After the bannings of Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Omnath, Locus of Creation many players looked back to the remaining cards from Throne of Eldraine. Doom Foretold is one of the powerhouses left from that set and works well with Yorion, Sky Nomad which is considered to be the best midrange option in the format. Naturally, Esper Doom Foretold decks featuring Yorion have risen in popularity. The landscape of Standard is full of powerful midrange decks and Yorion is proving to be the most dominant midrange threat in Standard today. Today we will be looking at an Esper Doom Foretold list that I put together. This archetype has been slapping me around on Arena so I've decided to give it a go.
Doom Foretold
Doom Foretold is the centerpiece of the deck's game plan. It slowly eats away at the opponent's resources and allows us to sacrifice our Saga's before they reach wanted abilities. Doom Foretold also puts enchantments in our graveyard to fuel a massive Dance of the Manse later in the game. The entire build of the deck allows us to be relatively unfazed by Doom Foretold by having plenty of extra enchantments lying around to pitch to it. Doom Foretold becomes a complete value engine when the opponent runs out of resources to sacrifice by giving us card draw, life gain, and a 2/2 every turn. If that plan fails we have Yorion for blinking synergies to overwhelm the opponent.
Sagas
Elspeth Conquers Death was once one of the best cards in Standard. Things changed but now the five mana Midrange machine has much like Elspeth herself, risen back to the top of the meta. The first lore counter is a solid piece of interaction and gets better with Yorion. The other two abilities are situational which means we can sacrifice this on upkeep to Doom Foretold if we need to. Elspeth's Nightmare has been insane against me with the 4c Cycling deck. The first lore counter is great early interaction and then a Duress on the following turn is a nice one-two punch. The graveyard exiling ability isn't relevant in some match ups and could be sac'd to Doom Foretold, but it does do serious work against Lurrus decks that want to use the graveyard. We also have The Birth of Meletis and Medomai's Prophecy to fill out the deck. Birth helps make our land drops and makes an 0/4 to block and straight-up gains us 2 life. Prophecy sets up our mid game by scrying early and has insane flavor with Doom Foretold. With the second lore counter, you can name Doom Foretold and then cast it on three lore counters to draw two cards the next turn. At this point it has done its job and can be sacrificed to Doom Foretold, thus foretelling its own doom from Doom Foretold, which it foretold.
Other Enchantments
The deck has some other enchantments to fill out the deck and carry out its game plan. Omen of the Sea has been a staple of control decks since its printing and is one of the best targets for Yorion. Omen of the Sun is back-breaking for aggro decks by producing two blockers a turn and gaining two life. All hope leaves their soul when you can blink Yorion with Charming Prince every turn and then blink Omen of the Sun. We also have Treacherous Blessing for some extra card advantage against Dimir Control and we can sac it to Doom Foretold when we want to stop losing life.
Reusable Removal
This deck has a very synergistic and unique removal package with Skyclave Apparition and Glass Casket. Both of these are efficient removal spells but get insane when used together with a Yorion. Skyclave Apparition turns anything it took previously into a vanilla illusion and can take out a new target or what Glass Casket had previously, which allows it to go after something new. This removal package with Yorion blinking is back-breaking in the midgame. It was so effective against me that I eventually grew to respect it and is one of the more attractive aspects of the deck's gameplay.
Extra Win Conditions
If Doom Foretold and Dance of the Manse can't force our opponents to concede then we blink everything repeatedly with our Yorion and Charming Prince package, but if this doesn't do it we have some classic control finishers in Shark Typhoon and Dream Trawler. Shark Typhoon makes an army of sharks when it resolves and can be cycled for one big shark if we need it. Dream Trawler is a stand alone threat that has been a staple of Azorius control decks ever since it was printed. We also have Emeria's Call to make some Angels as another way to close out the game.
The Rest of the Curve
Charming Prince has come up through the article and for good reason. It is a fantastic early play by scrying early or gains us life against aggro decks. However, the best ability in the deck is the blinking ability targeting Yorion. This allows us to blink Yorion every turn by blinking Charming Prince. This spirals out of control if we have some Omens lying around to generate tons of value. I'm actually considering running a third copy to make this play happen more consistently. Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis is a quite forgotten midrange card that does a lot of work. Elspeth only has minus loyalty abilities which makes us want to blink it with Yorion to reset the loyalty.
The deck also has some control cards like Extinction Event for board control and Hagra Mauling for extra removal. A couple of Duress to help against control and Mystical Dispute for extra interaction.
Sideboard
Quickly going through the sideboard, we have Bloodchief's Thirst for creature decks, Cling to Dust for graveyard interaction, and Shatter the Sky for more board control. For control, we have more Shark Typhoon and Mystical Dispute and Archon of Sun's Grace when we really want to dominate the board. Heliod's Intervention is amazing aggressive decks and it also insane in the mirror match.
As I said, I've been very impressed with this deck on Arena and have been on the receiving end of some bad beatings. If I were to make some changes I would consider adding another Charming Prince and possibly another Heliod's Intervention in the sideboard of I'm expecting lots of mirror matches. Another Mystical Dispute could end up in the main deck as well. With all that said I hope you enjoyed the deck and are having fun in Standard. If you're looking for people to talk Magic with then head over to our Discord and follow us on Instagram to stay caught up with all of our content. Head over to our YouTube channel where we will be adding Magic content very soon! Thanks again for reading and joining The Fellowship.
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