White-Blue Heroic at StarCityGames Open

By Shuhei Nakamura

Shuhei Nakamura is a member of the Pro Tour Hall of Fame, former Player of the Year, and is one of just six players with more than 400 lifetime pro points.

Celerity and solidity. Were one to describe Jeskai and Abzan in single words, those would be appropriate choices. If you're looking to get the best of just one of them, there are any number of solutions, but if you're looking for something resilient against both, it becomes significantly more challenging. One reason for this is because the speed of each deck is completely different.

If you were looking to beat just one, you could go with something slower and hope to outlast your opponent, or go with something faster and hope to outrace your opponent, but trying to increase both card speed and card power at the same time leaves you like the proverbial hunter trying to catch two hares at once—you end up with nothing in your hand but frustration.

But what if one were to approach it from the opposite angle? Instead of trying to match your opponent's speed, you need to make him or her match yours.

Just like the answer to indestructibility can be found in deathtouch and trample, the answer to both Jeskai and Abzan can be seen in today's deck, a white-blue heroic deck.

A deck like this basically charts its own course independent of whatever the opponent is using. A heroic deck's answer to pretty much everything is Gods Willing, denying the opponent the ability to say or do anything. The version increases the deck's flexibility by including Heliod's Pilgrim, but the fundamental point remains the same: you do what you want to do at your own pace, regardless of what your opponent plays.

WU Heroic by Tom Ross

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (20)

4 Battlewise Hoplite 2 Eidolon of Countless Battles 4 Favored Hoplite 3 Heliod's Pilgrim 4 Hero of Iroas 3 Seeker of the Way

Instant (10)

4 Defiant Strike 2 Feat of Resistance 4 Gods Willing

Enchantment (8)

1 Aqueous Form 1 Ordeal of Heliod 4 Ordeal of Thassa 1 Singing Bell Strike 1 Stratus Walk

Land (22)

4 Flooded Strand 2 Island 1 Mana Confluence 9 Plains 4 Temple of Enlightenment 2 Tranquil Cove

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Heliod's Pilgrim 1 Seeker of the Way 1 Aqueous Form 1 Ordeal of Heliod 2 Ajani's Presence 2 Erase 2 Lagonna-Band Elder 3 Stubborn Denial 2 Treasure Cruise