Magic is full of powerful cards designed in unique ways, and it’s interesting to see how each new set approaches a tried-and-true card design. The five-mana white or black sweeper has been a mainstay in Standard since End Hostilities, with Supreme Verdict rotating with Return to Ravnica. Because Theros had some cool “Aura creatures,” End Hostilities was designed to check those just in case they were a bit too powerful. Similarly, aggressive decks were pushed a bit during Kaladesh block, which made Fumigate a perfect hoser, since it also gained some precious life points back in return.
We’ve had Cleansing Nova and Crux of Fate and a handful of others in the last few years, and only recently did we return to a world with a four-mana sweeper in Kaya’s Wrath, but I’d argue that the format was much duller as a result. Kaya’s Wrath warped the format for a time. Perhaps not as badly as some three-mana blue planeswalkers, but it still made going midrange green a bit more difficult, as your entire end-game plan needed to revolve around things that didn’t die to Kaya’s Wrath. That meant more planeswalkers and fewer creatures.
With Throne of Eldraine, we’re getting another sweeper, but this time it’s got a little something special added onto it. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen a creature that is also a sweeper effect, and the last time I can truly remember it being able to kill just about every creature it came into contact with was Desolation Giant. This time around, it’s also a Giant, but more importantly it’s a fairly costed sweeper effect first.
First of all, the art on this card is spectacular. The idea of a Giant using an entire realm as a cloak is pretty hilarious (and it looks pretty dope on him to boot). But the real reason you’ll be putting Realm-Cloaked Giant into your deck isn’t because of the seven-mana Giant with vigilance. It’s because of the Adventure: Cast Off. Five mana, destroy all non-Giant creatures. Pretty solid deal. But what you get in addition to that is an actual win condition.
An expensive Giant isn’t exactly ideal as a win condition for a control deck, but it’s rare that we get such a powerful and reasonably costed utility spell that just so happens to be able to win the game later on. Do you know how freeing it is to not have to play a win condition in your control deck? Instead, your friggin’ sweeper effect just does it automatically once you’ve taken control of the game! No random huge monsters stuck in your hand while you get beat down by a swarm of small minions. No problem with your hand getting clogged with expensive planeswalkers or Aetherling or anything else like that.
Just pure and unadulterated utility. A control player’s dream.
But still…
Kaya’s Wrath only costs four mana. If you play Orzhov colors, it’s probably still the right pick for you. But now that Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is gone, you might need some help actually winning the game if you’re a control player. And what if you don’t actually want to play black? What if you just want to play Azorius, or Jeskai Control, or whatever else? Realm-Cloaked Giant is perfect in those color combinations.
But what are some ways we can actually make Realm-Cloak Giant busted?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this card really needs some help being better than it already is. But hear me out: an instant speed sweeper is a bit better than a sorcery speed one. That’s a no-brainer, and something we’ve been doing with Kaya’s Wrath for a little while now. But what if I told you that you could bounce your Realm-Cloaked Giant and use Cast Off all over again?
Naturally, you always want your cards to work well together, but sometimes a card is just good enough on its own. Teferi, Time Raveler doesn’t need that bolster, but you’re going to get it anyway.
That’s right. Realm-Cloaked Giant works with itself. Your second copy of Cast Off doesn’t kill your first large (and vigilance) Giant. The “non-Giant” caveat can work well with other Giants in the set if you want to play a sub-theme. But the big thing is that, later in the game, you can actually close it out pretty easily by sweeping away all their potential chump blockers. I mean, it shouldn’t be too hard to kill your opponent with a swing or three from Realm-Cloaked Giant, all while playing both offense and defense thanks to vigilance.
But what other Giants could we potentially play in this new Standard format?
Ramping into a sweeper effect is pretty good, but I doubt you need any help in the “large monster” department. But we could find enough Giants that are just solid on the front half, and in this case the Fertile Footsteps Adventure is still pretty decent. If you ramp into Beanstalk Giant, Cast Off becomes a pretty absurd spell. Clearing out all their blockers before attacking for a huge chunk is stellar.
This one helps bridge the gap between your early turns and your five-mana sweeper. Not only do you get to potentially kill a cheap creature, but you also have a reasonably sized body to cast on the third turn. Does this go well with a sweeper effect? Maybe if you’re a midrange deck and all your creatures are Giants! Giant Tribal!
Well, maybe not, but you get the point. Bonecrusher Giant is a stellar card to have in your opening hand because it does so much for your early development. Slowing the game down by killing a creature and then applying some pressure or a blocker is insane. Plus, if your opponent bounces it with Teferi, Time Raveler, you get to use the Adventure again to kill it!
Let’s put a few of these elements together, shall we?
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (26)
Spells (18)
Sideboard
Now this isn’t a “traditional” Jeskai Control build, as we aren’t relying heavily on small card-drawing effects or counterspells. Sure, we have minor elements of both, but we aren’t playing “draw-go” with Absorb and Chemister’s Insight. This is mostly due to the presence of Teferi, Time Raveler and Narset, Parter of Veils in the metagame. Instead, we’re being a bit more proactive with Bonecrusher Giant, and we’re actually pretty light on blue mana in general with only twelve sources. With that said, we could potentially shave on some of the Temples and add more basic lands and Fabled Passage, but I’d rather just go lighter on blue in general.
What I love about this deck is the ability to turn the corner quickly. Bonecrusher Giant and the Stomp Adventure allow for some absurd starts that cost you very little in the way of resources. Against an opposing control strategy, this start helps you play a bit of an aggro game in the early turns, helping your other spells steamroll them if you draw them in the right order. Bonecrusher Giant is also absurd after sideboard, when you have more threats and more counterspells and you get to take a lot of the removal out of your maindeck.
The tempo nature of Cast Off and Bonecrusher Giant also allows you to pressure an opposing planeswalker, which control decks are notoriously bad at doing. Outside of the errant Vraska’s Contempt or counterspell or whatever, control decks have a tough time dealing with planeswalkers. This control deck has a removal spell that turns into a large threat, and our sweeper doesn’t kill our own creature. That means we get to clean them up and then clear them out.
I absolutely adore using our planeswalkers with our Giants. Teferi, Time Raveler gives you the ability to bounce either Giant to use their Adventure again, but even Saheeli, Sublime Artificer likes getting in on the fun. Copy Bonecrusher Giant and then use Cast Off to sweep up your opponent’s creatures, attacking them or their planeswalker for eight damage! Copy your Realm-Cloaked Giant and swing for the win! Four copies is a lot, but it’s a great way to play both offense and defense. Copying your own giant before Cast Off is just icing on the cake!
In all honesty, we probably have far too much removal for whatever the metagame develops into, but that’s mostly a “there are too many planeswalkers in Standard” problem. We are going hard on Prison Realm to help out there, but that still means we’re vulnerable to an opposing Teferi, Time Raveler. I’ve also moved away from Deafening Clarion in favor of Realm-Cloaked Giant because Bonecrusher Giant gets swamped by your own Deafening Clarion.
Moving into the new Standard format, all eyes will be on whether or not a different control deck can take shape. We’ve lost a lot with the rotation of Ixalan block and Dominaria, but many of the planeswalker core players remain the same. I’m hoping that a Realm-Cloaked Giant control deck will surface, as the tempo nature of “destroy all non-Giants” is really exciting. In many ways, it acts like Crux of Fate in the old Esper Dragons deck from Khans of Tarkir Standard, but only if you build around it. I think Bonecrusher Giant and maybe Beanstalk Giant will be the two “utility spells that are also Giants before you cast Cast Off,” but I’m hopeful there’s a bit more to it than that.
The next iteration of Standard is already here, and I couldn’t be more excited to play some Throne of Eldraine. As I write this, I’m busy building decks for the Throne of Eldraine streamer event, and I’m hoping I find some really sweet stuff. You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be putting together some Arclight Phoenix and Wilderness Reclamation strategies, but the real fun will be brewing with the likes of Fires of Invention and Realm-Cloaked Giant!
Throne of Eldraine has some really powerful cards, and there’s a very good chance that some of these become Modern staples, but all eyes will be on Standard in the coming weeks. If you want to see what decks I come up with for the Magic Arena ladder, make sure to check out my stream. I’ve been streaming almost every day around 3pm EST on Twitch.
Hope to see you soon!