Standard cards usually go through cycles of playability, and sometimes, with a new set, cards that were relegated to a lower tier pop up as dominant. Well, it didn't take long for Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to rear its shiny metal head as one of the best things in the format despite the decks not really revolving around Golos itself. Truthfully, Field of the Dead in of itself is extremely good in the context of Standard, and Golos ties it all together.

Attempting to play a deck built around many different named lands to ensure a chain of Zombies to amass an army to crush you opponent is a tough ask, but Golos facilitates that gameplan incredibly well by being able to search up a Field of the Dead. Being able to fill your deck with a smattering of lands picked straight from the draft Common box at your store and have a functioning deck is incredible; Golos gives you a ton of room to work with. Allowing you to play a wide variety of lands means that we also have access to a multitude of spells, depending on your flavor preference and how you feel. Even if your deck has steep color requirements (think the current Bant Ramp decks), Golos lets you cheat and play extraneous lands to let you activate Golos's, or any other, ability. With some exciting new cards like Kenrith, the Returned King there's a lot of new toys.

Let's look at one of the fun ways to build with Golos and then follow up with what I think is the best way to play the deck.

The first list we're gonna look at is from Frank Moon (twitch.tv/TruedawnFM).

Golos Fires | Eldraine Standard | Frank Moon

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Kenrith, the Returned King
• 3 Arboreal Grazer
• 3 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
• 4 Cavalier of Flame
• 4 Fae of Wishes

• Instants (8)
• 4 Growth Spiral
• 4 Once Upon a Time

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Circuitous Route

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Fires of Invention

• Lands (28)
• 1 Island
• 2 Forest
• 2 Mountain
• 1 Blossoming Sands
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 1 Plaza of Harmony
• 1 Rakdos Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Stomping Ground
• 4 Field of the Dead

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Aether Gust
• 1 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1 Casualties of War
• 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 1 Escape to the Wilds
• 3 Flame Sweep
• 1 Kaya's Wrath
• 1 Shared Summons
• 1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1 Vraska, Golgari Queen

Buy This Deck Export text format Export Arena format

In short, this deck is very similar to a combo deck. You can pretend it's Splinter Twin if you'd like. Put Zombies in play then play Cavalier of Flame for free of Fires and pump your team as much as your heart desires (or as much mana as you have available). If you have a Kenrith you can also give your team Trample to win out in mirrors as well.

Playing Fires lets us play this combo but also lets us play one of the busted cards in the set to effective use, Fae of Wishes. I think this card is downright phenomenal on its own because of its flexibility and getting to play a small (or large) Wish sideboard. Paired with Fires this allows some cards that are quite difficult (read: impossible) to cast. One of the ways the Field decks lose is getting aggroed out early on. Fires on turn three gives you the opportunity to get a Kaya's Wrath or a Flame Sweep to clean stuff up. As we delve into the late game it lets you utilize some heavy hitting planeswalkers or even, what I think is sick tech, Shared Summons. Getting Golos and Cavalier lets you set up for a turn of death for your opponent.

Unfortunately because of how Fires works it makes it hard to sometimes do everything in one turn. This ends up forcing you to play a game in which you spend a lot of turns setting up. Because of how Granted works you'll often end up in spots where you have to show your opponent what is going to happen the next turn but it's something you'll just have to deal with.

After playing with Kenrith, I'm way less excited. I thought the card would provide a lot of value (especially in the Fires decks), but so far I've been wholly unimpressed. Most of the time, when you're behind, it is too expensive to catch up since the ability costs are so prohibitive. Kenrith forces you to have Fires in play to be useful alongside all 5 colors. If you don't have Fires, Kenrith is close to uncastable in addition to being heavy on your mana. When trying to play catchup Kenrith feels like not enough.

However if you're looking for a more consistent tried and true strategy, then you'll want to play Bant Ramp.

Bant Ramp | Eldraine Standard | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Agent of Treachery
• 1 Fae of Wishes
• 1 Kenrith, the Returned King
• 3 Hydroid Krasis
• 3 Realm-Cloaked Giant
• 4 Arboreal Grazer
• 4 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (8)
• 4 Growth Spiral
• 4 Once Upon a Time

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Circuitous Route

• Lands (28)
• 1 Plains
• 2 Island
• 2 Plains
• 1 Blossoming Sands
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 1 Plaza of Harmony
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Temple Garden
• 4 Field of the Dead

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Planar Cleansing
• 2 Agent of Treachery
• 1 Glass Casket
• 1 Negate
• 3 Questing Beast
• 1 Tolsimir, Friend of Wolves
• 1 Trostani Discordant
• 2 Deputy of Detention
• 1 Veil of Summer
• 1 Unmoored Ego
• 1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Buy This Deck Export text format Export Arena format

After playing some this past week, this is where I'm currently at with my build. Taking a cue from players much better than I, Fae of Wishes appears here as a pure value card that can help in some tight spots. What I like the most about this is that it's almost a pure ramp deck with quite a few payoffs. You're pretty unlikely to be activating Golos here and mostly using it as five-mana, "find-my-Field of the Dead, thanks." Agent of Treachery rears its head as a concession to the mirror to find something that is going to help swing those matchups.

The two stand out cards from my sideboard are Trostani Discordant and Questing Beast. In my games I noticed the toughest deck was Gruul Aggro and Questing Beast and Skarrgan Hellkite were at the top of the toughest to beat list. Questing Beast gave me an answer to keep the pressure on my opponent in the mirror while dodging most everything they have to block if effectively. Since attacking the opponent is as good as attacking a Planeswalker it allows a dual pressure that is tough for most decks to keep up with. Trostani Discordant is a haymaker that came from Dylan Hand that straight up beats all the Agents floating around in the mirror.

If your plan is to not play the best deck then you better have a great plan to beat it. So far the most effective decks I've seen are Golgari Knights (so you can drain your opponent out) and the Cruel Celebrant combo deck. I would start with those if your plan was to only beat Golos decks. Until then, good ramping!