As per usual, I’m getting excited about lots of new Fate Reforged cards! Spoiler season is moving along quickly. As we approach the prerelease next weekend, we will finally get to see the new Standard possibilities and hope for a change of pace with the new cards in the mix.

So far, what I am hearing from most players is a lot of underwhelming thoughts about the format. While there are not lots of obvious Standard powerhouses, there are plenty of cards from this set that will definitely impact competitive play. My initial impression is that the cards that will impact the format are not the obvious perpetrators, but rather, the innocent looking subtle ones. There are quite a few cards I want to discuss today, so let’s get right into it.

Monastery Mentor

It seems like this is the most anticipated card in the set that has been spoiled to this point. Sure, Ugin himself has some application in a grindy control deck, but more players will be grabbing their triple digit playsets of Monestary Mentor long before most of them have any copies of Ugin.

Obvious comparasions have been made to Young Pyromancer, and for good reason. They both fill the same roll. The main difference is that with this new creature he costs an additional mana because he makes tokens that also gain prowess. Did you process the potency of that combination? That means this one card not only makes the tokens, but also pumps them as well! Mentor is like Goblin Rabblemaster and Jeskai Ascendancy got together and had a love child.

The thing is, a bunch of the cards that were already good in Standard pair exceptionally well with this card.

This card is extremely powerful, of that there is no doubt. Costing three is somewhat of a drawback but not much. My real fear is that the potency of this card will shift the format into a direction where Drown in Sorrow becomes maindeck-worthy. In that format, Mentor won’t have time to shine before he is being laid to rest in the graveyard. If we are going to play this card we already have to deal with Doomwake Giants roaming the land and Bile Blights destroying our token army.

This may be the best card in the set but that doesn’t make it the most impactful. I assume it will see play but it will be interesting to see how the format reacts to its implementation.

Soulfire Grand Master

Next up, we have the Soulfire Grand Master himself, transforming your ordinary Lighting Strikes into Lightning Helixes all the day long.

My initial impression is that this card is overrated. I think his fragile 2/2 body is a severe limiting factor that will cause him to not see much play. Jeskai decks already have an entire warehouse of tools to work with, they don’t need this one in their deck as well. I think it would be more likely that this guy shows up in a Jeskai Control deck’s sideboard than anywhere else.

Brutal Hordechief & Shaman of the Great Hunt

I am much more excited about two different, yet extremely similar, four-cost mythic rares from the set. Both Shaman of the Great Hunt and Brutal Hoardchief seem extremely good in combination with the current archetypes being played in the format.

Both of them have decent stats and boost your other creatures when they are in combat. On the one hand, I like the fact that your creatures trigger the life loss of Brutal Hoardchief when they attack, but at the same time, I think I would be more likely to play Shaman of the Great Hunt. While Brutal Hoardchief is like a new, but probably worse, version of Hellrider, Shaman of the Great Hunt is a Curse of Stalked Prey attached to an aggressive body.

Both of these mythics increase your ability to do damage in Standard, and both of them seem good enough to see play. I will definitely be brewing with them in the coming weeks. What do you guys think about these two cards? Are they good enough to impact Standard?

Flamewake Phoenix

Chandra's Phoenix has been reborn in the flamewake and the result is a potent Standard powerhouse. It’s time to get used to the beats in the sky once more and it couldn’t have come sooner. Flying is a great ability to have in competitive play because the ground is beyond clogged with creatures.

If there is a decent two-cost creature with flying to go along with this guy, they could form the one two punch I’ve been looking for in the format. As of right now, we already have this new phoenix at three, Ashcloud Phoenix at four, and then Stormbreath Dragon at five. That’s almost the core of a deck right there and they all go quite well together.

I’m curious to see how easy the ferocious ability is to trigger. There are a ton of kill spells flying around in Standard so your four-power creature living until combat may not be as easy as it seems on the surface.

The double red in the mana cost seems great for a possible red devotion deck as well. If we utilize the three creatures listed above and devote ourselves to red for Fanatic of Mogis and maybe Purphoros, God of the Forge, we could gain a huge mana advantage from Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as well. I’m not sure there are enough pieces to make that strategy work, but it’s definitely on my radar of things to try out.

Crux of Fate

Don’t hate on this Damnation wannabe just yet. We’ve proven that End Hostilities is quite playable in Standard and while you need to play more early removal to make up for the fact that it costs five mana, it still gets the job done. I expect that to be the same for Crux of Fate.

This new wrath, along with Ugin, seems to advance U/B Control a bit in Standard as well. The deck has been doing alright on and off since the Pro Tour, but the new tools it gets from Fate Reforged may be enough to push it into a Tier 1 status. This is not the most exciting, but cards that are solid role players are just as important as flashy mythics.

With this card you could even play your own dragons so that when you wrath the board, your threats stay in play and your opponents are removed. Plague Wind is extremely good and Crux of Fate definitely has the same possibilities.

Warden of the First Tree

While most players have already dismissed our new Figure of Destiny, Warden of the First Tree, I think he is a great addition to Standard. Not only does he slot well in the curve of decks in Standard at one mana, he also gives aggressive decks access to huge power in the late game. Think of him more like Rakshasa Deathdealer than Fleecemane Lion.

The middle ability costing four mana as well as not boosting his stats further is definitely a drawback, but there will be plenty of times that you have a spare four mana at the end of your opponent’s turn. Unlike Figure of Destiny, you won’t be rushing to ‘ultimate’ this creature anytime soon, but paying for his upgrades when you have extra mana will happen more often than you think.

Additionally, playing him as a one-mana guy that attacks for three on turn two is still good enough. You may not be advancing your board but you are definitely putting a clock on your opponent. I think the Warden will be showing us why the First Tree was worth protecting many times over in Standard. He’s better than we think he is right now.

Atarka, World Render

First of all, let me say that yes, I know this is a seven-mana dragon with the always popular "dies to Doom Blade" mechanic. I want you to set that aside for a moment. Giving creatures double strike is not something that Wizards does often. This dragon grants the ability to not just himself, but other dragons as well. I’m not saying that this casual table all-star will be beating you regularly in tournament play, but I want consider him as a possibility.

Let’s say that there are a couple of new playable dragons in the new set in red and green. Following them up with Atarka would certainly end with a dead opponent. It’s possible that we could end up with lots of opponents that run out of removal spells for our large threats. He is not the best, nor cheapest late game threat, but he might be playable if Standard stays at the pace it is currently. If not, stock up on these guys to trade to every casual player ever.

Wild Slash

Fate Reforged has its share of solid role players as well. Other than Magma Spray, which I’ve been sideboarding since the beginning of the format, we have no other available Shock in Standard. Wild Slash definitely fills that slot. The ferocious ability is unlikely to matter most of the time but it does make this another strict upgrade on the traditional Shock. While I don’t like this card as maindeck material, I think it’s a great sideboard card that allows you to rid yourself of early aggressive creatures for only one mana.

Similarly, cheap prowess cards like Jeskai Sage could find a home in a creature-light, spell-heavy deck similar to that which has been seeing play in the format. I’ve been feeling like the Jeskai aggro deck was missing a good two-drop creature and Sage could be the one that propels the deck forward.

Dromoka & Kolaghan

I wanted to mention these two dragons, not necessarily because of the cards themselves, but rather because of the concept. Dragons in general are a powerful species and have at times had a big impact on Standard. These two are both five mana 5/5’s that soar over your opponents creatures for large chunks of damage. Kolaghan can have haste and pumps your other creatures whereas Dromoka pumps your smallest creature +2/+2.

Both of them are mediocre in power level but may see some play as giant flying monsters. Kolaghan in particular seems to fit as the top end of an aggressive curve, maybe even in combination with the efficient tokens makers in Standard.

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

Finally we have the card that has me the most excited from the new set. Alesha was born to make aggro decks better. She laughs at the opponent's removal spells as she recurs your creatures over and over. Her stats are not amazing because she cannot fight the four- and five-toughness creatures that are running around Standard, but first strike does get her around the other annoying creatures like 1/1 tokens.

Building a shell for this card may also breath new life into an unused M15 card. During spoilers, Return to the Ranks was highly anticipated and then cast aside as unplayable shortly after. That was not the type of thing you wanted to be doing in that format, but now that we have Khans and soon Fate Reforged in the mix, combining the power of Alesha with the efficient sorcery seems like a great place to be in Standard right now.

These two cards may give us the ability to go under all of the midrange decks trying to outlast each other. It’s possible we don’t need Return to the Ranks, but it’s definitely worth considering in combination with Alesha. Players may pay more attention to Flamewake Phoenix right off the bat but don’t forget about this other creature at the same cost because she fills a completely different roll.

There are a lot more cards to be spoiled yet and hopefully some of them will be sweet Standard-playable ones. What you do you think about the cards I mentioned today? Will they see play in Standard? Is there an application of the card that I missed? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Until Next Time,

Unleash the Cube Force!

Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com