In my previous post regarding my version of Black White Aggro in Standard with Journey into Nyx, the deck utilized low cost Orzhov colored Humans to get Athreos online as early as possible. Here is the explanation of the card choices:

Precinct Captain – still the best two-drop for White aggro decks as its First Strike gets in advantage to generate free Soldier tokens.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos – it would not be a White based aggro if this lion king is not in the list.

Cartel Aristocrat – the previous superstar in the Aristocrats deck gets another shot in this build, with the token generators above to get her ability online most of the time.

Underworld Coinsmith – this new Journey into Nyx Human might look ineffective at first but it can finish off opponents in stalled board states. Also, its lifegain bonus can restore the life loss from the shocklands and Mana Confluence.

Xathrid Necromancer – another way to generate advantage from Supreme Verdicts and common spot removals. This plus Athreos’ trigger can really be a headache to most opponents.

Obzedat, Ghost Council – big daddy Obzedat is the bane of most Blue White control decks. He mostly acts as a late game finisher. That is if your early assault has been blunted.

Spear of Heliod – this enchantment anthem is much needed to power up tokens created from the captain and King Brimaz as well as provide two devotion points to Athreos.

Brave the Elements – ninety percent of your creatures are White so this is an auto inclusion.

Banishing Light – the current generic removal for White and also triggers Underworld Coinsmith constellation.

Sideboard Plan

To recall, here is the deck’s current sideboard:

1 Banisher Priest
1 Banishing Light
3 Dark Betrayal
2 Deicide
2 Doom Blade
3 Sin Collector
3 Thoughtseize

My changes would be to cut one Dark Betrayal into a fourth Thoughtseize as the discard spell can also be used for Blue White control and Monsters deck matchups.

The sideboard plan vs the recent Tier one decks are as follows:

VS Black Green Devotion

-3 Spear of Heliod, -1 Athreos, -2 Banisher Priest, -2 Cartel Aristocrat, -1 Brave the Elements
+4 Thoughtseize, +2 Dark Betrayal, +3 Sin Collector

VS Blue White Control

-2 Banisher Priest, -3 Brave the Elements, -3 Spear of Heliod, -1 Orzhov Charm
+4 Thoughtseize, +3 Sin Collector, +1 Banishing Light, +1 Deicide

VS RG/Jund Monsters

-2 Athreos, -1 Spear of Heliod, -1 Banishing Light, -2 Soldier of the Pantheon
+4 Thoughtseize, +2 Doom Blade

VS Mono Blue Devotion

-3 Athreos, -1 Obzedat, -2 Brave the Elements
+1 Banishing Light, +1 Banisher Priest, +2 Deicide +2 Doom Blade

The sideboard plan is mostly basic in and outs and switch of irrelevant cards to SB cards for specific matchups. Do note that the Soldier of the Pantheon was boarded out because he is easily trumped by Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix and its multicolor protection is irrelevant in the matchup. I hope this short guide helps if ever you would try the deck in your local tournament.

Any questions or suggestion you might have, I would gladly read about them so please do comment in the box below.

I guess that is a wrap for Athreos aggro deck tech, thanks for reading and until next post.