It feels like just a short time ago we were looking at Modern Horizon spoilers and thinking about how broken Modern is going to be and because of that M20 has basically fallen off the radar. I'm going to review some of the cards to see if there's any impact to be had in Standard and a bit about what cards you should likely buy.

This card is excellent but will likely only serve as a small roleplayer in Standard. The current 4-drop of choice for the planeswalker variants of Gruul have been using Chandra as a way to draw cards but not a good way to impact the board. Vivien helps push any advantage you create on the board and helps turn medium creatures into massive threats. It also lets us play some key sideboard creatures (Thrashing Brontodon or God-Eternal Rhonas come to mind) to help swing some games in your favor. While costing triple Green may force some changes in those decks it's possible the ceiling is worth the cost. Because it puts counters on creatures I can also see Vivien working her way into some proliferate Selesnya counters strategy as well.

Let's get this big one out of the way. This card is quite incredible in the current meta. Not only does this stomp out Command the Dreadhorde it gives Experimental Frenzy the big middle finger it has deserved for so long. Giving every deck a way to interact with Frenzy or Command the Dreadhorde is going to influence how these decks are built in the future. The thing that concerns me the most about the introduction of Cage is that it means that the next set could have some graveyard implications.

Similarly Loaming Shaman gives me the same pause. While Loaming Shaman is fairly medium as a whole it is the kind of card you'd love for Dreadhorde mirrors it is another card that makes me feel as though we are prepping for some powerful graveyard cards in the next set. Still having more hate cards isn't too bad of a thing.

This is a NICE card to have in Standard and upgrading Combust to be able to kill a Teferi that has plused. While it's probably not better than Lava Coil in general it is a nice way to kill pretty much everything out of the White aggro decks. After Lava Coil rotates I'd definitely look into this card a bit more but until then I'm only in the market for this card if Mono-Blue is everywhere and so is Teferi.

This card is exceptional as long as Thought Erasure is one of the most played cards. Being able to draw a card and cold Erasure from making any impact is excellent. Besides the obvious uses of this card sideboard cards like this tend to be impactful in the context of Standard. It's hard to argue that Esper is one of the best decks and giving Green a way to interact on multiple spectrums makes this card flexible in all the right ways. Green is normally locked into the lane of just doing one thing per card so when a card does multiple things it's worth it to look into. At one mana this card is easily castable and satisfies a lot of requirements for a sideboard.

While River's Rebuke will be the dominant six mana card for now Flood of Tears offers a new way to be able to reset the board while helping reset a planeswalker. Especially with Teferi and Narset this might be the better option for some control decks that aren't winning through attacking and instead winning through gaining an advantage. When Ixalan rotates out we could see this card a bit more otherwise I'm not feeling it too strongly at the moment.

On the other hand, Planar Cleansing is a fantastic one for all the control decks. Standard has settled into decks that have good creatures, planeswalkers, and enchantments and while control has some great answers playing a catch all is wonderful. With the shock/buddy land mana bases of Standard hitting the color requirements won't be that difficult

Curving this Raptor into Ripjaw is going to pose quite the issue for midrange decks all around. Most of the Gruul decks were already leaning toward a dinosaur sub theme and this gives room for eight two-mana spells that help ramp you for those kinds of decks. This could be the real missing piece for Dino decks and I'm quite excited to see what they will look like shortly. Will they be able to finally contend with the other midrange decks? I think so.

The Feather decks have looked fantastic when the opponent blinks and downright embarrassing otherwise. Gods Willing is an incredible card that gives these Heroic style decks even more ways to ensure both a way to attack through blockers and a way to protect creatures from most anything. Being able to streamline these decks is an important piece to their playability and survivability in a hostile format.

Mono-Blue has always been one of those decks that goes in and out of being good and Spectral Sailor plays perfectly into what the deck is trying to do. Playing at instant speed and giving you a mana sink means that you'll always be able to craft a game plan that fits your hand and deck better.

Cheap planeswalkers (especially Blue ones) are usually powerful enough to take a deep look at. Mu Yanling is certainly not as powerful as its predecessors but offers a way for midrange and control decks to keep down creatures and provide a way to win the game. In Mono-Blue Mu Yanling lets you keep down any blockers which can help ensure that your Curious Obsession will always hit. If you're ever able to use the ultimate; the game will likely end in short order.

Any Young Pyromancer style creatures always deserve a look in Standard. In addition there is an infinite combo available with Kykar, Wind's Fury, Arcane Adaptation, and Bishop of the Exalted to give infinite life. They unbanned Splinter Twin, finally!

The Wizards deck has always been a few short playables and while I'm unsure Stormkin is the fix it IS a nice way to try again with the deck. Having Haste is a pretty massive upgrade and the Flying is going to be relevant as far as keeping blockers at bay.

The Temples were an incredible addition to Standard. A way to mitigate mulligans and draws while not being broken or obscene in any way. I'm very excited to have them back and be able to build mana bases with them. While we do have a nice set of five I am really hoping that soon enough we will be receiving the other five pretty soon. Standard is in an excellent place at the moment with a wide variety of strategies available and Temples just open up more decks to be played.