Personal position / Unanimous Descision (white cards)

[Fëanor]

I was recently looking through my collection trying to figure out how to make it look neater, when not too far in i came to a standstill (no not the card).
There facing me and grinning politely were the most annoying of white cards ever. I came about two cycles, Holy strength and Pacifism!!!!!!!

Now, in today's game, neither card would be considered an automatic shoe-in for almost any deck, considering there are far better ways to beef creatures, and way far superior ways to deal with your opponents (provided there are any). But nevertheless I resolved to decide which was the overall better of the three in each cycle. I shall begin with Holy Strength.

Cycle One::::

The trinity of +1/+2 cards which found their way into my binder from my conglomeration of other and less pretty cards, were as follows. (keep in mind there are indeed other such cards, and if you think any of them stand out, feel free to mention them)

[card]Holy Strength[/card]
[card]Brilliant Halo[/card]
[card]Favorable Destiny[/card]

Holy Strengh being the cheapest I came to an early conclusion that it would be most profitable to play in a random circumstance considering no mana constraint level is specified. As I pulled out the others I glanced at brilliant halo. My descision just as easily changed once again. Look it costs one more, but when your creature dies. The card advantage would be (most likely) one for one as opposed to two for one. Why not pay extra mana to keep momentum? That's why we still play Rancor. Then came a glance at Favorable Destiny. In any random circumstance, this card may not do so hot. Given, however, the ideal position and benefit for two mana in one card is not a deal to be thrown aside. This card, played in the right deck, can be a Brilliant Halo with less of a chance of playing it more than once.
In conclusion: I believe while holy strength has its speed, and Favorable Destiny has its huge benefits, Brilliant Halo gets my pick.

Cycle Two::::

All of these wonderful cards, while comparatively dissimilar as far as specifics goes, have one target and goal in common: opponent's creatures become paperweights...

[card]Pacifism[/card]
[card]Shackles[/card]
[card]Arrest[/card]

Same as with the other cycle I was quick to think that speed was of large benfit. The mana scale here is tipped up one from the +1/+2 -ers, which makes these card less playable still. Any player would have jumped at the chance to play Pacifism seven or more years ago, but today it bears little fruit. Even at two mana, the lack of usefulness in the card makes it obsolete. On to choice number two. Ever since Stronghold came out, I had been using this card in my WW adventures and found it to be a saviour in many cases. The thing I loved about it was that if at any time, there was another, larger threat to take care of, the shackles were easily moveable (as if they were some sort of equipment). Plus, as with card advantage stated in the earlier blurb, if at any time your opponent wishes to get rid of the poor withered creature, you get a chance to keep your hard earned spell. Arrest came out and i flipped at its sight as if i wasnt sure it was real. Its ability to 'humilitize' a creature was far superior to shackles's no-untap ability. Specifically I found this to be very useful against Quirion Ranger, to name just one foe that was able to slip out of the shackles. But when it came time for that creature to die, you only have three arrests left to use.
In conclusion here: Through my many years, I've found Shackles to be worth its extra one for the plethora of opportunities it serves.

Now it's your turn. Please give me some feedback as to what you guys and gals think about these cards. (even if the feedback is from some angry mod telling me to shut up because I'm making no sense at all )

Peace

[Robert the Swordsman]

Well, regarding white creature pump...

...seeing as you're considering Favorable Destiny, I assume you'll be playing multiple creatures. Now, if that is indeed the case, may I suggest...

[card]Crusade[/card] (#1 choice, of course)
[card]Glorious Anthem[/card]
[card]Divine Sacrament[/card]
[card]Leonin Sun Standard[/card]

...over perhaps any individual-creature-pump card. If you're still interested in another individual card, [card]Heros Resolve[/card] is rather viable in that case; the same price as all but Holy Strength, but a bit more potent.

In the case of the creature-stopping cards you've listed, I think Arrest has much more potential in Type 1 than the others (though I think Swords would probably be better than any of 'em, sorry to say). Shuts off Welders most importantly, but also Metalworkers, Gorilla Shamans, and the slightly rarer Grim Lavamancer.

Good luck with this.

[DEA]

personally, i feel the problem with the capture cards is the speed and dependency factor
at best they would be sideboard cards
qn to ask : what if they're not playing with creatures?
control and combo won't give you a chance to use any of them
combo just says die, bitch and control won't give you a chance to lock up their nice cute creatures
against the top aggro decks they won't be of much use either
by the time you can cast the handcuffs, they should have multiple threats out chewing at your life total
just to run another example, oshawa has trolls, too

also, they provide enough cover for 1 creature at a time
broad spectrum cards like humility and moat usually function in this role by covering your butt from a few 6/6s at a time

just my 2 cents

[urza_insane]

I say favorable destiny, jsut becasue I like untargetables. But for the other I would have to say Kirtar's Desire, it's cheap and quick.

[Rapterrant]

Well, in my opinion. Instead of locking creatures down on the board... I rather get rid of them. Instead of Pacify or Arrest why not use Wingshards and Chastise (of course Swords to Plowshares) but Holy strenght is nice. You might also want to look at some of the new equipment suchs as Bonesplitter, Leonin Battle Mace, ect.

Good Luck,
Rapterrant

[Fëanor]

Um...........right. I see where everyone is coming from, but I didn't write this thread to get a response as to what personally you'd deck competitively. I'm actually just talking about two different cycles of white cards over a large span in magic. I wanted people's opinion as to what served best as the given type of card. Sure if the card you're thinking isn't on the list, feel free to add, as did Rob, with the suggestion of Hero's Resolve. But basically I want to keep the scope as narrow as possible. I want to look at these six cards regardless of competitive choice or synergy. A good post example would be Urza_Insane's. Only feel free to discuss the reasons for your descisions, i won;t stop you there.

Peace