The big fall rotation is always one of the most exciting times in Magic. Not only is there a new fall set and all the pomp and circumstance that comes with that, but we also see a major overhaul to Standard as many sets leave as well. This has a very unique effect, as we not only get a bunch of new cards, but we also get to see old cards in a way that we've never been able to see them before.

When Theros Beyond Death came out, constellation was one of the major mechanics. However, aside from Archon of Sun's Grace seeing a bit of play here or there the mechanic mostly flopped. But there was a very interesting engine between Nessian Wanderer, Setessan Champion, and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove that allowed you to put a lot of lands into your hand and on the battlefield relatively quickly. The issue was, while this engine was efficient at what it was doing, there wasn't really an endgame that made sense.

Well Zendikar Rising is here, and boy has the "bunch of lands" endgame come together!

And the best part is that most of them are enchantments too! This makes for a pretty wild deck that melds the themes of both sets together to form something greater than the sum of its parts. Once you get multiple pieces of the engine going the deck really starts to hum.

Presenting... Constellation Landfall!

Time Stamps:

00:04:50 - Match 1

00:20:10 - Match 2

00:34:21 - Match 3

00:50:52 - Match 4

01:02:34 - Match 5

01:16:45 - Match 6

Constellation Landfall | ZNR Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Phylath, World Sculptor
• 4 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 4 Lotus Cobra
• 4 Nessian Wanderer
• 4 Setessan Champion

• Instants (3)
• 3 Spikefield Hazard

• Enhchantments (16)
• 2 The Birth of Meletis
• 3 Banishing Light
• 3 Valakut Exploration
• 4 Felidar Retreat
• 4 Wolfwillow Haven

• Lands (23)
• 1 Mountain
• 4 Forest
• 4 Plains
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 2 Needleverge Pathway
• 3 Temple of Plenty
• 4 Cragcrown Pathway
• 4 Fabled Passage

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Arasta of the Endless Web
• 4 Archon of Sun's Grace
• 3 Destiny Spinner
• 2 Elspeth Conquers Death
• 1 Klothys, God of Destiny
• 2 Pacifism
• 2 Return to Nature

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So close!

While we lost our bonus match for Mythic, the engine was on full display in many of the games. Once you get rolling with a few pieces in play things really start to come together, and the good news is that we can still interact and play to the battlefield on the early turn as all of our creature pieces block well.

We are definitely a little soft to a few things, mostly Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Gemrazer, but the latter can be dealt with by going down on the engine post-board and up on Archon of Sun's Grace which is a great threat. Ugin is tougher, as we don't have access to Duress or Negate effects and need to win quickly. Time will tell how prevalent Ugin is in the format and we will have to adjust accordingly.

What we have here is a fun and exciting deck that melds together cross block synergies to form something very exciting. It's only week one, but I hope all of our Zendikar Rising brews are this exciting!