Five Reasons to Say Good Riddance to Alara Block and Welcome Scars of Mirrodin

5. Deck Tech Returns: This time of year Standard starts feeling rather, well, standard. M11 brought a few tweaks and turns with it, but mostly it was just cut and paste card replacements. Yes, the Valakut ramp deck gained some momentum with the addition of Primeval Titan and Blue/White Control rejoiced when Mana Leak leaked, but M11’s overall impact on Standard thus far has been underwhelming. However, when Scars drops at the start of October, several decks will be wiped clean and there will be an opening for something new and different. RDW will lose unearth creatures and earthquake. Control decks will lose Elspeth, Knight Errant.

Pyromancer’s Ascension decks take a big hit with the loss of Time Warp. The Runeflare Trap build loses Howling Mine and Font of Mythos. Oh, and a couple guys named Jund and Bant will be sent to the unemployment line. I love this time of the year, because some decks die, some survive, some get stronger, and something new will find a foothold as well.

4. Elspeth Version 2.0: White weenie is on the move and Elspeth the Older promises to provide the deck with an added kick. We’ll see if the rumored ultimate ability of “destroy all non-white creatures” makes the cut or whether another explosion of awesome takes its place. I know it is all speculation and anticipation at this point, but I’m like a kid at Christmas waiting for the spoilers to be revealed.

3. Some Round-Up for pesky Vengevine: As evidenced by its price nearly doubling in the past two weeks, Vengevine has a firm hold on Standard and is showing up in variations of several of the top decks. I am a self-declared Green mage, but I curse Wizards for printing this card. Concordant Crossroads and Instill Energy aside, Haste belongs to red and graveyard recursion is as Black as it gets. Instead, they give it to a color that will likely hard-cast it on turn three and have plenty of creatures to bring it (and its friends) back again and again. I fear Vengevine will take Bloodbraids place as the most hated card in Standard, but I am holding out hope that Scars will provide some answers (maybe an Arcane Laboratory type effect) to slow the overgrowth.

2. The rise of Rise of Eldrazi: From the moment it was released, Rise has been one of my all-time favorite limited formats. I have won booster drafts in every color combination under the sun (and lost with all those combinations as well). It is the only draft format I can remember where I enter with options instead of an agenda. The first fifteen cards can push me toward Auras (Gnarlid), Instants (Kiln Fiend), Mana-Producers (Ramp), Levelers, or the Eldrazi themselves. Hell, I’ve even been pulled toward Spawn token generators to fuel Raid Bombardments. On the heels of Zendikar-Worldwake, which is essentially an aggro race to the death, Rise gave me back some of the long-term strategy and late-game maneuvers that I remember so fondly from the days when Shivan Dragon was a centerpiece to build around. Unfortunately, Standard has continued to race ahead with its foot on the gas. My hope is that the post-rotation pace will slow down and maybe, just maybe, a deck that hard-casts Eldrazi will be viable.

1. The ceremonial death of Jund and Bant: If I ever see a Bloodbraid Elf cascading into a Blightning again, it will be too soon. I could live to 100 quite happily without a Sovereign triggered Conscription or a Knight of the Reliquary ruining my plans by fetching up a Sejiri Steppe. It has gotten so bad that I checked the rules to make sure there isn’t a provision where you automatically start the game with a Noble Hierarch in play. Standard has revolved around these two decks for nearly two years and it is time for a change. Good bye Alara, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.