Standard is alive again!

Real talk, it's been a rough few years for Standard. But we're about a month in to Guilds of Ravnica Standard and boy has it been a breath of fresh air. There are tons of new cards seeing play, many different decks across the major archetypes, and innovation happening seemingly every week. There's a little fear that the Golgari Midrange decks are a bit too versatile, but they are so midrangy and derpy that I imagine they are beatable.

What's really interesting though is that the format is still very unexplored (well unless you're playing Golgari. Jadelight Ranger? Seekers' Squire? Get it? Explore? ...I'll see myself out). While we've seen Selesnya Tokens win the Standard portion of a SCG Tour team open, Golgari Midrange made its presence felt at the SCG Tour Standard Classic last weekend, and some scattered online results, there really hasn't been a marquee tournament for the format. There used to be a Pro Tour very near the beginning of each new Standard format, but that hasn't been the case the last set or so.

As such, we've mostly been out there at FNM or on Magic Online/Arena on our own!

This means, frankly, that most of our decks probably aren't built optimally. Aside from Golgari Midrange and Selesnya Tokens, the other best performing decks have been various flavors of Mono-Red, Mono-White, and Mono-Blue Aggro, various Jeskai and Grixis Control decks, esoteric Izzet "Spells/Drakes" decks, and odd outliers like Rakdos Burn and Boros Midrange.

While these archetypes may be correct, there's no way the actual cards in them are all correct. In fact there are a number of cards that aren't being given the respect they deserve and could end up being pivotal players in Standard. Figuring out these under-heralded gems goes a long way toward being ahead of the curve, be it at your local FNM, on Magic Arena, or battling at Grand Prix New Jersey this weekend.

So let's take a look at one card from each guild that's not currently getting the full respect it deserves.

Selesnya - Conclave Cavalier

Let's start with a hot take.

Anyone who's played against Conclave Cavalier in Limited knows how bad it feels if you don't have something like Conclave Tribunal at the ready. "Elfcoil Engine" is a mythic uncommon, as the 4/4 vigilance body is already a decent value for four mana. However, getting two high quality 2/2 tokens when it dies is just too much value against many decks.

Yes Conclave Cavalier is a little soft to Lava Coil and the aforementioned Conclave Tribunal, but against decks relying on Ravenous Chupacabra and Cleansing Nova to keep the board clear it is an absolute house. Most Golgari Midrange decks are seriously skimping on Vraska's Contempt to make room for Ravenous Chupacabra and Golgari Findbroker, leaving them to face the full wrath of the Elf + Horse monster.

Aside - Wouldn't it be a lot cooler if when Conclave Cavalier died it made one Elf token and one Horse token, like the Centaur got split in two?

Golgari Midrange and Jeskai Control are two of the better decks in our young format, and with Jeskai decks forgoing Settle the Wreckage and Seal Away for Red removal and Cleansing Nova, Conclave Cavalier feels like a great threat against both decks.

Golgari - Find // Finality

Let's go from a hot take to something a little safer.

Yes, Find // Finality is already seeing play in Golgari Midrange decks, but I don't think we're appreciating how important it really is. Being able to play a powerful maindeck sweeper is great, but you run the risk of drawing it in the wrong matchups. Nobody wants to see Deafening Clarion against Izzet Spells or Cleansing Nova against Jeskai Control, but Find // Finality ends up being great in those scenarios too.

So yeah, it can regrow two creatures or kill a bunch of small stuff, we get it Jim what's the big deal. Frankly, people just aren't using this card hard enough.

Instead of dumping the counters onto a Druid of the Cowl or Jadelight Ranger, what if we dumped them onto a Vine Mare or Carnage Tyrant? The way current Golgari Midrange decks are built it's basically just a six-mana Languish, but we can do much better. The card is also a comically easy splash, so why aren't we seeing it in Sultai decks? Jund? Abzan? Mana in Standard isn't amazing, but splashing that extra Black or Green source to get a huge effect feels great.

Find // Finality is much more than just a role player, treat it as such.

Dimir - Thief of Sanity

Remember Nightveil Specter? You know, the format defining card of Return to Ravnica Standard that was a major player in multiple top decks?

Thief of Sanity is better than Nightveil Specter.

Sure Nightveil Specter had some extra devotion value, but it took a little while to get it going if you weren't playing exactly the same colors as your opponent. Thief of Sanity is not only much easier to use, but also gives you selection as to what you want! The trigger on Thief of Sanity is not only significantly better than just drawing a random card, but it also gives you the ability to do things your deck normally couldn't do. Vine Mare got you down? Just take some random big dumb Green idiot to block it. Your Dimir deck can't deal with artifacts or enchantments? Just take the Conclave Tribunal.

I'd go as far to say that a single successful hit with Thief of Sanity is enough to start the snowball rolling so hard that it will be hard for your opponent to ever recover.

Right now Thief of Sanity is just being used as a sideboard juke card; your opponent boards out their removal, you board in Thief of Sanity. That's all well and good, but Thief of Sanity has a place in the format's maindecks. Dimir has the discard and removal available to help clear the path, and played alongside other threats Thief of Sanity can do a lot of great work.

Thief of Sanity is much more than a clever sideboard card!

Boros - Justice Strike

Deafening Clarion has stolen all the headlines.

Settle the Wreckage is out, Deafening Clarion is in! Boros Angels/Midrange/whatever they're calling it can change gears against aggressive decks, board out the early creatures, and board in Deafening Clarion against the creature decks! Or even just play Adanto Vanguard and give it lifelink while saving it and attacking!

We get it; Deafening Clarion is a very solid Magic card.

But the real draw to Jeskai Control is one of the closest things we've gotten to Terminate in Standard in a long time. Justice Strike is such a super clean answer to almost every creature in the format that it puts cards like Lightning Strike and Seal Away to shame. It's also cleaner to cast than Seal Away as far as timing goes, and isn't vulnerable to the various copies of Vivien Reid and Assassin's Trophy that are floating around.

There's not much more to say, Justice Strike is one of the format's premier removal spells and should be treated as such.

Izzet - Niv-Mizzet, Parun

I will concede immediately that Niv-Mizzet, Parun is very weak against Golgari Midrange. Between Ravenous Chupacabra, Vivien Reid, and Vraska, Relic Seeker, Golgari has a ton of excellent incidental answers to Niv-Mizzet, Parun at no loss in value.

However, Golgari Midrange isn't likely to be the top dog in the format forever.

Like Thief of Sanity, Niv-Mizzet, Parun has mostly been relegated to sideboards as a "control mirror breaker" or "extra threat when they board out removal." Frankly, Niv is so much more. Have you ever actually untapped with Niv-Mizzet, Parun before? Assuming your deck is full of instants and sorceries, the cascade of card draw triggers and one damage triggers lets you effectively go nuts while also picking apart your opponent's side of the board. And if your opponent has the Vraska's Contempt or Justice Strike necessary to kill Niv? You at least get to take the two for one, and maybe even kill something with the damage trigger.

So...still undefeated with this so far. Niv-Mizzet is completely ridiculous. It takes maybe two spells to just completely go off. Crazy fun. Who needs those Drakes anyway? #MTGGRN pic.twitter.com/Rqt6h0K3Gn

— Evan Erwin (@misterorange) October 24, 2018

Our own Evan Erwin has been experimenting with taking Niv-Mizzet to the max and there's a lot of room for growth here. Golgari Midrange may keep Niv at bay for now, but be aware of how much power lies in that awkward mana cost and be ready to strike when Golgari wanes.

Bonus Round

There are two quick cards I want to touch on before we go.

Make no mistake about it; Grand Prix New Jersey (and your local and online events this weekend) is going to be all about Golgari Midrange and Ravenous Chupacabra.

If you're looking to beat up on the Golgari menace, it's going to be your job to pick creatures that are going to be resilient against the removal and blockers Golgari Midrange brings to the table, and Adanto Vanguard and/or Rekindling Phoenix are exactly where you want to be. Each laughs off Ravenous Chupacabra, while attacking quickly for punishing amounts of damage through random value creatures. Don't discount these versatile threats!

Golgari Midrange can be beaten; we just need to adjust what threats we are throwing at it.

See everyone in New Jersey!