One Last Slogurk Update for RC Dallas

05/31/2024

Well. Here we are. This is basically the end of this Standard format - RC Dallas is one of the only big Standard tournaments left before rotation. There will still be a couple tournaments - VML and the BOP! Open come to mind - and of course you can always play Standard at your LGS, but otherwise this will be one of the last chances to play Slogurk in a big Standard tournament.

So, even though I'm already qualified for both PT Amsterdam and Worlds, I had to go to Dallas for one last run with Slogurk. And well, I wasn't planning to change my deck much. My thoughts after the PT were roughly "perfect deck no notes". Buuuuuut...

Just this past Wednesday, I was reminded that I hadn't yet registered fully 5c gurk for any large tournaments. And I had always held that it was a competitive build that had upsides vs normal gurk - despite the obvious downsides. So, I let the brainworms free.

And I really, really didn't expect to end up registering it. I thought I was going to be a bit more responsible - could I really find the cards? did I really want to swap two days before the event? But the brainworms kept coming, and then I remembered:

I had in the past claimed that 5c Slogurk is "worse against the Bx midrange decks, most notably Esper, but better against basically every other deck." And I realized that this is just still true, if not more true than before!

The main powerful part of 5c gurk in the past was that

Kellan, Daring Traveler is a very strong 2 drop to have access to, both as a third strong 2 drop and as a legend that provides a lot of card advantage through maps and attack triggers. But on top of that, we now have several strong sideboard options as well!

And so, somehow, two days before the RC, I have managed to scam convince myself into actually registering 5c gurk. So while there's still a bit of time left, I'm going to indulge myself for one more article about my favorite deck.

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Part 1: The Deck

So here's the final list! I'm going to leave talking about the sideboard for the sideboard section, but I'll go over various choices I've made with the maindeck here. I won't talk about the parts of the deck that build on the same ideas as previous Slogurk decks - you can check out my previous articles for that.

Kellan

This is the reason to be white. As mentioned above, it's everything the deck wants - more cheap legends and more card advantage. When your deck has 29 lands and 19 creatures with mana value 3 or less, Kellan's various modes of exploring tend to find the right things pretty well. And even when they don't hit, milling cards you don't want into your graveyard is pretty excellent too!

One interesting play pattern that comes up quite often: when you attack with Kellan with an Inti on the battlefield, you should generally stack the Kellan trigger above the Inti trigger. That way, if you miss off of Kellan you can get information about the top of your deck, so you can better coordinate your Inti trigger.

This happens most often on turn 3, when you go turn 2 Kellan turn 3 Inti, and want to try to see if you can turn a card in your hand into a third land drop off of Inti. It's a neat way to get more value out of your Inti triggers! You can do similar coordination with the maps you get from Kellan - sequencing them at relevant points to provide information for Kellan or Inti triggers.

Maps

Speaking of maps, which creature to map is always an interesting decision point! The big things to consider are: which creature do you want to grow, and are you playing around removal?

The most common target is Slogurk, as the extra counters on it can be very important for fueling Slogurk loops. But you might also want extra counters on various creatures to get them out of Cut Down range, or to facilitate attacks. And of course, if your opponent is holding up removal, you might want to consider which of your creatures is least valuable and therefore least appealing to remove in response to the map.

Elesh Norn

This is the only combo slot card I've decided to play. I considered Elas - which has the upside of being a lot cleaner of a combo piece - but I wanted an

Elesh Norn in the 75 anyways for Analyst and Domain (and perhaps Convoke, but that's not that real), so I figured I might as well play it main and forgo any other combo pieces.

It's definitely a finnicky combo piece, all told. The only way it helps is by doubling up Rutstein triggers - but this lets the double Rutstein loop get an additional creature back every time, which notably generates infinite mana with any duplicate 1C legend. And then with that infinite mana you can also generate infinite explores by looping double Kellan specifically, and from there you can grow an infinitely large creature to attack with, giving trample with Inti.

Of course, you can also just put all your legends into play and hold up many many Ertais, and in some cases you can gain infinite life with Titanias. As always, the combo isn't that relevant, and mostly is good to have for Analyst - so even this janky combo with Elesh Norn is acceptable there.

Vorinclex

You might assume that

Vorinclex has replaced Aclazotz in the maindeck because we're no longer base black - but that's not actually true! In fact, one of the first things I changed post-PT for my 4c builds was to move the Vorinclex to the maindeck, because I had been just liking it more as both a midrange threat and even just as a tool for more controlling decks like Control and Domain.

Just the fact that it was so much better at putting you up resources with its ETB trigger was key - Aclazotz puts your opponent down resources, but that just isn't quite as impressive in the context of an engine deck like Slogurk.

The Concessions - Mana, Inti, and Interaction

Of course, the power of Kellan and various sideboard upgrades comes with a cost.

The most tangible cost is definitely the mana. It's not that much worse than the 4c list at a glance - as we no longer have to support the 1BB sideboard Glistening Deluges - but being stretched thinner is never a good thing.

We have 3 Caverns now to help with the mana costs, which does help against counterspells, but unfortunately can lead to some awkward situations with channeling lands. We're still playing the same numbers of triomes and channel lands, but one Boseiju has been swapped to an Eiganjo. The basic swamp has become a basic forest - partly because of Vorinclex being moved to the maindeck, and partially because it actually was just always the correct basic to play for Field of Ruin purposes (forest plus any Plaza or Cavern casts all your legends, while swamp notably doesn't cast Slogurk in that situation).

This leaves us with 13 white sources for Kellan, 15 blue sources for Rona, 12 black sources for spells, 11 red sources for Inti, and 12-15 green sources for Titania (depending on if you count Caverns). This is a bit short on Inti sources, but it's kind of fine to not cast Inti early now that we have Kellans. It's of course short on Titania sources, but by the same amount as the previous 4c Slogurk deck. And it's a bit short on black sources for early spells, but that's workable. And of course Relic helps with all of this.

Again, the costs to the mana aren't nothing, but I think I've managed to get them to an acceptable place. Only running 3 copies of Inti is part of this concession as well - it would be nice to have more 2s, but Kellan makes up for it, and we're just not quite casting Inti often enough.

The same kind of goes for the cheap black interaction - but again I'm comfortable with the amount I'm able to fit, and am happy to have Kellan and Eiganjo in its place.

The mana could of course be made smoother by cutting Titania, but I am extremely loathe to do that. In fact, I've tried that several times in the past, and have always been dissatisfied. It's not always a card you want to cast on turn 3 anyways, especially now that we have more 2s; and the lifegain is too important to give up completely.

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Part 2: The Sideboard

This is where we get a lot of upgrades across the board. If you want just a simple spreadsheet map, here's one for you to peruse. But I would highly recommend actually reading this section, as I'll talk a lot about how I use various cards.

Land Sideboarding

Before we jump into things: you might notice that I have two lands in my sideboard, one Eiganjo and one Boseiju. This is partly because the lands are powerful themselves - they are in some senses just an extra removal spell and an extra disenchant - but also partly because our mana costs are somewhat fluid, depending on what cards we're playing!

Our maindeck has just enough sources for Kellan, but this means it doesn't quite have enough for Pest Controls - siding in an Eiganjo there helps! Similarly, in matchups where we do want to cast Titania early, we might want an extra green source - and if we cut Titania postboard, we might not need as many green sources and could consider cutting one.

So, since I ended up with a few slots open after fully mapping everything out, I decided that these two lands would be a great use of those last two slots. It's possible a third Pest Control or something like that could be better, but personally I'm a fan of the extra mana smoothing this configuration provides.

Esper Midrange

In (4-5): 2 Cut Down, 1 Dreams, 1 Plan the Heist, 0-1 Loran

Out (5-6): 1-2 Rutstein, 2 Ertai, 1 Duress, 1 Elesh Norn

Lands (+2/-[1-2]): +1 Boseiju, +1 Eiganjo, -1 Forest, -0-1 Concealed Courtyard

We want all of our removal - Cut Downs and Eiganjos. We also want Plan the Heist just to help fight against NML and small games. Ertai and Elesh Norn are definitely bad. Boseiju swapping for Forest is nice to have more RIP answers.

Dreams of Steel and Oil is a new tech piece, one designed to play well into Tishana's Tidebinder specifically.

Beyond that, there are some decisions that are very vibes-based. If the Esper list has a lot of enchantments (Wedding and Virtue, in addition to RIP), you can bring in

Loran of the Third Path. If they have a lot of Dennicks, you can side out more Rutsteins. Whether you want to cut a land or have 30 lands with double Eiganjo isn't clear to me - and it might depend on play vs draw.

In the end, the Esper sideboarding is mostly the same as before - and similarly vibes-based too.

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Boros Convoke

In (5): 2 Pest Control, 2 Cut Down, 1 Dreams

Out (6): 1 Inti, 2 Rutstein, 2 Ertai, 1 Vorinclex

Lands (+2/-1): +1 Boseiju, +1 Eiganjo, -1 Forest

This is one of the biggest matchup improvements that white mana gives us - not only do we get a much better sweeper in

Pest Control, we also just have more 2 drops with 3 toughness, and the ability to play Eiganjo!

It's a bit weird to be siding into more lands against convoke, but Eiganjo is kind of more of a spell. We keep in 1 Duress and 1 Dreams just as more ways to interact for 1 mana - taking a key Case, Knight-Errant, or Recruiter can swing games.

Ertai and Vorinclex are bad, and Rutstein is mediocre - but it's still nice to have access to one copy. And of course we want all the Cut Downs we can get our hands on.

The third Pest control is arguably extremely good here, but after some testing I've concluded that I'm now confident enough in the matchup that I think 2 very good sweepers is good enough for me.

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Temur Analyst

In (6): 1 Duress, 1 Turn the Earth, 1 Plan the Heist, 1 Jirina, 1 Ertai, 1 Jace

Out (5): 2 Titania, 1 Go for the Throat, 1 Cut Down, 1 Vorinclex

Lands (+0/-1): -1 Forest

This is the other matchup that gains big - specifically because of

Jirina, Dauntless General. The card is the perfect hate card for Analyst, as it pulls double duty of recurrable graveyard hate and protection from their sweepers! This is one of the only matches we bring in Jirina for, but it is well worth the slot.

Otherwise, the plan is the same as always - have more Duresses, Ertais, and graveyard hate for interaction; and swap out non-engine pieces like Titania for more resilient card draw like Plan the Heist and Jace.

I'm not entirely sure if going down to 28 lands is correct, but we are certainly safe for cutting a green source with no Titanias. It's possible the second Duress is worse than a third Boseiju - feel free to be flexible with that based on vibes.

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Azorius Control

In (5-6): 2 Duress, 0-1 Turn the Earth, 1 Plan the Heist, 1 Ertai, 1 Jace

Out (6): 2 Titania, 2 Go for the Throat, 1 Cut Down, 1 Elesh Norn

Lands (+1/-0): +1 Boseiju

A very clean mapping, cutting removal and non-engine pieces for Duresses, Ertai, and card draw. This matchup is the reason for the new sideboard card

Plan the Heist - plot makes it a potent card draw option to play around countermagic with.

The extra Boseiju is of course to deal with RIP - but also hitting land drops vs Control is pretty important, so it's nice to be able to go up to 30.

Turn the Earth should only be played if you think they're going to try to mill you out with Jace. If you do play it, you can try trimming a Blooming Marsh - we don't need as many green or black sources as we have.

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Dimir Control

This is largely the same as UW Control, but their sweeper is

Deadly Cover-Up, and they don't have RIP. This generally means you should bring in Jirina, as it can save your creatures from their wraths, and also does a bit of graveyard hate for Deluge and Cover-Up. Note that this applies to any Deadly Cover-Up deck - like if you face off against a black-based Domain deck playing Cover-Up instead of Sunfall.

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Domain Ramp

In (5): 1 Dreams, 1 Plan the Heist, 1 Ertai, 1 Loran, 1 Jace

Out (5): 2 Titania, 2 Go for the Throat, 1 Cut Down

Lands (+2/-2): +1 Boseiju, +1 Eiganjo, -1 Forest, -1 Blooming Marsh

Very similar kind of mapping to Control, except that Dreams is generally more impactful than Duress, and Elesh Norn and Loran are both excellent.

Eiganjo is weirdly good vs Domain, as it kills both Arcangel and Stomper - and we don't need that many black or green sources so we can cut the Blooming Marsh.

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Golgari Midrange

In (3-5): 0-2 Cut Down, 1 Dreams, 1 Plan the Heist, 1 Jace

Out (3-5): 0-2 Ertai, 2 Titania, 0-1 Duress, 1 Elesh Norn

Lands (+1/-1): +1 Eiganjo, -1 Forest

Similar to Esper, except we don't want Titania and do want Jace, as a lot of their creatures are exactly 3 power and don't grow much. Whether we want Cut Downs or Ertais is kind of vibes-based. The lower to the ground they are with cards like

Caustic Bronco, the better Cut Down is; the more big stuff and Lilianas they have, the better Ertai is. You can also cut one Duress instead of one Ertai, if they don't have Liliana.

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Bant Toxic

In (8): 2 Pest control, 2 Cut Down, 2 Duress, 1 Dreams, 1 Loran

Out (9): 1 Inti, 1 Rutstein, 1 Ertai, 2 Titania, 2 Go for the Throat, 1 Elesh Norn, 1 Vorinclex

Lands (+2/-1): +1 Boseiju, +1 Eiganjo, -1 Forest

Not really that bad of a matchup, despite how much we sideboard. Nothing much to comment on here, just what you'd expect - mostly more cheap interaction, and Loran for their artifact creatures and

Skrelv's Hive.

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Rx Aggro

In (2-4): 2 Cut Down, 0-2 Duress

Out (4): 2 Ertai, 1 Elesh Norn, 1 Vorinclex

Lands (+2/-1): +1 Eiganjo, +1 Boseiju, -1 Concealed Courtyard

Whether you want Duress depends on what kind of Rx aggro you're facing - Gruul with protection spells wants more Duresses, while Mono-Red doesn't really want many at all. You can cut Inti in order to fit more Duresses - Ertai, Elesh Norn, and Vorinclex are always bad. If you don't bring in any Duresses you can keep the extra land, perhaps.

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The Mirror

Again, left as an exercise for the reader :)

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Conclusion

I swear, when I tweeted out that decklist, I did not expect to end up registering it two days later. But it was just a bit too compelling - the extra sideboard cards of Pest Control, Jirina, and Loran are especially appealing.

Of course, some of it might be Fancy Play Syndrome - I admit I enjoy feeling clever, and feeling like I've contributed some more meaningful iteration. But hopefully that's not just wishful thinking - hopefully this build is actually good enough to justify what it gives up in mana.

I don't really expect anyone else to jump ship to this list - but I figured I'd post it before the RC anyways, just in case. If I had thought of this a week ago, I'd have posted it then - but alas.

Anyways, regardless of if you end up playing 5c gurk, and regardless of if you end up playing gurk at all - feel free to say hi to me in Dallas! And good luck all!