In the course of MTG history, many cards have earned the unofficial moniker of ‘meme card.’ These are typically overcosted cards or cards with strange effects; interesting in their own right, but not the stuff of competitive glory. These cards are typically confined to streamer highlight reels or casual Commander tables. Occasionally, however, one or two will break out into mainstream Magic. With the advent of MTG Foundations, a few such cards have done just that. If you’re looking for an offbeat strategy for the new Standard, Urborg Scavengers Reanimator could be the MTG deck for you.
Urborg Scavengers Reanimator In MTG Standard
Urborg Scavengers Reanimator, also known as ‘Urborg Pog,’ comes to us from MTG content creator Ashlizzle. As the name suggests, this is a deck built around honorary meme card Urborg Scavengers. You probably haven’t seen this card around much partly due to being released in the much-maligned March of the Machine: The Aftermath, and partly due to its generally underwhelming abilities. Despite this rough history, now may well be its time to shine.
Scavengers is a three drop that scales up in power with the number of keywords you can stuff into your graveyard early. MTG Foundations adds two excellent keyword soup creatures to support the card: Sire of Seven Deaths, and a reprint of fellow meme card Zetalpa, Primal Dawn. Exiling one of these creatures will net Scavengers six or five keywords, respectively. Paired with its gradual +1/+1 counter scaling, you can turn your three mana investment into a legitimate threat scarily quickly.
Importantly, Scavengers can even pick up Hexproof to protect itself. It can do so either wholesale from Valgavoth’s Lair, or from just instants via Elenda, Saint of Dusk. Protection like this is vital for Scavengers since it starts out very underwhelming in terms of stats.
How does the deck set up its graveyard for Scavengers to strip it for parts? Not in the way you’d expect, actually. Rather than rely on self-mill like most Reanimator decks, this one prefers a more tailored approach. Direct-to-graveyard tutor effects like Cynical Loner and Lively Dirge fill this role nicely. Loner is a bit of a tricky card to use normally, due to its fragile body. Pair it with the three-of Caustic Bronco in the deck, however, and you can tutor risk-free while drawing a card and burning your opponent.
Playing The Classics
Urborg Scavengers is what gives this MTG deck its unique edge, but it can also play a straightforward Reanimator game if needed. The deck runs four total reanimation spells: three Zombify and one Rite of the Moth. These can grab your Sire or Zetalpa, and they can also grab the traditional Reanimator big hitters Atraxa and Valgavoth.
In hands where you don’t draw Scavengers early, pursuing a line where you bring one of these monstrosities out on turn four is more than okay. In Atraxa’s case, she actually plays double duty. She’s great when reanimated, and she can also add four keywords to your Scavengers if exiled.
Pursuing either game plan in this deck requires a bit of setup time early on. To that end, Ashlizzle’s list runs a solid removal suite. Elspeth’s Smite, Bitter Triumph, and Go For the Throat all feature. In addition, Liliana of the Veil and Unidentified Hovership can get rid of pesky early threats too. Both serve multiple functions, too. Liliana can discard your big creatures for Scavengers or reanimation, while Hovership can grant Scavengers Flying in a pinch.
Two copies of Zoraline, Cosmos Caller round out this remarkable list, adding more keywords and a means of bringing Scavengers back from the dead. Mix it all together, and you have a truly fascinating creation. This is a kind of Reanimator/Midrange hybrid, capable of seizing the board early but equally capable of going over the top with one well-timed Scavengers or Zombify.
It doesn’t look like the kind of deck that would perform well in the current Standard, but apparently, it’s doing alright. Ashlizzle took the deck to a 15-2 victory in the recent Standard Metagame Challenge event on MTG Arena. Encouraging results indeed, especially for a rogue brew.
An Unforgiving Format
That said, this isn’t the kind of deck you can just roll up and crush your FNM with. For one thing, it relies on very specific lines that aren’t obvious in terms of execution a lot of the time. For another, it’s coming into a Standard environment with a lot of graveyard hate.
A lot of sideboards, and even some main decks, are running top-tier graveyard hate right now. Ghost Vacuum is probably the most popular example, but Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void see regular play too. Tranquil Frillback, a popular card in the side and main of green Midrange decks, has a graveyard hate mode on it too.
These cards are the deck’s greatest weakness, so having a plan to deal with them is an absolute must. Exorcise is a great card for dealing with Rest in Peace or Leyline, and can even take out a Sheoldred too if needed. Alternatively, Loran of the Third Path is a creature that can fill a similar role. It also has Vigilance, so another potential keyword for Scavengers to snag.
Even with ample answers in place, graveyard hate can still be devastating to this deck’s strategy. You should feel it less than traditional ‘pure’ Reanimator decks, however. Because Scavengers can come down so early, you should be able to get out ahead of hate in some cases. At that point, a drip-feed of creatures to the grave can feed it up and close out the game.
Urborg Scavengers Reanimator is an odd deck, but it looks to be an effective one. If this is the kind of innovation Foundations is bringing to the table, then the next five years of Standard should be ones to remember.