Standard: Top Decks from the First Post-Rotation Week

Welcome to the new Standard Season! hyperlink (Edge of Eternities) brought rotation and the possibility of a brand-new Metagame as new and old archetypes restructured between the departure of powerful staples from the old sets and the arrival of new features from the space-themed set to the competitive metagame.

The first Challenges took place in the format since the EOE's release on digital platforms on June 29th, showcasing a comprehensive Metagame with familiar choices standing out, while new strategies, such as Simic Counters, show potential to shape the competitive landscape.

In this article, we've compiled the top decks that emerged from Standard's Challenges this weekend!

Between the June bans and the rotation, the last few months haven't been kind to Red Aggro, but they maintain their status as a reliable pick, with three branches achieving results over the weekend:

The most notable among them is Gruul Aggro. The addition of compensates with Pawpatch Recruit as an efficient one-drop that provides two bodies with one card and Innkeeper's Talent to boost any creature every turn, grant built-in pseudo-protection, and trigger Emberheart Challenger's Valiant, thus complementing Manifold Mouse, which lost Heartfire Hero as one of its main targets.

Speaking of mice, Boros lists have been betting on Flowerfoot Swordmaster as a one-drop to replace Heartfire Hero, combined with the already known combination of Manifold Mouse, Emberheart Challenger, and adding Sheltered by Ghosts and Mabel, Heir to Cragflame that this splash offers for further interactions.

The new feature in this version is a card that wasn't on the radar past season: Whiskervale Forerunner guarantees a pseudo-Collected Company whenever it's targeted by a spell or ability you control this turn. Perhaps with cards like Shardmage's Rescue, we can better utilize what it has to offer each turn while protecting our threats.

Mono Red Aggro has significantly diversified its creatures from one list to another, but a consensus across all is the need to focus on going wide with one-drops and creatures with Haste instead of going big with Slickshot Show-Off and damage spells. The combination of Hired Claw with the aforementioned two-drops and Screaming Nemesis continues to pressure opponents and force the format to adapt and field cheap answers. With some three-color strategies emerging, Sunspine Lynx could be a great reason to stick with a monocolored deck as well.

Nova Hellkite was the main new addition to Red Aggro from Edge of Eternities, occasionally appearing in both the maindeck and sideboard of some lists as an impactful and evasive early-game threat that deals with the opponent's X/1 (and there are plenty of X/1 creatures these days) and then returns if the game extends to attack again and deal with another smaller threat or potential blocker.

Dimir Midrange was the most popular deck this weekend. It already had this position after the ban, and despite the losses it suffered from removals like Cut Down to card advantage and threats like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, it managed to rebuild following the primary line proposed by Enduring Curiosity and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares: have a bunch of cheap creatures with Flying and relevant ETBs that we can use to generate card advantage.

This strategy is reminiscent of Pauper's Faeries if it had a card that turned all creatures into Ninja of the Deep Hours, and the reason it works so well is that we have an efficient combination of cheap threats with relevant abilities and the payoffs for them to work while complementing the interaction package.

Tragic Trajectory is the new set's main addition to Dimir decks. With Spyglass Siren, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, and Floodpits Drowner, it's easy to enable Void to deal with any creature for one mana. In addition, Watery Grave has become a must-have for the mana base, alongside Starting Town.

Tragic Trajectory also starred in Esper Bounce for similar reasons as Dimir Midrange: it's even easier for it to trigger Void with Nurturing Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin alongside ETB effects, which now also include Cryogen Relic as a cheap "Draw 2".

The biggest addition to the archetype, however, was Cosmogrand Zenith. The new creature feels similar to Cori-Steel Cutter in this deck, as we can easily play two spells per turn and enable it easily between Bounce effects and Stock Up.

Combined with the number of creatures the archetype already runs and the ability for Zenith to fill the board with tokens every turn, it becomes an essential piece that restructures the way we play the archetype, making it less Tempo-oriented with Optimistic Scavenger and replacing it with a few more card advantage-focused lines.

Izzet Cauldron and Izzet Prowess remain relevant at the start of the new season, both starred mainly by Vivi Ornitier.

Besides the changes to the mana base, Izzet Cauldron had to adapt without Voldaren Thrillseeker, replacing it with Draconautics Engineer, whose interaction with Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Vivi Ornitier allows for creating an army of 4/4 dragons and giving them Haste, ideally winning the game in the same turn.

Izzet Prowess also didn't undergo many changes or have any major additions in Edge of Eternities, except for a few copies of Consult the Star Charts as one-of or two-of in some lists.

Mono Green Landfall dropped its name by adding a splash of and to Worldsoul's Rage and cards in the Sideboard, enabling them to be searched with a copy of a basic land for Fabled Passage and others without disrupting the list's consistency.

Worldsoul's Rage's advantage is that, in addition to the damage, it reuses sacrificed lands to search for others, allowing multiple instances of Landfall over two consecutive turns, often resulting in an unbeatable board position with our creatures and some combo-kill potential alongside Mossborn Hydra or Tifa Lockhart.

The splash guarantees Dragonback Assault, a card that functions as both a sweeper and an alternative win condition, as each land will create a 4/4 token with Flying. It can work both against archetypes we know we can't outrace on an Aggro mirror or against removal-oriented archetypes such as Azorius Control or Midrange variants.

Icetill Explorer has a similar function to Worldsoul's Rage: it allows replaying fetch lands and even using two of them per turn from the graveyard, operating almost like a slightly improvement to Traveling Chocobo since it enables the interactions that will typically make our creatures grow to colossal proportions in longer games.

Initially conceived by player Hamuda in one of the Challenges, Simic Counters achieved some results over the weekend and three Top 8 finishes in tournaments. It consists of a value-based Aggro/Tempo using Spyglass Siren and Sentinel of the Nameless City to increase the power of your creatures with +1/+1 counters, ideally using them on the new Ouroboroid, which easily gets out of control if it stays on the board for more than a turn.

The rest of the list is mechanically similar to what we see in Dimir Midrange with Enduring Curiosity, but trading interaction for more board presence, even though Bushwhack works as spot removal and Into the Flood Maw guarantees an efficient Tempo play.

Azorius Control

Azorius Control achieved some specific results and received several additions: the new Seam Rip to replace Lay Down Arms, Pinnacle Starcage that performs a similar role to Temporary Lockdown, and Consult the Star Charts as a card advantage tool alongside Stock Up.

Azorius Blink

Azorius Blink was one of the first new decks of the season and has enough potential if we make the appropriate changes. Its game plan involves utilizing the Warp mechanics with Anticausal Vestige and Quantum Riddler alongside Blink effects like Charming Prince to cheat on mana costs.

The above version seems to try a bit too hard and forget to interact with opponents enough, and cards like Splash Portal could be swapped out for Parting Gust if necessary, but the theme is fun and has potential in the coming weeks.

Orzhov Sacrifice

Orzhov Sacrifice received important additions with Umbral Collar Zealot, an unconditional and repeatable sacrifice effect that interacts with Raise the Past, and Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar as an extra win condition that offers a pseudo-Vindicate if sacrificed with four or more power.

Naya Yuna

The only addition to the new set for Naya Yuna at the moment is Seam Rip as a cheap removal. Furthermore, the format's Big Mana has yielded less than impressive results this weekend and may need to readjust to maintain its relevance in the Metagame.

Bant Omniscience

Yuna, Hope of Spira also makes appearances in an Omniscience variant attempting to replicate Abuelo's Awakening and the enchantment to perform loops that eventually culminate in a combo win.

The list is mostly Azorius with a slight splash of for the main effect capable of reanimating enchantments in Standard today. If there's an advantage to it for opponents, it's the need to wait a full turn cycle to perform loops after reanimating Omniscience, opening up a potential window for interaction.

Rakdos Midrange

A Rakdos Midrange running low-cost two-for-one effects with Dark Confidant and Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate also appeared in one of the Challenges with results, offering a variant of the archetype that hasn't been widely explored yet, both in versions with , with other colors and/or even Mono Black with Archmage's Charm.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!