Ever since the unbanning of Bitterblossom in Modern, players have been trying to combine the disruptive elements of Black with the powerful token generation and anthems of White. Even with powerful cards like Lingering Souls, Thoughtseize, and Intangible Virtue, this deck just hasn’t been powerful enough to keep up with the rest of the format. This is largely because it doesn’t have the power to race linear decks or the resiliency to go over the top of the midrange and control decks. However, one card from Oath of the Gatewatch may have changed all of that. Let’s take a look:

Abzan Tokens ? Modern | crumbles2010, 3-1 Modern Daily Event

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Auriok Champion

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
• 3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

• Spells (29)
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 1 Zealous Persecution
• 4 Path to Exile
• 1 Timely Reinforcements
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 4 Spectral Procession
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Intangible Virtue
• 3 Bitterblossom

• Lands (23)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Plains
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 4 Temple Garden
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Celestial Purge
• 2 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Kataki, War's Wage
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 2 Rule of Law
• 2 Stony Silence
• 2 Sundering Growth
• 2 Worship

Buy This Deck

Previous iterations of this deck have been decidedly two-color affairs. This is largely because it becomes increasingly difficult to cast Spectral Procession as you stretch your mana base to accommodate more colors. Furthermore, when you consider the lack of cards making another color worth splashing, it makes sense for players to stick to straight B/W. However, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar might be the card to change things up.

Previous iterations of this deck played some number of Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Nissa is a unique and powerful inclusion for this deck because it fills a similar role to both Elspeth and Gideon. You can cast Nissa a full turn earlier than either Elspeth or Gideon to start generating additional tokens. You can pump your whole team while still keeping Nissa in play; or, you can just keep ticking Nissa up in midrange matchups and protect her with your army of tokens while threatening to generate an insurmountable advantage with her ultimate.

Outside of Nissa, the deck is largely the same as previous iterations of the archetype. There’s no splash for Gavony Township or Abrupt Decay: Nissa is the only new inclusion. So is Nissa powerful enough to justify her presence in the B/W tokens deck? Can she revitalize this archetype and become a Modern superstar? There’s only one way to find out.