With the card spoilers of the upcoming Magic: the Gathering Strixhaven: School of Mages set in completion and only about a month to go before its release, we again check the cards that will be of an impact in the Standard format. The starting color is usually White and the first deck that comes in mind is the Mono-White Aggro deck that is currently a metagame staple deck in the format.

The Strixhaven cards that I’d consider as upgrade for the deck are the following:

Selfless Glyphweaver – An expensive Selfless Spirit for three-mana, much less on evasion. I’d have this as more of a sideboard card for Azorius Control matchups.

Shaile, Dean of Radiance – This is an ideal two-drop on the curve as you can set up to pump your next batch of creatures on turn three. Having three to four copies in the deck is enough. The only drawback is the 1/1 p/t is prone to cheap removal.

Augusta, Dean of Order – This another 3-drop creature with a semi-anthem effect which is quiet tricky when triggered during combat. I’m just disappointed with the “Other creatures” clause as its only protection is its 3 toughness. If you are playing Boros then I’d suggest to have a playset of this as its opposite card, Plargg, is an efficient two-drop that can fix your card draws. 

Elite Spellbinder – PVs World Champion custom card Elite Spellbinder might get two or three slots in the maindeck, given that it is a 3/1 with evasion. The card delays might be effective or not depending on the scenario but what is sure is the information that it gives on the opponent’s hand and how you can adjust your gameplay later on.

Leonin Lightscribe – This dude is more fitted for a Heroic kind of the deck strategy where half of the decklist has instant pump or removals spells. I would suggest it if your deck build is that of Boros where burn spells are normally included in the list. 

Overall, the Mono-White aggro deck might get a change or two in their creature lineup depending on the metagame changes but the first hand change will be on the sideboard. I am rooting for Elite Spellbinder to be a maindeck card if midrange decks are still the prevalent and dominant in the Standard format.  

That is a wrap for now, until the next blog post.