BW Tokens Discussion

[Kazekirimaru]

Also, hi.

You guys think BW modern tokens can be a Tier 1ish deck?
[deck]
4 Auriok Champion
4 Tidehollow Sculler

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Honor of the Pure
1 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
3 Path to Exile
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Spectral Procession
4 Thoughtseize
3 Zealous Persecution

2 Arid Mesa
2 Fetid Heath
4 Godless Shrine
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
5 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Windbrisk Heights[/deck]

[Lightning_Dolt]

Also, hi.

You guys think BW modern tokens can be a Tier 1ish deck?
[deck]
4 Auriok Champion
4 Tidehollow Sculler

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Honor of the Pure
1 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
3 Path to Exile
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Spectral Procession
4 Thoughtseize
3 Zealous Persecution

2 Arid Mesa
2 Fetid Heath
4 Godless Shrine
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
5 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Windbrisk Heights[/deck]

If nothing else, it's really fun. Why no Hero of Bladehold?

[DarthStabber]

Hero of bladehold or signal pest. Never underestimate signal pest.

[Kazekirimaru]

If nothing else, it's really fun. Why no Hero of Bladehold?

Doesn't impact the board the turn it comes in; Elspeth is better at the 4 mana slot.

[Kazekirimaru]

Though I agree Hero is powerful when you can swing with him Modern is very VERY removal heavy so with no protections and no instant board impact Hero of Bladehold is more often than not Eat target removal spell.

[LP, of the Fires]

Tokens is definitely good enough to play in high level modern tournies and is one of my favorite decks in modern.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Though I agree Hero is powerful when you can swing with him Modern is very VERY removal heavy so with no protections and no instant board impact Hero of Bladehold is more often than not Eat target removal spell.

Melissa DeTora top 8's GP Toronto with HoBH for what it's worth. You can strip their hand before playing it. I like it better than Elspeth.

This is my go to modern deck:

[deck]Creatures (10)
3
Tidehollow Sculler
4 Auriok Champion
3 Hero of Bladehold

Spells (27)
3 Thoughsieze
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
2 Zealous Persecution
4 Raise the Alarm
2 Honor of the Pure
2 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession

Land (23)
4 Marsh Flats
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Fetid Heath
4 Windbrisk Heights
3 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel

Sideboard (15)
3 Mirran Crusader
3 Rule of Law
3 Stoney Silence
2 Dismember
4 Rain of Tears[/deck]

[hamfactorial]

Also, hi.

You guys think BW modern tokens can be a Tier 1ish deck?
[deck]Creatures:
4 Auriok Champion
4 Tidehollow Sculler

Spells:
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Honor of the Pure
1 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
3 Path to Exile
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Spectral Procession
4 Thoughtseize
3 Zealous Persecution

Lands:
2 Arid Mesa
2 Fetid Heath
4 Godless Shrine
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
5 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Windbrisk Heights
[/deck]

BW Tokens looks like a contender, though it may be weak in game 1 to Burn, Scapeshift and the graveyard decks like Living End. Those matchups could be shored up with a good sideboard, which white has plenty of.

[hamfactorial]

Also, hi.

You guys think BW modern tokens can be a Tier 1ish deck?
[deck]
4 Auriok Champion
4 Tidehollow Sculler

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Honor of the Pure
1 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
3 Path to Exile
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Spectral Procession
4 Thoughtseize
3 Zealous Persecution

2 Arid Mesa
2 Fetid Heath
4 Godless Shrine
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
5 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard 15 [/deck]

BW Tokens looks like a contender, though it may be weak in game 1 to Burn, Scapeshift and the graveyard decks like Living End. Those matchups could be shored up with a good sideboard, which white has plenty of.

[LP, of the Fires]

As Wescoe described in an article, BW tokens is similar to jund in that it can be built to handle a large spread of matchups do to the nature of having hand disruption, unconditional removal, being able to build a powerful board presence and having versatile sideboard options.

I played this deck for a while and I loved it, though one thing worth noting is your worst matchup is combo necessitating that you build your sideboard for it(not hard at all being base white), or as Melissa De Tora suggested, you could add deathrite shaman as a way of speeding up the deck a turn which should be enough to maintain parity with the faster decks in the format. Such a deck would look similar to this:

[deck]Creatures:
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Auriok Champion
3 Deathrite Shaman

Spells:
4 Thoughtseize
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
3 Honor of the Pure
2 Intangible Virtue
3 Path to Exile
2 Zealous
Persecution

Walkers:
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Elspeth Tirel

Lands:
2 Godless Shrine
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
2 Isolated Chapel
3 Plains
2 Fetid Heath
3 Windbrisk Heights
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden

Sideboard:
2 Sundering Growth
1 Rest in Peace
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Path to Exile
2 Stony Silence
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Duress[/deck]

This obviously hurts your agro matchup, but agro is such a small part of the modern metagame and your deck should be good there anyways with being able to make a large army of blockers combined with auriok champions tallying your life up.

Overall, BW tokens is a solid deck and demonstrably capable of finishing highly in any event when wielded by a competent pilot.

[Blackhound]

Devouring Greed as a 1-2 of for a finisher ? sacrifice 3 spirit tokens do 8 damage to the dome.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Are other people still interested in this deck?

[Lightning_Dolt]

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11680

[sin]

I'm interested! real new to modern- just finished building affinity & love the bw token deck. Been following the different builds over the past year and want to build a version. Unfortunately I only have 3 total fetch lands so I may have to improvise.

[hamfactorial]

Marsh Flats is one of the cheaper fetches, and Caves of Koilos is a solid replacement for the Arid Mesas.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I recently did some testing with the wescoe build and was impresssed.

[Chma]

I put a list together last night after seeing some guy getting some nice finished in DE's lately. I played mostly rogue decks in the practice rooms last night, but the deck felt good. My main issue with this deck now and while I've played token-esque decks in the past is that they don't really have a "nut draw". You ideal hand is some composition of some lands, some disruption and some threats. That's fine and all, just that most hands you look at feels "meh", which annoys me slightly (for example, I also have a pod deck, and if I get a hand that can slam a turn 2 pod with at least 1 other creature, I know I'll have a good start).

I also feel that, at least the build I tested yesterday, the deck is just a tad bit slow at punishing/taking advantage of decks that stumble after you take a central piece with thoughtseize early. It feels great at grinding out fair decks, so the question is how large
part of the meta will consist of unfair wincons as we move forward?

[Lightning_Dolt]

I think the nut is t1 thoughtseize, t2 honor, t3 spectral.

[Chma]

Yeah. My point was that that taking 1 card out of your opponents hand and putting 3 2/2's into play by turn three doesn't feel like "the nuts". Especially not in the current modern meta.

Squadron hawk is pleasantly surprising me.

[hamfactorial]

Tokens is well positioned because many decks are running lots of single target removal. It's certainly not a broken deck though, mostly it wins through hand disruption and board attrition.

If you want flashy wins, play Pod or Twin. This wins in the same way as Jund, 1.5 cards at a time.