Top 11 Irreplaceable Cards Leaving the Standard Format
September 4, 2008 | Posted by Dee
In one month the Standard format in Magic the Gathering will be shaken up. The three sets in the Time Spiral block and Coldsnap will rotate out and Shards of Alara will rotate in.
Many of the existing decks will no longer be good because certain cards will no longer be legal. Here are the top 11 cards leaving T2 that will be hard for those decks to replace.
11. Greater Gargadon
I placed this card last because Mirror Entity can be a replacement. In fact, in the early days of the Lark deck, Mirror Entity was paired with Reveillark before Greater Gargadon. However, players realized the red Beast was better because it’s cheaper and can’t be countered.
Cheap, uncounterable enablers are rare, so don’t expect a suitable replacement in Shards of Alara.
10. Harmonize
In Planar Chaos, green got the timeshifted version of Concentrate. But that was to fit the chaotic environment of the expansion set. Shards of Alara looks to be more conventional with the color pie, so don’t expect more card drawing for green.
9. Skred
This is one of the most powerful one mana removal spells in the last couple of years. Yes, Shards of Alara will have good cheap burn spells, but they won’t be killing Chameleon Colossuses.
8. Ancestral Vision
Yes, there will be good card draw in Shards of Alara. But one mana for three cards is too insane.
7. Tarmogoyf
Green is gonna get great creatures in Shards of Alara. However, you can be sure R&D tested every cheap green creature to make sure we don’t have another $50 rare.
6. Lord of Atlantis
Blue got lucky that Lord of Atlantis was timeshifted. The last time the Merfolk lord was Standard legal was back when 7th edition was the newest core set.
Blue is not known for its Crusade effects or cheap, efficient creatures. The Merfolk deck won’t get much help from Shards of Alara.
5. Wall of Roots
You would think there would be more cards like Wall of Roots. After all, green gets good creature stats for cheap. It also has the best mana producers. However, Wizards has figured out that cheap, defensive creatures that produce mana are perfect for control decks.
Green is not supposed to be a controllish, defensive color so you probably won’t see a card like Wall of Roots for a while.
4. Pact of Negation
Zero costing counterspells are very rare, so don’t get your hopes up for one showing up in Shards of Alara.
3. Body Double
Losing to an infinite combo is pretty annoying for many players. Look for Shards of Alara not to have a graveyard combo enabler like Body Double for Reveillark players.
2. Dakmor Salvage
I don’t think Wizards had the Seismic Assault and Swans of Bryn Argoll combo in mind when they designed Dakmor Salvage.
In any case, dredge is a old mechanic that’s been abused more than once (think two turn kill in Extended). Dakmor Salvage may be the only land with dredge we see in our lifetime.
1. Magus of the Moon
Mana denial is one of the most annoying ways to lose. There’s a reason why Armageddon has not been Standard legal for a long time. Count on Shards of Alara not having a powerful card like Magus of the Moon that wrecks most of the manabases in the format.
Feedback
Do you agree with my list order? Did I miss a tournament level card that will be hard to replace in the new Standard? Feel free to leave a comment.
Update: This list is based on the top decklists in current Standard. That’s why you won’t see cards like Damnation or Vesuvan Shapeshifter. These cards are not being played right now in top Standard decks. Therefore, they don’t need to be replaced.
2 Responses to “Top 11 Irreplaceable Cards Leaving the Standard Format”
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Off the top of my head, there’s one big miss off this list – Damnation. Having a functionally exact copy of Wrath in black, the color of effective point removal and disruption, has really warped traditional control deck design for the last two years. I seriously doubt they’re going to roll out another mass removal card in black that’s nearly as effective as Damnation (and that, in turn, will make Chameleon Colossus and Stillmoon Cavalier that much more effective).
I thought about adding Damnation but I didn’t see many of the current top level decks playing it. But great point, I don’t see black getting another card like Damnation for a long while.