The best thing about the MTG metagame is the way that it changes and shifts over time. Rotations and new sets naturally accelerate this process, but even the lulls in between are often punctuated with new decks evolving to beat the top dogs. The double-whammy of Bloomburrow releasing and Standard rotation taking place did a lot in this regard. Plenty of new MTG decks are rising to the surface, including a number of spicy Smuggler’s Surprise ramp lists. This archetype may be young, but it seems to have the teeth to take Standard by storm.
Smuggler’s Surprise In MTG Sultai Ramp
Sultai Ramp, also known as Sultai Surprise, is the most recent of these strategies. It emerged just a few weeks ago and already has multiple 5-0 finishes in MTGO Standard Leagues. The list above, which comes courtesy of Feitosa, is one such example.
The deck’s overall game plan is fairly simple. It uses early ramp cards from Bloomburrow, specifically Heaped Harvest and Thornvault Forager, to build up mana early. It then uses said mana to drop chunky threats, like Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Vaultborn Tyrant. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff so far, but the deck does have a secret weapon. We mentioned Smuggler’s Surprise earlier, and that’s the MTG card that’s really powering this deck’s success.
The card, like all Thunder Junction Spree cards, is incredibly flexible. That said, the mode this deck cares most about is the middle one: the ability to cheat out two creatures from your hand at instant speed for six mana. With the heavy hitters in this deck, the potential for devastating early swing turns is real. Have you ever dropped an Atraxa and a Vaultborn Tyrant together? The card advantage from that alone, never mind the huge board presence, is likely enough to win you the game.
In addition to this core package, Sultai Ramp also runs a few tasty on-color options. Glarb, Calamity’s Augur is a solid early blocker that can ‘draw’ you into your big threats, while Bonny Pall, Clearcutter is a big threat, card draw, and ramp all in one. Throw in a ton of removal, including the excellent Urgent Necropsy, and you’ve got yourself a League-winning deck.
The Abzan Alternative
As mentioned above, it is early days for this specific strategy, with the first lists only cropping up a couple of weeks ago. That said, there are already multiple variants of the deck, including Abzan Ramp. This version of the deck hasn’t seen the same success as its Sultai counterpart so far, but it does feature some interesting inclusions that may become staples in the future.
The core strategy here is the same as in the Sultai version. Ramp early, then use Smuggler’s Surprise to drop two huge creatures out of nowhere and ride that value wave to victory. The specifics are different, however. The addition of white lets the deck run Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, which pushes your powerful ETB effects even further. It also shuts down your opponent’s ETB effects, which can be a major problem for a lot of decks.
Abzan uses different ramp pieces, too. It retains Heaped Harvest but otherwise prefers pieces like Glimpse the Core and Spinewoods Armadillo to dorks like Thornvault Forager. Armadillo is a great pick, actually, since it can guarantee your land drops early but also be a big creature to hit off of Smuggler’s Surprise late. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Sultai version of the deck adopt this critter in the future.
As with the Sultai lists, Atraxa and Vaultborn Tyrant are the stars of the show here, in addition to Smuggler’s Surprise itself. While it hasn’t performed quite as well so far, this version has a lot of promise, and what I believe is a superior ramp package to the Sultai list. With Duskmourn just around the corner, this archetype could be very well-positioned indeed. We’ve already seen Overlord of the Hauntwoods, after all, which seems like a slam-dunk in both versions.
Stopping The Surprise
If MTG decks relying on Smuggler’s Surprise do pick up soon, you’ll need to start factoring them in to your own deckbuilding. Thankfully, there are a number of good ways to counter such strategies.
First, the blunt force option: just play an aggressive deck. Aggro decks like Gruul Prowess or Boros Aggro can get underneath the big threats and win in the first few turns. The life gain from Atraxa and Vaultborn Tyrant can quickly turn an Aggro matchup around for these decks, however, so be sure to run some exile-based removal as well just in case.
Speaking of exile-based removal, that’s one of the best ways for fair decks to combat ramp strategies. You’re never going to outvalue a Vaultborn Tyrant, but if you can exile it you can at least deny them the token copy. Leyline Binding is an excellent choice here since its low cost lets you maintain tempo and stay in the race. Sunfall is also great since it can clean up both creatures from a Smuggler’s Surprise at once. Domain decks run both of these cards already, so they’ll likely have favorable matchups against Surprise lists.
Finally, good old-fashioned countermagic works like a charm against any deck relying on big haymakers. Whether you counter the Smuggler’s Surprise itself, or a big creature being hardcast, the tempo you gain should be enough to push towards a win. Decks like Azorius Control can pull this off beautifully, especially given the newfound token focus such lists have in post-Bloomburrow Standard.
There’s plenty of counterplay available against Sultai and Abzan Ramp, then, but don’t let your guard down. These are the kinds of decks that can very easily catch you by surprise if you’re not careful.
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