Turn around, bright eyes, Standard is brand new. Within the next few weeks, Standard will undergo a massive change and the only sets legal in Standard will be Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, Core 2019, and Guilds of Ravnica. I, for one, am extremely excited that everything will be mostly brand new so I wanted to take a look at what we know might be good places to start looking for decks to build and cards to keep in mind while reviewing spoilers from Guilds. It's fairly easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of pretty cards and forget some of the bases that are set in stone.

Pillars

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria sticks around. In a world where we complain incessantly about Goblin Chainwhirler, Teferi has made a powerful mark in Standard and will likely continue to do so. While the deck loses Disallow, Fumigate, Glimmer of Genius, and Irrigated Farmland; it is likely these cards can be replaced easily. More importantly, Search for Azcanta and Settle the Wreckage stick around, so building around Teferi, Hero of Dominaria shouldn't be too difficult. In addition to this, we also get to keep Seal Away, Blink of an Eye, Essence Scatter, and Negate which all play well with Teferi's untap.

Control has often been a questionable archetype to play in Standard despite some of the success it has had. Lately, however, it has really seen a lot of powerful tools to make an impact and has lasted in mostly its current iteration through almost all of recent Standard. Having Steam Vents and Sacred Foundry also mean that playing a three color deck with Teferi in Jeskai is also a big possibility. With the aggressive decks potentially becoming a bit slower without the same amount of reach with Chandra, Torch of Defiance, it could be Control's time to shine. Given some evasive threats with flash (Restoration Angel and Snapcaster Mage come to mind), we could even see a midrange control deck return as well.

With Boros predominantly featured as one of the premier guilds, I can imagine a lot of small creatures trying to swarm everyone only to get lambasted by the Chainfather. This might be fortunate as the token decks might be quite good and Mentor might be the keyword needed to get around Chainwhirler. If there is a Red aggressive deck, I can imagine Chainwhirler being at the forefront. With Sacred Foundry and Steam Vents being in the set, I wouldn't be surprised to see more three color Red variants. During the last Standard season we saw a three color Sarkhan, Fireblood deck that played Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. It does seem as though a lot of that deck stays in the new format, so it might be worth exploring. Either way, Chainwhirler might be a needed card in a world of Emmara, Soul of the Accord and Legion Warboss in order to keep the token decks from getting out of hand. With such a wide selection of different tokens, Radiant Destiny might not be an effective way to combat the Goblin menace.

I can easily see Chainwhirler not making much impact in new Standard, but the card needs to be respected.

Next on the list is Vraska's Contempt. What was easily one of the best removal spells will very likely continue to be so. With a graveyard theme in Golgari coming up, it's likely Vraska's Contempt will be a premier choice. With Planeswalkers picking up in the next set, Vraska's Contempt will be even more impactful and needed. Since Watery Grave and Overgrown Tomb have been printed first, getting a Black mana base that would pair well with Contempt shouldn't be much of a stretch.

With Convoke being a mechanic in the new set, coming out of the gates with a Llanowar Elves can lead to some busted turns. Being efficient and double spelling will put most decks on the back foot immediately and gain an advantage they might not be able to come back from. With Magma Spray and Fatal Push rotating out, there are less 1 mana spells to remove the elf and can help push the Green decks to the forefront. We saw Andrew Baeckstrom champion a strategy to GP success and it isn't hard to guess that Elf into Steel Leaf Champion will be a good place to start in the new format.

The bane of Red mirrors, Rekindling Phoenix, gets to stick around and I'm looking at utilizing this not just in aggro decks, but also in midrange decks. Maybe alongside Arguel's Blood Fast? Rekindling Phoenix is a monster of a Magic card and if the format is a midrange slogfest, Rekindling Phoenix will reign supreme.

These are the five cards I would try and focus on when looking at building new Standard decks as they will be the most likely to be impactful in the new Standard. But that's not all! We also need to look back at some of the cards that might be better now that we're losing some other cards.

While we have the obvious list of cards to look through (Settle the Wreckage, Search for Azcanta, and Arguel's Blood Fast), there's another list of cards that have potential to start seeing a lot of play. Oftentimes it's easy to forget some of these less flashy cards while we have a new set in front of us.

Possibilities

While I'm hoping for an Ultimate Price reprint, Cast Down will work nicely to kill most of what creatures we might expect to see. Lightning Strike could also be a key player to take down planeswalkers and creatures.

With Golgari having a graveyard theme, the Explore mechanic seems primed to make use out of Undergrowth as a mechanic. On the same side, with a graveyard theme Stitcher's Supplier could possibly make a ton of use out of filling your graveyard. On the flip side, if graveyard matters Deathgorge Scavenger will be one of the best ways to fight through it all.

If there's one thing we can say for sure, it's that mana is about to get way better. If that's the case, then Field of Ruin is going to tear apart some folks and possibly shred them from casting spells. Especially in the three color decks that might have poorly constructed mana bases. The Domri Rade Naya deck I played, for example, played one Forest and all duals. A couple Field of Ruins would have become Strip Mines pretty quickly. After the second set of Ravnica, I wouldn't be surprised if this were more true and how quickly we might see one or two color decks adopt the Strip Mine strategy. Imagine control with Crucible of Worlds and Field. I'm dreaming already.

Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants didn't really get its time to shine in the sun. The card is quite powerful and while the decks weren't quite good enough this go around, I would expect the Boros or Selesnya decks to make use out such a powerful walker. Getting back Emmara after an opponent has spent resources killing it will also feel great. Have enough creatures already and you might be able to convoke that turn as well. Either way, building up your creatures will be fantastic in creature mirrors and insulate smaller creatures against Chainwhirler as well.

Nicol Bolas already started to make an impact and with Watery Grave AND Steam Vents, casting the Elder Dragon will be quite easy. Pair with plenty of spells and Ral, Izzet Viceroy and we have a sweet little midrange package. This is a deck that we will really need to see what removal is in the format before we know how playable it is. As of right now, I'm writing Grixis off, but hopefully when we get more spoilers that will make life easier.

Last on the list is History of Benalia and Shalai, Voice of Plenty. If you don't own copies, buy them now. With Selesnya being a guild and Convoke being a mechanic, it will be easy to power out some great spells with vigilant creatures and Shalai is losing its natural predators in Chandra and Glorybringer. This means it's time for Shalai to protect you from Settle the Wreckage and be able to pump your creatures on turns you just want to jam. If players aren't packing wraths or great ways to kill Shalai, I envision a lot of games that end when Shalai comes down. History of Benalia will just continue to be a powerful choice in aggressive strategies and especially might be great in decks with Convoke.

Anything you think I missed? Another card you're excited to see play with? Let me know in the comments below!