8.10.04  Hey all, and welcome to another Magic Deck Garage!  I received a great response for Keith’s Mistform deck last week, so this week will highlight another casual deck.  Mark has sent in a casual White Weenie Soldier deck that he wants to improve upon; the decklist is shown below.

1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary

1 Commander Esha

4 Daru Warchief

1 Deftblade Elite

1 Gustcloak Harrier

3 Honor Guard

1 Intrepid Hero

1 Master Decoy

1 Yotian Soldier

2 Animal Boneyard

4 Arrest

1 Coat of Arms

1 Decree of Justice

3 Disenchant

4 Glorious Anthem

2 Holy Day

1 Mobilization

2 Raise the Alarm

2 Riptide Replicator

1 Unified Strike

2 Wing Shards

4 Daru Encampments

16 Plains

Ok, the first thing I want to do is replace Honor Guard with the remaining full set of Deftblade Elite.  Provoke is a fun ability, and the Elite’s other ability that allows you to block all day long without taking damage isn’t bad either.

-3 Honor Guard

+3 Deftblade Elite

Next, I want to add in Whipcorder.  Not only does he fit along with the Soldier theme, he has a decent body and a great ability!  He definitely replaces Master Decoy, and I think the remaining slots will be provided by Yotian Soldier and Animal Boneyard – both are decent cards, but the slots can be better used.

-2 Animal Boneyard

-1 Master Decoy

-1 Yotian Soldier

+4 Whipcorder

In his e-mail, Mark mentioned he wanted something that helps to deal with fliers.  It took me a while to find the solution, but I was really pleased when I uncovered a lost gem: Longbow Archer.  Although he was buried beneath all of the White Knights, Silver Knights, Rebels, and so on, Longbow Archer is still a great card!  To make room, I pulled Holy Days and a pair of Arrests – Mark should focus on mauling his opponent as quickly as possible, and those two cards are more defensive.

-2 Arrest

-2 Holy Day

+4 Longbow Archer

Mark mentioned in his e-mail that he thought Cho-Manno was a bit out of flavor and didn’t benefit the deck as much as it could, and I have to agree.  I’d suggest throwing in an additional Commander Esha in his place, which further protects Mark against fliers and improves consistency.

-1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary

+1 Commander Esha

I’ll wrap up the work on creatures by throwing in a set of Soltari Foot Soldier, just on the grounds that it has Shadow.  Sometimes, White Weenie decks will stall out and be left staring down a few creatures that put a stop to their entire team.  Soltari Foot Soldier fits into the Soldier theme *and* gets around the stall problem.  To make room, I’m dropping Gustcloak Harrier, Intrepid Hero, and the remaining two Arrest.

-1 Gustcloak Harrier

-1 Intrepid Hero

-2 Arrest

+4 Soltari Foot Soldier

Coat of Arms is a decent card (and I know I’ll have people arguing with me about this), but I think it should go.  In this deck, Mark has to have a quarter of all of his lands in play to even drop it, and it might be better served being an inexpensive threat.  In its place, I think a second Mobilization might be a good call.  Again, it increases Mark’s consistency, it produces threats, and its fairly inexpensive.

-1 Coat of Arms

+1 Mobilization

I like Wing Shards, and I like Unified Strike.  However, since Mark is playing a casual, “anything-goes” type deck, why not play Swords to Plowshares?

-1 Unified Strike

-2 Wing Shards

+4 Swords to Plowshares

I think that about wraps up the work on Mark’s deck.  Mark said he was content with a lone Decree of Justice, which is cool, especially since it usually soaks up a fair amount of mana – it acts as a great finisher, but doesn’t need to be in the deck in mass.  Mobilization really doesn’t need to have a full set; ditto for Riptide Replicator.  Both supply a steady stream of threats, and both are good at different times during the game.  The final decklist looks like this:

2 Commander Esha

4 Daru Warchief

4 Deftblade Elite

4 Longbow Archer

4 Soltari Foot Soldier

4 Whipcorder

1 Decree of Justice

3 Disenchant

4 Glorious Anthem

2 Mobilization

2 Raise the Alarm

2 Riptide Replicator

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Daru Encampments

16 Plains

I hope that helps, Mark, and good luck around the shop!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see y’all next week!

-Paul Hagan