Commanding White Magic.

So lately I've been trying to construct a mono-white commander deck with Odric, Master Tactician leading the troops. Odric is a decent commander, yet untested by myself, none-the-less he comes with a lot included for his low cost. However this article isn't about Odric or the giant commander deck that he'll lead into fiery battle, it's about a small group of spells within the deck, the instants or as they keep rattling around in my head the "I got ya" spells.

Choices, choices,...

I'm looking at four slots or positions to fill, I have eight applicants who've applied. They are:

•Swords to Plowshares
•Path to Exile
•Divine Deflection
•Condemn
•Silence
•Faith's Reward
•Lapse of Certainty
& Congregate

Ok so really there are two slots open,

Swords to Plowshares & Path to Exile: these two cards are just to useful not to include, spot removal for one mana is excellent, I don't need to sell anybody that. Not only do they remove problematic creatures they also "protect" your own troops, for example if an opponent targets Odric with Control Magic, you can Path to Exile Odric in response, fizzling the Control Magic and netting you an extra land, nice. The same could be done in response to any removal spell. Gaining life in response to lethal damage (to you) with Swords to Plowshares can buy you some extra time, for cheap mana cost, these two are defiantly hired!

The other applicants….

Silence: I've heard a fair number of good things said about silence, namely the scenario where you Silence your opponents (It hits them all) for a turn to make your big play. In mono-white I'm not sure that will happen, it may more realistically stop a board wipe spell (one of whites weaknesses) or removal for a turn, but you'd have to believe or know your opponents had one. it won't stop spells already cast, so its more narrow on when it will be effective (best cast at the beginning of a turn). I really think Silence is a set up spell to help combos go off and frankly not much else, sorry Silence we'll keep your resume on file.

Condemn: Great spell, I've seen it's work first hand and have heard many more boast about it's rep. One glaring problem though, sure it "tucks" a beastie, but said beastie has to be attacking first. what if I need to remove a non-attacking creature, or a creature I don't want to attack me, say like an eldrazi with that o' so lovable annihilator ability? Yeah i can cast it for the same defense proposes as a Swords to Plowshares on my own creatures but the timing makes it awkward, to awkward. I like the "tuck" factor, but in my games it maybe to strong, and only being cast during an attack makes it less useful…We'll call you Condemn, good luck in your search.

Faith's Reward: Technically this card could be pretty hardcore if used with multiple planeswalkers on the battlefield, use up their loyalty, then cast this sucker and watch them all come back new & fresh. Could also be a dirty dog combo spell with cards like Armageddon, destroying all lands then bringing them back (untapped, in most cases), its pretty ugly, the kind of ugly I don't want hanging around in my games. Most of the time though I could see this spell being used to save my guys from being destroyed by a mass destruction spell, problem is many newer board wipes also exile & tuck. Sure its nit picky, but seriously Terminus is a real deal. On the flip side Oblivion Stone, Damnation, Blasphemous Act, Austere Command all just destroy and Faith's Reward is a great response it those spells. Mass destroy & sacrifice effects are all to common and this spell protects all permanents from those effects…in a nutshell it's white's counter or answer to mass destruction, Faith's Reward your Hired (on a temporary basis, we'll try you out, see if you fit!).

Congregate: I've used Congregate in the past to nauseating effect, nothing like gain 50+ life with one card, it can be truly a demoralizing spell to opponents. In a white life gain deck (or a life gain deck that uses white) this is one of those cards that helps makes your life total shockingly large, so large the other players will start thinking about putting Infect and other poison counter sources in their decks. Unfortunately my white commander deck is not a life gain deck, Odric cares about combat results not sitting back and letting everybody take a free swing at you because your life total is so ridiculously high you can't be killed. It's a great "Surprise I'm still alive" card in a non-life gain deck, but there'd better be creatures on the board or your dead anyways, if we augment the deck towards life gain, we'll give Congregate's resume another look over. Pass for now.

Lapse of Certainty: One of whites few counterspells it's a good one…sometimes. I've watched more than one youtube video with a guy playing a mono-white commander deck casting this to save his butt for a turn, only to last one more turn with no hail-mary to save his skin come his opponents next turn. It's true no one ever really expects a counterspell in white, surprise aside what does it actually do besides buy you some extra time to "top deck" that next card. The times I've seen this cast and talked about, the offending target spell was usually a board wipe, mass destruction spell ready to set the white player back to the stone age, we hired a guy for this (Faith's Reward), Lapse of Certainty, we do not need your help at this time, thank you.

Divine Deflection: Wow, crazy card. Untested by myself, few feedback on the web, this is one spell that can potentially do some work. Damage is always flying around in Commander games, Divine Deflection basically "grabs" that damage and flings it at another target (either at an opponent, creature or planeswalker). Imagine taking the bite out of a Blasphemous Act and hurling the damage at an opponent's planewalker, that sounds like good times! It's protection but removal, something white needs more of (not just pure protection!) it also can protect multiple targets (although only hits one target back [darn!]) those targets are permanents not creatures, even better. The only draw back is the "X" in the casting cost, this may or may not be easy to pull off, however most of the time you'll probably be able to mess up more than a few points of damage here or there, my deck runs mana generators like Gilded Lotus, Basalt Monolith & the infamous Sol Ring plus a bazillion land fetch cards, I'm sure this spell will come in handy. Divine Reflection when can you start? Welcome to the team, lunch break is a half hour.

So here it all is, the decision process completed, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Faith's Reward & Divine Reflection, all in, my instant speed nasty surprises for all my opponents (some spells more known than others).  

I'll write a few more Commander articles time forgiving, hope you enjoyed, hope yours is well. Ta!  :^ }  

(Picture [art] credits from top to bottom: Raymond Swanland, Anthony Francisco,  Terese Nielson & Steve Prescott, top of the line artists all of you.)