White's Current State in MTG

[ImaSaber]

When I started playing magic just a few years ago I thought white was the best. It had amazing combat tricks, and lifegain so you didn't have to worry about taking hits, It seemed unbeatable (In my very casual modern play group). Although as I got more and more into MTG I realized white fell short inmost other aspects, and this is on display in standard, and has been for some time.

According to MTG Goldfish, there are two mono white cards in the top 50 most played cards in standard, Giant Killer is in 18% of decks and they run around 2 copies (most of these are omnath adventure decks) and the other card is Elspeth conquers death 13% of decks with 1.5 copies.

This is an extremely low presence in standard, so low it got me thinking about why white is clearly underpowered, and the best reason I can think of is white cards need too much support.

Now let me explain what I mean. I know talking about Uro is beating a dead horse at this point, but i'm going to use it as an example here. When Uro enters he immediately has an impact on the board by adding a land, and drawing a card. He adds to the board by himself, or at least draws a card. Another example that I think of often is Robber of the Rich. When it enters, and then most likely attacks it steals a card (most of the time) from the opponent that they can't see. It does this all by itself, with no support. Escape to the wild, Elder gargaroth, the list goes on.

Now take a look at just a few white cards that come to mind like Archpriest of Iona. For it to be more than a 1/2 for 1 mana you need other creatures, or what I am referring to as "support". Sanctum of Tranquil Light is a great example as well. All of the other shrines except for Sanctum of Shattered Heights do something by themselves. One draws cards even if you just have 1 shrine, another adds mana by itself, and one drains the opponent. Sanctum of Tranquil Light needs mana put into it, for a lackluster effect, at an overcosted price. Seems pretty useless to me. Speaker of the Heavens is a card I wanted to be good so badly, but it falls just short because of the requirements that is has, it needs to much support.

Now this post isn't to be yell at WOTC, because I have already criticized them enough in this post, I just want to offer my unprofessional opinion on some changes that might level the playing field in terms of power level.

1. Give white an ability no other color has. White used to be basically the only color with vigilance, however in more recent years green has been getting more and more vigilance as seen on Questing Beast. Even more recently black got enchantment removal, something white often has been very good at, but now people have alternatives for enchantment removal in other colors.

2. Give mono white a theme. Now i'm not saying white does not have Some theme to it, because it does, but WOTC needs to pick a theme for white, and stick to it. In the dominaria era it was going wide and having universal buffs, but after core 2021 lots of the cards are based on +1 counters. If white had a theme it could be more consistent, and possibly have more combos with cards from other sets. What this theme could be I haven't the slightest clue but they need to pick a theme and stick with it like they have for all other mono colored decks, as well as two color decks.

3. Give white a truly powerful card. Now this statement may seem a little biased but here me out. I'm not advocating for mono white to have a bannable level card, but I want something that will actually impact a meta. Like I said before only 2 cards are in the 50 most played in standard, and decks are only running about 2 to 3 of them. White needs a power bump to keep up with the rest of the colors and their consistent dominance in the meta. Give mono white a card that will make people want to play 4 of them in a deck, or some card that counters a certain top meta card.

To finish off this long, and kinda winey post about my favorite color in magic I just want to reiterate why I feel mono white cards lack depth and power. Its because they often need support to function well.

Feel free to post opinions and ideas in the comments, I will read everything, though I may not get back to everyone.

Thanks!

[PickleLover]

Wow. No one has replied yet...

I agree with most of you said. White is just not good enough. You look at mono colored decks and see very powerful red decks or blue decks, but then white is just lackluster. I do think it has a general theme which is gaining life, and with the +1/+1 counters you mentioned, you see that intertwined with life gain like Ajani's Pridemate and Hallowed Priest. That being said, everything else makes a lot of sense. For me, this only applies to mono white because as you mentioned, it needs support. Paired with multiple colors, it's actually a decent choice.

[Borg]

It's always good to see someone making a substantial post to try stir some dialogue.

I don't play Standard, so I won't be able to offer much input on that front but l think you may be looking at the "state of white" from somewhat too small an angle.

Magic is more than just Standard and I wouldn't say that white is lacking power in Legacy ( which is my preferred format )
Cards like StP, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Terminus, Mother of Runes, Elspeth, Knight Errant, Humility, Enlightened Tutor, Orim's Chant and many more are all very good mono white cards which all see play.

Of course I wouldn't mind some new powerful white cards, as long as they're not OP.

[fishingbrick]

I pretty much agree with the OP, it's just that a couple years ago it was dominating standard with both Dominaria and Kaladesh. If WOTC decides to ease up on white for a little bit it's their choice. However, I would like new white cards that are powerful as well. We'll see what 2021 has to offer us.

[ImaSaber]

Wow. No one has replied yet...

I agree with most of you said. White is just not good enough. You look at mono colored decks and see very powerful red decks or blue decks, but then white is just lackluster. I do think it has a general theme which is gaining life, and with the +1/+1 counters you mentioned, you see that intertwined with life gain like Ajani's Pridemate and Hallowed Priest. That being said, everything else makes a lot of sense. For me, this only applies to mono white because as you mentioned, it needs support. Paired with multiple colors, it's actually a decent choice.

Yes, white always seems to be paired with other colors, but usually takes a back seat to the other color(s) being used in the deck. When playing my favorite two color combination, Orzohv, the deck seems to be mostly mono black, slashing white for creatures that make tokens when they die. I found an example of something similar in a modern Azorious control deck linked here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/wu-68d6e340-6601-4aab-9a70-4bdccc013e7e#paper . It runs lots of power blue cards, but most of the white spells are also blue. Seems like white is just better as a supporting color than anything else.

[ImaSaber]

It's always good to see someone making a substantial post to try stir some dialogue.

I don't play Standard, so I won't be able to offer much input on that front but l think you may be looking at the "state of white" from somewhat too small an angle.

Magic is more than just Standard and I wouldn't say that white is lacking power in Legacy ( which is my preferred format )
Cards like StP, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Terminus, Mother of Runes, Elspeth, Knight Errant, Humility, Enlightened Tutor, Orim's Chant and many more are all very good mono white cards which all see play.

Of course I wouldn't mind some new powerful white cards, as long as they're not OP.

Yea, I don't know much about formats like Legacy and vintage unfortunately. Although looking at the decks that contain white they all seem to run the same cards. To me this means that there are several cards that are playable, and the rest of the mono white cards just flat out fall short. This could be me misreading Legacy decklists, but it seems like the other 4 colors have multiple strategies involved that are powerful enough to be "meta". It just seems like other decks can do much more explosive things with a multitude of cards, where white has a select few that shine. Not to discredit you, i'm sure most of this reply is wrong, and you know much more about the format than I do, I just wanted to point out what I saw, and what it made me think.

[fishingbrick]

As much as I like splashing white, it does seem weak to play mono white in a multitude of formats. I agree with pretty much what everyone said.

[ApothecaryGeist]

I play Commander.  White currently seems like it harbors the most frustration as being "the weakest" color.  A few years ago, this was red.  Especially in Commander.  I'm not really sure what happened.  I still feel like mono-red is weaker than mono-white.


I've been playing since Revised. I have seen Green be "the weakest color".  And the weak color is always getting "screwed" and "overlooked" by WotC.  (At least that's the overall community reaction.)  And then black was seen as weak.  And then red.  And now white.


Blue has been the only color that is consistently viewed as being "the strongest" or best color.  Even as WotC has actively taken pieces of the color pie away from it.


I am eagerly awaiting the day that we feel blue is the weakest color. 

[WizardSpartan]

I think WotC printed a lot of good red commanders and "draw" spells.

Torbran, Thane of Red Fell really stands out to me as interesting and he does a good job of scaling burn up to a multiplayer format.

I think a lot of recent red commanders are just omega aggro and are able to outrace opponents. Think Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded; Etali, Primal Storm; Ilharg, the Raze-Boar. They can do big, nasty things and are splashy & fun, which a lot of EDH players like.

Red also has been getting good access to impulse draw spells. Ignite the Future, Light up the Stage, Tectonic Giant, Syr Carah, the Bold, and Magmatic Channeler are all good examples of card advantage red has gained access to in recent years.

I think white has been getting some love in generically good cards Mangara, the Diplomat; Smothering Tithe; Verge Rangers; Keeper of the Accord, but honestly, they aren't inspiring to build around.

I, too, hope that blue eventually will be considered the "weakest" color, but I doubt that will ever happen unless there are major color pie shifts.

[Slyvester12]

As long as blue has the best draw spells and counters, I'm betting it'll be the strongest.

[PickleLover]

My views

1. Blue
2. Black
3. Green
4. Red
5. White

[WizardSpartan]

I think, overall, green is still better than black (although it is definitely close). In cEDH, black could be #2 because of win-cons and the tutors, but in Standard, regular EDH, and modern, I think green is a lot more powerful and core to the decks, as the advantages black provides aren't taken advantage of as well. The ramp & win conditions that green provides, though, is used in almost every format.

[Akira Foxmind]

I think, overall, green is still better than black (although it is definitely close). In cEDH, black could be #2 because of win-cons and the tutors, but in Standard, regular EDH, and modern, I think green is a lot more powerful and core to the decks, as the advantages black provides aren't taken advantage of as well. The ramp & win conditions that green provides, though, is used in almost every format.

Another upside that green has over black is the availability of artifact and enchantment removal which black is lacking pretty much. Since green got some pretty neat fighting and 'creature deals damage equal to it's power to target creature' spells, this advantage of having good removal of black is not that important I would say. 

Essentially, you could say that green has everything that is important in commander:
Ramp, carddraw, removal for nearly everything (excluding Planeswalkers), good creatures and even some protection spells.

[Aetherium Slinky]

(excluding Planeswalkers)

Big Green Smash Face, Planeswalker be Dead

[Slyvester12]

Not to mention green has Song of the Dryads and Beast Within. Permanent removal is pretty good.