Another ban hammer was ensued, and Aetherworks Marvel is the casualty. We all knew how dominating this deck was in the past month, and I personally experienced in it Grand Prix Manila two weeks ago. My three losses garnered was from the various versions of the Marvel deck. Anyhow, I am happy that the boogeyman of the current Standard metagame has been dealt with by Wizards. The next question is: what will be the metagame after this? Here are a few insights:

Lesser Counterspells in the Maindeck – that is for Blue White Flash, and Temur Energy decks. Also, Mardu Blue will probably revert to its old build of having Fatal Push over Metallic Rebuke. While I personally liked this type of strategy, we will be expecting Zombies and Black Green Energy to be more popular hence, the counterspells would be too slow and ineffective.

New versions of Midrange Archetypes – midrange tends to be slow especially facing a turn-four Ulamog with two of their lands exiled. One popular example is the Delirium deck. Its recent built was maindecked Dissenters Deliverance and now they won’t be needing those and instead return back the likes of Mindrack Demon and Ishkana. Sultai Midrange could be another version, with the new Liliana reanimating Ulamog which is slower and gives the opponent a turn to deal with the Eldrazi.

Aggro will Rise – that I would mean Mardu Vehicles, BG Aggro, Zombies, Red Green Pummeler and even Humans. Prepare to board in your Radiant Flames, Fumigates, and Yaheeni’s Expertise.

That said, a major shift in the Standard metagame will happen in the coming weeks and probably we can test and play a few tournaments before Hour of Devastation arrives. Maybe we can also adjust some of the decks for the new cards in the set.