Zendikar Rising brings with it the bittersweet taste of rotation for Standard. Your wallet weeps for your fallen cards, but the curiosity of a new format to be solved comes forth to push you forward. Standard is heavily influenced by Throne of Eldrain cards and of course Uro from Theros Beyond Death, but will Zendikar Rising shift the landscape of Standard and allow new decks to rise to the top of the meta?
# 10 - Dual Lands... Kinda
Standard has been desperate for untapped dual lands to help aggro decks attack the ramp and control deck that rule the format. These flip lands are a fun design and flavourful to the plane of Zendikar, but will they be good enough? I am certain they will, and even though they won't give you perfect mana they will allow aggro decks to curve out properly. That is exactly what two color aggro deck have needed and will have a huge impact on standard. I've put them at the bottom of this list only because I want to talk about more exciting cards, even though these will see the most play.
#9 - Brushfire Elemental
Landfall is a powerful mechanic and it got a ton of great options such as Brushfire Elemental and Akoum Hellhound. However, Landfall is at its best alongside fetchlands and Standard only has Fabled Passage. Those two creatures plus Wayward Guide-Beast make me hopeful, enough for me to give it a spot on this list, but I'm not convinced that Fabled Passage and some aggro creatures will be enough. I'm eager for deck builders much better than myself to prove me wrong.
#8 - Nullpriest of Oblivion
Mono black aggro in Standard is losing a lot of key pieces like Knight of the Ebon Legion and Rotting Regisaur. It also keeps a solid foundation with Heartless Act and Eliminate as removal and creatures such as Rankle, Master of Pranks, and Murderous Rider. Demonic Embrace is left as well and it is one of the best cards in the deck. Nullpriest of Oblivion works well on curve into Demonic Embrace giving you a 5/2 with flying, lifelink, and menace. Mono black creatures need to be efficient and have value, so being able to kick Nullpriest late game to put a Rankle into play from the graveyard is very powerful. Skyclave Shade is also promising by being a good card to pitch to get back Demonic Embrace and can come back itself with landfall.
#7 - Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate
UW Fliers is a deck I hope survives after rotation. Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate is an on curve threat that protects your board from wraths and removal. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon will still dunk all over you, but what can you do. Kitesail Cleric and Merfolk Windrobber are solid one drops for a fliers deck and help work towards the party ability on Linvala. We will need a few more payoffs printed to help this deck take off, but Linvala should be useful in any aggressive blue and white deck looking for protection against sweepers.
#6 - Zareth San, the Trickster
Dimir Flash has been an expected top meta threat after rotation with cards like Brazen Borrower, Cunning Nightbonder, and Slitherwisp sticking around. Zareth San is very powerful with cycling cards like Shark Typhoon getting put in the graveyard early for us to steal for ourselves. We will also be living in a world full of Uro decks looking to stock up the graveyard which we can take advantage of. Zareth San does ask us to put other rogues in our deck which isn't a problem with us already wanting to play Brazen Borrower and Cunning Nightbonder which are rogues. Other rogues in Zendikar Rising have a milling theme which we do need to be cautious of in that world of Uro.
#5 - Swarm Shambler
Swarm Shambler looks innocent enough but this frisky fungus should see serious Standard play in a couple of decks. Selesnya Counters love this with Conclave Mentor. Replacing the creatures as they get targeted with 1/1's will allow the deck to continue applying pressure. Removal is very important against that deck with Wildwood Scourge getting massive quickly. It could even replace Pelt Collector in mono green aggro decks by working well with threats like Scavenging Ooze, Stonecoil Serpent, and Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig.
#4 - Magmatic Channeler
Izzet Tempo decks with Sprite Dragon and Stormwing Entity may be a popular proactive choice at the beginning of the new meta. Magmatic Channeler block early as a two mana 1/3 and can discard a card to dig through the top of your library. Discarding a card is less important for these decks now that Arclight Phoenix is no longer with us (rip Arclight Phoenix). In these styles of decks, Magmatic Channeler becomes a 4/4 very quickly and a threat on its own. Izzet Tempo decks show promise as being an early pick for the new meta and it may be important to be a Scorching Dragonfire deck rather than an Eliminate deck if Garruk's Harbinger is running wild.
#3 - Nissa of Shadowed Boughs
Nissa of Shadowed Boughs isn't the flashiest card from Zendikar Rising and is pretty timid compared to the ridiculous Planeswalkers from War of the Spark, but Nissa is a solid midrange threat. Its job will be to relentlessly throw threats at control decks and that is a task that will always be in demand. Golgari midrange and aggro decks already have powerful creatures like Scavenging Ooze and Questing Beast, and have great removal such as Heartless Act and Eliminate. Nissa of Shadowed Boughs will fit right into those decks.
#2 - Into the Roil
An oldie but a goodie, Into the Roil will be a versatile deck in Zendikar Rising Standard. Control decks can run this to bounce a threat or their own Planeswalker and draw a card. Dimir Flash will make use of this as another Brazen Borrower effect and hopefully, we can have a mono blue tempo deck come back and use it. Into the Roil has a powerful history on Standard and this time will be no different.
#1 - Kargan Intimidator
Kargan Intimidator will be slotting right into mono red aggro decks and as a stand-alone threat that can pump itself, give trample to itself or another warrior, and can eliminate a blocker for the turn. Runaway Steam-Kin is leaving a hole in the two drop slot that Kargan Intimidator can fill. The reason I have Kargan Intimidator so high is that it also adds a powerful and efficient creature to Winota decks and any warrior decks that could emerge in Standard over the coming weeks. Sometimes the obvious choice is the right choice and Kargan Intimidator is straight-up powerful.
This has been the second list for our Zendikar Rising set review. Check out the archive if you missed the list with the top Commander cards. Coming up next will be Modern, with Pioneer and Pauper following. If you want to be the first to read these articles and other future articles, be sure to follow us on social media to join the Fellowship. Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day.
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