Much like Ravnica’s Guilds, the 10 core creature types of Bloomburrow caused the MTG community to split up into factions. Many were Team Mouse or Team Otter from the get-go, though a few jumped ship to Team Lizard later on. Not many were on Team Bat, however, which turned out to be an error in judgment. Our little winged friends are taking Bloomburrow Standard by storm in a range of new Orzhov Midrange lists. If you like grindy value, swinging with evasive creatures, and oddly adorable Bats, this could be the deck for you.
Bat To The Future
The main deck we’ll be looking at today comes courtesy of Madoka Hajime, who piloted it to a 7-1 finish in the recent Izzet Explosive Experiment event on MTG Arena. This deck goes about as all-in on the Bat theme as it’s possible to go. We’re talking full playsets of Ruin-Lurker Bat and Deep-Cavern Bat for starters, two of the best Bats from back in Ixalan. On top of these, four copies each of Bloomburrow newcomers Essence Channeler, Darkstar Augur, and Zoraline, Cosmos Caller round out the creature suite.
All the Bats play nicely with Zoraline, giving you some incidental lifegain that really matters against Aggro. They also synergize wonderfully with the deck’s other key card, Lunar Convocation. Many have already compared this two-mana enchantment to ex-Standard all-star Bitterblossom, and I tend to agree with them. Capable of burning opponents, drawing you cards, and creating tokens, this card is the real heart of the deck.
The rest of Hajime’s list is made up of a fairly straightforward black removal package, the classic Liliana of the Veil, and a couple of interesting synergy pieces. Case of the Uneaten Feast is right at home in a deck such as this, letting you gain extra life from your Bats and eventually replay them from your graveyard. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim is the final creature in the deck and does something similar, providing extra lifegain and reach. Overall, it’s a deck that skews toward the more aggressive side of Midrange, but with enough sticking power to earn the label.
Orzhov Midrange In Bloomburrow Standard
Hajime wasn’t the only one playing Orzhov Midrange in the Izzet Explosive Experiment Event. Aqua Haruka also ran the deck, albeit in a very different form. Some of the core Bats remained, such as Zoraline and Deep-Cavern Bat, but in Haruka’s list they’re mostly there for value reasons. They join a much more diverse creature suite than Hajime’s, with multiple one and two-ofs including Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal, Preacher of the Schism, and, most interestingly, Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist.
This is clearly a much more value-based take on Orzhov Midrange in Bloomburrow Standard, in keeping with how typical Midrange decks tend to function. Outside of the creatures, there’s a lot of removal, including Bloomburrow’s new Feed the Cycle. This joins Ruthless Negotiation and Bandit’s Talent as new cards, both of which create a kind of discard sub-theme. Negotiation is a fairly weak discard spell at first but becomes a cantrip when flashed back later. Bandit’s Talent is a discard spell and a Rack effect in one, serving as a way to slow down opponents early and kill them later.
Combined with Liliana of the Veil, Hopeless Nightmare, and Aclazotz, these cards can absolutely shred through an opponent’s hand, making a slow victory a sure thing. Two copies of Tinybones, the Pickpocket let you cast the discarded cards for yourself, too. This version of the deck went 4-3 in the event, so it was less successful than Hajime’s pure Bat version. That said, it still put up legitimate results, so there’s almost certainly something to learn here. Perhaps the best version of the deck is a hybrid Bat/Discard build, yet to be discovered? In any case, Zoraline looks like a very powerful three-drop, and Bats looks like a very well-positioned creature type in the new Standard.
Beating Back The Bats
Whichever way it pans out, Orzhov Midrange is looking like a legitimate player in Bloomburrow Standard. If you’re planning to play the format yourself, perhaps to try and claim a stunning textless Urza’s Saga, then you’ll need a plan to deal with it.
Based on the overall results from the Izzet Explosive Experiment event, the deck has a few key weaknesses. These include Golgari Midrange, Four-Color Control, and Dimir Reanimator. It’s interesting to see Golgari Midrange on this list. You’d think the two would be fairly evenly matched. Golgari Midrange is a more refined list at this point, however, which definitely gives it an edge. It also just added a new insta-kill combo, with Innkeeper’s Talent and Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting. This gives the deck a way to go over the top in the Midrange mirror.
Four-Color Control is a no-brainer choice if you’re looking to win against any kind of Midrange deck, not just Orzhov. With Sunfall and other exile-based removal, they make Zoraline look very silly indeed. They also typically run Atraxa, Grand Unifier as a finisher, which plays very well against a deck like this. The same is also true for Dimir Reanimator, though that deck holds a small enough meta share at present that I’d recommend one of the other options instead. At least until the dust has properly settled on the new format.
If these strategies don’t do you any good, then you can always stop trying to beat ’em and join ’em instead. Orzhov Midrange looks like a fun, flexible deck with many lines of play to pursue. It also lets you play Bats, which is a major upside in my book.
Read More: Wild MTG Combo Deck Rewards You for Donating Cards to the Opposition
