like Mikaeus. 

Herald of Anafenza is an odd card and leans more towards Warriors over Soldiers, this being an archetype of the Khans block. So he wouldn't even get in my old Odric deck and certainly isn't going in this deck.

Abzan Battlepriest is arguably the best of the Outlast creatures and there's a big temptation to add him to the deck. Giving all my creatures with +1/+1 counters Lifelink would be one of a number of enablers I could use to justify playing Archangel of Thune.

Doing that would mean I am turning my back on the Soldier tribal theme of the deck and while I'm strongly thinking that's a way to go I've resisted it so far.

So that leaves me with Abzan Falconer who is perfect for the deck. Flying soldiers have become more prolific of late but giving the rest of them Flying, provided they have +1/+1 counters on them, is never something to be sniffed at. There is also Ainok Bond-Kin who gives your creatures First Strike in the same way should you wish to include him in your deck.

Next up, Bolster:

Anafenza my general has Bolster so that's a sure sign it's a fit for the deck. Dromoka Captain and Elite Scaleguard are perfect examples of Soldiers you want to be playing in your deck.

Dragonscale General would be awesome if he was a Soldier rather than a Warrior. The curse of the Khans block raises its ugly head again. However, if I do decide to change this deck to something more +1/+1 focussed and less Soldier tribal he is definitely on the team sheet.

Bolster doesn't just feature on creatures. It also appears on a couple of spells that are worth considering.

As good as Echoes of the Kin Tree is there are a couple of creatures that you can use as mana dumps to add +1/+1 counters on your creatures. Scale Blessing on the other hand gives plenty of bang for your buck.

So that was Bolster and this is Renown:

Renown isn't as easy to work with as Bolster or Outlast. You have to deal combat damage to an opponent to trigger it but it can be useful. Take Relic Seeker as an example. There's nothing better than seeking out Konda's Banner to play on your commander in a tribal deck. More on tribal artifacts a little later.

I should also point out I am also playing Stalwart Aven in my deck as well.

I think Herioc is not a great ability for this type of deck as I am unlikely to be playing spells that target a specific creature outside of removal.

However, there are two creatures I do like the look of; Dawnbringer Charioteers and Fabled Hero. The thing is I like them because of their other abilities and therefore feel I'm paying a premium for that.

Is Mirran Crusader, for example, better than Fabled Hero? Arguably yes.

Archangle of Thune is, despite being slightly more expensive to cast, definitely better than Dawnbringer Charioteers.

So I have to conclude that even if they did make it onto my maybe list they wouldn't make the final cut.

Soldier Lords

A lord is a creature that gives a bonus to a specific tribe of creatures in MTG. This is usually +1/+1 but can be any ability given to that tribe.

I've already mentioned Adaptive Automaton. The construct is in basic terms a lord to any tribe you choose. 

All of these cards were on my starting list. However, I cut Aven Brigadier from my final list. With the exception of one spell, which I'll point out later in this post, anything with a CMC of 6+ was cut from my deck for reasons of speed.

I want the deck to be able to play as many creatures as I can as early as I can starting with Anafenza on turn 2.

The problem with this tactic is you'll run out of cards very quickly and lands rapidly become dead draws. The answer to this is to make sure we can draw plenty of cards each turn.

Draw Cards 

As usual I've picked six cards to act as my draw suit.

Seer's Lantern, while not draw, does help to make each draw more relevant each turn by scrying lands to the bottom of my library when I don't need them. So I'm counting it here.

I'm also planning on playing Sea Gate Wreckage. I'm pretty sure I'll find it useful but only time will tell.

Other Creatures

I've said this before in other posts but it pays to learn how to use the gatherer. Especially when it comes to searching for creatures that involve +1/+1 counters. Just remember to search for: m/\+1\/\+1/

So what did I pick from my searches?

I don't think there's anything outstanding here. Both Cenn's Tactician and High Sentinels of Arashin give me the ability to put +1/+1 counters on other creatures as mentioned earlier.

Something tells me Kazandu Blademaster could be better if I can find a few more Allies to work into the deck. At the moment he is just a decent 2/2 with a +1/+1 counter on it.

Veteran of the Depths could grow to be a decent size and that's possible without even attacking. Gideon's Avenger will become very large no matter what happens.

Ontop of these I also have a suite of other creatures which are solid in the deck.

I don't think anything here will surprise anyone. As I just mentioned I can tap creatures without attacking which can been a big boost. Gustcloak Savior is a great get out of dodge card that can be pivotal in combat exchanges. 

Planeswalkers

I chose both versions of Ajani as he puts +1/+1 counters on all my creatures.

Tribal Artifacts

Spear of Heliod isn't strictly a tribal artifact but it does the same job in this deck.

There are three artifacts that are conspicuous by their absence here.

Brass Herald and Caged Sun were just too expensive for my liking.

Door of Destinies on the other hand I just felt didn't work the way I wanted it to. I think that it wants you to play it and then play something that generates umpteen tokens to trigger the door the same number of times. This isn't the way this deck works.

Enchantments

And here it is the only 6 CMC card in the deck True Conviction. The rest again I think are fairly self explanatory.

Manipulating +1/+1 counters is something I love doing in EDH and Cathars' Crusade is one of the best pieces of tech in white that lets you do this. It really comes into it's own with big splashy spells that places large numbers of tokens onto the battlefield. However, even in this deck it shines.

Other spells

I'm using a quartet of sweepers including Rout, Justice and Hallowed Burial. I'm also using a plethora of instants as both spot removal and targeted artifact and enchantment removal.

Swell of Courage is the only oddity amongst my sorceries and instants other than cards previously mentioned. I love cards that give me a choice and think this is a great choice to have.

And that just about sums up the deck as I've constructed it. However, I'm still not sure - even after writing this blog post - that the deck is hugely competitive. That said I'm still going to have fun finding out.

Until next week don't forget your triggers.

Phil