Magic Foundations might be right around the corner, with previews even currently ongoing, but that does not stop the brewers from doing their thing. We once again have a few spicy decklists to talk about, and I’m happy to say that each of the three formats is represented this time, so before we see all the new cards that will be arriving in our arsenal, let me present what I fished up deep diving into the league dumps. 

Standard

Our one standard deck this week is a fun one, as MTGO user Lesbeon comes at us with four Ruin-Lurker Bats in their main deck, which can only mean that this is a lifegain deck with a bat subtheme. And that would be exactly what this is. I like when cards of the same creature type can assemble together to achieve greater things, and this takes cards from several different standard sets, including Bloomburrow, Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and Murders at Karlov Manor in order to achieve its goal. 

Lunar Convocation is a really interesting card, as while the life gain synergy is obvious, losing life on your turn is only really achievable with its own activated ability and Darkstar Augur. It does provide a good way to cash in your extra life gain for additional cards though, so with that framing, I understand it. 

Lifegain is a pretty popular archetype among players so I think having a deck like this around and playable is good for the Magic community as a whole and I’m glad that Lesbeon found success with it.

Pioneer

I love when people play BW Humans, so Khanagates gets included on this list for getting a trophy with General Kudro of Drannith in their deck, even if they only played one copy. I have long since been a truther of Kudro, and when I used to play BW Humans, I also used to include a Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord in my sideboard, so that’s even more bonus points from me.

On top of that, this is a pretty standard humans list with the white creature base. Playing black gives you access to Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, on top of Kudro, and cards like Dire Tactics. Tomik and Jirina are also pretty interesting one-ofs, and while the only way to find creatures in this list is with a Recruitment Officer, I still don’t hate a little toolbox action.

Our last Pioneer list is a fun Suitai deck from SreenwriterNY, who decided to find another way to cheat Abhorrent Oculus into play, electing to use Neoform and a few two-mana creatures that find Neoform. There is also the reanimation subtheme, thanks to No One Left Behind and cards that fuel the yard. But of course, Oculus is still the feature of the deck, really serving as your only true win condition. Thankfully, this list can play around graveyard hate well thanks to Neoform, as you can abandon the reanimation plan and fairly cast Oculus. I think any of these decks need a legit way to play around yard hate, and ScreenwriterNY found a method of doing that. 

Modern

Our first Modern list is a fun Sultai deck from… wait is that right? ScreenwriterNY again? It appears so. ScreenwriterNY had a fun week of brews apparently, finding another trophy with this Sultai… uh… Omniscience deck? This is a list wild enough to break my The One Ring rule because it took me a while to figure out what was going on here. I recognize that it has a Karn board plan going on, which is all well and good, but I had to look at the inclusion of Omniscience in this list for a good few minutes, trying to look at how they got Omniscience into play.

I then realized the goal isn’t to get Omniscience into play, it’s to get Omniscience into your graveyard to copy it with Shifting Woodlands, then allowing you to pop off. That is some fun deck building that I am here for, even if you do put four copies of The One Ring into your deck. 

I also love how there is a creature carryover from their Pioneer list, as Fallaji Archaeologist and Oracle of Tragedy transcend the formats to bring ScreenwriterNY trophies, with very, very different decks. 

And our last list for the week comes from Leafbladefighter, and oh look, it’s an Abhorrent Oculus and Mockingbird list. That shouldn’t surprise people who have been reading this series, as you’ll know how much I love both of these cards. But playing them together is very fun! This plays sort of like a UW Tempo list, deploying cheap threats and backing them up with counterspells. 

This of course has the obligatory inclusion of a cheap reanimation spell for Oculus, as I will say that this deck does not fill the yard well outside of Fetch Lands, making casting Oculus pretty inconsistent.

I love Mockingbird in these kinds of lists because every creature you play is a very powerful copy target, and in a pinch you can of course still copy your opponent’s stuff. I will say I don’t know how I feel about the true removal being relegated to just the sideboard, but if it works, it works. The Volatile Stormdrakes being in the sideboard feels like a holdover from the Nadu days, but it’s a pretty cool card to keep in as an option to steal whatever creature your opponent has as well. 

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And that’ll do it once again. With Foundations dropping very soon, I don’t know that I will have a Neat Decking next week, as any deck I would show off would be pretty quickly outdated. It may be the norm going forward to take a one-week hiatus between set releases, though if I look through the leagues and find enough decks, I would be remiss to not present them to all of you. 

Either way, I’ve expressed several times before how much I’m looking forward to Foundations. I love reprints coming into other formats and I love Core Set-style limited and power level. I’m looking forward to seeing what we get and brewing around it myself and seeing what other people do with it. 

If anyone has any suggestions on that or wants to offer up decks I missed, please find me in thegathering.gg’s discord server @adolce95. Other than that, I’m looking forward to sharing more lists next week!