WHAT DOES BW TOKENS DO?
My version of BW Tokens is a control deck that gains advantage through a slew of 3-for1-s and 4-for-1s. Cards like Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, Bitterblossom, and Secure the Wastes offer an incredible amount of card advantage. Many of the cards in the deck single-handedly produce an army of threats, making spot removal laughable, board wipes possible to overcome, and an endless supply of action readily available. Auriok Champion, discard spells, removal, and tokens on chump duty buy you time to set up a huge alpha strike, typically over two or three turns, once you’ve sufficiently swarmed the board. There are some situations and matchups where you need to switch gears and race, but for the most part, with this version of the deck, you’re an underdog boxer fading early brute force only to harness a series of haymakers once you’ve weathered the initial surge.
Tokens is great when fair decks like Jund and Death’s Shadow reign supreme. Those decks just can’t keep up with your 3 and 4-for-1 threats. Anytime the format slows down just a little bit, Tokens is primed for a push. Now for a reality check. Even when the format slows down, Tokens is not overly powerful (you are literally playing 1/1s), it’s not too consistent (you should generally mulligan any non-token generator opening hand and you’re still at risk of drawing the wrong side of your deck), and while it’s resilient, it takes time to rebuild your army. Tokens is not close to an overpowered deck, but I believe it’s a lot better than people give it credit for.
METAGAME CONSIDERATIONS
Tokens is best when the format is slow and midrange is king. Tokens is the midrange deck to beat all midrange decks because you destroy midrange with your 3-for-1s and 4-for-1s.
My version of Tokens is best when Auriok Champion is good. Auriok Champion is the most disruptive element this deck packs. She annihilates black and red decks, gives you a good chance vs. Burn and aggro, and plays to the overall control theme of the deck. Auriok Champion is the glue holding Tokens together in the realm of competitive Magic.
CARD CHOICES
BW Tokens is made up of three different types of cards: Lands, Tokens, and Disruption. I’ve heard people say that the deck is super redundant, but I don’t believe that’s the case. Similar to decks like Merfolk, you can draw the wrong half of your deck. With no library manipulation capability (outside of Hidden Stockpile), you’re reliant on getting enough of a balance among these three card types and sometimes you don’t and just die.
The London Mulligan will likely help most decks, and Tokens is no exception. You should be aggressively mulliganing hands with no Tokens, unless you have a very good reason.
I’m a believer there are many ways to build BW Tokens. After playing the deck for the past six years, this is my current assessment of the best competitive configuration for the current Modern metagame. I stand by these decisions while conceding that my way of building Tokens is not the right away, it’s just the way that works for me currently.
Lands
The most important consideration when selecting your lands is this: you need to hit your 3rd land drop to cast Lingering Souls or Spectral Procession on turn 3. Some games you can get away with playing a tapped land on turn 3, but the easiest way to lose is to miss your third land drop, so you need to give yourself the best chance to make land drop #3 happen. Most lists run between 23-25 lands, and after messing with an array of land configurations over the past five years, I’m not changing my land base anytime soon because currently I’m hitting that third land better than ever before.
4 Godless Shrine – You should run 4 of these. A few folks have taken issue with running four due to the 2 damage, but I’ve lost more games than I can count needing a double black source to double spell and being unable to do so. Godless Shrine is your dual land and drawing this on turn 3 when you need that 3rd untapped land is worth putting four in your deck.
4 Marsh Flats – Sometimes you need to fetch your basic Swamp, so you need to run 4 of these.
3 Additional White Fetchlands – Three additional fetchlands has been my sweet spot. It’d be great to run a few more to activate Hidden Stockpile, but currently I think 7 is perfect for maximizing getting 3 untapped lands by turn 3.
1 Fetid Heath – I used to run two, but having Health + Swamp + Vault is a real concern.
0 Isolated Chapel – This comes into play tapped so many times that I think Shambling Vent is better.
2 Shambling Vent – I think this is better enough than Caves of Koilos. The life loss matters, and Vents attacks more than you would think. If Worship or Serra the Benevolent become a thing, you can activate this in response to lethal if your board has been wiped.
4 Concealed Courtyard – You should run 4. If this land is coming into play tapped, you’ve already hit your requisite 3 mana.
1 Vault of the Archangel – your best utility land.
4 Plains/1 Swamp – I could see running more Plains, but you really don’t want another Swamp.
Theory aside, from a practical perspective, I’ve been very happy with my configuration of these 24 lands, and after years of messing with the mana base and finding myself losing games stuck on two lands, this is where I want to be. To be fair, this manabase is built around needing to cast Auriok Champion on turn 2 and Spectral Procession on turn 3. If you’re not going to run those cards (I’d encourage you to do so), your manabase might change to accommodate more utility lands like Field of Ruin or Ghost Quarter.
Tokens
4 Lingering Souls – This is the best card in your deck. You should always be happy to see one in your opening hand, you should never run fewer than 4, and you should never sideboard any number of these out under any circumstances (so long as you’re trying to win).
4 Spectral Procession – Your second best token-maker. I played two copies for a long time because with Vault and Swamp sometimes it’s hard to cast and having multiples stuck in your hand looking at Plains, Plains, Swamp is just horrific. Any Tokens deck running other utility lands (e.g., Ghost Quarter, Field of Ruin), will have problems casting this and Auriok on time. Despite these drawbacks, Spectral or Souls is what you absolutely want to be doing most of the time on turn three. Spectral produces three tokens for the low price of three mana, and the three life from Auriok if she’s out can be life-saving. If you don’t draw Souls or they get extracted, you’re going to need to Process. This is the card you almost always are happy to see as a top deck and it comes with an immediate board statement and threat. It does what the deck wants to do, which is vomit out flyers out of nowhere. As an added bonus, Spectral, with a converted mana cost of 6, dodges Eidolon of the Great Reveal and Spell Queller. I’m confident that four is the correct number.
2 Bitterblossom – Perhaps the most powerful card in the deck (considering it was on the ban list for some time), BB and I have had a love-hate relationship. My biggest realization with BB was that BB doesn’t really improve your good matchups and doesn’t really help your bad ones. Now, to be fair, BB on turn 2 is typically what you want to do be doing, and it’s fantastic against decks like Izzet Phoenix and Humans. However, there are times when you absolutely don’t want this card and I’ve died to its life loss many times. I think two is the correct number. Multiples of this card can be good, but are often win-mores or kill-you-to-life-loss-quickers.
Remember that you often sideboard Auriok Champion out, upon which BB becomes much more of a liability. Bitterblossom shines when you have lots of time and is best against Control or a midrange deck without access to Assassin’s Trophy. Bitterblossom is likely the best card in the mirror (besides Gideon, Virtue, or Elspeth, Sun’s Champion), and a great turn two play.
After a few years of running this in the board, I’ve come around to its power and necessary inclusion in the maindeck.
2 Hidden Stockpile
When I saw this card spoiled, I wasn’t impressed. I was the nay-sayer doubting this card would ever make it into my deck. Why? (Besides the fact that triggering revolt can be hard when your opponent doesn’t want it to happen?) Because the tokens don’t fly. Sure, they can block an Etched Champion and brick wall Apostle’s Blessing shenanigans, but if a token isn’t flying in this deck, there needs to be a GREAT reason to include the card. The reason in this case is card selection. While Tokens has great card advantage due to our cards creating multiple creatures, Tokens offer squadoosh in the way of card selection (unless you count Windbrisk Heights). You’re stuck with your 20 or so cards each game and that is that. As I mentioned above, sometimes you will draw the wrong part of your deck. Stockpile helps smooth your draws like no other card in the history of Tokens. While good in multiples on paper, some games you’ll have two of these stuck in your hand with no chance to revolt and you will rue the day you ever took deck building advice from this blog because this card is terrible! Yes, it can clog your hand like Spectral, but them’s the breaks. Magic is full of them. Hidden Stockpile is a necessary evil and better than 4 BBs, in my opinion, for the reasons listed under BB above (also, in a world of red decks the life loss matters).
2 Secure the Wastes
Secure produces non-flying tokens, but carries the huge upside that you can cast it at instant speed and it’s part of your game plan to win out of nowhere with a huge alpha attack. You can play it after a sweeper, gain life in response to being dead on the stack if Auriok is out, and it’s one of your best win conditions vs. Tron – after Ugin wipes your board, play this and then cast the Virtues you’ve been sand-bagging. This is also great vs. decks where you need to hold up mana for spot removal and all of a sudden you play this card for a million. It’s a fantastic top deck and playing this into Sorin is often back-breaking. People won’t expect this card so you also get many free wins from opponents who tap out thinking they’re safe because you have no board presence. This card is great in the mirror as well. Secure is not great vs. fast decks with flyers, like Affinity or Spirits.
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
In my opinion, Sorin is the best Token-making planeswalker and the only one you should play maindeck. He does it all – you get flying tokens when you need them (and everyone seems to forget they’re 2/2s, not 1/1s), his ultimate is fine (dodge Rancor and Bogles is toast), and his +1 is glorious. He saves you vs. Mono-Red, lets you race Merfolk, gives you an extra turn against Scapeshift, and completely alters combat. If your tokens are blessed with the virtue, forget about it – it’s Magical Christmas land. He’s better than Gideon because Gideon cannot save you when you’re behind. Sorin can. He can be the answer to your prayers and completely affects the board state anytime he’s cast. I’ve been hard-pressed to find any sound debate usurping Sorin as the best planeswalker so I’ll take your challenge to play anything over 3 Sorins.
Token-Makers that Didn’t Make My Cut
0 History of Benalia
History of Benalia could theoretically replace Spectral Procession, but I’ve never tried History of Benalia because I think it’s terrible in my version of the deck for a few reasons.
- History if out of touch with our game plan. Our goal is to control the battlefield with a swarm of creatures. Our mission is to buy enough time, chump with enough flyers, to acquire an overwhelming position and attack for a ton of damage over a few fateful turns in the air. History is best in an aggro deck, not a swarm-based evasive strategy, so if your version of Tokens is more all-in OR is built to be fast to combat your bad matchups (e.g., Tron and Whir), then History is much more appropriate.
- This deck is built around controlling the battlefield, and the +2/+2 for one turn is not part of that controlling game-plan. However, even when considering that +2/+2 (which doesn’t pump any of our spirits, btw), we’re forced to consider attacking that turn rather than waiting for the right time to jam our swarm.
- Lingering and Spectral produce four and three FLYING tokens each, while History produces two NON-FLYING tokens and we only get one per turn. Sacrificing numbers as well as evasion just seems like a disservice to our chance to win games.
- A 2/2 body and then another over two turns without evasion seems blah in a deck where our three-drops need to matter right away.
- The double white is no joke to cast for decks that play more utility lands.
When you cast Souls or Spectral you have the opportunity not only to chump block into oblivion, but also to set up your battlefield for a giant attack in the air. Very few Modern decks can block flyers, but almost all don’t care about the ground. You typically do damage in large clumps and having two 4/4 vigilance soldiers that don’t even pump your spirits or fly is just not where you want to be. The soldiers are going to be a lot worse blocking than 1/1 flying spirits and a lot worse attacking than 1/1 giant spirits. This deck wants evasive creatures, it wants cards that create multiple creatures, and it wants to rebuild right away if necessary. It doesn’t care about attacking on the ground, it doesn’t care about vigilance because you have Virtues, and it can’t be bothered to need to attack when more often than not you’re chipping away in the air. Secure the Wastes and Stockpile tokens often cannot attack and I can’t imagine History would be any different.
A rule I like to follow is that every token producer that doesn’t have flying needs a very good reason to be in the deck, and History of Benalia offers nothing in the way of advancing your game plan so it’s out. Yes, it’s a good card and yes, some games you’ll jam two of these and win the game wondering how on earth this card doesn’t get respect, but I doubt most games will go according to that plan.
As noted above, History is fine in decks that are more aggro-based or when you want to make concessions to try to beat your bad matchups. However, I haven’t seen History of Benalia versions putting up good results and in the current meta, I think a more controlling, Auriok/ Spectral build is the way to go. Also, the player who made day 2 of GP SaoPaulo with aggro Tokens, Wendell Santini, ran 4 Spectrals and 0 History of Benalia.
0 Midnight Haunting
This token-maker has made my deck several times, and I’m not opposed to running it, but Souls and Spectral are better.
0 Raise the Alarm
A fine card, probably an auto-4 in aggro versions (check out Santini’s GP SaoPaulo deck). However, no flying and not advancing your board in a meaningful way means there are better options.
0 Legion’s Landing
Yes, in the late game this card can be great vs. control and midrange, if it survives that long. But you’re already pretty good in long, grindy games and this card just seems horrendous in a turn-four format. The token don’t have flying, it’s probably never going to do much damage by itself, and if you’re alive by the time you start cashing this in for a token a turn, this card probably isn’t going to alter the outcome of the game in any meaningful way. It’s not even that good against Burn because Searing Blaze is a thing. Pass.
0 Timely Reinforcements
Remember my rule regarding non-flying tokens above. Like Hidden Stockpile, you might not even get tokens out of this card, which is just not where you ever want to be with this deck. We need to be gunning on turn 3 and to stumble because we have more creatures than our opponent is a real concern with this card. Red decks are already okay matchups. Secure and Hidden Stockpile are just better.
0 Start/Finish
I have never played with this card, and while it certainly seems reasonable to have a doom blade attached to an overcosted Raise the Alarm, I think we can do better than this. The extra side of this card is a trap – while it looks good to have more flexibility with the second spell attached to a token producer, the effect isn’t THAT good. We’re already good against creature decks, and there’s a real sacrifice to be made for using our turn three to cast two non-flying tokens when we’d much rather cast Souls or Spectral. As I noted above, there should be a very good reason to play non-flying tokens in this deck and I just don’t think this card cuts it at a competitive level. I think Raise the Alarm is better for the sole reason that you can play it a turn before Souls/Spectral and ground tokens are much better in the early game than after the battlefield becomes clogged. If the back end were an instant and not a sorcery, I might be higher on this card.
0 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Way worse than both Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Gideon in this deck. The token doesn’t fly, the anthem doesn’t include a buffer for toughness, and you’re already good against creature decks so the ultimate, certainly a powerful effect, is not as exciting. Lord of Innistrad doesn’t impact combat the way Sorin, Solemn Visitor does.
0 Gideon
Gideon is a better card than Sorin, Solemn Visitor. Hands down. He makes a token for free and gives you an anthem if you really need it. However, he’s a lightning rod for spot removal in a deck where you don’t want to turn on any spot removal. Most decks will keep in path against you, even if it’s bad. Also, Gideon doesn’t affect the game the turn he comes into play like Sorin does. You’re already a SLOW, dreary deck durdling in a modern world of turn 4 kills. He’s the Jace of this deck – once he gets going he looks unstoppable, but Modern is just too fast to be messing with Jace in a midrange deck. Sorin is the best person for the job. I can’t fault people for putting Gideon in their sideboard – he’s the BEST card in the mirror (ok, maybe Bitterblossom, Virtue, or big Elspeth, but she costs six mana) and a huge beating versus fair decks. So what’s the problem? The problem is you’re already great against fair decks so what does Gideon really do? My answer is nothing more than what you already have, which is an infinite supply of tokens. You don’t need Gideon’s assistance to crush those decks. Of course, if the mirror becomes a thing, you want a deck with 8 Virtues, 4 Gideon, 4 BB, and 12 Lingering Souls. Also, Worship or Serra the Benevolent.
0 Serra the Benevolent
This card looks flashy and her ultimate is infinitely better than Worship as the emblem can’t be destroyed. However, all her other abilities aren’t as good as Sorin, Solemn Visitor’s. Her +1 doesn’t last until next turn and doesn’t give lifelink AND she can’t make two tokens two turns in a row. She’s going to be great in the mirror, but I’m not sure where else.
0 Hero of Bladehold
Opponents will still keep in Path to Exile against you. Please never forget this. Your opponents post-board will still have ways to kill your creatures. It pains me not to play this card because she was my go-to back in Standard 2012, but now she’s just another Admiral Ackbar quote waiting to happen. She looks great on paper and people that haven’t run her (i.e., me in 2014) get excited about her, but Ackbar was right, it’s a trap. If you absolutely need to play a flashy card, play Gideon – at least he’ll leave a token or two behind before your opponent kills him.
Disruption
4 Auriok Champion
I wouldn’t leave home without 4 Auriok Champion. Sure, she comes out half the time and she’s horrible in your bad matchups, but those matchups are bad anyway you look at them. If you’re playing BW Tokens, you’re just not going to beat combo or big mana most days. Auriok is the glue holding Tokens together. Without her, your good matchups would become mediocre at worst, sketchier at best. She’s a force to be reckoned with in those matchups and all the disruption you need against them. Auriok belongs in this deck if you’re serious about being the midrange deck to beat midrange decks. She helps buy you plenty of time while you stabilize against whatever your opponent is doing, and is a silver bullet vs. red and black decks. She’s great against aggro and midrange and your best card vs. Jund, Burn, Mono-Red Phoenix, and Shadow – since Rock is apparently no longer playing Golgari Charm in the sideboard, Auriok is looking mighty fine these days. Of course, when she’s bad, she’s really bad, I mean really really awful, so I understand why people aren’t always high on her, but she’s an integral part of your game plan and not including her hurts against the matchups you should be winning. If you’re playing BW Tokens in Modern, you’re already carrying a knife into a few gun fights, but you should play to your strengths, and Auriok Champion brings the biggest knife to the fight.
4 Path to Exile
Don’t leave home without 4. Path gets rid of EVERYTHING and when you need to get rid of something, you can’t rely on Fatal Push or Doom Blade to get you there. You can rely on Path. Also, while Blood Moon isn’t great against you, sometimes it is and you can path one of your own minions to get out of a jam. Since most games go long and you’re playing control, it’s not as though giving your opponent an extra land matters a ton, even if it is a drawback.
2 Zealous Persecution
After a long six years of running 0, 1, 2, and 3 of these maindeck and sideboard I’m never leaving home right now without two mainboard. This unassuming card does it all – it kills mana dorks, elves, Thalia’s Lieutenant targeting other sitting ducks, robots, and it completely alters combat. It’s great. I used to run three, but found three was too many. The best benefit for Zealous, though, is that it can act as Virtue #5 and #6. There have been way too many games where, win or lose, the last turn had me saying to myself, “ok, any Virtue, Sorin, or Zealous off the top for the win.” This card will win you games out of nowhere the same way a top-decked Virtue will, and it also has the upside of wiping your opponent’s x-1s into oblivion and altering combat at instant speed.
2 Thoughtseize/2 Inquisition of Kozelik
I’m not too high on discard spells right now. Seize is the best against your bad matchups, but a liability against burn and aggro and usually a HORRIBLE top deck. Turn 1 discard into BB is still your best starting combination, but with certain decks reclaiming their place in Modern (e.g., Jund, Dredge, Affinity, Burn), Thoughtseize isn’t really where I want to be. If the format shifts away from those good matchups, I could see going to more discard spells to buy you more time, but let’s face it, most decks are resilient and can come back from your early discard because you’re just SLOW. Auriok Champion, multiple flying spirits, and creature removal are the best ways you nullify your opponent’s gameplan.
Many people have reacted strongly to my downplaying discard, and I can understand that. The nail in the coffin for me was in the semis at SCG Syracuse where I turn 1 and turn 2 inquisitioned Dominic Harvey on Whir removing 2 Whirs from his hand and leaving him literally with just lands in hand and nothing on his board. I was feeling pretty good at that point, thinking I might steal a game versus a bad matchup, but I got annihilated that game because I did nothing for my board until turn 3 (when I cast some spirits) and gave him about four or five draw steps, during which he drew an Ensnaring Bridge. Combo decks are too resilient and my deck is just too slow for discard to be as impactful as it is in a deck like Jund or Shadow.
BW Tokens could move to 4 IOK and 4 Thoughtseize and it would be better against our bad matchups. But I play BW Tokens is to be better against the good matchups and I’m not about to sacrifice its potential to be great. I’m a firm believer in playing to the strengths of the deck as opposed to watering Tokens down so it’s just mediocre against everything. You’re not going to win regularly with a mediocre deck.
1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
With discard and me having issues, I cut a Thoughtseize for this card, which is theoretically good against the likes of Dredge, Phoenix, and really any graveyard deck or deck running 1 drops. It’s great against Hardened Scales and Chalice. It’s a 3-mana Fatal Push against Humans. Overall, it’s been fine for me and carries the upside of winning without combat (e.g., Ensnaring Bridge). This is likely my flex spot and perhaps I’ll add an extra Fatal Push, Vindicate, or some other card in the future, but for now I like Kaya.
0 Fatal Push Main Deck
Push is great, and I can’t argue adding some maindeck to deal with things like Thing in the Ice. However, overall we’re pretty good already against creature decks and I don’t know what I’d cut.
0 Liliana of the Veil
I’m a firm believer she does not belong in this deck for two big reasons.
- You don’t want to be discarding anything. It’s possible you flood out late, but you want those lands to translate into Secure the Wastes Warriors. You’re a control deck where your advantage comes in creature resources, so discarding Souls isn’t great because you’re down two spirits.
- The three-drop slot is the bread and butter of this deck. Lili competes with Souls and Spectral, and you want those on turn 3 most.
0 Worship
If you want to play Worship, main deck it. Every deck can kill enchantments post-board and guess what, your deck has infinity enchantments so everyone will emerge from their stocked sideboard with ammunition to destroy this, even if they have never seen this card before, pick it up to read it, and then shrug and fire off that Nature’s Claim. Wrath of God or Settle the Wreckage are better cards in this spot. The days of Worship-locking people with Auriok Champion are over. Sure, it’s great game 1 in the tokens mirror, you can’t lose, but after board Disenchant comes in and lots of other decks just don’t care about a four-mana do nothing. This card was great for me maindeck in 2015, but since that time every time I’ve cast this card it’s just been a disappointment.
SIDEBOARD
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
Great vs. Burn, Ad Nauseam, Anger of the Gods – this little woman can do it all. One of my favorite sequences was preventing a Death’s Shadow opponent from bolting their own Izzet Staticaster in response to my path so they couldn’t Kolaghan’s Command it back later. There’s some play to this deck.
3 Stony Silence
Yes, KCI is gone. Yes, you still need three.
2 RIP
Three would be fine. Living End is a horrible matchup. Dredge isn’t an auto-win.
0 Surgical Extraction
This card is fine, but RIP is where you want to be. Magical Dreamland of Ghost Quarter + Surgical or Seize + Surgical are just that, dreams, and great stories. Just play RIP and Lost Legacy.
2 Duress
My answer to having only four discard spells in the main. You really want to be executing your game plan of controlling the game with your spirits rather than controlling with discard. If you want to max out on discard, play Rock. Then you can turn 1 discard, drop a threat, and tick up Liliana forever.
1 Lost Legacy
Perfect vs. combo decks. Nabs their payoff card. Also fine vs. control. I used to like it vs. Tron naming Karn or Ugin, but then they just play another win condition. This is best in decks with few win conditions. Unfortunately, the drawback against Whir is real.
Here is what I usually nab with Lost Legacy:
TitanShift: Scapeshift or Primeval Titan
Ad Nauseam : Ad Nauseam
Living End: Living End
Control: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, or Cryptic Command
Storm: Grapeshot
Amulet Titan: Primeval Titan
Taking Turns: Part the Waterveil
Kiki Vanifar: Kiki Jiki, the Mirror-Breaker
Sultai Reclamation: Blue Sun’s Zenith
Whir: Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
0 Fulminator Mage
I don’t think you’re reliably going to stop Tron with this card so I’d just not play it. I played Fulminator once upon a time and I learned the hard way that casting any non-Auriok creature is just inviting your opponent to be happy to cash in a removal spell, even if it just forces you to use your Mage.
1 Runed Halo
Awesome catch-all. Great vs. all kinds of decks. Names Eidolon of the Great Revel, Lightning Storm, Grapeshot, Blighted Agent, and Etched Champion. I like it better than Nevermore.
1 Wrath of God
Yes, you’re good against creature decks, but this can really help in a pinch because you can rebuild while they usually can’t. Great vs. Humans, Merfolk, Slivers, any value-town green deck. Sure, it’s not great vs. Spirits or Coco with Selfless Spirit, but it’s solid and many games you’re about to lose you will hope and pray this is your top deck. I play this over Settle the Wreckage since Humans has Kitesail Freebooter and Sin Collector to nab your card before combat.
2 Disenchant
You don’t have a catch-all for problematic cards like Ensnaring Bridge or Cranial Plating. This is it.
0 Sundering Growth
When you want disenchant, what you want to do is kill the artifact or the enchantment. You don’t really need an extra token. Sure, it’s a nice bonus, but you’re not dedicating a sideboard space for an extra token. The times you only have one white mana due to Blood Moon or have a Vault or a Swamp in play (God forbid both at the same time) happen far too often for you to care about Sundering Growth’s bonus. Don’t play it.
0 Anguished Unmaking
I ran this card for awhile and while there’s nothing wrong with it, it was just underwhelming and losing the three life and needing to pay three mana just wasn’t where I wanted to be. I like Disenchant better. Some folks are running Cast Out or Conclave Tribunal. I haven’t tried those, but there’s something to be said about a slot for this type of card.
0 Vindicate
If Vindicate becomes legal through Modern Horizons, I will consider running one, perhaps in lieu of maindeck Kaya, but my fear is it won’t be good enough. Anguished does basically the same thing at instant speed and I’ve been underwhelmed. Anguished is great vs. Tron because you can actually come back from behind, but Vindicate is worse than Anguished b/c Karn could be ticking up and you couldn’t cast Vindicate in response. Anguished is also better than Vindicate vs. Whir because of Welding Jar. I hope to be proven wrong, but my fear is Vindicate is just too weak. If Vindicate were a Black-White Maelstrom Pulse, then maybe we’d be in business. But would we? BG Rock only runs one or two copies – it’s not the busted card we’d hope it would be and Vindicate is weaker. I know Vindicate can also hit lands, so I’ll wait and stay skeptical. Cast Out and Conclave Tribunal, with exile and other effects, may be better.
1 Fatal Push
You’re generally already good vs. creature decks, but this is great vs. many decks and threats, notably Walking Ballista, all Merfolk, and Thing in the Ice.
1 EE
Great vs. Merfolk, Elves, and Affinity when you don’t have Stony. Be mindful that most of your stuff costs two – you usually set your bomb to one, but at times it can be more or less. I ran Ratchet Bomb for awhile, and it’s not terrible because your deck is slow anyway.
0 Damping Sphere
I put this in my deck for Tron, Storm, and Amulet for the GP, but I regretted it. BW Tokens is already bad against these decks and Damping Sphere is probably only fantastic vs. Storm and maybe Izzet Phoenix.
Matchup and Sideboard Guide
Worst Matchups (my opinion)
- Whir Prison
- Bant Eldrazi
- Tron/Eldrazi Tron
- Amulet Titan
- Living End
- Storm
- Valakut/TitanShift/really any combo deck that can combo without creatures (whether or not it also has that capability with creatures)
- Merfolk
- Ad Nauseam
- UW Control
Best 10 Matchups (my opinion)
- Mono-Red Phoenix
- Goblins
- Grixis or UR Delver/Mardu Pyromancer/anything with Pyromancer
- Grixis Death’s Shadow
- Jund/Abzan/Rock
- Zoo
- Affinity/Hardened Scales
- Soul Sisters
- Dredge
- Burn
Note: The Overall Win % below is my win % in my first 1,000 matches on MTGO. My 2019 W-L record includes all matches from 2019, including 80 that are part of the 1,000 and 45 that occurred since.
| Matchup | Overall Win% | 2019 W-L | In | Out |
| Hardened Scales | 100% | 2-0 | 3 Stony,2 Disenchant, Halo, EE, Push | 4 Auriok, 2 Seize, 2 IOK |
| Mono-Red Phoenix | 100% | 9-0 | 2 RIP, 2 Duress, 1 EE, 1 Burrenton, 1 Push, 1 Halo | 2 Virtue, 2 IOK, 2 Seize, 2 BB |
| Goblins | 90% | N/A | 1 Burrenton, 1 Wrath, 1 EE, 1 Push, 1 Halo | 2 Thoughtseize, 2 BB, 1 Virtue |
| Mardu | 90% | 3-0 | Burrenton, Push | 2 Virtue |
| Grixis Death’s Shadow | 85% | 8-1 | Halo, Push, EE, 1 Burrenton, 1 Wrath (draw) | 2 Zealous, 2 Sorin, 1 Seize |
| Jund | 79% | 2-1 | 2 RIP, Fatal Push, Wrath, Burrenton | 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 1 Kaya |
| BG Rock | 75% | 1-1 | 2 RIP, Fatal Push, Wrath | 2 Seize, 2 IOK |
| Zoo | 72% | 2-0 | 1 Burrenton, 1 Wrath, 1 EE, 1 Push, 1 Halo | 2 Thoughtseize, 2 BB, 1 Zealous |
| Affinity | 70% | 4-0 | 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, Halo, Burr, EE, Push, Wrath | 4 Auriok, 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 2 Secure |
| Soul Sisters | 69% | N/A | 1 Push, 1 Disenchant, 1 Wrath, 1 Runed Halo | 4 Auriok |
| Boggles | 64% | 2-0 | Halo, 2 Duress, 2 Disenchant, EE, Push | 4 Auriok, 3 Path |
| Dredge | 64% | 5-6 | Runed H, 2 RIP, Burren, LL | 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 1 BB |
| Elves | 63% | N/A | 1 Wrath, 1 Push, 1 EE | 3 Auriok |
| Faeries | 63% | N/A | Push | Kaya |
| Jeskai | 60% | 1-0 | 2 Duress, Lost Legacy, 1 Burrenton | 4 Auriok |
| Ponza | 60% | N/A | 2 Disenchant, 1 Burrenton | 3 Sorin |
| Burn | 58% | 5-1 | Burrenton, Halo, 2 Duress, 1 Push | 2 Seize, 2 BB, 1 Zealous |
| Abzan Midrange | 57% | N/A | 2 RIP, Fatal Push, Wrath | 2 Seize, 2 IOK |
| Death’s Shadow (non-Grixis) | 53% | 5-1 | Halo, Push, EE, 1 Burrenton, 1 Wrath (draw), 2 RIP | 2 BB, 2 Seize, 2 Zealous |
| Infect | 53% | N/A | Push, 2 Duress, 2 Disenchant, Halo, EE | 4 Auriok, 3 Virtue |
| Hollow One | 50% | 1-2 | Halo, 2 RIP, Burrenton, Wrath | 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 1 Virtue |
| Spirits | 50% | 0-1 | EE, Push, Halo, Wrath | 4 Auriok |
| Humans | 47% | 5-5 | EE, Push, Wrath, Halo | 2 Seize, 2 Auriok |
| Scapeshift | 47% | N/A | 2 Duress, 1 Burrenton, Halo, LL | 4 Auriok, 1 Kaya |
| BW D&T/Deadguy Ale/Eldrazi | 46% | N/A | 1 Push, 1 Halo, 1 Wrath | 3 Auriok |
| UW Control | 43% | 1-2 | 2 Duress, Lost Legacy, Runed H | 4 Auriok |
| Merfolk | 40% | N/A | 1 Push, 1 EE, 1 Wrath, 1 Halo | 4 Auriok Champion |
| Ad Nauseam | 37% | N/A | 1 LL, Burrenton, Halo, 2 Duress, 2 Disenchant, 3 Stony | 4 Auriok, 4 Path, 2 Zealous |
| Storm | 34% | 2-1 | Lost Legacy, 2 Duress, 2 RIP, Push, Halo | 4 Auriok, 2 Secure, BB |
| Izzet Phoenix | 33% | 3-5 | Burrenton, Push, Halo, 2 RIP, EE | 4 Auriok, 2 Seize |
| Living End | 33% | 0-3 | Lost Legacy, 2 Duress, 2 RIP, Burrenton | 4 Auriok, 2 Zealous |
| TitanShift | 29% | 0-4 | Lost Legacy, 2 Duress,Burrenton, Halo | 4 Auriok, 1 Kaya |
| Amulet Titan | 27% | 0-2 | Halo, 2 Disenchant, Lost Legacy, 2 Duress, 3 Stony | 4 Auriok, 2 Zealous , 2 BB, 1 HS |
| Tron | 26% | 5-4 | 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, 2 Duress | 4 Auriok, 2 Zealous, 1 BB |
| Eldrazi Tron | 20% | N/A | 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, Halo, Push | 4 Auriok, 2 Zealous, 1 IOK |
| Counters Company | 0% | 0-1 | Halo, EE, Push, Wrath | 4 Auriok |
| Turns | 0% | N/A | 2 Duress, Lost Legacy, Fatal Push, 2 Disenchant | 4 Auriok, 2 Zealous |
| Whir | 0% | 0-3 | 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, 2 RIP, 1 Runed Halo, 2 Duress, 1 LL | 3 Sorin, 4 Auriok, 4 Path |
| Kiki Vanifar | N/A | N/A | 2 RIP, 1 Push, 1 EE, 1 Lost Legacy, 1 Wrath | 2 Hidden Stockpile, 2 Virtue, 2 BB |
| Kiki Traditional | N/A | N/A | Burrenton, Halo | 2 BB |
| Reclamation | N/A | N/A | 2 Duress, 2 Disenchant, 1 Lost Legacy, 1 Runed Halo | 4 Auriok, 2 Path |
