For the Eldrazi

Posted on September 18, 2015

Over the past few weeks, I have begun touching on some of the new cards and how we can look to update already existing decks with what we have spoiled so far. This week, as I have been itching to do so, I want to focus on completely revamping one of these decks. Some decks, like Abzan from last week, will take relatively small amounts of tuning to keep competitive at first. Though down the line we may see very different builds, it seems unlikely too many people will be jumping on board with that immediately. Some decks need more than just a small tweak to move forward, and this week, I want to talk about two decks in that category.

Esper Dragons ? Magic Origins Standard | Ryan Bushard

Planeswalkers (1)
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

How many of you enjoyed playing this deck a few months ago when it was tearing up Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers and gaining a reputation as the pinnacle of control in Standard? Of course, it hardly turned out that way, and it instead joined the countless viable decks you may see any one weekend. With so many of the tools used in this deck rotating, it seems unlikely that such a reactive deck can survive without Thoughtseize. That’s right; that card turns out to be more of a pillar of the format than most would like to believe, and it has forced many of the decks running it to rethink their game plans. I wanted to bring some Eldrazi love to the deck and find some more proactive ways to influence the board while continuing to push the card-draw and counters we all love.

I have been looking forward to playing Ojutai's Command for some time now, and I believe Esper is just the shell to do that. This, of course, means we need some cheap targets to return, unlike most control decks from last year. I want to approach the format with fewer Wrath of God effects and more incremental value, so I began brainstorming with what we currently have from Battle for Zendikar, and this is what I have come to so far.

Esper ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Ryan Bushard

Without the full spoiler, it would be difficult to move toward the secondary theme of ingest that I am so eagerly anticipating. I am not sure this deck could close out the game fast enough to eliminate the high end completely, but it is at least a skeleton to take and build from for a more creature-heavy control deck, one that may not take forty turns to win with.

Fathom Feeder is probably one of my favorite cards from the set so far—such a simple package offers so much utility both early and late game. Cards like this that have no point in the games in which they are bad usually end up finding their ways into decks at the first Pro Tour, and though this is no Hangarback Walker or Goblin Rabblemaster, it could certainly still be a force to contend with.

I am also excited to see what awaken can do in control decks like this and if there is a critical mass of these spells you need to play in order to make the Wrath of God effect, Planar Outburst, playable. As the weeks close to the final spoiler, we will be able to answer all of these questions, but for the second half of my article this week, I want to finally put a deck idea to paper that has been rattling around in my head all week.

I should start this by saying I am not much of a Modern player, so feel free to correct me if this just has no place in the format, but ever since Herald of Kozilek was spoiled, I cannot pull my mind away from an Eggs variant. After scouring Gatherer and looking at old lists, this is what I have come up with.

Eggs Benedict ? Modern | Ryan Bushard

This is a very, very rough draft, as without the Herald, the whole deck falls apart, meaning testing won't really be able to begin until a few weeks from now. I have always wanted to play Mishra, Artificer Prodigy, and I feel that if there is ever a deck to abuse him, it would be one like this. Scrapyard Salvo has also been on my radar for a while as a pre-’board win condition. After ’board, I would start with enchantment removal and Disciple of the Vault to replace the need to rely on your graveyard as much. I am sure that, even if this deck does come back, it will look different from this build, but if nothing else, this list looks to be a blast to play and requires far less time to go off than the previous version of Eggs.

While I am no Modern expert, I have a reasonable grasp on what cards could see play in the format from this set, and while everyone initially is focused on Standard, you may be able to pick some of these up for a real deal immediately before any major events happen.

I have had a friend who has been playing Allies, to a great deal of success, even on the Pro Tour, for years now in almost any format he is allowed. Lantern Scout may not slot directly into the main deck, but I feel there is not much better when it comes to racing other aggressive decks. So far, I have not been all that impressed with the majority of Allies spoiled so far—they seem to be much slower with clunkier, though more powerful, effects. This seems to be one of the cards that has broken that mold and is acceptable on curve even without the built-in ability to grow.

Sowing Salt has become a fairly expensive uncommon over the past few years, as it is one of the few ways to deal with ’Tron decks at the source. Crumble to Dust will probably be taking that spot in many decks, as it is easier to cast. The other upside of not being red is less relevant but still a factor that makes this look to be an upgrade for most lists. Foils of this will probably start off lower until people see it in sideboards, but believe me: It will be there, so get in early on those. At uncommon, there isn't much to worry about if you do not acquire them, but there is a great deal of potential growth down the road if this completely replaces Sowing Salt.

The last card I want to cover is also a foil pickup and may already have a reasonable price when it releases: Blighted Cataracts. This card will probably show up in Modern—and even potentially Legacy—from time to time. People are already excited about this card for Standard, but I believe that excitement will inspire blue mages of all formats to at least consider fitting one or two in when the mana can take it. It is great to see Wizards branching out beyond just landfall and making the actual lands feel like spells in their own right.

As always, thank you for reading. Next week, I will finally have the full spoiler to work with, and that means the brewing can fully commence. If the decks I have talked about so far gain huge advantage from the rest of the set, I will approach them again; otherwise, it is time to finally see what these Eldrazi have in store for us and look at exactly what cards you want to get in on now and what will probably stay low due to the extra addition of the Expeditions.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand