As many of you may know, Standard rotation is underway. Midnight Hunt, Crimson Vow, Kamigawa, and Streets of New Capenna have all left Standard. Meanwhile, Bloomburrow cards will be joining the party very soon.
Interestingly, though, there’s a weird window this weekend where, despite the fact that Bloomburrow cards aren’t available on Magic Online yet for tournaments, the sets listed above have still rotated. As such, we actually got our first glimpse at what archetypes might thrive or die out in post-rotation Standard.
Of course, the addition of Bloomburrow cards later this week could easily bring changes. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of important information to take away from recent events. To kick things off, we want to discuss a strategy that had a surprisingly strong showing: Domain. This deck was heavily affected by rotation but failed to die out as many players expected it might. In fact, the finals of a Magic Online Standard Challenge yesterday showcased a mirror match. This deck’s still good folks, whether we like it or not.
What Makes Domain So Dominant?
- Mana Value: 3WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: Exile all creatures. Incubate X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Create an Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it and “2: Transform this artifact.” It transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian Artifact creature).
Domain having this strong of a run post-rotation is primarily surprising because of the loss of various “Triomes” from Streets of New Capenna. Prior to rotation, this deck also utilized playsets of cards like Spara’s Headquarters, which were extremely important to the deck’s main game plan.
First of all, these tri-lands made it easy to have access to all five colors of mana as the game goes on. Second, because these lands had three different basic land types, they enabled Leyline Binding to be cast as early as turn two. Losing them is certainly a big deal, but it appears the deck managed to stay afloat by largely replacing them with Surveil lands from Murders at Karlov Manor.
These lands only have two basic land types, so they aren’t as reliable. Regardless, almost the entire rest of the deck remains intact. The deck may be a bit slower on average now, but from a metagame perspective, this isn’t too big of a deal. Part of the reason that this deck thrived this weekend is that it beats up on slower black midrange decks.
Golgari midrange lost very little to rotation and was already elite, so it’s unsurprising that many players registered the deck. Domain’s mix of ramp and impactful top-end combined with the presence of Sunfall makes the matchup very strong. Meanwhile, mono-red aggro, a deck that can punish Domain with blazing speed, lost a lot of its luster with the rotation of Kumano Faces Kakkazan and Play with Fire. Perhaps Bloomburrow additions will help give aggro decks a new lease on life, but for now, Domain is in a great spot.
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Other Intriguing Observations
- Mana Value: 4W
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/4
- Text: Convoke. When Knight-Errant of Eos enters the battlefield, look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal up to two creature cards with mana value X or less from among them, where X is the number of creatures that convoked Knight-Errant of Eos. Put the revealed cards into your hand, then shuffle.
Beyond Domain and various midrange piles, there were a couple of other decks present in tournaments this weekend that are worth mentioning. Boros Convoke was in an interesting spot. Most of the deck has stayed legal, but losing Voldaren Epicure is a bit problematic. This makes Gleeful Demolition, the card that leads to the most explosive starts, much less consistent.
While some players still registered Boros Convoke with Yotian Frontliner and fewer copies of Gleeful Demolition, one player actually won another Magic Online Standard Challenge splashing blue for Spyglass Siren. This gives the deck another one-drop artifact producer.
Another strategy that put up solid results was Gruul aggro. Unlike mono-red, this variant is less reliant on Kumano Faces Kakkazan and Play with Fire. Instead, the deck is more focused on pairing Monastery Swiftspear and Slickshot Show-Off with pump spells, such as Monstrous Rage and Audacity.
It’ll be cool to see how the introduction of Bloomburrow cards to Magic Online will change the metagame for next weekend. Could we see some major shifts? Only time will tell.
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