Now that The Hobbit is fully out on store shelves, awkward Play Booster delays aside, we’re starting to see its cards crop up in all manner of Magic formats. From Mono-Blue Artifact decks in Modern to full-on Dwarf Typal lists in Standard, the set is certainly making its presence known. The Hobbit is even starting to make its mark in Duel Commander, where the tricksy, combo-enabling Sackville Bagginses have landed an early MTGO League win.
The Sackville-Bagginses In Duel Commander
As you might expect, MTGO player Oror’s League-winning The Sackville-Bagginses list is a full-on Mono-Black Sacrifice deck with an emphasis on token creation. Between one-off producers like Nested Shambler and repeatable engines like Bitterbloom Bearer, the deck has easy access to a ton of these.
Once these tokens are out, Oror’s list can offer them up to The Sackville-Bagginses, or feed them to the likes of Skullclamp or Phyrexian Tower for value. Paired with continuous life loss engines like Mai, Scornful Striker, The Sackville-Bagginses can easily play a burn strategy and push for an early win through indirect damage.
This deck can play a pretty effective Midrange game as well, with bulky scaling creatures like Moonshadow and Super Shredder. Supported by removal like Flare of Malice and hand attack cards like Grief, these creatures support a more interactive plan nicely. As if that weren’t enough, the deck also has a few explosive combo lines it can make use of, lending an explosive element to its grindy plan.
Cold, Calculated Combos
The combo lines in The Sackville-Bagginses all revolve around the notorious Modern Horizons 3 engine Warren Soultrader. With Soultrader in play alongside Sackville-Bagginses, sacrificing Forsaken Miner nets you Treasure, which you can sacrifice for a black mana, while pinging an opponent. Since this counts as committing a Crime, you can pay to bring Miner back for an infinitely repeatable loop.
Since you lose one life with each loop of this combo, it’ll only win you the game if you’re at a higher life total than the opponent. Alternatively, you can use Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER to offset the life loss, and Gravecrawler can equally sub in for Forsaken Miner.
Strengths And Weaknesses
While the Duel Commander metagame is still very much developing after the recent bans, The Sackville-Bagginses looks pretty well-placed there so far. With Spider-Man 2099 gone, there’s a bit more breathing room, which lets the deck’s grindy elements shine. At the same time, it can also play an aggressive game when needed, which gives it hope against slower decks like Terra, Magical Adept.
The deck’s combo lines are a big advantage, too, letting it go over the top against controlling decks like Aragorn, King of Gondor and Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Even when these decks stabilize with removal and counterspells, recursive tools like Animate Dead and Emperor of Bones keep the combo door open.
Where The Sackville-Bagginses starts to struggle is against decks with consistent access to graveyard hate and disruption, like Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd. Well-timed Ghost Vacuum activations can shut down your combo lines, while lifegain from cards like Guide of Souls can undo your fair plans as well. The Sackville-Bagginses is also vulnerable to early rushes from Tifa Lockhart, which pushes through all your fodder blockers with ease.
Overall, while the deck certainly has its strengths, The Sackville-Bagginses isn’t a sure thing for Duel Commander just yet. It is one to watch, however, and could emerge as a real player once the deck and the metagame settle in the weeks to come.
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