The Top 5 Must-Know White Archetypes, Plus Example Decks

Glorious Anthem | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

Archetypes are a blueprint you use to build a deck, so to say. It contains all the relevant synergies and the deck’s gameplan, and it’s up to you to fit these plans with the cards. From classic white weenie, to tokens and stax, white has no shortage of playable archetypes.

Today, we’re covering the classic white archetypes with deck examples so you have a good clue about what to expect when your opponent opens with a Plains and says: Go!

What Are White Archetypes in MTG?

White Sun's Zenith | Illustration by Mike Bierek

White archetypes are deck strategies in which white is the only played color, or it’s the main color and admits some help or support from a second color. I’m considering archetypes that tend to be central in white; sometimes, an archetype like +1/+1 counters and proliferate isn’t white-central, since it relies on other colors like green and blue to be good. On the other hand, I’m considering white to be the main color of lifegain, even though black helps a lot in that department.

Tokens

Tokens is the quintessential white archetype nowadays, especially given EDH’s ascension. White is the color that uses their numbers best, and it’s also the best color for creating tokens, multiplying them, or doubling the amount of tokens produced.

Many mechanics, like support and convoke, make good use of tokens, and you can use mass pump effects like Glorious Anthem or Intangible Virtue to strengthen your army. Red also helps you in the damage department, and it’s also an adept color at creating tokens.

To make tokens in white, you can rely on your own creatures, like Resolute Reinforcements or Myrel, Shield of Argive. You can also cast spells that produce X tokens, like White Sun's Zenith, and many white planeswalkers also produce tokens, like Elspeth, Sun's Champion.

Example Decklist: Myrel, Shield of Argive in EDH

Myrel, Shield of Argive | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Deck source: Average Myrel Deck, EDHREC

This is the average Myrel, Shield of Argive decklist from EDHREC, just to give you an overall idea. Myrel, Shield of Argive is a commander that adds a little disruption just by being on the battlefield, so your opponents can’t interrupt you on your turns. And when it attacks, you make Soldier tokens. Naturally, this effect snowballs, so you have some soldiers, attack, make many more soldiers, and so on. I’m not going over all the cards, so let’s see a few highlights.

• Skullclamp andMentor of the Meek allow us to draw cards with small creatures.
• Vanquisher's Banner and Cathars' Crusade buff our tokens, so that we can make a huge attack.
• Cards like Anointed Procession and Mondrak, Glory Dominus double our token production.
• Not only does our commander produce solider tokens, but so do cards like Call the Coppercoats, Darien, King of Kjeldor, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
• Finally, cards like Valiant Veteran and Field Marshal are soldier lords that have plenty of troops to lead.

White Weenie / Humans

One of the main viable white competitive archetypes in MTG is a typical aggressive deck filled with 1- and 2-drops, and here I want to highlight specifically human typal decks. These are very much a white weenie deck, but with human synergies.

Most good humans are white cards, especially the human lords—synergistic cards that reward you for playing a bunch of humans in the same deck. It can also rely on +1/+1 counter synergies or tokens.

This archetype can splash red or green for support, and there are good humans in those colors as well. If we’re considering EDH, typical human commanders are Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Katilda, Dawnhart Prime, and Sigarda, Champion of Light.

Example Decklist: Mono-White Humans in Pioneer

Thalia's Lieutenant | Illustration by Johannes Voss

Deck source: Mono-White Humans by _Cygnus, MTGGoldfish

This is a mono-white deck for the Pioneer format that features a bunch of humans. This deck wants to curve a 1-drop into a 2-drop into a 3, and keep the ball rolling. It’s also ok if you cast a bunch of 1-mana value creatures and then cast a Thalia's Lieutenant or Coppercoat Vanguard to buff them. Just beware of sweepers like Anger of the Gods and Temporary Lockdown.

This deck has a plan B of fetching The Aetherspark with Cloud, Midgar Mercenary. A nice aspect of playing humans is that you can get extra synergies with your lands. Mutavault can be a 2/2 or greater attacking human, while Castle Ardenvale makes human tokens, and Cavern of Souls makes your humans uncounterable.

Lifegain (AKA Soul Sisters)

White is the best color at lifegain, and you’ll either gain a whole bunch of life at once, or in small increments while triggering your synergies. Executing your game plan around gaining life makes you very resilient against aggressive or burn decks.

Key cards in this archetype are Ajani's Pridemate and its variants, like Aerith Gainsborough or Cleric of Life's Bond.

You also need cards that gain life consistently, like Ocelot Pride or Soul Warden.

Finally, you need cards that reward you for having excess life, like Serra Ascendant and Righteous Valkyrie, or even Felidar Sovereign as an alternate win condition. A nice complement to white in this archetype is black, because many black cards also reward you for gaining life, and you can pay life for benefits such as drawing cards.

Example Decklist: Lifegain in Standard

Aerith Gainsborough | Illustration by Nakamura8

Deck source: WB Midrange Deck by Iimura Tsukasa, MTGDecks

This isn’t a pure white deck, as we have a small black splash. This deck has many ways to constantly gain life, ranging from Lifecreed Duo to Case of the Uneaten Feast. The payoffs are also plentiful, like Aerith Gainsborough and Essence Warden, which grow whenever we gain life, and Darkstar Augur, which allows us to spend life on cards. Amalia Benavides Aguirre constantly explores in this deck, and while you’re gaining life, you can pay 2 mana into Lunar Convocation to make a bat and draw a card. This decks handles itself well with its good removal, disruptive elements, and grindy gameplan.

Voltron

The Voltron archetype means going tall. Voltron means you’re stacking equipment or auras on the same creature, and hitting hard enough to win the game.

A card like Ethereal Armor goes a long way when you control many enchantments. It’s advisable that this enchanted or equipped creature has protection from removal, like hexproof, ward, or indestructible.

Many white creatures synergize with equipment and/or auras; you can, for example, draw cards with Sram, Senior Edificer or make cats with Kemba, Kha Regent. In this specific example, we’ll take a look at how white “cheats” on equipment costs, considering an equipment card like Colossus Hammer which costs a ton to equip.

Example Decklist: Hammer Time in Modern

Colossus Hammer | Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

Deck source: Hammer Time by Ohara, MTGGoldfish

Stoneforge Mystic is one of the key cards in this deck, as it searches the equipment you want (Colossus Hammer typically, but Shadowspear is also important as a one-of). You have ways to cheat on the equip cost of Colossus Hammer, namely Sigarda's Aid and Puresteel Paladin. Cori-Steel Cutter is a nice addition to the deck, triggering when we cast two spells a turn, and producing tokens with haste so we can equip our mighty Hammer onto them.

Stax / Prison

White is the king of symmetrical effects, or effects that apply equally to all players. Those tend to slow down the game and disrupt whatever players intend to do.

A nice example is Rule of Law, a white card made to stop combos and storm decks. White creatures also come with these disruptive effects, with the most famous being Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

This archetype has many names, depending on the cards you play. Pillow fort means you’re stacking cards and enchantments that don't allow you to be attacked, while stax means your opponent can’t cast spells unless they pay a godly amount of mana or sacrifice their own resources. With a little help from blue and black, these decks are often Esper in nature.

Example Decklist: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV in EDH

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Illustration by Zoltan Boros and Gabor Sziszai

Deck source: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV Prison Commander Deck Guide by Pedro Furtado, Draftsim

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is a commander that makes your spells cheaper while making your opponents’ spells cost more to cast. In fact, your spells will cost a whole less. That’s just the beginning, considering that you’ll tax your opponent’s mana way heavier, so it all adds up. This card is a pain to play against, and you’re not making any friends this way. This is the more midrange/controlling aspect of white decks, and you can punish everyone around the table with cards like Armageddon, Time Wipe, or Farewell. Cards like Mystic Remora, Blind Obedience, Smothering Tithe, and Ghostly Prison help slow the game down, and opponents end up either overpaying for their spells or giving you more resources.

In the long run, cards like Luminarch Ascension and Approach of the Second Sun can be potent win conditions. You also dictate the flow of the game with counterspells like Dovin's Veto and Render Silent.

Finally, colorless cards like Winter Orb, Static Orb, and Sphere of Resistance help lock down the game even further.

What Colors Pair Best with White?

White is commonly a jack-of-all-trades in MTG, doing a lot of different things, and for that, it can be very well supported by other colors with their specific contributions.

White-Black (Orzhov)

Black takes advantage of white’s token producers, naturally leaning into an aristocrats/sacrifice deck. For that, you’ll want effects like Village Rites or Viscera Seer. These two colors pair very well with lifegain and life drain decks, too.

White-Red (Boros)

Red takes advantage of white’s aggressive capabilities and the strength in numbers. Red usually adds reach to white, in the form of burn spells—Lightning Helix is a good one—or in mass pump effects, like Heroic Reinforcements.

White-Green (Selesnya)

Green helps white by beefing creatures, usually in the form of +1/+1 counters or enchantment synergies. Many green and white cards thrive on +1/+1 counter synergies, like Arcus Acolyte or Botanical Brawler. Green also adds to a token deck with its Overrun effects.

White-Blue (Azorius)

Here we have many possible combinations, ranging from tempo to control. Blue can dictate the flow of the game with counterspells and bounce effects (Reflector Mage), which naturally adds to white’s aggressive nature, or to the taxes white creatures impose on our opponents. On the control aspect, blue complements white’s wrath effects with card draw, counterspells, and late-game finishers. Or even with some value creatures, such as Cloudblazer.

Wrap Up

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben | Illustration by Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss

I like that white decks are becoming more diverse as WotC pays more attention to the color in its never-ending quest to balance MTG. These archetypes I covered here are all classic ones, and they have had competitive decks all over MTG’s rich history. And in fact, white’s one of the only colors that can reliably play all aspects of the game, ranging from aggro to control. Especially with a little help from the other colors.

What do you think about white archetypes, folks? Which ones do you most play, and which ones did I miss? Let me know in the comments section below, or leave us a message on Draftsim's Twitter/X!

Thanks for reading, and stay safe!