There's something very refreshing about Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

The motif of the set is obviously exciting, with Phyrexians being the big bad in Magic for a very long time, a return to the awesome world of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, and some really crazy and grotesque art, but it also just feels like a fairly straightforward set after a few years of double-faced legends, novels on cards, and every new set being the "wordiest set ever." It's also making a nice variety of impacts across multiple formats, while players also start to dive into the Limited format with takes like "it's too fast" on day two. (It's always "too fast" or "too bomb heavy" on day two because nobody knows how to evaluate the cards or draft any of the decks yet, come on we do this every set.)

As such, today I want to look at some of the set's early winners that are already making waves in various Constructed formats!

Venerated Rotpriest

Where else to start but poison counters!

Venerated Rotpriest has been making noise in a few decks right off the bat, with the two biggest being and toxic decks in Standard. The GW version is a bit more straightforward, using pump effects like Homestead Courage and Slaughter Singer to formulate a more tradition beatdown plan, but the version is much more combo focused as it is based around the fun Dominaria United rare Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief.

Simic Toxic | ONE Standard | Sample Decklist

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
• 4 Stormchaser Drake

• Instants (19)
• 2 Shore Up
• 2 Slip Out the Back
• 2 Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• 2 Tyvar's Stand
• 3 March of Swirling Mist
• 4 Fading Hope
• 4 March of Burgeoning Life

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Bushwhack

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Vesuvan Duplimancy
• 4 Combat Research

• Lands (24)
• 4 Forest
• 4 Island
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Thran Portal
• 4 Dreamroot Cascade
• 4 Yavimaya Coast
• 4 Venerated Rotpriest

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Rather than focusing on combat damage to gain poison counters, this deck looks to just pile up 10 Venerated Rotpriest triggers over the course of a few turns, while hopefully holding up protection.

Both Marches are excellent here, with March of Burgeoning Life helping to find additional copies of Venerated Rotpriest and March of Swirling Mist providing protection as well as a bunch of target triggers. With a ton of protection spells as well as a Stormchaser Drake backup plan, this deck is a super unique take on the new format.

But that's not all... Venerated Rotpriest is making waves in Modern too!

Rotpriest Storm | Modern | Caleb Scherer

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Wild Cantor
• 4 Nivmagus Elemental
• 4 Spellskite
• 4 Venerated Rotpriest

• Instants (17)
• 1 Gather Courage
• 4 Gut Shot
• 4 Manamorphose
• 4 Mutagenic Growth
• 4 Summoner's Pact

• Sorceries (14)
• 2 Grapeshot
• 4 Abundant Harvest
• 4 Ground Rift
• 4 Strike It Rich

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Underworld Breach

• Lands (14)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Arid Mesa
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Lava Dart
• 3 Nature's Claim
• 3 Pact of Negation
• 3 Slaughter Pact
• 3 Veil of Summer

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Storm master Caleb Scherer has picked up an oft-forgotten storm spell in Ground Rift to build a combo deck that can kill as early as turn two!

Each copy of ground rift will target individually, meaning that your storm count is their poison count, while other spells you cast along the way like Mutagenic Growth also add to the poison count. With Summoner's Pact to find Venerated Rotpriest for free you've got some wild potential here. There's even a Nivmagus Elemental backup plan!

Venerated Rotpriest is going to be one to watch across multiple formats.

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler

While Tyvar doesn't have nearly the name recognition of planeswalkers like Jace or Nissa, nor the flash of Phyrexian mana symbols or big time ultimate abilities, typically it's the cheap three mana planeswalkers with focused abilities (and a good static) that make the big impact.

Make no mistake, at face value Tyvar is underwhelming, the rare planeswalker that is actively mediocre in limited and needs other cards to actually do anything. However, when combined with the right cards Tyvar is a wildly effective combo enabler and backup plan. Giving haste to your creature abilities is huge for decks that have a creature with a tap ability that they need to go off, removing the one turn window where they must wait for it to be ready. Returning dead creatures to the battlefield also offers resilience against removal, which is fantastic against interactive decks.

Tyvar Combo | Pioneer | IslandGoSAMe

• Creatures (17)
• 1 The Reality Chip
• 4 Elvish Mystic
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 4 Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 3 Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
• 4 Karn, the Great Creator

• Artifacts (16)
• 1 Paradox Engine
• 3 Moonsnare Prototype
• 4 Courier's Briefcase
• 4 Mox Amber
• 4 Springleaf Drum

• Lands (20)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Barkchannel Pathway
• 3 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Breeding Pool

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1 Cityscape Leveler
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 2 Into the Roil
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 3 Negate
• 1 Paradox Engine
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
• 1 The Reality Chip
• 1 The Stone Brain
• 1 Tormod's Crypt

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The first deck we're going to look at is from Pioneer, using Tyvar for redundancy and speed on the combo involving Mox Amber, Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Kinnian, Bonder Prodigy, and Paradox Engine.

While Tyvar can't return Emry, it can make her tap immediately, the same with the mana elves, and returning Kinnan isn't bad either. There's a lot going on in this list from IslandGoSAMe, which means there's also tons of room to iterate as we look at a fairly new archetype.

In Modern, Tyvar slots perfectly into Vizier Combo.

Vizer Combo | Modern | Lucien Greathouse

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 1 Vizier of Remedies
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Devoted Druid
• 4 Giver of Runes
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler

• Instants (8)
• 4 Eladamri's Call
• 4 Tyvar's Stand

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Finale of Devastation

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Kaldra Compleat
• 1 Luxior, Giada's Gift
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Viridian Longbow

• Lands (22)
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 2 Temple Garden
• 3 Urza's Saga
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 1 Snow-Covered Plains
• 2 Snow-Covered Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Drannith Magistrate
• 2 Endurance
• 2 Force of Vigor
• 1 Orvar, the All-Form
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 2 Prismatic Ending
• 2 Sanctifier en-Vec
• 1 Solitude
• 2 Veil of Summer

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The two biggest counts against Devoted Druid combo is that you need to untap with a Devoted Druid that isn't summoning sick, and how fragile Devoted Druid is to removal.

Well doesn't Tyvar do a great job of solving basically all of those problems! The haste is of course a huge factor as your opponent has to live in fear of dying at any point with a Tyvar on the battlefield, while the recursion effect can get back both sides of the combo, as well as value cards like Stoneforge Mystic.

He may not look like much, but Tyvar is going to be an important card in older formats.

The Mycosynth Gardens

The last card of the day is a bizarre land, but where better for a bizarre land than Amulet Titan!

Amulet Titan | Modern | Kodie Yost

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Cultivator Colossus
• 2 Tireless Tracker
• 3 Endurance
• 4 Arboreal Grazer
• 4 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 4 Primeval Titan
• 2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking

• Instants (10)
• 3 Dismember
• 3 Force of Vigor
• 4 Summoner's Pact

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Explore

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Expedition Map
• 3 Engineered Explosives
• 4 Amulet of Vigor

• Lands (33)
• 2 Forest
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 Vesuva
• 2 Tolaria West
• 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 3 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 3 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 4 Simic Growth Chamber
• 4 The Mycosynth Gardens
• 4 Urza's Saga

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Amulet Titan is a challenging and confusing deck, but also one that pays dividends for those who take the time to learn its secrets.

The biggest issue that Amulet Titan typically has is getting those Amulets in play, as with one Amulet of Vigor they often present an excellent but not unbeatable board state after going off, but with two Amulet of Vigor in play they can deliver the killing blow with no reprisal.

It's not that complicated; The Mycosynth Gardens is just a really cheap and easy way to make a second Amulet of Vigor that's also conveniently a land.

With the ability to copy everything from Lion's Eye Diamond to Oni-Cult Anvil with a very low opportunity cost, we'll likely be seeing The Mycosynth Gardens in many more places before all is said and done.

Never Compleat

This of course is just us scratching the surface of what effect that Phyrexia: All Will Be One will be having on Constructed as a whole. With the Pro Tour next week being Pioneer, most eyes are going to be on that format to see if the new set can shake up the fairly established metagame we saw at the Regional Championship.

As of right now I'm already in Philadelphia practicing for the Pro Tour, and you can look forward to my Pro Tour predictions article next week as well as the actual event itself, where hopefully you can catch me on coverage doing well!