Welcome Magic lovers!
With the first week of post-Foundations, Standard Regional Championship Qualifier tournaments in the books, it's now time to peruse the plethora of lists to see which tried-and-true decks are succeeding and perhaps which promising new archetypes may merit further exploration.
A 270-player, $10,000 Standard RCQ happened in the US this past weekend, and while the top tables were full of familiar lists, like Mono White Control, Dimir and Golgari Midrange, Jeskai Convoke and, of course, red-based aggressive decks, there were also a couple of novel archetypes that placed highly. Today we'll be breaking down one such list, Esper Reanimator, which ended up making it all the way to 14th place with a record of 7-2 in matches and 15-9 in games.
The Plan
Playing out much like an Esper Control deck with a spicy, reanimation package to go over the top and end the game seems like a solid plan in Standard at the moment, as the deck has the tools to beat just about anything.
The main plan is to control the early game with excellent black and white removal spells like Cut Down, Anoint with Affliction and Go for the Throat, or Get Lost and Elspeth's Smite, with an assist from some cheap countermagic in the form of No More Lies.
All this early interaction is backed up by the excellent Foundations reprint, Day of Judgment, which comes down a whole turn sooner than Sunfall, making it a lot more effective at managing the aggressive decks in the format, and is probably the reason we see a three-one split between the two sweepers.
Turn three is when things can start to get very interesting. Playing either Overlord of the Floodpits or the new legendary creature Kiora, the Rising Tide, allows the pilot to not only draw cards to continue making land drops or find more removal, but to also get that Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Valgavoth, Terror Eater into the graveyard.
This sets up a potential turn four Rite of the Moth, the key reanimation spell in the deck, putting a massive threat into play far earlier than should be possible, often winning the game on the spot. While this 'nut-draw' is powerful, it doesn't always come together seamlessly, which is why having the ability to cast Rite of the Moth again with flashback from the graveyard is quite potent. It allows the pilot to reanimate a 'smaller' threat early, such as Kiora or an Overlord of the Floodpits in order to keep digging and set up a future Rite of the Moth from the graveyard, once the battlefield has been stabilized.
Overlord of the Mistmoors does double duty here, making a couple of flying 2/1 blockers on turn four to gum up the board and stall the opponent out, or being discarded in order to provide a juicy Rite of the Moth target when Atraxa and Valgavoth are nowhere to be found. A turn four Overlord of the Mistmoors plus his two flying friends is usually enough to put one very far ahead in any given game.
Three Steps Ahead is another key player in this deck that fills many different roles, as it not only acts as a hard counter for an opponent's powerful threats in both the early and late game, but it also provides yet another way to smooth one's draws and get a large threat into the graveyard on turn three in order to be reanimated by a turn four Rite of the Moth.
The Mana
Running twenty-six lands is the sweet spot for a control deck, as making land drops into the late-game is crucial. There are many ways to build a mana base for a deck like this, but it's clear this pilot knew that the success of the deck would hinge on having easy access to all three colors as quickly as possible. Requiring both black and white mana early in order to play removal spells starting on turn one, then trying to generate double-blue on turn three for Overlord of the Floodpits or Three Steps Ahead can be tricky. Then, Day of Judgment wants double-white mana while Rite of the Moth requires double-black mana on turn four. Putting all of this together can be tricky, which is why this list is playing full playsets of Floodfarm Verge and Gloomlake Verge, with four Fabled Passage to try and ensure at least one basic land is in play to turn them on.
One won't see any creature lands here, like Restless Anchorage or Restless Reef, as they don't have basic land types on them. While the 'surveil' lands, like Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers and Shadowy Backstreet would be perfect with all the verges, playing too many lands that come into play tapped is a death sentence for a control deck in Standard right now, with all the aggressive decks running around. Three or four maximum is almost certainly the sweet spot.
A single Fountainport is definitely worth the slot here, as it's such a powerful value engine later in the game, and also allows the deck to actually cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier using a treasure token. Aside from that, the deck can't really afford to play any additional utility lands like Demolition Field or Mirrex.
The Sideboard
Finding the right combination of cards to play in the sideboard can be tricky for any deck, but with a control deck it's critically important. This list is clearly trying to cover all of its bases, first by bringing in a trio of Temporary Lockdown and Elspeth's Smite against the aggro decks. One can also sideboard in the additional copy of Anoint with Affliction and Virtue of Persistence, which also pull double duty against the Golgari and Dimir Midrange lists.
A pair of Ghost Vacuum are here to deal with the other decks in the format that are trying to cheat large threats into play from the graveyard, such as Azorius Oculus.
Disdainful Stroke and Outrageous Robbery are brought in against Domain/Overlord ramp decks, while a pair of Negate can also be brought in against opposing control decks like Mono-White.
Devout Decree is a new Foundations addition that seems like a decent catch-all card, as it does good work against all the black-based midrange decks as well as red aggressive decks.
Conclusion
A powerful control deck with the tools to fend off aggressive archetypes, while also having a back-door combo which allows its pilot to slam a nine-mana creature into play on turn four in order to crush midrange? Seems great! Now let’s see if the larger Standard-playing community will hone it even further!