Aether Revolt is out in full. I don’t remember the last time we had a set so strong. Aether Revolt introduces so many new and powerful cards that beg to be built around. Cards like Paradox Engine, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, and Gonti's Aether Heart all reward you heavily for building decks around them. Today I’m going to be talking about decks that I’m excited to build and try out. These aren’t tuned and tested decks but keep in mind nobody has that right now, unless they are just importing a deck that was previously good and adding a couple of new cards to it. Even if they do that, things have changes in Standard. We’ve recently had some cards banned. What does this mean? A lot! Emrakul, the Promised End and Smuggler's Copter shaped the format. Now that they are gone and we have new cards, many possibilities open. Let’s go over the banning really quick and then we can dive into brewing.

The Banned Cards

Emrakul was oppressive against all decks, but especially midrange and control decks. When playing a midrange or control deck you always had to worry about the ever looming Emrakul, even with countermagic it still meant that you got Mindslavered. It was very easy to recur in B/G Delirium if it wasn’t exiled and Aetherworks Marvel decks could get her out as early as turn four. Even if they couldn’t totally wreck your hand or board they still would have a 13/13 flying creature with trample that you had to deal with. Gross.

Emrakul being banned means control and midrange decks get better overall while the aggressive decks get a little worse since your opponent had an 8+ drop and that is good when you’re trying to kill them as soon as possible and way before they have the chance to play Emrakul. Even off Aetherworks Marvel I’d be more frightened of an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger removing my two best permanents and blocking or an Ishkanah, Grafwidow that will not only block all my creatures but also give my opponent energy as they block and kill my creatures.

Personal Thoughts on the banning

I personally believe Emrakul didn’t need to be banned. I think Aetherworks Marvel was the bigger culprit as any eldrazi on turn four is going to be game ending. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy with the banning. Being Mindslavered is never fun, attaching that to a 13/13 flier and it’s even worse; the extra turn doesn’t even matter. I can’t foresee Wizards of the Coast printing a Mindslaver affect any time in the foreseeable future.

The banning of Smuggler's Copter is by far the biggest change in Standard. The helicopter could slide into basically every deck except Control. It was a 3/3 flier that lived through board wipes. On top of living through board wipes it also looted for you when it attacked or blocked. This meant it triggered Madness very well, made sure you had a stocked graveyard, and insured you hit your land drops early while hitting your good spells mid to late game. Especially since you could just loot away your lands in the late game. It was an aggressive Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, that wasn’t legendary, and while looting just killed your opponent . . . 

This card being banned changes the format a lot. Decks that played it must think twice about keeping land light or land heavy hands since they won’t be able to just loot them away. It also means Shock will now see considerably more play. It not being able to kill Smuggler's Copter was going to be a huge strike against Shock. Graveyard strategies that played Prized Amalgam are going to have to find a different discard outlet, most likely Key to the City. Key to the City may make their creatures unblockable but it doesn’t apply nearly as much pressure as Smuggler's Copter did. This in turn will give control and midrange decks much more breathing room.

Personal Thoughts on the banning

While I did not see this banning coming, I’m glad it happened. Control decks were already in a bad spot because of how oppressive Gideon, Ally of Zendikar was against control decks. Top that off with a 3/3 flier that you can’t kill with a board wipe but one you must kill on turn three or four, otherwise you risk it getting out of hand, and control is dead. I honestly wish Gideon, Ally of Zendikar got the axe too. He doesn’t allow other Planeswalkers to see play that could if he didn’t exist. Something like Dovin Baan is great, but even the U/W decks won’t play Dovin because Gideon is just so much more powerful. Even Bant decks running Tamiyo, Field Researcher will try to fit a couple of Gideons into their deck for the same reasons, he’s just that game changing.

This banning I also did not see coming. I would’ve thought that it might’ve gotten the axe while Collected Company was legal, but not after. However, it’s a very annoying creature for all creature decks. The tempo it provided was extremely good and not fun. People like to play Magic and when you don’t let them, be it via land destruction, Mindslavers, counterspells, or by not allowing them to play creatures, then you have a problem. People didn’t want to play Standard because it wasn’t fun. In fact, many players were trying to make a new format called “Frontier” because they weren’t enjoying Standard and, to a lesser extent, Modern. Reflector Mage being out of Standard means aggro and midrange decks get better. You also won’t auto lose now when you draw three of the same creature and have the first one bounced by Reflector Mage.

Personal Thoughts on the banning

I don’t think this card needed to be banned because of power levels. However, if we are banning it because of how unfun it is, then I can understand that. While Reflector Mage did not affect me or the decks I tend to play, I’m not sad about its absence.

I like everything about the banning and how they will now also be evaluating Standard five weeks after a Pro Tour. It means they will keep Standard healthy and, what’s more important, they’ll keep it fun.

All right, enough about the bannings. Let’s talk about new Standard. I believe Baral's Expertise is going to be the best and most played Expertise out of the whole cycle. The tempo it can provide is not to be underestimated. So, I want to start with a deck that uses that card and can benefit from not only the free spell being cast, but the time it provides. This is where I am currently at.

Rainbow Road ? Aether Revolt Standard | Ali Aintrazi

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 4 Tireless Tracker
• 4 Ulvenwald Captive

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 2 Nissa, Vital Force
• 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

• Sorceries (13)
• 2 Rishkar's Expertise
• 3 Nissa's Renewal
• 4 Baral's Expertise
• 4 Part the Waterveil

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Weirding Wood

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Hedron Archive

• Lands (25)
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 3 Island
• 7 Forest
• 2 Botanical Sanctum
• 2 Fortified Village
• 2 Lumbering Falls
• 2 Prairie Stream
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Negate
• 1 Ceremonious Rejection
• 1 Take Down
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 2 Fumigate
• 2 World Breaker
• 1 Natural State
• 1 Appetite for the Unnatural
• 3 Radiant Flames

Buy This Deck

This deck wants to ramp while keeping the opponent at bay until you can chain Part the Waterveils or cast an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

The Ramp

We are playing Ulvenwald Captive because if we get enough mana we can just transform it and it becomes a threat on its own while also holding down the fort. Smuggler's Copter didn’t care about a 4/6 Vigilance creature, nor did Reflector Mage. Now that those cards are gone, I have a feeling this card can really shine, especially since when it flips it can also block Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and live. While this is a ramp card, it can work extremely well as a finisher with Part the Waterveil since it not only attacks an additional time in extra turns but it also helps you awaken Part the Waterveil or cast Ulamog while attacking.

I like this card more than our other options, Cultivator's Caravan and Natural Connection. The reasons being we aren’t trying to kill our opponent’s quickly so Caravan won’t cut it, not to mention we don’t have many things to crew it. Natural State is just bad, especially when you aren’t running anything else that it could “combo” with like, Metallurgic Summonings. Weirding Wood provides any color mana while also replacing itself later by the Clue Token it creates. Even in the late game it can cantrip for 4 mana. That might seem like a lot but you should have plenty of mana by then and it is a much better top deck than Natural Connection or Cultivator's Caravan would be.

This is just one of the best 4 mana ramp spells ever printed. Ramps us early while later in the game allowing us to cash it in for more cards. I love ramp spells that double down as extra things and they just don’t purely ramp. Captive doubles as a threat, Weirding Wood replaces itself, so can Hedron Archive, and Nissa's Renewal buys us time.

While not a great top deck late in the game, it still buys us time. However, casting this on curve can be devastating since we will threaten to awaken Part the Waterveil next turn or just play a land and cast Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

These can ramp us, but to a lesser extent. Nissa can just untap a land allowing us to tap the same one for mana twice while Part the Waterveil can act like an Explore if you have more lands in your hand or you draw one.

Buying Time

The deck is trying to cast this spell as soon as possible to buy time. That’s why it has so much ramp early on so that it can bounce three creatures/artifacts and then ramp some more with something like Hedron Archive or just play a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar which can set up for a Rishkar's Expertise the following turn.

Did you know that making a 2/2 token every turn can buy you a lot of time or just outright overwhelm your opponent? Well . . .  It can! Gideon is great no matter what but he is awesome here because of the time he provides us while also being a threat. Again, he also sets up Rishkar's Expertise very well!

The Pay off

Awakening or just casting Part the Waterveil with a transformed Ulvenwald Captive, Nissa, Gideon, or Tireless Tracker is value. You don’t even have to Awaken it to gain that value. This card is great at turning the corner too, you can easily kill any opponent by chaining and awakening this card.

Ulamog is obviously a great way to close out any game and is the best pay off card ramp decks have had in a long time. I don’t really have to go into detail why this card is so good if you have the mana laying around to cast it.

These Planeswalkers may not cost as much as Part the Waterveil or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger but they can do just as much work overtime if they stay alive. They both offer a ton of value and pressure while turning on Rishkar's Expertise. I’m never sad to be playing these two Planeswalkers in the same deck.

I think this deck has potential. It’s basically a four-five color cascade deck but instead of playing cascade cards we have the Expertise cycle. This deck isn’t finely tuned yet but I plan on testing it and tuning it more, I’m sure the mana base could use some work as well. Regardless I’m super excited for New Standard thanks to the bannings and Aether Revolt. I’m also excited to be casting the Expertise cards because they all seem so powerful and can easily change the tide of any game. I love cards like that.

As always, thanks for reading.

Ali Aintrazi

@Alieldrazi on Twitter