Move over Stoneforge Modern! We have other new hotness to talk about today in Standard. Earlier this week we had Throne of Eldraine early access event and I was lucky enough to get a stocked Arena account. Two weeks ago I talked about some of my favorite spoilers, and I was able to put them to use to see if I was wrong (like usual).
More importantly I can go over cards to craft from the new set and which ones to wait on. These lists are broken down by rarity. Guidelines on how soon to craft and how many copies depend on which decks you want to build first. All of the “Immediate” crafts look to become format staples, so you can’t go too wrong crafting any of them. But you should focus on the colors and archetypes you prefer to play first.
Mythic Rare
Questing Beast impressed me greatly when I played it in a few decks. The card is incredibly efficient. I played two decks that included four copies of Questing Beast: Mono-Green Stompy and Reid Duke’s GB Midrange list. It overperformed in both archetypes.
Craft: Immediately
Copies: 4
The full cycle of Legendary artifacts are very powerful and looked good playing with and against them. The Great Henge, Embercleave, and The Circle of Loyalty struck me as the most played members of the cycle.
The Great Henge is essential to most green stompy decks. The ability to grow and also draw cards whenever a creature enters keeps the green deck going. Embercleave can act like Temur Battle Rage and combo-kill an opponent out of nowhere. Expect it to see play in aggressive Red or Knight strategies. The Circle of Loyalty is only for a Knight deck, but it is very good as an anthem and that produces its own threats.
Craft: Green, Red, and White immediately, Blue and Black later.
Copies: 2-3 each
We also get three new planeswalkers, and they have performed better than expected. It has been a long time since a three-mana planeswalker has been bad (I purposely try and ignore Jace, Cunning Castaway). Oko, Thief of Crowns and The Royal Scions surprised me. I don’t think there was any ever doubt about Oko, but I definitely didn’t see him being that good. The Royal Scions slots really well into the new UR Phoenix decks. It generates enough advantage by itself and goes to a whole lot of loyalty to not die.
Garruk, Cursed Huntsman also looks very good, but performed even better in practice. Any board stall or parity gets broken easily by Garruk. Plus he is a good finisher that puts four power in play every turn.
Craft: Immediately for Oko and Royal Scions, later as needed for Garruk
Copies: 4 for Oko and Royal Scions, 2-3 for Garruk
Rare
The most important rare is Fabled Passage. The mana in the new set is not great, so new Standard decks will have to play many basic lands. That makes Fabled Passage is a solid way to fix your mana. Evolving Wilds has been played in previous Standard formats, and this looks like a better version. Expect to see many two-color decks in Standard thanks to this card.
Craft: Immediately
Copies: 4
The full five-card rare land cycle is also good. I generally like snagging the lands as soon as a new set comes out because they will always be played. Since these lands will be played in any mono-colored deck and even two-color decks depending on the deck, I can see always needing them. They make good early investment on Arena for the next two years.
Craft: Immediately
Copies: 4 each
Murderous Rider performed as expected for me. In any black-based midrange deck this card will be very good to help deal with planeswalkers. It is also pretty big to have a threat built into a removal spell in decks like BW Knights potentially. I think that is where this card would shine.
Craft: Soon but not immediately
Copies: 4
Gilded Goose is yet another green card. Green is really good in Throne of Eldraine Standard, and this is another card that showcases it. This is a great mana dork that will be played in 99% of all green decks over the next two years. It has food synergy while also helping getting on the board faster. If you are planning on sleeving up green in the near future craft these bad boys—err geese.
Craft: Immediately
Copies: 4
Fires of Invention has a very broken feel to it. Cheating on mana usually creates some busted scenarios and this can do it with powerful engines like Niv-Mizzet Reborn. The correct build of the deck is still in flux, but you can expect something great to come out soon.
Craft: Hold off for now
Craft: 4 as needed
Uncommon
Let’s start with Glass Casket. I generally like these types of removal spells because they are flexible for both aggro and control decks. I can see this being played quite a bit going forward.
Craft: Soon
Copies: 4
Order of Midnight is another adventure card that could be very good. These cheap efficient spells that are also creatures help aggro decks so much. With the creature type Knight and with good Black aggro decks floating around, I can see this being played a lot.
Craft: Soon
Copies: 4
Common
Only one key common so far, but Golden Egg is secretly very powerful. Being colorless, it can fit in many decks; for example, artifacts-matter decks with Emry and Food-matters decks alongside Oko, Golden Goose, and Feasting Troll King. At worst the card cantrips and gains three life.
Crafting: Soon
Copies: 4
After it is all said and done, I know what I am crafting first. Do you?
Zack is a SCG grinder with one ultimate goal: getting to the Players Championship. Based out of NYC, you can find him in other cities every weekend trying to hit that goal. When he isn’t traveling he streams. Follow his journey on Twitter!