The amount of powerful, playable Planeswalkers feels like it’s hit critical mass. Besides Ob Nixilis, we’ve got the new Elspeth and Vivien. But we already had Wrenn, Kaito, Sorin, Lolth, and The Wandering Emperor.
Streets of New Capenna came out recently, and it’s been great. I’m always fond of multicolored sets. For a player who likes power, the cards are always exciting. I’ve already logged a fair bit of hours with the new cards, and I wanted to give you my first impressions.
So, those are the card choices, but before you go off and play, let’s talk about what decks to look out for, and what upgrades might happen down the line with the upcoming set.
Longtime readers will know that I’m a big fan of the Arclight Phoenix deck. It’s popular and powerful in Historic on Arena and I use it to grind ranks. Getting lots of practice in has led me to make tons of tweaks and even a few deviations from any list you’ve probably seen.
Many people are unhappy with Arena’s economy. I don’t have a formed opinion about it. But I want people to play the decks they like, so here’s some advice to at least help.
Aggro decks with fast starts used to be all the rage. Azorius versus RDW is an age-old matchup. But, so far, most meta-aggro decks focus on growing creatures and overwhelming—but slower—board presences.
Neon Dynasty has come and changed the Magic world forever. It’s the first set to have this level of futuristic elements. I still don’t know how I feel about that. But I know my opinion on how the cards are affecting Bof1 Standard. And, as usual, I’ve got six impressions worth talking about.
Was the Alrund’s Epiphany ban necessary? Yes, absolutely. The combo deck based around it wasn’t fun to play against and was overrepresented. But, for those who enjoyed piloting it, there’s now a void.
I’ve yet to see either deck work properly, but that doesn’t mean someone won’t figure it out or another set won’t give one of them enough cards to work.
Magic sets keep coming—a little too fast, if you ask me—but we’ve got a Crimson Vow to explore. So, after my usual grinding of the Bof1 standard ladder to get a feel for the set in a competitive format, here are my thoughts.
People who read my Magic articles might notice a trend where I claim a new set’s not going to make much of an impact until a rotation happens or until a certain strategy dies.
It seems like Innistrad came so fast, right? Just when I was getting used to some of the more interesting and playable DND cards, we have another set drop. But, regardless of the pace, this set is proving to be awesome.
