This past Monday, a major ban announcement brought some big changes to the Standard format. Izzet Cauldron Combo in its current form is no more, and the loss of Screaming Nemesis is a major blow to Mono-Red Aggro. These changes have opened the door for some intriguing archetypes to pop up in their place.
In fact, we’re starting to see a handful of brews pop up that never had a chance pre-ban. A cool new Simic shell abusing the power of a couple forgotten win conditions, for example, just 5-0d a Standard League. This deck is capable of some very powerful draws, taking opponents down out of nowhere.
Beefy Win Conditions
At a baseline, the goal of this archetype is to jam some beefy creatures and ride them to victory. This deck’s heavy hitters are a bit inefficient, but they are super powerful and threaten to turn the corner in a flash. With Izzet Cauldron Combo a thing of the past and Mono-Red Aggro weakened, the speed of the Standard format has gone down as a whole, which paves the way for slower midrange and ramp decks like this one to succeed.
Your two strongest options when it comes to closing games haven’t seen much Constructed play up to this point, but they’re both maximized to perfection in this shell. Mightform Harmonizer makes it trivial to turn one of your creatures into a lethal threat out of nowhere. All you need is another burly creature on board and a way to trigger landfall multiple times in a turn after casting the potent Insect.
Fortunately, Lumbering Worldwagon delivers on both accounts. Harmonizer has just enough power to Crew it, and you can follow up with a land to double Worldwagon’s power. From there, attacking will let you search up another land for another double trigger, connecting for a boatload of damage. As a Vehicle, Lumbering Worldwagon will never be exposed to sorcery speed creature removal in the process. Add in one of your copies of Herd Heirloom as a way to give Worldwagon Trample, and you’ll have no problem ending the game on the spot! In the event you don’t draw Worldwagon, you can still threaten multiple Landfall triggers with Fabled Passage.
In addition to Harmonizer, your other unique bomb, Summon: Leviathan, also synergizes nicely with the Vehicle. Assuming you bounce all other creatures with the Saga’s trigger, you’re in good shape to follow up by Crewing Worldwagon and getting an uncontested attack in. This interaction helps make up for the fact that Summon: Leviathan doesn’t stick around long-term.
As good as these cards are in a slower environment, though, you still need some ways to get them into play early, especially considering how little removal you have at your disposal. Heirloom and Worldwagon help the cause, but this deck kicks things up a notch by incorporating some elite one-mana plays to get your engines rolling sooner.
Efficient Plays
As you might expect for a deck focused on accelerating out Worldwagon and big creatures to pair with it, a full playset of Llanowar Elves makes an appearance. With fewer copies of Burst Lightning running around, Elf is much more likely to stick around past turn one.
Where things get a bit more interesting, however, is with the fact that eight other one-drop creatures show up to add maximum redundancy to this strategy. In games where you don’t draw Llanowar Elves, Molt Tender can do a pretty good replacement. The Insect isn’t quite as reliable turn one, but Fabled Passage and Conduit Pylons work to fuel the graveyard. For maximum consistency, Insidious Fungus shows up as well as a tertiary ramp option. It may not help get Worldwagon into play any sooner, but it still fulfills the role of helping you get to your other big plays quicker and can trigger Mightform Harmonizer multiple times. This one-drop even doubles as an important source of interaction against Jeskai Artifacts and Naya Yuna.
Speaking of interaction, rounding out the one-mana spells is a playset of Into the Flood Maw, a card that some players were hoping would be banned due to its versatility. This deck has no trouble ending games once it gets its haymakers online, so having a cheap tempo play is nice even if it only provides a temporary reprieve.
With a healthy mix of early plays and finishers, this archetype has a very consistent game plan. Curving out is rarely an issue, and if your opponent spends too long spinning their wheels, they risk getting buried by your top-end elements. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean the deck doesn’t have limitations that can be exploited.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Overall, this deck is decently positioned against the slower black archetypes that are quite popular in Standard right now. When facing Dimir Midrange or Orzhov Self-Bounce, leaning on the power of Quantum Riddler as a value engine goes a long way. Worldwagon does a good job keeping Kaito, Bane of Nightmares out of Dimir in check since it can’t get tagged by Kaito’s -2 ability. Meanwhile, having so many creatures that outsize Nowhere to Run makes ending games versus Orzhov much easier.
At the same time, though, Summon: Leviathan is the ultimate stabilizer against creature-heavy decks. Chaining multiple copies together gives you a great chance to demolish Simic Aggro before they have an opportunity to rebuild.
Your biggest problems arise in matchups where actually resolving your big plays can be tough. Even if you’re able to develop your mana, in some games, Azorius Control players will simply counter the top end spells that matter and leave you with a bunch of air. Not to mention, Summon: Leviathan is extremely weak in the matchup, since it’ll have very few opposing creatures to bounce and won’t be able to attack across multiple turns.
On top of that, even though it’s less popular, Mono-Red Aggro is still around, and the matchup is very difficult. Unlike Simic Aggro, Mono-Red has plenty of ways to kill your mana dorks as well as sources of reach to close games even if you manage to stabilize.
In this sense, while Simic Ramp isn’t necessarily in a bad position, your games may feel quite polarized. Regardless, it’s nice to see some unique brews like this finally get their time in the spotlight. There’s plenty of room to explore within this space, so it’ll be interesting to see how the post-ban metagame continues to change over time.
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