With that out of the way, let's get started!

Fall has come and with it comes the big fall rotation! A very powerful and at times overbearing Standard format comes to a close, and as it halves in size we also gain an exciting new addition: Throne of Eldraine! A new set full of fairy tales and adventures, Throne of Eldraine looks to be a sneaky set with a lot of cards that much more powerful than they seem. Also interesting is how well the Throne of Eldraine cards jive with some of the underused cards from Core Set 2020, which brings to light even more options. It's an exciting time to brew!

Today we're going to be going over all ten decks I played on my stream Tuesday, 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 to six games with each deck in best of one so the deck's record will be included as well.

Let's go!

Mono-Black Presence | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (25)
• 2 Cavalier of Night
• 2 Orzhov Enforcer
• 3 Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 3 Murderous Rider
• 3 Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 4 Clockwork Servant
• 4 Dread Presence
• 4 Yarok's Fenlurker

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable

• Instants (4)
• 2 Disfigure
• 2 Legion's End

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Dreadhorde Invasion

• Lands (26)
• 18 Swamp
• 2 Blast Zone
• 3 Castle Locthwain
• 3 Witch's Cottage

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Deck's Record: 4-1

Deck Grade: A-

Deck Potential: High

One of the things about looking at a new set is not only individually evaluating the cards and how they work with each other, but also how they work with the cards that are already in the format. If there's a new deck that wins the award for "best use of previously underutilized Standard cards" this deck is it.

There was a minor mono-color matters theme in Core Set 2020, but Dread Presence and Yarok's Fenlurker just weren't enough to tip the scales in a high powered world of dual lands and check lands. Both cards are great with support however, which this deck has in spades. This deck also makes Dreadhorde Invasion look like the Bitterblossom everyone thought it was at first, providing great fodder to various effects.

There's a ton of power in the top end of the deck, with Rankle, Master of Pranks being one of the more bizarre but powerful elements that does all sorts of odd things to a game. Murderous Rider is simply one of the best cards in the set, and Ayara, First of Locthwain pushes the deck in a more value oriented direction. This deck could be built a number of ways, with more aggression tied to 1-drops, or with more of a sacrifice theme tied to cards like Priest of the Forgotten Gods, but I went for straight value with this list.

A lot of this was tied into some of the unsung heroes of the deck. I'm old enough to remember the days when Phyrexian Ranger was an actively good Magic card in Standard, and Clockwork Servent makes it looks like a joke while being a great blocker against aggro decks and decent attacker against control decks. You also gain a ton of utility from your lands, with Castle Locthwain and Witch's Cottage both providing great value at a low cost.

Finding the right build seems tough, but there's definitely something here.

Hungry Hungry Hogaaks | Eldraine Standard | Jonathan Blank

• Creatures (19)
• 3 Merfolk Secretkeeper
• 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 4 Feasting Troll King
• 4 Gilded Goose
• 4 Wall of Lost Thoughts

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 3 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
• 4 Oko, Thief of Crowns

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Giant Opportunity

• Artifacts (8)
• 4 Golden Egg
• 4 Witch's Oven

• Lands (22)
• 5 Forest
• 5 Island
• 4 Castle Garenbrig
• 4 Temple of Mystery
• 4 Breeding Pool

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Deck Record: 1-4

Deck Grade: C-

Deck Potential: High

Full disclosure, this was the only deck of today's ten that I didn't build myself. I saw this list on Jonathan Blank's Twitter and was very interested in giving it a shot. One of the best things to do in a new format is to take a concept and push it to its limit. It usually won't work, but it will give you a very good idea how far you can push it. This deck was certainly "over the limit."

Trying to return Feasting Troll King to play on turn three is a reasonable goal, but not very impressive in a format dominated by Teferi, Time Raveler. Even when our deck did its thing, that thing was too easily trumped if they were able to build a board or have the right removal answer.

We did learn that Feasting Troll King was a very reasonable card to just cast, made especially easy by Castle Garenbrig. Emry, Lurker of the Loch is also not just a Modern card and is likely one of the best cards in the set. Oko, Thief of Crowns is also quite the card, even absent of synergies.

The problem was the enabler cards just weren't doing enough to warrant their low power level. If we were casting Feasting Troll King on turn one or two maybe, but quite frankly the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

So why is the deck potential high? Quite frankly there's something here. The food cards seem fine played straight up, and if you're looking for something more combo oriented we played against a Sultai food deck with Midnight Reaper and other elements that was doing much more broken things than just casting a 7/6. There's something here, but figuring out what is going to be tough.

Naya Giants | Eldraine Standard| Jim Davis

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Beanstalk Giant
• 4 Bonecrusher Giant
• 4 Realm-Cloaked Giant

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 2 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 3 Chandra, Fire Artisan

• Instants (8)
• 2 Scorching Dragonfire
• 2 Shock
• 4 Once Upon a Time

• Sorceries (7)
• 2 Deafening Clarion
• 2 Lava Coil
• 3 Escape to the Wilds

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Dawn of Hope
• 2 Outlaws' Merriment

• Lands (26)
• 1 Forest
• 3 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Temple Garden
• 4 Temple of Triumph

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Deck Record: 3-3

Deck Grade: C+

Deck Potential: Medium?

I'm not going to lie I was pretty excited about this deck when I built it, but the games just didn't play out well for us at all.

There's no doubt that Bonecrusher Giant is one of the most powerful cards in the set, but it's not the only great adventure giant. Realm-Cloaked Giant is a fantastic entry into the catalog of five-mana Wrath of God variants, giving you a free card to use later in the game that is very impactful. But it's more than just a Wrath; if you're tribally interested in giants it's a one-sided Wrath which is big game. Beanstalk Giant also does a great double duty job of mana fixing and ramping while providing another mana sink in the late game.

The biggest problem that big non-Blue or Black decks have is that they have to play a lot of mana but are prone to flooding and running out of threats. The adventure cards all work to solve that problem by providing two spells for one card each.

We've also got a number of nice card advantage engines in addition to our Chandras. Escape to the Wilds is awesome, providing card draw with a little bit of ramp on the side, while Outlaws' Merriment provides a steady stream of bodies the longer the game goes. Once Upon a Time is also nice in this deck as we're in the market for an Impulse anyway and our creatures are removal spells.

I'm not ready to give up on this one yet.

Grixis Fires of Invention | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Planeswalkers (16)
• 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 2 Chandra, Fire Artisan
• 2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
• 2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 3 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 3 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God

• Instants (6)
• 2 Chemister's Insight
• 2 Disfigure
• 2 Tyrant's Scorn

• Sorceries (9)
• 2 Ritual of Soot
• 3 Lava Coil
• 4 Thought Erasure

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Fires of Invention

• Lands (25)
• 2 Island
• 2 Swamp
• 2 Interplanar Beacon
• 3 Bloodfell Caves
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Temple of Epiphany
• 4 Watery Grave

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Deck Record: 4-1

Deck Grade: B

Deck Potential: High

Fires of Invention is a messed up Magic card.

As we saw in the games, any time you go Fires of Invention on turn four and then immediately cast Ritual of Soot you are in phenomenal shape. The ability to cast spells for free is obviously one of the best things you can do in Magic, and being able to double your mana every turn is wild. We've seen this with Wilderness Reclamation, but Fires of Invention is much simpler to use.

However, it's not easy to use.

Fires of Invention asks you to play big powerful spells, but you can't fall behind either. You want card draw, but can't waste time smallballing with things like Opt. You also end up in spots where you're not even using your mana each turn so it would be nice to have some sort of mana sink as well.

We used some big splashy planeswalkers for our payoffs that fit some of that criteria, but the optimal Fires of Invention deck probably looks a lot better than this. What that build is? I have no idea yet, but whoever finds it will be amply rewarded.

Emry Affinity | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (30)
• 2 Gadwick, the Wizened
• 4 Chamber Sentry
• 4 Clockwork Servant
• 4 Corridor Monitor
• 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 4 Gingerbrute
• 4 Steel Overseer
• 4 Stonecoil Serpent

• Instants (4)
• 4 Unsummon

• Artifacts (5)
• 2 Mystic Forge
• 3 Silent Submersible

• Lands (21)
• 13 Island
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Steam Vents
• 2 Castle Vantress
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Watery Grave

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Deck Record: 2-3 (with an obvious punt; should be 3-2)

Deck Rating: C+

Deck Potential: Low to medium

Probably the most out there deck of the bunch, this deck was surprisingly good and resilient despite playing many low power cards.

The new cards really impressed, with Emry, Lurker of the Loch singlehandedly pulling mediocre artifacts along with her to the promised land. It's not hard to illustrate how good a one-mana 1/2 that taps to draw a card every turn is, and we can even untap it with Corridor Monitor for another go. Gadwick, the Wizened is also being underrated currently, as the creature itself is fine and the X cost is basically just an amazing kicker. Stonecoil Serpent was also a very high quality creature that scaled exceptionally.

Some of our creatures certainly sucked, but "bad creatures plus Steel Overseer" has been good enough in Modern before so it's not that much of a reach for Standard. The difficultly is going to be finding the balance between payoffs and how bad our creatures can be.

Orzhov Knights | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (34)
• 2 Midnight Reaper
• 2 Murderous Rider
• 3 Order of Midnight
• 3 Wintermoor Commander
• 4 Acclaimed Contender
• 4 Corpse Knight
• 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
• 4 Smitten Swordmaster
• 4 Venerable Knight
• 4 Worthy Knight

• Instants (3)
• 3 Disfigure

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 The Circle of Loyalty

• Lands (22)
• 6 Plains
• 6 Swamp
• 2 Temple of Silence
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Tournament Grounds

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Deck Record: 4-1

Deck Grade: A-

Deck Potential: Medium

If you're looking for the baseline non-Red aggro deck in the format and already have your Godless Shrines from Vampires, Orzhov Knights is where you want to be.

The new knight cards impressed, with Worthy Knight doing a great Hero of Precinct One impression. The tokens aren't knights (which would frankly be busted) but they still do a great job on offense and defense. Acclaimed Contender is the exact type of effect that tribal decks need to keep up with the card advantage from midrange and control decks, and Murderous Rider is obviously great.

However, the cards that really impressed were the commons and uncommon. I was already smitten with Smitten Swordmaster in last week's Love/Hate article, and expectation met reality. Smitten Swordmaster was awesome and closed out many of our games. Order of Midnight was very solid and especially good at returning Smitten Swordmaster for another go. Lastly Wintermoor Commander was excellent, proving a great team up attacker.

The instinct is to want to be Mardu and play all the cool knight cards, but even with Tournament Grounds the mana doesn't feel good enough. Orzhov feels like the way to go, though we do try Rakdos later.

Yarok Field | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (21)
• 2 Agent of Treachery
• 3 Yarok, the Desecrated
• 4 Arboreal Grazer
• 4 Cavalier of Thorns
• 4 Hydroid Krasis
• 4 Risen Reef

• Instants (6)
• 2 Deathsprout
• 4 Growth Spiral

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Circuitous Route

• Lands (29)
• 2 Forest
• 2 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Dismal Backwater
• 2 Jungle Hollow
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Temple of Malady
• 2 Temple of Mystery
• 2 Thornwood Falls
• 2 Watery Grave
• 4 Field of the Dead

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Deck Record: 4-1

Deck Grade: A

Deck Potential: High

This was the "control group" of our Throne of Eldraine experiment. Your goal in a new format is to win, not play new cards, and there's no shame in picking an established archetype and crushing with it.

Consider this a public service announcement... and a warning.

Field of the Dead still runs these streets. Prepare accordingly.

Abzan Wolves | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Kethis, the Hidden Hand
• 2 Murderous Rider
• 3 Incubation Druid
• 3 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
• 4 Faeburrow Elder
• 4 Nightpack Ambusher
• 4 Paradise Druid

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 3 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman

• Instants (4)
• 2 Deathsprout
• 2 Mortify

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Casualties of War

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Oath of Kaya

• Lands (25)
• 2 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Temple Garden
• 4 Temple of Malady
• 4 Temple of Silence

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Deck Record: 3-2

Deck Grade: B-

Deck Potential: Medium to high

Okay back to the sweet new cards!

Garruk, Cursed Huntsman is quite the planeswalker. Two 2/2s every turn is wild, as is killing things and drawing cards. The fact that they are wolves is not lost and we will get there momentarily. But first, Faeburrow Elder is the real heart of the deck. A floor of Paladium Myr is quite good and Faeburrow Elder can do much more. Casting 6-drops on turn four is amazing and being a reasonable threat in its own right is also great. Faeburrow Elder also plays great with Oath of Kaya and other multicolored permanents.

But back to the wolves! The aptly named Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves is are headliner, and is not only a great card it its own right but plays amazingly with Garruk, Cursed Huntsman. This adds a nice bit of synergy to our midrange deck. Nightpack Ambusher was a mixed bag. It does play well with the wolf stuff but we don't have many instants making it obvious and awkward.

The rest of the deck is just great, already proven cards, and this is a very safe way to build your week one Standard deck. If you're a midrange player this is a great place to start.

Temur Reclamation | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

• Instants (28)
• 1 Ral's Outburst
• 2 Flame Sweep
• 2 Shock
• 3 Scorching Dragonfire
• 4 Chemister's Insight
• 4 Expansion // Explosion
• 4 Growth Spiral
• 4 Opt
• 4 Sinister Sabotage

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Wilderness Reclamation

• Lands (25)
• 3 Island
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Rugged Highlands
• 2 Temple of Epiphany
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Temple of Mystery

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Deck Record: 3-2

Deck Grade: B+

Deck Potential: Entirely dependent on the prevalence of Teferi, Time Raveler and Narset, Parter of Veils

Our other established archetype we played. Like Yarok Field with Field of the Dead, Temur Reclamation is your reminder that Wilderness Reclamation is still busted.

The filthy things you can do with Wilderness Reclamation, Exposion, and Niv-Mizzet, Parun are well documented, and they do a great job of ignoring a lot of the things going on in the format- especially Field of the Dead. The problem is that unlike Field of the Dead, Wilderness Reclamation has natural predators. The success of this deck doesn't really depend on any new cards, but rather the prevalence of Teferi, Time Raveler and Narset, Parter of Veils, both cards that shut down the core elements of the deck.

As such this deck comes with an asterisk, but in the right format this deck can be dominant.

Rakdos Knights | Eldraine Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (30)
• 2 Murderous Rider
• 4 Fervent Champion
• 4 Foulmire Knight
• 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
• 4 Midnight Reaper
• 4 Order of Midnight
• 4 Smitten Swordmaster
• 4 Stormfist Crusader

• Instants (3)
• 3 Shock

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Skewer the Critics

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Steelclaw Lance

• Lands (21)
• 7 Swamp
• 6 Mountain
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Tournament Grounds

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Deck Record: 2-3

Deck Grade: B-

Deck Potential: Medium to High

Our last deck is a even more aggressive take on Knights, with a lower curve than Orzhov and more reach.

The Red knights are very aggressively slanted, with Stormfist Crusader doing a nice Dark Confidant impression while also being a good attacker and triggering spectacle. Sure they get cards too but if they're dead who cares! Fervent Champion is a little too similar to Raging Goblin for my tastes, but it does lead us down the path of Steelclaw Lance which was awesome. Steelclaw Lance helps give the deck a level of sizing and durability not usually present in , plays around mass removal very well, and looks great on creatures with keywords like menace, flying, or lifelink.

Again we see Smitten Swordmaster front and center alongside Order of Midnight, and when you mix in knights from older sets like Knight of the Ebon Legion and Midnight Reaper as well as good burn like Shock and Skewer the Critics, you end up with a very nice Aggro package.

This deck is better than our record would indicate.

That's A Wrap

Ten decks and it feels like we're barely scratching the surface!

There were many more decks I'd have liked to try, and frankly I don't even think we're close to figuring out cards like Fires of Invention or Oko, Thief of Crowns yet. This set has a lot going on and a lot to unpack, and when it comes to the more bizarre cards the only way to figure it out is to jam them.

I can't wait to delve deeper!