Introduction

With the new set Ravnica Allegiance coming out I took a look at the most interesting cards for a competitive player and built some early shells for them.

The set overall has a decent amount of what I would refer to as generic good cards, which have decent rate and produce some desirable effects that will find a home in a plethora of decks through the course of their Standard existence. Those cards however are not what I will be focusing on today.

I will instead find the more unique cards and see what they might bring to the table in terms of potential.

Unique Cards From Ravnica Allegiance

《Pteramander》

Cost reducing effects, especially those that reduce things to as little as one mana are always interesting, even in eternal formats.

As such 《Pteramander》 is an intriguing card for both Modern and Legacy, since the clause is easy to meet in those formats.

For Standard it is within the realm of possibility, but as of right now I believe we are missing one more good one mana spell for me to be comfortable putting this into a deck for the upgraded body at least. There has been decks floating around that are perfectly happy playing a (U) 1/1 with evasion though.

The real power comes from making this into a cheap 5/5 flyer though since those stats are no joke in any formats. For Legacy this might breathe some new life into Canadian Threshold, but I am more interested in Modern as a potential home.

Modern is awash with different types of all-in strategies and in theory a common foil for those types of strategies is a fish style deck with cheap threats and a lot of disruptions. So far those decks have been missing the threats though since 《Delver of Secrets》 alone can not carry the load and going to three colored manabases will typically land you at 《Death's Shadow》 door since you will lose so much life anyway, you might as well go all out.

《Death's Shadow》 decks has their own problems though with mainly discard and very situational counterspells as disruption and a low life total which makes it tough to leverage time against the many aggressive strategies. With another cheap blue threat something like the following might be a new player in Magic’s youngest eternal format.

《Skewer the Critics》

The next card has already generated some buzz as well and it’s also due to a cost reduction mechanic. This might also see play in Modern burn strategies, but I’m more interested in its Standard implications, especially when combined with another new card.

《Skewer the Critics》 might give life to a former fringe deck in R/b Burn. The “Spectacle” should be easy enough to turn on around turn 3 letting you double spell and therefore get ahead in a possible racing scenario.

《Theater of Horrors》

The other card is 《Theater of Horrors》 which also uses the “Spectacle” mechanic and is exactly what this type of deck wants outside of a 《Searing Blaze》 type card and we even have something like that as well.

《Bedeck // Bedazzle》

All told something like this might make waves and dictate sideboard cards to come:

Sideboard will have to wait until the metagame forms but more 《Bedeck // Bedazzle》 and 《Banefire》 are surefire inclusions. This type of deck is proactive, fast and dodges a decent amount of the opposing interaction and will almost certainly be a good call at the beginning of the format at least.

《Absorb》, 《Warrant // Warden》

The polar opposite of this deck also got a lot of new toys that should see it to the upper echelon of decks: Azorius (UW) Control.

《Hallowed Fountain》 is of course big, but the incidental lifegain from 《Absorb》 as well as the new two mana instant speed removal spell with a victory condition tacked on in 《Warrant // Warden》 should push this over the top.

Splashing red for early sweepers might still be the way to go depending on the format shaping up, but I like starting with a consistent no frills and no pain/tapped manabase and go from there:

《Growth Spiral》, 《Wilderness Reclamation》

《Growth Spiral》 together with 《Wilderness Reclamation》 will almost certainly breathe new life into the Turbo Fog decks we saw before rotation. The Turbo aspect has been missing and both new additions seem tailor made for a 《Nexus of Fate》 deck.

《High Alert》

Another interesting card especially since it’s a backup effect for another existing interesting card is 《High Alert》 which, together with 《Arcades, the Strategist》 is a strong incentive to get a Defender deck going. Alas as of right now I don’t believe there to be enough good creatures in Standard with that keyword. We should stay on 《High Alert》 for new ones entering Standard with the next few sets though since one or two good Defenders could push this deck into playability.

《Electrodominance》

Another interesting card for Modern is 《Electrodominance》 which allows you to cast Suspend spells like 《Ancestral Vision》, 《Living End》 or 《Restore Balance》. The rate of the card itself is pretty low however, so I wouldn’t go out of my way to put it in my deck. If you are already into some 《Goblin Dark-Dwellers》 shenanigans or the like, this might be for you.

Conclusion

There are obviously more strong cards especially for Standard in the set, but I hope I’ve given you some ideas to think about using not just the chase Mythic Championships and some good starting points for the extremes in the new format. Usually starting at an extreme point is a good deck selection strategy for a brand new format anyway. If you are planning to go to the RPTQ at the beginning of February for example sleeving up one of these might be a good call.

I’m excited to see how Standard shakes out with the benefit of great mana and many interesting as well as powerful options available. Until then, keep brewing!

Marc Tobiasch@MarcTobiasch