I am going to lead off with this article with a statement: I don’t know Standard very well. The last time that I played Standard regularly was shortly after Liliana of the Veil rotated out and Abrupt Decay was still legal. One thing that I can say about Standard is that if you are looking for a format to have as much fun as possible brewing and playing then look no further because there is no other format where you have the time to try and execute kookie combos.
This brings me to my most recent endeavor, which was inspired by the recently spoiled Stone Haven Outfitter. From the moment it was spoiled I began to wonder if this wannabe Skullclamp had any actual brewability (yes, I just made up that word). That is when I realized that Ghostfire Blade equips to a colorless creature for 1 and Eldrazi Scions sacrifice to make 1 mana. Now as stated earlier, my standard knowledge is certainly limited and there may be better builds, but I wanted to design something that perhaps someone could quickly build and use to have fun during release weekend. The list is as follows:
Stone Haven Draw
Lands (25)
3 Canopy Vista
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Forest
1 Hissing Quagmire
3 Llanowar Wastes
3 Plains
2 Polluted Delta
2 Shambling Vent
3 Swamp
4 Windswept Heath
Creatures (18)
3 Blight Herder
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Rot Shambler
2 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (17)
1 Chitinous Cloak
3 Complete Disregard
3 From Beyond
4 Ghostfire Blade
4 Silkwrap
2 Utter End
Synergies
The main point of this deck is to build your own monster. Rot Shambler, Stone Haven Outfitter, Ghostfire Blade and Eldrazi scions all paired together give us a cute little draw engine so that we can dig to answers or more creatures and pump our Rot Shambler. Another fun part of the deck is that we have the ability to use cards like Blight Herder and From Beyond to ramp up and cast an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, which in itself could end a game. Sidisi, Undead Vizier is here because we want to be able to find a definitive win condition depending on the board state and exploit is essentially not a cost for us since we are on that plan anyway. Ghostfire Blade and Chitinous Cloak allow our smaller creatures to become actual threats in the event we can’t get our engine online.
Creatures
Here I had to have four Stone Haven Outfitter since it is naturally a key part to the main engine of the deck. Aside from the draw engine, we needed the ability to make as many Scions as possible so here we also have three Blight Herder and four Catacomb Sifter. Blight Herder is capable of playing dual roles in the deck. It makes three Scions and it also happens to be a 4/5 that for one mana can attach a Ghostfire Blade and represent a respectable clock as a 6/7.
Catacomb Sifter is a card that I really fell in love with from the moment it was originally spoiled. It creates a Scion for us, and every time we sacrifice a Scion to our Stone Haven engine we are able to stack our triggers and scry any junk to the bottom, digging two cards deep with each trigger. As with Blight Herder it can represent a 4/5 body when suited up with a blade. The four Rot Shambler represent a real threat with the engine online. If we can get a strong chain going this guy can grow immensely in a very short time for a small mana investment once we can drop a From Beyond or Blight Herder.
Sidisi, Undead Vizier gives us a tutor effect in order to get an engine online and begin dropping bombs like Ulamog should it be later in the game. She still wears equipment well and the deathtouch can definitely be relevant in combat. It is possible that the deck wants a Kozilek, the Great Distortion in addition to Ulamog if not in place of Ulamog. Testing could certainly answer this question. I personally wanted Ulamog for the fact that he continues to feed our Blight Herders for the late game with every attack if he isn’t answered.
Spells—Removal
Here we have Complete Disregard and Silkwrap as some early removal in order to slow down Artarka Red and Abzan Aggro. They both hit most of the relevant creatures in either match up and help us exile cards for our Blight Herders to process. They also answer early Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Mantis Rider and Soulfire Grand Master. For more exact removal against problem permanents we have two Utter End at the top of our curve. Between these nine exile effects and the probability we may be against a deck that uses the Delve mechanic, there should be plenty of fodder for our Blight Herder to process when we get there.
Spells—Equipment
The Ghostfire Blade has obviously been explained by now as it is a main point of the deck given the cheap equip cost to colorless creatures allowing us to easily use Scions to cycle through the deck. The other selection for this deck is the one Chitinous Cloak. This new Oath of the Gatewatch equipment makes our creatures larger and mostly eliminates chump blocking thanks to Menace. Between Ghostfire Blade and Chitinous Cloak any of our creatures can become a respectable threat and even harder to battle in combat.
Spells—From Beyond
As the deck stands, this allows us to gain a steady steam of Scions as well as the ability to tutor up an Ulamog in the later game if we haven’t found him yet. It was a very simple addition to the deck given both abilities that it provides us.
Initial Thoughts
I believe this deck may require some fine tuning by a true Standard pilot that would have better card knowledge through experience as opposed to tracking top eights and viewing some coverage on occasion. I will say that a few options would be to go with less spells and increase the creature count adding things like Blisterpod which at least replaces itself should it die in combat either chump blocking or attacking with a blade. It could also be correct to avoid processing completely and drop Blight Herder for different aggro options like Warden of the First Tree or Anafenza, the Foremost. Due to my inexperience in Standard, I have not completed a suggested sideboard. A few suggestions that I would make include Evolutionary Leap for the control match up since sweepers would be detrimental, Transgress the Mind to fuel your processing further and also answer any sweeper or bomb that may be difficult to beat otherwise, and Anafenza, the Foremost to turn into a slightly more aggressive deck post board. There are many options out there and to anyone interested in actually testing this deck, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Happy brewing to each and every one of you. If anyone has an idea for a brew that they would like to see, I will gladly take requests and challenges in the comments. 🙂
Aaron Gazzaniga manages a restaurant and in his off time has been an avid magic player/brewer since 2003. Having begun in Odyssey Standard Block and always favoring control and prison style decks, we come to this moment in time where Aaron finally gets to talk about and share his ideas.