We are starting our deck brews for the Magic: the Gathering Standard format with the release of Bloomburrow in a few decks. I got pretty excited about this as the format rotation will happen, and new card & deck strategies will again flourish for us deck brewers to feast on. I also know you guys feel the same way.

We are starting with the basics as these archetypes maintain consistency in gameplay, and our feature card from the new set today is Salvation Swan.

This Rare creature card has a similar ability to that of Restoration Angel, though it is quite advanced in terms of flavor and the “blink” ability. Saving your creature from a removal spell is a good card advantage, much more so when it will return at the next end step which also makes it avoid mass removal effects. One example is when your opponent plays Day of Judgement. You blink out your best creature with the Swan, the bird then dies with the effect, and you get to return your best threat at the end of your opponent’s step. To add, Salvation Swan’s blink ability also triggers when another Bird enters the battlefield under your control so there is more advantage provided when you adjusted your deck build to have more Bird creature type.

I have given this card feature a slot in the current tokens deck built in the Standard format, getting card advantage by blinking creatures with ETB effects of creating creature tokens. Here below is my initial decklist. Do take note that it will see changes as soon as more Bloomburrow cards are revealed.

Here is the link to the full and sortable decklist.