MTGO
ARENA
Standard Mono White Midrange Update & Sideboard Guide
Quick intro
The release of ONE was quite impactful for Standard, introducing new archetypes like GW Poison and Atraxa Reanimator, and strengthening existing ones. One of these decks is Mono White Midrange, one of the established tiers of the format , which has gained some very important pieces. Today, I'll be talking a bit about the deck, updating the list and the sideboard guide.
My current version of the deck
$324/214.89 Tix
Maindeck (60)
| Creature [14] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Ambitious Farmhand | $0.35 | |
| 3 Spirited Companion | $0.39 | |
| 2 Sanctuary Warden | $1.29 | |
| 3 Serra Paragon | $4.99 | |
| 3 Loran of the Third Path | $4.99 | |
| 2 Steel Seraph | $2.29 | |
| Artifact [5] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Reckoner Bankbuster | $2.29 | |
| 1 Unlicensed Hearse | $0.69 | |
| Instant [1] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Fateful Absence | $0.79 | |
| Sorcery [4] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Lay Down Arms | $0.35 | |
| Enchantment [7] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Wedding Announcement | $12.99 | |
| 3 Ossification | $0.59 | |
| Planeswalker [5] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 The Wandering Emperor | $29.99 | |
| 1 The Eternal Wanderer | $2.49 | |
| Land [24] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 17 Plains | $0.01 | |
| 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire | $9.99 | |
| 4 Roadside Reliquary | $0.35 | |
| 2 Mirrex | $7.99 | |
| Sideboard [15] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 Sunset Revelry | $0.35 | |
| 1 Farewell | $9.49 | |
| 2 Elspeth Resplendent | $4.49 | |
| 2 Unlicensed Hearse | $0.69 | |
| 2 Urza's Sylex | $0.99 | |
| 2 The Stone Brain | $1.99 | |
| 1 Ossification | $0.59 | |
| 3 Skrelv's Hive | $4.49 | |
$54.12 Tix @cardhoarder
$1.35 / Week @cardhoarder
$191.32 @tcgplayer
$294.95 @cardkingdom
Visual View
Similar Decks
Proxies
Archetype Analysis
Magic online format
Apprentice and MWS .dec
This list took first place in the Pizza Box Open Standard, a tournament well-known amongst grinders, in the hands of Maik Freitas. The deck kept its backbone, with Wedding Announcement and Reckoner Bankbuster doing their work in the form of tokens and card advantage. It also has a powerful late game with Sanctuary Warden and The Eternal Wanderer to dominate the board. And with the arrival of ONE, it gained a key piece that was missing: a way to easily deal with planeswalkers in the form of Ossification.
Card choices
OSSIFICATION
A light yet versatile card that can be useful both for dealing with creatures early on in the game, as well as planeswalkers in the late game. Although it may be a bit fragile against decks with enchantment removal, it is a card that can provide the deck with the time it needs to develop its game plan.
THE ETERNAL WANDERER
Speaking of planeswalkers, Phyrexia: All Will Be One also brought this great addition to the deck. With an insane ability to control the board or simply overwhelm our opponents with double-strike tokens, it has quickly become one of the main cards in the list. Even though Maik opted to play with only one copy in the main deck, I believe there is room for at least one more in the sideboard.
The fact that only one creature can attack it makes life difficult for its opponents, as it enters with a very high loyalty, so it is not easily removed. There is also the possibility of using its first ability to abuse ETB effects on its own creatures, such as Loran of the Third Path and Spirited Companion.
SKRELV’S HIVE
When it was first spoiled, I was certain that it would fit easily into many main decks and sideboards, since Wedding Announcement gives the deck an incredible ability to grind out any kind of deck. Maik chose to leave it in the sideboard here, which is also understandable since decks like Mono-Red and UW Soldiers don't mind having an army of tokens that can't block and that also deals damage. However, in a more midrange meta, I can easily see it making its way into main decks. Bitterblossom played a big role when it was released, and I see similar applications for this card.
Playing the deck
This deck works really well without too many secrets when it can curve out its spells. Making land drops is also essential in a deck with heavy spells, with 4/5 mana, so even some apparently weaker cards like Spirited Companion or Ambitious Farmhand make sense in the list.
Don't keep hands that are too slow or without board interaction in the first few turns, as you can easily be swallowed up by curved out creatures. Even a Fable of the Mirror Breaker on an empty board can do a decent amount of damage.
EXAMPLE HAND #1
I admit I was very uncertain whether I should keep this hand, but I think overall it's wiser to keep it on the draw and mulligan on the play. Keeping on the draw gives you an extra turn to get your third land, some light removal for any creatures, and one of the best curves of the deck, with Bankbuster/Seraph. Even if the next draw is another Roadside Reliquary, we have an answer for Fable of the Mirror Breaker, both for the token and the enchantment. The potential of this hand would make me keep it even on the play, but it's very risky.
EXAMPLE HAND #2
Without much secrecy, a hand that can basically answer to anything the opponent does, draw cards, and can "recycle" cards, like Bankbuster itself, if necessary.
EXAMPLE HAND #3
I believe this is one of the most risky hands to keep. Sure, we have some great cards, but depending on what we're up against, we don't have any relevant threats or board interaction in the early turns.
Standard is all about being on the play versus the card advantage of being on the draw; the possibility of being surpassed when you're on the draw should always be taken into consideration. Against a slower deck, like Grixis, this hand is decent enough, but be aware of what you are playing against. A Mono Red or Soldiers deck will swallow this hand up with little difficulty.
Matchups & Sideboard guide
GRIXIS MIDRANGE
This match can be either a smooth or challenging, depending on how we develop our strategy. By playing all of our land drops and keeping Fable of the Mirror Breaker in check, we can make this match favorable for us.
We can fill the board with tokens and small creatures, and still have a really good late game with cards like Sanctuary Warden, which is really hard to remove.
Another addition to the list is Mirrex, which makes this match much more favorable post-sideboard, when they usually turn into a Grixis Control deck with counters and removals. We can fill the board with Mite tokens that will end the game if unanswered, opening up space for other cards to shine.
After sideboarding, an unanswered Skrelv's Hive can take the game by itself. Be wary of Siphon Insight, a really good card against us, as we have a lot of powerful cards it can steal away. Don't let them get comfortable playing the match; put pressure on them unless you have something like Mirrex to make up for not having anything on the board.
MONO RED AGGRO
A quite favorable match if we don't let our opponent fill the board and leave us far behind in the game. It's essential to open with at least one removal in hand, make land drops and let our good cards do the work. The Wandering Emperor is a true terror once we start passing with 4 open mana.
Wedding announcements can play an important role in keeping us alive until we play our biggest drops, and if we get a couple of them into play, the match will be clearly in our favor.
Bankbuster may be slow, but when combined with Steel Seraph it can give us 4 life per turn, which is quite relevant against such an aggressive deck.
After sideboarding, we can bring in more removal, like Sunset Revelry which can give us both life and more creatures to survive with. Elspeth may seem slow, but the lifelink tokens she provides are incredibly important.
UW SOLDIERS
This match-up is highly unfavorable. Unlike Mono-Red, Soldiers has efficient ways of interacting with our game plan and Thalia on turn two can take out a good portion of our list, delaying our development and putting us behind. Furthermore, Harbin with 5 Soldiers is essentially game over, since most of our removal spells are sorcery speed.
Post-sideboarding doesn't improve the situation much; it even gets worse since the opponent is bringing in more threats with spells and counters like Protect the Negotiators, which is quite good here. But we also bring in more sweepers, like Sunset Revelry, to give us a chance and more powerful cards such as Elspeth, which will put the board in a more advantageous position with relevant abilities like lifelink and flying.
ESPER LEGENDS
This match-up isn't ideal, with Thalia present as well as powerful creatures like Raffine, Sheoldred and Ertai. The good news is that the board isn't as daunting as it is against Soldiers, so we can try to interact with the creatures individually, giving us time to set up our bombs. The post-sideboard plan is similar too, taking out cards that get even worse with Thalia and adding more board interaction and sweepers.
MONO BLUE TEMPO
Monoblue is a true predator of midrange decks, and Mono White is no exception. We do have some good cards in our deck to counter its strategy, such as Unlicensed Hearse, which nerfs the power of Haughty Djinn and slows down Tolarian Terror. But we don't have a great clock and our spells are easy prey to Make Disappear and Spell Pierce.
The best we can do is stick to our plan and hope our opponent doesn't have the right cards at the right time. One option is to try to double up on spells per turn, but this deck isn't great at it. We can try to do it by doubling up on removal to deal with the Djinn, like two Lay Down Arms or combining them with Ossification.
Post-sideboard games don't usually improve much, but a well-placed Skrelp's Hive can make all the difference since it's not easily answered and is great vs draw-go decks, just like Mirrex.
ATRAXA REANIMATOR
One of the latest decks to appear with Phyrexia: All Will Be One. There are several versions of it, the most played and the one that's been getting the best results lately is BR. Being a traditional BR deck, it should be a good match-up, but Atraxa makes it rough for our deck; it's a difficult card to remove and provides an absurd card advantage. In addition to Atraxa, Cruelty of Gix is also an excellent card against our plan, discarding key pieces from our hand, tutoring whatever is necessary at a nearly irrelevant cost, and even being able to reanimate both their and our creatures. After sideboarding, Unlicensed Hearse helps against the reanimation plan and since this is a deck that doesn't use discard, Farewell really shines in this match.
MONO WHITE MIDRANGE
A truly grindy match.
One of the cards that makes a difference in the mirror are the planeswalkers, which are not easy to answer, despite now having Ossification. Reckoner Bankbuster is one of the key cards, generating card advantage and being a powerful attacker in the late game.
Making sure you don't miss out on any land drop is essential in this match, as the games tend to be quite long and you need to play your most powerful cards to stay ahead. Post-sideboard, Skrelv's Hive is an important card, but there are plenty of answers to it. Resolving Farewell at the right time can give you a major edge, especially if you control a planeswalker. Be ready for a game that will be long and may end up being decided by the clock.
Final words
Mono White Midrange is an incredibly strong and consistent deck, with only a few bad matchups such as UW Soldiers and Monoblue. Despite this, it has a game against the top tiers. It's hard to beat in the late game, and this is one of the factors that make it one of the best decks in the format.
Until next time!
If you liked this article maybe you will also find interesting on of the following ones Modern 5C Creativity Primer & Sideboard Guide, Pioneer Boros Heroic In-depth & Sideboard Guide, Pauper Grixis Affinity Tips, Tricks & Sideboard guide By Mogged, Esper Affinity OTK Deck Guide: Taking It to the Finals at the MTGO Challenge
Sign Up for MTGDecks newsletter
You'll receive a weekly email with more articles like this.
MTG Streamer
Hi, my name is Lucas de Almeida Hervás. I'm 31 years old, married, and I live in Indaiatuba/SP, Brazil. I've been playing Magic the Gathering since 2009, but I've been making a living off of it since 2019 through leagues and tournaments on Magic Online. For those who don't know me, I'm 2.17 meters tall, hence the nickname "the tallest Magic player in Brazil."
