Bloomburrow has finally arrived, bringing along with it a host of squirrels, lizards, mice, and frogs. The set delivers on flavor, so much so that I'm seeing tons of regret that this set isn't part of a traditional block, and we'll have to wait 4-5 years, at least, before we can return to the setting.

Bloomburrow's release, paired with the first rotation in two years, has Standard feeling fresh and exciting. The format isn't very old, and won't be around long with Duskmourn lurking on the horizon, If you plan to play Standard in the next two months, you need to figure out what to ask yourself before building your deck. These are the questions I've been asking myself while brewing decks this week.

1. What are you playing on the first two turns?

The format looks to be heavy on aggressive decks, in both quantity and variety. Mono-Red can still burn your face off before you make your 4th land drop, Boros is still loaded with explosive potential thanks to Warleader's Call and Immodane's Recruiter, and even kindred Mice and Lizards looks like they have potential as well. This is not a format where you can wait until turn three to make your fist play. The best dual lands in the format reward fast decks, and we're seeing it in the early days of post-rotation. Missing a turn two play due to having a tapped land is enough of a setback to cost you the game against a well-tuned aggro deck.

Cut Down is still the best way to combat these fast starts, but don't forget cards like Elspeth's Smite in the sideboard. If you don't have access to Black or White, you may need to prioritize having enough early creatures to impact those first few attack steps. You might need to consider Brotherhood's End, Beza, the Bounding Spring, or even Drag to the Bottom as maindeck cards.

2. Are you able to interact with the graveyard?

Iridescent Vinelasher was my pick for the best card in the set, and it does a great job of enabling the Aftermath Analyst decks. But, the graveyard isn't limited to land recursion. Squirrels, with Forage, and even Insidious Roots are lurking in the background. If you allow them uninterrupted access to their graveyard, you are allowing them access to a resource akin to giving them additional cards.

3. Is an army of squirrels (or rabbits) still an army?

While being able to answer threats 1-for-1 in the early game might be necessary, you still have to be mindful that a ton of decks can go too wide for this to work across the board. Boros, the squirrel decks with Camellia, and rabbit decks with Finneas, Ace Archer and Hop to It can get out of hand fast, and you might not be able to just sit back and wait for Sunfall to come on line. How do you combat a deck that can put multiple creatures on the battlefield every turn?

4. Are you weak to Sunfall?

Speaking of Sunfall, are you able to rebuild from having your board wiped? Are you balancing your creatures so that you're putting enough pressure on your opponent to force them to cast Sunfall while making sure it's not enough to win them the game on the spot?

While I think aggressive decks are probably better positioned at the moment, you can count on a number of dedicated control players putting in the hours to figure out how to survive those early turns so the REAL game can begin on turn six.

5. Did you forget about artifacts and enchantments?

Ancient Cornucopia is still around to pad life totals and help fulfill the mana requirements for Atraxa, Grand Unifier (yes, Atraxa is still legal and still the best top end card in the format). Brewers are all abuzz about Innkeeper's Talent at the moment and leveling it up so that you can drop Vraska, Betrayal's Sting for an instant win. There are enough powerful and well positioned artifacts/enchantments in the format that you need to be aware of them and the strategies they enable.

And then there are decks like Simic Cookies or Simulacrum Synthesizer that really push the artifact synergies. There are times when the "artifact creature" clause on a card like Go for the Throat is an actual problem, so don't just jam a playset in your deck and think you're good to go.

6. Can you survive having your hand ripped apart?

Deep-Cavern Bat continues to be a fantastic Magic card, and hand disruption might have a chance at being a viable deck going forward. How do you recover once your hand is empty? I'm not kidding. The format is barely a week old and I've had my face smashed in by a deck that uses Bloomburrow uncommon Bandit's Talent with Liliana of the Veil (also still legal) to whittle your hand away and then kill you like it's 1995, you're listening to Hootie and the Blowfish, and the person you previously considered your best friend just cleared the board and dropped The Rack.

I expect Standard to change, and some of these questions to be solved, but with no major Wiards sponsored Standard tournaments in the near future, it may not change as fast as you'd normally expect.

You can find more of my musings on twitter @travishall456