Warning!

The decks you are about to see are mostly untested first drafts! They were played on Tuesday on stream during the Early Access Event for Streets of New Capenna on MTG Arena and are my first stabs at the new New Capenna Standard format. Most are brews jam packed with Streets Of New Capenna cards, while there are also a few updates to previously established archetypes, but it's important to note that these are the first steps and not finished products! Use them as stepping stones for your own deck brewing process, but play them card for card at your own risk!

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was a breath of fresh air and Streets of New Capenna is following the trend of giving us something we've never seen before in Magic. The theme of "crime families and mobsters" is an extremely unique one, which is grafted onto a multicolored shard set of the likes we haven't seen since Shards of Alara. It is absolutely refreshing to see these new places and themes in Magic, rather than visiting Ravnica or Innistrad for the eleventh time!

While it has had a bit of a rough go in the last few years, Standard is certainly starting to heal and was already looking like a pretty fun format post-Neon Dynasty, so the hope is that the trend continues with Streets of New Capenna!

Today we are going to go over all ten decks I played as part of my Ten New Brews on YouTube and stream, briefly going over each list and my thoughts on how it was, giving it a letter grade, and talking about what kind of potential it has going forward. I played five games with each deck in best of one so the deck's record will also be included.

Let's go!

Money Puncher | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Ziatora, the Incinerator
• 2 Ognis, the Dragon's Lash
• 2 Security Rhox
• 3 Goldspan Dragon
• 3 Kalain, Reclusive Painter
• 4 Jaspera Sentinel
• 4 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
• 4 Professional Face-Breaker
• 4 Prosperous Innkeeper

• Instants (6)
• 2 Riveteers Charm
• 4 Voltage Surge

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki

• Lands (19)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Den of the Bugbear
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 2 Deathcap Glade
• 2 Lair of the Hydra
• 3 Ziatora's Proving Ground
• 4 Cragcrown Pathway // Timbercrown Pathway
• 4 Darkbore Pathway // Slitherbore Pathway

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Deck's Record: 3-2

Deck's Grade: C

Deck Potential: Medium to High

Our first deck definitely showed potential, but also showed that there were hits and misses among the Riveteers treasure cards.

The impetus for building the deck was Professional Face-Breaker, an exciting mix of both treasure enabler and payoff on a reasonable body that can either ramp or draw cards. All in all, the card was impressive, but as with most "impulsive draw" effects, you tend to want more generically good and cheap cards. This made some of the treasure payoff cards fairly medium.

In particular Security Rhox and Ognis both underperformed. Treasure is such a powerful mechanic inherently that there isn't much need to try to go too deep with enablers or payoffs. Just playing cards like Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Professional Face-Breaker, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki straight up is perfectly reasonable.

As such, this deck would probably be built a bit better as a more straightforward midrange deck. The decks we struggled against, it was because lacked removal and had too many weak synergy pieces. Still, treasure is too good of a mechanic not to make for a good deck in some form and Magda, Brazen Outlaw gains greatly from Streets of New Capenna.

Jurassic Metro | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (17)
• 2 Koma, Cosmos Serpent
• 3 Titan of Industry
• 4 Kazandu Mammoth
• 4 Quandrix Cultivator
• 4 Topiary Stomper

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Tamiyo, Compleated Sage
• 3 Wrenn and Seven

• Sorceries (8)
• 2 Invoke the Ancients
• 2 Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood
• 4 Emergent Sequence

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker

• Artifacts (5)
• 2 Reckoner Bankbuster
• 3 Esika's Chariot

• Lands (22)
• 2 Island
• 7 Forest
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Hall of Storm Giants
• 1 Lair of the Hydra
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 4 Barkchannel Pathway
• 4 Dreamroot Cascade

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Deck's Record: 5-0

Deck's Grade: A-

Deck Potential: High

When I finished building all ten of my decks this time around, this is the one I was most excited to play.

It didn't disappoint!

The deck was headline by two big boom booms from Streets of New Capenna, Titan of Industry and Topiary Stomper. Both cards won awards in my Complete Set Review, with Titan of Industry being my best in show and Topiary Stomper being my sleeper pick, and both were great! With the deck very focused on getting seven lands in play, Titan of Industry was the perfect curve topper than can stabilize and do basically anything, while Topiary Stompy is way above rate ramp that can attack, defend, and crew your vehicles.

We played against a few Mono-Green versions of the deck, but adding Blue for Quandrix Cultivator for more redundant ramp and bodies is a huge gain, while the addition ramp/creatures of Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker and Emergent Sequence was great as well. Emergent Sequence in particular is an underrated card that meshed perfectly. Blue also allows for Koma, Cosmos Serpent to be part of your top end, as well as access to sideboard counterspells like Negate or Disdainful Stroke which will be very important in beating control decks that tend to prey on ramp decks.

This one was a blast and I can't wait to work on it more!

Delver's Shadow | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Sedgemoor Witch
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Eyetwitch
• 4 Scourge of the Skyclaves
• 4 Shadow of Mortality

• Instants (20)
• 1 Negate
• 2 A Little Chat
• 2 Fading Hope
• 2 Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit
• 2 Slip Out the Back
• 3 Infernal Grasp
• 4 Consider
• 4 Make Disappear

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 Duress
• 4 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
• 4 Sea Gate Restoration // Seat Gate, Reborn

• Lands (12)
• 1 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 4 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 4 Shipwreck Marsh

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Necrotic Fumes
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Pest Summoning
• 1 Teachings of the Archaics
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Expanded Anatomy
• 1 Inkling Summoning

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Deck's Record: 1-4

Deck's Grade: F

Deck Potential: None

Okay look, not every deck is going to be a banger. Part of the goal with Ten New Brews is not just to build good decks, but also to explore what is possible with the new cards.

The question trying to be answered here was "is Shadow of Mortality a playable card in Standard?" The answer feels like a pretty firm no, with serious doubt that it would be playable anywhere in any format. In fact, the only saving grace of the card is that it has a mana value of 15, which could be relevant in decks like the Calibrated Blast deck we played right here on Monday. Delver of Secrets and Scourge of the Skyclaves weren't much better.

The good news is that the casualty cards are actually very good, especially in concert with Sedgemoor Witch. More on that later!

How About Side By Side With A Friend? | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (31)
• 2 Moonveil Regent
• 2 Varis, Silverymoon Ranger
• 3 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
• 4 Brazen Upstart
• 4 Elvish Warmaster
• 4 Fleetfoot Dancer
• 4 Gala Greeters
• 4 Jaspera Sentinel
• 4 Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second

• Instants (5)
• 2 Dragon's Fire
• 3 Strangle

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway
• 1 Den of the Bugbear
• 1 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 2 Lair of the Hydra
• 2 Overgrown Farmland
• 2 Rockfall Vale
• 4 Cragcrown Pathway // Timbercrown Pathway
• 4 Jetmir's Garden
• 4 Secluded Courtyard

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck's Grade: B+

Deck Potential: Surprisingly High

An elf tribal deck in Standard?

Yes!

In an amusing twist, many of the good Cabaretti three colors are actually elves! However, unlike most synergy-driven elf cards, they're all rate. Fleetfoot Dancer is Questing Beast 2.0, with great raw stats alongside three excellent keyword abilities. A bit more unassuming but still extremely powerful is Brazen upstart, which is a well sized attacker and blocker that draws you a spell when it dies. However, the real prize here is Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second. More on her in a bit.

So why elves?

It's only a small synergy package, but it's a good one. Elvish Warmaster is a phenomenal elf card that sees play in various other formats, giving you a Young Pyromancer type effect as well as a big mana payoff in a tribe that loves to see it. Perhaps even more importantly though is the effect Secluded Courtyard has on the mana base. With every White card being an elf and lots of three-color cards, Secluded Courtyard ends up being a painless, untapped three color dual most of the time which is amazing!

And once you pair the token making potential of Gala Greeters, Magda, Brazen Outlaw (a Gimli among elves!), and Elvish Warmaster alongside Jinnie Fay, you get to go nuts making much better tokens than expected.

Add on some good removal spells as well as a big synergistic dragon to top it off in Moonveil Regent and you've got a really solid aggressive deck that hits on both rate and synergy. This one was really fun!

Don't Give Me Hope | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Legion Angel
• 1 Liesa, Forgotten Archangel
• 2 Tenacious Underdog
• 3 Renegade Reaper
• 4 Giada, Font of Hope
• 4 Inspiring Overseer
• 4 Righteous Valkyrie
• 4 Youthful Valkyrie

• Instants (6)
• 2 Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit
• 2 Infernal Grasp
• 2 Vanishing Verse

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Rampage of the Valkyries
• 4 Firja's Retribution

• Lands (24)
• 3 Swamp
• 7 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 2 Shineshadow Snarl
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway
• 4 Shattered Sanctum

• Sideboard (3)
• 3 Legion Angel

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Deck's Record: 5-0

Deck's Grade: A

Deck Potential: I'm Scared To Say High?

Speaking of underperforming tribes from Kaldheim, Angels is another one that's always been close but never made a serious splash in Standard, despite having some very powerful cards. Well, that was until Giada, Font of Hope -

Giada, Font of Hope is about as good as it gets for a tribal 2-drop. A tribal 2/2 flying vigilance for two is already solidly there on rate, and she then makes every subsequent angel you play better and better. This is the kind of snowbally 2-drop that archetypes are made from, but wait there's more! She also taps for mana for angels too! This isn't as relevant but is still really good.

Aside from just being a good card, Giada also fills the exact slot that the Angel deck was missing - a good 2-drop to play alongside Youthful Valkyrie. This, along with Fading Hope seeing less play and Divide By Zero being banned, has opened the door for a number of awesome angel cards.

Firja's Retribution is an absurdly powerful card, giving you a Serra Angel for four mana with monumental upside of both removal and a killing blow, while Rampage of the Valkyries is specifically amazing against other creature decks. And of course, Historic all-star Righteous Valkyrie is a centerpiece as well.

Sprinkle in some removal spells and a little interaction and you've got a very impressive and threat-dense midrange deck. Flying is extra good against the big ground boomers in the format, while the high toughness of your angels makes you extra good against The Meathook Massacre and damage-based removal.

I'm very interested to play this more and find out if it's a mirage or for real, because it felt really good!

Pest Casualty | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Poppet Stitcher // Poppet Factory
• 3 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
• 3 Overcharged Amalgam
• 4 Eyetwitch
• 4 Sedgemoor Witch
• 4 Shambling Ghast

• Instants (16)
• 1 Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins
• 2 Deadly Dispute
• 2 Infernal Grasp
• 3 A Little Chat
• 4 Consider
• 4 Make Disappear

• Sorceries (4)
• 2 Duress
• 2 Grisly Sigil

• Lands (21)
• 4 Swamp
• 5 Island
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 4 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 4 Shipwreck Marsh

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Teachings of the Archaics
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Pest Summoning
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Necrotic Fumes
• 1 Confront the Past
• 1 Introduction to Prophecy

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck's Grade: B+

Deck Potential: Medium

I told you we had a good casualty Sedgemoor Witch deck and here it is!

This trio of casualty cards are all very solid, allowing you to counter spells, draw cards, kill things, and gain life all at very reasonable rates given that you've got fodder to sacrifice. Sedgemoor Witch provides this fodder, but also synergizes super well with casualty because it is "whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell." This means all of your casualty spells double dip and give you the token right back!

This brings the typical Black sacrifice cards to the table in a big way, allow you to get on the board early with cards like Eyetwitch and Shambling Ghast, while also using them for big time value. Overcharged Amalgam also finally gets a chance to shine with so much fodder and so many instants in the deck, being everything Frilled Mystic ever wanted to be.

This deck was a ton of fun as it played out more like Modern deck than a Standard deck, giving you cheap spells and good interaction.

And A Pinstriped Suit | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
• 2 Skyclave Shade
• 3 Tenacious Underdog
• 4 Eyetwitch
• 4 Shambling Ghast
• 4 Unlucky Witness

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 2 Lolth, Spider Queen
• 4 Ob Nixilis, the Adversary

• Instants (6)
• 2 Infernal Grasp
• 4 Deadly Dispute

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Grisly Sigil

• Enchantments (5)
• 2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
• 3 The Meathook Massacre

• Lands (22)
• 4 Mountain
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Den of the Bugbear
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 4 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
• 4 Haunted Ridge

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Start from Scratch
• 1 Confront the Past
• 1 Necrotic Fumes
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Introduction to Prophecy
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Pest Summoning

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Very High

If there's one card that everyone is talking about in Streets of New Capenna, it's Mob Nixilis himself.

Two three-mana planeswalkers at once on turn three? Is that even reasonable?

Ob obviously requires a certain deck to enable him, but luckily for him various flavors of Rakdos Sacrifice have been excellent in Standard for a while now and he slots right in. I do think that he is a little overrated in scenarios where your opponent is pressuring you as he can't always effect the board a ton, but there's no denying it's an absurd amount of material for the cost.

While the Rakdos Oni-Cult Anvil deck is probably the current "correct" way to build Rakdos, I wanted to try avoiding the artifact synergies and leaning a bit more on casting Ob with casualty 3 on turn three by playing more sacrificial 2-drops like Skyclave Shade and the new Tenacious Underdog. Unlucky Witness does a great job in the Experimental Synthesizer slot and was quite good, but it's not entirely clear if this is better than just playing Ob in a more "normal" shell.

Rest assured though; you'll be seeing a lot of this well-dressed planeswalker in the coming months. Make sure you have a plan for him!

Brokers Tokens | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Shaile, Dean of Radiance // Embrose, Dean of Shadow
• 3 Park Heights Pegasus
• 4 Clarion Spirit
• 4 Jaspera Sentinel
• 4 Lunarch Veteran
• 4 Swarm Shambler
• 4 Usher of the Fallen

• Instants (2)
• 2 Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Join the Dance

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Brokers Ascendancy
• 4 Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity

• Lands (22)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Lair of the Hydra
• 2 Deserted Beach
• 2 Dreamroot Cascade
• 2 Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
• 2 Spara's Headquarters
• 4 Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway
• 4 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: C

Deck Potential: Low to Medium

This deck was mostly a proof of concept for "Brokers Ascendancy is actually really good."

Well consider the proof proven. The games we curved intro Brokers Ascendancy we won quickly and handily. The board quickly scaled out of control, with The Meathook Massacre unable to keep up with the sheer size of all of our creatures while they rumbled in and took over the game. The issue was in the games we didn't draw Brokers Ascendancy, which were all losses.

While Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity is also a good card that fulfills a similar purpose, the deck felt short on actual payoffs. A few of the games we just drew a bunch of 1-drops and Join the Dance and died with an army of 1/1s in play that didn't do anything. As such, while it was a successful proof of concept, it was not a successful deck.

Brokers Ascendancy will see its time in the sun in Standard, but there will have to be a better plan B.

Greasy Schemes | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Sigardian Savior
• 2 Containment Construct
• 2 Cosima, God of the Voyage // The Omenkeel
• 2 Raffine's Informant
• 4 Greasefang, Okiba Boss
• 4 Hotshot Mechanic
• 4 Ingenious Smith
• 4 Raffine, Scheming Seer
• 4 Virus Beetle

• Artifacts (10)
• 2 Imperial Recovery Unit
• 2 Leech Gauntlet
• 2 Portable Hole
• 4 Surgehacker Mech

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 2 Deserted Beach
• 2 Shipwreck Marsh
• 3 Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway
• 4 Raffine's Tower

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: C+

Deck Potential: A Difficult "Medium"

Whoa boy what a pile of cards.

This deck is juggling a lot of different things.

The main idea is to try and build around Raffine, Scheming Seer and the repetitive triggers of connive. This leads us to the graveyard, where Greasefang, Okiba Boss loves to live. While card is individually reasonable in and of itself, the goal is to be in a spot where you're returning Surgehacker Mech every turn to kill something, rediscarding it to Raffine, and bringing it back again over and over.

With Greasefang already in the deck, there's a vehicle subtheme which leads to cards like The Omenkeel and Imperial Recovery Unit, which leads us down the artifact path of Ingenious Smith (which is an excellent card to recur off of Imperial Recovery Unit). However, Ingenious Smith requires a critical mass of artifacts, which leads to some odd card choices, and everything is sort of pulling on everything else as we want graveyard stuff, creature stuff, artifact stuff, as well as needing room for some interaction too.

The deck ended up being somewhat of a mess as a result, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's something in the madness here that needs to properly ironed out and iterated on. This is honestly exactly where I want to be early in the brewing process - throw a bunch of stuff together and let God sort em out.

Jinnie & The Jets | SNC Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Legion Angel
• 2 Katilda, Dawnhart Prime
• 2 Welcoming Vampire
• 3 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 3 Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second
• 4 Gala Greeters
• 4 Prosperous Innkeeper

• Instants (5)
• 2 Fateful Absence
• 3 Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave
• 4 Join the Dance

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Rabble Rousing
• 4 Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Esika's Chariot

• Lands (19)
• 1 Plains
• 5 Forest
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 2 Lair of the Hydra
• 4 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway
• 4 Overgrown Farmland

• Sideboard (3)
• 3 Legion Angel

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Deck's Record: 2-3

Deck's Grade: B

Deck Potential: Better Than The Record Would Indicate

Our last deck was a more streamlined build centered around Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second.

If there's a breakout card from this round of Ten New Brews, it's Jinnie Fay. The card reads like a silly Commander build-around card, but it's got real legs in Standard. It plays especially well on-curve with Gala Greeters, as you can turn the treasure into a creature token, which triggers alliance again and allows you to use the Gala Greeters twice. Jinnie also plays super well with the many token makers in the deck, from Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity to Join the Dance.

Unfortunately, I never drew Rabble Rousing in the five games, as it was one of the cards I was super interested to see perform. The idea was to put a bunch of Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave in the deck as a low-risk way to have a big hit off of the hideaway that doesn't really hurt much when drawn.

This deck would definitely need some more interaction and to be much more focused at the three-drop slot, but there is some serious potential here.

It's A Great Start!

All in all, it was a great batch on decks for this edition of Ten New Brews, with multiple 5-0s and even some of the less successful decks still presenting interesting future updates. It was also great to get to play on the Early Access Stream once again and battle against tons of other sweet Streets of New Capenna brews. It's easy to throw shade at Wizards of the Coast when they mess up, but it's also important to show some love when they do great, so kudos to them for bringing it back!

Like Neon Dynasty, there's a lot of cool stuff happening in this set. It's going to take a bit of time to unpack it all, so don't be afraid to go a bit wild in your deck-building! Remember, the goal of a brew is not really to win immediately, it is about learning as much as possible about the new cards in as wide of an array of circumstances as you can, so you can have the information you need to really put everything you learn into each brew on your path to hopefully breaking the format!

I can't wait to work on these decks more and see where the format goes!