The go-wide strategy is back in full force in Standard with some of the tools white has available. Today’s deck can flood the board with small creatures while maintaining a stream of card advantage, making this a really scary deck to face moving forward.
Oketra’s Monument rewards you for playing lots of white creatures. The Monument’s cost reduction ability is a huge benefit, allowing you to easily play two, if not three or more, creatures as early as turn 4. With each of these creatures providing a 1/1 vigilance token, blocking is no longer realistic. 4-8 creatures on the 4th turn demand a sweeper, or for your opponent to scoop up their cards.
Bygone Bishop is another reason to be playing lots of cheap white creatures in your deck. Getting 2 power in evasion at a reasonable cost is solid, but making sure that you can continue firing on all cylinders as the game goes long is a feature many go-wide decks don’t have. If they’re able to deal with your creatures, you’re just going to draw more cards and flood out the board again.
If you’re making a bunch of token creatures, Anointer Priest is a cheap way to gain a ton of life. The embalm mechanic brings additional card advantage, and the extra time the Priest will buy maximizes the full value of both Oketra’s Monument and Bygone Bishop. These cards really shine as the game progresses, and the Priest makes sure that you won’t be dying anytime soon.
The weakest part of any go-wide strategy is what to do in the face of a sweeper. Monument and Bishop are good insurance policies, but you also have Selfless Spirit. The Spirit is an aggressive creature that attacks in the skies and makes sure that Sweltering Suns or Kozilek’s Return aren’t going to be effective against your army.
Another way to protect your board, or to just create a game-winning threat that isn’t easy to deal with, is Archangel Avacyn. In combination with Selfless Spirit, you can flip Archangel Avacyn whenever you want, or protect your team from a flip.
Fairgrounds Warden lets you interact against opposing creatures while still being cheap enough to make good use of the Bishop and Monument. Angel of Sanctions is a little cheaper with a Monument in play while giving you a way to deal with any problematic permanent. The embalm is just icing on the cake.
Hanweir Militia Captain is a nice, aggressive creature that can become a massive creature that continues to help your go-wide plan.
If you’re looking to play lots of cheap, white creatures while having a reasonable late game, you can’t do any better than Thraben Inspector.
Dusk // Dawn is a brand new addition to decks like this that can completely change a game in various matchups. Winding Constrictor decks, especially with Verdurous Gearhulk, can put some serious beef onto the battlefield. Dusk puts a stop to all of that, while Dawn can act as a late-game spell to draw a ton of powerful creature cards back from your graveyard.
Just because you’re a mono-white creature deck doesn’t mean you don’t have access to powerful removal. On top of Fairgrounds Warden and Angel of Sanctions, you have both Cast Out and Stasis Snare. Adding flash to your removal spells is always nice, and the benefit of being able to cycle Cast Out when it isn’t needed is useful.
You’re playing mono-white, so you can afford some value lands, and what could be better in a token strategy than Westvale Abbey? You’re going with the full playset here and hoping to turn your Monument into an Ormendahl to end the game in a hurry! This deck is also more than capable of creating several Ormendahls throughout a long game.
Oketra tokens can flood the board like none other. Oketra’s Monument is the real deal in Constructed and can put unprepared opponents in a spot where they simply can’t win!
Oketra White Tokens
MAVIGNON, Top 32 at the MTGO Standard Championship
