Meta Makers: Underworld Breach
Hello, Tiny Leaders!
This is the first installment of a (hopefully) long series I plan on writhing about the cards which are effecting the meta the most. For those of you who may not know me, I have been playing Tiny for about a year and a half now, and have played through several meta shifts, piloting multiple decks to high placements in tournaments. That said, since this is the first installment, I look forward to hearing feedback from the community about what i have to say. The plan is for these to be long form, in as much depth as I can muster, and include screenshots from deck lists which include the card I'm referencing.
Let us begin with our card of the day, Underworld Breach
For one glorious turn, assuming you aren't recurring it, breach gives you access to each and every nonland card in your graveyard at the cost of their mana value and exiling three other cards from your graveyard. Costing only two mana, you will often be able to cast multiple spells after breach on the turn you cast it, allowing you to storm off with whichever cards from your hand or graveyard benefit you the most. Similar cards to breach do exist, most notably Yawgmoth's Will, which is on the tiny leaders banlist. Starting after the banning of Jeska, Thrice Reborn this January, the Tiny Leaders meta began to shift, with red still being quite strong as Mathas, Fiend Seeker piloted by Esper, The Compleated and Marath, Will of the Wild piloted by SkoomaPooma both caught 4-0 victories, decks pictured below (thanks Fishe!)
While Skooma's Marath notable excludes Breach, we can see that Esper's Mathas makes use of it, often as the main win condition of the list. Following this, however, a major shift in the meta was about to begin with Jund taking an ovewheming jump foreward. For the next four months, despite many players attempting to counter it, Carbon's Slimefoot and Squee would consistently go 4-0 in every tournament, even when he wasn't piloting it. Below we will see the initial version of the deck that started this run, and although there will be some changes from new sets coming out, the core of the deck is the same from start to finish.
What makes Underworld Breach good?
The ability of Underworld Breach to win games out of nowhere is almost unparalleled in all of Tiny, with only cards such as Forth Eorlingas! and Food Chain being able to match it in explosiveness. Enablers such as Dragon's Rage Channeler and Lotus Petal allow you to quickly fill the yard, then you can win with burn staples like Lightning Bolt being recast multiple times. Breach also has another facet, you can, if you are in a tight spot, play it as just a value card, recurring your best threats that may have been smote by all of the removal running around the format. This is something that Carbons list notably takes advantage of particularly well, having many options to use with Breach. As a result, an already extremely value heavy list gains another axis on which to win, and it isn't the only one taking advantage of the card, with multiple other red or red+ lists posting 4-0s alongside Slimefoot.
How does the meta adapt to Breach?
Short answer: Graveyard hate, and lots of it. Any list that wants to succeed in the current meta needs to be able to remove the graveyard easily, either with cards in the main or sideboard in order to beat Underworld Breach. Notable Non-Red decks that have been doing well such as Helix's Aminatou, the Fateshifter,and TheCosmerian's Lord Skitter, Sewer King easily and quickly hate on the graveyard. Even red decks have been forced to adopt yard hate in the sideboard, with many opting for Unlicensed Hearse or Soul-Guide Lantern as their main pieces.
Looking to the future
With MH3 on the, well, horizon, many players are itching for an opportunity to test out all the new cards. While I personally believe that this current graveyard centric meta will continue until either Underworld Breach is banned or one of the excellent brewers in the community figures out a way to beat the value presented by the decks that run it consistently. While Fishe and Sara may not have yet made a statement directly about a possible ban for Breach, rest assured it is on their watchlist as one of the defining cards in the format, and as a quite possibly bannable card. Wait and see how MH3 affects the meta, then evaluate Breach and other Meta Makers for their strength.
A word from the author
Please let me know your thoughts on this, if more depth is needed, and how I can improve. I think Tainted Pact will likely be next on the list for discussion, so look for that soon-ish. Thank you very much for reading, stay tiny, be gay, do crime, and I'll catch ya next time!
-Mecha
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