The Magic: the Gathering Strixhaven Championships has just been concluded last weekend with 250 player attendees and was decided by the current two popular formats: Standard and Historic.

In the Standard format portion of the tournament, I have noticed in the Top 8 decks a new build (in my case) of the Jeskai Tempo deck. It utilized two relevant Izzet Mutate creatures, Lore Drakkis and Vadrok, Apex of Thunder, that get you more value in your Instant and Sorcery spells. Vadrok reminds me of the Mantis Rider, which was also a popular Jeskai beater back in the Khans of Tarkir Standard days.

The deck was piloted by two players who were also Top 8 finishers, David Inglis and Matti Kuisma.

Check out the Standard Jeskai Mutate full decklist below:

Maindeck
12 CREATURES
4 Goldspan Dragon
4 Lore Drakkis
4 Vadrok, Apex of Thunder

26 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Essence Scatter
4 Expressive Iteration
2 Fire Prophecy
1 Mystical Dispute
2 Negate
3 Prismari Command
1 Scorching Dragonfire
3 Seize the Spoils
1 Sejiri Shelter
4 Spikefield Hazard
4 Unsubstantiate

22 LANDS (27)
4 Hengegate Pathway
4 Island
2 Mountain
4 Needleverge Pathway
4 Raugrin Triome
4 Riverglide Pathway

Sideboard
2 Cinderclasm
1 Essence Scatter
1 Glass Casket
1 Light of Hope
3 Mazemind Tome
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Phoenix of Ash
3 Redcap Melee

Reference: Decklist from the event

The Magic: the Gathering Strixhaven gameplay has started in the Standard format via MTGO, and one of the notable deck archetypes that got a distinguished finish in the MTGO Standard League was the one played by a good friend and fellow Ilonggo. He goes by the username air_vengeance, and he piloted a Prismari (Blue-Red) deck that was kind of a tempo build but with game-ending Dragons as its creatures.

He finished 5-0 in the MTGO Standard League and here below is the decklist. I am not currently familiar with the detailed card interactions but what I know is that the dragons act as a Treasure token source which later on used to ramp up and be able to cast the big spells. While getting there, utilized are counterspells and spot removals.

Maindeck
3 Galazeth Prismari
4 Goldspan Dragon
4 Torrent Sculptor

4 Alrund’s Epiphany
2 Creative Outburst
4 Draconic Intervention
4 Magma Opus
4 Prismari Command
4 Saw It Coming
3 Shatterskull Smashing

4 Frostboil Snarl
6 Island
6 Mountain
4 Riverglide Pathway
4 Temple of Epiphany

Sideboard
2 Essence Scatter
3 Mystical Dispute
2 Negate
2 Ox of Agonas
1 Redcap Melee
4 Shark Typhoon
1 Test of Talents

Reference: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3926035#paper

I decided to check today on the Strixhaven deck brews as most of the Magic: the Gathering websites were posting them before the set release and once the full spoiler is complete.

I had a few sources in mind, but today I decided to check some decks at MTG Goldfish website and found this article that features 30 casual Standard decks that cost under 20 USD.

Upon browsing through the lists, I chose to feature the deck “Tend the Pests” and here below is the full decklist.

Creatures (25)
4 Discordant Piper
4 Skyclave Shade
4 Tangled Florahedron
2 Egon, God of Death
4 Lovestruck Beast
3 Daemogoth Titan
4 Daemogoth Woe-Eater

Spells (13)
2 Deadly Brew
4 Hunt for Specimens
3 Ram Through
4 Tend the Pests

Lands (22)
6 Forest
4 Jungle Hollow
8 Swamp
4 Witherbloom Campus

Sideboard (7)
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Necrotic Fumes
4 Pest Summoning
1 Introduction to Annihilation

You can check the full decklist on its virtual view here.

A budget deck is mostly composed of Commons and a few Rares at a low price. With the ongoing pandemic and the lack of physical gameplay, the card prices usually descend after the product release to the market and so it is expected that the added value to the total price of the deck will just slightly increase it.

The deck strategy is mostly on having Pests tokens and other token sources and effects and having big creatures that feed on them via sacrifice effects. Daemogoth Titan and Woe-Eater are the major threats in the deck but I would have that the strategy to win would not only rely on these cards.

Referencing a part of the build of the Standard Clerics deck, I have added two particular cards that will be the option B strategy. These two cards are Bastion of Remembrance and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose.

The enchantment is another token source that also acts to ping opponents’ life total on each die trigger. That also means an additional 1 life gain for each trigger. It is a much worse scenario for the opponent when you have Vito on the battlefield as the life gain trigger will also cause an opponent to lose that much life.

That said, we can cut out unnecessary cards in the decklist and improve it a bit. Here is the updated decklist.

Creatures
4 Discordant Piper
4 Skyclave Shade
4 Lovestruck Beast
3 Daemogoth Titan
4 Daemogoth Woe-Eater
3 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Spells
4 Bastion of Remembrance
2 Deadly Brew
4 Hunt for Specimens
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
1 Hagra Mauling
3 Tend the Pests

Lands (22)
6 Forest
4 Darkbore Pathway
8 Swamp
4 Witherbloom Campus

Sideboard (7)
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Necrotic Fumes
4 Pest Summoning
1 Introduction to Annihilation

Notice that I’ve also upgraded the spot removals to independent ones rather than relying on the situational Ram Through spell. I’ve also improved into a playset of dual Golgari Pathways. More changes will follow later on once we get to playtest the deck on Magic Arena Standard casual matches.

That is a wrap for now on the updated Golgari Pests deck. Until the next blog post.