Metagame: 8 Standard Decks That Survives the 2025 Rotation

Standard rotation is approaching, and a dozen decks will be leaving with it with the release of Edge of Eternities. Among the main departures are the Domain Overlords and Boros Convoke archetypes, whose core cards will be leaving the format, while others like Jeskai Oculus may struggle to establish themselves without key pieces like Recommission or due to the mana base losses of three-color decks, which will lose allied Fast Land cycles and all Pain Lands.

On the other hand, there are archetypes that will partially or completely survive the rotation and may even improve their position in the Standard Metagame at the start of the season. Strategies like Mono White Tokens and Mono Green Landfall lose virtually no cards, while Gruul Aggro, Dimir Midrange, and Izzet Cauldron can adapt to the new Metagame. In this article, we explore eight Standard decks that will survive the new season.

Mono White Caretaker

Mono White Caretaker is a control deck that combines a go-wide plan with sweepers to hold the board until Beza, the Bounding Spring and Elspeth, Storm Slayer dominate the game. Its biggest loss from rotation is cards like Sunfall—which we have a similar card in Edge of Eternities with Beyond the Quiet—and Lay Down Arms, which, despite not having a viable replacement, can be swapped out for Elspeth's Smite or similar to deal with aggro.

The sideboard, for the most part, also doesn't suffer major losses from rotation, but this will also depend on how the format adapts to the new changes. Destroy Evil could become Exorcise, and Temporary Lockdown also gained a good replacement in the new set.

Mono Green Landfall

Mono Green Landfall started as a Combo deck and is gradually moving towards a traditional Aggro line. Its plan involves using the format's various creatures with the Landfall ability to snowball on the opponent. Instead of pumps, they rely on the permanent power of each creature, while still having the combo-kill potential of Tifa Lockhart or Mossborn Hydra.

With Bushwhack reprinted in Foundations and the entire maindeck immune to rotation, the challenges lie in the sideboard, but Tail Swipe can easily be replaced by Hard-Hitting Question, while Vivien Reid can fulfill the role of Nissa, Ascended Animist in the list, albeit with less board control in exchange for the flexibility of also dealing with flying threats.

Gruul Aggro

The Red Aggro that best adapted to the bans, Gruul Aggro, primarily loses its mana base: Karplusan Forest and Copperline Gorge leave Standard on August 1, and Edge of Eternities compensates for this loss with a reprint of Stomping Ground, while Karplusan Forest has a direct replacement in Starting Town, which also fulfills the role of Copperline Gorge as an early land drop.

The biggest problem for the new season is in the Sideboard, especially with Urabrask's Forge, which still doesn't have a direct replacement for longer games. Cards like Connecting the Dots can make a good impression, but they don't solve the problem of games where the opponent has too many removals, while Case of the Crimson Pulse also doesn't work as well without specific modifications to help empty the hand.

Boros Burn

Boros Burn is another Red Aggro variant and should become more popular, especially in in-person tournaments at local stores, due to the increased circulation of Slickshot Show-Off with the Store Championship prize reprint. Its biggest loss will be Monastery Swiftspear since Battlefield Forge can be replaced with Sacred Foundry, and the ideal one-drop for the deck will probably be Ghitu Lavarunner if there isn't another equivalent in Edge of Eternities.

The sideboard also loses Urabrask's Forge, but Case of the Crimson Pulse is a more effective replacement in this list with so many cheap proactive spells, and the ease of emptying the hand makes it a constant source of card advantage that will always bring more creatures or more spells to deal damage to the opponent, with no compromise between them.

Izzet Prowess

Except for a few sideboard choices—which the archetype will need to adapt to with new decks—Izzet Prowess retains virtually all the cards that kept it viable after the bans, and the only loss to the mana base with Shivan Reef can and will likely be replaced with Starting Town until the eventual reprint of Steam Vents in a future set.

Izzet Cauldron

Izzet Cauldron will also need to make small changes in the mana base, and in this case, perhaps a full Thundering Falls set is an option. The archetype's biggest challenge will be finding the right card for the slot belonging to Voldaren Thrillseeker, which allows for some efficient combo-kills when exiled alongside Vivi Ornitier with Agatha's Soul Cauldron — which can be a considerable loss if there isn't a card that offers a similar ability. Draconautics Engineer, or another card that efficiently utilizes Vivi's extra mana, could be a viable replacement for this playstyle, but it doesn't win games out of nowhere like an exiled Voldaren does.

Orzhov Slasher

Caves of Koilos is a considerable loss for a deck that wants to consistently generate , but Godless Shrine replaces that slot easily, leaving us to figure out which removals will be most effective in the format without Cut Down and Go for the Throat. While the two-mana slot will likely be replaced by Shoot the Sheriff, Stab or Tragic Trajectory seem like the most effective options to replace Cut Down.

The main point of this archetype in the new season is that the Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz combo, so far, is one of the most unfair game plans in the new format, while also complementing a fair strategy with Unholy Annex and a mix of removals, discards, and complementary threats that may or may not change as the Metagame unfolds.

Naya Yuna

Naya Yuna has grown since the Up the Beanstalk ban, and the archetype is practically ready for the new Standard season as one of the potentially best decks in the format. The mana base already takes post-rotation into account, and, except for a few specific sideboard slots in some lists, it's easy to swap picks like Nissa, Ascended Animist for other cards.

This is very likely to be one of the best decks in Standard during the early Edge of Eternities season, and perhaps for longer if the Metagame doesn't move too quickly. It remains to be seen whether it will have room to prey on Midrange like its predecessors, or if Yuna, Hope of Spira is a bit too fair when compared to Zur, Eternal Schemer.

That's all for today!

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Thanks for reading!