Much Abrew: Death and Taxes in Standard
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Much Abrew About Nothing! Izzet Cauldron is the best and most heavily played deck in Standard, and our goal today is simple: build a deck to beat it by staxing and taxing it out of being able to do much of anything! That's right, we're playing some Death and Taxes today, but in Standard! Is annoying our opponent with various taxing effects and a bunch of targeted hate a legit plan for beating Izzet Cauldron? How does the deck match up to the rest of the meta? Let's get to the video and find out!
Much Abrew: Death and Taxes
Discussion
- While I'm still not sure if our deck consistently beats Izzet Cauldron—sadly, we only played against it twice and went 1-1—I am pretty confident that the deck is surprisingly good against the meta as a whole. We went 12-4 with the deck, for a 75% win rate, and ranked up to Diamond along the way!
- Let's start with Izzet Cauldron. What do we have to beat the best deck in Standard? The three big pieces here are Clarion Conqueror, Tishana's Tidebinder, and High Noon. The two three-drops are especially strong in the matchup because they hit on both Vivi Ornitier and Agatha's Soul Cauldron, the two big payoffs for the deck. With Clarion Conqueror on the battlefield, activated abilities of creatures, artifacts, and planeswalkers can't be activated, which means Vivi Ornitier can't make mana and Agatha's Soul Cauldron is a blank piece of cardboard. Speaking of blank pieces of cardboard, that is also what Tishana's Tidebinder turns either Vivi or Cauldron into once we use it to Stifle one of their triggers. The only problem with these lock pieces is that they only work while they stay on the battlefield, and Izzet Cauldron has answers like Into the Flood Maw and Abrade. This is where High Noon comes in. While High Noon doesn't stop Vivi or Cauldron directly, it makes it so players can only play one spell each turn, which greatly minimizes the damage that either can deal. Sure, our opponent can make a ton of mana with Vivi's ability, but they can't really take advantage of it if they can only cast a single spell each turn.
- Here, it's also worth mentioning that Izzet Cauldron is an incredibly strong deck, which means a single hate card typically isn't enough. We really want at least two of our big stax pieces on the battlefield to feel safe so that even if our opponent can answer one, they still won't be able to pop off with Vivi and win the game. Redundancy is key.
- As far as the rest of the deck, it's mostly a bunch of efficient but annoying creatures. Lightstall Inquisitor taxes our opponent's hand, which isn't great by itself but becomes much stronger once we add Aven Interrupter to the mix to make cards our opponent plays from exile cost two more. Cathar Commando once again impressed, as a flash creature with a decent body that can snipe artifacts (like Cauldron) or enchantments. Voice of Victory offers a fast clock and shuts down counterspells and other instant-speed interaction, while Floodpits Drowner taxes opposing creatures.
- It's also worth mentioning that while we aren't really a flash deck, we do have a bunch of flash creatures. These play really well with High Noon since we can cast one spell during our turn and then flash something in during our opponent's turn to break the once-per-turn restriction.
- If you decide to play the deck, the most important thing to realize is that we don't really have a "free win" draw. Instead, the deck is really good at tempoing and grinding out little bits of value and damage, which eventually add up to winning the game. All those little attacks for two or three damage really matter with Death and Taxes, since it's not like we're working toward some big finisher or combo that will just win the game. The good news is that the deck is also oddly powerful, so it will reward you if you play tight.
- So, should you play Death and Taxes in Standard? While I'm still not sure if it's the answer to Izzet Cauldron, I think the answer is yes! The deck felt surprisingly competitive, posted a solid record, and is really good at eking out victories in super-close games! If you like tricky decks with tons of options and sneaky plays, keep it in mind!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
