Standard: Mono White Poison - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

The new year has already brought big surprises for Standard. With the Qualifier event taking place on the first day of 2024, we had a more comprehensive scope of how the Metagame is shaping up around innovations with Lost Caverns of Ixalan, with the growth of Rakdos Discover and Domain Ramp consolidating itself as the best deck in the format.

However, the highlight of the event was the fourth place list, the Mono White Poison by the player J-tekt. In this article, we delve deeper into the list to evaluate how this archetype fares against the current Metagame!

Mono White Poison, or Mono White Toxic, is an aggressive Midrange deck with a go-wide stance, where we seek to amplify the board while extracting value from the interactions between its cards.

On the one hand, it has the same characteristics as other strategies focused on the Toxic mechanic, launched in Phyrexia: All Will be One. In it, we run low-cost threats to avoid a slow start to the game, with the interaction between Skrelv and Jawbone Duelist being essential to this approach.

On the other hand, we rely on interactions between our token creation cards and Tocasia's Welcome to keep up if the early game plan doesn't work, maintaining resource parity while also extending the game to the point where we can bet in White Sun's Twilight to help us deal with the threats in play and populate the board with a game-winning army.

This is the list ran by the player to place fourth in the Standard Qualifier, with no changes. The only change I would consider at the time of writing this article would be to include a second copy of Get Lost in the Sideboard, or even in the maindeck if Planeswalkers become popular in the coming weeks.

As this hasn't been the case for competitive events and ranked matches in higher tiers, this change doesn't seem necessary.

Maindeck

The basic Toxic package in Standard.

Skrelv, Defector Mite is a staple of this strategy and one of the main means of protection against individual threats in Standard. Alone, it guarantees protection against any removal for other creatures while allowing it to bypass blockers, in addition to adding another instance of toxic.

Jawbone Duelist is quite lethal alongside Skrelv, where toxic triggers stack quickly, with up to four poison counters added to the opponent with just a single attack.

Crawling Chorus works as a resilient one-drop that replaces itself with a token who has almost all the same qualities as it, forcing unfavorable trades against removals.

Skrelv’s Hive is the closest we’ve had to Bitterblossom in years. While it doesn't offer the same qualities and isn't so prevalent as to be a staple, its ability to create one token per turn ensures that we always have a threat on the battlefield.

Additionally, the enchantment interacts with two other pieces on the list. With Tocasia's Welcome, each time Skrelv’s Hive triggers, you will also draw a card, this interaction is maximized alongside Mirrex, guaranteeing up to two extra cards in your hand at every turn cycle.

Charge of the Mites has a double function in the list, being another token producer, in addition to doubling as a removal due to the high number of creatures in this deck.

Our removals package.

Lay Down Arms is an unconditional removal for just one mana. As we care little about life gain, we can get the most out of this card as board interaction.

Ossification works as the second pack of unconditional removals for cards that Lay Down Arms doesn't deal with at the ideal timing.

Destroy Evil is a format staple and a necessary piece to deal with the various enchantments and larger creatures of the current Metagame, such as Wedding Announcement, Leyline Binding, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Atraxa, Grand Unifier.

Expel the Interlopers is incredibly efficient in a list where all creatures only have one power, functioning as a one-sided sweeper. It is the main answer to strategies capable of populating the battlefield with efficient creatures and/or with too many synergies.

White Sun’s Twilight is a late-game bomb, where it serves as a sweeper while creating a game-winning board state if we have pressured the opponent at the beginning of the game. It is also an excellent breather against Aggro if we hold the game long enough.

Mirrex ensures that we will always have something to do with our mana, in addition to having good interactions with Tocasia’s Welcome and Charge of the Mites.

The Seedcore amplifies a creature's power and ensures that it survives against blockers and/or guarantees more favorable trades against the opponent's board.

Sideboard

Knockout Blow works greatly against Aggro decks, but it has gained more space against some Rakdos lists that rely on creatures with lower toughness.

Annex Sentry operates as an efficient removal and blocker against more aggressive lists, especially those that don't have as much board interaction.

Lantern Flare is excellent in a list that aims to amplify the battlefield, especially against opponents who seek to play under and go for the race. It also mitigates the damage done by Skrelv’s Hive in these matchups.

Get Lost is an unconditional removal that also hits Planeswalkers. Although these are relatively low in the current Metagame, there are situations where dealing with The Wandering Emperor or Nissa, Ascended Animist can guarantee our victory.

Serra Paragon and Welcoming Vampire are part of our attrition package, where we need to extract even more value from our permanents to maintain resource parity against our opponent and amplify our chances of finding the cards that really make a difference in these games: sweepers, like the aforementioned Expel the Interlopers and White Sun's Twilight.

Domain Ramp

IN

OUT

Rakdos Discover

IN

OUT

Esper Midrange

IN

OUT

Azorius Soldiers

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Mono White Poison remains another proof that the next RCQs in the Standard format brings new air of innovation as the competitive Metagame shapes and adapts around the best decks.

While its space in the scenario remains uncertain, the archetype has an excellent transition between more aggressive and slower games, in addition to extracting a lot of value from some cards that are less played today, making it also an efficient “budget” deck option in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading!