Recently I joined Team Grand Prix in Kyoto with Tomaharu Saito and Lee Shi Tian, where I played Standard with Mono White Approach.

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The deck was created by the two French players Eliott Boussaud and Alain Bardini. They got a lot of 5-0 trophies on Magic Online and I chose to try, and got decent results: 2x 5-0, 2x 4-1, 1x 3-2 in 5 leagues.

The tournament was not a great success for the team with a 5-1-2 missing day two, but I was very happy with my deck choice and my personal 6-2 record.

Grand Prix Kyoto 2018

Here is the list I used in Grand Prix Kyoto 2018:

The deck is making every removal spells like 《Fatal Push》, 《Magma Spray》, 《Harnessed Lightning》 or 《Vraska's Contempt》 useless. Then, you can add all the creatures from your sideboard when your opponent is sideboarding 《Duress》 and 《Negate》.

Advices:

If you play 《Treasure Map》 on turn 2 and you are not looking for your 3rd land, don’t activate the scry effect at the upkeep. If you draw an 《Orazca Relic》 you could play it and scry with the 《Treasure Map》.

《Settle the Wreckage》 is a special card. You really want your opponent to attack with everything. You can bluff about playing a 《Cast Out》in sorcery, finally not doing it and pass the turn to manipulate your opponent’s mind.

You should put in play your 《Plains》 and 《Shefet Dunes》 first. Keep your other lands to protect it from a potential 《Field of Ruin》.

Don’t cycle your《Cast Out》 at the beginning of the game if you are not looking for a land or if you have many other 4 cmc or more cards in hand.

《Arch of Orazca》is a little tricky to use. You can use it in sorcery, in this case you could draw a spell and play it depending of your mana left. If you can’t play it, your opponent could use a 《Duress》or a 《Doomfall》 on it. To make this decision, you have to think about the outs and the emergency of the situation.

There is no reason to sacrifice 《Orazca Relic》 at the end of your opponent’s turn.

Notice that 《The Immortal Sun》 prevents planeswalker abilities, many people I played against (and with) didn’t know.

After casting an 《Approach of the Second Sun》 don’t shuffle your deck with 《Field of Ruin》.

Decklist update

Before the Grand Prix, I had 17 Sideboard cards and finally choose to cut the 2 《Tocatli Honor Guard》 for better sideboard plan against Grixis and Mono Red to the detriment of UW Gift. I “obviously” played against it twice. If I had to play the same deck I would make some changes to improve the UW Gift Match:

Here is the new decklist:

Match Ups and Sideboard

Against “UB Midrange”

UB Midrange’s Sideboard

Game one UB is playing 4 《Fatal Push》 and 4 《Vraska's Contempt》 so you should win easily.

In this match up you are also sideboarding 《Regal Caracal》. In theory, it looks like a bad idea to have it in addition of 《Tocatli Honor Guard》, but in practice 《Tocatli》 is so annoying for UB that if you have it into play you are already in a good position and can keep your 《Caracal》 in your hand. Note that 《Tocatli》 is also preventing 《Caracal》 trigger if your opponent is reanimating it with 《The Scarab God》.

Here are the cards affected by 《Tocatli Honor Guard》:

Against a deck with 《Gonti, Lord of Luxury》, keep 《Approach》 at least 5 cards bellow the top of your deck and use all the scry or draw effects with 《Treasure Map》, 《Orazca Relic》, 《Cast Out》, 《Arch of Orazca》 and 《The Immortal Sun》 at your opponent’s end step and your next turn to dig 5 cards in a row.

Against “Grixis Energy”

Grixis Energy’s Sideboard

This match is very good game one because of all the removals spells Grixis is running. 《Magma Spray》, 《Essence Scatter》, 《Harnessed Lightning》, 《Vraska's Contempt》 … too many useless cards.

It become a fair match post sideboard. Grixis is becoming more control, replacing removals for 《Duress》 and 《Negate》 and you can’t really keep 《Approach of the Second Sun》 as a main strategy.

Against “UW Gift”

UW Gift’s Sideboard

Like I said, this matchup is quite bad. All the small changes between the 2 lists are improving it, but you still have a lot of work to do to get the win.

《Authority of the Consuls》 is cancelling the haste ability of creatures reanimated with 《God-Pharaoh's Gift》 and makes your 《Fumigate》 good. You are basically trying to deal with everything until your opponent deck out. I can see an alternative sideboard plan on the play, where you try to go aggro with 《Tocatli Honor Guard》 support but it is unlikely to work.

This is what《Tocatli Honor Guard》 is preventing:

Against “UB Control”

UB Control’s Sideboard

If the match is almost unwinnable game one, it become very good post sideboard. Your deck is full of threats and card advantage cards and it become very difficult for UB control to have a good deck against everything.

Against “Mono Red / RB Aggro”

Mono Red / RB Aggro’s Sideboard

The match is very close main and post side. A real match of magic where both players have a chance to win. You don’t need to keep 《Approach of the Second Sun》, 《Regal Caracal》 is a cheaper win condition and it impacts the board.

Against “RG Monster”

RG Monster’s Sideboard

You are favored main deck due to the presence of removal spells in your opponent’s deck. Then he is replacing it for 《Disenchant》 cards and more threats and it become an even match up. 《Regal Caracal》 could be play but you have to know it is sensible to 《Glorybringer》 and you could be punished. 《Authority of the Consuls》 is making your 《Fumigate》 great and fight pretty well 《Rekindling Phoenix》 and haste creatures.

Against “GW Aggro”

GW Aggro’s Sideboard

Playing 6 《Wrath of God》 effect is little too much for GW Aggro. It annihilates the 《Sram's Expertise》 and 《Appeal // Authority》 strategy. Your enchantments exile《Adorned Pouncer》 and 《Merfolk Branchwalker》 and 4 《Scavenger Grounds》 may exile graveyard too.

Against “Sultai Energy”

Sultai Energy’s Sideboard

The match is here again quite easy. 《Bristling Hydra》 and 《Carnage Tyrant》 are not real problem with 《Fumigate》, 《Settle the Wreckage》 and 《Gideon's Intervention》

This is what 《Tocatli Honor Guard》 is preventing:

Against “BW Vampire”

BW Vampire’s Sideboard

If you can prevent your opponent to control 《Legion Lieutenant》 or 《Radiant Destiny》, 《Regal Caracal》 will lead the board and makes every attack impossible for the vampire player.

Conclusion

This deck is very powerful and seems very well positioned in the current metagame. I strongly recommend Mono White Approach for your upcoming events.

Have fun with it.

Jeremy DEZANI