Approach of the Second Sun is a really interesting card out of Amonkhet. In the last couple of months of Standard, we’ve seen Approach largely as a combo win condition out of the Shadow of the Grave cycling decks. However, Approach also certainly has utility as a haymaker for control or ramp strategies, particularly when lifegain is at a premium against aggro decks like Ramunap Red. So what exactly would a control deck featuring Approach of the Second Sun as a win condition look like? Here’s a pretty reasonable take:

Bant Second Sun - Hour of Devastation Standard| Seth2, 5-0 StandardLeague

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Thraben Inspector

• Instants (18)
• 1 Blessed Alliance
• 1 Essence Scatter
• 1 Immolating Glare
• 1 Negate
• 2 Disallow
• 2 Hieroglyphic Illumination
• 2 Pull from Tomorrow
• 4 Censor
• 4 Supreme Will

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Descend upon the Sinful
• 2 Approach of the Second Sun
• 2 Declaration in Stone
• 2 Fumigate

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Cast Out
• 4 Bounty of the Luxa

• Lands (27)
• 4 Island
• 6 Plains
• 1 Fortified Village
• 1 Scattered Groves
• 2 Lumbering Falls
• 2 Prairie Stream
• 3 Irrigated Farmland
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Port Town

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Angel of Sanctions
• 1 Authority of the Consuls
• 1 Dispel
• 1 Forsake the Worldly
• 2 Linvala, the Preserver
• 1 Negate
• 2 Regal Caracal
• 3 Sacred Cat
• 2 Sphinx of the Final Word

Buy This Deck

For this list, Seth2 has done it by playing a substantial number of X spells, expensive sorceries, and three-mana draw spells. The idea is this: Bounty can let you spend mana on your turn to resolve a sweeper or a draw spell while still leaving mana available to represent counterspells on your opponent’s turn. Alternatively, X spells and Supreme Will give you mana sinks that can help you sculpt your gameplan with excess mana. At some point you’ll start resolving multiple copies of Bounty, and you set up places where you can cast Approach of the Second Sun while leaving up interaction.

The strength of this deck is in the density of sweepers and counterspells. If you are able to resolve the first Approach of the Second Sun, your interaction is what gives you the ability to survive another turn or two until you find enough card draw to dig out the Approach.

If you’re looking for a big mana control deck, this is one of the better shells in the current Standard. Approach is important as a win condition and as a way to get yourself out of danger against Ramunap Red. Additionally, the increased density of countermagic and the number of cycling cards combined with mana from Bounty of the Luxa helps to ensure that you can maintain control while you’re looking for the Approaches, Pull from Tomorrow, or just powerful singletons out of the sideboard.