Over the course of this Standard format, we’ve seen a couple of takes on Crush of Tentacles. Some builds have been Blue-Black, featuring Demonic Pact as a way to grind out value. Some have been Blue-Green with Oath of Nissa. Some have been Blue-Red for Oath of Chandra. Regardless, this strategy is an excellent way to beat up on Bant Company decks, which are trying to grind out value by casting a bunch of two- and three-drops. You get to gain all the tempo of forcing your opponent to recast those cards, as well as put a giant monster into play to threaten your opponent or to stabilize the ground. If you’re expecting to see nothing but Bant at your next Standard event, maybe you want to consider Steve Rubin’s new take on Crush:

Blue-Green Crush ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Steve Rubin, World Championship 2016

• Creatures (8)
• 3 Den Protector
• 3 Sylvan Advocate
• 1 Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

• Spells (27)
• 4 Anticipate
• 4 Explosive Vegetation
• 4 Nissa’s Pilgrimage
• 4 Part the Waterveil
• 4 Pieces of the Puzzle
• 3 Crush of Tentacles
• 2 Nissa’s Renewal
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Traverse the Ulvenwald

• Lands (24)
• 9 Forest
• 8 Island
• 4 Lumbering Falls
• 2 Yavimaya Coast
• 1 Blighted Woodland

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Gnarlwood Dryad
• 1 Sphinx of the Final Word
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1 Aerial Volley
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Orbs of Warding
• 2 Retreat to Kazandu
• 2 Spell Shrivel
• 2 Summary Dismissal

Buy This Deck

This deck is interesting because it eschews so much of what previous Crush of Tentacles decks were focused on. There are no copies of Oath of Nissa or Oath of Jace. There are actually very few cards at all that you want to bounce with your own Crush of Tentacles. That role is basically limited to Den Protector, which lets you endlessly loop Crush of Tentacles once you have enough mana, or Emrakul, the Promised End, which is patently absurd when you can cast it multiple times.

Instead of relying on Oath of Nissa and Oath of Jace as card advantage engines, Steve has opted to play Pieces of the Puzzle, which is a monstrously powerful card when you’re playing as much mana ramp as Steve is. You’ve got the full four copies of Explosive Vegetation and Nissa's Pilgrimage, as well as Blighted Woodland and Nissa's Renewal, you’re going to thin a lot of basics out of your deck. That means that, at the end of the game, your Pieces of the Puzzle are going to be hitting an awful lot of spells like Part the Waterveil, Anticipate, and Crush of Tentacles.

Speaking of Part the Waterveil, Steve’s deck is actually a little more of a Part the Waterveil deck rather than a Crush of Tentacles deck. This is the card that’s really the huge payoff that you’re looking for once you’ve hit ten or more mana. The goal is to be able to set up a position where you can resolve multiple copies of Part the Waterveil on subsequent turns to kill your opponent all at once. This is particularly powerful with Lumbering Falls, which gives you the ability to make your giant land hexproof, or with Crush of Tentacles to clear the way.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the Planeswalkers in this deck are very good in conjunction with Part the Waterveil. The ability to cast a Planeswalker like Jace, Unraveler of Secrets or Nissa, Sage Animist a turn ahead and then use them to generate additional value on subsequent turns, generating free cards and helping to dig towards the next copy of Part the Waterveil or Pieces of the Puzzle. This engine is a great means of turning the corner against attrition-based matchups.

If you’re expecting to play against a lot of midrange at your next Standard event, consider going way bigger than everyone else with Crush of Tentacles.