Magic the Gathering - Khans of Tarkir Sultai Schemers Intro Pack Review

by  Richard Rowell,  Write W.A.V.E. Media  Staff

At first, Sultai was among the most disappointing of the Khans of Tarkir clans. However, the clan does have some good cards to show for it, and has proven to be far more competitive than many players thought at first. Many players weren't sure that Delve wasn't a good enough mechanic to build an entire strategy around. Especially after the release of Fate Reforged, Sultai decks (which can actually mean any deck using a combination of black, blue, and green cards) have become extremely competitive.

The question with this particular Intro Pack is how well it will perform with Rakshasa Vizier, the cover card of the deck, as your ace creature. Truthfully, he Vizier can become a huge house, as for every card you exile with Delve, you put that many +1/+1 counters on Rakshasa Vizier. Give the Vizier any sort of evasion and you have a win condition.

So how easy is it to do that in this Intro Pack?

SULTAI SCHEMERS INTRO PACK DECK LIST:

Lands (26)
7 Swamp
8 Forest
6 Island
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Jungle Hollow
2 Opulent Palace
1 Thornwood Falls

Creatures (20)
1 Typhoid Rats
1 Black Cat
1 Walking Corpse
2 Satyr Wayfinder
1 Wall of Mulch
1 Research Assistant
2 Necromancer’s Assistant
1 Gravedigger
1 Rotfeaster Maggot
1 Rakshasa Vizier
1 Sultai Soothsayer
2 Sultai Scavenger
2 Hooting Mandrills
2 Shambling Attendants
1 Necropolis Fiend

Other spells (14)
1 Debilitating Injury
2 Taigam’s Scheming
1 Sultai Banner
1 Rakshasa’s Secret
1 Scout the Borders
1 Sultai Charm
1 Bitter Revelation
1 Murderous Cut
1 Throttle
1 Become Immense
1 Set Adrift
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Dead Drop


Let’s take a look at the other rare in the deck, Necropolis Fiend:

I've never really been a fan of this card. Not that the concept of it wasn’t good, but 9 mana for a 4/5 flyer that then relies on the graveyard for its effect is not really that good. It is playable in Limited, perhaps, and I could be underestimating it as a bomb (hence why it begins at 9 mana as a Delve creature). But in Constructed? Not when you have so many other cards drawing from the graveyard – a very Limited resource. Some people have played it in Sultai Control, but I haven't seen it in too many lists.

The creature line-up overall is pretty bad. The Satyr Wayfinders are fine for putting cards in the graveyard. Necromancer’s Assistant assists in putting more cards in there when it enters the battlefield. Hooting Mandrills is one of the Delve creatures well worth being Delved. 5G for a 4/4 with Trample and Delve – that’s plenty solid. Sultai Soothsayer is basically Satyr Wayfinder, except you can choose any card from among the four. Sultai Scavenger is a 3/3 flyer for 5B and Delve – fine for Limited, a bit weak for Constructed.

For the non-creature spells, Taigam’s Scheming is useful card filtering. Scout the Borders is yet another mill card, but you can choose a creature or land from among five cards instead of four. Bitter Relevation gives you two cards from the four, but you also lose 2 life. Murderous Cut is an extremely playable Delve card – unconditional removal for 4B sounds pricey, but it has Delve on it. Become Immense is a really good combat trick for the late game – 5G for +6/+6 with Delve is actually really good. Treasure Cruise in the late game is very strong – drawing you three cards – even if 7U looks ridiculous. There's a reason it was banned in Modern. The other non-creature spells, outside of the Sultai Charm are meh at best.

All of the Charms in Khans of Tarkir are good. Sultai Charm may not be the best of the five, but it’s really strong with all of its three modes being very relevant: destroy target mono-colored creature, destroy target artifact or enchantment, or draw two cards, then discard a card. You want more of these.

Sadly, this Intro Pack doesn't give you much to build on as far as improvements are concerned. The Vizier is nice, but unless you can make him go unblocked (which this deck has no way of doing as constructed) it’s just a big silly beater. Sure you could give it Aqueous Form, but would you include that just for Vizier?

If you want to play Sultai, it's best to seek out some BUG Walkers or Sultai Control deck lists. Both of these lists tend to run the powerful planeswalkers Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Kiora, the Crashing Waves. You'll also want to invest in a playset of Dig Through Time. But there’s really no way to improve this deck without starting from complete scratch outside of the Charms, Murderous Cuts, and Treasure Cruises. Sidisi Whip, which is built around Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Whip of Erebos, is a very competitive Sultai deck, as well.

Outside of simply using this deck to test out how much you like the Delve mechanic in practice, I'd personally skip buying this Intro Pack. It doesn't really provide much overall value, and if you want the Vizier that bad, you can probably buy it or trade for it on the cheap. As an introduction to the game, it's okay, but I like to see Intro Packs as toolboxes for building better decks. Sultai Schemers doesn't really do that.