Deck Black
Is a white/black combo deck good?
I was thinking of building a white/black deck ( MTG ). What downsides and upsides exist for a deck like this, and any suggestions?
W/B has been, and always will be my color combination. I started the game playing W/B and I still play W/B, so I know how deadly it can be. A W/B deck can be a bit of a challenge to play, but it is a very rewarding experience if you can.
Black and White together are all about control. W/B has most likely what is the most flexible and powerful spot removal in the game. It can use both white creature enchantments that neutralize opposing threats, and black creature kill to make sure that any creature your opponent throws at you will not be a threat. The gold/hybrid W/B removal is where things get really insane. Angel of Despair, Vindicate and Mortify are some of the most flexible removal spells in the game, the former two being some of the only cards in the game that can take out any permanent(The angel dose that, and gives you a big, flying finisher.), and the later being able to destroy an enchantment instead of a creature if need be. W/B also has a strange affinity for removing cards from the game as appose to killing them. Cards such as Unmake, Castigate and Tesaya, Orzhov Scion both remove opponent's creatures and card in hand from the game. This combination also somtimes will remove it's own cards from the game as well, only to bring them back again, Ghost Council of Orzhova being the poster child for this aspect.
W/B is also the best combination when it comes to powerful mass removal spells. Although red's and R/X's(x being any other color)removal is cheaper costing, W/B's removal will almost always be able to kill everything, while red's may only hit weaker creatures, or may take a major mana investment to kill off larger threats.(X spells, like Earthquake being majorly guilty of this.) A good W/B deck is almost never without a Wrath of God or Damnation.
W/B, continuing with the control theme, also is the best color combination when it comes to life total manipulation. While pure white decks will often have life gain effects of some kind, W/B decks take on a more "vampireic" form of life gain, where they suck the life right from your opponent, bolstering your own health while depleting theirs. This often helps these kind of decks to outlive their enemies, while dealing them enough damage for your finishers to be able to mop them up easier. W/B also has some "reanimator" cards that can call forth creatures from the grave, the most noteworthy being the massive Debtor's Knell, which can do so during each of your upkeeps, and from your opponent's grave as well.(What a nasty pair with W/B's creature kill that is.)
W/B can also make a good discard style control deck as well, with cards like Shrieking Grotesque and Castiagte providing some nasty discarding ability. Aggro(or beatdown...basically any offensive, attack based deck) can also be done with W/B surprisingly enough, however, it won't be nearly as effective as other aggro decks, W/B's powerful knight and cheap fliers combined with some discard/tempo loss cards and creature pumps like Edge of The Divinity can make a powerful aggro strategy. Ghost Council of Orzhova is also just as deadly in an aggro deck as he is in control, having a sizable 4/4 body for a measly four mana, and no drawback besides needing double white and double black.(which is easy for a pure W/B deck.) However, control is still the best route for Black white, at least in my mind anyway.
W/B can be a very powerful color combination that can utterly lock down the board with it's mass removal and spot removal, all while draining the life from it's enemies and slowly bleeding enemies until they either suffer a torturous death, or greet death at the hands of a mighty finisher such as Divinity of Pride or any powerful angel. However, despite this, the deck dose have some major flaws.
For one, W/B, despite having flexible removal, has almost no way of destroying non-creature artifacts besides Vindicate and Angel of Despair. Second of all, W/B can be very slow and takes time to set up, you won't really be able to drop anything that great untill turn three at the least, and many of your powerful cards, such as Deathbringer Liege and Agent of Masks, will cost four, five or even more mana. Also, black white has no counterspells at all, so unlike blue control decks, it has no way to deal with deadly non-permanent spells save discarding them.
As for suggestions, I would say to go with a strong control theme. Look at visual spoilers for the Guildpact and Eventide sets, since they have the bulk of good cards for a W/B build. Also, if you are a new player, look online for the "Code of the Orzhov" guildpact theme deck. It is older now, but ebay and any card selling site should have some in stock. Buying four of that deck can give you a very strong foundation for a great W/B deck, to say the least.
If you want a site where you can find the visual spoilers for those sets, then look at the link below. They also have a lot of good info and a forum where you can ask questio
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