Table of Contents
Some time ago, I worked on a Standard 2022 White Weenie Guide. That deck carried me to Mythic in the BO1 Standard 2022 ladder. Now, White Weenie has done it again. With a 26-6 score from Platinum III to Mythic (BO3), this archetype once again shows that even with its simplicity, one of the oldest strategies in Magic history is stronger than it has been in a long time.
After the good results the 2022 version gave me, I thought that if 1 or 2 good cheap white creatures were printed in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, the archetype would be able to face the strongest opposition and firmly claim a spot on the tier 1 deck list, even in BO3.
This became a reality when MID gave us not 1, but 4 amazing creatures that solidify our strategy. Let me introduce them to you before I show you the updated list.
Chaplain of Alms is a creature that does more than it looks. It lets us solidify our curve playing now 14 one drops. This allows us to play a creature on turn one in practically every game which is extremely important for us. Having Ward 1 is amazing when we curve into Luminarch Aspirant. This, combined with First Strike, makes this Cleric a really good option for attacking or even blocking when we are on the draw.
That’s not all! It has Disturb, a new MID ability that lets us play it from the graveyard as a 2/1 flyer with first strike. This is amazing for closing games and serves as squire for all our creatures giving them ward 1. Chaplain of Alms is all we need in White Weenie.
Intrepid Adversary is one of the five Adversary creatures that MID bring to the table, but undoubtedly the most efficient and powerful of all. I saw other iterations of this archetype, and most of them play 4 of this Scout, but after a lot of testing, I think 3 is the proper number. Most of the time, you want to play it on turn 2 just when we don’t have any other option. A 3/1 Lifelink for two is not bad at all, but if we can play Luminarch Aspirant, Clarion Spirit, or two one drops, Adversary tends to be the weakest of all those options, which is why we play 3. We want to play Intrepid Adversary for four mana most of the time, making it a 4/2 lifelink creature with an anthem effect -Anthem effect: +1/+1 to all our creatures.
That effect is always extremely valuable for our archetype, especially when imbued in a creature. Also having the option of paying more mana for a double or in a few cases triple anthem is amazing! Most of the time we don’t want it in our opening hand, but drawing one in the first 4 turns is a game changer.
At the beginning, not too many people looked at Adeline, Resplendent Cathar as a relevant card, but when I compared her with Brimaz, King of Oreskos in my stream (one of the best three drops in the history of WW), it made us think that it’s one of our best three mana options. Brimaz has Vigilance like Adeline, but there are a few things that make Adeline better when we want to be aggressive. Most could think that Adeline is a creature for Commander, because her last ability says “for each opponent”, but making the direct comparison with Brimaz, even if it is just one token, Adeline creates the 1/1 white Human whenever we attack. That means that we don’t have to attack with Adeline for triggering this. Playing Adeline turn 3 and attacking with other creatures would exert extra pressure even if Adeline stays back.
Secondly, Brimaz is a 3/4 and Adeline is */4, making Brimaz better when alone, but when we are in a White Weenie and our plan is to swarm the board asap, Adeline could be attacking with 5+ power every single turn and that makes her an extremely heavy hitter. Brimaz could make a 1/1 token when blocking, but overall, when we want to be aggressive, Adeline is an extremely good choice. (Making a slot for the third copy could be a good move).
Finally, Brutal Cathar is an amazing partner for Skyclave Apparition, making us stronger when we’re behind. As a sideboard option for other creature based strategies, Brutal Cathar puts us in a great position in our game two and three, even on the draw. It can’t remove any 4 mana or less permanent like Skyclave Apparition, but instead, he can take out any 5+ mana creature that most of the time can stop our aggressive plan, and not only once! If we manage to make a day/night cycle happen, Brutal Cathar can remove multiple creatures!
Furthermore, Moonrage Brute covers one of the great weaknesses of Skyclave Apparition. Instead of taking care and holding back like we have to do with apparition because of its fragile 2/2 body, the Werewolf is a 3/3 first striker. Want to kill it? Fine, Ward – Pay 3 life is something that hits harder than our old friend, Bonecrusher Giant.
With these 4 new friends, our list fulfills an incredible road from Platinum III to Mythic in almost 6 and a half effective hours of gameplay.
Now, without further ado, let me share with you our list:
Creatures (36)
Instants (2)
60 Cards
$61.7
Sideboard
15 Cards
$31.01
Updated List Analysis
As you can see, we have many old friends here.
Monk of the Open Hand, Usher of the Fallen, and Codespell Cleric are still there as a 4 ofs. This mix of one drops + Chaplain of Alms makes us have a lot of choices and ways of developing our board, something that is incredibly good for having a good early against any matchup.
Before, in the WW Standard 2022 list, we only had 8 two drops. With full sets of Luminarch Aspirant and Clarion Spirit. Now, with 3 Intrepid Adversary and the 2 aforementioned Chaplain of Alms, presenting a solid board state on turn 3 is one of our strengths. Speaking of Clarion Spirit; in this iteration of the archetype, making 1/1 flyer tokens is simpler and more frequent thanks to our 14 drop ones.
On our three drops we find one key difference that makes our deck more aggressive than its 2022 form. With the presence of Adeline, Resplendent Cathar we can move
Legion Angel is still here, and it keeps making great work for us! Most of the time I prefer the 1-3 configuration (while others tend to play 2-2), but when we draw it and she calls her sisters from the sideboard, the amount of pressure we can exert is incredible. Even against bigger decks, a 4 power flyer is enough for fighting against common threats.
We still play 4 Faceless Haven, and it’s no surprise why. As one of the best Standard cards, a full set of this creatureland is mandatory.
Sideboard Guide
Finally, Standard BO3 ladder!
I’m going to cover my more frequent matches + any missed archetype on ladder present at the Hoogland Standard Open (19/09/21).
Gruul Aggro
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Portable Hole | -1 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -4 Elite Spellbinder |
The idea is clear. Elite Spellbinder is a great card, but even on the play, Gruul Aggro plays a lot of cheap spells which makes Elite Spellbinder fall a little bit behind. It’s true that they play Goldspan Dragon and Esika’s Chariot, and delaying them would be great, but with Brutal Cathar checking almost any possible creature threat against us, we are fine without Paulo.
Mirror Match
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Portable Hole | -1 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -4 Elite Spellbinder |
We mostly sideboard in the same way against other aggro strategies. Portable Hole is for stopping early threats and Brutal Cathar for getting control of the mid game. Most of the time in this matchup, the player on the play tends to win without any problem. Having Brutal Cathar (and adding a third copy, because I play two most of the time) gives us the upper hand. Be careful when playing it as taking care of opposite Skyclave Apparition or Cathars (if played) could swing games in our favor in an extremely quick manner.
Dimir Control
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Reidane, God of the Worthy | -4 Skyclave Apparition |
| +1 Divine Smite | -2 Codespell Cleric |
| +3 Guardian of Faith | -1 Adeline, Resplandent Cathar |
Dimir was one of the big three contenders during Standard 2022 and many players try to keep that archetype working in the new Standard ladder. We take out Skyclave Apparition because they don’t have valuable targets for it. In some versions even they don’t have any. One Adeline has to go too because we need the three mana slots for the Guardian of Faith. Most of the time, when we have 3 mana open we prefer to pass open with Guardian of Faith instead of committing all our creatures to the board.
It’s because of the sweepers that we take out Codespell Cleric. It makes you want to cast more spells that could just potentially die to a wrath. Divine Smite is extremely important as exiling Lolth, Spider Queen or Professor Onyx is something that could make us win the game on the spot since they can’t get extra value off of their Blood on the Snow. Finally, Reidane is amazing as a three drop there because we delay almost any sweepers’ attempts to clear our board.
Izzet Dragons
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Reidane, God of the Worthy | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -2 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar |
| +3 Guardian of Faith | -1 Skyclave Apparition |
| -4 Elite Spellbinder |
Izzet Dragons has many powerful cards, but with the help of all our sideboard three drops, this matchup is in our favor. Brutal Cathar can take out Smoldering Egg, which is something that can delay our plan a lot and also the reason why we keep 3 Skyclave Apparition. Reidane, God of the Worthy is incredible at giving us time.
Izzet Dragons doesn’t play a lot of high cost sweepers, but making all their snow lands come into play tapped gives us enough space most of the time to swarm the board.
Talking about swarming the board, they are going to side in Cinderclasm, which is why we side in 3 Guardian of Faith; play carefully and don’t forget Cinderclasm and its kicker ability.
Elite Spellbinder board out could be weird. Delaying the responses here is usually enough for winning, but like other situations when we want to take out Spellbinder, our opponents have a lot of really cheap spells that can be cast easily even with the 2 mana tax.
If we want to delay big creatures, a better plan is to remove them from the game with Skyclave Apparition and Brutal Cathar, and when it comes to
Selesnya Ramp
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| -1 Skyclave Apparition |
Personally, I never played this match in my 32 BO3 with the deck, but the truth is that 2 or 3 of the 6 losses were against Wrenn and Seven. Fighting against the Treefolk tokens is hard, the reason why we side in the 3 Brutal Cathar. If you have a hard time deciding between killing a Wrenn or pressuring your opponent’s life total, killing Wrenn is priority most of the time.
Orzhov Midrange
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +3 Reidane, God of the Worthy | -2 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar |
| +1 Divine Smite | -2 Elite Spellbinder |
| +3 Guardian of Faith | -2 Skyclave Apparition |
| +2 Portable Hole | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| -1 Intrepid Adversary |
Orzhov play two of the biggest problems we can face in the early game, Shambling Ghast and Eyetwitch so Portable Hole goes in for this reason. Divine Smite is key for taking out Lolth, Spider Queen because of Blood on the Snow. Like other attrition matches,
Mono Green Aggro
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Portable Hole | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -2 Elite Spellbinder |
| -1 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar |
The Mono Green Aggro that made top 8 in the Hooglandia Open also plays Wrenn and Seven so two Portable Hole and three
Simic Midrange
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Portable Hole | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -1 Adeline, Resplandent Cathar |
| -1 Skyclave Apparition | |
| -1 Elite Spellbinder |
We really want all our three drops here. We take out 1 of each trying to keep all our possibilities open. Portable Hole could look weird here, but they have at least 16 targets for it. Like every other Wrenn and Seven matchup, if you have options when Elite Spellbinder enters the battlefield, taxing Wrenn is a must. In the same way, killing Wrenn is preferred to exert pressure.
Jund Midrange
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Portable Hole | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -4 Elite Spellbinder |
| +1 Divine Smite | -2 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar |
| +2 Guardian of Faith |
Jund Midrange has a wide variety of extremely good creatures, but Skyclave Apparition checks almost every one of them. Brutal Cathar and Portable Hole comes in for solidifying our answers against a pile of good cards. We only side in 2 Guardian of Faith in this matchup because, unlike other midrange or control matchups where they play 4+ sweepers, Jund only sides in two Cinderclasm.
Mardu Sacrifice
| IN | OUT |
|---|---|
| +2 Portable Hole | -2 Chaplain of Alms |
| +3 Brutal Cathar | -2 Elite Spellbinder |
| +1 Divine Smite | -2 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar |
With all the removal we pack in after game 1, playing
Tips and Tricks
One of the key aspects of this deck is choosing the right play on turn 1: Most of the time, Monk of the Open Hand is going to be our default turn 1 best play. From there, deciding between Usher of the Fallen, Chaplain of Alms or Codespell Cleric depends on the situation. Usher is better when we don’t have a turn two play, and Chaplain of Alms works great when we expect a turn 1 blocking creature.
Clarion Spirit can swarm the board really fast. Evaluate this before playing it on turn two. If you can’t make spirits on turn 3, the best play would be to save Clarion for later. Try to play Clarion only if you can make a 1/1 spirit with it.
Elite Spellbinder is a mandatory turn 3 play against a possible sweeper on game 1.
The wrath effects on the current Standard are Battle of Frost and Fire, Crippling Fear,
Luminarch Aspirant can put a counter on Faceless Haven. This interaction is extremely important in certain situations.
Chaplain of Alms first strike is extremely relevant against other small creature decks. Using its disturb ability is enough most of the time for winning a game 1 against non sweeper removal decks.
Intrepid Adversary is our last option for a creature on turn 2. Do it only if you don’t have any other choice. Playing it for 4 (or hopefully 6) is where this creature shines.
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar makes a token even if she didn’t attack. Curving her on turn 3 could seal games when you see your opponent is stumbling or mana screwing.
Tracking Brutal Cathar day and night shifts is important for us. Remember that he comes into play as a werewolf if it’s night and then he can remove more than one creature if we manage to keep him alive for a night and day cycle.
Final Notes
White Weenie does it again and in an incredible way. 26-6 is an extremely good score for the deck and we have to remember that it was played in the BO3 Traditional Standard. Most of the time the people will think that Mono White Aggro is a BO1 deck, but here is the proof everyone needed that strengthens our 2022 White Weenie guide statement: “When this kind of curving out with creatures is possible, White Weenie is generally a really powerful strategy.”
Let me know in the comments section what you think about it and how it works for you if you try it on ladder or in any tournament, until then…
Keep it safe and remember to smile!
