Historic Oketra’s Monument: Fun & Jank Episode 39

HEYOOOOOOOO

I’m Plum, and welcome back to Episode 39 of our weekly Fun & Jank Series! This week I’m dusting off an old deck that’s been sitting on the top shelf, untouched, for quite awhile. We’re taking a look at a “mono-white” Oketra's Monument list.

Background

Now for those of you who are unfamiliar, this decks main goal is to overwhelm the opponent with a constant stream of weenies and tokens. There’s numerous versions of the deck, which commonly splash Blue or Green for additional support and disruption, but many variations of these lists (in eternal formats) are based around the two-card package of Kor Skyfisher (or Whitemane Lion) and Oketra's Monument.

Monument makes Skyfisher cost just a single W, meaning we can cast it, trigger Monument to make a token, and then use Skyfisher’s ability to return itself to our hand so we can do it again. Combined, these two read as “Pay W: Create a 1/1 white warrior with Vigilance.”

Not half bad, right?

It’s a rather simple core that can be slotted into a lot of shells. I’ve seen Green splashes for Voice of Resurgence, Renegade Rallier, and Collected Company. As well as Blue for things like Reflector Mage and Sky Hussar. Either way, many of these decks rely on their support creatures in order to get to a point where the Skyfisher package can be assembled and take over the game.

So Why Are We Brewing?

I wanted to take a crack at this archetype mainly because of MH3. Oketra's Monument lists have to find a balance where they can guarantee a win with the Skyfisher Package assembled, but also need to function well enough to put up a fight without it. Like I mentioned above, most of the time this is achieved by splashing another color. However, since we have MH3 and Alchemy giving us new tools to mess with in Historic, I believe the deck can be streamlined even more. It’s most likely still optimal to play additional colors, but its certainly not necessary. At this point a deck like this can no longer compete at the high power-level of a format like Modern, but Historic seems like it might be a good place to take it for a spin.

The Deck

First, lets talk about the major upgrades in terms of power level for the deck. This comes from the well-known (and well hated) Guide/Pride/Ajani Package.

I don’t think I really need to explain why these cards are here. These are powerhouses in both Historic and Modern for a good reason. Since we’re playing a “go-wide” shell with an engine that both reduces the mana cost of these 3 cards and makes tokens, throwing these in feels like a no brainer. Guide of Souls can gain us a large amount life from the Monument tokens, Ocelot Pride can double the number of tokens we can create in a single turn, and Ajani is just nutty even if we don’t have red permanents in the deck. Guide and Ajani also play decently with Skyfisher allowing us to gain extra life or bounce and recast Ajani to create additional tokens.

Another new card for the deck (on Arena that is) is Wall of Omens. Although other eternal formats play this card with Oketra's Monument, we haven’t been able to do so until Final Fantasy brought it to the Historic format. Wall of Omens is a staple if you’re looking to buy yourself sometime in decks like this. A 0/4 body makes a great blocker and it replaces itself. With Monument out its a cantrip that gives us 2 bodies on board. Plus, it can be replayed with Skyfisher offering additional draw in the mid to late game if we need it while also building the board. Its certainly not the flashiest, but its been a much needed addition to the list.

I think this is the second strongest upgrade the deck received recently besides the Guide/Pride/Ajani package. Now, if you’ve watched me play against this card on stream then you know I’m not a fan. It feels “win-more” to me. If you have a board state where Vanguard has 4+ power, you’re probably already ahead. I don’t necessarily want to play bad cards to make okay cards good, but I’m making an exception here. Vanguard is popular in Boros shells with Waystone's Guidance and the Guide/Pride/Ajani package. We’re just taking a page out of their playbook because we already have such a strong token strategy. Thunderbond Vanguardcan come down with 3 power on curve, and once we have an Oketra's Monument out it allows to go wide and tall simultaneously. It’s a perfect feedback loop. You cast a creature, Monument makes a token, but that token isn’t just another body — it’s another Vanguard. Now your board is full of huge creatures that keep scaling up as you keep casting spells. Within just a turn or two of this interaction, you can end up with an absolutely massive, nearly unstoppable army. Our gameplan is to cast creatures and flood the board, and this card wants to do exactly that.

We’re supporting the core cards with a simple selection of one-drops. Esper Sentinel is a solid way to gain card advantage wall also getting the occasional bonus of taxing the opponents’ mana. It gets stronger as an engine in the late game if we can buff it’s power via Guide of Souls.

Judge's Familiar is probably a flex slot but I’ve found it to be rather beneficial so far. Countering early removal on Guide/Pride/Ajani or hedging us an extra turn against an on-curve board wipe has proven to be worth it in my opinion. This could just as easily be something like Thraben Inspector if you wanted.

Brave the Elements is a card I enjoyed in the White Weenie decks we’ve talked about in previous articles. It works as both a protection spell and a way to push damage through a clogged up board, often against other creature decks like Lifegain or Elves.

The manabase is rather standard. We have a light blue splash for some sideboard options and Razorgrass Ambush as some more interaction. I’d like to point out that we are playing a “fun-of” Westvale Abbey, which actually ended up winning us a game against a UB Frog you can watch in the video below.

Sideboard

This deck is pretty linear, so the sideboard focuses on doing one of three things:

1. Protecting our board from sweepers & removal.
2. Disrupting combo and control.
3. Giving us tempo or interaction when we fall behind.

Reflector Mage
This is one of the few ways we can interact meaningfully with creatures. It buys us time against big threats, clears blockers, and keeps the pressure up. Especially good versus decks that rely on a single big creature or in tempo matchups.

Guardian of Faith
Our best answer to sweepers. Flashing this in to phase out our board lets us survive cards like Supreme Verdict, Anger of the Gods, or Farewell. Absolutely critical against control and midrange decks with board wipes.

Fragment Reality
This is our catch-all removal spell. It’s cheap, instant-speed, and can hit a huge range of threats. The downside is minimal for us since we’re often so far ahead on board.

Surge of Salvation
Another layer of protection, this time more versatile. Helps against damage-based sweepers and also stops targeted removal & discard. Great against red decks, Rakdos, and anything trying to pick apart our key creatures.

Pithing Needle
A simple but effective answer to planeswalkers, creature abilities, or combo pieces. It’s especially handy against things like Karn, SORIN, or even opposing Guide/Pride/Ajani shells that can otherwise spiral out of control Goblin Bombardment.

Rest in Peace
Sometimes you just have to respect the graveyard decks. Against Dredge, Greasefang, or Persist combo, this shuts them down cleanly while we keep attacking.

Gameplay

We ended up playing this to a 3-2 record on stream (but that last lost was from me keeping the good ‘ol triple Guide of Souls hand). Overall, it delivered pretty much what I was expecting. A mix of explosive turns and the occasional clunky draw. When the Monument/Skyfisher engine came online early, the deck was powerful. Being able to convert every white mana into another token (or Vanguard copy) was just absurd. Wall of Omens and Judge’s Familiar were surprisingly good at slowing down aggressive decks and buying time to get your engine online.

I’ll admit that a lot of what gives this deck a fighting chance is the MH3 cards. Guide/Pride/Ajani pull their weight, and then some. But like most Monument decks, it still has its weaknesses, which is something I’d like to continue trying to solve. Without Monument, the deck is… fine, but not great. You’re just a pile of mediocre white creatures without much reach or disruption. Skyfisher and Monument allow you to recover from sweepers rather quickly, but one without the other is meh.

That said, the highs here are really high. It’s just so fun to build an army one white mana at a time and trudge your way through whatever your opponent is doing to try and stop you.

Closing Thoughts

The new tools from MH3 and Alchemy, especially Guide/Pride/Ajani and Wall of Omens, give the archetype a much-needed shot in the arm. They don’t completely fix its weaknesses, but they make the highs higher and the lows a little more tolerable. You still live and die by Monument showing up and sticking around, but now you have more ways to stabilize and punish your opponent once it does.

If nothing else, this was one of the more enjoyable decks I’ve played in a while. Between the nostalgia of the old Skyfisher loops and the raw power of MH3 cards, it’s a deck I’d absolutely recommend trying if you like going wide.

Thanks for reading.

As always feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below! Make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!

If you want to see these decks in action, come hang out with me on stream where we test, refine, and have a ton of fun together!

Happy Brewing!