One of the most interesting mechanics from Shadows over Innistrad is Delirium, because it incentivizes players to play with permanent types seen few and far between in Standard play. Enchantments in particular have seen a few awesome gems like Sinister Concoction and Dead Weight to serve as removal spells. MindCandy combined this efficient, enchantment-based removal with Starfield of Nyx and Demonic Pact and assembled this monstrosity:

Esper Demonic Pact ? Shadows over Innistrad Standard | MindCandy, 7th MTGO PTQ

• Creatures (3)
• 3 Wasteland Strangler

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis

• Spells (31)
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Disperse
• 3 Silumgar's Command
• 3 Angelic Purge
• 3 Languish
• 2 Dead Weight
• 1 Sinister Concoction
• 3 Oath of Jace
• 3 Starfield of Nyx
• 3 Stasis Snare
• 4 Demonic Pact
• 4 Silkwrap

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 4 Plains
• 5 Swamp
• 2 Prairie Stream
• 3 Caves of Koilos
• 3 Evolving Wilds
• 3 Sunken Hollow
• 4 Shambling Vent

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Angelic Purge
• 2 Dead Weight
• 1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
• 1 Blood-Cursed Knight
• 2 Dispel
• 3 Infinite Obliteration
• 2 Narset Transcendent
• 1 Negate
• 2 Virulent Plague

Buy This Deck

A huge part of the deck’s power is its sheer resilience against creature decks. You can curve out with Dead Weight into Silkwrap into Stasis Snare, backed up by Languish and Demonic Pact at four. That means decks like Humans or the various Collected Company decks are going to have a hard time gaining traction against the raw density and efficiency of the removal spells in this deck. Sure, you’re a little vulnerable to Dromoka's Command, but that’s what Starfield of Nyx is for.

To be honest, I forgot that Starfield was still legal in this Standard format, but I couldn’t be happier to be wrong. Starfield of Nyx does all kinds of crazy things in this deck, like turning Sinister Concoction and Dead Weight into repeatable removal spells. You can also use Oath of Jace as a way to filter your draw and stock your graveyard for Starfield. Once you assemble enough enchantments, things start getting really interesting, since you can both close out games quickly by crashing in with your enchantments, or use your Stasis Snares in combat to trade with opposing creatures and get them back in your graveyard to rebuy and exile a more urgent threat.

Of course, the star of the show is Demonic Pact. This isn’t the only take on Demonic Pact in the format, but there’s one key innovation in MindCandy’s list: Angelic Purge. Other decks are reliant on cards like Silumgar's Command and Crush of Tentacles, both of which are expensive and consequently vulnerable to counterspells. Nothing is worse than trying to bounce your pact to keep the value engine going and losing the game because your bounce spell gets countered. Angelic Purge gets around the issue by sacrificing the Pact as part of the cost. Even if your opponent counters the Purge, you still get Pact off the table. Normally, this wouldn’t be great because you can’t replay a Pact from your graveyard, but, remember, this is a Starfield of Nyx deck, which means you can just recycle Demonic Pact anyway.

This is a deck with a lot of synergy, a high density of removal, and an incredible ability to grind down your opponent’s resources into nothing. Assuming the format continues to be composed largely of midrange and aggressive creature decks, this seems like a fantastic place to be, and a deck I absolutely can’t wait to see more of.