kind of fell off a bit. After dominated week one of new Standard, folks started to adapt and took a HUGE hit. So what happened?

Players started to adapt.

B/W Aggro -- Dominaria Standar | Collins Mullen, 3rd place at SCG Baltimore

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 2 Walking Ballista
• 4 Knight of Malice
• 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
• 4 Toolcraft Exemplar

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 2 Gideon of the Trials
• 4 Karn, Scion of Urza

• Instants (3)
• 3 Fatal Push

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Thopter Arrest
• 2 Cast Out
• 4 History of Benalia

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Heart of Kiran

• Lands (24)
• 3 Swamp
• 7 Plains
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Shefet Dunes
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Ifnir Deadlands
• 4 Isolated Chapel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Treasure Map
• 2 Angel of Sanctions
• 1 Settle the Wreckage
• 2 Doomfall
• 2 Duress
• 2 Fragmentize
• 2 Fumigate
• 2 Golden Demise

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B/G Aggro --Dominaria Standard | James Lu, 1st place SCG Baltimore

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Thrashing Brontodon
• 2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 3 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 3 Verdurous Gearhulk
• 4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 4 Jadelight Ranger
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Walking Ballista
• 4 Winding Constrictor

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Vraska, Relic Seeker

• Instants (3)
• 1 Fatal Push
• 2 Vraska's Contempt

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Adventurous Impulse

• Lands (23)
• 2 Swamp
• 7 Forest
• 2 Ifnir Deadlands
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Aethersphere Harvester
• 2 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 2 Deathgorge Scavenger
• 3 Thrashing Brontodon
• 1 Cast Down
• 1 Fatal Push
• 1 Vraska, Relic Seeker
• 4 Duress

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Opponents are doing a great job of being able to play through Sweepers and nullify the powerful Seal Away. Cards like History of Benalia and Heart of Kiran line up well against the enchantment and make the card more of a liability. The goal is to hit hard with singular threats that require action from the player. Having to answer those threats can keep them off balance and unable to deploy any draw spells or planeswalkers, putting the deck into an awkward situation. Life total can be a useful resource for a control deck, but since these decks threaten immense pressure with a few creatures and a variety of planeswalkers, having every answer can be difficult. Because these decks are on the rise, we're also going to see Mono-Green variations start popping up to go way over the top of the smaller decks with huge creatures that pack a hard punch.

Mono-Green Stompy -- Dominaria Standard | Brandon Dempsey, SCG Classic Baltimore 5th place

• Creatures (29)
• 3 Greenbelt Rampager
• 3 Rhonas the Indomitable
• 3 Thrashing Brontodon
• 4 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Merfolk Branchwalker
• 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
• 4 Steel Leaf Champion

• Instants (3)
• 3 Blossoming Defense

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Heart of Kiran

• Lands (24)
• 13 Forest
• 3 Hashep Oasis
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Aethersphere Harvester
• 2 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1 Thrashing Brontodon
• 4 Crushing Canopy
• 2 Hour of Glory
• 2 Nissa, Vital Force
• 2 Vraska, Relic Seeker

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This list is perfect for going way over the top of all the smaller aggro decks and has a great way to punch through smaller creatures.

Since the threats don't line up the same way they did week one, we're going to have to change around a bit to manage. Since lots of decks are lining up so well against the removal, we have to figure out the next step and evolution for in order for it to compete. This kind of situation reminds me a bit of Sphinx's Revelation in Standard. When players were building their decks to be good against Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict, players moved toward trying out Planar Cleansing as a way to answer Planeswalkers as well as creatures.

So what if we tried to make use out of that same thought process and see if retooling with Hour of Revelation can be a feasible options.

U/W Control Retooled -- Dominaria Standard | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Torrential Gearhulk

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

• Instants (23)
• 1 Glimmer of Genius
• 2 Negate
• 3 Blink of an Eye
• 3 Essence Scatter
• 3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
• 3 Settle the Wreckage
• 4 Disallow
• 4 Gideon's Reproach

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Fumigate
• 2 Hour of Revelation

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Search for Azcanta

• Lands (26)
• 6 Island
• 7 Plains
• 1 Ipnu Rivulet
• 4 Field of Ruin
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Irrigated Farmland

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 History of Benalia
• 2 Forsake the Worldly
• 3 Seal Away
• 1 Jace's Defeat
• 2 Negate
• 3 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1 Fumigate

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Gideon's Reproach vs. Seal Away

This is one of the major changes we have to make. Seal Away and Cast Out become unplayable cards while you're trying to play Hour of Revelation so we have to find another answer to creatures. Gideon's Reproach is a nice removal spell as it deals with Heart of Kiran and History of Benalia pretty effectively. There is a downside here that is important to note; Gideon's Reproach must be used in combat, which does take down your defense for the opponent to resolve something. However, with Hour of Revelation included in the list, we should be able to have more game against folks resolving permanents after combat. As long as you're surviving until you can cast Hour of Revelation, you should be all right.

Upside vs. Downside of Hour of Revelation

Hour of Revelation is going to be FANTASTIC against a large number of matchups, especially with how the format is leaning. There's also quite a few decks that are going to fill up the board with quite a few permanents, allowing you to cast it on occasion for only . The major upside is it's going to line up well against vehicles and planeswalkers. The downside is we have to play weird games where you can't jam Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and be able to cast Hour of Revelation. It does mean you're going to have to kill your Teferi some games, which means you'll have to be more cognizant of how many win conditions you have left.

This also changes our sideboard plan a lot since it's hard to include something like Karn, Scion of Urza. Fortunately, History of Benalia just seems like a better card for the mirror, and with Hour, I feel like the midrange matchups will be easier to manage.

Glimmer of Genius vs. Hieroglyphic Illumination

I've been debating this for a long time, and while I feel strongly Glimmer of Genius is the better card, almost all of your cards do the same thing. Cycling is also important early to ensure hitting land drops, and with how hard the decks are hitting these days in Standard, I don't want to miss anything. Torrential Gearhulk will turn our early cyclers into late game card advantage. Glimmer of Genius, I will maintain, is better in the mirror, but the format is built in such a way that it's important to keep card advantage up at all times. For now, I'm trying a small split with one Glimmer of Genius, but I'm by no means locked into playing that many. Everything is just to test for now.

Overall, I can't wait to see how this deck plays out and I think that Hour of Revelation might just be the future. Seal Away is still a fantastic card and I've included some copies for the Red decks where Hour of Revelation isn't that great. I don't like Enchantments vs. the Green decks, but I think our plan against them is going to be fantastic as it is. I'm looking forward to seeing how this variant fits into the new meta.