On Monday, a major ban announcement shook up a bunch of formats at once. Modern, Legacy, Pioneer, and even Vintage saw massive changes that are sure to impact metagames from here on out. One format that wasn’t affected, though, is Standard. Standard is relatively healthy at the moment, with a wide range of viable options for players to choose from.
On top of that, there’s also a lot of room for players to innovate. With Store Championships now underway until September 15, this should help make things 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 a thing in Standard for quite some time now, the presence of Glarb, Calamity’s Augur gives this deck a whole new identity. Glarb attacks the current metagame at hand very well, and there’s a lot to like about the archetype overall.
Typical Dimir Midrange Elements
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 1/1
- MTG Set: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Card Text: Flying, lifelink. When Depp-Cavern Bat enters the battlefield, look at target opponent’s hand. You may exile a nonland card from it until Deep-Cavern Bat leaves the battlefield.
Most of the cards that are featured in this archetype are familiar faces in Dimir midrange. Green is mostly a splash to enable Glarb. At the forefront of these Dimir midrange cards, we have Deep-Cavern Bat. Deep-Cavern Bat does everything you want. It disrupts synergistic strategies. It paves the way for your potent three and four mana plays. The Lifelink bonus is the real deal, too.
Caustic Bronco is another two-drop that the opponent will want to answer as quickly as possible. It generates card advantage, and if you have a way to Saddle it up, you may be able to force the opponent to lose a bunch of life in the process.
In the three-mana slot, Preacher of the Schism does a good job supplementing Glarb as a burly value engine. Preacher is particularly good against aggro decks. The four-toughness body is difficult to attack into, while the threat of pumping out tokens with Lifelink is scary in and of itself.
From there, many of the usual black removal spells make an appearance. Cut Down provides you with efficient interaction, which is necessary in a field where Gruul Prowess is popular. Go for the Throat then lets you clean up stickier threats. The “non-artifact creature” clause does come up against 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 Mistake
Glarb’s Potent Role
- Mana Value: BGU
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 2/4
- MTG Set: Bloomburrow
- Card Text: Deathtouch. You may look at the top card of your library any time. You may play lands and cast spells with mana value 4 or greater from the top of your library. Tap: Surveil 2.
Where this deck differentiates itself from typical midrange shells is with the utilization of a full playset of Glarb. Glarb is an interesting card. The main issue it presents is that you only get to cast spells with mana value four or greater from the top of your deck. This may make it seem like you’d have to dilute your deck with too many expensive cards to get value off of Glarb. However, where Glarb gets a lot of its value from is simply letting you play lands from the top and setting up your draws.
In grindy games, Glarb completely takes over. While your opponent has to worry about drawing excess lands off the top that don’t do anything, you get to ensure that you’re always drawing a spell, while simultaneously continuing to hit your land drops. Of course, there are some expensive cards in the deck like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse that are certainly worth casting off the top of the deck.
Being able to Surveil 2 every turn is what makes Glarb a reliable card advantage engine. You can usually set things up so that you consistently draw spells for your turn, then play your land drop from the top of your deck. Eventually, these extra land drops will let you cast cards like Virtue of Persistence, which can completely skew a midrange pseudo-mirror in your favor.
The Surveil ability also pairs well with Caustic Bronco. If you can Saddle up Caustic Bronco, you can try to put an expensive card on top. Otherwise, you can set things up so that you lose as little life as possible when you attack.
On top of all this upside, Glarb gets a lot of mileage out of its stats. Unlike some 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. Ultimately, while it may seem a bit weird to splash for the Frog, it’s an excellent tool to fight aggro and midrange decks alike.
Read More: Beefy Bloomburrow Bear Lands Spot In Classic Modern Deck
Tradeoffs
- 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 transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.)
As good as Glarb is, though, there are some matchups where the splash comes at a cost. Most notably, Glarb is rather weak against Domain ramp. Glarb gets cleanly answered by Leyline Binding and Sunfall, and unfortunately doesn’t apply much pressure on its own. The incremental advantage Glarb generates gets completely outdone by a single resolved Atraxa, Grand Unifier. As such, if Domain is a concern, you’re likely better off playing a more tempo-heavy gameplan with Tishana’s Tidebinder taking Glarb’s place.
The other area of weakness this deck has compared to other two-color midrange decks lies with its manabase. It’s not always easy to cast Glarb on turn three. Furthermore, this deck’s difficult color requirements prevent you from running many utility lands like Mirrex or Fountainport that would otherwise be strong inclusions.
So, you definitely need to factor in the metagame when deciding if this Sultai midrange deck is the right deck to play. Given how popular assertive creature-centric archetypes and midrange strategies are at the moment, there’s a lot to like about the way this deck is constructed. If you’re looking for a cool deck to bring to your upcoming Store Championship event or want something a little different to grind the Arena ladder with, Glarb is here and ready to rumble!
Read More: New Bloomburrow Discard Spell Sneaks Into Multiple Formats
