Standard rotations are always tough on established decks. Staples from many sets both beloved and despised disappear from the pool, leaving us with a much weaker Standard. If you want to prepare as well as possible for the post-rotation world, get acquainted with these decks: the best of what remains legal.
Monogreen Aggro
I believe this is the least surprising inclusion of the bunch, as it's already doing reasonably well in current Standard. Not only can Monogreen's heavy beaters run down bigger decks, they're even able to race Monored!
While it does lose some big pieces, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms seems to have filled the gaps just fine. Cards like and make it one of the best decks in Arena's Standard 2022 format. is gone? Fine, we still have . and both leave Standard? No problem, and are here to help out. This deck simply happens to have a suitable replacement for just about everything. They are a bit weaker, sure, but considering how devastating a rotation generally is, we cannot complain.
| Monogreen Aggro, Post-Rotation Standard |
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is a huge upgrade for the whole deck, and seems to be doing great, too. Although it already enters the battlefield tapped as the third land, the abundance of two-drops can easily make you forget about that. On top, the upcoming Innistrad: Midnight Hunt will heavily feature Werewolves, so is bound to make some new friends and maybe even benefit from tribal synergies.
Monowhite Aggro
This is another aggro deck poised to dethrone Monored. If it didn't do that already, chances are it will now. Monored players won't be able to believe in the anymore. No longer , and no more to fall back on either.
Make no mistake, Monowhite also loses many cards from its accustomed line-up. But this just seems to clear the stage for a bunch of well-prepared understudies waiting in the wings, eager to claim a spot in the limelight. It's almost a shame, for instance, that and never left much room for . Likewise, the main reason why couldn't realize its potential so far was .
| Monowhite Aggro, Post-Rotation Standard |
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The great thing about the deck is how you can remove opposing threats while still deploying your own. is still around, and so is . And there's finally enough space in the deck to give , , and a chance, although going back to may yet prove better, after all. Overall, the future looks bright, seeing as the archetype basically had too many good options to choose from.
Prismari Dragons
Another deck that's already well established, if not as old, is Prismari. fits Standard like a glove, and so do many other blue and red cards. This has started a wave of interesting takes on something that's between midrange and control, often closing games in a tempest of tempo plays too.
However, Adventure cards are leaving Standard, which is probably for the best. This includes both and . This is why Prismari players will now focus fully on Dragons.
| Ellarions's Prismari Dragons, Post-Rotation Standard |
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Adventures are gone, but foretell isn't. It's a proven mechanic in Standard, and what better cards to boast it than and ? Foretell, along with , fulfills the role of early-game setup just fine. Meanwhile, and take care of early protection at sheer incredible rates. in particular is an absolute gamechanger. A card that's able to deal up to 5 damage at instant speed for just two mana is far above Standard's usual fare, and so is the Bite's quasi-bolt.
Selesnya Magecraft
Naturally, some of the Standard 2022 decks will be completely new ones. They saw just a tiny amount of play, if any, in regular Standard. This here may be the most prominent example. It's fast, can be very explosive, and has a variety of ways to protect its threats in a pinch.
| DoggertQBones's Selesnya Magecraft, Post-Rotation Standard |
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has always been a good card. It nevertheless didn't manage to see much play, because it's white, and if you're to play white, why not just pick a Winota deck or Monowhite Aggro? Similar applies to and . Mixing instants and sorceries with creatures that depend on them naturally invites inconsistency. Fortunately, we now have and . They can make use of all those turns when you're casting multiple spells, which is often/ideally every turn past the second.
The deck still struggles with inconsistency and against removal, but that's a simple fact of life: a deck that's volatile in a good way—we can attack for 17 on turn three!—will always be volatile in a bad way as well.
Orzhov Midrange
Another fact of life: it's usually easier to build proactive decks from a smaller card pool than reactive decks. Here's a solid example of the latter.
| Kaya Control, Post-Rotation Standard |
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This might be the least impressive deck of the bunch. At least it doesn't do terribly impressive moves itself, unless you count undoing impressive boards via . It also draws a lot of cards via and makes good use of both and . The goal is to return creatures and planeswalkers and generate a ton of value. Fun!
Honorable Mentions
Speaking of Treasures, there are decks with and in Rakdos and Mardu. Witherbloom Sacrifice exists as well, and another white-black option plays to the tune of "Flight of the Valkyries"—basically running all the good Angel cards from to .
The best "proper" control deck based on the traditional combination of sweepers and countermagic may be blue-black. can make all the difference between life and death, and kills a surprising number of creatures too. Finally, there's even a viable mill deck that uses and to copy and .
As you can see, this year's rotation leaves behind a fully developed format with decks running the full gamut from aggro to control to combo. It's a solid baseline to build upon once Innistrad: Midnight Hunt joins the Stanadard card pool next month.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket.
