Date: Monday, July 8

Hi, Jay, let's pick up where we left off with the cards previewed on Friday, July 5. There are some good ones to talk over, including a reprint that's about to see a lot of play: Gladecover Scout. A 1/1 hexproof creature for is going to put Bant Auras into the mix for the Best Deck of the Summer title. Turn-one Gladecover Scout into turn-two Rancor and Ethereal Armor gives you a 5-power dude with hexproof, first strike, and trample. That's a fast start and tough to deal with. Turn-two Spectral Flight is also a possibility and gives you a 3-power flyer with hexproof. If Unflinching Courage is available on turn three, it's usually over right there. I'd expect to see Electrickery make it into the main deck of some decks if hexproof creatures take over Standard.

Barrage of Expendables has potential as well and has obvious implications when combined with Blood Artist. Is it a good enough sac outlet to make it into The Aristocrats or something new? Extra damage is nice, but it costs and does nothing without creatures to sacrifice, unlike Cartel Aristocrat or Falkenrath Aristocrat, which can attack, block, and in the case of the latter, straight-up win games.

Encroaching Wastes brings nonbasic land-on-land hate to Standard, something I suspect will be helpful against Mutavault and the hinted-at Theros cycle of lands. It seems carefully positioned to be useful for control but not aggro, though 5 mana may be a bit steep to destroy a dual land in most circumstances. It does lack the must-have-four-lands restriction of Tectonic Edge, so it is possible to ramp up to this and color- or mana-screw an opponent fairly early. What do you make of this card?

Date: Tuesday, July 9

Hey, Nick, you're probably right that Gladecover Scout is a great addition to the Hexproof deck—much more so than Witchstalker, as the difference between 1 and 3 mana is huge. The only problem the Scout has in Standard (as opposed to in Modern) is that you have fewer evasion enchantments. Still, it lets you start piling on enchantments from turn two onward, which helps increase the speed of the deck quite a bit. Having an aggressive 1-drop is among the main reasons I liked the R/W/U versions that played Judge's Familiar a while back.

I'm not so sure about Electrickery seeing main-decked play. It's good against decks like The Aristocrats, sure, but against Hexproof, I don't think it will do enough. You basically only have a small window to resolve it against a Gladecover Scout or an Invisible Stalker, as they will be suited up soon after being cast. If I'm on the play and cast a Scout, you can't even Electrickery it before I can enhance it with a Spectral Flight. You're probably going to have more luck with Bonfires, Supreme Verdicts, Mutilates, and those type of effects. Rolling Temblor might just do enough, as it at the very least kills the 2/2s in the deck, but I don't think you'll have much of a chance to catch a 1-drop with its pants down with this one either.

Barrage of Expendables is interesting, and I've been brewing with it, too. The problem I've run into is that the sacrifice effect not only costs mana, but costs red mana. In the decks in which you want it—those with Doomed Traveler and Voice of Resurgence or Gravecrawler and Geralf's Messenger—you are leaning way heavier on different colors of mana. Having enough to activate Barrage of Expendables will be a challenge, and I don't think it's good enough if you can only activate it once a turn. Not being a creature is not necessarily a downside. You probably don't want to play four, but having a nearly unkillable sacrifice outlet is worth something.

Along the lines of Barrage of Expendables, what do you think of Gnawing Zombie? It might cost 2 mana, but at least the colored mana is the color you actually want a ton of sources of in your deck anyway. It also gains you 1 life, which isn't much, but with Blood Artist, it can add up.

I can see Encroaching Wastes only in a ramp deck. I wish it were just an expensive Dust Bowl; that would've been interesting (and possibly miserable with all the nonbasics being played in Standard). In a ramp deck, though, it could be pretty good. Remember that mana-Elf-into-Archdruid curve that helps cast Garruk on turn three? Well, this lets you Wasteland your opponent at the cost of a turn. Outside of ramp scenarios, I can see people play a singleton in control decks, where having your lands function as spells (even horribly overcosted ones) is at a premium.

As for other worthwhile cards, I'm slowly coming around to the life-gain cards in white. Archangel of Thune is obviously somewhat good, and if you can grow a big team (of Lingering Souls tokens, for example), she's very powerful, but I'm also starting to like Path of Bravery. How hard can it be to make it above your starting life total with a bunch of tokens? And if you get there: Hey, we have Glorious Anthem back! In combination with Intangible Virtue to also keep blockers back while you swing in, I can see myself fiddling around with some Spirit tokens for a while. Fiendslayer Paladin's lifelink ability also suddenly becomes even more relevant, just like Blood Baron of Vizkopa's or Obzedat, Ghost Council's drain ability.

Did you see a single good blue card by the way? I think they printed Opportunity a core set too early . . . We still have Sphinx's Revelation (although it does open up some doors for decks like Grixis).

We also haven't discussed the Young Pyromancer yet. What do you think?

Date: Tuesday, July 9

I like Gnawing Zombie much better than Barrage of Expendables in The Aristocrats . The mana works better, as you pointed out, and it's a 1/3, so it is a good early blocker. With Blood Artist on the table, we're talking 2 mana and a creature for a 4-point life swing, which is great. It's main competition in the deck is Cartel Aristocrat, and it's tough to turn down a free sac outlet like that.

Archangel of Thune is a fun brewer's card for sure, and there are all kinds of life-gain effects in Standard to work with. I like your tokens deck idea. Vault of the Archangel, Congregate, and Swift Justice would make for some interesting combats. Blood Artist and extort cards work well, too. If the Archangel sees a lot of action, Skullcrack seems to be a nice way to mitigate some big plays.

Speaking of Lingering Souls, I really like the idea of pairing it with Ogre Battledriver. A total of four 3/1 flyers with haste is pretty powerful. How about Assemble the Legion and Scion of Vitu-Ghazi? That's a whole lot of insta-power.

As for blue spells, it's not flashy or new, but I'm excited to see Essence Scatter and Negate in a format without Cavern of Souls. I think they are well-balanced and perfectly serviceable counter options. Tidebinder Mage has promise as well, as noted in last week's article. I like Warden of Evos Isle as well, though in more of a fun Friday Night Magic deck teaming up with Favorable Winds and some high-value flyers. Lyev Skyknight for , Restoration Angel for , and Thundermaw Hellkite for all come to mind, but there are plenty of options, including our newest Archangel. If you really want to go janky, you could work Heartless Summoning in somehow.

Young Pyromancer is seeing plenty of press and could find a home in R/W/U tempo. It is cheap and easy to cast and could generate quite an army of Elementals in a deck like this. It would require cutting something from the creature package so that the right mix of instants and sorceries is maintained. There is obvious synergy with Nivix Cyclops, Guttersnipe, and Goblin Electromancer as well.

Grim Return is among the more interesting black cards. You can bring back one of your creatures that died this turn, perhaps triggering a nice enters-the-battlefield effect, or snatch one of your opponent’s. At instant speed, it can deny an Unburial Rites target or help immediately recover from a board wipe. It could also serve as a control deck’s win condition . . . "You done with that? Lemme go ahead and take it off your hands."

Let's talk reprints. Core sets are full of them, and we've gone over several. You see any other important reprints for Standard?

Date: Wednesday, July 10

I would probably play any sacrifice outlet in addition to Cartel Aristocrat. That card is way too good at what it does to ever consider cutting from these Aristocrats-type decks (unless you end up not playing white or something). I do like Archangel of Thune as a one-of to search for with Garruk Relentless in these decks, too, so a Gnawing Zombie or two might make the Archangel a little better. I wouldn't play more than two of the Zombie, as drawing multiples is really bad. They're basically Bane Alley Blackguards after the first.

Ogre Battledriver is on my list as a card to watch because it has a ton of these crazy interactions. Kalonian Hydra swinging in right after playing it? Wolfir Silverheart? How about we smash the opponent for a cool 15 with an Increasing Devotion? Granting haste to creatures is very powerful, and this Ogre does it for free while attaching a power boost.

Cavern of Souls hasn't rotated yet, so there's still the option of reprinting it in Theros . . . I sure hope they don't, though, because it would be nice to once again be able to punish people for trying to hard-cast 7-mana creatures and what have you. As for the Warden of Evos Isle, it reminds me of Stinkdrinker Daredevil in Modern Masters Draft: The Giant cards you want to put in your deck are the ones that are already reasonably costed. Having one or two effects that make unplayable cards playable does not make for a good, consistent deck. Making good cards cheaper is nice, but I'm not sure it's worth the initial 3-mana investment—unless the 2/2 flying body becomes very relevant.

Young Pyromancer is among the cards that actually has combo potential in M14. It might just be better as a value card, but if you remember those Burn at the Stake decks from a while ago . . . Young Pyromancer slots right in, and it might make the deck good enough to win a couple of FNMs (and maybe more).

I'm not sure on Grim Return; it seems very narrow in when you can and want to use it. Are you thinking mostly about stealing the opponent’s cards in a deck with a ton of removal or are you trying to gain another use out of your own Thragtusks? In the latter case, I think Restoration Angel or Unburial Rites is probably a lot better, but those are indeed not here forever. Perhaps it's a card to keep in mind later on—when Theros arrives.

As for reprints, I think Opportunity is a pretty good one, and so are the 2-mana counters. Keeping Duress around is nice despite everybody hoping for Thoughtseize. I also think Shrivel can do good work, considering we still didn't receive a Pyroclasm effect. As for other missing reprints, I wish we'd gotten Condemn instead of Celestial Flare—or a version of Celestial Flare instead of . Snapcaster Mage was probably in the way of that happening, and at least we have a decent tool against Hexproof. If it sees widespread play, though, Hexproof will simply play more Voice of Resurgence.

We've already covered Gladecover Scout, but I also like the other card with “hexproof” in its text box: Ranger's Guile. This has been an interesting one-of in many of my green decks’ sideboards, and I think it's a great threat to keep around.

I think old classics such as Millstone don't cut it anymore—just like Shiv's Embrace. These were never the best spells to begin with, and with creatures becoming more powerful, they are now simply outclassed. Planar Cleansing is another card that can't really keep up with the creatures of today's standards, which makes me hope for a decent Wrath of God variant in Theros as well (which could actually be Wrath of God, although I think Wizards is moving away from cards with names like that). It would fit the Greek myth setting.

Another intriguing reprint is Quicken. Any idea what sorcery in Standard would be the most broken if it had flash?

Date: Wednesday, July 10

Cavern of Souls was printed to offset the power of Mana Leak, which is gone from the world of Standard, probably forever, and as such, Cavern will not be reprinted in Theros. This is of course not confirmed, but it is highly probable.

There's definitely a Young Pyromancer/Burn at the Stake deck begging to be made, and plenty of people will be doing so. It'll be at FNM and on Magic Online, but I don't think we'll be seeing it in the Top 16 of a major tournament. Fun decks are fun, though, and I'm all for it.

There are a bunch of cards I can think of that would be great with flash: Pillar of Flame, Bonfire of the Damned, Mizzium Mortars, Rakdos's Return, Supreme Verdict, and Lingering Souls all stand out. The most broken would probably be casting Unburial Rites at the end of your opponent's turn. The problem with Quicken is that the fact it costs , so we're adding flash but effectively making the spell more expensive, which deflates the value of bringing in creatures that way, as it will be a turn later. In this context, the answer is probably one of the board sweepers, though something like Duress or Appetite for Brains during your opponent's draw step is an interesting option. What do you think?

Okay, Jay, let's close out our review with a little prognostication. What M14 cards do you think will have the biggest impact on Standard before rotation? I'll give you my top five in no particular order:

• Gladecover Scout – This is pretty obvious. A 1-drop hexproof creature is good for Bant Auras and frightening for the rest of Standard.
• Scavenging Ooze – An answer to Reanimator and other graveyard decks that doubles as a threat that can get out of hand quickly will see a lot of play.
• Lifebane Zombie – Seventeen of the twenty most-played creatures in Top 16 decks over the last month were green and/or white, and ten of those cost 3 or more to cast. Assuming deck tuners can work out the , this card will do some work before rotation.
• Ratchet Bomb – Activating with 0 counters deals with tokens, and using 1 to 2 counters works well against Bant Auras’s creatures and enchantments as well as a whole slew of aggressive creatures of the format. This is a fairly effective catch-all answer right now.
• Kalonian Hydra – This card is way too powerful to not find a deck. I suspect it'll inspire the creation of its own. Jund colors seem likely.

Overall, it appears that Jund midrange and Bant Auras might be the biggest winners from M14, with some potential new deck ideas resulting from build-around-me cards such as Kalonian Hydra and Young Pyromancer. Any closing thoughts on the state of the metagame after M14?

Date: Thursday, July 11

Hey, you never know what might push a combo deck over the edge . . . Young Pyromancer is definitely a powerful card, and it could be just what the deck needed. I'll definitely be trying out a couple configurations to see how powerful it is in a Burn at the Stake deck. Even if he's not baking or staking, Young Pyromancer will most likely see Standard play in a U/R Delver/Snapcaster/Goblin Electromancer deck; it might bring Delver back as a card to build with. Now you have eight cards that are insane with a lot of spells in your deck. I think he makes my top five.

Kalonian Hydra is also in there, and seeing how more than a few of pros have written about decks with the card recently, I would say we're definitely going to see it do some work in Standard.

I like Ratchet Bomb as a top contender for most-played card from M14 for the reasons you noted, and I think Mutavault and Scavenging Ooze round out my top five. Mutavault is just very powerful, and while it might take a while to catch on, someone will remember how awesome it is to have man lands in your deck. He'll cut a color or two and beat people to death with animated 2/2s after trading away the rest of the board. Scavenging Ooze slots straight into an already-great deck in Jund, which I don't think will become less popular than it already is. It also directly affects another large player in the Standard metagame—but in a negative way: Junk Reanimator. I think it's safe to say the Ooze will help shape Standard for the next few months.

As for Quicken, I was looking more for things that are absolutely broken to do during someone's turn, similar to how Omniscience is the most broken permanent to grab with Obzedat's Aid—that kind of thing. If Supreme Verdict or Duress is the best we can do . . . then I'm afraid we're not getting very far. I don't really see any other sorceries I'm excited about either, so this is probably a bust for now. Maybe when Theros comes out there will be better options.

I expect that, for the first week or two, we'll see a lot of Jund and Hexproof decks, and I'm going to guess a control deck with Ratchet Bombs main to supplement the sweepers will do well, too. A week or two into the format, I expect to see lists with Kalonian Hydra pop up, and perhaps we'll even see some Mutavault action. For the Hydra lists to succeed, they'll have to work on the Jund matchup. There is not much worse than putting all this effort into a 5-mana threat just to have it Doom Bladed. Reanimator will move down a notch or two, while decks like R/G aggro will remain popular, but they might switch to the heavier green version with Strangleroot Geist to have some resilience against decks with a lot of removal, such as (there it is again) Jund.

I'm pretty excited to shatter some Bant Hexproof player's hopes and dreams with a Ratchet Bomb or two!