Welcome Magic lovers!
It's official, the new 'Talent' cycle of class enchantments from Bloomburrow has taken Standard by storm.
Almost all of them are seeing some amount of play, from the black-based discard decks using Bandit's Talent to burn the opponent out after shredding their hand, to black-green midrange decks using Innkeeper's Talent create a combo finish with Vraska, Betrayal's Sting, and even the odd Izzet Otter tempo deck dropping Stormchaser's Talent on turn one.
However, the most powerful of the five has been none other than Caretaker's Talent.
It's hard to believe that the best card-draw engine to emerge and fill the gaping hole left behind by the rotation of Memory Deluge from Standard is a white, three-mana enchantment…but it's absolutely true. It's hard to overstate how many cards this innocuous, little enchantment with a cute, little bunny on it can draw its pilot over the course of a game. It feels like an Up the Beanstalk that's infinitely easier to trigger, and it's become the backbone of blue-white control decks, white-black midrange/control decks, and the newly-minted red-white control archetype we see below:
The Deck
This Boros Control deck is definitely something one won't see every day. It's not often that control decks are able to pivot away from playing blue mana, as both the counter-magic in the early game and card draw it provides in the late game, are crucial for the control archetype to function effectively. However, Caretaker's Talent provides such an enormous amount of card advantage at such a low cost that it's completely supplanted Deduce, Quick Study, Spellgyre and any other blue card draw that the control deck may want to play. As if that wasn't enough, this insane enchantment also copies tokens to trigger itself, while also functioning as a finisher once Level 3 has been paid for, pumping the team and finishing off the opponent! There are even some tricky lines of play involving copying a Urabrask's Forge token with the Level 2 on Caretaker's Talent in order to keep it around, as the copy won't be subjected to the original token's 'sacrifice on end step' clause.
The Interaction
As for the lack of counter-magic, it turns out that cheap, red removal gives the deck all the interaction that it needs in the first few turns, as Torch the Tower can have its bargain cost triggered easily with all the tokens and Carrot Cake lying around. Temporary Lockdown may seem strange in a deck producing a ton of tokens, but when all of them are totally expendable, it makes a lot more sense. Bing the opponent to overextend into Temporary Lockdown is as easy as playing Carrot Cake into Urabrask's Forge.
Sunfall remains the most powerful sweeper in Standard, cleaning up anything that the cheap spot removal can't tag. That includes the flexible Get Lost, as well as Lightning Helix, which works as both an incredible early play against aggro, while also going to the face to end the game once sufficient damage has been done to the opponent.
The Finisher
Speaking of damage, that's where the deck really shines. Instead of playing a large, evasive,-to-deal-with threat, the deck simply slams Urabrask's Forge and lets it go to work. The Forge is difficult for many of the most commonly played decks to interact with, as much of the removal currently being played in Standard doesn't hit artifacts. From Get Lost and Go for the Throat, to Destroy Evil and even Pawpatch Formation, nothing touches the Forge. It plays particularly beautifully with Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall, allowing the control player to sit on Forge while the opponent plays blocker after blocker in an attempt to mount a defense. Then the sweeper comes down, wiping out the opponent's battlefield while simultaneously allowing the Boros player to crack in with a large, freshly-minted Phyrexian Horror token. It feels like casting Plague Wind in Standard. Urabrask's Forge allows the Boros Control player to sit back and keep hitting, as Caret's Talent draws cards with every token that enters the battlefield, then sacrifice the tokens post-combat to things like Torch the Tower and Fountainport.
The Lands
Fountainport really shines in this deck, producing the tokens to trigger Caretaker's Talent, while also providing an outlet to sacrifice either its own tokens, or those created by Urabrask's Forge or Carrot Cake. Mirrex does good work here too, providing the all-important stream of tokens to either trigger card-draw effects or kill the opponent. Last, but definitely not least, Sunken Citadel is incredible here, allowing one to activate the very potent Fountainport or Mirrex at a discount.
Rounding out the deck are Virtue of Loyalty, which can trigger Caretaker's Talent on the opponent's turn by flashing in a knight, while also pumping up the team to end things if the situation presents itself. Archangel Elspeth finally finds a place to shine in this deck, making tokens to trigger Caretaker's Talent, sending a creature to the air to hit the opponent, or using her ultimate ability to bring back nearly every non-land permanent in the deck which may have found its way to the graveyard.
The Sideboard
The sideboard has taken the power of the new class enchantments seriously, packing a pair of both Loran of the Third Path and the new Sunder the Gateway to deal with them. Sunder is cute as it also provides a token when cast to trigger Caretaker's Talent. Abrade and Brotherhood's End are here as a hedge against any Simulacrum Synthesizer decks one may run across, while also doing good work alongside the third Temporary Lockdown when grappling against aggro. Beza, the Bounding Spring rounds out the anti-aggro package, being the best Timely Reinforcements we've probably ever seen.
Bonehoard Dracosaur is another, powerful threat which can be used to juke opponent after they've taken out their spot removal like Get Lost and Go for the Throat.
Serra Paragon is here against the attrition-based decks, as it can recur any permanent in the list, aside from Archangel Elspeth and Virtue of Loyalty, allowing the pilot to grind through all the black-based removal one's opponent may throw at them.
A couple of Rest in Peace tops up the sideboard against graveyard-based decks, such as green-black Insidious Roots or blue-black Reenact/Breach combo.
Conclusion
This deck is clearly powerful, difficult for opponents to pin down and deal with, while also attacking on several different axes. Its card draw, removal and finishers are top notch, and can bury opponents quickly and easily. This makes it a top choice right now for many competitive Standard players.
What do you think of this wild take on the classic control archetype? Let me know in the comments below!
