Alex Hamilton: Dominaria, My Old Friend
Hello True Believers!
Today I have a short list of cards that I am excited about from Dominaria. While looking at these cards I tried to focus on Standard, though I might have gotten sidetracked occasionally…
Here we go!
White
My lady has returned!!! This card harkens back to my dear friend Baneslayer Angel. While lacking the protections that her predecessor had, this bringer of the dawn makes racing very difficult. Not only does she have lifelink, but she gives a boost to your other Angels and grants them lifelink as well. While I am not sure how relevant this ability will be in Standard, I am pretty sure she will see constructed play.
What deck does this card fit in?
It is possible that we could see Lyra in the God Pharaoh’s Gift decks as additional copies of Angel of Invention, or we could see this in the sideboard of control decks.
Midrange decks in Modern only flourish when they have things to do with their mana at different stages of the game. Shalai comes down on 4 and starts activating on 6. I have seen a few Naya Monsters decks picking up steam lately and this could slot into them naturally. But, it doesn’t stop there! Shalai gives you, your planeswalkers, and other creatures you control hexproof. So if your opponents want to kill your other cards, Shalai has to go first, very noble of her.
Blue
This card has always impressed me with how it can affect a format. It’s especially impactful when you have sets with graveyard synergies. However, it is possible that we might have to wait for this card to see some play because it will have to compete with Censor. Let’s compare the two cards:
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Censor Only requires one Blue mana. Early Game: Will counter any spell an opponent plays for only two mana. Cycles to help hit lands drops. Mid/Late Game: Can only counter a spell if opponent taps out, but you still pay two mana. Cycles into a random card. |
Syncopate
Only requires one Blue mana. Early Game: Will counter any spell an opponent plays while paying two mana. Exiles spells it counters. Mid/Late Game: Can counter a spell if you can pay more than the opponent’s open mana, will rarely cost two mana. |
As you can see from the above table, Syncopate does not lose the ability to counter spells in the late game, but it becomes much less efficient, making it vulnerable to cheap counterspells like Negate, Jace’s Defeat, and possibly Censor. If we see this and Censor in a format together then Syncopate will likely be relegated to the shadows until the former rotates.
This is my pick for one of the best arts in the set. Blink of an Eye is a functional reprint of Into the Roil. That card was part of the initial build of the infamous Caw-Blade. This card has some interesting implications for decks like Grixis Energy. Previously these decks were more than a little weak to cards like Ixalan’s Binding and other enchantments. Now all the player has to do is draw a copy of Blink of an Eye and they get their God back, so they can gain value by kicking it. Previously, decks like this had to rely on Commit// Memory to deal with these troublesome permanents.
Black
This card looks really interesting. I will say I am not sure this will replace Moment of Craving, but it could be an option if there is a Bx aggro deck in this Standard format. It is an efficient card that can kill the majority of the relevant creatures in Standard, including Hazoret, at the small cost of two mana and sometimes a creature.
I have heard this card compared to Ultimate Price and I think that’s a pretty good comparison. A two mana “hard” removal spell will almost always see play in Standard. Much like Ultimate Price, if there are many legendary creatures, such as The Scarab God, that see heavy Standard play you need to re-think maxing out on Cast Down.
Red
I am not sure if this card will see a ton of Standard play, but it looks insane and can be very powerful. Normally “Fireball” type cards divide the damage if they have more than one target or you have to jump through some hoops to make it good. This one does require you to have a legend in play, but, looking at this set, that might not be too difficult to accomplish. The synergies between this and the new Jaya Planeswalker are pretty obvious and a real flavor slam dunk.
It is pretty evident that Wizards is not messing around. They want Goblins to come back, and with a vengeance. It will be really cool to see a Goblins deck in Standard and, if there is one, you can bet that it will feature these two cards. (Also this is the first time Goblin Warchief will be legal in Modern… just a thought.)
Green
Alright, so I know this isn’t the most impressive green card ever printed, however it does force people to respect it and does a pretty good job at letting you play a turn ahead. This elf will see play and it will help you cast some pretty sweet cards.
Colorless
Alright, so this card is busted. The most interesting thing about this card is that it can retrieve cards that were exiled with other copies of it. That will probably lead to people aggressively -1’ing him to make their futures copies even better. This Karn can definitely provide card advantage over a long game.
This card was a mistake. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, why in blazes would they print another Mox? It’s always a mistake. This Mox will reward you for playing cheaper legends. I think the easiest deck to slot this into is Mono Red. It will be pretty sweet to go Kari Zev into one drop on turn 2.
Multi-Color
Oh, boy. Teferi is back and he learned some new tricks! Well, not really, because blinking (or phasing) was always his thing. Many people have compared this card to Ob Nixilis, Reignited. I am not sure that is really fair, but it is as close as you are going to get. His +1 ability makes him cheaper and draws you a card. What really sparked my attention was his -1. Not only does it say non-land permanent but it also sends it to the library third from the top. This can deal with any number of troublesome permanents that your opponents throw in your path.
Lands
The buddy lands have been one of the strongest cycles of rare lands in the history of modern Magic, especially when they are paired with the cycle duals. I am very excited to see what weird mana we will get to play in Standard with them.
That’s all folks!
Again this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of good cards in Standard, just ones I am excited for. Hopefully Dominaria will shake up Standard and let us see some sweet new decks rise to the top.
Alexander Hamilton is a grinder from Chicago who is well-known for his love of Legacy. However, if there is a competitive event in any format in the Chicagoland area, expect him to be there playing Magic and making terrible puns, and not necessarily in that order.
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