Standard: 5 Decks to Prepare for Rotation

The new Standard season is approaching. Starting August 2, with the arrival of Bloomburrow, the format rotation will take away four sets that have greatly impacted the Metagame - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna.

Given the prevalence of some of its cards and the arrival of potential new staples in Bloomburrow, players may worry about investing too much in a deck that may not survive the Standard rotation if they invest in them now.

Therefore, in this article, I present five decks that can survive the rotation with few adjustments and whose competitive results are stable and/or can grow in the new format!

Azorius Artifacts

The Azorius Artifact loses very little with rotation. Outside Deserted Beach and Depopulate, most of its core cards remain in the list, while its core, coming from The Brothers War and Lost Caverns of Ixalan, remains intact and continues to receive supports such as the recently released Simulacrum Synthesizer.

Its tap-out strategy fits well into a more reactive stance to the Metagame, with cheap removals that interact directly with its game plan, as well as a fast and efficient clock if Synthesizer comes into play early.

Azorius Flash

Azorius Control becomes notoriously worse without The Wandering Emperor and Memory Deluge, and perhaps the solution to “draw-go” in the future Standard will be in a more proactive combination of cards with Azorius Flash, which also received excellent supports with Aven Interrupter and Stoic Sphinx.

The combination of cheap threats with evasion and counterspells is inherent to this type of strategy, and the game's latest expansions did an impressive job of adding several cards with Flash and a lot of value, such as Tishana's Tidebinder alongside cheap counterspells, such as No More Lies.

Golgari Midrange

Black midranges will be possible in Standard as long as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse remains in the format. The Rakdos, Dimir or Orzhov variants lose some important pieces with rotation, such as The Wandering Emperor, Bloodtithe Harvester and Make Disappear, but the Golgari version not only loses the least pieces but is also the one that is easiest to replace cards.

Tranquil Frillback, for example, is more flexible in an open Metagame and can be used to saddle Caustic Bronco, while removals and discards from the list can be exchanged for other pieces or creatures depending on the post-rotation Metagame needs while the “Crime package” with Kaervek, the Punisher and Gisa, the Hellraiser remains intact in future Standard.

The combination of efficient ETB effects, Planeswalkers, removals and powerful threats will probably make one of the best combinations among the Midranges in the format, in addition to being a deck that has shown good results in the current season without depending so much on the cards that will rotate.

Gruul Aggro

If in doubt, go for Aggro.

Gruul Aggro was a strategy that stood out after the release of Slickshot Show-Off in Outlaws of Thunder Junction and continues to produce good results in both Best of One and Best of Three. Due to its flexibility of pieces needed to function, the number of cards that could replace Kumano Faces Kakkazan, Ancestral Anger and Play with Fire is relatively large.

Vindictive Flamestoker, which replaced Kumano in this version, helps the deck to have more late-game traction if it remains in play and/or helps spend the opponent's resources on less aggressive cards while Slickshot Show-Off and Questing Druid do the work of pressuring them. Additionally, cards like Demonic Ruckus and Lightning Strike are other viable options for the list.

There's no doubt that Aggro strategies are excellent in the first few weeks of a new format, and of the options available in Standard today, Gruul seems the most resilient against rotation.

Gruul Dinosaurs

Going to the “go big” side, Gruul Dinosaurs seems like a viable alternative for players who want to play “on top” of Midranges, but don't want to suffer too much against Aggro.

Its mana base is efficient even after rotation thanks to the insertion of Cavern of Souls to add more consistency, while cards like Ixalli's Lorekeeper, Glimpse the Core and Hulking Raptor help casting greater threats as the game progresses.

Gruul Dinosaurs is also an excellent Smuggler’s Surprise deck and does not lose consistency in the same way as the Terror of the Peaks versions, whose absence of Topiary Stomper might hinder its game plan.

Another advantage of Dinosaurs is that, since it focuses on a specific creature type, it is very difficult for several Bloomburrow cards to enter the deck outside the generic scope, such as a more efficient ramp and/or a removal, or a powerful Planeswalker, making it a safe investment for next season.

That's all for today.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for reading!