Standard: 10 Cards to keep an eye on 2022 Post-Rotation

We are just one day away from the official preview season for Dominaria United, and just under a month to go until the fateful rotation that will take Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Strixhaven and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms from Standard and, along with them, countless staples that defined the format in the last year.

Several iconic cards leave will the Metagame and make room for a new universe of possibilities that expands even more with the arrival of the new set in September. But before we get into the official season, how about we take a look at what the older sets that remain in the format have to offer?

Therefore, today I bring a list of ten cards that I believe we can keep an eye on for the competitive potential they have in the post rotation - either because they see some play in the current format, or if they fit a certain strategy or archetype that can come back or continue to have relevance on the next season.

However, I won't mention obvious options that have already established themselves as staples, like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or The Wandering Emperor — instead, I want to make room for less common options, or that just gained visibility recently in some specific strategies, but haven't established themselves as a major staple for now.

Another important point to consider is that this article is being written with little or no knowledge of Dominaria United's cards other than those that have already been revealed, and there is still no way to accurately measure the impact the new set will have upon its release. Therefore, I am only considering the individual potential of each card within the current context.

The Restoration of Eiganjo seems like a redundant, low-impact effect, but it's extremely decent when you play it if your strategy focuses on extending the game.

The white saga from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty initially works for the same purpose as The Birth of Meletis by guaranteeing your land drop the next turn — especially turn 4, where you might need it to cast a sweeper or The Wandering Emperor — and its next ability might have a low impact in a Control deck if there's no way to exploit it, but interacts well with permanents that sacrifice themselves for some extra effect, or Mnemonic Sphere's Channel, granting three draws with a two-card combination, and its transformation creates a 3/4 body that generates a lot of pressure if unanswered or if the opponent's battlefield is empty, as every attack or block with it will mean another 1/1 token in play.

Given the high amount of benefits with a single card, its inclusion in Midrange or Control decks can easily become an option, or even a must, for these archetypes. Therefore, I consider that The Restoration of Eiganjo has enough potential to become a staple on the next Standard.

Soul Transfer saw a bit of play on the Maindeck or Sideboard of Grixis Vampires, but it never really became a staple. However, if its requirements are met, it easily becomes one of the most powerful removals you can cast for three mana.

In a format where Fable of the Mirror-Breaker will certainly be a format-defining card, and with the premise of artifacts and enchantments being greatly benefited in recent releases, Soul Transfer is easily a Kolaghan's Command mode at Sorcery-Speed ​​that allows you to exile something and still return a creature or Planeswalker to your hand.

Unless the format gets too fast and less value-oriented — whether for the prevalence of a combo, or the popularity of Aggro — this Neon Dynasty spell is a pretty decent removal on its own while offering a torrent of card advantage should you return a high-impact permanent to your hand, as well as interacting well with the next card on the list.

Bloodthirsty Adversary, or the Snapcaster Mage we have at home, is an aggressive two-drop that has been growing in popularity with the advent of Boros Aggro and with some copies being used in Grixis Vampires. But for a card with so much playability, it didn't get as much public spotlight this season due to the ubiquitous powerhouse called Goldspan Dragon, where in a direct comparison, Bloodthirsty Adversary just looked mediocre.

With the absence of Goldspan Dragon and the potential replacement being Shivan Devastator, I can imagine situations where both creatures play together, or where a certain archetype prefers to turn to Bloodthirsty Adversary for its flexibility and 2-for-1 potential in exchange for evasion and some extra late-game power.

Reckless Impulse is a powerful card draw to red if you compare it directly to similar effects in other colors, and was overshadowed the entire season due to how absurd Expressive Iteration is.

Casting an unconditional Light up the Stage for two mana is important not only to give Aggro decks more breath, but also for more proactive Midranges, or lists that can take advantage of exiled cards the next turn without major problems, while this spell also helps to secure the land drops needed to establish your game plan.

So, in a general context, I think the pros of Reckless Impulse outweigh its cons for many strategies, and unless Standard focuses too much on long-term card advantage with stacking permanents on the board one after another, giving few chances for cheap spells to have their place, I imagine it will most likely find a home in the Metagame.

Without Hinata, Dawn-Crowned doing Hinata things with Magma Opus and forcing the format to play under or interact too much, Ramp strategies may finally return to the Metagame and that means spells like Wrenn and Seven, Storm the Festival and Titan of Industry can once again have their place in the competitive scene.

However, this also demand that good Ramp spells come into being, and besides the new Llanowar Loamspeaker, I believe that Topiary Stomper is one of the best — if not the best next to The Celestus — mana accelerator that Standard has available today, as it offers a guaranteed jump from three to five available mana the next turn, and as the game goes on, it also offers a 4/4 body for a low cost.

Unless there are options that favor multicolored strategies (such as Cultivate), since they favor combinations based on New Capenna's families, I believe that Topiary Stomper will be the most solid option to guarantee the cast of Wrenn and Seven or any other 5-cost bomb a turn earlier than planned, plus it interacts well with Standard's other big green Ramp payoff.

Storm the Festival, or the "big Collected Company", is a Mono-Green Devotion staple in Pioneer for putting any permanent with a mana value of five or less onto the battlefield — and had some space in the Standard earlier this season, but it was soon dropped due to the lack of interaction.

But with the possibility of Ramp strategies growing in the Metagame with the absence of Jeskai Hinata — and we hope that, this time, there won't be another absurd combo to break the format — Storm the Festival becomes yet another option worthy of being considered in the next Standard alongside the most varied Planeswalkers, or any other creature, enchantment or artifact that generates an immediate impact, such as Arlinn, the Pack's Hope, The Wandering Emperor, among a multitude of other options available, or that may still arise with Dominaria United.

So, due to this latent potential that already has great payoffs in the most recent sets, I believe that if we see new Ramp decks emerging, Storm the Festival will be the most absurd thing they can make.

Going back to the Control spectrum, a blue and red deck is extremely decent for the next season as it doesn't demand as much complexity as a three-color manabase does, and it doesn't lack payoffs to work: in addition to cheap interaction and counterspells, the base which consists of Wandering Mind, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Burn Down the House and Hullbreaker Horror is solid enough to make Izzet Control a possibility.

To give it more solidity and consistency, Arcane Infusion is a great card selection that works both early in the game to find, at instant-speed, that sweeper or removal needed on turn 2, and to find some other complementary late-game effect through Flashback. Its only flaw is being limited to Instants and Sorceries, but we can mitigate this issue if our wincondition involves spells like Burn Down the House and/or we have other card advantage effects to find creatures or Planeswalkers.

Arlinn, the Pack's Hope is a very decent four-drop. She already comes into play placing two tokens on the battlefield, helps play around Counterspells, and her night side ramps up or becomes a wincondition on her own — absolutely everything she does is good.

But this last season, Arlinn has been eternally overshadowed by Esika's Chariot — which I'm surprised has gone the entire season without being banned — and without the Kaldheim artifact, she might have more relevance on Aggro or Midrange decks that care about establishing a tough board position to punish 1-for-1 trades.

Much of the support for Oni-Cult Anvil remains in the format after rotation: Voldaren Epicure, Bloodtithe Harvester, Experimental Synthesizer, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and The Meathook Massacre are the base cards for Rakdos Sacrifice in the current Standard and allow this uncommon artifact to work in the next season, with its only loss being Deadly Dispute, which has a high replacement potential from not-so impacting, but still useful effects like Reckoner's Bargain or Reckless Impulse.

In addition, this archetype also has a huge variety of synergistic options, ranging from Ob Nixilis, the Adversary to Sokenzan Smelter, not to mention what else Dominaria can offer to make an artifact-driven strategy a solid option in the Metagame.

Finally, we have Reckoner Bankbuster — an artifact that has already been widely played on the Sideboard or even the Maindeck of some lists to have an edge on attrition matchups, and whose potential can be amplified to even more decks in the next Standard since, as it is a colorless and cheap artifact with a relevant body in combat, the vehicle can retain different uses during the game by working for both beatdown and long-term card advantage.

Will it be a maindeck staple? Probably not, as there are more interesting options in many strategies and few slots to be able to take advantage of its mana sink abilities in any match, but it is very likely that Reckoner Bankbuster will keep its Sideboard staple status for in most archetypes against Midrange or Control. So, you'll definitely need this card in the next season unless Dominaria United has a better option that's just as universally useful as this artifact.

Honestly, when I drew up the list of cards whose potential grows with rotation and/or had the potential to become future staples, there were over 50 names on it with little notes of "why it might get better next season?". Among them, I chose those that seemed most interesting to me, or whose potential doesn't depend on what can come to improve them in Dominaria United, but on the fact that even better options don't emerge with the new release.

Time and the spoiler season starting this Thursday will tell which way Standard will take in early September, and we'll be watching closely how the Metagame adapts in the first few weeks of the upcoming new Standard.

Thanks for reading!