I voted it's alright because the current meta has its ups and downs. I like that there are a lot of different decks you can use and rogue brews you can be moderately successful with. However it is also my opinion that some of the more meta decks when playing each other don't involve very much skill or blow out potential. From watching the pro tour it just looks like a bunch of 1 for 1s and whoever runs out of gas first loses, or whoever gets the best draws wins. It's kind of hard to explain what i mean, and this is just my opinion, but i sort of wish the cards were a bit higher in power, that in my opinion would bring us a more skill intensive meta, rather than just playing extremely responsive.
I mostly agree with this. The abzan deck is sort of annoying because they just slam the best card in their hand every turn, and there isn't a lot of decision making. I've been playing control, and it's annoying that sometimes all they have to do is stick a turn 2 Deathdealer, and if I don't have a bile blight that turn or draw Silence the Believers, I just lose and they don't even need to play any more spells.
On the other hand, the Jeskai decks are very skill-intensive to play and play against
Refreshing to see legitimate combo decks in Standard again (not the aggro-combo of burn, but a real combo deck). Been far, far too long.
Only real issue IMO is the delve draw cards being too good.
I don't see this as much of an issue because there aren't actually any other pushed spells in blue. Dissolve is fine, but it's certainly not pushed like Siege Rhino or Wingmate Roc is. I guess you could also include Knuckleblade and Sagu Mauler, but those aren't played in the same decks as the delve spells.
Apparently I haven't seen nearly as much abzan as you guys. I mean for sure it's out there - anyone who played monoblack pre-rotation is almost certainly playing abzan midrange, while all the monoblue and burn players are now playing jeskai burn. Having said that though, anecdotally there seems to be a heck of a lot of diversity. I really haven't found myself annoyed by those yet. I have been playing mostly online lately though for lifestyle reasons, so that affects my perception.
The one thing that has been really surprising for me is the absence of superfriends decks, or large numbers of planeswalkers in general. I've been shocked at how little walker hate i can run in my sideboards and still get by. I think a superfriends deck is waiting in the wings to become a staple.
I love the diversity of the format right now, granted a lot of that maybe (and likely is) due to the rotation. That and a lot of the deck archetypes have pretty open shells that allow for a lot of sub-archetypes.
I agree with everyone else that there seems to be a lot of diversity. I play in a fairly competitive area, and so far I've seen B/W warrios, Jeskai Burn, Abzan midrange, American control, BUG control, Sultai delve, mono-green devotion, U/W heroic, and a couple odd brews here and there. I think the only thing separating the tier 1 decks from the tier 2 decks is consistency, so it's not like there's a huge gap in power like there was last season where we had a handful of tier 1 decks that just had a sheer power advantage over the other decks. There was no point in playing control outside U/W because of the Rev/Verdict/Sphere package, and pretty much every midrange deck just paled in comparison to MBD, despite the fact that there were a lot of strong midrange options.
If I had to make one complaint, it's that one of the best (or the best deck) in the format is incredibly boring. Abzan midrange is just a pile of good stuff. Shuffle all the best creatures, answers, and planeswalkers together, and you've got yourself a Tier 1 deck. Not that Abzan is unbeatable or unfun to play against (like MBD and U/W were at times). I just don't find the deck all that aesthetically pleasing.
Not a fan. It's the same as last standard with creature decks running riot (aggro, midrange,) the odd jank mazes end deck (jeskai ascendancy combo,) the burn deck BUT no 4 mana unconditional board wipe so "goodstuff creature spam" wins. Control got a swift kick to the balls. What I don't get is with all these super powerful undercosted creatures everywhere, there is no classic control staple Wrath of God to even the playing field. 5 mana is a bit too much to ask for a board wipe in these conditions.
I'm taking a leaf out of Goldmanes book, my other book and I'm quitting standard forever (again.)
I think the lack of a 4 mana wrath is easily the best thing about this format. Control players actually have to use their brains for once.
I hated verdict so much because I generally play control. The reason I play control is because it can be non-linear and complex and unexpected to pilot. But with Rev and verdict, it was easily the most straight-forward, idiotic, impossible-to-screw-up deck in the entire format. Just jam lands and jam verdicts, which can't be countered, until you cast aetherling, which can't be killed. Literally 0 meaningful decisions per game.
I think the lack of a 4 mana wrath is easily the best thing about this format. Control players actually have to use their brains for once.
I hated verdict so much because I generally play control. The reason I play control is because it can be non-linear and complex and unexpected to pilot. But with Rev and verdict, it was easily the most straight-forward, idiotic, impossible-to-screw-up deck in the entire format. Just jam lands and jam verdicts, which can't be countered, until you cast aetherling, which can't be killed. Literally 0 meaningful decisions per game.
That's a nice bit of fiction you got going there.
Trolling is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
It's the same as last standard with creature decks running riot (aggro, midrange,)
Wrath. Of. God. Wizards. Make. It. Happen.
So last standard we had a 4 mana wrath but it was 'same with creature decks running riot'. Argument makes no sense, what exactly are you trying to say here?
The good thing about not having this 4 mana wraths is that control gets legitimately beaten by aggro now, as it should be. The meta is anti-aggro which means UB control gets to exist.
Classic: Aggro > Control > Midrange/Combo > Aggro. That is what seems to be happening here, and many others call it such a rock papers scissors format.
Aggro always had a super favorable match up against control. 4 mana wrath in most cases was make or break. Even the infamous Sphinx's Revelation most of the time could not provide enough life gain to come back from an aggro or burn deck where you didn't draw verdict. Now apologise for wasting my time.
Flaming is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
Here's the problem with 5 mana cost sweeper in control. Old control decks only needed to counter one spell before turn 4 to reset and take control of the game. Now you need to play a wall turn 2, a spot removal spell turn 3 , and a counter a spell turn 4 to be able to play a mass sweeper turn 5. That's a lot of card investment and with out a good draw spell that can restock your hand you don't have a chance of keeping up. I think control needs a good prison card like Moat , Story Circle or Tangle Wire.
Not a fan. It's the same as last standard with creature decks running riot (aggro, midrange,) the odd jank mazes end deck (jeskai ascendancy combo,) the burn deck BUT no 4 mana unconditional board wipe so "goodstuff creature spam" wins. Control got a swift kick to the balls. What I don't get is with all these super powerful undercosted creatures everywhere, there is no classic control staple Wrath of God to even the playing field. 5 mana is a bit too much to ask for a board wipe in these conditions.
I'm taking a leaf out of Goldmanes book, my other book and I'm quitting standard forever (again.)
Wrath. Of. God. Wizards. Make. It. Happen.
What the? I don't ev…
How is this even remotely close to last standard at this point? This sounds like the comments of a player that finds a hard time adjusting or unwilling to change but is more then willing to blame other things instead of admitting to their own short comings.
Abzan and Jeskai are cleary the two dominating archtypes for now. I still have a lot of faith in Mardu and it's cleary the runner behind those two. The Theros decks seens to be flopping very hard, I didn't expect to mono green devo and BW control to just die this way.
The good thing is, in each of those archtype, the number of possibilities seens to be great, althrough a perfect interaction is just a matter of time.
Imo this format have much lower diversity among tier 1 then Theros/RTR but this downside is outweight by the fact the decks are much more cooler to play with and the difference between tier one and two two decks seens to be small this time around. There's a dozen of tier 2 deck that have favorable match ups against the tier ones, something that didn't happen last season were Esper and Black Devotion didn't had less then 55% win rate vs. any tier 2 archtype.
Mardu did very bad at the PT and other tournaments from what I read. It certainly isn´t the runner-up to Jeskai and Abzan, far from it. It seems Mardu simply isn´t viable, how sad that might be.
As someone invested in Mardu, I can agree. It's definitely been an uphill battle figuring out what works. Abzan just has better value card for card and Jeskai has better speed. Having invested pretty heavily into Mardu colored cards and lands, it's frustrating to see just how bad it is against Abzan/Jeskai over and over. But I think the biggest problem is Mardu doesn't know what it wants to be. The mana base isn't quite there to make a fast aggro deck viable, the value cards aren't quite there to make it a strong enough midrange deck, and the control decks lack good and consistent finishers, especially considering the burn available to Jeskai and removal available to Abzan.
I think warriors can work in mardu but I have yet to test it.
I find the format to be pretty sweet namely because I put together naya midrange/control and it confused people.
Lots of potential in the new format I hope that people do not find a few cards that will allow format domination.
I think warriors can work in mardu but I have yet to test it.
I find the format to be pretty sweet namely because I put together naya midrange/control and it confused people.
Lots of potential in the new format I hope that people do not find a few cards that will allow format domination.
All I see at my local store is Courser/Caryatid/Siege Rhino + whatever other flavor of other stuff thrown in. Usually Rakshasa Deathdealer and Fleecemane Lion or other green fatties. Throw in some Thoughtseize, Hero's Downfalls, Banishing lights, not to mention the amazingly powerful and versatile Abzan Charm, and you've got a force to be reckoned with. There is a lot of potential for variety, but the fact is LOTS of people are playing this deck (or some minor variation) and it's extremely difficult to deal with, unless specifically tuned to deal with it. I had a warriors deck originally and it felt like attacking into a brick wall. It was decent work just getting past their line of Coursers/Caryatids, and that was before even worrying about their actual threats. Now I'm shifting more towards a wrath/kill/disrupt/planeswalker control style build because rounds keep coming down to top deck battles, and that's a hard battle to win against Siege Rhino with other hexproof/deathtouch/regen creatures.
I think the lack of a 4 mana wrath is easily the best thing about this format. Control players actually have to use their brains for once.
I hated verdict so much because I generally play control. The reason I play control is because it can be non-linear and complex and unexpected to pilot. But with Rev and verdict, it was easily the most straight-forward, idiotic, impossible-to-screw-up deck in the entire format. Just jam lands and jam verdicts, which can't be countered, until you cast aetherling, which can't be killed. Literally 0 meaningful decisions per game.
There is so much truth here! I've said on more than one occasion that Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict, while undeniably powerful, really became somewhat frustrating to me, as a control player, by the time they rotated. I enjoy brewing, and I felt as though those cards (as well as the other UW goodstuff) really forced me into playing those two colors if I wanted to play a control deck. So far, in Khans, I feel as though you could conceivably construct a halfway playable control deck in any number of color combinations. Furthermore, as some others have noted, it seems like there is a broad enough selection of playable cards that there appears to be quite a bit of room for variation within each archetype, which, as someone who enjoys deck building, I find very exciting.
All that being said, I cast my vote for "it's alright." I'm uncomfortable making any sort of meaningful judgement about standard until we see what kind of meta unfolds. Still, all things considered, I feel optimistic about the way things are going.
For one, there is a combo deck. A REAL combo deck. That's already a huge plus. Also, bonus points because it wins via milling (well one version of it does)
Second, even the top decks have a fair amount of variance. Take Jeskai, for example. We had three very different lists top 8 the Pro Tour, all playing the same 3 colors. There are key elements across all of them (Mantis Rider, Stoke the Flames) but you have options as to how you can build it - burn-based, creature-based like Strasky/Yuuya, or leaning towards a control game like McLaren. The color combination is very flexible.
Abzan is the huge rhino in the room, but even there there's still a healthy amount of variation. Aggro like Sigrist, Midrange with lots of walkers like Lax, and so on.
Having the wedges supported means you'll also see a fair amount of people trying to brew with them and they can come up with something pretty potent. Whidisi/Sidisi Whip, Temur Tempo, Mardu Walkers, and so on. Too early to say whether the format will stagnate into Jeskai vs. Abzan but I think those will be the top decks, and that on a good day any deck can give them a run for their money.
Honestly, I think there is going to be a lot of change from where we are. It's still really really early in rotation. Junk always gets the best value creatures. Jeskai - the burn was there before mantis/rabbler/seeker came along. How many events do we have to make judgments based off of? Not many.
I voted it's alright because the current meta has its ups and downs. I like that there are a lot of different decks you can use and rogue brews you can be moderately successful with. However it is also my opinion that some of the more meta decks when playing each other don't involve very much skill or blow out potential. From watching the pro tour it just looks like a bunch of 1 for 1s and whoever runs out of gas first loses, or whoever gets the best draws wins. It's kind of hard to explain what i mean, and this is just my opinion, but i sort of wish the cards were a bit higher in power, that in my opinion would bring us a more skill intensive meta, rather than just playing extremely responsive.
I mostly agree with this. The abzan deck is sort of annoying because they just slam the best card in their hand every turn, and there isn't a lot of decision making. I've been playing control, and it's annoying that sometimes all they have to do is stick a turn 2 Deathdealer, and if I don't have a bile blight that turn or draw Silence the Believers, I just lose and they don't even need to play any more spells.
On the other hand, the Jeskai decks are very skill-intensive to play and play against
Refreshing to see legitimate combo decks in Standard again (not the aggro-combo of burn, but a real combo deck). Been far, far too long.
Only real issue IMO is the delve draw cards being too good.
I don't see this as much of an issue because there aren't actually any other pushed spells in blue. Dissolve is fine, but it's certainly not pushed like Siege Rhino or Wingmate Roc is. I guess you could also include Knuckleblade and Sagu Mauler, but those aren't played in the same decks as the delve spells.
IMO it´s great!. But time will tell if siege rhino was a mistake.
Let's see, it forces a commitment to three colours, it doesn't trade with itself, it doesn't replace itself, there are no blink cards in standard to take advantage of its ETB.
The moment I saw it the spoiler for it I felt it was a properly balanced thragtusk for the midrange decks to use.
If a very good card is actually forcing commitment then it's usually bad for the deck diversity, not good. Sphinx's Revelation, Supreme Verdict defined control to be UW because well those cards were insanely better than any other control alternative. Mutavault did the same the other way around, heavily favoring monocoloured decks.
The same holds for Siege Rhino. I don't think its too strong, but it makes the choice between Sultai/Abzan really easy. Sultai do not have a very strong midrange card that can just be a powerhouse on its own because it's rares ended up being Nemesis Wave and the Kheru Lich Lord that were not really made for standard.
I do hope the sultai decks get stronger as we get more cards in the format that will enable its synergy to work better. A 4/5 trample is never going to be more than that, while Sultai decks have a higher ceiling.
I'd say that Mardu still has a chance to compete with Abzan though. Butcher is so good.
Abzan and Jeskai are cleary the two dominating archtypes for now. I still have a lot of faith in Mardu and it's cleary the runner behind those two. The Theros decks seens to be flopping very hard, I didn't expect to mono green devo and BW control to just die this way.
The good thing is, in each of those archtype, the number of possibilities seens to be great, althrough a perfect interaction is just a matter of time.
Imo this format have much lower diversity among tier 1 then Theros/RTR but this downside is outweight by the fact the decks are much more cooler to play with and the difference between tier one and two two decks seens to be small this time around. There's a dozen of tier 2 deck that have favorable match ups against the tier ones, something that didn't happen last season were Esper and Black Devotion didn't had less then 55% win rate vs. any tier 2 archtype.
Mardu did very bad at the PT and other tournaments from what I read. It certainly isn´t the runner-up to Jeskai and Abzan, far from it. It seems Mardu simply isn´t viable, how sad that might be.
As someone invested in Mardu, I can agree. It's definitely been an uphill battle figuring out what works. Abzan just has better value card for card and Jeskai has better speed. Having invested pretty heavily into Mardu colored cards and lands, it's frustrating to see just how bad it is against Abzan/Jeskai over and over. But I think the biggest problem is Mardu doesn't know what it wants to be. The mana base isn't quite there to make a fast aggro deck viable, the value cards aren't quite there to make it a strong enough midrange deck, and the control decks lack good and consistent finishers, especially considering the burn available to Jeskai and removal available to Abzan.
You could just run Elspeth as the Control finisher.
I think the lack of a 4 mana wrath is easily the best thing about this format. Control players actually have to use their brains for once.
I hated verdict so much because I generally play control. The reason I play control is because it can be non-linear and complex and unexpected to pilot. But with Rev and verdict, it was easily the most straight-forward, idiotic, impossible-to-screw-up deck in the entire format. Just jam lands and jam verdicts, which can't be countered, until you cast aetherling, which can't be killed. Literally 0 meaningful decisions per game.
There is so much truth here! I've said on more than one occasion that Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict, while undeniably powerful, really became somewhat frustrating to me, as a control player, by the time they rotated. I enjoy brewing, and I felt as though those cards (as well as the other UW goodstuff) really forced me into playing those two colors if I wanted to play a control deck. So far, in Khans, I feel as though you could conceivably construct a halfway playable control deck in any number of color combinations. Furthermore, as some others have noted, it seems like there is a broad enough selection of playable cards that there appears to be quite a bit of room for variation within each archetype, which, as someone who enjoys deck building, I find very exciting.
All that being said, I cast my vote for "it's alright." I'm uncomfortable making any sort of meaningful judgement about standard until we see what kind of meta unfolds. Still, all things considered, I feel optimistic about the way things are going.
The solution here is just making a monowhite or monoblack wrath, not making a 5 mana wrath.
Playing stuff like Temur Charm as a counterspell that gives you extra utility might be a good strategy against Jeskai. The one Temur deck that showed up in the top decks of PT Khans was running it main deck.
Playing stuff like Temur Charm as a counterspell that gives you extra utility might be a good strategy against Jeskai. The one Temur deck that showed up in the top decks of PT Khans was running it main deck.
I have been playing a few variations of temur since rotation and it feels pretty solid. The cards you mentioned definitely work against Abzan and UB, however for jeskai i bring in my hornet queens and bow of nylea. They tend to get the job done
Playing stuff like Temur Charm as a counterspell that gives you extra utility might be a good strategy against Jeskai. The one Temur deck that showed up in the top decks of PT Khans was running it main deck.
I have been playing a few variations of temur since rotation and it feels pretty solid. The cards you mentioned definitely work against Abzan and UB, however for jeskai i bring in my hornet queens and bow of nylea. They tend to get the job done
I feel as a midrange deck it doesn't do anything GR doesn't really already do and as a tempo deck it can ALMOST compete with jeskai but it doesn't have it's reach :/
Not a fan. It's the same as last standard with creature decks running riot (aggro, midrange,) the odd jank mazes end deck (jeskai ascendancy combo,) the burn deck BUT no 4 mana unconditional board wipe so "goodstuff creature spam" wins. Control got a swift kick to the balls. What I don't get is with all these super powerful undercosted creatures everywhere, there is no classic control staple Wrath of God to even the playing field. 5 mana is a bit too much to ask for a board wipe in these conditions.
I'm taking a leaf out of Goldmanes book, my other book and I'm quitting standard forever (again.)
Wrath. Of. God. Wizards. Make. It. Happen.
What the? I don't ev…
How is this even remotely close to last standard at this point? This sounds like the comments of a player that finds a hard time adjusting or unwilling to change but is more then willing to blame other things instead of admitting to their own short comings.
Please use words. Spam is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
It's the same as last standard with creature decks running riot (aggro, midrange,)
Wrath. Of. God. Wizards. Make. It. Happen.
So last standard we had a 4 mana wrath but it was 'same with creature decks running riot'. Argument makes no sense, what exactly are you trying to say here?
The good thing about not having this 4 mana wraths is that control gets legitimately beaten by aggro now, as it should be. The meta is anti-aggro which means UB control gets to exist.
Classic: Aggro > Control > Midrange/Combo > Aggro. That is what seems to be happening here, and many others call it such a rock papers scissors format.
Aggro always had a super favorable match up against control. 4 mana wrath in most cases was make or break. Even the infamous Sphinx's Revelation most of the time could not provide enough life gain to come back from an aggro or burn deck where you didn't draw verdict. Now apologise for wasting my time.
You're still not getting your 4 mana wrath, hahah. Such a shame eh.
Please use words. Spam is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
I mostly agree with this. The abzan deck is sort of annoying because they just slam the best card in their hand every turn, and there isn't a lot of decision making. I've been playing control, and it's annoying that sometimes all they have to do is stick a turn 2 Deathdealer, and if I don't have a bile blight that turn or draw Silence the Believers, I just lose and they don't even need to play any more spells.
On the other hand, the Jeskai decks are very skill-intensive to play and play against
I don't see this as much of an issue because there aren't actually any other pushed spells in blue. Dissolve is fine, but it's certainly not pushed like Siege Rhino or Wingmate Roc is. I guess you could also include Knuckleblade and Sagu Mauler, but those aren't played in the same decks as the delve spells.
The one thing that has been really surprising for me is the absence of superfriends decks, or large numbers of planeswalkers in general. I've been shocked at how little walker hate i can run in my sideboards and still get by. I think a superfriends deck is waiting in the wings to become a staple.
If I had to make one complaint, it's that one of the best (or the best deck) in the format is incredibly boring. Abzan midrange is just a pile of good stuff. Shuffle all the best creatures, answers, and planeswalkers together, and you've got yourself a Tier 1 deck. Not that Abzan is unbeatable or unfun to play against (like MBD and U/W were at times). I just don't find the deck all that aesthetically pleasing.
U/R Delver
I'm taking a leaf out of Goldmanes book, my other book and I'm quitting standard forever (again.)
Wrath. Of. God. Wizards. Make. It. Happen.
I hated verdict so much because I generally play control. The reason I play control is because it can be non-linear and complex and unexpected to pilot. But with Rev and verdict, it was easily the most straight-forward, idiotic, impossible-to-screw-up deck in the entire format. Just jam lands and jam verdicts, which can't be countered, until you cast aetherling, which can't be killed. Literally 0 meaningful decisions per game.
That's a nice bit of fiction you got going there.
Trolling is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
Aggro always had a super favorable match up against control. 4 mana wrath in most cases was make or break. Even the infamous Sphinx's Revelation most of the time could not provide enough life gain to come back from an aggro or burn deck where you didn't draw verdict. Now apologise for wasting my time.
Flaming is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
and i dont agree with someone on top who said that g/x devotion is dead. i think that g/b devotion is pretty good vs abzan.
i dont think its a dead deck.
for example the last standard tournament of magic-league.com was von by 2 g/b devotion lists.
What the? I don't ev…
How is this even remotely close to last standard at this point? This sounds like the comments of a player that finds a hard time adjusting or unwilling to change but is more then willing to blame other things instead of admitting to their own short comings.
Standard
W.I.P.
EDH
WNorn Tokens
As someone invested in Mardu, I can agree. It's definitely been an uphill battle figuring out what works. Abzan just has better value card for card and Jeskai has better speed. Having invested pretty heavily into Mardu colored cards and lands, it's frustrating to see just how bad it is against Abzan/Jeskai over and over. But I think the biggest problem is Mardu doesn't know what it wants to be. The mana base isn't quite there to make a fast aggro deck viable, the value cards aren't quite there to make it a strong enough midrange deck, and the control decks lack good and consistent finishers, especially considering the burn available to Jeskai and removal available to Abzan.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I find the format to be pretty sweet namely because I put together naya midrange/control and it confused people.
Lots of potential in the new format I hope that people do not find a few cards that will allow format domination.
All I see at my local store is Courser/Caryatid/Siege Rhino + whatever other flavor of other stuff thrown in. Usually Rakshasa Deathdealer and Fleecemane Lion or other green fatties. Throw in some Thoughtseize, Hero's Downfalls, Banishing lights, not to mention the amazingly powerful and versatile Abzan Charm, and you've got a force to be reckoned with. There is a lot of potential for variety, but the fact is LOTS of people are playing this deck (or some minor variation) and it's extremely difficult to deal with, unless specifically tuned to deal with it. I had a warriors deck originally and it felt like attacking into a brick wall. It was decent work just getting past their line of Coursers/Caryatids, and that was before even worrying about their actual threats. Now I'm shifting more towards a wrath/kill/disrupt/planeswalker control style build because rounds keep coming down to top deck battles, and that's a hard battle to win against Siege Rhino with other hexproof/deathtouch/regen creatures.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
There is so much truth here! I've said on more than one occasion that Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict, while undeniably powerful, really became somewhat frustrating to me, as a control player, by the time they rotated. I enjoy brewing, and I felt as though those cards (as well as the other UW goodstuff) really forced me into playing those two colors if I wanted to play a control deck. So far, in Khans, I feel as though you could conceivably construct a halfway playable control deck in any number of color combinations. Furthermore, as some others have noted, it seems like there is a broad enough selection of playable cards that there appears to be quite a bit of room for variation within each archetype, which, as someone who enjoys deck building, I find very exciting.
All that being said, I cast my vote for "it's alright." I'm uncomfortable making any sort of meaningful judgement about standard until we see what kind of meta unfolds. Still, all things considered, I feel optimistic about the way things are going.
For one, there is a combo deck. A REAL combo deck. That's already a huge plus. Also, bonus points because it wins via milling (well one version of it does)
Second, even the top decks have a fair amount of variance. Take Jeskai, for example. We had three very different lists top 8 the Pro Tour, all playing the same 3 colors. There are key elements across all of them (Mantis Rider, Stoke the Flames) but you have options as to how you can build it - burn-based, creature-based like Strasky/Yuuya, or leaning towards a control game like McLaren. The color combination is very flexible.
Abzan is the huge rhino in the room, but even there there's still a healthy amount of variation. Aggro like Sigrist, Midrange with lots of walkers like Lax, and so on.
Having the wedges supported means you'll also see a fair amount of people trying to brew with them and they can come up with something pretty potent. Whidisi/Sidisi Whip, Temur Tempo, Mardu Walkers, and so on. Too early to say whether the format will stagnate into Jeskai vs. Abzan but I think those will be the top decks, and that on a good day any deck can give them a run for their money.
I'd definitely call Mantis Rider pushed.
I'd say that Mardu still has a chance to compete with Abzan though. Butcher is so good.
You could just run Elspeth as the Control finisher.
The solution here is just making a monowhite or monoblack wrath, not making a 5 mana wrath.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Just because the deck isn't tier 1 yet doesn't mean it can't be.
Abzan midrange is heavy on removal and Sagu Mauler mauls that strategy.
UB control is pretty much counterspell.dec and Surrak, Dragonclaw laughs at that.
The problem is you need life gain to stay ahead of Jeskai wins before it burns you out.
There's Courser of Kruphix and beyond that you're scraping the bottom of the barrel for green cards that gain life.
Playing stuff like Temur Charm as a counterspell that gives you extra utility might be a good strategy against Jeskai. The one Temur deck that showed up in the top decks of PT Khans was running it main deck.
I have been playing a few variations of temur since rotation and it feels pretty solid. The cards you mentioned definitely work against Abzan and UB, however for jeskai i bring in my hornet queens and bow of nylea. They tend to get the job done
I feel as a midrange deck it doesn't do anything GR doesn't really already do and as a tempo deck it can ALMOST compete with jeskai but it doesn't have it's reach :/
Please use words. Spam is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger
Please use words. Spam is not allowed according to MTGS rules. -Lugger