I'm looking especially for decks that won't be flavor of the week... There's always some ebb and flow in terms of what unexpectedly wins a pro-tour or grand prix, but then there are decks like Bant Company in the last Standard, or Abzan aggro (with Siege Rhino) in the standard before that, that remain players throughout the whole format.
The reason this matters is that it's always very hard for me to switch decks. If I commit to the wrong deck, I can't afford to buy another and trading cards from what I have for what I need can take months.
So I know some of you have been testing new Standard practically 24/7 already, let's hear it. What's the new Standard going to be dominated by?
The three decks sticking around losing very little from the current Standard are the ones to beat right now: Delirium, Zombies, and UR Fevered Visions. BW maybe will be a sold Tier 1.5 or 2.
Hard to predict aggro right now. They could be really good or really bad.
Blue doesn't feel like it has many tools in the environment now. Most of the time I do t want to unsubstantiate something, I want to get rid of it for good.
Anything low to the ground has a ton of sweepers to claw through. I just don't think tokens are going to be viable after sideboards. In fact X/2s seem pretty iffy to right now. That being said there are a ton of people who disagree with me on this. There was an article on channel fireball today about keeping the deck alive. At the very least I would run sideboard hate for it.
Spirits have a hard time dealing with a resolved lilli without losing card advantage and tempo, so if they don't swap to something like always watching things won't get incredibly better for them. The loss of coco helps them move into that spot in the meta, however. So much of the deck has flash. Something I haven't seen much of is rolling eldrazi in here with them. elder deep-fiend, eldrazi displacer, and maybe a black splash for wasteland strangler. This deck do will probably evolve because black is t a great color for it now and it has some powerful ways to grow into the late game.
I feel like humans may be too slow, but I'm not sure. veteran warleader feels particularly good with fabricate as he can get very big very fast.
I agree that GB delirium, UB zombies, and UR spell based decks are hanging around.
fumigate just seems silly in this standard environment. Between vehicles and this card, I wouldn't be surprised to see something stick as W/X. For example T4 giddeon, T5 fumigate (gain whatever), then stick a knight ally out and power up your smuggler's copter. Ouch. Shout outs to cataclysmic gearhulk and the W/X legendary deck that as floating around. A resolved brusela, voice of nightmares is still incredibly hard to deal with.
I feel like between X/3s and fumigate there is enough downward pressure on aggro atm. I still don't feel like vampires have all the tools they need. Not sure what I think they need, but the tribe feels very top decky to me.
I think W/X mid range/control style strats are going to be viable, perhaps a GW human/token hybrid if there is sufficient pump for going wide, UR spells if you don't see an incredible amount of lifegain in the meta, UB zombies are strong when not facing kalitas, traitor of ghet/declaration in stone/flaying tendrils, GB delirium is strong but may struggle against stuff with 3+ toughness if accounting for too much of the meta elsewhere. Just an early assessment before something silly happens and the format devolves into a few decks.
I think Bant Spirits will be a tier 1 deck, they already have a full deck minus the sideboard (maybe) and the slots are all really strong.
The green would be Sylvan Advocate and or just the bant tamiyo, due to being able to draw the deck cards or offer lockdown.
If not Bant then the deck will still be near the top tier with Elder Deep Fiend in it.
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WB Control, UR Fevered Visions, RDW (similar to Matt Sperling's list on CFB) and RG Aggro have been the clear best decks in my testing and I think they'll all see some amount of high-level success.
Zombies gets outraced by red aggro and out-valued by control, and the deck it was originally designed to prey on is gone, but that's the one where I'd be the least surprised if it does well. Spirits retains some powerful cards but will fall flat due to the existence of Smuggler's Copter, which it has basically no answers for once resolved. Humans can't compete in either form without the one-drops or CoCo, and the RW Equips/Metalcraft/whatever lists that have been going around had bad matchups against pretty much everything I threw at them, even a couple of janky lists built around Aetherworks Marvel and Metalwork Colossus. Blue control is also pretty bad - WB just feels better. Temurge doesn't feel nearly as good against the current meta as it did against the old one, but I think it'll be a solid tier 2 option. Eldrazi Displacer feels overhyped - not being able to protect itself is huge, and black and red in particular have some of the better removal suites we've seen in a while. That said, flickering Gearhulks is great value, so Displacer is another one where it wouldn't surprise me too much if it succeeds.
Spirits and Delirium. These decks lose nothing major in the rotation and get several new tricks. Emerge also loses nothing major and gets an upgraded emerge target than Pilgrim's Eye ins Filigree Familiar.
I don't really see a new archetype here (although I could be wrong - emerge surprised me) G/x energy ramp with Woodweaver's Puzzleknot into Aetherworks Marvel might be a thing.
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I think these are pretty safe bets, but nothing is really certain. The power level of the gearhulks are definitely going to change things a bit.
I believe GR Ramp will definitely be a thing with the support of the new Chandra.
I think GW tokens still has the core of it's engine. Nissa and Gideon will be an awesome team as long as they are in standard.
Some variant of BW control will probably be tier 1 with the new noxious gearhulk and fumigate. Also with dromoka's command rotating, Statis Snare becomes probably the best removal spell in the format. They really didn't lose a whole lot.
I think Bant Spirits will be a tier 1 deck, they already have a full deck minus the sideboard (maybe) and the slots are all really strong.
The green would be Sylvan Advocate and or just the bant tamiyo, due to being able to draw the deck cards or offer lockdown.
If not Bant then the deck will still be near the top tier with Elder Deep Fiend in it.
On this note, just regular old Bant is still looking beastly. Advocate, Mage, Queller, Duskwatch Recruitor, and Tracker are all still in the format. Losing CoCo isn't crippling to the deck in the least. CoCo takes a very good deck (Bant tempo) and makes it absurd. The deck's core creature base is still just fine, and slotting in Tamiyo is all that's needed. So I predict another 6 months of Tier 1 Bant misery. Not complete format dominance, but boy will it be annoying to see that the deck effectively ruled the roost for several rotations.
Some form of Delirium still looks good. Doesn't pick anything up, but it doesn't need to.
Emerge is looking a lot more interesting with Familiar added in, as well as Combustible Gearhulks for an almost Auto-win button at times.
U/W Spirits might make a resurgence because there is less incentive to go into green with the loss of CoCo and Dromoka's Command. Still, Advocate, Tamiyo, and Recruitor are very powerful.
As far as what's coming out of Kaladesh, I have *no* idea. So much of the set just doesn't mesh particularly well with either Battle or Shadows blocks that I just can't see what's going to be good. Is energy worth going out of your way for? Maybe? I dunno? Are any of the vehicles actually viable in constructed? Perhaps? The need for another creature isn't trivial, however being able to activate them off a just played creature opens up doors. Is there are an artifact centered deck? Once again, I'm not sure.
U/W Spirits might make a resurgence because there is less incentive to go into green with the loss of CoCo and Dromoka's Command.
In order for there to be a resurgence there has to be a lull. Spirits is the current dominant deck (at least everywhere that I play.) Bant CoCo was barely playable once Spirits and Delirium decks became a thing and only got as far as it did because of how many people played it. It's not going anywhere without CoCo. I'd wager that even Zombies will outperform Bant.
Remember that painlands rotate out. Bant will have so many mana issues.
It's just such a weird set.
It's definitely a set aimed at Johnny's, which I suspected when I heard the tagline "Make you feel like an inventor." A lot of synergistic pieces that require other pieces to be good and little that stands out on its own.
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I'm not high on Spirits being good since their enemies in Liliana and Ishkanah are still around. I also believe Aerial Responder will be a highly played sideboard card for W/x decks against aggro.
U/W Spirits might make a resurgence because there is less incentive to go into green with the loss of CoCo and Dromoka's Command.
In order for there to be a resurgence there has to be a lull. Spirits is the current dominant deck (at least everywhere that I play.) Bant CoCo was barely playable once Spirits and Delirium decks became a thing and only got as far as it did because of how many people played it. It's not going anywhere without CoCo. I'd wager that even Zombies will outperform Bant.
Remember that painlands rotate out. Bant will have so many mana issues.
Spirits absolutely has had a lull, the deck is 2% of the meta putting up near 0 results since the first gp. Bant on the other hand is 45% of the meta taking up nearly all results
There are a lot of tools that take down spirits pretty easily. In green their take down take down which avoids rattlechains, there is make obsolete now at instant speed, and there is savage alliance and Kozilek's return. Ishkanah is pretty much a road block and so is liliana. There is enough hate to go around for spirits. I think they will be competitive, but definitely won't be tier 1. They are that deck that will sneak by for a win in tournaments when no one is prepared to play against them.
Also fastlands are like an upgrade to painlands, so Bant shouldn't have an issue in that area.
This is tough because did anyone see G/W Tokens dominating last standard, or Bant Company dominating this standard? How about the fall of Abzan and Jeskai Black to 4 color Rally? I would say U/B zombies will still be good because it's getting good cards. R/B Madness might be a thing combined with a couple key vehicles. Green something will be good because of the new Nissa and Gearhulk. R/W artifacts/vehicles looks good. R/G may have found the great 2 drop it needs to make Arlin Cord a tier 1 card. But specific matchups and such...have no idea.
There are a lot of tools that take down spirits pretty easily. In green their take down take down which avoids rattlechains, there is make obsolete now at instant speed, and there is savage alliance and Kozilek's return. Ishkanah is pretty much a road block and so is liliana. There is enough hate to go around for spirits. I think they will be competitive, but definitely won't be tier 1. They are that deck that will sneak by for a win in tournaments when no one is prepared to play against them.
Also fastlands are like an upgrade to painlands, so Bant shouldn't have an issue in that area.
As a Spirits player i completely agree with your statement, any resolved sweeper just wrecks the deck. Spirit creatures are just so fragile. The thing is Spirits is not a BG deck, where your opponent plays something and you go put your cards in the graveyard. Those cards (Take Down and Make Obsolete are designed to beat Spirits) are really good IF RESOLVED, and for that to happen the Spirits player must be empty handed. The deck has some answers in the form of Queller, Selfless or countermagic. I mean, Spirits have 3 creatures, you cast savage alliance, they Unsubstantiate and then proceed to swing for 6-8 in the air.
This is balance. Is good design. They printed a full deck, and then printed answers to the deck, so it's beatable.
In my humble opinion, and a deck that i'll be trying, is a reanimator deck. I think Refurbish is just too good, and getting a Gearhulk or a giant Artifact Creature is insane. And then, ever after.
And also, don't forget about that U counter that counters colorless spells will be a sideboard nightmare to artifac centric decks.
Spirits gets worse because of better answers and more fliers that trade favorably, that's for sure.
I'd suspect we will see a strong G build take the top spot this coming standard because green itself is incredibly self sustaining in the upcoming set. It's got more good ramp than it did previously, has the ability to wall most aggro strategies and deal with black removal by simply recovering what is important from the yard, and has a high toughness per CMC on creatures that is above the curve on red burn at the moment. Also, it's conditional creatures like Lambholdt Pacifist have their disadvantages mitigated by vehicle mechanics so the color has built in synergy with the new set, unlike R or W, which needed cards specifically printed to work with vehicles. In a way, greens cards are better since the limitation was there to keep the creature from being too good at it's CMC.
Also, green is extremely budget friendly. I wouldn't be surprised seeing people get wins off of nothing but good creature choices and Blossoming Defense + Larger than life. It also offers complicated (Eldritch Evolution sacrifice mechanics) to not so complicated ways to ramp into the big payoff cards that everyone loves to get to play and can just win games on their own.
Usually I'd vote on the color pairing that has the right hosers and is in the right colors of the color pie. It's just that green seems to have everything it needs and not a lot of weaknesses compared to the other new set colors. They'll probably balance it out in the second half, but I'm expecting people to be diving to the floor to snatch up Verderous Gearhulk and maybe the new Nissa, Vital Force after the pre-release. In fact, just looking at TCGPlayer prices I think the pre-release fandom wave hit.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I feel that Emerge looks good. Frank Karsten posted a solid list on the CFB Facebook in his 20 decks series, except his list had torrential gearhulk instead of the red one.
RDW aggro and R/W Aggro are decks you can go to for now without spending a ton on the deck and then see how the new meta breaks out. Your biggest expense in those is going to be a playset of Smuggler's Copters and potentially 2 of Gideon if running the RW combo.
Other candidates are more expensive. Esper Control, UR Reservoir, Emrakul Marvel, UR Fevered Visions, Chandra Thermo-burn
The reason this matters is that it's always very hard for me to switch decks. If I commit to the wrong deck, I can't afford to buy another and trading cards from what I have for what I need can take months.
So I know some of you have been testing new Standard practically 24/7 already, let's hear it. What's the new Standard going to be dominated by?
Hard to predict aggro right now. They could be really good or really bad.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Anything low to the ground has a ton of sweepers to claw through. I just don't think tokens are going to be viable after sideboards. In fact X/2s seem pretty iffy to right now. That being said there are a ton of people who disagree with me on this. There was an article on channel fireball today about keeping the deck alive. At the very least I would run sideboard hate for it.
Spirits have a hard time dealing with a resolved lilli without losing card advantage and tempo, so if they don't swap to something like always watching things won't get incredibly better for them. The loss of coco helps them move into that spot in the meta, however. So much of the deck has flash. Something I haven't seen much of is rolling eldrazi in here with them. elder deep-fiend, eldrazi displacer, and maybe a black splash for wasteland strangler. This deck do will probably evolve because black is t a great color for it now and it has some powerful ways to grow into the late game.
I feel like humans may be too slow, but I'm not sure. veteran warleader feels particularly good with fabricate as he can get very big very fast.
I agree that GB delirium, UB zombies, and UR spell based decks are hanging around.
fumigate just seems silly in this standard environment. Between vehicles and this card, I wouldn't be surprised to see something stick as W/X. For example T4 giddeon, T5 fumigate (gain whatever), then stick a knight ally out and power up your smuggler's copter. Ouch. Shout outs to cataclysmic gearhulk and the W/X legendary deck that as floating around. A resolved brusela, voice of nightmares is still incredibly hard to deal with.
I feel like between X/3s and fumigate there is enough downward pressure on aggro atm. I still don't feel like vampires have all the tools they need. Not sure what I think they need, but the tribe feels very top decky to me.
Werewolves dont feel constructed viable even though spirit of the hunt and silverfur partisan are unique and powerful in a vaccum.
I think W/X mid range/control style strats are going to be viable, perhaps a GW human/token hybrid if there is sufficient pump for going wide, UR spells if you don't see an incredible amount of lifegain in the meta, UB zombies are strong when not facing kalitas, traitor of ghet/declaration in stone/flaying tendrils, GB delirium is strong but may struggle against stuff with 3+ toughness if accounting for too much of the meta elsewhere. Just an early assessment before something silly happens and the format devolves into a few decks.
The green would be Sylvan Advocate and or just the bant tamiyo, due to being able to draw the deck cards or offer lockdown.
If not Bant then the deck will still be near the top tier with Elder Deep Fiend in it.
Zombies gets outraced by red aggro and out-valued by control, and the deck it was originally designed to prey on is gone, but that's the one where I'd be the least surprised if it does well. Spirits retains some powerful cards but will fall flat due to the existence of Smuggler's Copter, which it has basically no answers for once resolved. Humans can't compete in either form without the one-drops or CoCo, and the RW Equips/Metalcraft/whatever lists that have been going around had bad matchups against pretty much everything I threw at them, even a couple of janky lists built around Aetherworks Marvel and Metalwork Colossus. Blue control is also pretty bad - WB just feels better. Temurge doesn't feel nearly as good against the current meta as it did against the old one, but I think it'll be a solid tier 2 option. Eldrazi Displacer feels overhyped - not being able to protect itself is huge, and black and red in particular have some of the better removal suites we've seen in a while. That said, flickering Gearhulks is great value, so Displacer is another one where it wouldn't surprise me too much if it succeeds.
I don't really see a new archetype here (although I could be wrong - emerge surprised me) G/x energy ramp with Woodweaver's Puzzleknot into Aetherworks Marvel might be a thing.
I believe GR Ramp will definitely be a thing with the support of the new Chandra.
I think GW tokens still has the core of it's engine. Nissa and Gideon will be an awesome team as long as they are in standard.
Some variant of BW control will probably be tier 1 with the new noxious gearhulk and fumigate. Also with dromoka's command rotating, Statis Snare becomes probably the best removal spell in the format. They really didn't lose a whole lot.
On this note, just regular old Bant is still looking beastly. Advocate, Mage, Queller, Duskwatch Recruitor, and Tracker are all still in the format. Losing CoCo isn't crippling to the deck in the least. CoCo takes a very good deck (Bant tempo) and makes it absurd. The deck's core creature base is still just fine, and slotting in Tamiyo is all that's needed. So I predict another 6 months of Tier 1 Bant misery. Not complete format dominance, but boy will it be annoying to see that the deck effectively ruled the roost for several rotations.
Some form of Delirium still looks good. Doesn't pick anything up, but it doesn't need to.
Emerge is looking a lot more interesting with Familiar added in, as well as Combustible Gearhulks for an almost Auto-win button at times.
U/W Spirits might make a resurgence because there is less incentive to go into green with the loss of CoCo and Dromoka's Command. Still, Advocate, Tamiyo, and Recruitor are very powerful.
As far as what's coming out of Kaladesh, I have *no* idea. So much of the set just doesn't mesh particularly well with either Battle or Shadows blocks that I just can't see what's going to be good. Is energy worth going out of your way for? Maybe? I dunno? Are any of the vehicles actually viable in constructed? Perhaps? The need for another creature isn't trivial, however being able to activate them off a just played creature opens up doors. Is there are an artifact centered deck? Once again, I'm not sure.
It's just such a weird set.
Ooh, good call. If there is any deck that Combustible Gearhulk is a home for it's Emerge. They also already run red for Kozilek's Return
In order for there to be a resurgence there has to be a lull. Spirits is the current dominant deck (at least everywhere that I play.) Bant CoCo was barely playable once Spirits and Delirium decks became a thing and only got as far as it did because of how many people played it. It's not going anywhere without CoCo. I'd wager that even Zombies will outperform Bant.
Remember that painlands rotate out. Bant will have so many mana issues.
It's definitely a set aimed at Johnny's, which I suspected when I heard the tagline "Make you feel like an inventor." A lot of synergistic pieces that require other pieces to be good and little that stands out on its own.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Spirits absolutely has had a lull, the deck is 2% of the meta putting up near 0 results since the first gp. Bant on the other hand is 45% of the meta taking up nearly all results
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
Also fastlands are like an upgrade to painlands, so Bant shouldn't have an issue in that area.
The only exception to this being that pain-lands provided a way to activate Eldrazi Displacer.
As a Spirits player i completely agree with your statement, any resolved sweeper just wrecks the deck. Spirit creatures are just so fragile. The thing is Spirits is not a BG deck, where your opponent plays something and you go put your cards in the graveyard. Those cards (Take Down and Make Obsolete are designed to beat Spirits) are really good IF RESOLVED, and for that to happen the Spirits player must be empty handed. The deck has some answers in the form of Queller, Selfless or countermagic. I mean, Spirits have 3 creatures, you cast savage alliance, they Unsubstantiate and then proceed to swing for 6-8 in the air.
This is balance. Is good design. They printed a full deck, and then printed answers to the deck, so it's beatable.
In my humble opinion, and a deck that i'll be trying, is a reanimator deck. I think Refurbish is just too good, and getting a Gearhulk or a giant Artifact Creature is insane. And then, ever after.
And also, don't forget about that U counter that counters colorless spells will be a sideboard nightmare to artifac centric decks.
I'd suspect we will see a strong G build take the top spot this coming standard because green itself is incredibly self sustaining in the upcoming set. It's got more good ramp than it did previously, has the ability to wall most aggro strategies and deal with black removal by simply recovering what is important from the yard, and has a high toughness per CMC on creatures that is above the curve on red burn at the moment. Also, it's conditional creatures like Lambholdt Pacifist have their disadvantages mitigated by vehicle mechanics so the color has built in synergy with the new set, unlike R or W, which needed cards specifically printed to work with vehicles. In a way, greens cards are better since the limitation was there to keep the creature from being too good at it's CMC.
Also, green is extremely budget friendly. I wouldn't be surprised seeing people get wins off of nothing but good creature choices and Blossoming Defense + Larger than life. It also offers complicated (Eldritch Evolution sacrifice mechanics) to not so complicated ways to ramp into the big payoff cards that everyone loves to get to play and can just win games on their own.
Usually I'd vote on the color pairing that has the right hosers and is in the right colors of the color pie. It's just that green seems to have everything it needs and not a lot of weaknesses compared to the other new set colors. They'll probably balance it out in the second half, but I'm expecting people to be diving to the floor to snatch up Verderous Gearhulk and maybe the new Nissa, Vital Force after the pre-release. In fact, just looking at TCGPlayer prices I think the pre-release fandom wave hit.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I haven't tested anything at all though
Other candidates are more expensive. Esper Control, UR Reservoir, Emrakul Marvel, UR Fevered Visions, Chandra Thermo-burn