Storybook Chapter 1

Is Bonecrusher Giant too good not to play?

Pro Tour Tokyo Champion / Pro Tour Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz certainly thinks so!

Bonecrusher Giant - or should we get into the habit of calling it Stomp // Bonecrusher Giant? - has a front-end Adventure that essentially says:

" Instant: Damage can't be prevented this turn. Stomp deals 2 damage to any target. Draw a card."

It just so happens that "card" is always a Bonecrusher Giant. There are some weirdo bonuses you get along with this card draw. For example, in formats where Inquisition of Kozilek is legal, the opponent' can't force you to discard your "cantrip" upside. While you're stockpiling some card advantage, you won't (and see below) have an actual additional card for purposes of Robber of the Rich.

At Six mana, Stomp-ing the opponent's face and playing the Spectacle on Rix-Maadi Reveler as your last card is going to be an exciting one-two (or is it two-four?) punch.

I think Patrick Chapin had it right saying this card will be Staple in Standard.

I'm a bit more lukewarm on the card than everyone else, though I suppose I concur that not only Red Decks but probably their Gruul brethren will like it.

For wider formats I kind of like Bonecrusher Giant in the Scab-Clan Berserker / Gathan Raiders sense of some misguided Legacy decks. For certain the Stomp side will give them flexibility around the equally oddball Abrades, plus the three on the other end that doesn't accidentally trip up their own Chalice of the Void.

I do not however think this card is too good not to play in conventional Modern Burn decks or the Legacy Fireblast decks that look so much like them.

My take is the card will be Staple but probably overrated in Standard, but that it generally violates how I want to approach Modern Burn. If you read What Everybody Gets Wrong About Modern Burn you know that I strongly favor the ability to deploy lots of cards that cost one over card power; and that I generally dislike Skullcrack effects. While you might catch the very odd Kor Firewalker with this (and even then, your opponent will have to be either near death or woefully naive), it doesn't even back you up against the stuff that really scares you, like Timely Reinforcements.

I'm just not into this card for the conventional Modern deck the same way I wasn't into Dreadhorde Arcanist; but might respect its contribution to another archetype; like Grixis / Discard in the case of the Arcanist... Maybe someone who is interested in casting a Kolaghan's Command, here? Like maybe Mardu.

Hot Take: It's Staple quality for Standard, but feel free not to play it in wider formats.

Storybook Chapter 2

Should Robber of the Rich be considered a sideboard card only?

I was initially super high on this card. Maybe I was wrong about the imminent dangers to true Red Aggro in Standard after all, I thought to myself. Then I thought about this card a little more.

Robber of the Rich might feel unbeatable if you're going second. I mean if you don't have a one-mana removal spell, you're just going to be behind. If the opposing Red Deck has its draw, or at least a couple of quick instants available, to say that you're merely on the back foot will be the understatement of... Well, the game at hand, at least.

If the Red Deck does go first, it is going to have one card fewer than you to start, and the Robber itself will be another card out of hand (presuming you don't have a 1-drop). Red Decks of course play basically the most 1-drops of everyone, so they're going to be "down" to start more often than not, and even if you have a 1-drop they are the color of Shock, themselves.

Like I said, this card is oppressively wild going first.

The problem is that its performance is going to be erratic going second.

Even if all the other deck can do is make a 2/2 for two going first, the Robber can get online, get in, and... Trade? You need to have attacked with a Rogue to get the freebie card (ON SOME FUTURE TURN, mind you). This is very un-Ophidian all of a sudden. And there is the matter of whether or not they had more cards than you as well. All they have to do is not have more cards (i.e. by going first, simply) and Robber of the Rich is going to have to wait to get its money.

The card is crazy powerful... When it is. The problem is that it looks to be aggressively mediocre like 40% of the time. Remember, even if you get the Robber online, and even if you start setting cards aside... You can only play spells! So if you hit lands, you're not even going to be generating much card advantage with them.

To be clear, I think this card is going to have its place. And that might be a storied place. But I don't think it is going to be an unconditionally high performer, main deck, and across the lifetime of Throne of Eldraine in Standard.

That said, I can easily imagine this card winning the Mythic Championship right out the gate. In a field where everyone is world class, a little bit of luck is going to go a longer way than it will on Friday Nights. Winning die rolls and benefiting from opposing manascrew (which implies an inability to deploy cards from hand) are both angles outside the cardboard itself that Robber of the Rich is going to be able to push... But don't be surprised if it just stinks for you when you copy the Mythic Championship deck the next week and play it turn two - on the draw - at the following week's Standard Showdown. Great or mediocre; not always great.

Hot Take: If you can decide to play this card always going first - for example in even a Control deck's sideboard - it should pretty consistently over-perform. I do think Robber of the Rich will find its way into seemingly unusual sideboards, therefore; but no doubt it will be main deck also. It just won't always perform like a main deck superstar for you. Sorry about that, beloved reader.

Storybook Chapter 3

Can Simic Flash survive the rotation of Dominaria?

Simic Flash is going to make the transition to Throne of Eldraine Standrard with most of its flashiest cards intact. Brineborn Cutthroat was easily the most substantial over-performer of the deck's initial run, and its four-mana flagship, Nightpack Ambusher, will be right alongside that flashy fish.

The two most flexible permission cards - Frilled Mystic and Sinister Sabotage - probably never left their sleeves, either.

And while the deck is going to take some body blows to its starting sixty - most notably Merfolk Trickster on the creature side - the new set will have some worthy replacements lined up. I for one can't wait to sleeve up Wildborn Preserver and especially Brazen Borrower.

So what's the problem?

When I first started working on the deck back in July it had 24 lands with only two copies of Temple of Mystery. I don't think you can really get away with that any more. Hinterland Harbor is a huge loss because the deck needs as early as turn two, potentially on turn two, and by turn four. This is a deck that doesn't sit around shuffling its thumbs every turn; mana utilization is opportunistic - especially when you can steal maybe three life points with a first-turn Spectral Sailor - so the answers are not so simple.

I'm well aware of the existence of this card, of course; but the reality is, Hinterland Harbor could give you untapped Blue or Green on turn two and Fabled Passage isn't online untapped until turn four. Even worse, we're going to have to upgrade Temple of Mystery from two copies to four copies out of pure necessity.

July 16 mana base:

• 6 Forest
• 8 Island
• 2 Temple of Mystery
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Hinterland Harbor

This mana base provides 18-22 lands that can come into play untapped; 16 sources of Green, and 18 sources of Blue. From any historical perspective it is a very robust mana base for a two-color Standard deck.

September 26 proposed mana base:

• 5 Forest
• 8 Island
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Temple of Mystery
• 4 Breeding Pool

This mana base provides 17-21 lands that can come into play untapped... So worse all around even though I added a land. Though it goes up to 17 sources of Green and 20 sources of Blue, second copies of either color might be pinched in the early game. For instance, if you keep a two-lander and fetch for Forest to cast Wildborn Preserver, you might not be able to cast Essence Capture the next turn. Given the into requirements of the deck, playing Fabled Passage on turn two is even worse than just not getting the upside of an untapped basic on turn four. You have to commit before you've even seen your 8th or 9th card... And you can very easily be wrong.

My podcast co-host Patrick Chapin thinks I might be too pessimistic on the increased land count but Simic Flash can use mid-game operating mana for Spectral Sailor, and wants five a lot of the time for Spectral Sailor + using Spectral Sailor, or front side + back side on Brazen Borrower anyway. The increased likelihood of having to play a tapped Temple of Mystery randomly after you already have four lands doesn't just mean that it does nothing for you that turn... You can push an egregious next land anyway; so mise.

Working build:

Simic Flash | Eldraine Standard | Michael Flores

• Creatures (24)
• 4 Brazen Borrower
• 4 Brineborn Cutthroat
• 4 Frilled Mystic
• 4 Nightpack Ambusher
• 4 Spectral Sailor
• 4 Wildborn Preserver

• Instants (11)
• 1 Opt
• 2 Negate
• 4 Essence Capture
• 4 Sinister Sabotage

• Lands (25)
• 5 Forest
• 8 Island
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Temple of Mystery

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Aether Gust
• 2 Negate
• 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 3 Thrashing Brontodon
• 4 Shifting Ceratops

Buy This Deck Export text format Export Arena format

Hot Take: Simic looks to be a viable Level Zero deck, but success with it will require greater decision-making precision in the early game than in the previous cycle. Its long-term viability in the face of more specifically Throne of Eldraine-opportunistic strategies is unclear.

Storybook Chapter 4

Will Oko, Thief of Crowns be the new best 3-mana Planeswalker for Standard?

Hot Take: Yes.

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "best". I have a hard time imagining that the ability to come out on turn two via Gilded Goose and then work tirelessly with the aforementioned Goose to generate multiple advantages across the spectrum - materiel, loyalty, power, life total, even a tonnage of artifacts for specific synergies if need be - while ticking up isn't going to put Oko in a singular position.

Oko is not likely to displace Teferi, Time Raveler's cross-format All-Star title at three, but heads up in Standard? Who wins?

Combine Oko's ability to create Food - again while ticking up - with an overabundance of hungry linear teammates and you have a hell of a shirtless centerpiece.

Storybook Chapter 5

What is the correct resource valuation for Food?

This is going to be a really important thing to understand and work with, contextually in Standard going forward. Not because one Food is so powerful, but because correct decisions demand reasonable mental shortcuts.

What do I mean by this?

In Magic, the rules we play by shift game to game, or even turn to turn. If you're playing against a deck with few small creatures when playing Burn, your plan will often shift to unloading your variable cardboard to the face as quickly as you identify the matchup, to take advantage of your mana short-term... Unless your opponent is Death's Shadow, in which case it is usually correct to adopt an even-more-conservative-than-usual sit-there stance.

Brian Weissman says not to stockpile more permission than you can cast with the lands you already have in play; and Carlos Romao became famous by letting everything but specifically Psychatog or specifically Upheaval resolve. But of course all these "rules" are just mental shortcuts and the right move shifts with the pace and specifics of the game at hand. For example if Carlos were swinging with a lethal Atog of his own and the opponent's last desperate play were to try to remove it, clearly he would be happy to Counterspell the opponent's last card, despite the fact that it were neither Psychatog nor Upheaval.

Back when Umezawa's Jitte was legal in Standard, I eventually landed on valuing each charge counter at a full card. That meant that if the opponent hit me or killed one of my creatures, he was drawing two cards. Two good cards! If I could get exchanges at less than one-card-per-charge counter, I would strive to take them.

Does that seem steep to you? Any charge counter effect had an approximate analogue - like Disfigure, Giant Growth, or Healing Salve - that some mage some when would actually spend not only a full card, but a full mana, on. Jitte's extreme discount of "a little less than a Disfigure," "a little less than a Giant Growth," and "a little less than a Healing Salve" but all at zero mana forced me to not only create a working model, but sharpen my play around respecting the card... And the card-like charge counters that it spawned. As a result, I had stellar heads up results with and against Umezawa's Jitte all through Kamigawa Block Constructed and its associated Standard formats.

As important a card as Jitte was then... It was one card. So my guess is that Food valuation is going to be even more important to understand and create shortcuts for.

Have you read the card Feasting Troll King?

This card is The Enemy.

I mean sure, you'll want The Enemy on your team sometimes (I know I will), but make no mistake: It is simply the enemy you know. The bad guy. The bar against which we measure other bad guys.

It can make six-mana worth of power and toughness - and resilience - for a whopping zero mana. And when you pay full retail, it's like two 6-drops, only one is on delay.

Feasting Troll King implies Food costs about zero, or that three Food together are worth less than one card. Maybe that's just because of how awesome Feasting Troll King is, though.

How about a more reasonable creature, like Curious Pair?

The front-side Adventure puts one Food at approximately 1 mana, but not even a card. Remember: Treats to Share says ": Create a Food token. Draw a card."

Gilded Goose and Oko, Thief of Crowns are both basically off the charts if we can trust the valuation of Treats to Share or Giant Opportunity. Put another way: Play them.

How about outside of Green?

Less than a card, but more than a mana. Murder, of course, is not really a tournament-worthy card.

Less than a card; zero mana! Into the Roil on the other hand...

Hot Take: Pricing Food is tough. Ballpark I would say one Food token is worth slightly less than one card and slightly less than one mana. So Treats to Share and Giant Opportunity are both approximately perfectly costed.

Storybook Chapter 6

How long before Mystic Sanctuary gets banned in [pick a format]?

Who would have thought that the most broken card in a set with, like, Questing Beast and many of these Adventure creatures was going to be a common land?

Mystic Sanctuary is going to be perfectly fine in Standard; mid-game it will probably lock down lots of games you thought you were going to win but weren't sure you were going to win, yet. But in formats with lots of big and powerful spells? Woah.

How about this?

Crucible of Worlds ensures you're drawing your card each turn. That card will be a Flooded Strand out of your graveyard; the first four Strands will become Mystic Sanctuaries that presumably erase your draw step. But don't worry! We're penciling in Cryptic Command at least four times in a row. Or five.

If you're already ahead they're as good as raced. If you're not, you can presumably draw two extra cards (from the Crucible play and the Cryptic cantrip) while Time Walking them four or five times.

On the subject of Time Walks, this is my favorite:

Yes you "Time Walk yourself" every turn by bouncing a land (presumably the Mystic Sanctuary). However you also always take the next turn. Is this a co-loop where you neither ever see a new card nor the opponent ever takes another turn? Well, yes. Only over the course of all the turns the opponent isn't taking you amass an army of any number of 1/1s. Kind of a cool, multi-turn infinite damage combo. Also it plays the Clouded Mirror of Victory and you know how I feel about that card.

I got this one from Chapin.

Basically when you're tired of regular Time Walks you can buy one back using free lands that you are now PUTTING INTO YOUR GRAVEYARD to play with your Crucible of Worlds for even more Time Walk buyback action. Every couple of cycles you can do it again and never run out of Mystic Sanctuaries. Obviously.

Forget about just putting Miracles on top or whatever. Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Opt have never had such talented teammates.

Hot Take: Don't hold your breath. So, longer than it took them to ban Hogaak or even Treasure Cruise. But maybe not "never".

Storybook Chapter 7

On that note... What will Standard mana bases look like generally?

I already shared what I think one two-color mana base might look like for Simic. But single-color mana bases are going to be really exciting, in particular Green.

A really single-minded Mono-Green StOmPy deck that wants 21 lands might look like this:

• 17 Forest
• 4 Castle Garenbrig

Castle Garenbrig isn't legendary. As long as you don't keep a two-lander with specifically two copies of it, you're probably home free.

The 23 land version might be as creative as...

• 19 Forest
• 4 Castle Garenbrig

Hoot and holler right? Power and toughness, more like!

But what if we add a little more spice?

• 15 Forest
• 4 Castle Garenbrig
• 4 Gingerbread Cabin

Gingerbread Cabin is highly variable relative to Castle Garenbrig. It's equally bad on turn one, and is harder to turn on (especially if you play Castle Garenbrig before turn four). But! Gingerbread Cabin itself counts as a Forest for Castle Garenbrig if you need it to (or other Gingerbread Cabin, natch).

I think heavy-ing up on these lands collapses entirely once you start adding even one color. Imagine you're an Oko-Happy lunatic that still loves a Nissa. Would you attempt...

• 4 Breeding Pool
• 6 Forest
• 1 Island
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Castle Garenbrig
• 4 Gingerbread Cabin

That's super asking for it, I think. You saw how my teeth got chattering over Fabled Passage in the Simic Flash section. Such a deck would probably desperately want Gilded Goose in play on turn one as often as possible and this mana base is not going to provide that with any level of consistency.

Hot Take: I wouldn't even attempt this last one.

Storybook Chapter 8

Are y'all all sleeping on Blacklance Paragon?

Hot Take: I bet you were... A second ago.

Blacklance Paragon is quietly one of the best cards in the set. You know when Chapin went X-1 on Day One of the Pro Tour swap inning Kraul Harpooner into his Explore main deck to get faster against Combo and Control, while retaining essentially a removal card for many opposing creature decks?

Blacklance Paragon is going to look like Lightning Helix... A lot. When it mugs a 7/6 and you gain three life it is going to be like the best Lightning Helix you ever played. Somehow that will also be its bad mode. The rest of the time it's going to be a flashy Watchwolf-type where it snuck past the opponent's defenses and just brained them for half their life total before they were able to deal with it.

So... Any questions?

LOVE

MIKE