For the most part, deckbuilding innovation in Magic: The Gathering comes in drips, not torrents. Dominant archetypes are formed slowly over time, as players sub cards in and out and figure out the perfect ratios. Sometimes, however, when the stars align, a new archetype can spawn fully-formed, in brazen defiance of the prevailing trends in the metagame. This past weekend, we saw exactly this with Four-Color Grim Captain at the MTG RC in Hartford.
This is a deck that was on absolutely nobody’s radar before this event. It’s not even clear what archetype it actually is. Is it Zoo? is it Combo? Accounts vary, but what is clear is that it’s one of the most innovative Standard decks we’ve seen in some time. In a world where Izzet Prowess is hogging over 40% of the Standard meta, bold brews like this are exactly what we need.
Four-Color Grim Captain In MTG Standard
Four-Color Grim Captain, also known as Four-Color Zoo or Grim Captain Combo, comes to us via Azeem Lyon. They piloted the deck to a 5-4 finish at the SCGCon Hartford RC over the weekend. This isn’t the most impressive result in a vacuum, but when you consider the specifics of the deck it certainly is.
As the name suggests, this is a deck all about flipping Throne of the Grim Captain into The Grim Captain itself. Doing so achieves two things. Firstly, it puts a 7/7 bowl of keyword soup in play, which can easily turn the tide against Aggro thanks to Lifelink. Second, it lets you cheat creatures of different types into play, provided you used them to Craft the Captain of course.
If the deck can reach the point where The Grim Captain is swinging in, it’s probably over. The tricky part is making that happen, which is where the Combo side of the deck comes in. The most efficient way to use Craft by far is to get the components into your graveyard first, and that’s the plan this deck pursues as well. Throne of the Grim Captain itself provides regular self-mill, and you can get more from Bitter Reunion, Mishra’s Command, and Brass’s Tunnel-Grinder.
Factor in Surveil lands like Thundering Falls and Conduit Pylons, and you have a lot of ways to get the ingredients for The Grim Captain into the bin. It’s even possible to bring it out as early as turn four with the right start. Like all Combo decks there’s a chance of whiffing here, but the core plan is solid enough.
Assembling The Team
Naturally, the most important part of Four-Color Grim Captain as an MTG deck is the creatures. You not only need to get four different creatures in your graveyard, but they need to represent four different types too: Dinosaur, Merfolk, Pirate, and Vampire. These are very specific requirements, and Lyon goes about addressing them in a few ways here.
First of all, they run a number of creatures with Changeling, or all creature types. Taurean Mauler is the big one, showing up as a full playset in the list. It’s a pretty solid scaling creature to just run out early and force your opponent to answer, so this makes perfect sense. Lyon also runs a lone copy of Three Tree Mascot, which is less exciting on board but works just as well when Crafting.
Changelings aside, Lyon also runs a bunch of powerful creatures that naturally provide the types The Grim Captain needs. Kiora, the Rising Tide is a Merfolk, and it also lets you loot, so it’s a slam-dunk inclusion. Staunch Crewmate is a Pirate, and can grab Throne of the Grim Captain when it comes down if you haven’t drawn it naturally. Ghalta and Mavren is both a Dinosaur and a Vampire, so it fills either slot. It’s also a fantastic creature to cheat out with The Grim Captain’s attack trigger to boot.
Brineborn Cutthroat also covers two types with Merfolk and Pirate. Beyond this, Lyon rounds out the list with some on-type tempo creatures like Floodpits Drowner, and high-end bombs like Trumpeting Carnosaur. This is an extremely creature-heavy list, with no real interaction outside of the sideboard. While this sounds like a terrible idea in the current meta, it does make the deck’s core Combo plan much more consistent.
A Surprise Meta Counter
You wouldn’t expect an MTG deck as off-the-wall as Four-Color Grim Captain to actually deliver real tournament results. Lyon did go 5-4 with the deck at the weekend, however, and in an RC no less. This means it could have legitimate legs in Standard with a bit more refinement and iteration.
The most impressive part of Lyon’s run was definitely their performance against Izzet Prowess. This is the current boogeyman of Standard, rocking a hugely disproportionate meta share thanks to Cori-Steel Cutter. Lyon came up against the deck three times in the RC, and won three of those matches 2-0.
hat’s a fantastic rate against the best deck in the format right now. The fact that The Grim Captain can gain you back seven life a turn is likely the main reason for this dominant streak. The same logic applies to Lyon’s single match against Mono-Red Aggro, which they also won 2-0.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing, of course. Lyon dropped matches to Jeskai Oculus, Dimir Midrange, and Gruul Mice. Oculus is a rough matchup due to its high density of Fliers, which The Grim Captain can’t block. It also plays maindeck Abrade to deal with Throne in advance, and Torch the Tower to exile your Crafting components. Dimir Midrange, similarly, has plenty of disruption, be it Spell Pierce or Dreams of Steel and Oil. Combo decks like this are particularly vulnerable to such cards, which explains Lyon’s loss here.
Overall, while it certainly has its weaknesses, Four-Color Grim Captain made a stellar first impression over the weekend. With a few more graveyard tools from Final Fantasy this could become a real meta contender next season.
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