Five Cards I’m Most Excited to Try

Introduction

We’re just days away now from Throne of Eldraine’s release and I can’t wait to start playing this new Standard format!

It’s time to say goodbye to 《Teferi, Hero of Dominaria》, 《Goblin Chainwhirler》, as well as multiple of the Vampires that we’ve seen plenty of over the last few Standard formats. As with every rotation, there are a lot of exciting new cards and decks that we’ll get to see in action soon.

Today, I’d like to share five of the cards I’m most excited to try, as well as some decklists featuring these cards!

Five Cards I’m Most Excited to Try

《Brazen Borrower》

When this card was revealed, I thought that it was very powerful and will be a major player in Standard. The card provides you with a way to tempo your opponent in the early turns without costing you a card. Also, you get the flexibility of being able to cast either half later in the game depending on what the situation calls for. I think this card will fit right in to the Simic Flash archetype that was largely unscathed from rotation and will be an early favorite to be one of the best decks in the format. Here’s the version I’ll be starting with:

Christian Calcano
– Simic Flash

Sample Decklist

8 《Island》
4 《Forest》
4 《Breeding Pool》
4 《Fabled Passage》
2 《Temple of Mystery》
1 《Castle Vantress》
-Land (23)- 4 《Spectral Sailor》
4 《Brineborn Cutthroat》
4 《Hypnotic Sprite》
4 《Wildborn Preserver》
4 《Brazen Borrower》
4 《Frilled Mystic》
4 《Nightpack Ambusher》
-Creature (28)-

4 《Opt》
4 《Once Upon a Time》
1 《Negate》
-Spell (9)-

3 《Veil of Summer》
3 《Mystical Dispute》
2 《Shifting Ceratops》
2 《Return to Nature》
1 《Faerie Duelist》
1 《Aether Gust》
1 《Disdainful Stroke》
1 《Negate》
1 《Once and Future》
-Sideboard (15)-

《Questing Beast》

Next up we have a card that seemingly has very little drawback outside of the fact that it’s legendary, and that’s 《Questing Beast》! This card seems quite good at killing planeswalkers, especially when you’re on the play since there are multiple 3 mana planeswalkers that are quite powerful in this format.

The most relevant ability of this card will likely be that it can’t be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less so it’s not a threat that your opponent can just chump block later in the game and will certainly be a tough card for 《Hero of Precinct One》 decks to play against. Given the aggressive nature of this card, I think it’d go best in a Gruul deck and this is what I would start with:

Christian Calcano
– Gruul

Sample Decklist

11 《Forest》
2 《Mountain》
4 《Stomping Ground》
4 《Fabled Passage》
2 《Rugged Highlands》
-Land (23)- 4 《Pelt Collector》
4 《Barkhide Troll》
4 《Paradise Druid》
4 《Zhur-Taa Goblin》
4 《Gruul Spellbreaker》
3 《Questing Beast》
4 《Skarrgan Hellkite》
-Creature (27)-

3 《Shock》
4 《Once Upon a Time》
3 《Domri, Anarch of Bolas》
-Spell (10)-

3 《Veil of Summer》
2 《Kraul Harpooner》
2 《Fry》
2 《Lava Coil》
2 《Domri’s Ambush》
2 《Flame Sweep》
2 《Cindervines》
-Sideboard (15)-

《The Royal Scions》

Up next is a card that has a ton of potential and fits nicely in an aggro control style deck and that’s 《The Royal Scions》! One of the three mana planeswalkers in this format that we can build around, this card’s abilities have many applications. Its looting ability gives us an additional discard outlet for a card like 《Arclight Phoenix》, triggers 《Improbable Alliance》 which both protects your planeswalker and lets you play offense with it’s second plus ability, and its ultimate ability gives your deck extra reach. Definitely a card I’m looking forward to trying out and this is what I’d start with:

Christian Calcano
– Izzet Phoenix

Sample Decklist

7 《Island》
4 《Mountain》
4 《Steam Vents》
3 《Fabled Passage》
4 《Temple of Epiphany》
1 《Mystic Sanctuary》
-Land (23)- 4 《Brazen Borrower》
4 《Merchant of the Vale》
4 《Arclight Phoenix》
-Creature (12)-

4 《Shock》
4 《Opt》
4 《Thrill of Possibility》
4 《Radical Idea》
1 《Winged Words》
4 《Improbable Alliance》
4 《The Royal Scions》
-Spell (25)-

4 《Fry》
4 《Narset, Parter of Veils》
2 《Irencrag Pyromancer》
2 《Negate》
1 《Beacon Bolt》
1 《Firemind’s Research》
1 《Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor》
-Sideboard (15)-

《Stormfist Crusader》

One of the themes of this new set is Knights, so there will definitely be some Knight decks in Standard which will likely fill the void left by Vampires rotating out. The Knight card that seems like the most powerful to me is 《Stormfist Crusader》. It’s an aggressive card with evasion whose ability not only benefits you first, but also addresses some of the issues with aggressive decks (running out of gas/flooding), as well as serves as a form of reach too. There are so many powerful Knight cards in all three colors that it’s tough to not start with a Mardu build:

Christian Calcano
– Mardu Knights

Sample Decklist

2 《Swamp》
2 《Plains》
1 《Mountain》
4 《Blood Crypt》
4 《Godless Shrine》
4 《Sacred Foundry》
4 《Tournament Grounds》
-Land (21)- 4 《Fervent Champion》
4 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》
4 《Venerable Knight》
4 《Corpse Knight》
4 《Inspiring Veteran》
4 《Stormfist Crusader》
4 《Worthy Knight》
1 《Order of Midnight》
1 《Smitten Swordmaster》
4 《Acclaimed Contender》
4 《Murderous Rider》
-Creature (38)-

1 《Unbreakable Formation》
-Spell (1)-

4 《Duress》
3 《Smitten Swordmaster》
3 《Legion’s End》
2 《Theater of Horrors》
1 《Blacklance Paragon》
1 《Mortify》
1 《The Circle of Loyalty》
-Sideboard (15)-

《Oko, Thief of Crowns》

The last card I’m going to talk about is one that a lot of people in the community believe is the best card in this set and that’s 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》! With one of the other main themes in this set being Food tokens, there are multiple ways to generate food tokens to enable your 《Gilded Goose》 for future turns, allow Oko to create 3/3s, and to grow your 《Woodland Champion》. 《Gilded Goose》 into Oko is a start that I believe we’ll be seeing for quite some time in this format, and this will be my first attempt at the archetype:

Christian Calcano
– Simic Food

Sample Decklist

8 《Forest》
4 《Gingerbread Cabin》
1 《Island》
4 《Breeding Pool》
4 《Fabled Passage》
2 《Temple of Mystery》
-Land (23)- 4 《Gilded Goose》
4 《Leafkin Druid》
4 《Woodland Champion》
3 《Hydroid Krasis》
4 《Risen Reef》
4 《Lovestruck Beast》
4 《Wicked Wolf》
2 《Cavalier of Thorns》
-Creature (29)-

1 《The Great Henge》
4 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》
3 《Nissa, Who Shakes the World》
-Spell (8)-

4 《Oakhame Adversary》
2 《Shifting Ceratops》
2 《Negate》
2 《Mystical Dispute》
2 《Trail of Crumbs》
1 《Mass Manipulation》
1 《Tamiyo, Collector of Tales》
1 《Vivien, Arkbow Ranger》
-Sideboard (15)-

Conclusion

There’s nothing like post rotation Standard that gets me excited to play as much Constructed as possible. With an entire PTQ season of Standard set to start soon, there’s plenty to be excited about and I’ll be fighting hard to try to secure my spot in the first Regional Player’s Tour of 2020!

I hope you have fun trying out some of these decks as well as whatever brews you might have as it’s a brewer’s world this early on in a new format! Best of luck in your events this season!

Calcano (Twitter)