Pillowfort

Pillowfort is an archetype that aims to keep itself defended against opponents by preventing those opponents from being able to attack them. By creating a 'fortress of pillows' the Pillowfort player is insulated from unfriendly aggression. This leaves the Pillowfort player free to enact their own plans, unhindered by the acts of their enemies.

Pillowfort strategies are frequently found in color combinations that include white and blue.

## **Popular Cards & Commanders**

**Examples of Pillowfort cards include:**

* Propaganda
* Ghostly Prison
* Sphere of Safety

**Examples of Pillowfort commanders may include:**

* Pramikon, Sky Rampart
* Queen Marchesa
* Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
* Tuvasa the Sunlit
* Kenrith, the Returned King

## **Strategy**

Unlike other archetypes, Pillowfort is purely defensive, and does not inherently present its own proactive way to win the game. In this way, Pillowfort can sometimes be considered a subtheme. For instance, a Superfriends deck may include a Pillowfort subtheme to lock down combat and keep their planeswalkers safe, allowing them to freely accrue value over time.

Pillowfort decks are extremely pacifistic, and do not tend to engage in combat. They also seek to avoid drawing attention to themselves, often sandbagging powerful cards and saving them for much later, so opponents do not perceive them as a threat.

There are four main parts that form the core of the Pillowfort archetype:

### **Pillowfort Cards**

Pillowfort cards are cards that make it difficult for opponents to kill their controller. Most commonly this takes the form of a card, especially an enchantment, that prevents enemies from attacking. Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, and Sphere of Safety are the most common examples. These effects can also appear on creatures, such as Windborn Muse and Baird, Steward of Argive, as well as artifacts, such as Crawlspace and Norn's Annex. While many Pillowfort cards incur a tax on players' mana, others are able to stop attacks altogether, such as Solitary Confinement and Blazing Archon. Some hyper-defensive creatures like Fog Bank and Spike Weaver may also make an appearance in Pillowfort decks to provide extra defense.
Note that effects such as Crown of Doom or Dread may not fall under the definition of 'Pillowfort'. Encouraging opponents to attack other players can be a useful means of deterring aggression, but it does not prevent them from attacking the Pillowfort player. Similarly, effects that punish opponents for having attacked, as seen on cards like No Mercy, is more akin to a punisher strategy than a Pillowfort strategy, since it also does not specifically prevent opponents from attacking in the first place. These effects may occasionally appear in Pillowfort decks, but they are not necessarily Pillowfort cards themselves.
### **Protection**

To further insulate themselves from harm, Pillowfort decks add an extra layer of protection on top of the defensive enchantments by using cards that make those enchantments more difficult to remove. Cards such as Privileged Position and Sterling Grove can protect the board from enchantment removal. Other cards like Greater Auramancy or Karmic Justice may also be used to ensure the Pillowfort's survival. Many Pillowfort decks also include the color blue, which gives them access to counterspells that can keep their fortress from being destroyed.
These enchantments should not be confused with the Stax archetype, which also constructs additional barriers to prevent opponents from taking dangerous game actions, but which uses a much more proactive form of suppression, such as Rule of Law or Stasis.
### **Value Engine**

To ensure that the game remains firmly under the Pillowfort player's control, Pillowfort decks have many ways to draw cards or gain incremental advantages over the course of the game. Since they cannot be meaningfully attacked, they use cards that provide gratuitous value over a long period of time. This may include cards like Rhystic Study, keeping hold of the Monarch mechanic (as seen on cards like Protector of the Crown, or creating lots of tokens with Sandwurm Convergence. Since many Pillowfort cards tend to be enchantments, Enchantress cards such as Enchantress's Presence may also be utilized in this category. It is very common for a Pillowfort deck to use their commander as a means of accruing these extra advantages, rather than using the commander for protection.
### **Win Conditions**

Win conditions are deployed only once absolute safety has been guaranteed. This is the most variable piece of the Pillowfort strategy, and there tend to be many different potential routes to victory. Planeswalkers may be used to create valuable emblems that opponents cannot overcome. Enchantments such as Starfield of Nyx or Sigil of the Empty Throne may be used to turn defense into offense. Some Pillowfort decks may even make use of an infinite combo or Voltron strategies to finish the game. A well-built Pillowfort deck is able to enact a hardy and efficient win condition after they have established control.
## **Common Deck Categories**

* Pillowfort Effects / Fog Effects
* Protection / Mass Protection
* Card Draw
* Aikido Cards
* Board Wipe Cards
* Win Conditions
* Political Cards
* Ramp
* Removal

**10 cards** will probably give you **2 cards in a given game** from that category, and a good chance to **start with 1** in your opening hand. Critical categories for your deck may require a similar or larger number than this, depending on expected levels of Counterspells or Removal.
**5 cards** will probably give you **1 card per game** of that category. Cards you don't want to overload on but still want access to (*board wipes in a tokens deck for instance*) may want a similar figure to this... Going smaller than this number makes receiving a card of this category very unlikely without Tutors or some other Toolbox approach.

## **Strengths and Weaknesses**

### **Strengths**

* Pillowfort is extremely effective against decks whose primary win condition involves combat, such as Voltron or Tribal strategies. If they have been allowed to set up their defenses, it will often take a concerted effort from all other players to attempt to break through the pillow fortress.

* Since Pillowfort players plan to accrue lots of value over a long game, they are able to run a smaller number of cards that are dedicated [Win Conditions], which tend to cost a lot of mana, as they can reliably find those cards in due time. By contrast, other archetypes often have to run a high density of dedicated Win Conditions, as they are less able to dig for those options. This reduces the density of cards in the Pillowfort player's deck that only have one purpose, and allows them to run a larger number of versatile and interactive spells that can protect their own game pieces or respond to the actions of other players.

* A Pillowfort player's strategy tends to take place in their hand, rather than on the battlefield, which makes it difficult for opponents to know what they are up to. Once they've established a good defense and engine, Pillowfort players are often able to respond to any game action they desire.

### **Weaknesses**

* Pillowfort decks may struggle to slow down or defeat other decks whose [Win Conditions] do not involve combat.

* Pillowfort decks are very slow and gradual. An aggressive deck may be able to deal significant damage to a Pillowfort player before they can establish a solid defense.

* Pillowfort decks often rely upon a high density of enchantments, which makes them susceptible to mass removal (such as Bane of Progress) if they have not managed to find one of their protection pieces.

## *Pillowfort in non-standard colors*

EDH is known for unusual deckbrewing, for instance taking a mechanic and using magic's long history to demonstrate ways of doing it in a highly unusual color combination. Below are details for various Pillowfort style cards in colors other than White

See: **Propaganda, Embargo, Meishin, the Mind Cage, Web of Inertia, Guard Gomazoa, Fog Bank, Cephalid Illusionist, Energy Field, War Tax, Collective Restraint, Stormtide Leviathan, Statecraft, Wall of Vapor**

See: **Elderscale Wurm, Elephant Grass, Dawnstrider, Constant Mists, Sandwurm Convergence, Spike Weaver, Spore Flower, Lost in the Woods, Fyndhorn Pollen, Gravity Well, Briar Patch, Asceticism and Creatures with Regenerate**

See: **Koskun Falls, Darkness, Stronghold Overseer, Simulacrum, No Mercy, Dread, Archetype of Finality, Wake the Dead, Shimian Night Stalker, Kor Dirge, Uncle Istvan, Wall of Shadows and Creatures with Regenerate**

See: **Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, Glacial Chasm, Smoke, Mudslide, Fortune Thief, Ali from Cairo, Disrupt Decorum, Geode Rager, Goblin Snowman**

See: **Crawlspace, Silent Arbiter, Glacial Chasm, Meekstone, Weakstone**

## **Compatible Sub-themes**

**See Also:** Minor Themes
Pillowfort decks seek primarily to defend themselves and secondarily to win the game. Several themes can assist with this:

### **Aikido**

Aikido decks want to protect themselves too, but seek to win by turning your opponent's strength against themselves to defeat themselves. Given Pillowfort's minimal usage of win-conditions this can be a great overlap.
### **Combo**

Pillowfort decks cannot dedicate a large number of slots to winning the game, and often do not incrementally weaken their opponents, therefore the ideal way for them to win is to defeat all opponents at once with just a few cards... Combo meets this definition nicely.
### **Enchantress**

Pillowfort decks often use a large number of enchantments to protect themselves... why not get rewarded for using them?
### **Lifegain**

Pillowfort decks make it harder to injure you... Lifegain decks make so even if you CAN be injured it is much more difficult to defeat you. Given that lifegain decks can also weaponize this, this can be used to give you a win condition as well
### **Superfriends**

For the most part, if you can't be attacked then your Planeswalkers can't be attacked and they can either accumulate value for you, protect you or advance towards a game-winning ultimate.
### **Toolbox**

Pillowfort uses tools to protect itself. Why not find the tools you need when you need them?
**References:**

* EDHREC Pillowfort theme
* Pillowfort tagged articles on EDHRec