Ever since Tarkir: Dragonstorm launched nearly a month ago, one card has been dominating Standard more than any other: Cori-Steel Cutter. The card has gone on to create a whole new archetype in Izzet Prowess, now the best deck in the format by a significant margin. Beating the card is the number one goal for every MTG deck in Standard right now, in other words, and this past weekend Orzhov Pixie proved it may just be the list for the job.
In the Japan/Korea Big Magic Champions Cup Final on Saturday, this fresh take on a Standard staple defeated all comers to claim first place in a field of 262. By cutting the blue and refining its gameplan, it proved to be an effective deck against Cori-Steel Cutter lists. On top of that, it held its own against Standard’s other ultra-aggressive contenders to boot. Far from being a solved format, it seems like Tarkir: Dragonstorm Standard is only just getting started.
Orzhov Pixie Wins Major MTG Event
The Orzhov Pixie deck in question comes to us courtesy of MTG player Yasutaka Nagao, who piloted it to a first-place finish in Saturday’s Big Magic Champions Cup Final. Pixie decks are nothing new in Standard, of course, but typically we see the Esper variant at the top of the tournament standings. Stormchaser’s Talent and This Town Ain’t Big Enough are powerful incentives, after all.
Slimming down to just Orzhov means Nagao’s list lacks these powerful tools. On the other hand, it gains much more consistency. Full playsets of both Nurturing Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin ensure you have access to bounce when you need it. In terms of good bounce targets, the deck is inundated too. Hopeless Nightmare is a four-of as always. Where this deck differs from the norm is in running full playsets of Momentum Breaker and Nowhere to Run too. This gives the deck a huge amount of good early game removal, which is crucial for surviving the current Standard.
Beyond this bounce package, Nagao’s Orzhov Pixie takes a turn into Midrange country. Two copies of Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber provide a draw engine and a chunky Flying threat in one. There are no other Demons in the deck to support the card, which says a lot about how efficient it is all on its own. You can even bounce and replay it later on in really grindy games, to get more 6/6 bodies on board.
Midrange classic Preacher of the Schism really hammers this point home. It blocks well, trades up with bigger threats, and generates value with every swing. No real bounce synergy to speak of, but it does provide tokens so you can draw off of Sunpearl Kirin.
A Tactical Meta Call
So far so solid, but Nagao’s Orzhov Pixie MTG deck has more tricks up its sleeve yet. As I mentioned above, the list is particularly well-tuned to handle Izzet Prowess, and its key card Cori-Steel Cutter. The main reason for this is the full playset of Temporary Lockdown Nagao runs in the mainboard.
Color choice aside, this is the deck’s biggest innovation. Lockdown is a staple in Control lists, but you rarely see it in Midrange decks like this. Turns out it’s a fantastic option for dealing with Cutter, since it exiles the artifact itself and its accompanying tokens. It’s very difficult to cleanly answer the card like this, so playing four copies makes sense for that reason alone.
On top of that, Lockdown is a great bounce target too. While returning it to your hand does replace everything exiled originally, you can easily replay it to clear your opponent’s second wave on the board. Doing this will also return your own enchantments to play, giving you extra triggers and value. The synergy here is so strong, in fact, that it’s a wonder more Pixie decks haven’t started running it already.
Shoring up the Cori-Steel Cutter defenses are a number of different one-of creatures. Loran of the Third Path can answer Cutter itself on entry, and can go up to a three-of post-board if need be. Sheoldred and Beza offer powerful stabilizing tools for the late game, while Kutzil’s Flanker can come down well above-rate if your self-bounce plan is going well.
A pair of removal spells in Get Lost and Go for the Throat aside, that’s Nagao’s deck. It’s a take on Pixie that plays more for the long game than usual, grinding the opponent out of options with a constant stream of removal and value.
Room To Grow?
It may have topped a major MTG tournament, but that doesn’t guarantee Orzhov Pixie a spot in the new meta. We’ve seen plenty of interesting lists do well in one-off events but fail to make a lasting impact. That said I think there’s a good chance this deck, or at the very least some of its ideas, go the distance.
As I mentioned above, the decision to go all-in on Temporary Lockdown is something I expect other Pixie decks to copy going forward. The card is simply the best answer to Cutter right now, which is a major problem in the format. While the double white is harder for Esper to hit, I think the sweeping safety it offers is well worth adjusting the deck’s manabase. At least until rotation in Fall, I expect to see a lot more of this card in self-bounce lists.
As to whether Nagao’s list specifically will become a real contender, I’m not so sure. It’s a great deck against Izzet Prowess and Mono-Red Aggro, but it suffers against new second-best Standard deck Jeskai Oculus. This is a speedy Reanimator list, which means it can race Pixie on the board easily. It also plays extremely well against Hopeless Nightmare, since it wants to be discarding cards anyway. This list has quickly overtaken Esper Pixie in the meta charts, and Orzhov isn’t too well-positioned against it either. More Kutzil’s Flankers and Dreams of Steel and Oil out of the board can help, but it’s still a rough matchup.
Overall, Orzhov Pixie is an innovative deck that should help to move the meta forward. It may not sit on top once it’s done, but if it knocks Cori-Steel Cuter down a few notches that’s fine with me.