Standard Set Review: Streets of New Capenna

The new Standard set, Streets of New Capenna, has just been launched. Therefore, we bring the well-known set review, highlighting the main cards of each color and what to expect from their impact on the format. Overall, the set looks strong, with some cards with higher power level. Let's see below: Elspeth Resplendent depends on having multiple 3-cost or less creatures in the deck, but it's a good choice for a Mono White or Orzhov Midrange as a curve topper. Undoubtedly essential for Angel decks. Extraction Specialist is a good choice for aggressive decks removal-based strategies. It forces opponents to have sweepers or exile effects all the time. Other than that, 3 mana 3/2 has a good body to press on life totals. The only problem is that Mono White already has the three-drop slots with great creatures like Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Brutal Cathar and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. Giada, Font of Hope would be reasonable just for being a 2 mana 2/2 with flying and vigilance. But beyond that, she ramps up angels and scales the board with +1/+1 counters for each angel you control. Another must-have addition to Angel decks. Patch Up is interesting for reanimating some small creatures or a relevant three-drop, similar to Call of the Death-Dweller. I can see the card playing in some Metagame with many removals. Rumor Gatherer encounters the same problem as Specialist, being a three-drop for a deck which already has many other good creatures. Despite this, sit can generate a good card advantage to replenish resources in attrition matchups. Even the Score or the new Blue Sun's Zenith is the type of card that can be used to win in the late game by drawing 4 or more cards, giving you an irreversible advantage. A good tech for Control mirrors. A Little Chat is interesting for generating card advantage and being able to take advantage of useless creatures in the late game to generate more advantage with the ability of casualty 1 or even sacrifice tokens. I can't see a good deck for the card in Standard, but it could see play somewhere. Slip Out the Back is a good combat trick for Tempo decks. The phase out ability for a creature is useful for evading removals, but the problem is the same as the previous card, there is no deck it fits into. It synergizes with Goldspan Dragon by giving it a +1/+1 counter and generating a treasure token, but it doesn't seem like the most suitable tech type for these decks. Sanguine Spy can enter sacrifice decks as a form of card advantage, in addition to filtering the top. I see Rakdos, Orzhov tokens or Grixis using some copies of it to generate value. Its problem is that it depends on the board to work, but these decks with a low curve and plenty of tokens can easily meet this requirement. Tenacious Underdog for 2 mana is decent. What enhances it is its ability to be cast from the graveyard for the blitz cost and still draw a card in the next end step when it is sacrificed, providing an advantage in its own right. Big Score is basically Unexpected Windfall improved by only costing 1 red mana instead of 2, so should see play in decks with Goldspan Dragon or Treasures. Professional Face-Breaker in addition to having evasion, creates treasure tokens when you deal combat damage to the player and card advantage when you sacrifice a treasure. It looks like a great combination with Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Goldspan. Maybe it's one of the missing engines for Mono Red to become a deck. Rob the Archives is not a Light Up the Stage, but serves as a replacement. Likewise, it generates card advantage, giving more gas to aggressive decks. Bouncer's Beatdown covers one of Mono Green's biggest flaws, which is dealing with planeswalkers. It can also deal with creatures and at instant speed for just , if the target permanent is black. Luxurious Libation follows the same idea as Primal Might, pulling a lethal out of thin air with a creature gaining +X/+X until end of turn. However, this card is an instant, which makes the cantrip even more effective. Titan of Industry is quite heavy, but it can handle with 2 problems at once, being able to gain life, increase the board, destroy an enchantment/artifact or protect some creature, in addition to being a 7/7 trample and reach. I can imagine it as 1-of for Mono-Green or Gruul. Black Market Tycoon has synergy with treasure decks like Gruul Magda and Temur. It can be a good addition to these decks, as it makes it possible to speed up the game even more and trigger Magda. Brokers Ascendancy requires a deck built around it, but I think not only it is possible, we already have the Selesnya Ramp foundation for that. Splashing blue for the enchantment, counterspells and maybe some relevant blue creature can be a good payoff for the card. Forge Boss enters the category of interesting card with an already functional shell to the format, but perhaps too heavy to play. He is very synergistic in Rakdos Sacrifice, but the idea of ​​the deck is to have several low-cost cards to easily double or triple spells and gain in damage consistency. Forge Boss doesn't seem to fit very well for being a 4 drop, but I think the test with 1 or 2 copies is valid. Ob Nixilis, the Adversary is the most talked about card in the new set. Even before it was released, they were already asking for a ban for its potential to do numerous things. It is undeniable that making a turn 3 planeswalker + a non-legendary copy is quite strong, causing many problems to deal with. It gets even stronger if Esika's Chariot makes a copy of Ob Nixilis' token, leaving 3 planeswalkers on the board in the same turn. The upside is that its abilities on their own aren't so powerful, but 2 or 3 activations per turn obviously scales up, especially when the +1 directly attacks your opponent's life or hand. It will be tested in all possible combinations and has the potential to get out of control easily. Riveteers Ascendancy was yet another addition to sacrifice decks. Although we no longer have a Jund in the format, good cards came so that Rakdos can become a 3-color deck, and this Ascendancy is one of them. Riveteers Charm is probably the best of the cycle, as it has the most relevant effects. Can deal with creatures and planeswalkers, can generate card advantage, or exile target graveyard. If there is a Jund in the format, this card will be one of the main responsible for its viability. Tainted Indulgence comes as another source of advantage from cards with graveyard synergy. I don't think we have cards strong enough for an auto-mill deck to be relevant in the format, but just drawing 2 cards and discarding one for 2 mana is reasonable. Better than Siphon Insight? Probably not, unless your deck takes advantage of the graveyard, but it's worth the test. Void Rend is undoubtedly one of the best cards in the set for the format and makes Esper Planeswalkers even stronger. It breaks any interaction, and destroying any non-land permanent means dealing with any problem that isn't a manland. As for the artifacts from New Capenna, I didn't find any very relevant. Unlicensed Hearse has some prominence, but it still doesn't look good enough to see play in Standard. As for the lands, it is inevitable to mention that the Triomes will change the format (how much is yet unknown), but they substantially improve three-color decks' manabase and end up forcing deckbuilding for such combinations (just like it was with the Ikoria triome cycle). Given this option, I don't think common the lands that searches for basic lands are necessary, as basics always enter tapped, and the dual lands that enter tapped and draw card by paying 4 mana and sacrificing them. They seem slow in a format where we have well-defined curves.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed the analysis of the Streets of New Capenna cards. I have listed in the article the cards that seem to me to have the most potential to see play in Standard. And for you, do you think there was a letter missing or is there another bomb hidden in the collection? Leave your opinion in the comments below. Hugs and see you soon!