The First Sin revisited: The Reserve List Policy.

1. 
   

 In April, 2018 I wrote about what I called the first unforgivable sin of Magic: the Gathering. The Reserve List Policy (RLP).

In it, I talked about the nature of the RLP, why it happened, and the nature of its existence in the game. In the seven years since I wrote that initial article, a large number of things have changed. 

One of the first ones was that MOST of the cards originally printed in Alpha was reprinted in a special edition set called Magic 30, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the set. Not only were all the artists not informed of this, but there was talk of legal action. This is hardly the only controversy involving the set. From removal not only of cards, but of flavor text, the facts cards were giving away for free when they didn't immediately sell out, to even art crops being bad, the set wasn't just controversial, it was outright bad, and hardly justified the 1,000 dollar price tag the packs asked for. While not entirely against WotC policy, it did skate the line really hard, hardly the first policy they've reneged on however (more of that below). 

Since Covid, there has been an exponentially increasing acceptance of proxies. While I personally still dislike proxies, and refuse in almost all cases to use them, I cannot fight the tide for everyone. Proxies are unfortunately here to stay, and I on some level can sympathize with those that do, as card quality has gone to beyond shit. I've even seen at least one Old School tournament that allowed the use of proxies, something that would have been unheard of in 2018. 

WotC has worn a lot of goodwill from the player base. One of the most controversial things was them sending Pinkertons to a man's house who had gotten his hands on some product early.

Sharks have become a major force. While the creepy 'investor' was always there in the back of the store, it has gone main stream, and while a much bigger problem in Pokemon, it does exist in MTG. Nothing is as funny, and as embarrassing, as watching a clout chaser and a boomer who failed at life get into a literal fight over children's cardboard so they both can hope to get the shiny one, the clout chaser for clicks, the boomer for money so the bank doesn't take his house.

Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has started selling products directly to the consumer, capitalizing largely on FOMO and limited availability. They've also since 2018 removed MSRP, but than, brought it back.

So back to the original point. In the original post I actually defended WotC decision, concluding it was a reasonable and logical knee jerk decision, but one that wasn't entirely thought out, and as with all policies, one that has been changed numerous times. Since then, every policy Wizards has ever had in regard to Magic has been changed, this list includes:

1. Promo Exclusives (Nalanthi Dragon controversy which left them promising that all promo's would be reprints of existing cards).
2. The policy of not crossing Magic with their own in house IP's, most notably in the west Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), which they've done on both ends, with MTG getting two D&D sets, and every plane getting a setting in D&D 5th.
3. The promise that Mirrodin would be the most "sci-fi" setting. Though I can't find anything on that now, I do remember reading it at the time. Though I'll also put this in the maybe section. "To be clear, it’s the science fiction end of the spectrum of fantasy. It’s as science fiction-y as we let Magic’s fantasy get."--Mark Rosewater, Blogatog

Magic 30 was in its own right, a shit show. It also showed just how desperate Wizards of the Coast could be. Things in the last two years haven't fared super better. The increased need for not only other IP's, but the fabricated controversy around at least one of them to drum up attention, shows that sales aren't in nearly as healthy a place as they let on. 

Dominaria United has a magically appearing Legends box appearing in random booster packs, though that either says WotC is so incompetent they lost a box of one of the most sought after sets ever for 30 years, or they bought a box from a private collector, and fabricated the story. We will probably not know which of these stories are the correct one. 

My dissertation is this, the RLP is on borrowed time. It's only a matter of time before they need a quick sale, and they try another Magic 30, or they go to the previous policy and release the Power 9 as an all foil Secret Lair Drop (with an admittedly hefty price tag). The other alternative is to continue down the path they are on until proxies are so much the norm that the entire game is chinese glossy cardboard with anime girls on them (more so than it is now). 

Blogatog post: https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/92310682893/yesterday-you-said-that-mirrodin-was-a-sci-fi

My original article: Gunnarson's Bag: The First Sin: The Reserved List

Article from polygon about Pinkerton incident: Magic publishers sent Pinkertons to YouTuber’s house over leaked cards | Polygon

The Seven Unforgivable Sins of Wizards of the Coast, revisited.

Me looking at MTG in 2025

Seven years ago, I started a series of articles called "The Seven Unforgivable Sins of Wizards of the Coast". At the time, the blog was new and was entirely based on card/deck reviews. A part of me wanted something more though, than just my thoughts on Bog Imps and Pikemen. 

I started the series with what I felt were, in chronological order, sins WotC had committed primarily about Magic: the Gathering (MTG) and its resulting fallout. 

At the time I featured a great deal of sources, quotes, and articles. A lot has changed since 2018, the massive archive of articles on Magicthegathering.com is gone, gatherer comments are gone, a great deal of reddit like and MTGSalvation.com threads are gone. The Internet is in its book burning phase for the sake of saving money, and it sucks. 

I will take each sin, link it to the original article, give a basic overview of my point from seven years ago, and then talk about how much that has changed, for better or for worse. 

I will try to source articles when I can, and I will, as said, certainly like the original article I wrote.

Naturally, this will take time, but I'm hoping to have the series finished by the end of the summer. 

Original article: Gunnarson's Bag: The Seven unforgiveable sins of WotC

EDH and me, A tale of suspense and intrigue

Recent someone of notable prestige made a post about his encounter with a certain ornery EDH player. This reminded me of my encounters with the format, and even my history of the game at large. After a long FB post, I decided I'll post it here, and hopefully make an enjoyable, if not somewhat long read. So sit tight, relax, put on some music, and lets a stroll down memory lane.

Now my history with the format is a mixed bag. Everything from pretentious hipsters to chill tournament winners, to zealous casuals who don't even know the rules of the game. It all started back in the distant summer of 2007. It was my first time in Indianapolis, as my dad had bought a horse ranch in the outskirts of the city with dreams of becoming a prestigious rancher. There was a local shop on the southside and like many, me and my brother would go there to throw down cardboard on a Friday night/ One night, someone asked if we played "Elder Dragon Highlander", and while I hadn't played it before, I was vaguely aware of its existence.

He gladly gave us the basic lowdown of the format and its rules, and that week me and my brother each made a deck from his cards. I made a Teferi theme deck, he built Savra with lots of Golgari themed cards, big green beaters, and ways to produce/sacrifice tokens. The next week we played a round of EDH. It was fun, this was still a few years before it became a formal format. Pods were big, lots of janky throw away cards being thrown down. I made a second deck that summer based around Rosheen Meanderer. This wasn't on a theme, but on a mechanic, trying to end the game with a massive fireball or draw the game with an Earthquake/Hurricane. Lots of Hydra's and mana doublers in the deck too, with a steady supply of Fog effects and removal. 

I don't remember much from that summer, but when I got home to NY I told everyone I knew about the format and it grew in popularity, I even made some cash by renting out my 5 color legends to people (in those days no 2 generals could be in the same Pod and Reaper King was unusually popular). However our format remained 60 card "casual", adhering to the Vintage ban list. Rorabacks was a common place to play in those days, and even in my earliest days, casual was trial by fire. One of the first casual games I ever played that wasn't with a family member involved a dropping of power 9 and a first turn kill. Academy decks were notorious as well, which forced me kicking and screaming into good deck building. It's actually how I learned how to build Stasis as a budget conscious alternative to many more expensive decks.

 Of course, at this point, this was a distance memory, and I was a decent player, even if I wasn't exactly super hardcore (I was building a car in my teen years and enjoyed other hobbies as well). In 2012 I moved to Indiana full time, at that point EDH was an official format, called 'Commander', and I was just out of college age. I met two teens at a game store playing that other card game, and a week later they called me, asking if I could teach them how to play Commander, not Magic, but specifically Commander. I agreed, we had pizza, it was a fun time, and one of those brothers would remain my best friend for a few years after. This honestly is where the change comes in, as EDH over the decade usurped the main game. More people getting into the game would get BTFO at a FNM and decide to just stick to EDH. Where in times past they would ask "well how can I make my deck better" it was become more and more "no, I'll just play this instead". 

Standard and modern definitely trudged on, but crowds slowly dwindled, at least in my experience, some of this brought on by some utterly atrocious formats, and some by the increased popularity of EDH. Modern Horizons was the death knell of casual and brewer modern players, and covid finally killed off Standard. In fact, my last standard deck I actually played standard with was built in 2019 right around the time I sold 90% of my collection (boy did I pick a bad time to do that!) 

Now I enjoy my old cards. I use to be extremely active in 93/94, and I like to pretend I still am. I occasionally will pick a commander and try to keep the rest of the deck as old as possible, usually having Homelands or Alliances be the cut off. Sometimes however, I'll continue into the larger premodern pool. I've tried a deck with almost every non-vanilla legend in this experiment. Mid-range Jacques le Vert where every creature in the deck was green. Dakkon Blackblade voltron, Merieke ri Berit control, so on so forth. I even once used Jerrard of the Closed Fist as a pauper EDH commander.  I'll also use newer commanders, forcing me to utilize cards I'd otherwise never run to get the most advantage out of the commander's mechanics. A few notable ones included a Tergrid deck, Satoru Umezawa deck called "Anything can be a ninja, even a cosmic horror", and my favorite, Judith burn.

These decks are usually seen with suspicion when I sit down in a random pod, and even less so with irate anger. One very flamboyant man said in response to my comment about no card in it being newer than 97 said "Oh so all your cards are ugly as shit". I was legitimately insulted, both because of what he said, and for him not understanding the usefulness of Glacial Chasm (especially in a burn deck). Later that game I discarded his entire hand with a Mind Twist. He responded with a "do I at least get to draw a card?" I replied "this isn't baby Magic man."

Another person on Spelltable once gave me an extra turn in hopes I'd be able to beat the fourth person on the table before his turn rolled along and he won. When I failed to do so (by no means a fault of my own, he just had answers) the guy yelled "I can't believe I wasted that on you! You have a bunch of cards printed in 1978, why do you even play with cards like that?" before disconnecting from the game. The worst in recent memories from Spelltable, came when I snuck my Mindstab Thrull into play attacking with a mechanic called Ninjitsu. He argued its ability was an attack trigger, which I repeated and even cited how all it cares about is its attacking, and it's not blocking. After 15 minutes of back and forth of circular logic, I conceded and went on with my night.

Despite all these, and more, I've also met some cool rando's in EDH. While few and far between, they were there so I can't entirely hate the format. I can say, something about the game, brings out the worst players in the game. I would deal with a thousand bitter grinders before having to deal with a "rule 0" conversation. 

The most disheartening conversation I had involving EDH involved a previously unmentioned friend of mine. He was an old hold out who due to his age, can't do much physical activities anymore, but he can play Magic. Just last month I asked him to bust out some 60 card casual which he replied "I don't have many of those anymore man, all I really play is EDH now." It really put things into perspective. Like I have some 20 casual 60 card decks, and if I can't play them, why have them?

Anyway that's rehtorical, obviously. This has been my experience of the game, and the format as a whole, a rather brief one at one. I could sit here all day listing all the EDH decks I've built, especially before 2019. I'll probably continue to have a few EDH decks (which is more than I can say about Standard), but it does make me ponder of the future of the community as a whole.

Format Review: Four Horsemen.

 Formats change the way we play Magic. Every time a set is added, or removed from a format, they game changes. I often like to say how much different each OS Format is, because of the different banlists and how they need to be played because of this. 

In this new series, I wish to explore the extremely wide and varied formats that litter retro Magic: the Gathering. Whether it be Fallen Empires, A40, 9340, 95, Scryings, Middle School, ect. I wish to explore them all over the course of the year, giving my honest, unbiased opinion on each of them. 

As of writing the current ban list, and potential prizes to the top 8. As well as contact info. 

Legality: Four Horsemen is a format consisting of the infamous 'Four Horsemen' sets of Old School, which are Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, and The Dark. In addition to the cards legal to these sets, basic lands and the Limited Edition Duals are legal in the set as well. 

The set allows proxies, and all reprints, and over the course of several years has had a dynamic ban list, with a number of problematic cards being banned slowly over it. The format is mostly stable now, though a recent restriction to Sylvan Library and Dark Heart of the Woods shows the committee is willing to put a damper on long term strategies. 

There was something nice about the proverbial 'Wild West Days' when the banlist was only ante cards, however 5 hour games get boring fast. 

The Rules use modern MTG rules with the exception of mana burn. Falling Star has special errata common in other retro formats. 

Currently on its 18th tournament, there have been variants, including pauper, "Legends Spice", and Highlander to mix up the mixture up the otherwise tedium of the format and keep it exciting. These are often done to a vote. 

The Good

Prize Support: Not just for bragging rights, prize support has been given out to tournament winners in the past. This includes Tokens with art from Ken Meyer Jr, playmats, custom made proxies by John Ekleberry, and I even got an art book and poster for winning the Spice Award one time (though what deck won the spice award I forget). 

Community: The community is rather small, as is with most of these niche formats, so it's very (sometimes I'd say to) relaxed. Though, you are expected to play with tournament decorum, since these are tournaments. There is currently a dedicated Website, Facebook, YouTube page, and discord.

Deck options: There is a surprising number of deck building options despite its relatively small card pool, and the four classical archetypes all have decks that can be built and played. For combo you have Land Tax, control has stax and tempo strategies, aggro has a number of decks, and midrange include Ernham/burnem, suicide black, and blue skies. 

My current deck for tournament 18. A 4 color midrange build.

Tron deck, older, but after Strip and Mine restricted. Still has multiple Factories.

"They Might be Giants" a red \white experimentation of banding.

Legends from a previous tournament, before the restricting of Strip Mine and Maze of Ith. 

Although I admit these are my personal decks, and I'm not as varied as other players, this shows an example of the variety of cards that can be used, which wouldn't be playable in other formats.

The Bad

Enchantments are extremely powerful in the format. In fact, you need to build around the fact that options for removal are limited. While The Abyss can be answered to with other Enchant worlds, few options exist for destroying other global enchantments. Presence of the Master and Desert Twister infact are the only generic hard removal for them. Remember this when designing the deck. 

Removal: Very few instant speed removal exists in the format. While I do enjoy this, if you're coming in from a faster format like Old School proper, it can be a big adjustment. This however, does inspire creativity, which I feel is a net positive in the long run. 

The Ugly

Creatures: While many good creatures exist in the format, there is an extremely wide variety of just unplayable ones. While this is true in almost every retro format, giving the smaller card pool and lack of core set it becomes more noticable when designing a deck. Most of these however, are from Legends, which luckily, is easy to overlook. 

Simplicity: No text change effects exist in the format, nor (with the exception of Blood Moon) are there ways to change land types. One of my favorite casual strategies is gone with the wind, but alas, I live with it. 

Set Hosers: The Set Hosers are banned (City in a Bottle, Golgothian Sylex, and Arena of the Ancients). I always felt they added an interesting dynamic to both this, and old school, but for the health of the format, they are banned.

Links: Website - https://www.fourhorsemenmagic.com/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@4HMOSMTG/?sub_confirmation=1 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/fourhorsemenmtg Discord - https://discord.gg/wyXFHtgsar Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fourhorsemenmtg/ Etsy - https://thefourhorsemenshop.etsy.com/

A handful of Arabian Nights (deck profile)

 

"The more one has, the more one wants"--The Arabian Nights Entertainments

When developing decks for Four Horsemen, I usually go off the beaten path to develop a deck built around a central concept or theme. While some of these are mechanical themes in nature, others are entirely thematic. This one runs a gambit between the two. 

While thinking of what I could do, the thought "What if I build a deck using only cards from one expansion?" I quickly decided I would do Arabian Nights, as that the stereotypical 'strongest set in Old School', decided (or more didn't have time to make good proxies) I would only use cards I owned, though reprints weren't off the table. 

With this, I set off on an adventure into making the deck, settling on a 4 color midrange deck. 

Theres a surprisingly strong number of creatures in the deck. Erg Raiders and Serendib Efreet came into play as early aggressive beaters with Unstable Mutation. Erhnam and Serendib Djinn make for some strong midrange decks. Oubliette, Witches, Desert, and to a lesser extend Abu make for decent removal (I dont think I ever played Alladin's Ring). Finally Wyluli Wolf, Island of Wak-Wak, Oasis, and War Elephant make for decent creature support. 

The strongest aspects of the deck, was how aggressive it was. It hit strong and fast but had little in the late game. Even without possession of Juzam, the deck was surprisingly good in the early game. However, when it petered out, as it had a tendency to do, it had no late game. Between the drawbacks of creature's in the deck, I was often killing myself as quickly as my opponent. 

Due to the simplicity of the deck, I won't do the usual good/bad/ugly with this deck, but I will mention a few stand outs:

Island of Wak-Wak was an all star, but everyone already knows this. 

Oasis: The fact this land can't tap for mana hurts it so much, but preventing one damage is surprisingly short. 

Erg Raiders is surprisingly underrated. I should do a review on it. 

Serendib Djinn is so strong, but so dangerous.

All in all, I'll give the deck a 3/5. Maybe I'll try to build it again with full proxies. Utilizing Ruhk Egg with Diamond Valley sounds too spicy not to try, and well draw backs cost me life, which turns it around. 

Lim-Dul's Grave Rave

 Graveyard ordering mattering was an interesting mechanic, and I lamented a little when they decided it no longer mattered on the tournament level, so much I found out ways to abuse it, and force your opponent to keep their graveyard in check. As far as I know, using a single Phyrexian Furnace will force your opponent to keep your graveyard in order in legacy (and EDH) to this day. 

Crops this bad usually end in famine.

When this strange "old school type 2" format was announced, I quickly settled on wanted to design a deck that utilized this mechanic. The card pool ranged from Revised to Mirage, a two and a half year card pool, and with the obvious offenders banned or restricted, there was a question on two things, what to put in my graveyard, and how to fill it. The two obvious ones were Ashen Ghoul and Nether Shadow. Both of these creatures could come back from the graveyard at their own leisure, as long as conditions were met, and with the other creatures in the deck, those conditions were far from impossible. With this in mind, I also included Death Spark. While certainly requiring some forethought into how to be used, one or two well used Death Sparks could deal an average of 6 damage per game, with one game going into double digits. Finally a card that needs no introduction, Hammer of Bogardan was an obvious choice from day one, and the two in the deck did their work. 

Next was how to fill my 'yard, so the rave could take place. A pet card of mine was none other then Lim-Dûl's Paladin. While not an amazing card, it's a decent card in its own right, being able to replace himself when I choose not to do his upkeep cost, and forcing a bolt from my opponents to deal with the otherwise annoying card. Wheel of Fortune was an obvious one, and was always a good sight to see. Finally my other big one was none other then Ring of Renewal. Thanks to both old school as a whole, and Fallen Empires 40, this card has gotten a considerable amount of love in recent years, and I made the controversial decision to try this over the most familiar (and safe) Jalum Tome. I will say, it helped a lot, as most time I used it I discarded a creature or land with it. Finally, the single Ritual of the Machine made for a very potent sac outlet, allowing me to steal a creature (with traditional black restrictions on removal). It always forced an answer from my opponent. 

Now that I knew how to fill my Yard, the question became how would I utilize it. An early picked Hell's Caretaker was taken from the deck, and instead I opted for a single Dance of the Dead (the only one I own sadly) and an animate dead. I comboed these with the lovely Skull of Orm, which allowed me to recur my two reanimation enchantments. Colossus of Sardia and Dance of the Dead was a potent combo, and had I had a second one, I would have put two Dance of the Dead's in the deck with two CoS. Finally I utilized Soldevi Digger as a mana sink, allowing me to get back cards that didn't help me in the graveyard, and also to help my graveyard stay manageable. 

The two other creatures in the deck are a single Eron the Relentless, a long time favorite of mine, and the above mentioned Colossus of Sardia. Both did their job well, and outside of what I mentioned above, I have nothing particular to say about them. Finally the single Factory just seemed like an obvious staple, and I ran it. 

Now it wouldn't be a black/red deck without a great deal of removal. The obvious choices were three burn spells, Lightning Bolt, Death Spark, and Hammer. Ritual of the Machine worked as pseudo removal. Mind Twist, without obvious fast mana (my deck ran no Rituals, and no Vaults), is a surprisingly fair card, and while I was always happy to see it, it never was a complete blowout that the card is famous for. Fumarole and Strip mine were put in the deck to hit problematic lands, and being able to naturally two for one is great, and 3 life is better then the 5 damage from Ashes to Ashes. Ashes to Ashes I don't believe resolved once, and I typically sided them out, but I have had good results with them in the past in other formats. Finally Soul Burn and Shatterstorm. Both of these were duds, with Soul Burn being somewhere in the ok variant, but I don't think one gained my more then 2 life, and I don't think I ever casted Shatterstorm effectively. 

Finally I only contained two cards to keep me from dying, a single Maze of Ith (which was restricted), and good ol' Zuran Orb. Cheaters Orb is a great card, and we all know about Maze.

Finally comes the Sideboard. This sideboard could be described as "I'm terrified of Circle of Protections." It includes two Ghostflames, a Dystopia, and two anarchies. Combine this with two Blood Moons, 4 Pyroblasts, and 4 Guerilla Tactics, it was a surprisingly well rounded build. 

The Good

Its amazing just how much Death Spark shined in the deck. Who though a mana sink like Death Spark would generate so much value. It was a good value engine, and only a few times did it wind up sitting dead in the graveyard, but with a playset in the deck, that wasn't that bad. 

Wheel of Fortune, like many others, has been talked about since time in momemrum. However it was such a good yard filler in this that I have to mention it. Plus who doesn't love drawing seven cards?!

Lim-Dul's Paladin has always been a pet card of mine. I've always thought the art looked like Ronnie James Dio. The card is very interesting, as it came out in that period where they were trying to give black/red interesting ways to get around Circle of Protection. I've always wanted to try him in a sabeutor deck, and one day I might. However in this deck, his discard was an excellent way to get creatures in the graveyard. Then when I was done, if he didn't eat a removal spell, he would draw a card, which this deck had issues with from the start. He typically did 4 damage once, and is naturally immune to Maze of Ith. 

Skull of Orm was such an engine. I had my doubts with only two enchantments (both reanimator spells) in the main deck. However, being able to recur those cards, if for nothing else then to remove creatures toward the top of my graveyards, was a great mechanic. I also once used it to recur Dystopia after I sacrificed it to not pay its upkeep. This value engine was so good, I'd almost call it the MVP, if it wasn't for the next part. 

Ashen Ghoul (and Nether Shadow) were the work horses of the deck. While other cards were certainly helpful, these two self-replacing cards were the ultimate power of the deck, and without them, the deck would never have worked. 

The Bad

Shatterstorm was a weak card and a disappointment. It was sided out in every game I could. Honestly, Shatter would have been better, and I think Disk would have been too. I guess it was just too slow and expensive. 

Ashes to Ashes was the same boat as the card above, but I used it once. It was just slow compared to other cards in the format. At least I got to cast this a few times. Still, I probably would have been better with Dark Banishment. 

Ghostly Flame was never added to the deck. Not once, and I heard a rumor at this time, the card doesn't technically do anything due to rule changes, but I haven't looked into it. Still I probably went into anti-white to much. 

The Ugly

Thawing Glaciers should have been put in the deck, but since they were in another deck, I didn't see them while deck building and forgot about them until I already registered my deck.

Same goes with Shatter of Mox Monkey over the mentioned Shatterstorm above. Alas next time I'll know better. 

Chadsters Land Destruction deck forced me to use Guerilla Tactics as an instant speed burn spell.

In conclusion, this deck was one of the most complicated decks I've ever built. It required a great deal of planning and mental energy every game, however I'm glad I built it. 

As a bonus, here is, in all its glory, the one on one match between me and the Chadster himself. Its hosted on his Four Horsemen channel. It is posted here with permission. I hope you enjoy. (He actually is partially responsible for the name, as he called it Lim-Dul's Dance of the Ghoul),

1996 Type II | Lim-Duals Dance of the Ghouls vs RG Land Destruction #oldschoolmtg #oldschoolmagic (youtube.com)

White Weenie "Doubleton" pauper a Four Horsemen experiment.

 White Weenie is a classic archtype in Magic. Probably one of the oldest decks in the game, it's plan is simple: play efficient creatures and attack. One of the early aspects of white weenie, and one of my favorites, is banding, which despite some interesting aspects, was never quiet on strong enough creatures to make it worth the trouble. 

When the doubleton pauper tournament was announced, I dwelled on what to build for a night, before deciding I wanted to try out a white weenie deck. I knew from the start it was an uphill battle, with red being the strongest color in general in the format. It would be even stronger in this format, with powerful removal like Pyrotechnique, Fissure, and Chain Lightning. Combine this with powerful cards like Brothers of the Fire and Blood Lust, you have a strong color, often combined with blue for its efficient fliers and Unstable Mutation. 

However mono-white had good things in its own right. Trample and Banding is a match made in heaven, and a lower power format, cards like Moorish Calvary and War Elephant really get to shine. Shield Wall makes for a strong counter to the burn, and Morale and Army of Allah make for some aggressive attacks. 

The drawback of the decks include it being weak, with few evasive creatures, and the color as a whole topping out at a 3/3.

The Good: 

Moorish Calvary

As a 3/3 for 4, Moorish Cavalry is already on curve with many common in Old School. Add trample, and he's as aggressive as War Mammoth. In a format of low removal, Moorish Cavalry did its job remarkable well, especially when paired with a bander. In fact, the only real crime was I only owned one to run.

Army of Allah

A card that needs no introduction at all. Army of Allah is a card so good, and so fast, I've considered running mono-white in regular 4hm and have used it in OS proper. Anytime I had this resolve, it put me in a solid lead. Honorable mention to Morale as well, which while not as strong, as always welcomed.

Knights of Thorn

The Knights of Thorn had one really solid thing going for it, protection from red. With red being the strongest color in the format, that little 3 letter word honestly made all the difference. His banding wasn't bad either, but hardly as good. 

The Bad

Mightstone

This is a pet card I've tried in vain to work numerous times. Besides the awesome Pete Venters art, its a solid effect. A off color Orcish Oriflame, however it is symmetrical, which is where its problems stem from. If (and when) I was winning (which I wasn't often), Mightstone was a boon, the definition of a win more card. However anytime I was losing, I'd hesitate playing this, and sometimes not play it at all. Sadly, with this being one of the weaker formats, I don't see myself running this is much decks in the future outside the most casual of builds. Alas, too the long box it will stay.

Amrou Kithkin

An 11th hour addition to the deck when I realized that I could have won a test game if I had an Amrou Kithkin in play. Since white only had a single flyer, and no other major forms of evasion, it doesn't look bad on paper. However, almost every time I played it, it was a 1/1 for 2. Rarely did it end up being unblockable, and more time then not it was banding fodder or a chump blocker. The sad thing is I think I took out the blacksmith for it. 

Holy Light

Perhaps the most disappointing card in the deck. Holy Light was a poor combat trick, a poor form of removal, and an all around spot waister in the deck. It did once kill something when I also double blocked with a Pikemen and Tundra Wolves. Most times it was just a damage preventer, but alas, live and learn amirite?

I don't have an 'Ugly' category for this deck unfortunately. It did its job just a little short of what was expected. I did however, get the urge to run banding out of my system for a while, and that is always good.