(Petrify | Art by Samuel Araya)

No More Shall The Righteous Cower Before Evil

Hello, dear readers! It's been a long journey through each color of Magic, but we've finally reached the end of the line. Today, I bring you the most played mono-white cards in Commander!

White is the color of peace, order, and equality. These values can lead decks playing the color down two different, often-contrasting paths. White decks can aim to control the game with spells and static effects that affect the whole board. Opponents will be forced to play by certain rules or fear reprisal by the wielder of the white deck. The color also lends itself well to a go-wide strategy where you flood the board with creatures—often tokens—and use protection and pump spells to help them conquer your unruly enemies. Of course, this being EDH, you can build a deck that incorporates both of these strategies just as easily as you can optimize your list for one mode.

Whatever you do, make sure you check out the selection below and don't forget to browse through EDHREC's complete list of most played mono-white cards to help you build your next deck!

10. Flawless Maneuver

This powerful protection spell from Commander 2020 makes the most played list for white cards, just as Deflecting Swat and Fierce Guardianship did for blue and red, respectively.

In fact, these spells are also among the most played cards from their set, alongside Deadly Rollick and Obscuring Haze, though the green version does lag behind considerably.

It's not hard to guess why: free spells tend to be very powerful! Moreover, each color's version from this cycle boasts an effect that has a huge effect on the board, whether it's protecting your commander and other creatures or dealing with a pesky permanent or threatening spell.

Maneuver won't protect you from an exile effect, but it will ensure you win a big combat phase or stop a spell that says "destroy" in its tracks. Its flexibility makes it an easy inclusion, even ignoring that you will often cast it without paying any mana.

9. Anointed Procession

I'm really glad that I get to write about this sweet build around enchantment. I very much enjoyed playing with and against when it saw play in Standard, and that was when it was doing only a fraction of what it could achieve in an EDH gamer's 99! It's an unstoppable go-wide engine in conjunction with synergy commanders Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, and Rhys the Redeemed. It combines so well with pretty much any card with repeatable token generation that we'd be here all day if I had to list more than this sampling of goodies.

It's also an enabler for many infinite combos you can find on Commander Spellbook. While there are several popular ones to choose from, I'm a big fan of taking extra turns, so this Esper (white, blue, and black) based combo with Tivit, Seller of Secrets tickles my fancy more than the rest.

There are a ton of things you could do with your infinite turns, but you could also just kill everyone by attacking with Tivit for simplicity's sake.

8. Akroma's Will

The color white is full of effects that somehow buff your whole team, often seen on classic cards like Glorious Anthem and Inspired Charge. But this is EDH, so we have to take things up multiple notches for a board-wide buff to see play. Enter Akroma's Will. Whether you're using it like a slow Flawless Maneuver to protect your board from a sweeper that doesn't exile or to win a combat, or you're casting it to kill one or more opponents in one turn, this card is a superb inclusion in white decks that lean more towards the aggressive end of the spectrum.

This is all but confirmed by looking through the list of commanders that synergize well with the card. You'll find some that prefer a typal approach, while other decks that run this card will look to produce a lot of tokens. You could also fall back on using it to kill a single opponent with a lifelink, double-striking Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant.

7. Sun Titan

Like Anointed Procession, Sun Titan is a popular white card that can either give you value in the form of recurring cheap creatures with enter-the-battlefield effects, or win you the game by abusing its Unearth effect in conjunction with other cards. In mono-white decks alone, you have a ton of combo options at your disposal, including several that take advantage of its interaction with Fiend Hunter and with the help of a sacrifice outlet. It won't take much to win from there, but if you play black cards then Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim will get the job done.

If the aforementioned value path is something you want to lean into, the possibilities are limitless. From Reclamation Sage to Soulherder to Fetchlands, there is no shortage of cards whose ETB triggers you can reuse or whose abilities let you get multiple triggers of the Titan itself.

6. Ghostly Prison

Everything I wrote about Propaganda in my list of most played mono-blue cards is true for Ghostly Prison. Unless dealt with quickly, this card will be a pain in the neck for opponents who want to end the game by attacking. And while you can run both Prison and Propaganda alongside other pillowfort-style cards in multicolor decks, mono-white decks also have a lot of ways to augment that pain into a full-on tension headache. These mono-white prison-style cards include Haystack from the upcoming Assassin's Creed set, Windborn Muse, Blind Obedience, Trouble in Pairs, and a lot more.

5. Sweepers

This wouldn't be a list about the most popular effects in white without mentioning the color's best sweepers. Sweepers exemplify white's quest for peace, even if it's achieved the hard way. And while the color black has seen a lot of great board clearing spells lately, "wraths," named after the original Alpha version, are still one of the things white does best.

Over the years, a ton of sweeper variants have been printed, affording white mages the luxury of choosing the versions that synergize the best with what they're doing. For example, Hour of Reckoning slides right into an all-in token generation deck, while Cleansing Nova and Austere Command reward you with added flexibility at the cost of being countered by indestructible-granting spells like Flawless Maneuver. Farewell sees the most play among board wipes, which isn't surprising. It deals with one or more permanent types with absolute finality, and six mana isn't a huge price to pay in EDH.

Of course, control players also have the option of just playing a bunch of them and exercising complete control over the size of the board.

4. Teferi's Protection

One of my favorite things about how the color white's values are showcased on Magic cards through the years is the constant push-and-pull between sweepers and protection spells. White gets to dictate when all creatures must face judgment, but it also gets to intervene and protect the creatures it holds dear. Mechanically, this tug of war has played out in the form of an arms race between increasingly powerful and versatile sweepers and protection spells.

As we've seen more printings of effects that protect one side of the board from traditional wrath effects, we've also witnessed the advent of the exiling sweeper. And, now that Farewell is the most commonly played version, there's a natural inclination for white to evolve towards protecting from exile.

I may be getting ahead of myself here, because Teferi's Protection is still a very uniquely powerful Magic spell and because exile might not become something that Magic R&D wants to circumvent too much. All this to say, you can't get more protecting than by casting this instant. Aside from winning the sweeper vs. protection arms race, it also straight up prevents you from losing the game in many scenarios, in the style of Angel's Grace or Phyrexian Unlife. This get-out-of-jail-free card could be just what you need to turn the tide of battle and win the game the following turn. This all-around flexibility and potency is why Teferi's Protection is one of the most powerful and most played mono-white cards in EDH.

3. Esper Sentinel

This little guy may seem more at home in an aggressive deck than anywhere else. In fact, its prison-style ability and low cost means it's the perfect early play in a grindy control deck. As a creature, it does have particularly sweet synergy with Delney, Streetwise Lookout, but you really don't have to do much work to make this one-mana play net you card advantage. You could also look for ways to augment its power to make it harder for opponents to pay the tax. Or, you could go in a different direction with equipment and play Swiftfoot Boots to make sure it stays on the battlefield longer.

It also pays you off for playing it in a deck with artifact synergies, but it isn't too fussed about that either. In the end, Sentinel is just a good white card that can reward you while giving your opponents tough decisions.

2. Smothering Tithe

Speaking of tough decisions, Smothering Tithe is a Rhystic Study-lookalike that substitutes Treasure tokens for card draw. You may think that raw card advantage is better than generating mana, but in a format like EDH where most spells you cast net you some sort of advantage or value, having access to extra mana of any color can help you cast more spells than your opponents and let you snowball towards a win.

This unique ability to ramp your mana in white makes it an indispensable tool in the format. Of course, you could run some cards that take advantage of tokens to take Tithe to the next level, like high-synergy commander Thalisse, Reverent Medium.

1. Drawback Removal Spells

To the surprise of no one (probably) targeted removal spells are the most played mono-white cards in EDH. In fact, these three cards occupy all the podium positions on EDHREC's list.

That's because drawbacks like giving your opponent a 3/3 token or some extra life just don't outweigh the benefit of exiling your opponent's most threatening creature. Now, Path to Exile's drawback is quite steep, I'll give it that. But, you only have to wait until later in the game to cast it to mitigate the ramp.

A Blazing Sun That Never Sets

There you have it folks, the top 10 most played mono white cards in EDH! That's a wrap for all the mono-colored cards. Would you like to see more Back to Basics content, perhaps for each card type? I've really enjoyed bringing you this beginner- or returning player-friendly series, and I'm sure we'll see each other again! In the meantime, do stay tuned for my upcoming list article on the most played cards from the latest draft set, Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

Nick Price