Welcome Magic lovers!
As Duskmourn Standard continues to take shape, with many players trying and testing new strategies and sideboards built around the pile of shiny, new toys we've just received, many others are sticking with proven decks and simply looking for ways to slot in some spicy new additions.
Domain Ramp has been one of the most popular, and powerful, decks in Standard for some time now, and at one point made up about 20% of the entire metagame. Its rock-solid core is composed of potent domain spells Leyline Binding and Herd Migration, as well as the ubiquitous Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Utilizing three-mana ramp like Heaped Harvest or Ancient Cornucopia in the early game to get a giant, Phyrexian angel or herd of beasts on the board a couple of turns early is typically the deck's shortest route to victory. Snowballing card advantage with Up the Beanstalk is trivially easy when much of the deck costs five or more mana and, naturally, there is also Atraxa, Grand Unifier as one of the biggest bursts of card draw one can play in Standard at the top end of the curve. With the life-gaining Archangel of Wrath to bridge to the late-game, and a suite of seven or eight sweepers to shore up that plan, such as Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall, the Domain deck typically has little trouble managing the creature-based decks.
So, what’s changed?
A new cycle of impressive enchantment creatures from Duskmourn has arrived, and with it, a robust new ramp spell in Overlord of the Hauntwoods.
This new, three-mana, enchantment creature is leagues ahead of the previously played Heaped Harvest in the list, as it not only ramps an additional land into play on turn three, but its impending ability means it also becomes a 6/5 monster that continues to ramp every turn that it attacks later in the game, once the last counter is removed. Having an oversized creature attached to one's ramp spell is an incredible upside, eventually forcing opponents to use crucial removal spells on the 'free' Overlord instead of saving it for the dreaded Atraxa.
Once one considers the fact that playing the Overlord the turn after one resolves an Up the Beanstalk also triggers the card draw on said Beanstalk, as it sees the Overlord as a five-mana spell, and you've got an absolutely perfect piece to slot into the Domain Ramp deck's curve.
But wait, that's not all. Due to the fact that the 'Everywhere' land token produced by the Overlord of the Hauntwoods is all basic land types at all times, it instantly turns on all the domain spells in the deck all by itself, powering up Leyline Binding and Herd Migration without the need to fetch up various basics or play a plethora of comes-into-play-tapped dual lands. 'Everywhere' also making any color of mana, and not suffering from only being able to cast one creature type, like Cavern of Souls, makes it much easier to cast cards with multi-colored costs like Archangel of Wrath and Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
This, in turn, allows the deck to play a more streamlined mana base, making it possible to omit a couple of the off-color surveil lands, or perhaps not even have to cycle a Herd Migration early in the game in order to find land when one would normally be forced to do it.
Once one starts to see all the little ways in which the deck runs more smoothly with Overlord of the Hauntwoods in it, it becomes easy to see how big an upgrade it is for Domain Ramp.
As for other new toys that may also be interesting additions to the deck, Unwanted Remake is another possible consideration. It's the perfect, instant-speed spot removal spell to accompany Leyline Binding at one mana, and effective, early plays are often exactly what the deck needs to stabilize against aggressive strategies. The ability of Unwanted Remake to deal with a creature of any size at instant speed is incredible, and giving the opponent a random 2/2 manifest creature is not much of a drawback when one is playing six or seven sweepers in their list, like Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall.
Overlord of the Mistmoors is another consideration as a way to gum up the board between sweepers, then come down post-Sunfall to put a ton of pressure on the battlefield. While it is a very powerful creature, the reality is that I'm just not sure the deck needs it, as Archangel of Wrath fills that role admirably. However, the Archangel can be tricky to cast, especially if one wants to double-kick it and hasn't seen an Overlord of the Hauntwoods yet, making the Overlord of the Mistmoors more appealing in many situations.
In the sideboard, there are plenty of new options one could consider playing. Split Up as an alternate Temporary Lockdown may be more effective against decks which can often sideboard out many of their two-drops in order to be less punished by the three-mana enchantment sweeper.
Insidious Fungus is a new addition that's cheap, effective at taking out non-creature permanents, and can also cycle to ramp in a pinch. Hitting enchantments is now more important than ever, with insanely powerful cards like the Talent cycle and the Overlord cycle from the last two sets seeing a ton of tier 1 play at the moment, making Insidious Fungus a card worth considering.
Valgavoth's Onslaught is another top-end card that one could toy with in the Domain Ramp shell, as the deck is more than capable of making enough mana to produce a lethal wave of manifest creatures with it. As a pseudo-Herd Migration numbers five and six, it's probably overkill, but it would be interesting to see how big one can go with it.
With access to all five colors, and the mana ramp to play anything on the curve with ease, the sky is the limit for the Domain Ramp deck. Which direction would you take it in? Let me know in the comments below!
