In Standard, the easiest path to victory for the majority of decks is to attack with creatures. While there are some shells like Dimir Excruciator that can win by executing a combo of sorts, these decks are few and far between.
This makes it all the more intriguing that a new brew with no attackers or combos to speak of just put up a strong tournament performance. This Sultai Control shell is designed to grind the opponent into dust and features some unconventional win conditions.
Mill and Life Gain Join Forces
As is typical for many control shells, most of the cards in this Sultai Control deck have the goal of getting you to the late game. While this build is light on counter magic, it’s chock full of removal spells from Requiting Hex to Shoot the Sheriff that keep all sorts of threats in check. Board wipes like Withering Curse and Deadly Cover-Up also make an appearance as catch-up mechanisms versus go-wide archetypes.
As you continue to keep the board clear and hit your land drops, your wealth of card draw spells help pull you ahead on resources. Rakshasa’s Bargain is the most efficient of the bunch, while Mind into Matter has the highest ceiling. Despite being a three-colored deck, Ancient Cornucopia and Great Hall of the Biblioplex allow you to cast Together as One with five colors, decimating your opponents.
Where things start to get really interesting, though, is with the way this archetype is looking to close games. Despite being the only creature in the deck, Exhibition Tidecaller doesn’t want to attack. Instead, your goal is to cast a copy and a big spell during the same turn to Mill your opponent. This way, even if your opponent has removal at the ready, you still Mill them for a bunch.
Alternatively, reaching Professor Dellian Fel‘s ultimate ability should also put you in a great position to win. Unlike most Planeswalkers, Dellian Fel can Ultimate the turn after resolving, making this rather consistent. Then, even if it doesn’t stick around, the combination of Ancient Cornucopia and Together as One as sources of life gain puts you in a good position to win.
An Intriguing Position
As a whole, Sultai Control’s game plan matches up best against most creature decks in the format. Unsurprisingly, having access to a boatload of cheap removal spells slows the explosive starts from Landfall and Ouroboroid decks. Even against fast, go-wide draws from Azorius Momo, the synergy between Ancient Cornucopia and Withering Curse can help pull you right back into the game. On top of that, the steady life gain Ancient Cornucopia provides makes it nearly impossible to get burnt out by red decks.
In addition to beating up on creature decks, Sultai Control also looks poised to dominate Midrange battles. Unlike traditional Golgari Midrange decks, Sultai Control is built to go way over the top of the opponent. Resolving even a single Together as One is backbreaking in any slugfest.
Unfortunately, despite these strengths, Sultai Control does have some major weaknesses. Without access to much disruption for non-creature spells, beating Jeskai Control is an uphill battle. All it takes is your opponent sticking Resonating Lute, and you’ll fall super far behind. While the four copies of Duress out of the sideboard do help, without a good way to apply pressure, the opponent can easily find more gas. Exhibition Tidecaller’s trigger does at least threaten to bail you out in some games, though, so keep that in mind.
Sultai Control is also vulnerable to tempo strategies. The mix of disruptive Flash creatures like Aven Interrupter and Aang, Swift Savior that Azorius Tempo presents can make it difficult to ever resolve a meaningful card. Similarly, a well-timed Spell Pierce or Disdainful Stroke may be tough to overcome when under pressure.
In this sense, Sultai Control is far from unbeatable. Nonetheless, it still has its positives, and we look forward to seeing if the deck continues to catch steam.
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