Pauper: Mono White Heroic (2026) - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Not only is it one of the most friendly decks in Pauper — both in price and gameplay— but Mono White Heroic is also a force that often flies under the radar. It receives subtle updates and posts results when least expected, proving it can still shake up the Metagame.

That was the case for the list piloted by Sodeq, who took first place in the January 30th Pauper Challenge with a 7-2 finish!

Mono White Heroic's strategy revolves around keeping a creature in play that benefits from spells that boost its power and/or protect it from removal and blockers.

In Sodeq's list, the deck focuses entirely on the archetype's core creatures: Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, Akroan Skyguard, and the new addition, Skyward Spider, whose Ward ability makes early, cheap interaction much harder.

The real highlights, however, are two relatively "new" angles for the strategy. The first, used before but not widely popular, is the inclusion of Remote Farm. The land doesn't provide immediate mana, but if played in the early turns, it eases the setup for any creature with backup protection.

The second is the addition of a Lesson package to be fetched with Guiding Voice, including Yip Yip! as another pump spell and Airbending Lesson to clear a blocker out of the way.

Maindeck

Lagonna-Band Trailblazer is the ideal turn-one play and usually survives the red removal spells in the format while also being a decent blocker. If it survives a turn, you're left with a creature that's very difficult to deal with through damage.

Akroan Skyguard is often the finisher. Its evasion flies over many less interactive boards and allows us to "go off" with Ethereal Armor more easily.

Skyward Spider doesn't have Heroic but offers something else in return: built-in protection. Once enchanted, it's difficult to remove without spending more mana than you'd like, generating positive Tempo for us when we follow up with Emerge Unscathed or Benevolent Blessing.

The Auras.

Ethereal Armor carries games. A pair of these, plus another enchantment or a stack of them, often results in a nearly unbeatable threat on the board.

Hyena Umbra and Sentinel's Eyes increase our creatures' power while offering specific benefits. Umbra is great against removal and ensures our creature survives combat, while Sentinel's Eyes lets us attack without leaving too wide an opening for Aggro decks to swing back.

Speaking of Aggro, Spirit Link secures the life race against Burn and Mono Red Rally while also being effective at halting the clock of other aggressive strategies. Sometimes, if our opponent can't deal with the enchanted creature, it locks them out of winning the game entirely.

Emerge Unscathed and Benevolent Blessing protect our creatures from spot removal and even damage-based sweepers like Breath Weapon. Both can also be used to push through damage in games with multiple blockers.

The main innovation in the list, Guiding Voice offers a generic +1/+1 pump, but its primary advantage is finding a Lesson to sequence another spell or even performing a looting to dig for protection or Ethereal Armor.

Homestead Courage guarantees four power for two mana on any creature with Heroic, while also generating positive value as discard fodder for Guiding Voice.

Although it enters tapped, Remote Farm plays a crucial role in ensuring our creatures land with protection and/or a guaranteed pump / Spirit Link ready, serving both explosive turns and safer, more conservative plays.

Sideboard

The Lessons.

Airbending Lesson can remove a blocker, prevent a lethal attack, or even protect a creature when needed. Its cost is relatively high for Heroic, but Remote Farm helps cast the three-mana spell.

Yip Yip! grants another two power for one mana. Combined with Guiding Voice and a creature with Heroic, the pair adds five power to a creature, which can often mean closing out the game.

The cycle of Mask of Law and Grace and Shield of Duty and Reason provides permanent protection for specific matchups where their respective colors are relevant. The Shield is essential to avoid an immediate loss against Mono Blue Terror/Faeries from a Bounce or permanent tap effect.

Journey to Nowhere is your answer to threats you can't overcome in combat and/or that significantly delay your game plan. It also works against Standard Bearer, our most common hate card.

Lifelink comes in as an additional copy of lifegain against Aggro, namely Madness Burn and Mono Red Rally.

Loran's Escape complements the protection package against targeted removal.

We don't want to spend mana on anything outside our game plan, but we also can't pretend Balustrade Spy isn't capable of winning faster. That's why we include two Faerie Macabre to delay or disrupt the combo.

Mono Blue Terror

IN

OUT

No match against blue is easy, and Mono Blue Terror is the most mana-efficient deck in the format. If we can land a Shield of Duty and Reason on a creature with Heroic, we rarely lose the game unless they come back with a double Terror/Serpent. If we fail to protect our threat early, we'll be playing around Bounce spells for many turns.

Mono Red Rally

IN

OUT

Resolving Lifelink or Spirit Link doesn't guarantee a win because our opponent can explode with more damage than we deal. We need to build a small megazord with Vigilance from Sentinel's Eyes to be safer from their damage potential. We also want Hyena Umbra to ensure First Strike and prevent a combination of combat damage + Lightning Bolt / Fireblast from destroying our creature.

Grixis Affinity

IN

OUT

Affinity has many tools against us, but most of them are board interaction rather than stack-based, and a turn or two of untapped Bridges gives us the advantage to dominate the game with the right combination of cards—we just need to play around Cast Down and Extract a Confession.

Elves

IN

OUT

Journey to Nowhere should target Wellwisher or Timberwatch Elf—the extra mana from Priest of Titania matters little if we establish good lifegain and/or a fast clock alongside protection from green. Masked Vandal and Monstrous Emergence are powerful disruptions against us if timed correctly.

Spy Walls

IN

OUT

The opponent has hand disruption with Mesmeric Fiend in Game 2 and a game plan that can simply run us over or win out of nowhere. Journey to Nowhere can delay the combo if used on one of their accelerators. Don't focus too much on answering Mesmeric Fiend unless it has exiled an Ethereal Armor that would win you the game.

Faeries

IN

OUT

Faeries is one of Heroic's natural predators, possibly an even worse matchup than Terror due to the positive Tempo from Spellstutter Sprite and the card advantage from Ninja of the Deep Hours and Moon-Circuit Hacker between draws and bouncing Spellstutter.

On top of that, we still have to deal with Snap, Bind the Monster, and in some cases even Boomerang. In short, the matchup remains as tough as ever, and we have to play around something constantly. If we resolve a Shield or Benevolent Blessing, we have a chance to win — otherwise, we need to set up a board state and/or find a window to turn the game around with the right mix of threat, protection, and Lifelink.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!