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Spoiler Highlight: Bartolomé del Presidio in Standard, Pioneer and Explorer

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Lost Caverns of Ixalan is Magic: The Gathering's new set, and, during spoiler season, many interesting cards were revealed. In today's article, I'll discuss Bartolomé del Presidio, which formats this card should play in and where it could fit.

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translated by Joey Sticks

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revised by Tabata Marques

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About the Card

Bartolomé del Presidio is a very interesting 2 drop that might act as a free sac outlet, and you can sacrifice a creature or artifact to give it a +1/+1 counter.

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In Pioneer/Explorer, there is only one other creature that works similarly to Bartolomé.

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Cartel Aristocrat has the same traits as Bartolomé, but the difference in the new card is the counters it can get through sacrifices.

There isn't any card in Standard currently that can do the same as Bartolomé del Presidio. This card's release in these formats should sprout a few very interesting new interactions, besides making already existing decks stronger.

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Bartolomé del Presidio in Standard

Rakdos Anvil

Rakdos Sacrifice in Standard is a deck full of synergy with sacrificing creatures and artifacts, and can easily add Bartolomé to its build and gain a good reason to access White.

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Oni-Cult Anvil creates the most obvious interaction, working well with the new card and creating counters while it deals damage and creates Construct tokens that can then be sacrificed again.

Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender has seen some play in Rakdos Sacrifice lists and can pair well with Bartolomé, as both will get counters each time an artifact is sacrificed.

Body Dropper goes in the same 2 drop category, and can attack with evasion through its second ability. Another interesting 2 drop is Fleshtaker, which creates life gain at the same time it can clear your top deck with its Scry 1.

Other Synergies

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Another interesting possibility with Bartolomé del Presidio is using it as a finisher with an effect similar to Fling. In Standard, we have access to Callous Sell-Sword and Voldaren Thrillseeker. Both have good synergy with Bartolomé, and can give you an extra option to end games.

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Urabrask’s Forge offers a new sacrifice source to Bartolomé, allowing an aggressive style. Ratadrabik of Urborg can be used in a build more focused on combos, allowing you to sacrifice creatures such as Ao, the Dawn Sky, to abuse its ETB effects.

Bartolomé del Presidio in Pioneer and Explorer

Rakdos Sacrifice

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In Pioneer and/or Explorer, the possibilities are even more interesting. The format has its own version of Rakdos Sacrifice, with Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven, and even a Mardu version that uses Showdown of the Skalds.

Another pro to using this new card in Sacrifice is that it allows you to use Witch's Oven better in situations in which you'd be forced to sacrifice a creature that is being targeted by a removal to extract value out of it or keep it to sacrifice the familiar. With Bartolomé, the deck can have up to 8 sacrifice engines, can use the other creatures in the deck better and has another piece that will take advantage of the deck's main mechanic besides Mayhem Devil.

Rally the Ancestors and a New Combo

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A long time ago, in Standard, there was a deck that used a combo with Company, Rally the Ancestors and Nantuko Husk as a sac outlet to extract absurd value from the deck's creatures.

Bartolomé del Presidio can make it possible to explore a very similar deck in Pioneer, using Company to place many value creatures on the board, sacrifice them, and then use Rally to create even more value.

Final Words

Bartolomé del Presidio is a very interesting sac outlet that opens up new possibilities in Standard and Pioneer/Explorer. I believe this card shows great potential and will see play, and I hope I'm able to bring articles talking about decks that use it soon.

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Another article finished. Thank you for reading this far. Leave your card impressions, suggestions and feedback down below in the comment section. I'll try to answer all. See you next time!