My Rakdos Sacrifice opponent put up a good fight, but they’re on the ropes; it’s game three, and they’re at three life. They draw and Claim the Firstborn my 5/5 Healer’s Hawk, a desperate attempt to stay afloat. I sacrifice Alseid of Life’s Bounty to save it, and they play their final card (Witch’s Oven) before passing to me.
I take a deep breath, and give myself one final pep talk. “Alright, let’s be sure we have the win here. No punting, and no flunging!” As I utter those words, I mistakenly place my aura onto my opponent’s creature. It’s been a long day. Thankfully, they see this as a power move and concede.
Just like that, the affectionately nicknamed “White Jeans” got me to Day Two of the Red Bull Untapped IQ. As anyone that has ever worn white jeans will tell you, it was a mistake. But as someone who wore them as they walked all over the metagame, the cut is very flattering.
White Jeans by Syvantir, Red Bull Untapped IQ—$42/28 Tix
| Companion (1) 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den Creatures (16) 4 Alseid of Life's Bounty 4 Gingerbrute 4 Healer's Hawk 2 Eidolon of Obstruction 2 Stonecoil Serpent Spells (23) 4 Glaring Aegis 3 Gods Willing 4 Karametra's Blessing 4 Sentinel's Eyes 4 Solid Footing 4 All That Glitters | Lands (21) 1 Castle Ardenvale 20 Plains Sideboard (14) 2 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Apostle of Purifying Light 1 Bounty Agent 2 Disenchant 2 Drannith Magistrate 3 Glass Casket 2 Hushbringer |
The idea is simple: stick a cheap threat, load it up with auras, and protect it. Usually, playing auras on a creature without natural hexproof is risky and unreliable as a strategy but our spells are so cheap and our protection so good, the upsides far outweigh the drawbacks. Besides, Lurrus of the Dream-Den is there to recur anything we may have lost during our battles. (Assuming it doesn’t get kicked out of Standard next week.)
I believe White Jeans is a great metagame call, for a number of reasons. Since this is a Lurrus deck, nothing gets hit by Elspeth Conquers Death. Agent of Treachery is particularly weak against us, because we have little worth stealing and ways to protect whatever they target. It’s also an exceptional choice against aggressive decks like Boros Cycling or Mono Red, as it can win the race through lifegain. Finally, white currently has powerful answers to almost anything your opponents can throw at you. It’s aggressive both on board and in budget, and I think it’s an amazing choice for both the Arena ladder climb and some quick, fun games!
To help bring you through the deck, I’ve broken down the spells into three categories: threats, pants, and protection.
Threats
Alseid of Life’s Bounty is by far our most flexible creature. Not only does it protect bigger threats from removal, but it’s an enchantment for All That Glitters, and the lifelink can be backbreaking against other aggressive decks.
Gingerbrute is our most aggressive creature. Connecting for damage on turn one is excellent against decks like Azorius Control, and being able to become unblockable against most of the field is a huge boon. It can also be sacrificed to gain life, and looped with Lurrus for incidental value.
Flying is the best form of evasion we have, and the lifelink from Healer’s Hawk will swing many matches wildly in our favour. If you play this with Glaring Aegis, Mono Red cannot kill it without multiple burn spells. If they’re doing that, you’re winning.
Stonecoil Serpent is one of our more situational creatures, but when it’s good it’s the best threat you can have. It can’t be bounced by Teferi, Time Raveler, it can block Dream Trawler and prevent the life gain, and it survives Deafening Clarion. It’s also a fantastic piece of flood insurance and a great topdeck in the late game. Trample also means it wears pants well (for a snake, that is).
While not instrumental to the deck’s game plan, Eidolon of Obstruction is great at a few specific things that the deck sometimes needs help with—like making ground combat with small creatures difficult for our opponents. It also stops Teferi, Time Raveler from bouncing anything on turn three.
Pants
We don’t have many ways to interact with our opponent’s board, but Glaring Aegis does a ton of work. Tapping something for one mana while also growing a threat is perfect for forcing through early damage, or removing that last blocker for lethal. If you can give a creature vigilance, the huge toughness boost will make combat a nightmare for your opponents. Speaking of vigilance…
Sentinel’s Eyes is popular in Mono White Heroic decks in Pauper, and it’s one of our best cards. Vigilance is invaluable when you’re trying to outrace aggressive opponents, and being able to Escape it in the late game provides that little bit of extra grind.
We’re all about a balance between offence and defence, so holding up mana for protection is necessary. When your opponent taps out and doesn’t try to remove your creature, you’ve lost a bit of tempo. With Solid Footing, you can still make use of your unspent mana and flash this in.
They say All That Glitters is gold; well it is true in this deck! Since we have a whopping twenty eight artifacts and enchantments in our main deck, it’s quite common for this to come down on turn three and give a boost of five power/toughness for just two mana! You’re happy to draw multiples, as suiting up several threats can be game-ending. You truly haven’t lived until you’ve strapped this to Healer’s Hawk against Mono Red!
Protection
Gods Willing can be used in a number of ways to leverage most situations to your advantage, such as pushing a creature through for extra damage or ruining an opponent’s combat step. It’s also great against removal, and the scry helps a deck that lacks any real selection or card draw.
Karametra’s Blessing is the most efficient and flexible trick in our arsenal. Hexproof can protect our threats from removal and indestructible can help them survive combat. The power and toughness boost can either be a combat trick, or another way to push through damage. If All That Glitters is the most important card in the deck, Karametra’s Blessing is next on the list.
Sideboard
White has access to a number of powerful sideboard pieces to help fight the slew of different archetypes in the format.
Grafdigger’s Cage is one of the best sideboard cards in Standard. It turns off Uro, Winota, most of Rakdos Sacrifice, and Lurrus strategies—this will affect your own Lurrus too, so be careful! Glass Casket provides an elegant answer to many critical creatures, like Uro, Priest of Forgotten Gods, and Anax, Hardened in the Forge. You also have good old Disenchant, which is good against Fires of Invention and Wilderness Reclamation, if a little slow.
Apostle of Purifying Light turns Mardu Knights and Rakdos Sacrifice into almost trivial matchups, as it’s safe from nearly every card in their seventy five. Drannith Magistrate helps againt Temur Adventures, which is a bad matchup otherwise. It doesn’t die to Stomp and it strands their creatures in exile, negating a lot of the deck’s power.
Bounty Agent protec and attac, but it also can be sac. Not only does is provide a nice vigilant body, it can kill all companions and Embercleave! And there’s Hushbringer, invaluable against decks that look to abuse enter the battlefield effects. It also shreds Sacrifice decks, due to removing all death triggers.
Upgrades
I’d usually have an upgrade section to take the budget build to the next level, but this list is already in its final form! So instead, I’ll run through the different options you can consider to customise the deck to help it adapt to the metagame.
There are very few flex spots in the deck, it’s really just the two copies of Eidolon of Obstruction. When it comes to decent choices for these slots though, we’re spoiled. You can include more copies of Glass Casket or Hushbringer, but there’s also plenty of options to customize your build.
Sentinel’s Mark is an all-round solid card, and a fine choice if you’re just starting with the deck, or you’re not sure what you want to put in the flex slots. Sorcerous Spyglass does great work against many decks, though I’m not a fan as it doesn’t affect your on-board power beyond adding to All That Glitters’ count.
For creatures, Tomik, Distinguished Advokist does well against Nissa, Who Shakes the World, if those decks make a comeback. Tithe Taker makes sense if your metagame has an abundance of Flash-style decks or spot removal. And Beloved Princess is a great call if you’re facing many creature decks. She’s often able to get through unblocked, plus the life gain is fantastic.
Tips & Tricks
Patience is key with this deck, so try not to play everything out and forgo the ability to protect any of it. Alseid of Life’s Bounty can protect enchantments too, so remember this if someone tries to destroy All That Glitters! Speaking of protection, be careful when giving protection from white, as it will cause our own auras to fall off. Finally, there’s a little combo in the deck that shows up quite often. Solid Footing allows you to assign combat damage using toughness instead of power, provided the creature has vigilance. Sentinel’s Eyes grants vigilance, and Glaring Aegis gives a three point boost to toughness. If you assemble Pants Tron, that’s essentially an incredible boost of five power and toughness, plus vigilance!
While it’s clear that this isn’t the most powerful deck in Standard, it’s a thrilling and unique strategy that you probably have all of the pieces for! As I said after my last match of the Red Bull Untapped IQ: “White Jeans aren’t always the most fashionable choice, but they sure as hell make a statement!”
Scott is an Irish content creator and head of the budget division of the Izzet League. His primary focuses are Pioneer, Modern, and Pauper, and he can be found storming off on Twitch and Youtube.