Three Unlikely Cards Possibly More Popular than Cori-Steel Cutter?

Raw aggression with versatility has always been what we wanted with competitive decks, plus the flavor and variety of builds. And Cori-Steel Cutter, that popular equipment everybody looked into for the past month, forms the core of yet another one of those modified aggro flavors: the current MTG Standard version of Izzet Prowess.

But surprisingly enough, as hot off the tracks its signature deck was both in paper and digital, three cards in Tarkir: Dragonstorm might actually trump this card in the popularity department. Determining this was actually rather simple: the number of other decks using these cards accumulated enough numbers just enough to tide over the usage percentage statistics.

Cori-Steel Cutter Recap

But first, what exactly made Cori-Steel Cutter the initial Tarkir: Dragonstorm darling? I mean, unless you've been living under a rock (or—let's be real—too busy being annoyed by Final Fantasy and Spider-Man leaks), you've probably seen this thing absolutely dominate Standard for the past month or so.

But for those who somehow missed it, here's the rundown on this annoying little piece of equipment:

{1}{R} gets you an artifact that gives the equipped creature +1/+1 plus trample and haste. Pretty standard stuff. But, whenever you cast your second spell each turn, you make a 1/1 white Monk with prowess. Equip cost? Just {1}. Basically zero.

^{Yeah. That cheap.}

The deck basically builds itself. Slap this thing down, cast cheap spells, and just keep on regenerating equipping targets faster than any Mirran equipment holding their tokens. Add more prowess participants to the mix, and you’ve got an aggro deck that can just calculate its turns to execute a “sudden finish” at the moment your opponent least expects it.

As of this post’s publishing, Izzet Prowess stands at 1st and 3rd place of Bo3 and Bo1 Standard, respectively. With Cori-Steel Cutter an obligatory complete set for any variant out there, it has effectively taken the meta with its overwhelming 70% win rate. Draw enough for the cutters on their own, and you more or less win more than half your games.

The tournament scene isn't any different. At the Bologna RCQ, Cori-Steel Cutter was by far the most popular Tarkir: Dragonstorm card, helping Izzet Prowess rack up a 55% non-mirror win rate on Day 1.

Indeed, the card is just that super resilient. It can generate board presence even when you're answering removal. Your opponent kills your creature? Fine, cast two spells, make a token. They kill that token? Cast two more spells, make another. Unless the both equipment and token are taken out at once, the danger isn’t really over.

The Important Disclaimer

As I have already teased in the intro, the numbers here are based solely on total statistical usage. This means that on average, these cards are simply available on more builds and types of decks compared to Cori-Steel Cutter, making them “more popular.” Because technically, when it comes to Standard, this equipment card is almost laser-focused on Izzet Prowess builds and nothing else.

^{These could be very good contenders too, more to be revealed later this week!}

If you want true popular or trending picks (not unlikely ones) that got through the crowd and into high Standard usage (on just a single archetype), consider cards like Tersa Lightshatter or Sunpearl Kirin instead.

Jeskai Revelation: Cramming it All Into One Card

First up is the seven-mana mythic that does literally everything except your taxes. For {4}{U}{R}{W}, Jeskai Revelation delivers a straightforward five-for-one package:

^{Don’t worry, Cruel Ultimatum also had a similar experience aeons ago.}

Well, that sure sounds like an entire turn's worth of actions that would make Zetalpa blush. The seven-mana requirement made it seem initially like it falls into the nice-to-have category of high-payoff Jank builds. In fact, players simply made fun of the card when it was first spoiled in April. But it actually appeared in at least 15 of the first 192 published Bo1 decklists as Tarkir: Dragonstorm was released, placing it among the top-20 new cards by play rate.

In fact, currently it is very much a staple of the Shiko, Paragon of the Way-based Jeskai Control/Oculus builds, with at least two copies included in every variant. It is also somewhat welcomed in Abuelo-Omniscience builds, as a faster, more versatile win condition. And of course, other more creative builds, such as the Mindsplice Revelation builds, add to the usage statistics and overall popularity of the card even further.

Roiling Dragonstorm: Specific Foundations Reprints Now Irrelevant

Next we have the unassuming little uncommon enchantment that is good enough for its second part to be completely ignored.

^{So uhh… about those excess Chart a Course copies…}

Yeah, just your typical two-drop hand fixer... that is a permanent, and thus has potential for recycling shenanigans outside its own Dragon-requiring effect. As you can see with its basic effect and mana value, it is versatile enough that almost any deck that wants a generic two-drop fixer can effectively use it, Dragon or no Dragon. In fact, it appeared in 13 of the first 192 published Tarkir: Dragonstorm-era decklists (making it the 11th most-played new card). Expectedly, it ended up finding homes in combo, midrange, and flashback-driven control shells.

That being said, though, one can’t get away from the nagging sensation of wanting a cheap generic dragon that could probably help recycle it better in a non-Dragon deck...

New Way Forward: The Latest Tempo Turnaround... Sorta.

The third card on our list wins the "most satisfying to resolve against aggro, if you can pull it off" award.

^{Jeskai non-permanent spells don't really appear that much in the entire game, do they?}

This card does what every good damage-countering card should do, in my very humble opinion: turns defense into offense (plus card advantage, of course) with a single resolution. A simple and easy momentum reversal that befits the very few Jeskai instants that we have in the entire game.

As you may have already concluded just by reading the card, this spell not only buys you a turn, it also helps you find an answer. It may not induce the same PTSD as two open white and generic mana, but I suppose we shall see similar reactions to players suspiciously looking at those somehow unused five lands.

Then again, five mana for a one-off reversal trick isn’t exactly going to stabilize your personal win rates. I suppose its popularity is also just as equally powered by the fact that it can slot into the same Jank builds where Jeskai Revelation is also used. In that regard, we can consider that New Way Forward is halfway just riding on the coattails of its bigger Jeskai spell counterpart in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. (Even funnier when you realize that some of these decks also use Rediscover the Way)

But then again, who cares either way? Influenced or not, it was still able to statistically go toe to toe with Cori-Steel Cutter in terms of card popularity that lasted even a month after the set’s release.

Honorable Mention: Death Begets Life

In a vacuum, the card is just laughably inefficient. It delivers the typical fever dream of complete reversal, packed in a hefty mana cost that should have made you win instantly on the spot already.

^{Wipe, then draw. Where was this used again?}

But ironically, that blatant jank was precisely why it was trending during the first few weeks of Tarkir: Dragonstorm. The “hype” has since subsided, of course, but for a moment, many were just eager to see this card be used in a deck that wants to use it. As such, it deserves an honorable mention, for at least matching Cori-Steel Cutter in terms of "technical" popularity/infamy, even if the decks that were forced to use it never really saw the light of Mythic-rank day.