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Mono-white aggro is a deck that saw tons of success in theMagic: The GatheringStandard metagame from the release of Innistrad: Crimson Vow all the way until the introduction of Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Unfortunately, access to an outrageous number of dual and tri lands made playing only a single color an unnecessary downgrade to the power level of your deck.
Rotation will see many of these lands banished from the halls of Standard. Along with the loss of these lands, we can potentially expect mono-white aggro to return to the Standard metagame. However, current iterations of the deck will look quite different from previous ones as many of the deck’s best cards, like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, will also be rotating.
4 Invasion of Gobakhan
2 Dawn’s Truce
Key Cards
Here are the key cards that are necessary for pulling off the perfect strategy in this deck.
Valley Questcaller
Without this card, this version of mono-white aggro could not exist. This is anincredibly powerful lordas it benefits not just Rabbits, but Bats, Birds, and Mice as well. Furthermore,the scry trigger each time you cast such a creature spell will smooth your draws quite nicely.
You might think that depending on a single lord to buff your entire board is asking a lot, and you’d be right. Thankfully,we have Dewdrop Cure to help return any fallen Valley Questcallers to the battlefield.We can even sideboard in Extraction Specialists for more recursion against opponents playing heavy amounts of spot removal.
The exact number of Dewdrop Cures you should run is still variable. However, this is undeniably a powerful card that can get you six mana value worth of your best creatures for half the price.
Neighborhood Guardian
As the one creature card that doesn’t benefit from Valley Questcaller, Neighborhood Guardian may look out of place in this deck at first glance. However, when you consider just howefficient this deck is at putting creatures onto the battlefield,the picture starts to become clearer.
This Unicorn shouldgrant you two to three triggers every turn.Not only does this make your offensive more deadly, butit alsoallows you to attack through creatures that would normally be able to block your attackers.Besides, Unicorns, Rabbits, and Mice are all cute, so we’re still on the same general page.
Harvestrite Host
Our Rabbit typal mono-white aggro deck continues its assault with Harvestrite Host who is a repeated source of additional power andcard draw.In tandem with Hop to It and Warren Warleader, Harvestrite Host will provide us with a card and more power on the board.
One weakness of aggressive decks is that they run out of cards all too quickly. Harvestrite Host is a defense against this problem that also synergizes well with the other cards in this deck.
It’s important to note that both Harvestrite Host’s and Neighborhood Guardian’s triggers are especially good when put on a Flowerfoot Swordmaster, as they trigger the Swordmaster’s Valiant ability.
This turns your little mice into a big problem for the opponent.
Warren Warleader
The icing on the carrot cake, Warren Warleader, is the haymaker that makes opponents pay for spending all of their removal on the previously mentioned Rabbits.Knowingwhen to make another Rabbit token and when to give your board an anthemwill probably be one of the harder decision points of piloting this deck.
If the game happens to go late,casting Warren Warleader and paying its offspring cost will provide you with a sizable board out of nowhere,assuming you have at least one creature to go to combat with and trigger both Warleaders.
How To Play Mono-White Aggro
Like most aggressive decks, the game plan is toget onto the board early and start turning creatures sideways.There is nothing too complicated here. You’ll want tokeep hands witha nice curve leading up to your Warren Warleader haymaker on turn four.
Ideally, you open strong with one of your eight one drop creatures, however, this deck is a few one-drops shy of being able to do this consistently. That’s alright though: it makes up for this stumble withmassive amounts of synergy between your Rabbit creatures and Neighborhood Guardian.
A big part of this deck revolves around making the most of your Neighborhood Guardian and Harvestrite Host triggers so that you’re able to chip in for damage as you build your board.
Pick your targets carefully, and always be wary of opposing instant speed tricks.
As mentioned above, expect your opponent to remove your key creatures like Valley Questcaller. You can always bring them back on turn five or six using Dewdrop Cure to hit the opponent with a surprise attack.
This is especially effective when theQuestcaller’s lord buff is used in tandem with an anthemfrom one of your Warren Warleaders.
It’s important to keep in mind thatParting Gust is your only form of removal in the mainboard.While this is an extremely powerful removal spell that can deal with any creature your opponent presents, you’re unlikely to draw more than one of them per game. Consequently,you need to make sure that you use this removal spell on the right target.
Focus on building up your board over making way for your current battlefield to go to combat. This way, your opponent will have all the chances in the world to cast their strongest creature, and you’ll have a Parting Gust waiting in the wings.
Sideboarding
Your sideboard is split into tools againstaggro, midrange, and control. Starting off with tools against other aggressive decks,Lantern Flare and Extraction Specialist are both sources of life gainthat will help you stabilize long enough for your Rabbit army to come crashing down.
Neighborhood Guardian’slow toughness is likelya liability against most aggressive decks,so it’s probably the easiest card to sub out for these additions.
Additionally, you canbring in Get Lostif your opponent is castingcreatures that absolutely demand an answer.
Speaking of creatures that demand an answer,Get Lost and Destroy Evil are primarily here for the midrange matchup.You’ll likely want totake out your Seasoned Warrenguards, as it’s unlikely they’ll find a profitable attack on a regular basis.
You may want to bring in Extraction Specialist here as well if your opponent is intent on repeatedly removing your Valley Questcallers.
Finally,Invasion of Gobakhan and Dawn’s Truce will help you against control decks.Invasion lets you tax their most powerful cards from their hand, while Dawn’s Truce insulates your battlefield from board wipes. Parting Gust and a couple of copies of Regal Bunnicorn are probably the go-to cards to take out in these matchups.
Concluding Thoughts
Rotation is always an exciting time for Standard players, and no one really knows for sure which decks will rise to the top and which will be left behind until everyone starts testing.
That being said,mono-white aggro has a recent history of success in Standard,and thesynergy between many of the new Bloomburrow Rabbitsin white is truly impressive.
At the very least, you can count on this deck to take advantage of opponents stumbling with slower decks as we settle into the new Standard season. At most, you might very well be a hop ahead of the metagame.
