The addition of Bloomburrow cards to Standard coupled by the loss of four previously legal sets has had a big impact on the format. Bloomburrow isn’t the most powerful set in the world, but it did bring some sweet build around cards to the table. For instance, a unique Rakdos shell focused on the strength of The Infamous Cruelclaw recently made top four of a Magic Online Standard Challenge.
Today, we’re going to be sharing another new archetype that is having some surging success thanks to a potent Bloomburrow addition. In this case, we have an Orzhov shell built to maximize Rottenmouth Viper. When this card was spoiled, we mentioned how well it pairs with token production. This way, you have extra nonland permanents to sacrifice to help make your elite Snake cheaper.
This deck does a great job providing sacrifice fodder for your Snake, while simultaneously presenting a strong, cohesive gameplan even in games where you don’t draw Rottenmouth Viper. There are lots of cool synergies present, and we felt the archetype deserved additional recognition.
Tons of Fuel for Rottenmouth Viper
- Mana Value: 5B
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 6/6
- Text: As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of nonland permanents. This spell costs 1 less to cast for each permanent sacrificed this way. Whenever Rottenmouth Viper enters or attacks, put a blight counter on it. Then for each blight counter on it, each opponent loses 4 life unless that player sacrifices a nonland permanent or discards a card.
The way this deck is constructed, there are a plethora of nonland permanents that have impactful triggers when they enter the battlefield. This allows you to increase your board presence and interact with the opponent while simultaneously adding cards to sacrifice at little cost.
In the creature slot, Spiteful Hexmage fills this role perfectly. On its own, Spiteful Hexmage is a rather mediocre card. However, the Cursed Role token you create helps make Rottenmouth Viper cheaper. Plus, when you cast Rottenmouth Viper, you essentially remove the downside associated with Spiteful Hexmage by getting rid of the Cursed Role.
In some games, you can even put the Cursed Role token on a creature that is already small, such as Novice Inspector. Once again, Novice Inspector adds two permanents to the board for only one mana, which is a huge deal in helping you cast Rottenmouth Viper as quickly as possible.
In the noncreature slot, this deck utilizes a bunch of disruptive elements that specifically show up in artifact and enchantment form. The best of the bunch is undoubtedly The Witch’s Vanity. The Witch’s Vanity not only comes down to kill a small creature the opponent controls, but then it leaves behind a Food token and a Wicked Role token across the next two turns. Obviously, this card is a bit narrow. Still, playing it out even with no targets just to build up your token count on future turns can be very important.
Tithing Blade and Bandit’s Talent are two more solid pieces of interaction that leave something behind on board to sacrifice. As you can see, this deck does a good job of mitigating the downside associated with sacrificing permanents in general, since nearly every nonland permanent in the deck generates value in some capacity.
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A War of Attrition
- Mana Value: 1BB
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Text: At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice an artifact, creature, enchantment, land, or planeswalker. If you do, each opponent may sacrifice a permanent that shares a card type with it. For each opponent who doesn’t, that player loses 2 life and you draw a card.
Rottenmouth Viper certainly serves as the card with the highest upside in the deck. Getting to slam a 6/6 monster as early as turn three can be a nightmare for some decks. The downside, of course, is that you don’t want to get blown out by opposing removal spells like Go for the Throat. With this in mind, in attrition battles, it’s often worth planning to play a longer game and trying to out-grind the opponent.
Luckily, this deck is very well suited to do just that. This is, in large part, thanks to two cards. The first card is none other than Braids, Arisen Nightmare. Braids is an interesting card that allows you to sacrifice a permanent on your end step. Then, the opponent either has to match you and sacrifice a permanent of that type or pay some life and let you draw a card.
This optionality generally makes cards like this weak overall. Yet, because this deck makes use of so many cards that you don’t mind sacrificing, it’s easy to pull ahead on cards in the exchange. It’s very common to sacrifice Role tokens, Clues, and Food to Braids that are lying around. From there, unless the opponent also has cards of the same type they don’t mind throwing away, you’ll start to accrue cards and they’re life total will plummet over time.
The second card that is excellent in long games is Nurturing Pixie. Nurturing Pixie comes down for one mana and lets you bounce any non-Faerie, nonland card back to your hand. This card pairs perfectly with the noncreature spells like Tithing Blade that disrupt the opponent when they enter.
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An Intriguing Metacall
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 1/1
- Text: Flying, lifelink. When Deep-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.
Overall, this archetype has immense upside in a number of different popular matchups. Against red aggro decks and Convoke, Rottenmouth Viper is a house that threatens to close the game quickly. Not to mention, a 6/6 body isn’t the easiest to attack into. Meanwhile, versus Orzhov midrange, the Tithing Blade+Nurturing Pixie lines become very appealing. Bandit’s Talent is also a house in grindy matchups.
The biggest problem this deck has is in matchups where removal spells like Tithing Blade and The Witch’s Vanity falter. Domain ramp decks, for example, aren’t looking to play creatures to the board in the first few turns. Instead, they spend that time building up mana and getting the Up the Beanstalk engine revving. Unfortunately, this Orzhov deck isn’t particularly fast, and it can fall victim to Domain’s top end bombs like Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
On top of that, Leyline Binding and Sunfall act as clean answers to Rottenmouth Viper, making that plan less reliable. The one saving grace here is that the curve of Spiteful Hexmage into Nurturing Pixie can present a decent amount of early pressure. Nurturing Pixie can bounce the Cursed Role token you attached to your turn one Spiteful Hexmage, letting you attack for three on turn two.
Currently, midrange decks are everywhere in Standard. In theory, that makes this deck a solid option. Given how strong Domain decks are against midrange shells, though, the metagame could evolve in a way that doesn’t favor this archetype. Nonetheless, Rottenmouth Viper is undoubtedly a powerful card, and this is a great place for it. If players aren’t prepared, this can be an elite deck choice to bust out at your next event.
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