congrats on the vigilator!!
i know you don't love the white deck, but i have had a lot of success with life. I play the truth speaker (who has tank heal and cleanse as well at max level), the silvershield sheriff (who gets protect at level 6) and defender of truth at max level so i'm adding +6 shield. Then I have the loan boatman who repairs armor and I'm in pretty good shape in weak magic, flying, or no magic rulesets (of course in no magic I lose the defender of truth card).
I also really like spirit of the forest and crustacean king as healing monsters with protect.
I didn't say that I don't love white deck, it's that I don't have higher leveled summoner and that's my biggest problem... It's an awesome Splinter, and somehow I think it's maybe the strongest... I have noticed that I can win against it only with my Water Splinter... exactly because of the things that you have mentioned... A lot of armors, armor repairs, etc... and my water is all about magic, so that helps with going around armors.. :)
The Crustacean King is my fav because of healing and armor, but playing with it is like playing with a blind card... lol... as he is super slow...