Recently Banned MTG Card Wins $10,000+ in Eternal Format!

It’s been just over a week since a major ban announcement shook up Pioneer and Modern. In Pioneer, Discover combo took a huge hit, while mono-green Devotion has fallen by the wayside. Meanwhile, the unbanning of Smuggler’s Copter Smuggler’s Copter Flying
Whenever this Vehicle attacks or blocks, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) has prove to be an interesting choice, as the card continues to dominate.

In Modern, players are no longer able to Cascade into Up the Beanstalk Up the Beanstalk When this enchantment enters and whenever you cast a spell with mana value 5 or greater, draw a card. or use Fury Fury Double strike
When this creature enters, it deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers.
Evoke—Exile a red card from your hand. in their Scam decks. Ironically, Scam still seems to be performing relatively well, which is perhaps a bit unexpected. For those interested in generating absurd amounts of card advantage with Up the Beanstalk, though, you will need to look elsewhere.

That being said, Up the Beanstalk is so powerful that it seems to be making its presence felt in Eternal formats as well. This past weekend, a playset of the powerful Enchantment was featured in the winning decklist of an event at Eternal Weekend with nearly 1,000 players! The Wilds of Eldraine uncommon continues to prove just how incredible it truly is. In Legacy, there are even more awesome cards with mana value five or greater that can be played for cheap, making it quite easy to abuse Up the Beanstalk.

Maximizing Up the Beanstalk as a Control Deck

Up the Beanstalk is an excellent card. It’s efficient, provides card advantage, and works well in multiples. The key is building a deck that can cast enough spells with mana value five or greater. Typically, when Modern decks have featured Up the Beanstalk, it’s been quite common to pair the two-drop Enchantment with Evoke Elementals like Solitude Solitude Flash
Lifelink
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target creature. That creature's controller gains life equal to its power.
Evoke—Exile a white card from your hand. that could be cast for free. By contrast, there are no Elementals to be found in this Legacy decklist. Instead, this deck makes use of another five-mana card that can be cast for free by pitching a card from your hand: Force of Will Force of Will You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell. .

In order to enable Force of Will, this deck has a relatively high blue spell count, making it tough to incorporate Solitude into the mix. Additionally, this style of deck with a lot of control elements doesn’t want to play too many cards that require pitching other cards from hand to make work. Besides, this deck has access to cards like Swords to Plowshares Swords to Plowshares Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power. to fill the void quite nicely and efficiently.

As a multi-color deck with a control subtheme, it’s not surprising to see Leyline Binding Leyline Binding Flash
Domain — This spell costs {1} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. as another excellent payoff alongside Up the Beanstalk. Leyline Binding is an excellent catch-all answer alongside Force of Will to opposing cards that could otherwise be problematic, such as Chalice of the Void Chalice of the Void This artifact enters with X charge counters on it.
Whenever a player casts a spell with mana value equal to the number of charge counters on this artifact, counter that spell. .

Unsurprisingly, as a blue control deck, there are plenty of cantrips in this list. Brainstorm Brainstorm Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order. and Ponder Ponder Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order. You may shuffle.
Draw a card. do a great job digging for Up the Beanstalk. Having access to these powerful cantrips means that you get to make great use of Murktide Regent Murktide Regent Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Flying
This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each instant and sorcery card exiled with it.
Whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. as a finisher, which triggers Up the Beanstalk all the same.

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A Miracle Subtheme

As good as Brainstorm is at fueling Murktide Regent and digging for your most powerful cards, it also serves another purpose in this deck: enabling Miracle. The goal of this deck, besides simply generating tons of value, is to land massive threats ahead of schedule. Obviously, Murktide fits the bill. However, having access to Brainstorm as a way to put cards back on top of your library allows you to set up expensive cards with cheap Miracle abilities relatively reliably.

Thanks to the Warhammer Universes Beyond set, there’s a premier Creature to cast for cheap via Miracle. This card is none other than Triumph of Saint Katherine Triumph of Saint Katherine Lifelink
Praesidium Protectiva — When this creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, exile it and the top six cards of your library in a face-down pile. If you do, shuffle that pile and put it back on top of your library.
Miracle {1}{W} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.) . Once again, it triggers Up the Beanstalk when cast, but thanks to a Miracle cost of two, can be cast for cheap. As a 5/5 with Lifelink, it’s a scary card that can be somewhat difficult to kill. Even if you do manage to remove it, unless you exile it, it’s going to end up somewhere in the top six cards of your library, ready to be cast again in short order.

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Unique Decklist Choices

What’s interesting about this winning decklist in particular is that many Up the Beanstalk control decklists in Legacy haven’t utilized these massive Creatures that can be cast on the cheap. Most decklists up to this point have been focused on playing a more dedicated control plan. Rather than playing big Creatures ahead of schedule that individually don’t generate card advantage, most players have made use of Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath When Uro enters, sacrifice it unless it escaped.
Whenever Uro enters or attacks, you gain 3 life and draw a card, then you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Escape—{G}{G}{U}{U}, Exile five other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.) and Orcish Bowmasters Orcish Bowmasters Flash
When this creature enters and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1. as the only Creatures in the maindeck.

With less Creatures in the mix, cards like Terminus Terminus Put all creatures on the bottom of their owners' libraries.
Miracle {W} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.) were more appealing and typically showed up in larger numbers. Making use of Murktide Regent and Triumph of Saint Katherine is a unique form of innovation that can help in a handful of matchups. Against combo decks like Doomsday Doomsday Search your library and graveyard for five cards and exile the rest. Put the chosen cards on top of your library in any order. You lose half your life, rounded up. or Painter’s Servant Painter’s Servant As this creature enters, choose a color.
All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are the chosen color in addition to their other colors. combo, being able to execute a more tempo-oriented gameplan by sticking a large threat and backing it up with Force of Will and force of Negation force of Negation If it's not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target noncreature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. is a solid strategy.

Similarly, both Murktide Regent and Triumph of Saint Katherine are quite difficult for Delver of Secrets Delver of Secrets At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may reveal that card. If an instant or sorcery card is revealed this way, transform this creature. decks to kill. Running these cards is certainly an enticing metagame call, and it looks like it paid off.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

As a deck built around card advantage and interaction, this deck does a great job playing a grindy game. Up the Beanstalk is excellent against opposing control decks, while Leyline Binding and Swords to Plowshares help keep Creature decks in check. Meanwhile, while slower versions of the deck utilizing Uro could run into trouble providing enough pressure against Dark Depths Dark Depths Dark Depths enters with ten ice counters on it.
{3}: Remove an ice counter from Dark Depths.
When Dark Depths has no ice counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, create Marit Lage, a legendary 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying and indestructible. decks and other combo strategies, the additions of Murtkide Regent and Triumph of Saint Katherine add a much faster clock.

This deck essentially has game against every deck in the format, making it a very strong choice. That doesn’t mean, though, that there aren’t some weaknesses associated with this strategy. As a multi-color deck, Wasteland Wasteland {T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land. can be a bit of a pain, especially when backed up by Daze Daze You may return an Island you control to its owner's hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}. out of the Delver decks.

While adding big Creatures to aid in pressuring the opponent definitely helps against combo decks, drawing a good mix of counter magic and Creatures is important. As good as your Dark Depths combo matchup may look on paper, the addition of Legolas’s Quick Reflexes Legolas’s Quick Reflexes Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Untap target creature. Until end of turn, it gains reach, hexproof, and "Whenever this creature becomes tapped, it deals damage equal to its power to up to one target creature." makes interacting with Marit Lage a lot harder.

Interestingly, after this immense victory, more players will likely look towards this archetype. The reality is, cards like Murktide Regent and Triumph of Saint Katherine are pretty weak in the mirror when compared to Uro and Forth Eorlingas! Forth Eorlingas! Create X 2/2 red Human Knight creature tokens with trample and haste.
Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to one or more players this turn, you become the monarch. , so it’ll be interesting to see how players adjust. If Up the Beanstalk mirrors grow more popular in Legacy, it may be worth utilizing Yorion, Sky Nomad Yorion, Sky Nomad Companion — Your starting deck contains at least twenty cards more than the minimum deck size. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
Flying
When Yorion enters, exile any number of other nonland permanents you own and control. Return those cards to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step. as a Companion.

Having access to Yorion is quite valuable in a long, grindy game, and ironically, playing 80 cards may be a blessing in disguise given the overwhelming amount of card advantage this deck can generate. Only time will tell exactly how players adjust, but one thing is for certain: Up the Beanstalk is an unbelievably powerful uncommon.

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