As we inch closer to Standard rotation in September, the Standard 2022 metagame continues to develop and grow. We have seen a brand new deck in Dimir Cycling show up and be a real force on the ladder. Today we have a deck that has been floating around, but has definitely evolved into a power house and might just be the best deck in the format.
Simic Ramp
Today’s deck is SImic Ramp. This deck aims to go big and get there really fast. We have a core game strategy and some great supporting cards to get us there.
Ramp Hard
Our ramp package consists of 4 cards.
Neverwinter Dryad
Neverwinter Dryad
{2}, Sacrifice this creature: Search your library for a basic Forest card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
is a great turn 1 play and blocker. Even if we have to crack it on turn 2, it sets us up nicely for our 4 mana plays.
Prosperous Innkeeper
Prosperous Innkeeper
When this creature enters, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life.
gives us a treasure to help fix our mana, and gives us a little boost in mana production for some key turns. It also has the added benefit of giving us some life as we play our creatures.
Eureka Moment
Eureka Moment
Draw two cards. You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
is a great card advantage piece, letting us draw a couple cards and ramping us a land. The land here comes in untapped, which is very relevant for double spelling in 1 turn. Lastly,
Quandrix Cultivator
Quandrix Cultivator
When this creature enters, you may search your library for a basic Forest or Island card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
puts a solid blocking body in play, and lets us ramp. Once again, the land comes in untapped, which is very good.
Tempo Plays
We have 2 different early / midgame tempo cards in this deck.
Decisive Denial
Decisive Denial
Choose one —
• Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
• Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {3}.
can act as a counter spell for 2 mana, but can also act as a fight spell to help remove a problematic creature. Divide By Zedo is the best card in the deck. The ability to return a spell on the stack to our opponent’s hand is a huge tempo swing, and we get to grab a card from our Learn board. This can set us up for an explosive following turn with our opponent often tapped out.
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Finishers
Once we’ve gotten to ramp a bunch, how are we closing out the game?
Cyclone Summoner
Cyclone Summoner
When this creature enters, if you cast it from your hand, return all permanents to their owners' hands except for Giants, Wizards, and lands.
often is enough to cause our opponent to scoop on its own. Bouncing all permanents in play is a huge tempo swing in our favor.
Koma, Cosmos Serpent
Koma, Cosmos Serpent
This spell can't be countered.
At the beginning of each upkeep, create a 3/3 blue Serpent creature token named Koma's Coil.
Sacrifice another Serpent: Choose one —
• Tap target permanent. Its activated abilities can't be activated this turn.
• Koma gains indestructible until end of turn.
is a very difficult threat to deal with, and if our opponent cannot deal with it when they untap, we’re going to be able to protect it for the rest of the game. Ashaya, Soul of the Wild in the late game can be a huge creature that puts a ton of pressure on our opponent.
Alrund’s Epiphany
Alrund’s Epiphany
Create two 1/1 blue Bird creature tokens with flying. Take an extra turn after this one. Exile Alrund's Epiphany.
Foretell {4}{U}{U} (During your turn, you may pay {2} and exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
helps us continue to push our advantage and set up for some insane turns, or give us the extra draw step or two that we need to push damage with our man lands. Speaking of, we take advantage of both of the Forgotten Realms man lands in our colors
Hall of Storm Giants
Hall of Storm Giants
If you control two or more other lands, this land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {U}.
{5}{U}: Until end of turn, this land becomes a 7/7 blue Giant creature with ward {3}. It's still a land. (Whenever it becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays {3}.)
and
Lair of the Hydra
Lair of the Hydra
If you control two or more other lands, this land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {G}.
{X}{G}: Until end of turn, this land becomes an X/X green Hydra creature. It's still a land. X can't be 0.
. Both of these lands represent an additional attacking creature that can very quickly close games out.
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Learn Board
Our Learn board is pretty standard stuff, but one thing to point out here is that since we are spending a fair bit of turns ramping, we can take some damage in the early game. To help extend our life total, we definitely want to use
Environmental Sciences
Environmental Sciences
Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. You gain 2 life.
early on, which can help us ramp, and
Basic Conjuration
Basic Conjuration
Look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal a creature card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You gain 3 life.
in the mid to late game to help find our end game threats and gain us a little bit of life as well.
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Pitfalls and Challenges
While this deck is incredibly consistent, there are a couple pit falls and challenges to watch out for. We want to be trying to do something every turn of the game, so try to keep hands with at least 3 lands in it. If you have 2 lands, it could be workable, but you’d need to definitely have a Prosperous Innkeeper in there to help you get to 4 mana. Additionally, don’t have any direct kill spells in the deck, so we can just fall over to a very fast mono white aggro or mono green aggro start. We can sequence our plays to stay alive, but it is a bit tricky.
There’s also a point where you’ll trade off your Innkeepers in the the midgame, so figuring out when that point is can be a bit challenging as well. If we trade off too early, we can lose out on some of life gain tempo, but trading off too late can put too much pressure on our own life total and our plays become a bit harder to navigate.
I’ve been climbing the Standard 2022 ranked ladder with this deck, and I’ve been having a blast with it! Games to relatively quick, and it seems to be really well positioned against a lot of the top decks in the format. Definitely give this a shot. I’m excited to see if the deck will stick around once rotation happens and we can get into Best of 3 games with Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. What decks are you playing in Standard 2022 right now? Let us know in the comments!