Ah yes, good old White Weenie. The number 1 deck I recommend to all new players to learn the format or teach your friends how to play the format. White Weenie might not always be the most dominating deck in Pauper, but it is always a contender that shows up and will always be a favorite of many Pauper veterans. It has been quite a while since I have looked at the deck and it has a few new toys to work with. It is one of the archetypes I call old faithful because it is one of those pet archetypes people always go back to.
The list we are going to look at today got second place in the Pauper Challenge that took place on 12/4/2021 and was piloted by the player saikyoluige. Alright, let’s not waste any more time and get right into it!
War Falcon
– a 2 power creature with flying for 1 mana. It does not getting better than that for this format. You have plenty of Soldiers and Knights to help your Falcon attack so if you could play 5 copies, I would.
Thraben Inspector
– It has decent stats, is a 1 drop and brings along a Clue token for some card advantage. In my opinion, this is one of the best 1 drops in the format.
Icatian Javelineers
– This is one of my favorite creatures for this archetype. It is reach, removal and just all around a good 1 drop that gives you options. This and Inspector are the perfect creatures to reset with Kor Skyfisher
.
Kor Skyfisher – This is one of the best creatures in Pauper period in my opinion. If you could play 5, I possibly would.
Loyal Cathar
– A really good 2 drop that takes 2 removal spells to fully get rid of. I am sad to see only 2 copies, but you need to make room somehow.
Cathar Commando
– One of the new toys for this archetype. A 3 power creature with Flash is a great way to play around counterspells against control decks and it has the ability Disenchant
something. All around this is a great new addition to this deck.
Daybreak Chimera
– This is gives you a big power boost. It is a 3 power creature with flying that can be cast for very cheap. I am sad to only see 3 copies in the deck, but in all fairness, sometimes casting something for 3 or 4 mana is not easy to achieve and can be slow.
Search Party Captain
- Another new toy for this archetype. In this deck, it can regularly be cast for 1 mana, giving you a 2 power creature to attack with and the ability to cast another creature in the same turn.
Journey to Nowhere
- You are gonna need some tricks and/or removal in any format you play. Journey to Nowhere is the best catch all.
Prismatic Strands
- This is always a good card. It is great at countering most board wipes, helps a ton against decks such as Burn or Stompy and it helps save you from the Fling
kill out of Affinity. Sadly against Affinity, it doesn’t help against Disciple of the Vault
because it is loss of life not damage.
Guardians Pledge
- You don’t have the ability to go too wide with this deck, but you can still swarm the board enough that Guardians Pledge can either drive home the last few points of damage, it can save your creatures from a big combat step or it can catch your opponent off guard and kill them instantly.
Cartouche of Solidarity
– This one is interesting. Not only does it give you an extra creature to attack with, but it also gives the creature you put it on a small power boost and it gives them First Strike which makes combat a bit easier. With an archetype like this, your goal is to bring your opponent from 20 to 0 as quickly as you possibly can. Cartouche helps you sneak in damage easier and that counts for a lot with a deck like this. Remember that every point of damage matters.
The manabase isn’t too special. You have 3 Secluded Steppe
to either be a land or you can Cycle it away to dig a bit deeper later in the game. You then have 3 copies of Boros Garrison
to help you keep land light hands and you can pick back up Secluded Steppe later on as well. I am not a hug fan of playing bounce lands in a deck like this, but I do understand why it is here. Then to finish it off, you have 13 basic Plains. I would either cut the bounce lands or play only 2 bounce lands and 14 basic lands, but that is just my opinion.
The Sideboard
Journey to Nowhere – If you need extra removal, this is the best you have.
Prismatic Strands – If you are facing a deck such as Elves, Burn or Stompy for example, this is a great card to have at the ready. You have 2 copies in the main deck, a third copy should help seal the deal.
Dust to Dust
and Revoke Existence
– This is what it has come to. 8 hate pieces for Affinity. I am of the opinion something might need to be done about this. Then again, what do I know.
Mana Tithe
– There are a lot of decks in the format that want to tap out every turn. This can sometimes be game ending if cast at the right time.
Rune of Protection: Green – This is better than its circle counter part because it cycles and you have all white mana anyway. This is very good at helping with the Bogles matchup. However it doesn’t stop the Bogles opponent from blocking one of your creatures with a huge Lifelink creature to make the game take forever. I think Leave no Trace
might be better, but I am perfectly willing to be wrong.
Verdict and Conclusion
I like these types of traditional and aggressive builds of White Weenie. The go wide strategies that play lots of token making cards with Rally the Peasants
are good, don’t get me wrong, but in my experience they can be a bit fragile.
With builds like this, you have a lot of individual threats that do the job and you can win a lot faster. Plus you get great value creatures such as icatian Javelineers and Loyal Cathar that give you a decent amount of reach and value for your opponent to worry about.
As for this list in particular, I do like it. I think the main deck is good, I just don’t like the inclusion of the bounce lands. I do understand its purpose, but I feel like it coming into play tapped could lead to some more annoying and slow down scenarios over time. However again, I am willing to be wrong. The sideboard I think is pretty standard. The Runes are the only thing I question, but I might just have a different way of approaching certain matchups than the pilot of this deck.
Should you play this deck? I think White Weenie is in a decent position at the moment. For the leagues it is always a good choice. For challenges I think it is a fine choice. Will it guarantee you a top 16 or better? No, but I think you would have a good shot.
I think it has a decent matchup against Affinity and Bogles. I also think it does decent against the Midrange decks and can hold its own against the Faerie archetypes. With White Weenie I always suggest practicing a lot because with a deck like this, you need to learn proper sideboarding and proper sequencing during game play. Remember that every point matters, you need to squeeze in every point of damage you can, when you can because missing even 1 point of damage over the course of a game could make all the difference.
However, with all this being said, as always, do remember my words are not gospel. I will always encourage you to try a deck that I bring you despite my personal feelings. Remember that results will vary and always remember to practice!
Would you like to compete in a free Pauper tournament with some great prizes? Head on over to Gatherling.com on Tuesday nights at 8pm EDT and play in our weekly Pauper Classic Tuesday's event! Join the chat #PCT to chat with us and feel free to find most of the competitors on Discord!
Thank you so much for reading. Best of luck to you in your next tournament and I’ll catch you all next time!
