So!

Many!

Planeswalkers!

War of the Spark Standard is rolling right along and the relative failure of Nexus of Fate so far has opened the door for all sorts of new midrange "Superfriend" style planeswalker decks. There's no doubting the power level of many of the new planeswalkers, and with many of them playing very well together and offering compounding static abilities that hamper your opponent's plans, there's never been a better time to create your own team of superheroes.

So let's get started with four possible squads of Superfriends!

Jeskai Superfriends | War Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Fblthp, the Lost

• Planeswalkers (19)
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 2 Dovin, Hand of Control
• 2 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
• 2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 4 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 4 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 4 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (6)
• 3 Shock
• 3 Spell Pierce

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Deafening Clarion

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Search for Azcanta

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Mox Amber

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 3 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Interplanar Beacon
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Search for Azcanta
• 1 Lava Coil
• 1 Deafening Clarion
• 4 Dovin's Veto
• 3 Prison Realm
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1 The Wanderer

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This deck has been bouncing around different player's streams for the last week, with I believe the genesis of the deck coming from MPL member John Rolf.

There's no doubt that the first few weeks of War of the Spark Standard have been all about Teferi, Time Raveler and Narset, Parter of Veils. Each of these three-mana planeswalkers has card advantage built right in, but even more important is their passive abilities that restrict your opponent's actions drastically. Both of these walkers are a large reason why Nexus of Fate decks have floundered so far.

Teferi, Time Raveler is great at clearing the board and getting you deeper into your deck, while also making sure that counterspells don't work against you and there are no awkward surprises in combat or at the end of your turn. We don't play many sorceries ourselves to give flash, but the one we do in Deafening Clarion is amazing on our opponent's turn.

Narset, Parter of Veils is essentially a sorcery-speed Dig Through Time, a card that's currently banned in Modern and Legacy. Getting to dig four cards deep is amazing at finding you what you need, and even better her passive shuts down many of your opponent's card advantage engines. And of course, don't forget the powerhouse that is Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

Topping off this party is the awesome Sarkhan the Masterless.

While Sarkhan is a great card on his own, when put him at the helm of a host of other planeswalkers he ascends to something even greater. It's hard to imagine Sarkhan wanting to hang out with the likes of clashing personalities like Dovin or Narset, but once they take to the skies as 4/4 dragons the game ends very quickly. Sarkhan produces threats, threatens planeswalkers, and most importantly closes the game out in a hurry.

The support cast gets the job done, as both Dovin, Hand of Control and Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor are surprisingly effective despite being uncommons. Shock and Spell Pierce are both in awesome spots in the metagame, and they pair up very well with Mox Amber and Fblthp, the Lost to bridge you to the early game. Spell Pierce in particular can either counter opposing planeswalkers or help defend yours, and you haven't lived until you've cast turn two or three Spell Pierce off a Mox Amber. Deafening Clarion keeps the board clear and Search for Azcanta keeps the gas flowing against slower decks.

Of all of the Superfriends decks we're looking at today, Jeskai is the safest.

Golgari Superfriends | War Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (19)
• 3 Evolution Sage
• 4 Jadelight Ranger
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Merfolk Branchwalker
• 4 Wildgrowth Walker

• Planeswalkers (11)
• 1 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1 Vivien Reid
• 2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 2 Vraska, Golgari Queen
• 3 Nissa, Who Shakes the World

• Instants (6)
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 2 Cast Down
• 3 Vraska's Contempt

• Lands (24)
• 5 Swamp
• 9 Forest
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
• 2 The Elderspell
• 2 Carnage Tyrant
• 4 Duress
• 2 Moment of Craving
• 3 Thrashing Brontodon

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While Golgari Superfriends utilizes the popular explore package with Wildgrowth Walker and friends, make no mistake that this is a planeswalker deck through and through.

Nissa, Who Shakes the World headlines this squad of heroes, with her ability to pump your mana secondary to her ability to create an army of neverending creatures. And they're not just 3/3s, they're much more as we will see. Liliana, Dreadhorde General is one of the most powerful cards in War of the Spark and a fairly obvious inclusion, but Vraska, Golgari Queen finally steps into the limelight and makes a major impact as well. While Vraska isn't the most powerful planeswalker, she has become much more useful in a format that revolves around 3 mana planeswalkers. Vraska excels at killing those dead, making her a welcome addition.

But the real twist is the proliferate subtheme.

Evolution Sage is a Magic card dripping with raw power. There's no limit to the proliferate mechanic, meaning each land drop can be adding a whole bunch of power and toughness to your board while also turbocharging your planeswalkers. This pumps up your explore creature squad, which is built around +1/+1 counters, pushes your planeswalkers toward their ultimates, and works unbelievably well with the creature lands that Nissa creates. Because they are sized with +1/+1 counters, they get to grow turn after turn as well.

It's a great mix of both worlds, giving you the Golgari Midrange feel with a whole new twist.

Purple People | War Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Fblthp, the Lost

• Planeswalkers (17)
• 1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 2 Dovin, Hand of Control
• 2 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
• 2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 4 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 4 Sarkhan the Masterless

• Instants (13)
• 3 Shock
• 3 Spell Pierce
• 4 Opt
• 3 Jaya's Immolating Inferno

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Search for Azcanta

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Mox Amber

• Lands (23)
• 2 Mountain
• 5 Island
• 4 Interplanar Beacon
• 4 Mobilized District
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Sulfur Falls

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
• 2 Fiery Cannonade
• 2 Lava Coil
• 2 Search for Azcanta
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
• 2 Entrancing Melody

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What if we wanted to smooth out our mana base and gain access to the amazing Mobilized District as an additional threat that also attacked planeswalkers really well?

Half Mutavault, half Treetop Village, Mobilized District is a very powerful creature land that has some significant deck-building requirements, namely a lot of legends. Luckily for us, we already want legends for Mox Amber and Jaya's Immolating Inferno and also already packed our deck full of planeswalkers.

While staying only two colors loses us access to the pair of Teferis, it also gives us a much smoother mana base and there are plenty of other heroes waiting to step in.

Saheeli, Sublime Artificer does a fantastic job of gumming up the ground and making threats, while also providing extra duty on huge Sarkhan attack turns by turning a servo into yet another dragon. She also plays amazingly well with Mox Amber, allowing you to make one or two tokens with her on turn three as you can play the Mox Amber and an Opt, Shock, or Spell Pierce for a huge tempo swing. Karn, Scion of Urza loves the artifacts while proving difficult to remove, with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries serving a similar role.

Both Shock and Spell Pierce are very well positioned right now, with the format revolving around smaller value/mana/aggressive creatures and big planeswalker spells. Getting tempo in the early game so you can get the planeswalker train rolling is extremely important and both cards do a great job of that while playing awesome with Mox Amber.

The big payoff however is the forgotten Jaya's Immolating Inferno. Before War of the Spark the legendary sorceries were too risky to possibly leave stranded in your hand, but with so many planeswalkers and Fblthp's help it is now very easy to Flame Wave your opponent's board.

I'm a big fan of this one.

Command the Superfriends | War Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Massacre Girl
• 2 Paradise Druid
• 4 Jadelight Ranger
• 4 Merfolk Branchwalker
• 4 Wildgrowth Walker

• Planeswalkers (13)
• 2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 3 Vraska, Golgari Queen
• 4 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
• 4 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Command the Dreadhorde

• Lands (27)
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 2 Watery Grave
• 3 Breeding Pool
• 3 Hinterland Harbor
• 3 Temple Garden
• 4 Interplanar Beacon
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Cast Down
• 3 Duress
• 2 Kraul Harpooner
• 2 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 2 Ritual of Soot
• 2 The Elderspell
• 2 Thrashing Brontodon

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Our last superfriends deck is the most wild and I believe was originally conceived by Stanislav Cifka and Ivan Floch. Yes, once again we see the good old explore Wildgrowth Walker package, however this time we're using the boatloads of life we gain for a very different reason:

Bring back all the planeswalkers! (and creatures too!)

Okay, maybe not all of them, but realistically are all of them really necessary?

Spending six mana to add a number of planeswalkers or powerful creatures to the battlefield is an exciting proposition and will end the game in your favor most of the time. With your opponent needing to deal with Wildgrowth Walker and your planeswalkers you should have life to spare, and your planeswalkers help to work to get you to that end.

Once again we see Teferi, Time Raveler helping to keep the board clear and protect you from counterspells, this time teaming up alongside Vraska, Golgari Queen who is also killing things and buying time. However, the real planeswalker prize is Tamiyo, Collector of Tales.

Tamiyo does basically everything this deck wants. She helps to find Command the Dreadhorde, she helps to fill your graveyard, she distracts your opponent to conserve your life, and she can buy back valuable Wildgrowth Walkers to make sure you have enough life for a powerful Command the Dreadhorde. That's a lot of value for a four-mana package!

The mana is held together with dual lands and Interplaner Beacon, another cog in the lifegain puzzle to ensure good castings of Command the Dreadhorde. And of course, the explore creatures also help to ensure you find the lands that you need. One thing to consider is adding The Wanderer to the sideboard, as not only does she help protect you against Red decks and big Green decks, but if you cast Command the Dreadhorde with her in play you can get everything back as you take zero damage.

If there's going to be a combo deck in Standard, I'd sure rather it look like this than Simic Nexus.

Kryptonite

It's a good thing Wizards of the Coast packed "break in case of emergency" box into War of the Spark!

Planeswalkers are the future of current Standard. We've never seen a format like this, so make sure you are prepared. Either be bringing your own planeswalkers, or having a very good plan for dealing with your opponent's planeswalkers. Burn spells that can target planeswalkers go up in value, haste goes up in value, as well as hard removal that can target planeswalkers like Bedevil. Playing a card like Lava Coil right now is very risky!

And of course, if things get too crazy don't be afraid to break the glass and kill 'em all.