Vivid Williams: Standard Deviations

In just a little over a month, Standard rotation is going to once again shake up the game we all love to play. Gone will be the days of Restoration Angel flashing into block a ground pounder, Blood Artist shenanigans with Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat, and flashing back Unburial Rites and Thragtusk for value upon value upon value. While I love that Standard has so many deck options to play, it'll be refreshing to have a new set of cards to play with.

A lot of new players come into the game starting around the Core Set, and the one question people ask me the most is: 'what deck should I play?' or 'what cards should I pick up?'. My response usually goes one of two ways:

Build a cheap mono-colored deck that contains cheap rares and commons/uncommons

OR

Pick up cheap mythic rares and playable cards while they aren't expensive.

Mono-colored decks are already going to see play post rotation and these decks lack dual lands that make them cheap and viable options to start working on and update as metagames unfold. Playing Mono-Red right now with Rakdos Cackler, Ash Zealot, and Chandra's Phoenix is not only competitive, but also available for continued play post-rotation. The only expenses a deck like this would include some number of Mutavaults, which are roughly $15 a piece. If you're looking to start playing competitive Magic right now, I'd suggest a White Weenie deck with a really aggressive game plan using Brave the Elements to push through damage and protect your dudes or even Mono-Green, which plays a bunch of Mana dorks and Garruk, Caller of Beasts to finally slam a Craterhoof Behemoth onto the battlefield to bash in for a billion damage. Be warned; however, that both the White and Green decks have a lot of cards that are rotating out of Standard come September.

'But Robert, what if I want to play more than one color post rotation?!' Then, I would suggest picking up as many of the Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash Shock Lands as possible. These lands are stupidly inexpensive right now AND can let you play decks in other formats. You can also pick up cheap Mythic Rares and Rares too when you see the opportunity. For example, look at Blood Baron of Vizkopa. The only cards that can kill this creature are Mizzium Mortars and Rapid Hybridization post-rotation. I see this card having a similar trend of Falkenrath Aristocrat  where it will jump from its $5-8 range to $20 flat in an instant. If you're looking to play a Rakdos deck that brings the beats, Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch might be right up your alley. She's $1 right now! This is mind blowing!! I fully expect this card to be similar to Wolfir Silverheart last year and jump tot the $10ish area for at least a few months. Also, make sure to be on the watch for:

1. Jace, Architect of Thought ($12)
2. Angel of Serenity ($7)
3. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius ($2.5)
4. Aurelia, the Warleader ($6)
5. Aurelia's Fury ($3)
6. Duskmantle Seer ($2.5)

While this is just speculation, I can see a few of , if not all of these cards doubling or tripling in price depending on what we see out of Theros.

That's all I've got for you guys today. Next time I sit down and write anything, spoiler season is going to be on and that means the brewing will start. 'Til next time, Casual Net!

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-Robert Williams