Legacy - Rakshasa Sultai Beans: Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, Legacy community! How are you all dealing with the new, post-ban meta? One of the reasons Wizards of the Coast stated for banning Sowing Mycospawn was that they wanted to open some space for Control decks to grow in this format. They might not be dominating the meta or anything, but, indeed, some of these archetypes have grown, modestly. And one of those that have grown a bit more is the one that can use one of the strongest cards from Tarkir:

Sultai Beans is a classic list for those who enjoy attrition Control lists: counter and kill every enemy play, get ahead bit by bit, and eventually make the game unsustainable for your opponent. It is the Magic: The Gathering equivalent to Jiu-jitsu. In a format dominated by Combo and Tempo lists, very few decks can make card advantage worth it like Sultai Beans can, and this game style pleases many players.

Deck Building

The core of this deck, a list used by a player called Jumba to top 8 a Magic Online Challenge 32, is already in its name: Up the Beanstalk. This powerful enchantment from Wilds of Eldraine can draw an avalanche of cards for very little mana, something harder to find by the minute. However, you'll have to play a few cards... that you'd have to play either way, like Force of Will and Murktide Regent.

To complement the Up the Beanstalk card draw engine, you'll also play cards that officially cost enough to trigger its ability, but, once you actually play them, you'll spend a lot less mana. I mean cards with Delve, like Murderous Cut, or hybrid/colorless mana cards, like Rakshasa's Bargain.

Speaking of this new card, the obvious comparison is with Stock Up, an Aetherdrift sorcery that has been making a lot of noise in Legacy. Bargain lets you look at four cards instead of five, but it works at instant speed, which is a huge upgrade, as you won't have to lower your defenses to play it. On top of it all, it officially costs 6 mana, even when you cast it for 3 mana, which is enough to create an extra card with the Beanstalk. Getting 3 colored mana can be complicated among so many Wastelands and Blood Moons, but its effect is too strong, and this card definitely has a home in this archetype.

Next, we have the bread and butter of blue decks: Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will, and a pair of Dazes for extra protection, even though this isn't a Tempo deck. Thoughtseize, Cling to Dust, and Wasteland offer some disruption, and Fatal Push complements your removals. Finally, Lórien Revealed, Life from the Loam, and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath are more ways to create cards later on.

Other cards that you'll see in this archetype are Brazen Borrower, Dauthi Voidwalker, Endurance, Snapcaster Mage, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, Assassin’s Trophy, Force of Negation, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Narset, Parter of Veils, Sheoldred’s Edict, Spell Pierce, Stormchaser’s Talent, This Town Ain’t Big Enough, and Witherbloom Command.

Like any great Control list, you can keep a variety of hands with Sultai Beans, as you don't have to look for a specific combo when you mulligan. Obviously, hands that can play Up the Beanstalk on turn 2 are more interesting, but the idea is to find a hand with a reasonable number of lands and something to do with it, usually with Ponder and Brainstorm to look for answers a bit more thoroughly.

Please remember to keep an eye on your mana colors so you can play Bargain on turn 3.

Hand examples:

This hand is easy. It has action on turn 1, protection, and can find the next plays. Verdict: Keep.

This hand is a bit heavy on lands, but Brainstorm should make sure you can swap any excess lands for more action. The best sequence with this hand is the fetch land on turn 1, either for Fatal Push or Hedge Maze, and Brainstorm bursting the fetch land on turn 2. Verdict: Keep.

This hand is an example of how this deck can keep suboptimal hands. It is not that flexible, but the Orcs can keep many decks under control, and Brainstorm should give you the mana for Bargain. Verdict: you can keep it, but it's nothing spectacular.

This hand is quite interesting. It is a bit risky and vulnerable to Wasteland. On the other side, there's a good chance Hedge Maze's Surveil finds another land for you, and it might open the way for Up the Beanstalk on turn 2 (or you can Cycle Lórien Revealed if your Maze ends up destroyed). I'd keep it. Verdict: Risky keep.

Control lists that draw a lot of cards tend to have very flexible sideboards, and, apart from the 4 Leyline of the Void (a must for Oops All Spells), this deck is no exception.

Carpet of Flowers is excellent against other blue decks, even if they attack your mana base. Hydroblast and Force of Vigor are your main answers against Blood Moon, which is a real nightmare.

Force of Negation and Unmoored Ego are your extra answers for Combos. Finally, Consign to Memory is still great against the colorless decks wandering around, and, eventually, a Thassa's Oracle. Pernicious Deed is a generic answer to both aggressive decks and decks that play many low-cost artifacts.

You can also find Barrowgoyf, Collector Ouphe, Cursed Totem, Dress Down, Flusterstorm, Null Rod, Toxic Deluge, and Veil of Summer in this sideboard, as well as extra copies of Orcish Bowmasters and Thoughtseize.

Dimir Aggro

Sultai has great cards to deal with Dimir's creatures and also get the investment back by drawing more cards. This should make this opponent less problematic than others.

You don't have to change much here. You'll add Carpet to play around their mana counters, and Deed can reset any boards that spin out of your control.

In:

Out:

Show and Tell

If they put Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in play, it is over, as you don't have an answer to it. Against Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Murderous Cut can still deal with it. In any case, you'll have to play defensively at all times because they'll be on the prowl for a single, tiny window to start spiralling.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Chalice of the Void will ruin your day, but you can play around it. As for Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon, they're even more disruptive, and absolutely can't come in. Otherwise, many of your cards will be unplayable: Murktide Regent, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Up the Beanstalk, and even the cards with black need you to find your single Swamp all on your own.

Your opponent also has The One Ring, which can change the "card advantage war" entirely - Orcish Bowmasters is your best answer in this matchup, though it is quite mediocre in the rest of the game. Murderous Cut and Fatal Push are your main answers against Magus of the Moon. However, you can't cut too many green cards. Otherwise, you'll run out of gas and won't be able to pay for Force of Vigor.

In:

Out:

Reanimator

This matchup is quite similar to Sneak and Show. However, on one side they don't have Emrakul, and, on another, they have discards. You'll once again be up against the wall.

Orcish Bowmasters are great against lists with blue, but are quite mediocre against the Monoblack version. They can be useful against a Griselbrand, but then you'll have to rely on your opponent's good graces. The idea is to gather enough resources to put at least one of your threats forward and avoid your opponent playing an Archon of Cruelty on them.

Against lists with blue:

In:

Out:

Against lists without blue:

In:

Out:

Painter

Orcish Bowmasters clear the path to victory with Goblin Welder, and also make Fable of the Mirror-Breaker less efficient. Fatal Push has to destroy Painter's Servant. They can protect themselves rather efficiently from your counters with Pyroblast, but, post-side, Pernicious Deed and Force of Vigor are two threats they won't have an easy answer to.

In:

Out:

Counters, drawing cards, killing creatures, drawing cards. You can't deny that this game style makes many players very happy, and it is good to see a cornerstone of Legacy like Control standing strong again. As I mentioned before, Tarkir is still impacting Legacy, so Sultai Beans popping up again is just another side effect.

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Thank you for reading, and see you next time!