Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe | Art by Aurore Folny

Competitive Commander is typically recognized as a tripartite format. Turbo ends games as quickly as it can. Midrange beats turbo by stalling things out into the midgame. Go too long, however, and stax comes in to snag victory from the jaws — or draws, these days — of defeat. It's a classic rock-paper-scissors. Sometimes, however, things get a little extra messy and a fourth contender pops in: cEDH players of the world, it's time to talk about slop.

What is Slop?

At its core, slop is what happens when midrange mutates into a deck more concerned with amassing resources than actually closing out the game. Whereas stax focuses on prolonging the game by slowing other players down, slop doesn't actually use any taxing effects or lock pieces; instead, slop slams as many passive engines in play as possible, slowing the game via decision paralysis. If a slop-player's opponents do anything, the slop player profits. Cast a spell? Draw a card. Draw a card? Make a Treasure.

"But wait," I hear you say. "That's just midrange good stuff." Well, you'd be right, if it weren't for the fact that the endgame between these two strategies is markedly different. Classic midrange decks are still altogether proactive decks — tutoring up win conditionss, occasionally sniping an early chance to slam a combo if they can time a proper Borne Upon a WindBorne Upon a Wind.

Slop, meanwhile, is so concerned with establishing the soft lock of passive engines that nearly all of its win attempts occur only after another player has tried — and failed — to win the game. More often than not, this final push by the slop deck can push a game into extra time (assuming the match is played under tournament conditions), meaning that — unlike midrange or even stax — slop is uniquely positioned to abuse the current structure of tournaments, frequently forcing draws.

Key Cards for Slop

Engines

Starting off with the cards that are ubiquitous to cEDH, you can bet that any and every slop deck is running as many passive engines as their colors allow. This of course means the standard fare like Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, Mystic RemoraMystic Remora, and Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe, but it also means less-universal picks like Faerie MastermindFaerie Mastermind, Archivist of OghmaArchivist of Oghma, and King T'ChallaKing T'Challa. The point here isn't that engine effects are unique to slop — far from it — rather, the sheer density of these effects is greater here than anywhere else.

Clones

Next up, ways to clone the engines that have already resolved. While I'd never go so far as to say that any deck is happy to see an opponent resolve a Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, slop decks — like with their own engine package — run a critical mass of clone effects so as to ensure that whenever the first engine hits the board (their own or otherwise) they will be ready to copy it.

Interaction

Last but not least, the third substantial deckbuilding change slop takes in comparison to midrange, is its increasingly large pile of interaction. Even Disrupting ShoalDisrupting Shoal, a rather limited-range free counterspell, is seeing pretty reliable play these days. The reason is simple: use up your early free interaction to push through an engine at all costs, then sit back and watch as the engines draw you the necessary free interaction to stop whoever tries to win before you.

How Does Slop Win?

Faerie Mastermind Combo

Since slop is an archetype and not a particular deck, the actual end-game packages can vary pretty wildly. Red slop decks will of course play Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, Dimir slop decks will run some sort of Tainted Fish (Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle plus Demonic ConsultationDemonic Consultation/Tainted PactTainted Pact), etc. However, slop's density of clone effects has granted it one unique combo that will show up in pretty much every Azorius buildout of the archetype: Faerie MastermindFaerie Mastermind combo.

This combo works as follows: with Faerie MastermindFaerie Mastermind in play and two Smothering TitheSmothering Tithes, pay to force each player to draw a card. You'll have six total Tithe triggers (two per opposing card drawn), resulting in six Treasures being created. Sacrifice four Treasure to get the mana necessary to repeat the loop, causing each player to draw a card, then you'll get more Treasure, etc. The result is each player draws their deck, which is normally a risky situation, except for the fact that you're playing slop so you can cast an Angel's GraceAngel's Grace, preventing yourself from dying due to decking out.

Example Slop Deck List

Wrap Up

And that's slop, folks — the newest contender in the cEDH metagame. Will it become the new midrange, or is this just a hiccup in the otherwise usual swing of things, à la Semi-Blue? Only time will tell, but one thing's for certain: right now, slop's the meta.