Post-Rotation Metagame
Standard forum
Posted on April 29, 2014, 1:39 a.m. by kylebv
What top-tier decks will be hurt the least from Ravnica's rotation? Also, where do you think the meta will go after rotation (even though we don't know the contents of M15)?
The clearest change that most people can see will be the death of U/W control, Losing cards like Sphinx's Revelation , Supreme Verdict , and Detention Sphere at immediate rotation. This is, however, like you said, not a certain thing since we still have most of M15 and Huey Block to see.
Mana/Color Fixing will take a hit since the Shocklands are due for rotation, and the Scrylands are slow. Mana Confluence in JOU might mitigate this issue, but the damage it deals when tapped for mana can attract the development of fast aggro or burn.
Mono-Black Devotion is a deck I see staying strong; it loses Desecration Demon , Nightveil Specter , Pack Rat , and Mutavault but has Herald of Torment and Master of the Feast to fill up some holes.
April 29, 2014 2:27 a.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #4
First off, we still have something like 500+ cards to see before that happens, so trying to guess is somewhat futile. But it's fun, so...
1) I agree that the surest thing is UW taking a huge hit due to the cards Osang_21 mentioned. UW could still be good if there's some sort of Wrath of God in the next block, and we do have Banishing Light now, but good luck finding an equitable replacement for Sphinx.
2) I personally think MUD looks very iffy. Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of Waves will still be around, but replacing 8 solid aggro one-drops like Cloudfin Raptor and Judge's Familiar will be tough, and it seems unlikely that the Devotion crew of Tidebinder Mage , Frostburn Weird , and Nightveil Specter will have suitable replacements. If it does exist, it's likely to be more controlly than the current deck.
3) Monsters should still be a thing. Past precedent suggests that Elvish Mystic will be replaced in the core set by some one-drop dork, and the big beaters like Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos, World Eater will still be there. The biggest loss is Domri Rade . GU has been really solid in Block Constructed thanks to Prophet of Kruphix , so it's possible that we could see the same basic deck shift to a Blue splash.
4) MBD is up in the air. On one hand, the entire creature base sans Gray Merchant of Asphodel will be gone, as will Underworld Connections , but with guys like Herald of Torment and the best removal spells sticking around, it's possible that a similar, but more aggressive deck could take form.
That's my 2 cents, but again, there's so much to be spoiled before that happens that it's mostly pure speculation.
April 29, 2014 2:56 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
It's not really worth speculating this far in advance because we don't know anything about M15 and the next block. There will obviously be changes in the meta, but it's very hard to determine without more information what will and will not survive.
One could guess that control will hurt for lack of Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict , and monocolor devotion will hurt for lack of Pack Rat , Desecration Demon , and Nightveil Specter .
April 29, 2014 2:58 a.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #6
Btw, let's not forget how important Mutavault has been to the viability of monocolored decks.
April 29, 2014 3:03 a.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin - actually black loses Ultimate Price which is important for the mirror.
Also given that MBD is a midrange deck I'm not entirely convinced that they'll want Master of the Feast . However Herald of Torment will do well.
April 29, 2014 5:39 a.m.
Red Deck Wins is always the most consistent deck post-rotation while the metagame adjusts. Expect to see Firedrinker Satyr , Stormbreath Dragon , Lightning Strike , etc.
G/x/x Midrange is always a thing, but it takes a while to figure out. However, ramping into big dudes and playing lots of removal is something WotC has been pushing as a major archetype for Standard. Hold onto your Courser of Kruphix s, Sylvan Caryatid s, Reaper of the Wilds , and Xenagos, The Reveler s. It will take time to put a deck together, but one will eventually emerge.
Lastly, U/W/x Control will still be around. It's one of those archetypes that always exists in any format. While it will lose a lot of cards and will change considerably, there will still be a deck that drops planeswalkers, counters spells, draws cards, and boardwipes. I imagine the shell of the deck will be four Prognostic Sphinx , 2+ Elspeth, Sun's Champion , and four Dissolve . Rumors are circulating that the M14 blue planeswalker will be Jace, Architect of Thought . If so, the archetype is losing Sphinx's Revelation , Supreme Verdict , and Detention Sphere , but keeping just about everything else it needs plus whatever comes in Huey.
April 29, 2014 7:24 a.m.
Polis Crusher is a sleeper. You'll see. YOU ALL WILL SEE!
April 29, 2014 8:17 a.m.
Dalektable says... #11
I'm calling Naya Midrange will be a thing. Decent suite of removal, nice planeswalkers as a backbone (Xenagos, The Reveler , Ajani, Mentor of Heroes and Elspeth, Sun's Champion ) and great midrange-y creatures like Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos, World Eater . I might upload a mock-up list later of what It might look like. But it seems strong to me.
Also what we know of W/U/x control = dead. I'm sure a new control deck will pop up and reign supreme but certainly not one we are used to seeing now with all the rev based control decks.
April 29, 2014 8:20 a.m.
Dalektable says... #12
TexasDice I sure hope that's true, I've got about 6 laying around being put to no use...
April 29, 2014 8:21 a.m.
If you are looking for a deck to invest into post rotation. Invest into RDW. At least at my shop, and it sounds like other shops RDW decks always appear do really well for the first couple weeks after rotation.
April 29, 2014 10:08 a.m.
rochdalekilla9 says... #14
I created my R/G monster deck to survive the rotation. Granted, there are still plenty of cards that haven't been released yet between now and rotation, but all the cards in my deck that will be gone after rotation can easily be replaced, minus Domri Rade . He's the only really irreplaceable card, since I am hoping another Garruk will come out in M15.
April 29, 2014 10:31 a.m.
Guys, there are two full large sets between now and rotation. Theros block fully combined is 579 cards. We already know M15 is even an even larger set at 269, and if the fall set is similar we're looking at 538 cards - ie nearly half of the entire card pool. With so many cards left unknown even speculating based on what archtypes are loosing key cards is pretty sub-optimal.
April 29, 2014 11:08 a.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #16
This question needs to stop coming up. There's at least two threads a day asking the same thing. As was mentioned before there are still 538 cards we don't know about.
If you want to know what the metagame MIGHT look like, then go on mtgtop8.com and look at Theros block constructed. That's as close as you're going to get.
April 29, 2014 12:20 p.m.
It's impossible to say without a spoiler for the new set. Theros had devotion, bestow, scry, heroic, and monstrous, for example, and if we had some knowledge about the new mechanics (or even rehashed old mechanics) we could actually make a good guess.
Let me conjecture, though. All this is pure guesses.
As all of Theros' major mechanics were color agnostic, I expect color specific mechanics again. To have a full standard where all the colors have the same mechanics would risk making all decks feel the same.
Green/ X Aggro will still be slowed. I don't think Birds of Paradise will get reprinted until M16 because Sylvan Caryatid is still in play. Not a major change, but worth noting, because I imagine Wizard is trying to make the post-rotation standard slower than before.
I expect new multicoloreds. Theros hasn't had many multicoloreds.
Unsummon will probably return as Cyclonic Rift is rotating out. Control decks in particular will no longer be so much about mana as overload is rotating out.
April 29, 2014 1:35 p.m.
MrSirPenguin says... #18
I don't think we should necessarily wish for the death of this question as it's still fun to guess and speculate, but it definitely shouldn't be taken so seriously. I can't say much as to what decks will be hurt, due to the 538 missing cards, but I do think R/B/W control will have a chance post rotation. I made one recently based on Theros Block constructed and was fairly surprised. With cards like Anger of the Gods , Thoughtseize , Hero's Downfall , and others, this deck appears to have a chance.
Osang_21 had a point, saying Mana Confluence will be attracting burn decks. I think Thoughtseize 's presence will have a similar effect. But that's my general 2 cents.
roxtar88 says... #2
I'm asking myself the same question because i'm not wanting to spend alot of money on cards that won't be as worthwhile come October.
April 29, 2014 2:15 a.m.