[Primer] Modern Knights

[Nabbydian]

MODERN KNIGHTS


Special thanks to Syndarion from Aeternal Studios for this awesome banner!


1.0) Introduction

As a knight fanatic who have been playing knights regularly in both legacy and standard, i'm starting to look at the Modern format with a keen interest.

I'm first to admit knights tribal is not the strongest in legacy but in my opinion they are a respectable tribe. Being predominantly white has an added benefit as white traditionally has all the answers to various threats. More importantly porting the legacy list over to Modern has been surprisingly easy meaning most of the power cards like Aether Vial, better Knight creatures etc will still be available. Knights is also not affected much from losing powerful/versatile non-basic lands.

As the easier way to start is to make alterations to my existing Legacy knight decks ([Deck/Primer] Legacy Knights Primer )therefore that is how my approach towards forming Modern Knights will be. When i have more experiences playing against other Modern decks it might look different but meanwhile i'll appreciate any assistance or advice that is been dished out here so please feel free to post here.

Knights in White are far superior to what the other colors can offer, therefore White will always be the dominant color in a knight build. White spells is well equipped to deal with all type of threats , so at the moment it seems only Green is worth splashing as a secondary color, as they can bring along a Land Toolbox with Knight of Reliquary.

DECKLISTS AVAILABLE:
Mono Knights - Modern WW Vial Knights
Knights - Modern GW Vial Knights
Knights - Modern GW(Non-Vial) Knights
Mono Knights - Modern Puresteel Knights
Mono Knights - Haakon's Darth Knights

I'm be updating this thread shortly with regards to card choices etc, at the moment i have selected some of the playable knights which might belong in the deck.

Kindly point out to me any cards which does not belong to Modern which i may have mistakenly included here.

The 3 cards which are the cornerstone of Modern Knights:




2)Card Choices

2.1) Knight Creatures - the reason why we are playing this deck

Spoiler:

The Main Knights - Best Modern Knights and always first to be deployed

Knight Exemplar
The only Knight Lord. He boasts your own knights, makes them indestructable, survives Day of Judgement and Pryoclasm etc. A pair of them means indestructability therefore a no-brainer here to include 4 in the deck.
On the downside, he usually only make cameo appearances and he is also a good magnet for opponents removal. it goes to show how good they are. Can be use as bait before you cast other bombs.

Student of Warfare
The best one-drop knight around in Modern. A four-of is a must because there is no other better knights around in term of casting cost and ability. Good when its in the opening hand, decent if drawn during early game and absolutely massive when drawn during the late game.

Knight of the White Orchid
A fine 2/2 with first strike at 2cc. Being on the draw/combined with fetchlands will allow us ensure we dont miss land drop and also speed up our mana production. Has synergy with PtE also.

Knight of the Reliquary
Usually enter play as a 3/3 creature or bigger at 3cc. The land fetching will trim the deck resulting in better draws during later parts of the game and best of all it is a one card land toolbox.
It can tutor for lands such as Teutonic Edge/Ghost Quarter/Mystifying Maze/Bojuka Bog.
Is the only potentially powerful knight as the rest are mostly considered weenies. Most importantly it is able to hold its own without the aid of equipments during mid/late game unlike the other knights.

Knight of Meadowgrain
Early lifegain from this creature might be critical against certain matchups. As a 2cc, it might draw removal from some decks thus allowing more powerful 3cc to go through later on.

Mirran Crusader
Everyone plays Tarmogoyf nowadays while Black is also a very popular removal colour. Therefore protection from Black/Green is very relevant here.
The double strike ability also means more damage deal and triggering the Swords effect twice such as two cards/4 damage via SoFI etc.

Knights on Standby - Good Knights waiting for their chances

White Knight, Black Knight, Blood Knight
A cheap and effective creature, is a knight. Protection is especially useful when paired with one of the swords. Fits the Mana curve/vial counter perfectly as a 2 drop.

Paladin en-Vec
Almost exactly the same as Mirran Crusader, minus the double-strike ability and change protection from green to red. Unless your meta is red-dominant, its Mirran over en-Vec anytime.

Stillmoon Cavalier
Protection from White and Black means many removal spells are useless againt him. Has flying for evasion so he is able to bring your Swords over for direct damage. However when you have no mana available he is very weak at 2/1 and may prove to be a liability to pump him when you can put your mana to better use. Not so good when drawn early against Non-white/black opponents.

Phyrexian Crusader
First strike and also has protection against 2 colors. In the Zoo/Boros matchup, casting this creature is as good as a win. Otherwise the Infect portion has Zero synergy with the rest of the knight deck. Due to Infect inrelevance in Knights, it is quite difficult to argue for its inclusion here.

Stromgald Crusader/White Shield Crusader
Both also offer either protection from black or white, Crusader can also fly. But again the opportunity cost in spending mana to pump them does not give you the appropriate amount of benefits. It's lack of first strike means it will die to almost any kind of attack/defence.

Kinsbaile Cavalier
The global effect this knight brings along is very useful and can often win the game via a single attack or swing board advantage back to your side. The fact that an opponent has a dilemma over removing Kinsbaile or Knight exemplar when both are in play is compliment on the potential of this card.
However the downside is its 4cc, which will render our vial useless. When there is no other knight around, it is just an overcost knight.

Hero of Bladehold
A successful swing with Hero can usually swing board advantage back to your side. It's effectiveness is also greatly doubled when combined with Honor of the Pure. However at 4cc it seems like Elpseth Knight Errant would be a better choice.

Knight of the Holy Nimbus
Good against tempo deck especially. His built-in indestructability forces opponent to disrupt their own tempo in order to kill him. Good synergy with Day of Judgment.

Silverblade Paladin
Most knights already have first strike, therefore it could be argued that doublestrike may only be a slight improvement on that. Try playing against 2x double strike knights to get a different perspective, in actual fact it's quite a handful to deal with! The Soulbond mechanic may also contribute to some combat tricks via Aether Vial. That said, Silver Paladin do not have double strike on it's own, therefore you still need at least another creature in play. With Soulbond, we may also be susceptible to a well time removal costing us dearly during combat. Eventually this card is comparable to Kinsbaile Cavalier and Mirran Crusader, as Cavalier gives double strike to ALL knights including itself when it ETB but at a higher cost of 4cc, while Crusader is competing based on the same 3cc.

Remaining knights contenders - Decent enough to worth a mention here but not good enough thus they are the 'Spare knights'

Hero of Oxid Ridge
Knights does not attack by swarm, this card is only good when attacking in hordes.

Puresteel Paladin
Belongs more to equipments heavy deck rather than knights heavy deck.

Knight of Sursi
Another card which can be used fearlessly with Day of Judgment.

Order of the Golden Cricket
Has good interactions Swords since it gains evasion with flying by paying W mana when attacking.

Sigiled Paladin
Solid 2cc 2/2 first strike knight which is similar to White Knight & Knight of the White Orchid. But protection and the ability to fetch additional land is better than exalted.

Tivadar of Thorn
A sideboard knight against Goblins as i would maindeck Paladin en-vec over this guy anytime.

Knight of Glory
M13 new knight.

2.2) Other Creatures - There to support our valiant and loyal knights.

Spoiler:

Leonin Relic-Warder
Provide the answers to artifact/enchantments with a body to boot.

Qasali Pridemage
Same as the above, with exalted ability. Is able to remove artifact/enchantments permanently but at the cost of sacrificing itself.

Grand Abolisher
Hoses counterspell decks but may not be so relevant anymore if control decks fail to dominate the meta.

Phyrexian Metamorph
Legend Killer, makes 5-8 Knight Exemplar possible, copy swords etc...

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Slows down combo decks and decks relying heavily on non-creature spells. A 2/1 first striker for 2cc is also a decent beater. May also affect our ability to cast our own Path to Exile, Oblivion Ring and Planeswalkers spell, so do take note of this aspect as well.

War Falcon
M13 new card.

2.3) Other Permanents - Artifacts, Enchantments & Planeswalkers - Tools, Weapons, Auras for the Knights

Spoiler:

Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Give our Knights evasion and pump +3/+3 ability, produce 1/1 Soldiers each turn to stall the board while we accumulate equipments and creatures. At 4cc, she is the bomb which can win the game for us or swing board advantage towards us.

Elspeth Tirel
I wouldnt play this because the Knight-Errant abilities is more relevant to the deck while this also cost more to cast.

Aether Vial
Creatures put into play is uncounterable thus a bane of all control/counter heavy decks.
The element of surprise this card can bring is invaluable.
1) Vialing in a creature during the opponent end turn can also usually result in an sneak attack next turn, better still if there is equipment to equip and attack with.
2) Or Vial in an additional blocker for a combined first-strike block.
3) Vialing in Knight Exemplar is also usually a nice trick to save your creatures from destruction.
The optimal number of creatures in a deck to utilise Vial is usually 18 creatures or more. You dont want to have Vial with counters on it but no creatures to cheat into play.

Equipments - the choice of equipments have to be very careful here since we have lost the Stoneforge toolbox.

Batterskull
Fetching this equipment via Stoneforge Msytic is akin to telling the opponent to expend their removal spell on Stoneforge if they do not want to face a 4/4 lifelink & vigilance creature next turn. Pulling this out when the game stalls is a massive advantage which usually result in a win. Only issue here is getting 5 mana to hardcast him as the mana curve is quite tight over here.

Sword of Fire and Ice
Still my first choice equipment sword. When equipped on a 2/2 knight we have a 4/4 first striker which would either forces the opponent to chump block or risk giving us tremendous advantage from the swords' effects. Protection from red is also useful against Zoo and Boros matchups.

Sword of Light and Shadow
Currently the second best equipment sword. Immune to Path to Exile, Doomed Blade, Go for the throat, Smother etc. Lifegain is useful especially against tempo decks and the ability to return creatures to your hand from graveyard is another form of card advantage.

Sword of Body and Mind
Good against Tarmogoyf but otherwise it's ability is meh. Protection from Blue is also not so relevant.

Sword of Feast and Famine
Might be the 3rd best sword as it has protection against black removal and massive green creatures. It is a meta call as i would still prefer SoLS over this.

Sword of War and Peace
Superb against Zoo & Boros but i believe they should have enough ammunition to kill your creatures in response to equipping and the Sword should be too slow to save the game in most cases.

Basilisk Collar
Deathtouch on our first strike knights will kill any opposing creature which dare to enage in combat with us. However IMO the real use for this equipment is actually for defense. A 2/2 knight equipped with the collar can block and kill a fattie without trading himself. This in turn will allow us the time to built our board with more Exemplars or equipments.

2.4) Spells

Spoiler:

Path to Exile
Best white removal spell for White in Modern.

Oblivion Ring
Best utility spell for White in Modern, take care of all non-land permanents in the game.

Rancor
Reprinted in M13.

2.5) Land

Spoiler:

Fetches - Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats

Shocks - Temple Garden

Filters - Wooded Bastion

Others -

Flagstones of Trokair
Does Deck thining, makes KotR bigger, but being struck with a few of them during the early game is detrimental to our tempo, recommended number is 2-3.

Mutavault
Having additional knights is always useful.

Horizon Canopy
Card draw and good synergy with KotR.

Sejiri Steppe
A good trick with Knight of the Reliquary in response to a removal spell to save our creature.

Tectonic Edge
For 12posts or pesky manlands etc.

Ghost's Quarter
For 12posts or pesky manlands etc.

Cavern of Souls
Insanely good against counterspell decks, especially for tribal knights when most of the creatures are the same creature type. Cavern can also be used to cast Knight of Reliquary in knights even if we can't find the green mana source for it. Knights splashing a second color will suddenly become more playable, since the likes of Black Knight, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge in a knight list or Blood Knight and Hero of Oxide Ridge in a knight list is suddently more viable than before.

2.6) Sideboard

Spoiler:

Against Graveyard

Relic of Progenitus/ Tormod's Crypt
Against Dredge or decks reliant on getting cards into graveyard.

Against Direct Damage/Discard or Player Targetted Effects

Leyline of Sanctity
This will auto shut down burn/discard decks. Either play 4 or none in the sideboard as this is something you want in your opening hand once it's sideboarded in.

Runed Halo
Stop decks which uses a single card to win, or uses lots of discard spells and can also stop decks which is using the same meaty creature for beatdowns.

Phyrexian Revoker
Added to stop Planeswalker abilities, engineered explosives etc.

Against Aggro

Oust
Big tempo disruption to fast aggro decks.

Condemn
Another tempo disruption to aggoro decks

Celestial Purge
Good against MBC or RDW or even Boros.

Journey to Nowhere
Additional creature removal spell.

Against Combo

Rule of Law/ Ethersworn Canonist/ Gaddock Teeg
They have the same objective - to stop combo decks. Enchantment will be harder to get rid off although the additional body might be useful. A personal choice mostly.

Silence
Good against Storm decks.

Angel's Grace
Usually buy you an extra turn or 2 from losing immediately. Is best against deck which commits everything to a single turn win via an overwhelming creature assault or though one of the Pacts etc.

Against Artifact

Disenchant
Very good and cheap instant removal spell.

Aura of Silence
A permanent which will hit artifact/enchantment heavy deck tempo and can be sacrifiiced to destroy.

3) Other Knights Variants

Puresteel Knights

Brief Introduction.

The traditional puresteel decks relies on dropping Puresteel Paladin and casting equipments quickly to generate incredible CA and eventually equip at no cost(with metacraft attained) on a living creature/creature or Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win quickly. Some variants splashes for a trinket mage toolbox. As such, it is a deck which can get explosive very swiftly and win suddenly out of nowhere.

Puresteel knights is not a traditional puresteel equipment deck thus its mode of play is not purely based on casting puresteel and rushing to drop cheap and low cost equipments or living equipments. It has a more resilient matchup then its traditional counterpart as the deck is not entirely dependant on drawing puresteel which usually fold easily when it loses puresteel to removals or counters.

As such it is a mid-range aggro deck which thrives on having puresteel in the deck. It is also less vulnerable to creature board wipes since we do not need to overextend our board with creatures. We are also not as badly affected against artifact board wipe spells. Knight Exemplar also provides Puresteel knights with an aura of indestructibility.

Therefore the choices of equipments is also different, equipments are selected because of their low casting cost and also their ability to enhance a knight considerably. Due to the sheer power of swords equipments and its 3cc, the other equipment choices can only be at most 1cc with low equip costs in order to curve out properly.

With this criteria in place, choice are pretty limited, below is the equipments list which is worth playing so far.

Superstar Knights for Puresteel

Spoiler:

Puresteel Paladin
The engine behind the deck. Even the deck is named after him.

Mirran Crusader
Doublestrike on his own is nasty. Doublestrike with equipment is brutal. One of the MVP of the deck.

Knight Exemplar
The Knight lord. A decent 2/2 first strike creature at 3cc, give other knights +1/+1 and also gives indestructibility to our superstar knight - Puresteel Paladin.

Student of Warfare
A good first drop knight which can helps us to establish board presence when it's at 2 level up counter.

Star equipments for Puresteel

Spoiler:

Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Equipped on a human can make our first strike knight close to invincible in creature combat.

Basilisk Collar
Deathtouch on a first strike knight and lifelink is especially useful for a mid-range aggro deck.

Sword of Fire and Ice
One of the best swords around. Many red removals in modern at the moment. CA is also massive.

Sword of Light and Shadow
Useful lifegain, black/white are very popular removal spells and returning a creature from graveyard is also CA.

Second choice equips -

Spoiler:

depending on the meta
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace

increase/decrease speed or explosiveness of the deck
Bone Saw
BoneSplitter

Other probable mainboard choices -

Spoiler:

Brave the elements
Protection and alpha strike. Can aid a successful equip on Mirran Crusader, protects Knight Exemplar from removal or protect Puresteel Paladin for a turn to start abusing Puresteel's abilities. Very relevant against a removal heavy meta.

Dispatch
A situational removal, which potentially could be better than Path to Exile in this deck, probably will be added as the 5-6 removal spell in the decklist.

Knight of the White Orchid
A fine 2/2 creature with first strike at 2cc. Being on the draw/combined with fetchlands will allow us ensure we dont miss land drop and also speed up our mana production. Has synergy with Path to Exile too.

Knight of Meadowgrain
Lifelink is always good. And it's a decent 2/2 first striker at 2cc. The deck also has Basilik collar as an alternative source of lifegaining so perhaps we do not need to run 4 of this knight.

Knight of the Holy Nimbus
Useful knight creature especially during the early turns when mana is at a premium.

Haakon's Darth Knights

Brief Introduction.

The reason we have this deck is because you want to recur knights via Hakkon, Stromgald Scourge.

This is a deck that will beat most aggro white build, can cast creatures as many times as they burn(a different story if they burn face), laugh at decks attempting to counter Haakon and his knights + zombies, immune to deck playing doom blade type of removals, any more please feel free to add on.

The other Haakon deck -

How to Play.

An opening turn discard(we run 7-8) allows us to cast Smallpox safely, meanwhile low-cost and cheap knights and zombies which are dispensable will be deployed to trade off or chump block in most situations, since they can be recurred continuously later in the game. That means the deck is typically trying to stall and stabilize during the early game with creatures such as Stromgald Crusader, Black Knight and Gravecrawler. Smallpox and Liliana of the Veil will come in shortly for the control/disrupt element and hopefully discard Haakon into the graveyard. Nameless Inversion is also a massive card here since it can be casted as many times as you have the mana for, which usually will clear the opponent board of creatures slowly but surely.

This is essentially a attrition deck, and will usually win the war when it gets to attrition stage with Haakon in play.

Key and Most important play:
Haakon's Recurring engine with Knights and Nameless Inversion.

Other Strategic plays:
Gravecrawler interaction with Haakon and Stromgald Crusader.
Smallpox synergy with Haakon.
Liliana of the Veil synergy with Haakon.

Minor plays:
Smallpox with Dark Confidant when life gets too low.
Liliana of the Veil discard with other knights, cast those discarded knights with Haakon in play.

Creature choices:

Spoiler:

Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
The main reason why we are playing this Knight variant, and why this decklist is named after him.
He possesses this effect allowing us to play Knight cards from the graveyard when he is in play, and as a result also has interactions with changeling cards such as Nameless Inversion.
Other then the obvious synergies with Nameless Inversion & Knights, it also synergies well with Liliana of the Veil and Smallpox, since these spells provide us with an outlet to discard an Hakkon which can be playback soon after.

Black Knight
A cheap and good 2/2 first striker. He is here because he is a knight thus interacting with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge well. Protection from White is also a good bonus.

Stromgald Crusader
Played with the same reasons as Black Knight. Some additional advantages this Knight possesses is Flying (at the cost of ) and also being a Zombie type. As a Zombie Knight, it has synergy with Gravecrawler.

Gravecrawler
Interaction with Zombie knights such as Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Stromgald Crusader is the main reason for running this card. As a one drop, it can either provide some early pressure, stall the board will be set up the Haakon engine or be a filler for excess mana.

Dark Confidant
Card advantage for Knights. He can be sacrificed to Smallpox, Nameless Inversion in the event we cannot handle potential life loss.

Spell Choices

Spoiler:

Smallpox
A key card in the deck, as it provide a control/disrupt element and also give us an discard outlet to dump Haakon into the graveyard. Can be used on our own Dark Confidant as well.

Thoughtseize
One of the best discard spell for Black. Usually will go for exile spells (read Path to Exile) or graveyard hate after sideboarding.

Duress
Another very good discard spell which is similar to Thoughtseize but can't remove creatures.

Nameless inversion
Part of the Hakkon engine - can be use multiple times when Haakon is in play.

Liliana of the Veil
Tailor made for this deck. Liliana can disrupt the opponent and also give us a discard outlet for Haakon.

Other probable choices:

Spoiler:

Stillmoon Cavalier - A Zombie and a Knight, similar to Stromgald Crusader in its interaction with Haakon and Gravecrawler, but cost more.

Darkblast - For digging Haakon from library directly into the graveyard. Might take a Duress out for a single Darkblast.

[Nabbydian]

4) Decklist

4.1) Mono White Modern Vial Knights

Mono White Modern Vial Knights
Creatures [24] 4 Knight of the White Orchid 3 Knight of Meadowgrain 4 Knight Exemplar 3 Leonin Relic-Warder 3 Mirran Crusader 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 1 Stillmoon Cavalier 4 Student of Warfare	Planeswalkers [3] 3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant Spells [4] 4 Path to Exile Artifacts [8] 4 Aether Vial 2 Sword of Fire and Ice 2 Sword of Light and Shadow Lands [21] 17 Plains 4 Mutavault	Sideboard [15] 4 Brave the Elements 1 Leonin Relic-Warder 2 Oust 1 Phyrexian Metamorph 3 Phyrexian Revoker 4 Relic of Progenitus

4.2) Green & White Modern Vial Knights

Green & White Modern Vial Knights - Feb 2012
Creatures [25] 4 Knight Exemplar 3 Knight of Meadowgrain 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Knight of the White Orchid 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 4 Qasali Pridemage 4 Student of Warfare Spells [6] 2 Oblivion Ring 4 Path to Exile Artifacts [7] 4 AEther Vial 2 Sword of Fire and Ice 1 Sword of Light and Shadow	Lands [22] 1 Arid Mesa 2 Forest 3 Horizon Canopy 1 Marsh Flats 10 Plains 1 Sejiri Steppe 1 Tectonic Edge 2 Temple Garden 1 Verdant Catacombs	Sideboard [15] 4 Leyline of Sanctity 3 Brave the Elements 1 Bojuka Bog 3 Ghostly Prison 4 Relic of Progenitus

4.3) Green & White Modern Knights (Non-Vial) with credits to Eriol, Do check out Eriol's Alternate version here

Green & White Modern Knights
Creatures (27) 4 Student of Warfare 4 Knight Exemplar 4 Knight of Meadowgrain 4 Knight of the Reliquary 1 Stillmoon Cavalier 1 Mirran Crusader 2 White Knight 2 Phyrexian Metamorph 3 Qasali Pridemage 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Non-creatures (11) 4 Path to Exile 3 Faith's Shield 1 Basilisk Collar 3 Rancor	Lands (22) 2 Horizon Canopy 2 Temple Garden 7 Plains 3 Forest 2 Marsh Flats 1 Arid Mesa 1 Verdant Catacombs 1 Sejiri Steppe 3 Cavern of Souls	Sideboard (15) 4 Tormod's Crypt 4 Leyline of Sanctity 1 Elspeth, Knight Errant 1 Qasali Pridemage 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 3 Wrath of God

4.4) Mono White Modern Puresteel Knights - credits to original pilots AEIOUsometimesY and Nixx

Mono White Puresteel Knights - Feb 2012
Creatures (20): 4x Student of Warfare 4x Knight of the White Orchid 4x Puresteel Paladin 4x Knight Exemplar 4x Mirran Crusader Spells (20): 2x Brave the Elements 4x Aether Vial 4x Path to Exile 4x Silver-Inlaid Dagger 2x Basilisk Collar 2x Sword of Fire and Ice 2x Sword of Feast and Famine	Land (20): 20x Plains	Sideboard (15): 4x Leyline of Sanctity 3x Wrath of God 2x Dispatch 2x Leonin Relic-warder 4x Ethersworn Canonist

4.5) Haakon's Darth Knights - credits to original pilot weltkrieg

Haakon's Darth Knights
Creatures [20] 4 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge 4 Black Knight 4 Stromgald Crusader 4 Gravecrawler 4 Dark Confidant Planeswalker [3] 3 Liliana of the Veil Spells [15] 4 Smallpox 4 Thoughtseize 4 Duress 3 Nameless inversion	Land [22] 4 Mutavault 18 Swamp

[Blue_Meanie]

Silver Knight is not modern legal, but it could easily become Paladin En-vec or another SFM. Also, why all the singletons? I don't see any way to tutor them, so wouldn't they be better as extra copies of Mirran Crusader or SFM?

[Nabbydian]

The singletons are there because I'm not sure which color protection is the most relevant. I was also looking at the mana curve and didn't want too many 3 drops thus settling for 3 Mirran Crusader & 1 Stillmoon Cavalier. Currently the deck has plenty of protection against black and green(mirran), blue and red(SoFI), but very little protection against white.

Thanks for pointing out Silver Knight ineligibility, I'll probably replace it with another 2 drop knight or STM.

[mabberman]

I'd rather splash green and run knight of the reliquary.

[Nabbydian]

Yeah, Knight of the reliquary is too good to pass over, and with we can have access to Qasali Pridgemage & Horizon Canopy. However I haven't got the time to look at the mana base without duals n allied fetches.

I'll build a green/white list shortly when I get sorted out with the lands.

[nudnic]

Seems Day of Judgement might be good.

Puresteel Paladin also seems like it might be good, though it might need to be it's own build. Maybe with Leonin Shikari, too bad she's not a Knight.

[Nabbydian]

Yup, i figured Knight of Sursi and Knight of the Holy Nimbus would works well with 4x Day of Judgment.

i'll also look at the Puresteel build, but i think it'll work better in an equipment theme rather than knights theme.

i'm attempting a primer, and will update it slowly, starting with creature selection first.

[Supermouse]

Dude, use Haakon. Vial can cheat him into play just fine, and casting your men from the grave gives you real inevitability. Heck, I'd play Worldslayer. But then again, I'm dumb so ignore me.

[Gold Myr]

If you're going down the Puresteel path, you could use Auriok Steelshaper as another lord.

[Nabbydian]

Originally Posted by Peterson

Dude, use Haakon. Vial can cheat him into play just fine, and casting your men from the grave gives you real inevitability. Heck, I'd play Worldslayer. But then again, I'm dumb so ignore me.

I wanted to use Haakon, but Entomb and Buried Alive are both unavailable and i don't know of any other card which is able to dump them from library to graveyard which is legal in Modern format.

Over reliance on Aether Vial alone is bad as the probability of having both Haakon and Vial in the opening hand is extremely slim not to mention mistep/artifact hate on vial. I thought of using discard to drop Haakon but it seems too much of an effort and we have not even cast him yet.

anyway thanks for suggesting Haakon

Originally Posted by Gold Myr

If you're going down the Puresteel path, you could use Auriok Steelshaper as another lord.

Yeah, i like Auriok Steelshaper too, i'm just not sure after all the equipments,4 STF and 4 Auriok Steelshaper whether we have any more space for knight creatures. However the fact that the card gives knights a boost has always been lingering in my mind. I'm not sure how i can utilise him here.

[gorelando]

I run Tithe in Legacy Knights to good effect and would probably try running Weathered Wayfarer in Modern Knights. Especially since they can fetch any land, which might make using Reliquary more manageable despite the sad deficit of Windswept Heath. Worth thinking about. You could Path to Exile them in some matches if they're being useless, too.

I also really like Mother of Runes in the Legacy deck -- she's just so great!! -- so that's very missed for Modern. Perhaps some of Brave the Elements, but that's pretty questionable, I dunno.

[gorelando]

Here's a G/W thing. Take with a grain of salt if you weren't going to anyway, because -- anyway -- I prefer and am more experienced with the mono-white builds of Vial Knights in Legacy. :P

Deck
4 Temple Garden 4 Horizon Canopy 3 Flagstones of Trokair 2 Razorverge Thicket 7 Plains 4 Student of Warfare 4 Weathered Wayfarer 4 AEther Vial 4 Path to Exile 4 Knight of Meadowgrain 3 Stoneforge Mystic 1 Sword of Fire and Ice 1 Sword of Light and Shadow 1 Sword of Body and Mind 4 Knight Exemplar 4 Mirran Crusader 3 Knight of the Reliquary 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant	Sideboard: 3 Qasali Pridemage 4 Ethersworn Canonist 3 Oblivion Ring 1 Sword of War and Peace 4 Relic of Progenitus

Mirran Crusaders could be shrunk to a trio for Stillmoon or another Oblivion Ring, which is rarely something that I am not pleased to draw. I like the idea of Day of Judgment (Wrath of God in legacy) -- moreso in mono-white -- and never thought of using Sursi or Nimbus with it.

Oh yeah, and instead of Meadowgrain, Orchid, if you prefer. It too can grab a Temple Garden.

edit: Er, d'oh, maybe there's arguably not much point in running Weathered Wayfarer INSTEAD of Knight of the White Orchid. A little rationale. Having both could be good. I've always liked Meadowgrain but hey.

[Nabbydian]

Originally Posted by gorelando

I run Tithe in Legacy Knights to good effect and would probably try running Weathered Wayfarer in Modern Knights. Especially since they can fetch any land, which might make using Reliquary more manageable despite the sad deficit of Windswept Heath. Worth thinking about. You could Path to Exile them in some matches if they're being useless, too.

I also really like Mother of Runes in the Legacy deck -- she's just so great!! -- so that's very missed for Modern. Perhaps some of Brave the Elements, but that's pretty questionable, I dunno.

Unfortunately both Tithe and Mox Diamond are no longer available therefore it seems like Weathered Wayfarer is the closest alternative. However looking at the deck as a whole, i feel Knight of the White Orchid is better here considering you would have 12 one-drops (4x Vial + 4x Student + 4x Wayfarer) making the deck a bit too lightweight and a 2 drop fits the mana curve much better.

Anyway i would replace the Razorverge Thicket with Marsh Flats as with 2 pieces there seems to be a higher chance the land will come into play tapped. Sunpetal Grove might be better than it if yu insist on playing it.

I would still play 4x Marsh Flats due to it synergies with Knight of the White Orchid and Knight of the Reliquary.

The sideboard looks great, but with good access to i will mainboard Qasali Pridgemage, taking out a few Knight of Meadowgrain.

My list will probably look something like:

-1 Horizon Canopy
-2 Razorverge Thicket
-1 Plains
+4 Marsh Flats

-4 Weathered Wayfarer
+4 Knight of the White Orchid

-2 Knight of Meadowgrain
+2 Qasali Pridemage

What is your take on these changes?

[Tom]

whether or not sfm is a knight, she is one of the most powerful cards in legacy. i recommend 4, or at least testing with 4. i understand that running 2 of each sword plus 3 mystics gets what you need most of the time.

actually, as powerful as sols and sofi are, i'd recommend switching 1 of each out for other swords. just for testing, not permanently. without batterskull, having your only lifegain be sols could be detrimental, so sowp might help there, as well as beating down harder. it is also better against zoo, which is going to be good.
soff won't do much. sobm is something to try though. milling isn't always too relevant, but against combo it can be. against a similarly aggroish deck the 2/2 you get is huge. sobm is also the only remaining sword that gives pro green, which can be good to have.

again, these are only suggestions. i don't recommend just blowing them off; try it and see how you like it. generally more options is better.

also, oust will be better than condemn in my opinion. of all my suggestions this is the strongest. just hear me out:
- condemn has to have the creature attacking. this is huge. no stopping opposing SFMs before they get batterskull. no killing hierarchs or birds or grim lavamancers when you might need to the most. these are just some of the very few times when this ability will be detrimental. sure, oust is a sorcery, but a creature who just sits there without attacking and yet is still scary can be taken out just fine with it.
- condemn will generally have them gain more life; the chances of you worried about an attacking creature who's toughness is 3 or less is pretty low.
- most of the time you will want to use a removal like condemn early game, when you don't have a bunch of indestructible knights out. ousting a creature turn 2 won't allow them to cast it again until turn 4 generally; and think about it. will your really be that scared of a wild nicatel, goblin guide, tarmogoyf, even dark confidant two turns from then? probably not. bob that late would just serve as a chump blocker that might make them loose some decent amount of life. with you getting a whole turn to cast something plus whatever you get out from aether vial, tarmo and other big dumb beaters won't be scary at all any more.

my last suggestion off the top of my head is more grand abolishes in the side. those things are going to be crazy.

hope my insight helped.