Despite the popularity of rare heavy Standard decks like Sultai Control, Temur Ramp, and Naya Adventures performing well in the current meta, there are plenty of decks putting up results that use powerful cores that rely on zero rares. I think this puts Standard in a good place as far as accessibility and is why we started the No Rares Needed series to highlight these powerful budget archetypes. This is the second installment and today we'll be discussing a deck that generates tons of value off of efficient synergies, while also keeping the opponent's board empty with repeatable removal. Once you're finished giving this article a read, feel free to check out the game play in the video above. As always we have a copy of the deck for you to export straight to Arena down below.
I will quickly mention that before we get started I do want to talk about Lurrus of the Dream-Den. Although it does break the rules of our gimmick, Lurrus makes the deck much better and is definitely worth the Rare Card investment. The deck does still run totally fine without it, but if you do feel inclined to spend the single Wildcard then Lurrus will take the deck up a level. Again not completely necessary. The Core
What really makes the deck such a threat is how its removal package functions. Hateful Eidolon isn't much to worry about on its own, but when paired with cheap enchantment based removal then the card advantage starts rolling. Now with Eidolon we're drawing cards each time our auras takes out a creature. This completely shuts down creature decks and buries them in card advantage. Dead Weight has historically been used to prey on small creatures and it gets even better when you get to draw a card. Mogis's Favor is an all star in this deck as it can snipe one toughness creatures or pumps our bulkier creatures like Kitesail Freebooter or Bloodsky Berserker. Escape works well with our other graveyard theme and allows us to bring back Mogis's Favor repeatedly. We also have Mire's Grasp to take out bigger creatures. The main reason to play Lurrus is that it allows us to recycle these enchantments to continue the grind and this aspect is missing if you don't have Lurrus. Hateful Eidolon is still insane and can help you pull back into games when you're behind with all of the card draw. An example of this is slapping a Mogis's Favor on Archfiend's Vessel to get it in the graveyard and to get you more cards in hand.
To round out our core we have Kitesail Freebooter and Heartless Act as extra support. Freebooter can attack the opponent's hand and can wear a Mogis's Favor well. Heartless Act is some extra coverage against the bigger creatures that our auras can't kill. Village Rites is another way to get cards in hand and is pretty nice in response to opposing removal.
Graveyard Value
The graveyard package in this deck is another avenue for us to out value the opponent. Archfiend's Vessel is our prime target for Call of the Death-Dweller, as when it returns to play it exiles itself and replaces it with a 5/5 flying Demon. Getting a pair of Demons puts the opponent on a fast clock, and can easily win us the game. Call of the Death-Dweller also has value with all of our other creatures like Kitesail Freebooter to get more cards out of their hand, and Hateful Eidolon to get the cards flowing again. It carries the deck into the late game and is always a great top deck once we settle into the grind. To support all of this we have a pair of Mire Triton and this card does serious work. Deathtouch is very annoying for a lot of creature decks to push through and the life gain can be clutch, plus the milling is fantastic. I could definitely see us wanting the full playset and perhaps Foulmire Knight is the card to replace. Foulmire Knight is a way for us to draw some extra cards and also block up the battlefield with deathtouch, but the way our deck is built we might want the additional copies of Mire Triton. Putting cards in the bin can be just like drawing them since we can get them back, and the life gain is really important in some match ups.
Beatdowns
Bloodsky Berserker was a huge addition from Kaldheim as it gave the deck a serious beater. Our whole deck is basically designed to loop spells which make it super easy to get those counters on Berserker. Mogis's Favor can be added for extra damage it gaining menace makes it all the better. I really enjoy how the opponent needs to interact with essentially three game plans that fit so well together. They can't let Eidolon sit around to draw cards as we play our removal, Call of the Death-Dweller puts so much power on the battlefield, and of course we can kill them outright with Berserker. That is going to do it for this episode of No Rares Needed. We'll be going this as a monthly series moving forward so subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you don't miss any content. If you want to check out our other content or find links to our Discord, then browse the homepage of the site for all of that good stuff. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the deck. Thanks so much for joining the Fellowship and best of luck climbing to Mythic on Arena! Deck
4 Mire's Grasp (THB) 106
2 Heartless Act (IKO) 91
2 Village Rites (M21) 126
4 Mogis's Favor (THB) 107
2 Kitesail Freebooter (M21) 107
2 Kitesail Freebooter (XLN) 110
3 Dead Weight (IKO) 83
4 Archfiend's Vessel (M21) 88
4 Bloodsky Berserker (KHM) 80
19 Snow-Covered Swamp (KHM) 281
4 Hateful Eidolon (THB) 101
1 Dead Weight (GRN) 67
2 Foulmire Knight (ELD) 90
1 Malakir Rebirth (ZNR) 111
2 Mire Triton (THB) 105
4 Call of the Death-Dweller (IKO) 78
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