Spoiler season is far and away my favorite time of the year. Every new set brings us sweet cards and my brewing gears get turning. While I'm not a wild person like Ali Aintrazi I do enjoy building a slew of decks.

With Allegiance dropping soon, the really winners are midrange players. Having access to all 10 shocklands and all 10 buddy lands means we can build using all sorts of three and four color strategies that weren't available to us previously. Additionally, having the other five guilds opens up even MORE available options.

At the time of writing this article there are only 71 cards available so I don't want to dive too deep but I want to start by exploring a few potential decks

Let's start with the premier two for one deck in the format, Golgari, and what it can do. Adding Stomping Ground and Blood Crypt gives us the options of playing Jund instead, the true reason for which is because it lets us play Bedevil. A cheap and efficient way to kill a variety of creatures, planeswalkers, and artifacts is hard to pass up. The other card I think is has potential in Jund is Rix Maadi Reveler. Golgari has some potentially poor positioned cards in Game One and sometimes runs low on cards in the midgame. Rix Maadi Reveler is a cheap way to filter and could potentially be pure card advantage.

Jund | Allegiance Standard | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Gruul Spellbreaker
• 1 Ravager Wurm
• 2 Carnage Tyrant
• 2 Midnight Reaper
• 2 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 2 Rix Maadi Reveler
• 3 Wildgrowth Walker
• 4 Jadelight Ranger
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Merfolk Branchwalker

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 3 Vivien Reid

• Instants (4)
• 4 Bedevil

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Find // Finality

• Lands (24)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Forest
• 1 Memorial to Folly
• 2 Dragonskull Summit
• 2 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Gruul Spellbreaker
• 2 Cast Down
• 1 Vraska's Contempt
• 4 Duress
• 2 Bellow of the Carnarium
• 2 Dire Fleet Daredevil
• 2 Thrashing Brontodon

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Gruul Spellbreaker has to be one of the most incredible cards to come out of a Standard set. The card is not broken by any means but it is a fantastic role player. Removing the opponent's ability to kill things on your turn and protect yourself from cards like Settle the Wreckage puts this card way above the curve of most hate creatures. It can be a 4/4 which helps it dodge Deafening Clarion. I'm looking forward to players having to adjust removal on the fly in order interact profitably.

What I have always enjoyed about Golgari is despite having this kind of set base it feels very customizable to the current meta. Jund allows for even more customization with the addition of a third color. You could splash Blue before, but with the addition of Breeding Pool playing full on Sultai might be an option. Playing Sultai excites because it means you get to play what is my current pick for the best card in Allegiance, Hydroid Krasis.

On its surface, Hydroid Krasis is nothing short of incredible. You get to draw cards and gain life no matter what, so this card is ALWAYS going to gain value. My first impression was a Sorcery speed Sphinx's Revelation that can come attached to a Flying Trampling body. Even more impressive is how well this card scales into the late game. Being able to bury an opponent in a midrange mirror, buy time against aggro, or keep pace with a control deck positions Simic well in the upcoming format. If I'm trying to jam this into a Golgari shell I think this is where I'd start.

Sultai | Allegiance Standard | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (25)
• 2 Carnage Tyrant
• 2 Midnight Reaper
• 2 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 3 Wildgrowth Walker
• 4 Hydroid Krasis
• 4 Jadelight Ranger
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Merfolk Branchwalker

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 3 Vivien Reid

• Instants (4)
• 1 Cast Down
• 1 Vraska's Contempt
• 2 Assassin's Trophy

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Find // Finality

• Lands (24)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Forest
• 1 Memorial to Folly
• 2 Drowned Catacomb
• 2 Hinterland Harbor
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Watery Grave
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Negate
• 1 Unmoored Ego
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 1 Cast Down
• 2 Vraska's Contempt
• 4 Duress
• 2 Bellow of the Carnarium
• 2 Thrashing Brontodon

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One of the major benefits to playing Blue is access to a devastating sideboard plan that includes Duress, Negate, and even Unmoored Ego as a way to crush the spirits of anyone trying to bring Teferi to the fray.

If midrange decks look solid, I can't wait to explore the control decks. Teferi and I have a bit of a love affair and while I've put Teferi down for a bit I'd be happy to be able to once again play one of the most powerful planeswalkers of all time. While I normally enjoy a good three color pile of control cards I'm interested in revisiting the pure Azorius strategy and seeing how that pans out.

Azorius Control | Allegiance Standard | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Sphinx of Foresight

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

• Instants (20)
• 1 Chemister's Insight
• 1 Emergency Powers
• 1 Nexus of Fate
• 1 Precognitive Perception
• 2 Depose // Deploy
• 2 Essence Scatter
• 2 Sphinx's Insight
• 2 Syncopate
• 4 Absorb
• 4 Settle the Wreckage

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Cleansing Nova

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Ixalan's Binding
• 2 Search for Azcanta
• 4 Seal Away

• Lands (26)
• 7 Island
• 7 Plains
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Dovin, Grand Arbiter
• 3 History of Benalia
• 1 Mass Manipulation
• 2 Negate
• 1 Remorseful Cleric
• 2 Deputy of Detention
• 2 Ixalan's Binding
• 1 Invoke the Divine

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What I love most about this deck is how clean it is. It has one linear game plan and many ways to get there. While your ways to win are a bit narrow, I think that's fine for Game Ones. On Magic Arena best of ones were dominated for a bit by Turbo Fog since most players didn't have a good answer for the strategy. We don't have that same luxury in paper, so I've made a sideboard plan that includes an overhaul for creatures and cheap planeswalkers since most players won't have a good answer to a shifting sideboard plan. It's hard to attack these new age control decks on multiple axis since it's easy to sit on Vraska's Contempt just to get rolled by some History of Benalia. Or sitting on Negates just to cracked by a creature. While it's likely correct to play some powerful cards like Niv-Mizzet, Parun I'm interested in seeing what life looks like on an easy plane of mana.

Being able to play Field of Ruin means that we can shut out some folks who misbuild their three color mana bases with too few basics. Cutting someone out of a color won't happen that much but it can lead to some free wins. You don't want to include too many colorless lands since casting Absorb on turn three consistently is likely the most important thing to be doing.

While there's still much to be seen from Ravnica Allegiance, I am quite excited. The wheels have been spinning in my head with the new cards that have been spoiled and I'm ready to get cracking. What cards do you want to build around so far? Let me know in the comments.