Preview Season is finally finished and that means I can review Guilds of Ravnica and share the cards I think will be major players in Standard (and some in other formats!)

Let's get the big one out of the way.

Wow. Just wow. This card is clearly powerful and the cheap cost means this card will almost assuredly see Eternal play. Sultai decks in Legacy and decks in Modern have often struggled with awkward sideboard and main deck choices. Assassin's Trophy allows these decks to be built cleaner and with less awkward answers. Long gone are the days of Dreadbore at sorcery speed, or Abrupt Decay not being able to answer a planeswalker or Celestial Colonnade beating you down. Now there is a catch-all answer, but does that make those decks any good? That remains to be seen; but, as a flexible removal spell at a low price (in Eternal formats specifically) this card is going to make an impact. All of my Legacy decks will start look different as I keep Trophy in mind. While it doesn't have the same ability to avoid counterspells, like Decay, against permanent based decks like Four-Color Loam I can imagine this card potentially being devastating.

In Standard I see this card simultaneously making a card like Lyra Dawnbringer both a liability and boon. If your deck is full of threats that must be answered then it can ramp you closer to casting the card a turn ahead of schedule. Since the land comes into play untapped you can make use of the mana immediately. Playing something that must be answered on 3 (perhaps using an Llanowar Elves to get ahead of schedule) can lead to an early Lyra Dawnbringer.

Aurelia is back and she's ready to kill a lot of people. Playing a creature strategy already means your opponent is going to be taxed both in combat and in removal. Aurelia allows you to close the game out when you're far ahead and make combat difficult for your opponent. Giving a White creature vigilance means you can get into combat easily wihtout fear of leaving yourself dead on board. Interestingly enough, Aurelia can target herself to attack for 4/5 with Trample and Vigilance. Add a Lyra somewhere in the mix and suddenly Aurelia is going to be the most massive creature on the board and will end games quickly. With Sacred Foundry and Temple Garden in the set, I can see a lot of ways for Aurelia to squeeze into non-Boros decks as well. The Boros guild has a lot of good tools, though, so even the two colored variants will be happy.

One more note for you fans of Aurelia: Militia Bugler finds her.

Tajic is a powerhouse of a creature in Standard and is probably good enough for the Modern Humans deck as well. Being able to insulate your creatures from damage based Wraths while growing the smaller creatures and holding his own in combat is going to make this difficult to deal with. If Lightning Strike becomes more popular (same with Lava Coil), Tajic becomes the lightning rod your opponents have to torch. In some ways it reminds me of Eidolon of the Great Revel since it forces the opponent to either let Tajic stay around for a bit or take some damage from the creatures already in play. I'm excited for the future of Boros creature decks. AND Tajic has Mentor? This card is pushed for Standard in the best way, and being able to grow a Kitesail Freebooter or Meddling Mage in Modern is going to feel fantastic.

I've become enamored with Emmara. All the lines of play with this card ooze value. A common line I see is Emmara on two into Conclave Tribunal on three into Ajani pump the token and Emmara and get into combat making more tokens. Goblin Chainwhirler doesn't even hurt it with Ajani in play. While there isn't a vehicle to tap with Emmara (that is reasonable to play), with the pump spells playable in both White and Green I can see Emmara getting in a ton of extra value while players try to stymie the advantage by blocking it.

This card in many ways reminds me of Secure the Wastes. While it's a little more costly, there is a small offset from Convoke. Against Control decks I can see this card being a massive headache since it allows you to sit back on the few threats you have and then jam this if they wrath. Otherwise, creating lifelink tokens can completely change how combat works for aggressive Red decks. While some of the creatures have first strike in Boros, I expect a smattering of 1/1s will be more than enough to fight through whatever they have going on. Since has a lot of potential token makers, there can be some absurd turns where, without a wrath, you opponent will drown.

Dream Eater is my pick for most sleeper card of the set. At first glance, its stats aren't impressive. It dies to Lightning Strike, which picks up a bit in the new Standard; but, the rest of what Dream Eater does is incredible. Being able to bounce a nonland permanent means a temporary reprieve from planeswalkers, enchantments, or powerful creatures. If this is being played in a control deck, it is likely to be able to find a more permanent answer with Surveil 4. Fixing the draw steps for the next few turns or filling up the graveyard for Search for Azcanta is going to be a massive boon. In general, control decks sometimes have trouble dealing with resolved permanents and Dream Eater, while being a solid win condition, also helps contain those cards for a bit. Without Jace's Defeat in the format, there's no solid answer to both halves of a control deck and Dream Eater will make waves.

Knight of Autumn is another fairly obvious card on this list as it's perfect for Standard as a flexible and cheap creature with plenty of options for every situation. Having a playable main deck answer to Red decks and enchantments is going to be huge in new Standard. Interestingly enough this card in many ways can replace Reclamation Sage in several decks in both Modern and Legacy. While it isn't sliding into the elf decks, it will play well in Company decks and Humans. Knight of Autumn is so flexible it may even make the main decks of Modern and Legacy standouts and give some previously weaker decks more tools. Specifically, I can see Abzan in Modern and Four-Color Loam in Legacy utilizing this to great effect.

This tutor is going to make a splash in Legacy. Reanimator is a deck that has always demanded consistency, and Mausoleum Secrets finding Reanimate, Exhume, or Animate Dead is going to help power the deck up. I'm looking forward to seeing this new powerhouse over the next couple of months and what kind of strange strategies people try to build in Modern and Standard with this card. Though, I don't expect this card to see a lot of play in those formats.

Thief of Sanity is another card I'm incredibly excited about. This combination of Gonti, Lord of Luxury and Nightveil Specter is almost certain to make some headway in Standard. While it needs to connect to get value, I don't foresee that being an issue in any strategy. We can guess that midrange decks will be more prominent than aggro while control decks are at least somewhat viable which means Thief of Sanity could absolutely dominate games. While it can't help you keep pace with land drops, the value you'll accrue by collecting spells to cast throughout the game should be more than enough to keep you in it.

The new Thoughtseize effect provides more than just some insignificant value. Besides ripping an important card from your opponent's hand it also lets you Surveil and fix your draw steps. This means that you can set up your next few turns. Being able to protect your Thief of Sanity on turn three or being able to shut down a control opponent while gaining knowledge of the top of your deck is going to be a play pattern that makes this discard not a terrible top deck at any point in the game.

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice. Dream Eater. Vraska, Golgari Queen. March of the Multitudes. What do all these cards have in common? They all get countered by Disdainful Stroke. This reprint went by very quietly but will certainly be one of the more impactful ones. Watch for this in every Blue deck. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Boros decks splash Blue just for Negate/Disdainful Stroke as well.

While there isn't a Scarab God in the format, I can see Rekindling Phoenix being one of the premier cards to beat. Lava Coil not only keeps that in check, but also cleans up most of the format as well. I expect this card to be played in similar amounts as Roast as a way for decks to manage slightly larger creatures. While Lava Coil isn't the flashiest removal spell it does one thing and does it well.

Plaguecrafter is an absolute house. Fleshbag Marauder was always a lightly playable card, and one that shreds planeswalkers as well is even more impressive. Not only that but Plaguecrafter has value even on an empty board. If a player can't sacrifice anything, they are forced to discard a card. This card is going to wreak havoc against control decks and still be very manageable against both aggro decks and midrange decks. Leverage some removal at the right time and this card can go from a three mana removal spell to a devastating board wipe. The lines of play with this card will be complicated at times, but it's nice to know that it's flexible in all situations.

I love me some Read the Bones and this card is very similar to that. It's in Dimir, so you're priced into those colors, but this color pair offers a lot of payoffs like Search for Azcanta. Dimir has a ton of tools available to fight through whatever your opponent can bring and for that I'm happy to have a card like Notion Rain available to smooth out draws.

These are the cards I expect to see some major play in Standard.

What cards are you excited for?