Once again, wizards have shaken up the standard format with the recent banning of Aetherworks marvel. This means a new format and a new format means new
decks! A few decks to emerge from the bannings were fairly predictable; Temur energy,
G/B energy and Mardu vehicles for example, but one deck no one expected was the Mono
white monument deck. Oketra’s Monument rewards you for playing lots of
white creatures, allowing you to play two or more creatures a turn with each of
these creatures also providing you with a 1/1 token. This pure card advantage allows
you to go wide quickly and will usually demand a sweeper by turn 5.

MAVIGON, Top 32 at the MTGO Standard Championship

This deck gained popularity on Magic Online soon after the banning of marvel, but due
to short shelf life of this format, this deck will thrive or die when the new set
Hour of Devastation comes makes its impact upon standard clear. There are not many cards that excite me in Hour of Devastation that fit naturally into the deck, and a few cards that are coming in which makes this deck more vulnerable, for instance the new red sweeper Hour of Devastation. This sweeper negates the deck’s natural protection against sweepers provided by both Archangel Avacyn and Selfless Spirit giving all of your board indestructible.

One new card that might fit well into this kind of strategy is Angel of Condemnation.

This card looks like a limited all-star but has a chance to cut it in the standard format. The angel has late game applications, as it allows you to save your key creatures from removal and kill problematic threats such as Glorybringer that might otherwise be difficult to handle. It is particularly effective against opposing Ormendahls. The main challenge for the card is whether or not it can prove more effective than Angel of Sanctions with which it is likely to compete for a slot.
Whilst Hour of Devastation is not brimming with new and exciting options for the deck, that doesn’t mean this deck won’t see play in the new standard format as it is still
very powerful.  Players are still going to opt to use large creatures such as Glorybringer and Verdurous Gearhulk, meaning any deck that can utilise Dusk//Dawn as efficiently as this one will still be viable.
The Blue Splash Approach
Todd Anderson 4th SCG Invitational 30/06/17

This alternative take on the deck still uses the powerful artifact Oketra’s Monument. but instead of focusing on the linear go wide plan, it aims uses the cost reduction of white creatures clause to greater effect. Cards like Cloudblazer and Spell Queller are both powerful in their own right and become significantly better once they cost one less mana. With full play sets of Thraben Inspector, Bygone Bishop and Cloudblazer, this version should be able to draw enough creatures to ensure that it never runs out of gas and can reset its board state in the aftermath of any boardwipes. The addition of a viable late game, and interaction in the form of counter magic, adds a further dimension to the deck and may lead to this being the right direction for future development.

I am sure that this deck will continue to be popular with players online, and will likely show up Pro Tour: Hour Devastation. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed my first article for Troll Trader. If you have any questions, or perhaps some ideas for how you would build this deck in new standard, please let me know in the comments.