Mono White Midrange Brawl (1v1) (Brawl)

I'm looking at trying to put together the best mono white midrange list possible for brawl. Of course, there is more than one way to build a deck list. Some of the card choices will be a result of which commander I choose. I looked at Lyra Dawnbringer first. She is a pure beast once she hits the battlefield, but there are very few quality Angels to take advantage of her ability. Then there is Gideon of the Trials who serves as a very nice toolbox commander. In my experience, low costing commanders with lots of upside are an excellent choice because if the opponent does put in the work to remove them then you can cast them again a few turns later without much effort. Casting Gideon for 5 is much more reasonable then casting Lyra for 7. Also, planeswalkers are much harder to remove than creatures in the brawl format.

1) Gideon of the Trials. (3) Commander.

(A) The first thing I want to do after deciding on a commander is to lay out a curve. I'm looking at playing a balanced midrange strategy. The curve I'm looking at will be: 1cmc x4, 2cmc x10, 3cmc x7, 4cmc x6, 5cmc x5, 6cmc x2, commander x1, land x25.

(B) Secondly, I want consider how many of each type of effect I want to be playing.
spot removal: x5
mass removal: x4
card draw: x3
ramp/mana fixing: x4
Defensive Spells: x2
threats: x17
*It would also be to the benefit of the deck if the threats also helped out by having some of the above effects built in to further solidify each element.

(C) I'm going to look at finding x4 ramp first, as it will not be easy to find this in white.

2) Renegade Map. (1)
Play turn 1 and fetch turn 2 without using up any extra mana.

3) Traveler's Amulet. (1)
Play turn 1 and fetch turn 2, however it does eat up a mana turn 2 to do so.

4) Cultivator's Caravan. (3)
Not as relevant as in multicolor decks, but is still ramp with bonus upside.

5) Oketra's Monument. (3)
*not ramp, however it is cost reduction for all creatures that creates some 1/1's.

(D) The next most difficult aspect to find for the deck is card draw. White does not easily draw cards, so much like the ramp, I'm going to need to look at colorless solutions.

6) Karn, Scion of Urza. (4)
*Karn allows you to see a great number of cards. At first you do not always see the card you want, but over time you have a vast array of cards to choose from.

7) Azor's Gateway. (2)
*filtering is as close as white will get at this efficient a mana cost.

8) Treasure Map. (2)
*scrying is a little weaker again, but it later becomes ramp or pure card draw.

(E) I want to look at mass removal before I get too deep into the deck. I want to choose the absolute best choices here, so I'd rather not have to be too concerned about slots on the curve here.

9) Settle the Wreckage. (4)
*A true wincon sweeper for 1v1.

10) Fumigate. (5)
*traditional sweeper with a life gain bonus.

11) Slaughter the Strong. (3)
*leaves some board presence behind, so you have to be careful when using this one to time it correctly.

12) Cataclysmic Gearhulk. (5)

• since Gearhulk counts as an artifact and our commander is a planeswalker, this one should come out in our favor a vast percentage of the time.
  *just be careful to not blow up your lingering removal enchantments giving them the advantage.

(F) Looking at spot removal now. I know I'm going to be running two 4cc removal spells so I would like to have the rest of my removal be as cheap as possible.

13) Ixalan's Binding. (4)
*a catch all that stops commanders from being recast.

14) Cast Out. (4)
*a catch all with cheap cycling.

15) Thopter Arrest. (3)
*sorcery speed exile removal for creatures and artifacts.

16) Seal Away. (2)
*instant speed exile removal for creatures.

17) Skywhaler's Shot. (3)
*decent removal for the major creatures we will be facing with a bonus scry effect.

(G) This was my last set of cards I considered to add to the deck. White has a wide variety of grindy defensive spells that we can use to help get us to the midgame. Our commander can be a grindy permanent, so it would be nice to buy some time to get to the midgame.

18) Authority of the Consuls. (1)
*is a premier defensive cards against the majority of decks that pop up in brawl and also helps us be aggressive by making our opponents blockers enter tapped.

19) Kinjalli's Sunwing. (3)
*the best part of Authority of the Consuls on a flying stick.

(H) The only thing left to add (besides the land) are the threats. As mentioned before it would be nice to add as many threats as possible that offer removal, card draw, or defensive capabilities. It would also be of great benefit to have some lifegain, reanimation, or anthem effects as well. But before I dive into adding threats I'm going to take a quick look again at my curve and slots remaining.

Curve: 1cmc x4, 2cmc x10, 3cmc x7, 4cmc x6, 5cmc x5, 6cmc x2, commander
Currently: 1cmc x3, 2cmc x3, 3cmc x7, 4cmc x4, 5cmc x2, 6cmc 0

Changes
I'm going to cut a 3cmc card from the list and replace it with a 2cmc card. I know I want to free up a 3cmc slot for a creature, so better to switch it now.

Out- Skywhaler's Shot. I like the card, I just need the slot on the curve.
In- Gideon's Reproach. Weaker removal piece, but it is cheaper on the curve.

i) Threat+Anthem

20) Benalish Marshall. (3)
Typically hard to cast, but perfect for this deck.

21) Angel of Invention. (5)
Flexible creature that can create a huge board presence or by being a significant body, all while being an anthem.

ii) Threat+ Lifegain

22) Lyra Dawnbringer. (5)
*just a flying beast on the board that can help you stabilze a game in a hurry.

23) Evra, Halycon's Witness. (6)
*as she stands a 4/4 flying lifelinker for 6cmc is not great, however that ability provides a way to put a game out of reach quickly or to finish off an opponent with a very large flyer.

24) Glory-Bound Initiate. (2)
*big swings out of a 2cmc creature with a great exert effect.

iii) I'm going to look at the rest of the threats by working down the the curve from the top.

5cmc- 1 remaining.

25) Angel of Sanctions. (5)
*better than Trapjaw Tyrant because an etb trigger is much easier to pull off and will hit the target you want right away without assistance.

26) Trapjaw Tyrant. (5)
*originally added a card that is not yet in standard by mistake, Trapjaw is a strong creature that makes opponents have to think hard about attacking and blocking.

4cmc- 2 remaining.

27) Angel of Condemnation. (4)
can blink your creatures for etb or removal protection, can blink an opponents creature at specific moments that benefit you, or can serve as removal if you exert it.
the best part is the vigilance, which allows it to remain a decent flying attacker and still use its abilities afterwards.
*another cool trick is to attack with this and another bigger creature (Lyra for example) and then tap Condemnation in your second main phase to return the tapped creature to the battlefield as a blocker (or get an etb and an untapped blocker in other cases).

28) Baird, Steward of Argive. (4)
*stats are nothing great as a 2/4 for 4cmc, however there are a lot of decks in this format that want to attack with hordes of smaller creatures and Baird shuts that down cold and also has a high enough toughness to block a lot of threats and survive. (just wish Archangel of Tithes was still around).

2cmc- 5 remaining

29) Restoration Specialist. (2)
*a fairly vanilla creature that offers some upside to the later stages of a game.

30) Knight of Grace. (2)
*decent stats for a 2cmc creature that becomes an all-star against black decks.

31) Countless Gears Renegade. (2)
*may often be a vanilla 2/2, however can be combined with removal or sac effects for a solid output.

32) Aviary Mechanic. (2)
*at times it may be a vanilla 2/2, however it does have a few tricks available:
-pops etb creatures back to your hand.
-pops removal enchantments back to your hand to be recast (especially good if they originally targeted a commander).
-target a planeswalker if it has a lower loyalty then it started with or you want to recast it and use it again this turn.

Changes
i) Switching a piece of 3cmc removal to 2cmc removal in order to free up a 3cmc slot. 2cmc is very weak for creatures in white, so the change makes sense.

Out- Thopter Arrest.
In- Baffling End. Not as good and a much bigger downside, but I want the slot on the curve more.

3cmc creature *new slot available:

33) Solemn Recruit. (3)
*Starts out swinging for 4, but with permanents being sacrificed, blinking, being removed, and transforming this could get bigger.

1cmc: (1 remaining, although I am adding a second card in place of a 2cmc slot)

34) Dauntless Bodyguard. (1)
*nice 2 powered 1cmc creature that's ability makes it a great topdeck.

35) Legion's Landing. (1)
*a creature that is not technically a creature, with great potential for upside later on.

(I) Finish out with the lands. Nothing too complicated here.

Shefet Dunes
*late game ramp

Plains x24