MTG Deck of the Week: BW Knights

In the run up to Nationals I'm trying out a few different brews with the goal of finding if there's a different deck I want to take over my current Constrictor Deck. The first of which is a Knight Tribal deck which I gave a run out at my last Friday Night Magic and had a fairly average run, finishing 2-2.

Although very much an aggro deck, the creature count is lower than you would expect relying more on tokens rather than creature spells.

Key cards

Of course it goes without saying that the centre piece of this deck is History of Benalia. This card is superb and if you can chain one after the other it is nigh on unstoppable.

After you get History on the board you want as many knights in play as possible before it's third counter hits. This is where Knight of Malice and Knight of Grace come in as the perfect two drops to play ahead of History. Your post History play comes in Call the Cavalry on turn four providing another two knights ready for that History to go off.

If all goes to plan you'll be swinging in with five creatures for a total of 20/21 damage on turn five, unless you can follow all this with a Benalish Marshal or Radiant Destiny, kicking that up to 25/26 points of damage.

Of course it can't always go to plan and the odds of the above playing out perfectly every game are slim. So of course other lines are required.

To give the deck a presence in the air I run two copies of Heart of Kiran, which at first felt bad in a deck full of 2/2s. However the decks 2/2s are very often in a position to crew thanks to pumps from Radiant Destiny and/or Benalish Marshal. Plus Knight of Grace & Knight of Malice are often 3/2s when on the board together or with any other permanent of the opposite colour. Two copies of Gideon of the Trials offer up crewing options whilst reducing damage to yourself or being a serious threat.

I've tried to keep the curve of the deck low and aggressive, the only four drop creature being two copies of Aryel, Knight of Windgrace, who uses knight synergy as removal or can make more of the vigilant little buggers.
The curve then tops out with a single copy of Lyra Dawnbringer. If you've not managed to win by turn five or are on the back foot Lyra can be a real deal breaker and wins games on the spot.

Removal comes in the form of Fatal Push, Cast Out and Cast Down. If I'm honest Cast Down constantly feels like a let down, I've lost count of the times I've had it in hand whilst facing a problematic Lyra Dawnbringer or Pia Nalaar on the other side of the table. Cast Down will likely be getting replaced with Seal Away but I'll give it a few chances before I dismiss it completely.

B/W Knights

Land 4x Concealed Courtyard 4x Isolated Chapel 2x Shefet Dunes 2x Memorial to Glory 2x Ifnir Deadlands 6x Plains 4x Swamp Creatures 2x Aryel, Knight of Windgrace 3x Benalish Marshal 4x Knight of Grace 4x Knight of Malice 1x Lyra Dawnbringer Spells 4x Call the Cavalry 2x Cast Down 2x Cast Out 4x Fatal Push 2x Gideon of the Trials 2x Heart of Kiran 4x History of Benalia 2x Radiant Destiny

Sideboard 2x Dusk // Dawn 2x Lost Legacy 4x Duress 2x Fumigate 2x Authority of the Consuls 2x Forsake the Worldly 1x The Eldest Reborn