For the most part, deckbuilding in Magic: The Gathering is all about balance. You need to find the right mix of creatures, lands, and other spells to prepare yourself for any given situation. Some decks, however, prefer to throw caution to the wind and go all-in on their specific gameplan. In today’s Legacy League, we saw one of the most extreme examples of this idea in a new take on Mono-White Humans.
Other than a pair of Chrome Mox, the entire main deck here is made up of creatures and lands. That’s 40 creatures in total, which is a wild figure even in Commander, never mind Legacy. Despite this, the deck, piloted by DominiqueTutor, managed to pull off a 5-0 finish in today’s League. This is almost certainly a testament to the deck’s focus and to the sweet new additions Humans has picked up in recent sets.
Mono-White Humans In MTG Legacy
Humans isn’t exactly a new archetype in Legacy, but this Mono-White version has plenty of novel elements. First of all, the fact that it doesn’t splash another color is highly unusual. Most Legacy Humans lists do this to run powerful pieces like Kitesail Freebooter and Meddling Mage. By skipping this, DominiqueTutor’s list gains a lot of consistency. It also gets a lot more mileage out of fast mana like Ancient Tomb and Chrome Mox.
Considering the fact that Humans is very much an Aggro deck, this makes perfect sense. It’s an archetype all about landing scalable Humans early, then snowballing into a speedy win as you drop more later. Champion of the Parish and Guide of Souls kick things off nicely in the one-drop slot. Once we hit two, the deck’s big payoffs arrive: Thalia’s Lieutenant and Coppercoat Vanguard. These make all of your past and Future Humans even better, allowing for some truly disgusting early swings.
The bulk of these cards also deal with +1/+1 counters in one way or another. This is very much a sub-theme of the deck, and it’s one that newcomer Urdnan, Dromoka Warrior is keen to exploit. This is one of Foundation Jumpstart’s anime-art-only legends, so you’d be forgiven for forgetting about it by now.
It’s a perfect fit here; however, adding more counters when it enters and easily granting Double Strike as well. Urdnan doesn’t even need to attack itself to do this, so you can very easily attack with a 3/3 Double Striking Champion of the Parish on turn two with this deck. That’s some serious pressure, even in a format as fast as Legacy.
Old Dog, New Tricks
Urdnan isn’t the only new addition to Legacy Mono-White Humans in DominiqueTutor’s list. They also run a bunch of other recent cards, all of which push its core game plan to new heights.
Zack Fair from Final Fantasy kicks things off as a nice new one-drop for the deck. It gets a counter on entry, which lets it play nicely with Urdnan on-curve. It also gives the deck a crucial protection effect, which you can cash in to save one of your key pieces like Thalia’s Lieutenant from removal.
Haliya and Aerith join at the three-drop slot, creating a secondary lifegain sub-theme within the deck. Guide of Souls already offered some of this, but Haliya doubles down on it, and Aerith turns it into counter generation. Aerith can easily get huge with the right curve, and, like Zack, she can redistribute her counters if she does get removed. This ability only affects legendary creatures, but there are 15 in the deck, so it’s pretty likely you’ll get at least some value out of it.
These new cards support the deck’s original plan perfectly. They unlock powerful new aggressive lines, which let you press your early advantage even better than before. They’re also joined by Voice of Victory, one of the best white two-drops we’ve seen in some time. While the tokens this produces are unfortunately not Humans, the Grand Abolisher effect is very much welcome in Legacy. It helps insulate your deck against the many cheap counterspells in the format, and, combined with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, it gives the deck a Stax-y edge.
Normally, there’d be a discussion to be had on how the deck interacts with opponents, but Mono-White Humans just doesn’t. It guns for the creature beatdown plan, and if that doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t win.
One To Watch?
This linearity is Mono-White Humans’ greatest strength, but it also creates some problems for the deck in the current Legacy metagame. Without many tools for interacting, it can easily find itself being rolled over by more traditional lists.
Dimir Reanimator is probably the worst matchup here. It can hold the ground early with Tamiyo, then pretty much close things out once it lands the Entomb/Reanimate combo. As big as Humans can go, it can’t do much against an Atraxa or Archon of Cruelty. Faerie Macabre and Swords to Plowshares can come in out of the sideboard to boost your chances here, but it’s still a rough matchup in any case.
You’ll have an easier time against Red Stompy and Delver. The former’s gimmick of restricting your mana access isn’t hugely effective against a mono-colored deck. You also have a full playset of Witch Enchanter in the main to deal with Blood Moon if they do stick it early. With that edge gone, Red Stompy is mostly just a worse creature deck than you, though you do need to watch out for early Fury plays.
Delver is a mixed bag matchup. If they can seize a tempo advantage early, you’re in for a rough time. Equally, the insane creature density in Mono-White Humans will make it hard for them to keep you off the board, even with their ample counterspells and removal. Delver itself can definitely be a problem here, since the deck lacks any real way to block or remove it. If you get a good start, however, you can just ignore it and race to the finish line.
Overall, Mono-White Humans isn’t the best pick in current Legacy, but it’s not the worst either. It’ll be interesting to see if others iterate on the ideas DominiqueTutor brought to the table here in the weeks to come.
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