On Monday, the announcement of a major ban disrupted several formats at once. Modern, Legacy, Pioneer, and even Vintage saw massive changes that will surely impact the metagame from here on out. One format that was not affected, however, is Standard. Standard is relatively healthy right now and offers players a wide range of viable options.
There’s also plenty of room for players to innovate, and with the Store Championships now running until September 15, things are set to get even more exciting.
One unique deck we wanted to share that we think is well positioned is Sultai Midrange. While black-based midrange decks have been around in Standard for some time, the presence of Glarb, Calamity’s Augur gives this deck a whole new identity. Glarb attacks the current metagame very well and overall there is a lot to like about this archetype.
Typical Dimir midrange elements
- Mana value: 1B
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Statistics: 1/1
- MTG Set: Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Card Text: Flying, lifelink. When Deepcave Bat enters the battlefield, look at target opponent’s hand. You may banish a nonland card from it until Deepcave Bat leaves the battlefield.
Most of the cards that appear in this archetype are familiar faces in Dimir midrange. Green is mainly a splash to activate Glarb. At the top of these Dimir midrange cards is Deep-Cavern Bat. Deep-Cavern Bat does everything you want it to. It disrupts synergistic strategies. It paves the way for your potent three and four mana plays. The Lifelink bonus is also the real kicker.
Caustic Bronco is another two-drop that the opponent will want to respond to as quickly as possible. It generates card advantage, and if you have a way to saddle it up, you can potentially force the opponent to lose a lot of life in the process.
In the three-mana slot, Preacher of the Schism complements Glarb well as a powerful value machine. Preacher is especially good against aggro decks. The four-toughness body is difficult to attack, while the threat of pumping out tokens with Lifelink is scary in and of itself.
From there, many of the usual black removal spells come into play. Cut Down gives you efficient interaction, which is needed in an area where Gruul Prowess is popular. Go for the Throat then lets you take out more persistent threats. The “no artifact creature” clause does run into problems with decks like Azorius Artifacts, but for the most part, Go for the Throat kills what you need.
Read more: Wizards admits recently banned MTG card was a design flaw
Glarb’s powerful role
- Mana value: BGU
- Rarity: Mythically Rare
- Statistics: 2/4
- MTG Set: Bloomburrow
- Card Text: Deathtouch. You may look at the top card of your library at any time. You may play lands and cast spells with mana value 4 or higher from the top of your library. Tap: Surveil 2.
What sets this deck apart from typical midrange shells is the use of a full Glarb playset. Glarb is an interesting card. The main problem is that you can only cast spells with mana value four or more from the top of your deck. This might make it seem like you need to water down your deck with too many expensive cards to benefit from Glarb. However, Glarb derives its value primarily from allowing you to play lands from the top and set up your draws.
In tough games, Glarb takes full control. While your opponent has to worry about drawing excess lands that do nothing, you can make sure you’re always drawing a spell while continuing to drop your lands. Of course, there are some expensive cards in the deck like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse that are definitely worth throwing out from the top of the deck.
The ability to use Surveil 2 every turn makes Glarb a reliable card advantage machine. Usually, you can set things up so that you’re constantly drawing spells on your turn and then playing your land drop from the top of your deck. With those extra land drops, you can eventually play cards like Virtue of Persistence, which can completely skew a midrange pseudomirror in your favor.
The Overwatch ability also pairs well with Caustic Bronco. If you can saddle Caustic Bronco, you can try to put an expensive card on top of it. Otherwise, you can set it up so that you lose as little life as possible when attacking.
In addition to all of these benefits, Glarb gets a lot out of his stats. Unlike other three-drop options like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, or Glissa Sunslayer, Glarb isn’t vulnerable to Lightning Helix or Torch the Tower. Just like Preacher of the Schism, Glarb is an excellent blocker. While it might seem a bit odd to splash for the Frog, he’s ultimately an excellent tool for combating both aggro and midrange decks.
Read more: Bullish Bloomburrow bear gets a place in classic-modern deck
Compromises
- Mana value: 3WW
- Rarity: Rare
- MTG Set: March of the Machine
- Card text: Exile all creatures. Incubate X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Create an Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it and “2: Transform this artifact. It becomes a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.)
As good as Glarb is, there are some matchups where the splash comes at a cost. Most notably, Glarb is pretty weak against Domain Ramp. Glarb is cleanly answered by Leyline Binding and Sunfall and unfortunately doesn’t apply much pressure himself. The incremental advantage Glarb generates is completely outweighed by a single resolved Atraxa, Grand Unifier. So if Domain is a problem, you’re probably better off playing a more tempo-heavy game plan with Tishana’s Tidebinder taking Glarb’s place.
The other weakness of this deck compared to other two-color midrange decks is its mana base. It’s not always easy to cast Glarb on turn three. Additionally, the difficult color requirements of this deck prevent you from using many utility lands like Mirrex or Fountainport that would otherwise be strong additions.
So you definitely need to consider the metagame when deciding if this Sultai midrange deck is the right deck to play. Given the popularity of assertive, creature-centric archetypes and midrange strategies right now, there’s a lot that’s good about how this deck is constructed. If you’re looking for a cool deck for your upcoming Store Championship event, or want something else to help you climb the Arena ladder, Glarb is here and ready to fight!
Read more: New Bloomburrow Discard Spell Sneaks Into Multiple Formats
