The Standard format is getting solved remarkably quickly. Rotation always resets the format to a stark zero, with the card pool becoming hugely different from how it was just a few months prior. This usually allows the new set to make massive impacts on the format, and Bloomburrow is no different. A new infinite combo is now available in the Standard format thanks to one particularly degenerate Squirrel.
If you want to win your Standard games in style, it may be time to turn to Insidious Roots. This deck can now dome your opponent for 20+ damage as early as turn three, but you generally won’t be pulling off your shenanigans until turn four or five at the earliest. We have the new card Osteomancer Adept to thank for this deck’s latest evolution.
Insidious Roots and Osteomancer Adept
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/2
- MTG Set: Bloomburrow
- Card Text: Deathtouch. (tap) Until end of turn, you may cast creature spells from your graveyard by foraging in addition to paying their other costs. If you cast a spell this way, that creature enters with a finality counter on it.
The combination of Insidious Roots, Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler, and Osteomancer Adept can make for an infinite combo. You generally need some sort of Surveil engine rolling in order to do this. Because of what you’re doing, Snarling Gorehound is, by far, the best one.
Here’s how the infinite combo works.
- Start with Insidious Roots and Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler in play. Use -2 effect to find Osteomancer Adept or Snarling Gorehound – whichever you don’t already have in play. This will create a Plant Token and Surveil some number of cards.
- Tyvar allows your creatures to activate their tapped abilities as though they have Haste. Activate Osteomancer Adept.
- Start casting creature spells from your graveyard. Notably, your Plant Tokens can tap for mana because of Tyvar as well. Make sure you’re exiling a creature for the cost of your spells. That way, Insidious Roots will trigger twice.
- This should create Plant Tokens, allowing Snarling Gorehound to Surveil. Dump everything into the graveyard so you can cast more spells. It’s easy to mill your whole deck this way and amass a gigantic board.
- Cast Voldaren Thrillseeker using your Plants. Use its ability on your largest Plant and fling it at your opponent’s face when it threatens lethal damage. If you have excess mana, you can Fling both the Plant and the Thrillseeker, re-cast the Thrillseeker, and fling something else.
The rest of the deck is filled with pieces to make this process as easy as possible. You do need a lot of things in the right spot to go infinite, but you can also win the game by making a gigantic board your opponent can’t answer.
The Deck and Recommended Changes
- Mana Value: 2G
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 3/2
- MTG Set: Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Card Text: Descend 4 – When Coati Scavenger enters the battlefield, if there are four or more permanent cards in your graveyard, return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand.
After playing with this deck a bit myself, I have found that Honest Rutstein, while being a fantastic card, is not quite what this deck is looking for. Your most crucial pieces are noncreature permanents, which Honest Rutstein cannot pick up. Coati Scavenger, on the other hand, can pick up these cards with no problem.
You do need Descend 4 active for this card to work, but that is really easy to achieve. Between Cache Grab, Snarling Gorehound, and Rubblebelt Maverick, achieving Descend 4 is a cakewalk. Having a creature that can pick up Tyvar and Insidious Roots allows you to get to your infinite from just an Osteomancer Adept activation.
The combination of Osteomancer Adept and Cache Grab was what really unlocked this deck. Now, you can find your pieces while fueling your graveyard and have a combo that is relatively resilient.
Bonecache Overseer is an interesting draw engine that can give your Osteomancer Adept some redundancy. I do wonder if it’s better to run mill effects over this, however. Gnawing Vermin is another card you can consider in this slot.
On that note, I’ve found Squirming Emergence as a one-of to be a decent tool. This will oftentimes resurrect whatever combo piece you’re missing and win the game on the spot.
Otherwise, I would cut the Cankerblooms for Haywire Mite. Cankerbloom doesn’t trigger Snarling Gorehound, which does matter in my experience.
Read More: MTG Designer Delivers Bad News About Fan Favourite Draft Set
The Importance of Enchantment Removal
- Mana Value: 1WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Enchantment
- MTG Sets: Dominaria United
- Card Text: When Temporary Lockdown enters the battlefield, exile each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less until Temporary Lockdown leaves the battlefield.
Temporary Lockdown is really good against your deck. Because of this, you need main deck answers to the card. Cankerbloom is the card of choice for the decklist shown above, but I’ve found just main decking Haywire Mite over these cards to be more useful.
Either way, if you’re playing against a white deck, make sure you have enough mana open to answer Temporary Lockdown at any given opportunity. This generally means you’ll want to have a Haymire Mite activation at the ready whenever you can.
Graveyard hate isn’t super common in Standard, but it does make your deck obsolete. Fortunately, the most common pieces of graveyard hate in the format are also artifacts and enchantments. Rest in Peace is cleanly answered by Haywire Mite.
How Good is this Deck in Standard?
This is a difficult question to answer. The deck certainly seems to have some decent matchups against slower midrange decks and Domain. The deck is even capable of putting up a bunch of blockers in faster matchups. The combo is more difficult to assemble than it seems, however, which gives this deck some consistency issues. It’s not hard to have a bad draw that simply doesn’t do anything.
This deck is definitely competitive at worst, but until dedicated players work out the kinks, Insidious Roots may be a tier-two deck at best.
There is certainly potential for this deck to be tier one, as the engine is incredibly powerful, and not something Standard players are currently equipped to interact with.
Read More: Bizarre Duplicate Secret Lair Reprints Powerful Free Spell
