Overview:

Glarb, Calamity's Augur pilots a surveil/graveyard synergy deck focused on cheating high-value permanents via topdeck manipulation and recursion. The deck leverages landfall engines (Aesi, Tatyova) and graveyard recursion (Muldrotha, Conduit of Worlds) to generate overwhelming value, with win conditions like Villainous Wealth and Living Death. While lacking infinite combos, it achieves power through card quality selection and resource acceleration.

Primer:

Core Strategy:
This deck uses Glarb's surveil and topdeck play ability to bypass mana costs for impactful spells while filling the graveyard for recursion. Key phases:

1. Setup (Turns 1-4): Ramp with Burgeoning/Exploration, surveil to stock graveyard with lands/recursion targets, and establish engines like The Gitrog Monster.
2. Value Engine (Turns 5-7): Cast high-MV spells from library top (Aesi, Villainous Wealth) while recurring key permanents via Muldrotha.
3. Closing (Turns 7+): Overwhelm with landfall triggers, Living Death army, or Syr Konrad ping damage amplified by surveil/mill.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands and 1-2 ramp pieces (Birds of Paradise, Farseek)
• Prioritize early surveil enablers (Consider, Dimir Strandcatcher) over reactive spells
• Reject hands without graveyard interaction or land drops

Key Tips:

• Use Glarb's surveil ability politically - mill opponents' key cards with Doom Whisperer
• Time Living Death after milling Froghemoth/Mulldrifter
• Titans' Nest converts surveil fuel into mana for X spells

Avoid Traps:

• Overextending into board wipes before establishing recursion
• Wasting removal on minor threats - save for combo enablers
• Keeping slow hands without T3 Glarb

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Foldsto grave hate (Rest in Peace shuts recursion engines)
• Relies on 4+ MV spells vulnerable to counterspells

Moderate:

• Limited fast mana for explosive starts
• Clunky without Glarb (3+ removals cripple topdeck strategy)

Minor:

• Slow vs flying/swarm strategies
• Some ETB-tapped lands delay tempo

Most Important Cards:

• Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
• Muldrotha, the Gravetide
• The Gitrog Monster
• Conduit of Worlds
• Living Death
• Villainous Wealth
• Syr Konrad, the Grim
• Titans' Nest
• Disinformation Campaign
• Sword of Once and Future

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10
Establishes value engines by T5-6, but lacks T3-4 win potential. High-MV payoffs like Villainous Wealth require setup.

Resilience: 7/10
Redundant recursion (Ramunap Excavator, Timeless Witness) and 8+ instant-speed interaction pieces mitigate disruptions.

Consistency: 7/10
15+ surveil effects and land tutors ensure library manipulation, though lacks combo-specific tutors.

Interaction: 6/10
Mix of A/B-tier removal (Assassin's Trophy, Counterspell) but limited free protection for key engines.

Rating Justification:

This deck exceeds "Optimized Casual" (T8-10) benchmarks through its robust value engines and grave recursion, matching "Focused" (T7-8) decks in sustained pressure. However, it lacks the fast combo potential and stax resilience of true 7.0+ lists. The ability to pivot between landfall, grave recursion, and big spell strategies gives it meta flexibility but prevents higher optimization tiers.

Power level: 5.5 - 6.0