In the past, core sets have left something to be desired, but this core set has come back with a vengeance. There are quite a few cards I'm excited to play with in Standard and some cards that have created or invigorated archetypes.

Let's dive in.

In addition to having one of the coolest names of any Planeswalker ever, Ajani also plays well with the Knights deck that showed some success at the start of the format. With the new Core set we're also seeing a bunch of powerful White creatures being printed. Benalish Marshal decks have been looking for a new follow up to work through Goblin Chainwhirler, and this fits the bill. Being able to revive small creatures also means Ajani will play well against removal. While the planeswalker itself isn't ideal against control decks, the Emblem is likely game winning against a majority of decks. Overall, Ajani needs SOME help to be powerful, but all the tools are available to help Ajani pack a powerful punch.

The second planeswalker on our list is Tezzeret, and OH BOY is Tezzeret good. It passes the normal planeswalker tests with flying colors, and in Standard we have a lot of Kaladesh cards that are foaming at the mouth at their new overlord. Whirler Virtuoso and Maverick Thopterist come to mind as a possible route to take but Herald of Anguish seems fantastic as well. While there isn't a way I'd like to ramp Tezzeret out in these colors it does play well with Improvise. Being able to protect itself against the non Chainwhirler threats means it won't be difficult to build up to an ultimate. Against control decks an army of 1/1s is going to apply massive pressure and be able to close the game out. The two cards I'd be concerned about with this deck is its inability to deal with Steel Leaf Champion and Goblin Chainwhirler. Maybe we don't need to go deep on playing an artifact deck and can make full use out of Tezzeret being able to protect itself and just draw cards. The ultimate is a little interesting as it wants you to play a good mix of permanents to be able to put into play. The cards I'm looking at are things like The Scarab God or perhaps even the new Nicol Bolas. I'd have to imagine even thinning out your deck of lands is going to be at a minimum quite powerful.

Three mana 3/3 with flying is an okay rate at best, but the ability to swing games massively is not to be denied. While there is an investment into pumping, the swings will end the game in short order while leaving you with plenty of blockers. With a heavy hitter like Lyra Dawnbringer also being able to trigger its ability, I can see the deck that Craig Wescoe was championing become a real player in the new metagame. The angel has all the tools to make an impact but might be held back by Abrade and Lightning Strike for it to do some serious work. Blossoming Defense and Shalai, Voice of Plenty seem like the right cards to play alongside to make sure this Angel does what it needs to. That being said this Angel has all the tools needed to make a huge impact.

This is probably the sketchiest card on this list, the one that seems like it needs a lot to go right. Until Kaladesh rotates, I think this card has almost everything it could ever want for a clean Zombies strategy. While losing Dark Salvation is a huge, it has recursion and staying power all while keeping pressure on the opponent. With three different lords available, I can see Zombies making an impact and Liliana being one of the centerpieces to the strategy. Not only does it help attack the life total, the -3 only looks underwhelming. Cabal Stronghold gives us a nice way to create a ton of mana for this sink and being able to trade early and often while having a way to recur everything is going to cause problems for anyone trying to beat this menace. Liliana also flexes as a removal spell making it applicable in a variety of situations.

Another new centerpiece to the Zombies deck is Graveyard Marshal. What makes the 3/2 absurdly powerful is that its ability doesn't require it to tap. Not having to tap means you'll be able to activate this several times a turn and be able to crank out a lot of tokens. While this does not pair that well with Liliana's -3, it does work well with the +1. Being able to fuel the graveyard for the Marshall to call an army can work wonders. While the tokens are unable to block in combat, it gives the zombie deck a massive amount of staying power. Add in Liliana's Mastery and you can see these zombies creating a huge issue for any control opponent and taking down the midrange board stalls.

Nicol Bolas is incredibly exciting. It's also exactly the kind of card I like that will pan out as being unplayable. That being said, the stats on Nicol Bolas are quite exciting. Having an effect to make an opponent discard is generally just okay at best. While fantastic against control and midrange decks, making a Red deck discard can be detrimental. However, the 4/4 body with flying means this card is going to be a tough body to kill for most of the format. Bolas also happens to dodge the Glorybringer test, which can be relevant, especially in the coming season. On the flip side, Nicol Bolas is a planeswalker of epic proportions. It is all but guaranteed to win the game and does a fantastic job. Being a mana sink is fantastic, and with the exception of the Red decks, games tend to drag on for quite some time in this format.

Interestingly enough, Nicol Bolas doesn't pair well with The Scarab God as it exiles the creature so you're unable to flip it into a Planeswalker (as far as I know).

Dismissive Pyromancer is a potentially exciting card. This card seems to pair well with God-Pharaoh's Gift and that's where I'm most excited to try it out in. With both a combo variant and a Mono-Red Goblins variant, being able to fix your draw steps and fill the graveyard will be relevant. This Pyromancer also doubles a removal spell that happens to kill most every creature in the format. While obviously slower than your normal removal spell, the upside of being able to filter your draw steps is not to be underestimated.

The next three cards on the list are ones that I expect to see more Eternal play. The first card is Alpine Moon. Traditionally, the issues with Blood Moon are two-fold. Either it doesn't do enough as it's too slow, or the opponent can play around or through it since you can't mount enough pressure. A card with such an impact costing one mana in a format that's as fast as Modern is going to be a great in sideboards. Factor in that there are plenty of decks that can't even think about playing Blood Moon that would love a cheap and efficient way to name something like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Thespian's Stage, Maze of Ith, or any Tron land. I'm a fan of Alpine Moon but of course it suffers from the Blood Moon issue. It's important to back it up with some way to close the game. Despite costing one it's important to keep that in mind.

Containment Priest is a fantastic card and giving Blue decks access to this effect could help Merfolk in Modern a lot. I don't think this card is better than Surgical Extraction for Legacy, but a 1/1 body is interesting. Being Blue means it pitches to Force of Will and as such could be a relevant card regardless. While I'm not sold on this card seeing play I am excited about the possibilities it offers.

The last card on my list is one that I'll be happy to play against Affinity and Eldrazi. While this card is very narrow in its applications, the ability to slay the Eldrazi menace at any CMC seems fantastic. Not really too much to say on this card fortunately but I am a fan.

The Misses

Now it's time for me to start listing cards I think will be duds, the cards that fall flat on their face despite possible hype surrounding them.

Okay I get it. Sarkhan is a three mana planeswalker that lets you loot and has a potential game winning ultimate. But is looting on a planeswalker that good? Adding mana only for Dragons sucks unless you want to play Mono-Red Dragons. But that deck seems worse than Mono-Red aggro and the other Dragons aren't quite good enough to play a four or five color deck. Sarkhan is easy to attack and filtering can be done with better cards. Not all three mana planeswalkers are going to be good, and I don't think Sarkhan plays well with anything we have in Standard at the moment. If you're looking to speed out a Glorybringer try Llanowar Elves.

Another on the list of Elvish lords. While searching your deck for another copy is nice, I don't see this card really being better than anything the Elves decks currently play. In Legacy you're trying to combo and in Modern you have better lords and ways to combo out with them. I don't forsee Elvish Clancaller making a huge impact in the current iteration of Elves.

This will probably be a hot take, but I don't think this card is playable.

Ah the fabled Control mirror winner. While Chromium COULD be good, I think the cost and the steep price to protect it when card advantage is a premium is too much. I'd rather pay less mana for a card like The Scarab God or even Mystic Archaeologist. I remember Azure Mage being good and Mystic Archaeologist seems like a better way to win the control mirrors.

What are you excited for? Think I'm off? Let me know in the comments!