My take on the very popular Sultai Midrange deck.

Why Sultai Midrange?

Because it stands a chance against Aggro, Control and Combo if tuned correctly post-sideboard and it is a solid deck with a stable mana base.

It's a tuned toolbox of well-stated creatures, removal, mana acceleration, life gain, board wipes and card advantage.

The Explore mechanic brings micro-decissions and top deck management to the table, making this package not so bad in the late game and absolutely shine during the developing phase.

Mainboard it's packed with a handful of removal in the form of Cast Down, Vraska's Contempt, Hostage Taker and to me the all-star of the deck that I fail to see why most players keep cutting them from their list:

Ravenous Chupacabra is very good at recovering board pressence, denying blocks and cleaning the way to the enemy's face if we feel like we're gonna get outvalued in the long run. Hostage Taker does a better job in long games, but it is clearly slow against aggresive strategies and vulnerable to opposing removal. Chupacabra gets the job done 100% of the time, that's why the 3 to 1 ratio.

After trying Hydroid Krasis several times, I decided to cut the 4th copy for reasons: you don't want 2 in your opening hand (no, a 2/2 flyer for 4 mana that draws a card is not worth it during the developing phase in most cases) and it is not a reliable answer in the late game when you need key cards, not more cards. I can't stress this enough, 4 Krasis is overly greedy in a midrange deck like this.

Another thing to mention from this list is the mana base: I upped the blue sources up to 12 because of our heavy blue Sideboard options.

Negate vs. Disdainful Strike

I fail to see a scenario where Disdainful is better than Negate. Negate hits everything worth hitting: Walkers, removal spells, board wipes, other counterspells, lethal burn spells, Benalias, Nexus and a long etc. Disdainful Stroke also counters creatures, but in a deck so well prepared against other creatures, I would run 4 Negates over and over.

No Duress nor Thought Erasure

Against a Control or a Combo deck, you HAVE to be the active player. Sure, disrupting the hand can get the job done, but you're supposed to develop board state during turns 1, 2 and 3 and keeping the pressure up for as long as you can. In the end, this midrange deck is very good at keep re-stablish boards thanks to Find//Finality, anything you do with creatures is better than spending resources to dim the opponent's hand (not to mention they are terrible top-decks late game).

Here's where the second side tech shines:

This guy is a beast against decks that build their strategies around keycards. What do I mean with key cards? Well, have you ever played against a Gates deck, for example? That deck does a lot of ramping, a lot of drawing, a lot of board wipes and a lot of lifegain but if a counter appears at a key moment, they're just not able to respond. In the same fashion, Esper Control relies on a given Kaya's Wrath or Nexus decks rely on Nexus of Fate or Root Snare on very specific turns. Being able to say "no" while developing further your board may be the difference between winning and losing.

Finally, is my fetish card. Since the day it was first played against me, I knew exactly 3 or 4 copies of it would be placed in every sideboard of every deck I own remotely splashing blue.

I understand this card as one of the few reliable options to punish board spammers. Mono White gets away with 6 creatures turn 3, Mono Red will keep burning your blockers while sending 1 or 2 threats to the dome, Mono Blue will laugh at your removal as long as they keep an Island up. In all of these scenarios, stealing a creature supposes a 2 for 1. But to me, what sealed the deal was the ability to steal opposing Krasis for only 4 mana. The omni-prevalent Mirror Match is always there, and oh boy this card shines there!

In the battle of Midrange vs Midrange, Entrancing Melody won't dissapoint you.

Special mention to Kraul Harpooner and Thrashing Brontodon who unfortunately didn't make the cut. But will be strongly taken into consideration if lists keep getting tweaked.

TDRL, play this deck if you're tired of Aggro while laddering and are somehow competent at Midrange mirrors. It has one of the strongest sides I've played in Arena so far.