Over the last month, we’ve seen a lot of innovative Standard archetypes showcase their worth. From Esper Pixie to Dimir Enchantments, there are plenty of sweet strategies for players to try. The rise in decks like Esper Pixie has also caused players to adapt, as we described with cards like Wilt-Leaf Liege becoming more popular.
Well, today, we wanted to share a particularly unusual Wilt-Leaf Liege deck that made top four of a recent Magic Online Standard Challenge. This isn’t your typical Selesnya deck. This shell has some awesome synergies built in that can completely dominate creature matchups. If you’re a fan of Unicorns and Plague Wind, look no further.
Building Around Seraphic Steed
- Mana Value: GW
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Type: Creature- Unicorn Mount
- MTG Sets: Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Card Text: First strike, lifelink. Whenever Seraphic Steed attacks while saddled, create a 3/3 white Angel creature token with flying. Saddle 4 (Tap any number of other creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Mount becomes saddled until end of turn. Saddle only as a sorcery.)
The cornerstone of this deck is built around abusing two specific cards: Seraphic Steed and Wilt-Leaf Liege. Seraphic Steed is a sweet two-drop, but it takes a little work to get it going. After all, the Saddle 4 cost is a little steep. On top of that, because it’s only a 2/2 at a baseline, you won’t always be able to attack and get a life buffer if the opponent has any burly creature in the way.
Well, Wilt-Leaf Liege solves both of these problems. Wilt-Leaf Liege conveniently has four power to Saddle this up right away the turn it comes down. Wilt-Leaf Liege then pumps Seraphic Steed up to a 4/4, making it a much stronger attacker. First Strike means most creatures won’t be able to profitably block it, while Lifelink makes it difficult to race.
Most of the other creatures in the deck help you further maximize these cards. To better abuse Wilt-Leaf Liege, you’ll find a ton of creatures that are both green and white. Early plays like Dryad Militant and Melira, the Living Cure become significantly scarier when they get the full +2/+2 bonus.
Trostani, Three Whispers is a fantastic follow-up to Seraphic Steed that also gets the double buff from Wilt-Leaf Liege. In any board stall, Trostani’s abilities become nightmarish for the opponent, too. Being able to provide First Strike and Deathtouch at ease makes it so your opponent never has a good block as long as you have five mana up.
Insane Tap Synergies
- Mana Value: 1WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Sorcery
- MTG Sets: Duskmourn
- Card Text: Choose one- Destroy all tapped creatures. Destroy all creatures.
Where things get really interesting is when you factor in the opportunity to abuse being able to tap your own creatures at will. Both Seraphic Steed and Unidentified Hovership feature abilities that allow you to tap your creatures on a whim during your turn. As such, two other cards become absolute all-stars with either Seraphic Steed or Unidentified Hovership on the battlefield.
The first card is Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero. Wylie Duke doesn’t naturally tap when it attacks because of Vigilance, but Saddling up Seraphic Steed or Crewing Unidentified Hovership gets you your card advantage just fine.
Typically, you’ll want to play Wylie Duke after one of these cards is already in play. That way, even if the opponent can answer Wylie Duke right away (Wylie Duke is vulnerable to even cheap removal like Burst Lightning), you still get you card out of the deal. Of course, if the opponent can’t answer Wylie Duke, you’ll run away with the game quickly.
This brings us to the second card that combos with Saddle and Crew. This card is good even on its own but becomes a game-breaking play against any creature deck if you use it right. We are unsurprisingly talking about Split Up.
Split Up is a card that commonly shows up in the sideboards of grindy archetypes like mono-white tokens as a way to keep aggro decks in check. For this strategy, though, Split Up is a four-of in the maindeck. This is because Split Up has the potential to be a one-sided board wipe, even if the opponent makes no attacks into your board!
See, both Saddle and Crew allow you to overpay and tap as many creatures as you want as part of the activation cost. From there, you simply choose to destroy all untapped creatures with Split Up, wiping away your opponent’s board. Sure, you may lose your copy of Seraphic Steed or Unidentified Hovership in the process, but that’s well worth it.
Of course, if the opponent were to make a big attack the turn prior, that’s fine as well. Simply cast Split Up destroying all tapped creatures before making any additional moves. No matter the scenario, you come out ahead on the exchange.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Mana Value: 3WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Sorcery
- MTG Sets: March of the Machine
- Card Text: Exile all creatures. Incubate X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Create an Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it and “2: Transform this artifact.” It transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.)
Ultimately, this deck is very well positioned against decks that are looking to attack you or build out an army. Your creatures are large enough to tussle with the likes of mono-red/Gruul aggro. Unidentified Hovership cleanly answers nearly any problematic threat out of Golgari midrange, such as Glissa Sunslayer.
Importantly, the presence of Split Up is also a huge advantage when facing the more traditional Selesnya Collector’s Cage decks. They may go wider than you, but Split Up is a great catch-up mechanism, and your threats will likely outsize theirs.
The problem comes against decks that are less creature focused. Mono-white tokens and Domain both have access to Sunfall, which is a devastating card to face. Sometimes, you’ll be able to race with a quick Llanowar Elves start, but this won’t always be the case. Split Up is also very weak in these matchups.
There’s a reason that you’ll find Aven Interrupter and Invasion of Gobakhan in the sideboard. These cards give you a chance to steal games two and three, even if game one is really tough. So, while some matchups are better than others, you have game against pretty much every major strategy. Perhaps this deck’s elite performance earns the deck more respect moving forward.
