This past weekend, we got to see how Duskmourn Standard would unfold on the biggest stage. The World Championship with a little over 100 of the top players showcased a wide variety of cool archetypes.
Recently, we covered the Temur Prowess archetype that garnered a lot of attention. Unfortunately, as cool as that deck was, none of the nine players that registered it made top eight. However, one other sweet archetype that’s worth discussing managed to win the whole thing!
Pro player Javier Dominguez emerged victorious piloting a unique take on Dimir Demons. No, there are no copies of Unstoppable Slasher or Bloodletter of Aclazotz to be found. Instead, this variant has a more controlling gameplan, utilizing Archfiend of the Dross. As we will see, though, that’s not the only thing that makes this strategy so cool.
Demons and Doomsday
- Mana Value: BBBBBB
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 6/6
- MTG Sets: Duskmourn
- Card Text: Flying. When Doomsday Excruciator enters, if it was cast, each player exiles all but the bottom six cards of their library face down. At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card.
There are two distinct ways that this deck can close the game. The first is to utilize the Demons package. In this deck, that’s just Archfiend of the Dross and Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber. Both of these cards are fully capable of winning the game by themselves, but they also work perfectly together.
A common play pattern is to jam Unholy Annex on turn three, accepting that you’re going to lose two life at your end step. From there, you can follow up with Archfiend, and if that ends up dying, you can unlock the door to Ritual Chamber and keep the 6/6 Demons coming. 6/6s can end the game in short order, and you’ll be drawing a bunch of cards in the interim.
The second avenue to victory in longer games is to use the power of Doomsday Excruciator alongside Jace, the Perfected Mind. This combo, while much more mana intensive, functions similarly to the Dimir Inverter combo back in the olden days of Pioneer.
Doomsday Excruciator sets each player’s library size to six cards. From there, you simply use Jace’s -X ability to mill the remainder of your opponent’s library, forcing them to lose via decking when they go to draw.
Funnily enough, if you draw multiple copies of Jace, you may be able to deck the opponent without casting Doomsday Excruciator in long, drawn out games. This is exactly what happened in the final game of the semifinals, where Javier cast two copies of Jace to mill Seth Manfield for 30 cards in one turn.
Of course, in order to get to that point, you need to keep the board clear. Luckily, there are plenty of cards that help in that department.
Control Meets Tempo
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Uncommon
- MTG Sets: Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Card Text: Destroy target non-outlaw creature. (Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks are outlaws. Everyone else is fair game.)
What’s nice about this deck is that you get to play a control/combo role or a tempo role depending on the matchup. Facing Gruul Prowess? Chances are, you want to kill your opponent’s creatures on curve and ride Archfiend for the win. Playing versus an opposing midrange deck? Take things slower instead, abusing Unholy Annex to generate card advantage and eventually close the game with Jace.
It works out that most of the cards in the deck are good in either position. Removal spells like Shoot the Sheriff and Go for the Throat are extremely close to being straight-up Terminate in the current metagame. At the same time, Duress has great targets in nearly every matchup.
The combination of Duress, Archfiend, and Faerie Mastermind even gives you a reasonable shot against Domain decks, which can be a bit tough for this style of deck in general. Javier really covered his bases well.
Conquering the Metagame at Large
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/2
- MTG Set: Bloomburrow
- Card Text: Haste. Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.) Valiant– Whenever Emberheart Challenger becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
Obviously, based on the end result, it’s safe to assume this deck was well-positioned for the tournament. When comparing this variant to other Dimir decks in the event, though, it makes sense why Javier had an edge in the field.
First of all, focusing less on small creatures like Deep-Cavern Bat and more on removal and going bigger gives you an advantage against opposing midrange decks. We mentioned Go for the Throat and Shoot the Sheriff as solid catch-all cards but Anoint with Affliction being able to cleanly answer Unstoppable Slasher is a big deal, too. Plus, Anoint with Affliction ensures you’ll take zero damage when removing Heartfire Hero.
While these metagame decisions can be detrimental when facing down Domain, with Dimir and Gruul Prowess decks being the most popular strategies, this deck was poised to shine. With Gruul Prowess as popular as it is and mono-red aggro presumably on the rise after a top four performance at the World Championship, Domain could easily be on a downswing as well.
One small area of concern for this deck moving forward is that if mono-red aggro does see an uptick in popularity, the lack of maindeck copies of Cut Down may come back to bite you. Mono-red aggro is less centered around pump spells, opting for more one-drop creatures and burn spells than Gruul Prowess.
Additionally, Urabrask’s Forge isn’t always easy to beat once it hits the table. As such, you may need to adjust things accordingly as the metagame evolves if you want to play this archetype.
With MTG Foundations on the horizon, though, Standard is almost assuredly in for a shakeup. It’s nice to see the ebbs and flows in the format, coupled by a large amount of innovation. Congratulations to Javier on the amazing finish with such a sweet deck!
