Welcome Magic lovers!
With Pro Tour Seattle fading in the rearview mirror, many competitive Standard players resigned themselves to a couple more months of Esper Raffine, Temur Ramp, Domain, and Azorius Control mirrors before the inevitable rotation sweeps across the land, tucking once-dominant staples away, snug in their junk rare boxes.
However, one player at the recent Regional Championship in Canada this past weekend had other plans.
The Deck
Rocking a rogue deck that has been seeing a bit of play on the Arena ladder, but has yet to put up any big finishes, Noah Michaud managed to snag a top 8 spot in order to qualify him for the next Magic Pro Tour. Today we'll take a look at the deck, how it works, what its matchup spread looks like, as well as some sideboard plans. Presenting, Simic Zoetic Glyph (a.k.a. Hard-Hitting Ginger Cookie Glyphs):
As its namesake suggests, this aggro/tempo deck derives its name from the key card, Zoetic Glyph, which plays out very similarly to the Ensoul Artifact decks of old, by turning otherwise innocuous non-creature artifacts into threatening 5-power monsters. Zoetic Glyph has the added bonus of allowing the pilot to discover 3 when it dies, effectively replacing itself with another must-answer threat, or another Glyph.
The Plan
The main plan of the deck is to curve a one-mana threat like Spyglass Siren, Gingerbrute, or Teething Wurmlet into Surge Engine, Subterranean Schooner, or Tough Cookie, topped off by a Sentinel of the Nameless City or Zoetic Glyph on a map token or food token. Wurmlet and Surge Engine grow extremely quickly, and therefore quickly become must-answer cards. It's not uncommon to get a Wurmlet out of Cut Down range by turn three, and even if the opponent does have the ubiquitous removal spell early, it's still trading evenly on mana. All of the artifact creatures also neatly dodge the other most commonly played removal spell in Standard, Go for the Throat.
Once one of these large threats has been safely deployed, the deck can either lean back into a more interactive stance, leaving up tricks like Spell Pierce and Slip Out the Back to surprise the opponent, or press their advantage by activating Tough Cookie and/or powering up Surge Engine to put the opponent under some serious pressure.
While this list can come out of nowhere in the early game and put some serious power onto the battlefield, it's the deck's ability to grind in the mid-late game that really gives it the power to hang with the other big dogs in Standard, and that ability to grind comes from none other than Agatha's Soul Cauldron. By exiling deceased creatures from this deck's graveyard to throw into the Cauldron, it allows every creature drawn later in the game to have the abilities of an exiled Gingerbrute, Tough Cookie, and/or Surge Engine grafted onto them. This means every single creature is now threatening to grow larger, draw cards, become unable to be blocked, or even start turning tokens into 4/4 hasty beaters. When one considers that Agatha's Soul Cauldron also functions as main deck graveyard-hate against Temur Ramp or 4-color Legends, it's power in this shell begins to seem undeniable.
Removal is kept to a minimum, consisting of only two Kitesail Larcenist and three Hard-Hitting Question, which are effectively one mana to kill almost anything once one has a 5/4 in play on turn three.
The lands top out at twenty-two in this streamlined aggro deck, with a trio of Mirrex to produce a stream of tokens in order to fuel Teething Wurmlet, wear a Zoetic Glyph, or even get pumped up while attacking alongside one of the several Restless Vinestalk lurking in the mana base. With so few lands, it's not difficult to keep the gas flowing, especially considering the additional card draw from map token producers like Sentinel of the Nameless City and Spyglass Siren.
The Sideboard
Moving to the sideboard, we see additional protection in extra copies of Spell Pierce and Slip Out the Back, as well as the very potent Repulsive Mutation. Countering a key removal spell or sweeper while also pumping one of your creatures into lethal damage range is often game-winning.
Creature interaction is covered by a single additional Hard-Hitting Question and Kitesail Larcenist. Non-creature permanents out of decks like Esper Raffine are easily dispatched with efficient, one-mana answers like Pick Your Poison and Haywire Mite. Don't forget to toss a Haywire Mite into the Soul Cauldron to create a fine, never-ending stew of artifact and enchantment destruction.
Another catch-all answer that also happens to line up well against almost every deck currently seeing play in Standard, Tishana's Tidebinder, is fantastic in a tempo deck like this, and it's not surprising to see a trio of them show up here. Last but not least, Oko, the Ringleader makes an appearance here as another sticky threat against control decks.
The Matchups
A low-to-the-ground aggro/tempo list like this naturally feasts on slow, plodding decks like Domain Ramp, Temur Ramp, and Azorius Control, which is almost certainly what the player who navigated their way to a top 8 berth faced the most on their run, making this an excellent metagame call for that tournament. Having a bunch of artifacts lying around waiting to be animated after the opponent casts a Sunfall to wipe the board means rebuilding is elementary, especially with an Agatha's Soul Cauldron in play. With a lot of built-in life gain, as well as creatures that become very large for very little mana, the matchup against red aggressive strategies also seems favorable for this deck. Esper Raffine is probably a very close match, but this deck's creatures outsize most of the early plays that Esper is capable of producing, so it's hard to say without further testing.
Conclusion
With a streamlined, proactive game-plan, a resilient and grindy mid-to-late-game, and the tools to execute all of it cheaply and consistently, this deck can certainly surprise some of the more established archetypes. If you're looking for something new and fun, try taking Hard-Hitting Ginger Cookie Glyphs for a spin!
