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While Dreamhack Dallas and the remaining RCs are certainly the last large Standard events for quite a while (not counting Worlds at the end of October), Standard rotation is coming - and faster than you might think. Unlike most years, 2024's Magic release calendar is more crammed together, meaning sets release closer together than ever. This is probably to account for Modern Horizons 3 taking the slot of the summer release and to fit the last Standard set release before late November when Magic sales traditionally drop off.
In any case, Standard rotation this year occurs with the release of Bloomburrow on August 2nd, and with it the departure of four Standard sets: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and Streets of New Capenna. While four sets leave Standard in August, we'll still have a whopping ten sets to build decks from, counting Bloomburrow.
Will this rotation drastically change the Standard environment? Well, yes...and no. Without spoilers, it's hard to tell how much Bloomburrow will reshape Standard, but historically, adding one set to a pool of nine shouldn't have too many major effects on the format.
What's more important to note, however, is what cards are actually leaving Standard. Looking at the current top decks in the format, there actually aren't a ton of high-level power cards leaving. Creatures like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Atraxa, the Unifier, and Tishana's Tidebinder all stay in the format, along with powerful spells like Sunfall, Long Goodbye, and No More Lies. However, there are a handful of key cards in the format that leave this August, and while the format may not change drastically come rotation, these cards leaving will certainly leave a lasting effect on the format at large.
Key Card Departures
First up, we have a slew of Azorius Control cards leaving the format. While Azorius may not be the present best deck in the format, it's currently in the top three most represented. While Hullbreaker Horror and March of Otherworldly Light are flexible losses, Memory Deluge and The Wandering Emperor are extreme casualties. Memory Deluge is by far one of the best "draw" spells printed in the last few years, overtaking past iterations like Glimmer of Genius and Dig Through Time. The ability to flashback Deluge is what helped Azorius pull from mid to late-game, being able to restock on cards after reaching a standstill with an opponent.
The Wandering Emperor plays a somewhat similar role in prolonging the game. By having flash, Emperor creates a sub-game, forcing the opponent to direct their resources at it. Emperor also is a crucial way of gaining life for Azorius, fending off lethal attacks. Opponents might also fear an Emperor in their combat step, thus making a worse attack in order to not get blown out. This gives Azorius the opportunity to load up on cards with Deduce and Memory Deluge. The instant-speed of The Wandering Emperor is a power unparalleled for Standard control decks, and as a fellow Control player, I'm heartbroken to see her go.
Azorius might look to play four copies of cards like Deduce and Get Lost to replace these effects, but I'm hopeful we have a better option than Farsight Ritual in Bloomburrow.
Mike Flores quotes Temur Analyst as one of "the most beautifully designed Standard decks" he's ever seen. The deck certainly is elegant, having a powerful and resilient combo baked into a build of a couple of four-ofs. With Bloomburrow, we lose the key cards that make this deck function - not Nissa, Resurgent Animist or Aftermath Analyst, but the Streets of New Capenna "fetch lands" that play a pivotal part in ramping to a lethal Worldsoul's Rage. While the core cards of the deck don't rotate, losing these lands is a heavy blow to the deck that, in my opinion, pushes it out of Standard contention. Temur Analyst also loses Shigeki, Jukai Visionary and Colossal Skyturtle, giving it less resilience - as if losing the Capenna lands wasn't rough already.
In addition to the Capenna fetch lands, we also lose the rare cycle of tri-lands. This is a pretty heavy hit to Domain, as these lands enable Domain to cast consistent cheap Leyline Bindings and Herd Migrations for full value.
Another set of powerful lands leaving Standard are the Channel cycle from Neon Dynasty. These lands are cornerstones of the current Standard format, with copies showing up in pretty much every deck of the format. While these lands were flex "spells" you could freely slot in your deck, more importantly these lands created a whole deck archetype in combination with multiple legendary creatures and (the rotating) Slogurk, the Overslime.
5-Color Legends | OTJ Standard | Jason Ye, Top 8, US Regional Championship
- Creatures (23)
- 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
- 1 Vorinclex // The Grand Evolution
- 2 Ertai Resurrected
- 2 Titania, Voice of Gaea
- 3 Honest Rutstein
- 3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
- 3 Kellan, Daring Traveler
- 4 Slogurk, the Overslime
- 4 Rona, Herald of Invasion
- Instants (3)
- 1 Cut Down
- 2 Go for the Throat
- Sorceries (1)
- 1 Duress
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Relic of Legends
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Esper was already on the downturn in Standard, but it's been a cornerstone of the format pretty much since Raffine's release in Streets of New Capenna. While Raffine, Scheming Seer, and Dennick, Pious Apprentice // Dennick, Pious Apparition rotate, we still have a solid Dimir-base in cards like Faerie Mastermind, Deep-Cavern Bat, and Preacher of the Schism. Raffine's departure is by no means the death of Dimir-based midrange, but it does give uncertainty as to whether you should be playing White cards like No More Lies and Virtue of Loyalty in your Dimir-based midrange decks.
While Bloodthirsty Adversary has been pushed out of contention for Mono-Red, Kumano Faces Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano and Play with Fire are pretty big hits to the deck. I'd argue Play with Fire isn't as important since Shock was printed in Murders of Karlov Manor, but Kumano Faces Kakkazan leaving Standard is important for Red's survival. Kumano basically helps power out some of the deck's most busted draws, and if you're able to get in combat damage with it at least once, you've probably guaranteed four damage off a one-mana card. While Monastery Swiftspear and Slickshot Showoff are still hanging around with a bevy of powerful instants to choose from, Kumano Faces Kakkazan is a big hit, but not the end of Mono-Red in Standard.
Aside from these cards, Standard doesn't actually lose all that much come Bloomburrow's release. There are a couple of outliers I didn't delve too deeply into that are still impactful, like Field of Ruin (and its relevance to the various creature lands in Standard) and other creatures like Graveyard Trespasser // Graveyard Glutton. Standard will definitely see some change come rotation, with Azorius Control taking some big hits, the face of Midrange changing with the loss of Raffine, and the total loss of Midrange/Combo decks like Slogurk Lands and Temur Analyst.
Standard definitely loses its strong mana bases, however, with the loss of the Capenna fetch and tri-lands, Innistrad dual lands, and Neon Dynasty channel lands. We might see decks become more two-color based, and I'm curious how Domain functions without tri-lands.
While I don't have any strong opinions on what deck becomes top dog with Bloomburrow's release, primarily due to the fact we've barely seen any cards from the new set, I do think a lot of Standard's top decks stick around, like Golgari Midrange, Mono-Red, Azorius Control, Dimir Midrange, and Boros Convoke. Only time will tell how the format shakes out, and I'll be right here to report my thoughts once we get closer to Bloomburrow's full release.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you're just as excited for a new Standard metagame as I am.
-Roman Fusco
