Locations
As the title states, I am very high on Caretaker's Talent as a new staple in Standard Azorius Control. But before we dive into just how good of a card it is, let's get some context of where Standard is out, barely two weeks into the new format.
With Bloomburrow Standard rotated out four sets: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Streets of New Capenna, and both Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow. With rotation a lot of Standard's all-stars have rotated, primarily Five-Color Slogurk, the Overslime and Aftermath Analyst decks. Multiple decks received heavy hits as well, with Azorius Control losing Memory Deluge and The Wandering Emperor, as well as Domain losing the tri-land cycle from Streets of New Capenna. While a lot of the decks have changed, there are some that have stayed relatively the same, like Golgari Midrange which practically lost no cards, aside from Graveyard Trespasser // Graveyard Glutton and Deathcap Glade.
To put it into perspective, here's a snapshot of the current metagame (according to MTGGoldfish.com):
I've been playing Standard on Arena for the last two weeks, and while I've tried my hardest to jam Blue and White spells together, I've fallen behind so many decks. At times I feel like Azorius Control needs four copies of Temporary Lockdown, just to combat some of the new fast decks in the format, like Mono-Red Aggro and Rakdos Lizards. However, too many cards maindeck for aggro might lead you to lose more to the newer builds of Domain and Rakdos Midrange. I was a bit stumped at where to take Azorius Control next - that is, until I started seeing some new cards from Bloomburrow performing well in these types of Control strategies.
One deck that caught my eye on social media was this build of Boros "Control," suited for Arena's Best of One queue:
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— Mr.Owl (@Mr_Owl_2963) August 7, 2024
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Taking inspiration from this deck's utilization of Caretaker's Talent, I applied what I saw to my test builds of Azorius Control. After some tinkering and play-testing, here's what I came up with:
Caretaker's Talent Azorius Control | BLB Standard | Roman Fusco
- Creatures (3)
- 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
- Planeswalkers (2)
- 1 Archangel Elspeth
- 1 The Eternal Wanderer
- Instants (18)
- 1 Phantom Interference
- 2 Farsight Ritual
- 3 Get Lost
- 4 Deduce
- 4 No More Lies
- 4 Three Steps Ahead
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Sunfall
- Enchantments (7)
- 3 Temporary Lockdown
- 4 Caretaker's Talent
Export Arena
Let's first go over some of the key cards in this deck:
Caretaker's Talent is the key card draw engine in this deck, as almost every spell (including two lands) triggers it. While gaining an extra token and buffing your creature tokens are nice to have, the real power in this card is its static ability. While you might find yourself with a bevy of cards after putting multiple on the battlefield, you can quickly put your opponent on the backfoot while having enough mana to activate the level 3 ability.
Caretaker's Talent also helps you pull ahead in the mid-to-late game in a variety of ways, letting you draw more cards than normal off Deduce and Three Steps Ahead, but also just netting you a card with every Restless Anchorage attack! This can be very useful once you've dumped your hand and you and your opponent are at parity - Caretaker's Talent can dig you out of a board stall with your token-makers.
I do think you have to be careful in certain matchups, as making a token triggers Caretaker's Talent, drawing the card whether you want it or not. Caretaker's Talent does have built-in insurance to prevent yourself from decking, by just killing your opponent with an army of tokens. However, it's worth keeping track of your library count and even using Get Lost or Farsight Ritual to remove a Talent from your side of the battlefield if need be. Don't be afraid to board out copies of this card too, especially on the draw.
While Beza, the Bounding Spring wasn't super high on my list of key cards for Azorius Control in Bloomburrow, I've been blown away by how powerful this card is in the aggressive matchups. Beza is a true stabilizer, and while it's not as flashy as The Wandering Emperor, it can easily take a boardstate back under your control with four life and two 1/1 tokens. The tokens can soak up damage while also acting as a bargain for your Farsight Ritual. Beza can also be copied by Three Steps Ahead, just to net you any of its enter the battlefield abilities (as you'll have to sacrifice Beza or the token since Beza is legendary). It's also worth noting that you should keep around the token version of Beza, as it will grow with Caretaker's Talent's level 3 ability.
You can even sequence your Beza before playing your land per turn, netting you a treasure and allowing you to hold open a Deduce or No More Lies on turn five. While The Wandering Emperor may have rotated, Beza, the Bounding Spring is the hottest 4-drop on the market that puts Azorius Control back in the spotlight.
Originally this deck relied on two copies of Mirrex with no copies of Fountainport, but after playing with the card a few matches I became instantly impressed with how versatile the card was. Creating a 1/1 token that can block is much more useful in a format where you need to buy time through chump blocking. I also didn't realize that this card made treasure tokens! This allows you to make a token for no life cost that will trigger Caretaker's Talent, while also gaining you a mana advantage on your turn. I like that you can also make treasure tokens and still be behind on lands so Beza can gift you an extra treasure token.
When Spellgyre was spoiled I was pretty certain it would replace Farsight Ritual in all of my Control decks - now, I'm not so sure. With four Three Steps Ahead and No More Lies, plus a Phantom Interference, I think the Counterspell effect on Spellgyre is negligible, and you actually can get more looks with a bargained Farsight Ritual (which should be easy considering how many tokens this deck makes). You can also bargain Temporary Lockdown or your Caretaker's Talent after they've put in enough work.
After playing with this card a bunch I found I was bargaining actually more than I was casting it for its regular cost, since this deck just makes so many random tokens that will inevitably be in play. At first I was playing four copies, but with so much card draw off Caretaker's Talent and Deduce you don't need that much card draw. You do, however, need card selection at times, and there are multiple instances where I've been happy to find a game-winning Sunfall by having access to two copies of this card.
The Lands
With four copies of Restless Anchorage (one of your primary threats and ways to freely trigger Caretaker's Talent) as well as the other necessary utility lands, Fountainport and Demolition Field, you have to play four copies of Sunken Citadel. While this means your deck starts with 10 lands that have to come into play tapped, I do think it's a necessary evil, not only to support your deck's gameplan, but to have enough protection built in.
Demolition Field still tags a lot of ways you lose games in this format - to creature lands. Without March of Otherworldly Light you can lose much harder to Restless Cottages and even opposing Fountainports, meaning you need to have some amount of Demolition Field in your deck. While I stand behind the four copies of Sunken Citadel and the 2/2 split of Fountainport and Demolition Field, I could see cutting the Meticulous Archives. I personally just love the utility of surveil 1 when you can draw the top card of your library in a pinch.
The Sideboard
While the sideboard is still a work in progress, due to the new Standard format being so fresh, there are a couple of key considerations I want to point out. First, Jace, the Perfected Mind, is a nice insurance policy against decks that you might just deck yourself against, primarily any Domain strategy or mirror-match. Caretaker's Talent, while a fantastic draw engine and threat with its level 3 ability in the mirror match, is actually a liability at times if your opponent has any of their own copies of Jace. You have to be prepared with the Jace + Tishana's Tidebinder plan for that matchup, and having an extra counterspell or two doesn't hurt.
While I think Azorius has game against the various midrange strategies of the format, like Golgari and Orzhov, you do have to be careful against all the aggressive strategies, like Rakdos Lizards, Mono-Red, and various prowess decks. Elspeth's Smite is my key card here, as it helps you interact before locking down the board with a Beza or... Temporary Lockdown. Dust Animus is also a fine turn two play, but it's a nice way to gain life back after stabilizing (and you can reanimate it with Archangel Elspeth!). Elspeth's Smite is also probably fine against decks with The Nefarious Cruelclaw, as an un-countered Cruelclaw can be lights out if not answered. While I'm not the biggest fan of Tishana's Tidebinder it's a nice answer to various creatures out of the Golgari decks (as well as saving you from a game-ending Vraska, Betrayal's Sting) while also being one of your best answers to Urabrask's Forge from the Mono-Red and Boros sideboards.
Overall, I think the current sideboard gives some flexible options for the current state of the metagame. If anything I'd want to find more answers for Urabrask's Forge, as that is this deck's worst nightmare. But otherwise I think you have a lot of interaction and roadblocks to stop your opponents' gameplans.
Key Card Interactions
Here are a couple of notes I jotted down while playing, just to give you a quick guide on how to maximize playing with this deck:
- Archangel Elspeth and The Eternal Wanderer are bffs, as Elspeth can make the Emperor's samurai tokens game-ending threats fast
- On turn five you can sequence Beza, the Bounding Spring before playing your fifth land if you're on the draw. This will net you a treasure and 2 mana to cast a Get Lost, Deduce, Phantom Interference, or most importantly, a No More Lies on your opponent's next turn
- When copying Beza, the Bounding Spring with Three Steps Ahead make sure to keep the token version of Beza instead of the actual card. This way, the token can grow with a level 3'd Caretaker's Talent
- It's okay to make copies of incubate tokens with Caretaker's Talent, as they will be 2/2s when flipped (if you flip after making Caretaker's Talent level 3)
- You can Get Lost or bargain your own Temporary Lockdown and buy it back with Elspeth's -6 ability to re-sweep up the board
Caretaker's Talent Azorius Control is currently my frontrunner of the best and most fun deck I've played in Bloomburrow Standard. It's a deck with multiple additions from the new set that can both counteract aggro decks while also having game against the Midrange and Control strategies of the format utilizing Caretaker's Talent for card advantage and a swift game-ending threat. While this list isn't perfect, I'm excited to sleeve up a close 75 for Standard Store Champs. I hope you give it a try!
Thanks for reading,
Roman Fusco
PS: As I finished writing this article I couldn't help but tune into the Japan Standard Open, only to see an Azorius Control deck featuring Caretaker's Talent make top 8! While not the exact same list by any means, it is very cool to see someone do well with a similar deck - I guess great minds think alike :) congrats Yoshihiko Tokuyama!
