Since spoiler season began, it was pretty clear that Tarkir: Dragonstorm was a cut above most recent Magic: The Gathering sets in terms of power level. Now that the cards are out in the (digital) wilds, we’re seeing that fact proven in real time. Cards from the set are making waves in Standard, and showing up in Modern and Pioneer. In the case of Rakshasa’s Bargain, one of the set’s best MTG uncommons, they’re even making the leap into Legacy.
While it looks clunky on the surface, and didn’t get too much love during previews, the card is now putting a serious shift in in multiple formats. As if showing up in two of the top four decks in yesterday’s Legacy Challenge wasn’t enough, it’s also seeing use in Standard, too. There’s a lot to explore with this card, and it has the potential to be to Tarkir: Dragonstorm what Stock Up was to Aetherdrift.
Rakshasa’s Bargain MTG
- Mana Value: 2/B 2/G 2/U
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Instant
- Card Text: Look at the top four cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Rakshasa’s Bargain, in a fun flavor win, is a deceptively simple MTG card. For three to six mana, it lets you dig four cards deep into your library, adding two to your hand and putting two in the graveyard. Immediately, this warrants comparison to Stock Up. You’re looking at one less card here, but you’re putting the extras into the ‘yard instead of the deck. Additionally, Bargain comes with one huge edge over Stock Up: instant speed.
Since draw spells in Magic: The Gathering are innately passive plays, the ability to hold them up alongside interaction on your opponent’s turn is hugely valuable. Typically you’ll have to pay an extra mana tax for this advantage, but in Bargain’s case you can actually cast it for three just like Stock Up. Granted, you need perfect Sultai mana in order to do this, but it’s very much possible. The fact that it can also set up your graveyard really pushes this one over the edge into ‘better Stock Up’ territory. For anyone who’s been paying attention, this is a major deal. Stock Up is one of the best draw spells in years, seeing play all the way back to Vintage.
If this was all Rakshasa’s Bargain brought to the table, it would already be pretty exciting. It does have one more trick up its sleeve, however, in the form of its mana cost. Because of the weird hybridization here, the card’s total mana value is considered six, even if you cast it for three. This opens up some spicy interactions, most notably with everyone’s favorite draw engine Up the Beanstalk.
Lighting Up Legacy
With Up the Beanstalk out, Rakshasa’s Bargain will draw you three cards and put two in your graveyard; for only three mana, that’s one of the best deals in MTG history. Unsurprisingly, this interaction is what has propelled the majority of the card’s early success. In yesterday’s Legacy Challenge on MTG Online, two of the top four decks made use of the Bargain/Beans double act.
The first, piloted by DethFrmAbove, claimed second place in the event overall. For the most part this is a Dimir Tempo list, splashing green for a few key cards like Uro, Up the Beanstalk, and Life from the Loam. The deck plays a ton of interaction and disruption to control the game, then uses Murktide Regent and Uro to finish it.
It’s a tried-and-tested gameplan, and Bargain makes it a lot more consistent. Putting cards in the graveyard is great for both Uro and Murktide, and the extra draw from Beanstalk is obviously a nice bonus. When you factor in other sneaky Beanstalk draw enablers like Force of Will and This Town Ain’t Big Enough, you have a deck that should rarely run out of gas.
The other Rakshasa’s Bargain list in yesterday’s Legacy Challenge was Musasabi’s fourth-place deck. In concept, the plan here is exactly the same as above: use Bargain/Beanstalk to draw cards and fill the ‘yard for Uro and Murktide. The two decks varied in their specific choice of disruption suites, with Musasabi opting for more traditional countermagic over This Town Ain’t Big Enough, but the core is the same. Two decks like this did so well in a Legacy event speaks volumes of Bargain’s power, and its potential.
Wide Open Horizons
On top of that excellent performance, we’ve seen Rakshasa’s Bargain show up in Standard, too. In Rapsolo’s early MTG Arena event for the new set, Dieguills took third place with a Sultai Teval list. Surprising no one, the deck was running a full playset of Bargain.
As a value deck built mainly around the titular Spirit Dragon, it’s easy to see why Bargain was a slam-dunk for the list. More cards in the graveyard means more fuel for Teval, and you can even cast it purely using Delve mana if needs be. The card adds a ton of momentum, and lets you sculpt your hand nicely to take advantage of both Caustic Exhale and Dispelling Exhale.
Dieguills’ list is a great start for the card in Standard, but I think Bargain has potential far beyond it. For starters, the Up the Beanstalk synergy that powered the card’s Legacy success is also available in this format. Beanstalk mostly sees play in Four-Color Zur lists right now, but it could well make a comeback thanks to Bargain. I could see Sultai value decks, not unlike the Teval list above, being built around the duo in the near future.
The card is also a great way to leverage all the excellent graveyard synergies in current Standard. A Golgari Self-Mill deck running a bunch of creatures that get cheaper as your graveyard piles up did pretty well back in February, and Bargain seems like a huge buff there. It’s also fantastic in Reanimator, letting you put your targets in the bin and your enablers in your hand.
Overall, Rakshasa’s Bargain is an incredibly powerful MTG card with far-ranging potential. It’s already made a pretty big impact, and its influence is only going to grow over time.
