The name of the game in Standard is finding a way to go wider than Zombies and Aetherworks Marvel, and there are plenty of players with ideas about how to make that happen. Yesterday we looked at Sam Black’s token deck. Today, we’ll look at a new take on a deck from last fall, which also happens to be yet another Cryptolith Rite deck:

Green-Black Cryptolith Rites - Amonkhet Standard | Sam Pardee, Pro Tour Amonkhet

• Creatures (31)
• 2 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 3 Bontu the Glorified
• 3 Manglehorn
• 3 Vizier of the Menagerie
• 4 Blisterpod
• 4 Catacomb Sifter
• 4 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 4 Loam Dryad
• 4 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Cryptolith Rite

• Lands (22)
• 5 Swamp
• 7 Forest
• 2 Hissing Quagmire
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Westvale Abbey

Buy This Deck

There are two primary engines by which you can generate an enormous board advantage. The one we’re used to seeing is Duskwatch Recruiter. With Cryptolith Rite in the mix, you can fairly easily activate Duskwatch Recruiter a handful of times each turn while flooding the board with whatever creatures you happen to find. However, Amonkhet adds Vizier of the Menagerie to the mix, which allows you to just keep casting the top card of your library as long as it happens to be a creature. Combine this with Catacomb Sifter and Bontu allowing you to scry away lands to give you more looks at creatures, and you’ve got plenty of ways to help ensure that you can get ahead and stay ahead on the board.

The biggest question remaining is this: what happens if Zulaport Cutthroat isn’t good enough? Sometimes you won’t be able to assemble a critical mass of Zulaport Cutthroats before having your board picked apart by Radiant Flames, Kozilek's Return, Sweltering Sun, or just Magma Spray. This deck also plays a full four copies of Westvale Abbey, which can take to the skies to sneak in the last couple points of damage.