Guilds of Excitement

Posted on September 21, 2018

As I write this article, Guilds of Ravnica hasn't fully been previewed yet. I don't like brewing decks when I don't know all the cards in the set. Instead of giving you incomplete decks, today I will be talking about the cards I am excited to play with and build around from Guilds of Ravnica. Next Friday you can be sure that I'll have some of these cards in decks. Let the hype train commence!

Regal Caracal was an excellent sideboard for White decks. It even saw some fringe play in cat and token decks. Trostani Discordant is better than Regal Caracal overall and they are easily main deckable. Glorious Anthem is three mana, so for two more mana you get a 1/4 body and two 1/1 soldier tokens with lifelink. That's 5/8 worth of stats alone, 4 power being lifelink on its own. That's a lot of stats for 4 power, the last ability of regaining control of creatures you own is just gravy, but it does matter when people are playing cards such as Hostage Taker, The Eldest Reborn, and Tomb of the Dusk Rose. Trostani themselves only have 1 power meaning they can be fetched up by a Militia Bugler. I really like this Selesyna legend for midrange decks and just being a solid Sideboard card.

For this split card I am more interested in Lazav's spell Concoct than I am Connive. Concoct is one of the best reanimation spells we've had in Standard in a while. I would say Surveil 3 is worth a card and on top of that, Concoct never targets a creature which makes it a lot harder to stop. Even if you opponent exiles your graveyard in response, if you have a creature in the top 3 cards of your deck, you can put it into your graveyard thanks to Surveil and bring it back before your opponent can respond. It's interesting to note that you can reanimate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn with Concoct since the shuffle ability will resolve after Concoct itself has resolved.

Connive is the extra part for me, but stealing Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, Legion Warboss, or even something like Thief of Sanity is exciting and powerful. Having access to two game changing spells in one card is where I want to be.

It wouldn't quite be an Ali article if I didn't mention this pet card of mine. I love Chromatic Lantern and I'm so glad it's back in Standard. It's even coming back when Abrade is leaving, how much luckier can I get it? Last time Chromatic Lantern was in Standard I made a Five Color Door Control deck that I took to a Top 16 finish at Grand Prix Charleston after losing my win in and for Top 8. This is the fabulous Lantern deck I played.

Five-Color Door Control | RTR Standard | Ali Aintrazi, 9-16th place Grand Prix Charleston

Enchantments (1)
1 Oblivion Ring

Ravnica and Chromatic Lantern allow for some fun decks, like the one above. Playing four and even five color decks become a possibility. I also had another five-color lantern deck that I took to a third-place finish at an SCG Open.

Five-Color Take 2 | RTR Standard | Ali Aintrazi

Artifacts (3)
3 Chromatic Lantern

To say I'm hyped for the return of Chromatic Lantern is an understatement. I'm very excited to start brewing around one of my favorite cards of all time.

Swarm Intelligence and Sunbird's Invocation weren't quite good enough, but I have a feeling Thousand-Year Storm will be, Just because of all the Izzet cards. I believe we will have a Primal Amulet (Yay Abrade is gone) deck that will have Thousand-Year Storm at its top end or at the very least in its Sideboard for slower matchups. This deck will most likely be a deck focused on burning the opponent out with a burn spell that's been copied numerous times. I'm positive Todd Anderson will be working on a list and I'll also be giving this card a go too.

This will be in one of my Chromatic Lantern brews for sure. I want to test this card out with Lich's Mastery, especially since Chance for Glory does not exile itself. This means if I can find a way to regrow it with something like Vivid Renewal or The Mirari Conjecture I can take a ton of extra turns in a row where I'm bound to accrue enough card advantage or attack steps to kill my opponent. It's good to note that the indestructible given to your creatures is not until end of turn, so if you do happen to have Lich's Mastery out, you not only won't lose the game but your creatures on the battlefield will remain indestructible.

I understand everyone is hyped about this card and I usually don't mention powerful cards like this in my "top cards to brew with" but I'm making an exception. Assassin's Trophy is going to be a four off in any of my decks playing , even my Chromatic Lantern decks. Being able to literally deal with any permanent is absurd and extremely versatile. Another card I'd love to re-buy with The Mirari Conjecture or Vivid Renewal as the more times you cast this, the better it gets.

I'm also very excited at the prospect of running Sultai Control in Modern because of Trophy. If you're playing a deck in Modern, do yourself a favor and play a complete set of these in your deck, don't play any less. It's like playing only two Path to Exile... Just play the full four, they get better in multiples.

Read the Bones was an underplayed card when it was in Standard last. We also know the power of Glimmer of Genius. Yes, Notion Rain is a sorcery, but it is only three mana and digs deep. Being able to Surveil allows you to put cards with Jump-Start into the graveyard for even more value. It's also solid in a reanimator deck with Connive // Concoct. This will eventually be a staple in the format, it's a card draw spell that offers so much more.

A better Transgress the Mind that also fuels your graveyard for Jump-Start, Reanimator, The Mirari Conjecture, or even just Search for Azcanta. I love these types of cards in tap out control strategies because they are actively good against aggressive, midrange, and control decks. I used to run a couple of Duress main deck in Mirari Conjecture but now I don't need to thanks to Thought Erasure. I can even run more than just a couple if I want to. Love it!

Have I mentioned that I really like playing The Mirari Conjecture? Well Discovery // Dispersal is an excellent way to fuel your graveyard for The Mirari Conjecture and you can also target either half with The Mirari Conjecture when you're putting on saga counters. If you need more cards copying Discovery is solid but copying Dispersal can be extremely backbreaking, especially if your opponent happens to have no cards in hand because you Thought Erasured their cards away or it is just late in the game.

As you can see, the decks I'm most excited to try out are cards that go into The Mirari Conjecture or Chromatic Lantern decks. I can't wait to finally see all the cards and begin brewing some fun and competitive decks. So make sure you definitely tune in next week for some crazy Ali brews, you won't want to miss them!

Until then,

Ali Aintrazi

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TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, standard, ali aintrazi, previews, guilds of ravnica, #mtggrn, card evaluation, 09212018, guilds of ravnica standard