Up the Beanstalk is one of the better draw engines printed in the last decade. The card has a pedigree and is already seeing play in Domain, a Tier 1 Standard deck. It's a card strong enough to see play in Pioneer. It has already been banned in Modern, because of the interaction with the Incarnation cycle, like Grief, Fury, etc. It turns out, that a powerful draw engine existing in a format with high-cost creatures that can be cast for a reduced cost, while still maintaining their actual mana value on the stack, is a recipe for brokenness. But, we don't have anything like that in Standard right now...

Or, do we?

Let's see if we can push the card hard enough to get it banned in Standard too.

The Beanstalk Gang | DSK Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Hugs, Grisly Guardian
• 2 Roxanne, Starfall Savant
• 2 Tranquil Frillback
• 4 Overlord of the Boilerbilges
• 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods

• Instants (4)
• 2 Into the Flood Maw
• 2 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Doppelgang
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Roaring Furnace // Steaming Sauna
• 4 Up the Beanstalk

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Ancient Cornucopia

• Lands (26)
• 1 Island
• 3 Forest
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Fountainport
• 2 Karplusan Forest
• 2 Thundering Falls
• 3 Fabled Passage
• 3 Hedge Maze
• 4 Thornspire Verge
• 4 Commercial District

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Tear Asunder
• 1 Wear Down
• 2 Brotherhood's End
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Pawpatch Formation
• 2 The Rollercrusher Ride
• 2 Urabrask's Forge
• 3 Negate

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Some decks are all about finesse. They try to manipulate the game in a subtle way that ultimately leads to them eking out a win through patience and superior strategy.

This deck wants to land a haymaker and put you on your butt.

The deck is built around the interaction between Up the Beanstalk and the Overlord cycle from Duskmourn: House of Horror. While the Impending cost for the Overlords is less than five, once you cast them, they arrive on the stack as their printed mana value. So, casting Up the Beanstalk on turn two and curving it into Overlord of the Hauntwoods on turn three will trigger the Beanstalk to draw a card.

Card Choices

Extremely-long-names-that-are-hell-to-type-out-for-people-that-still-write-Magic-articles aside, the Overlord cycle has hit the ground running, and are proving to be the best big creature cycle printed since the original Titans. Hauntwoods is the best enabler in the deck, as the perfect post Up the Beanstalk play. But, Boilerbilges is the star here, as a card that takes down most creatures and a threat that can end the game in a hurry.

I modeled this deck after the Temur Doppelgang lists that were kicking around toward the end of rotation. I've already admitted I'm infatuated with this card, but this deck takes it up to 11. If you copy one of the Impending versions of the Overlords, it will still enter as a creature. This makes Doppelgang for X=1 a much better option that it has ever been, as it will still trigger Up the Beanstalk and create an Overlord. At X=2 or greater, you're probably winning the game.

This card has been amazing, and I'm really considering going up to the full playset. With Up the Beanstalk we almost always have cards in our hand, making the Roaring Furnace a reliable way to remove most creatures. Or, you can cast Steaming Sauna, trigger Up the Beanstalk, and start rapidly outpacing your opponent with raw card advantage. Having a 2-drop removal spell that doubles as a 5-drop personal Howling Mine is a little nutty. The, "You have no maximum hand size" portion of the card is even relevant, since you often get two copies of Beanstalk in play and then you're drawing so many cards you're discarding at the end of turn. This also discards to Ill-Timed Explosion to deal seven damage across the board.

This works as ramp, removal, and a win condition. If you've never seen the Temur Doppelgang deck in action, one of the common ways to win is by copying Roxanne and/or meteorite tokens with Doppelgang.

Mono-Red is fast, and more consistent than any turn two/3 win deck we've seen in Standdard in a good while. I wanted at least 4 cards that can interact as soon as turn one, but I don't think Torch the Tower is good enough by itself (but still super important due to the exile clause), so I split it with Floodmaw. Floodmaw is an extremely versatile reset card. Sometimes, you just need a way to get something off the board for a turn, and this card excels in that area.

This has been a sideboard all-star since it was printed. But... it's time. Between the ubiquitousness of enchantments and the rise in reanimation style decks with the printing of Valgavoth, Terror Eater, this should start to see more maindeck play.

I wanted to highlight this sideboard card because it has been putting in solid work for me. There are a bunch of different midrange decks vying for Tier 1 right now and this spell is a great way to fight those mid-sized creatures. Hitting Delirium isn't difficult, and Boilerbilges really ends the game fast when it deals 8.

I'm loving Duskmourn so far, and the set is proving to be impactful across multiple formats. Standard feels wide pen right now, as long as you can interact with Mono-Red on the first 2 turns. I look forward to seeing how the format shapes up in the next few weeks.

You can find more of my musings on X/Twitter @travishall456