With PT San Juan in the books, there's a lot to process. The pros gave us tons of insight into draft and block – a peek at the coming months of limited and constructed Magic.

Alara block will rotate out in five months, and with it, the key cards for the most popular deck in Standard – Jund. Historically the block season is the starting point for the succeeding Standard season and it's never too early to look at the horizon, to see what decks will rise up in the new Standard.

So what decks will fill the void? What cards are poised to become staples? Let's start by looking at Block Constructed.

I won't regale you with decklists and number crunching – that can be found elsewhere in a much tighter package – but I can tell you the Big Three Block decks from San Juan: some form of Blue Control, Devastating Red, and Mono-Green. Two of these are in Standard now (although RDW is nestled comfortably at Tier 2), but will become the decks to beat come rotation in October.

You've seen U/W-based control decks for a while now. Jaces, Gideons, Day of Judgments, Wall of Omens and the like. But in Block – a precursor to what we'll see in a few months – there are a few things to note. One is splashing. An unlikely ally, Green gives the deck a powerful card that has not cracked the current Standard metagame – Oracle of Mul Daya.

The Oracle wears many hats in the popular U/G/r decks. It interacts favorably with Jace, acting as another deck manipulation effect, making your Brainstorms all the more juicy by putting a land on top. It also accelerates, allowing you to blow past other control decks on the draw. Finally, it's a creature. He can get in there for 2, maybe even knocking some loyalty down on your opponent's own planeswalkers. The Oracle is a card that is sure to see play in the new standard and you should look to pick some up pre-rotation while they remain in the background.

Even without Bolt and Ajani Vengeant, the power of Mountains is not to be denied. Comet Storm – a juiced-up Fireball – is the sweeper of choice in Block control decks. While raining death on dudes is it's main role, Comet Storm can also go to the face, which at instant speed, makes this card quite potent. Once Martial Coup and Path to Exile rotate, you can look to call on red to fill your critter-killing needs. Right now, Comet Storm (a Mythic!) is sitting at about $2 and was the pre-release promo card, so it should be fairly easy to nab some.

One last note regarding the U/G/R flavored control decks. If it wasn't already evident that Lotus Cobra is finally living up to the early hype (what with him being terrifying on turn two in the Mythic decks), he finally is. Even in a control shell, the little mana snake allows for silly plays – like Avenger of Zendikar out of nowhere, Oracle earlier, and bigger Comet Storm. They are a smart investment at about $10, as they have been slowly rising over the past two weeks.

The breakout deck in Block was a mono-green aggro deck based on Beastmaster's Ascension and Eldrazi Monument. The gameplan is simple: play mana dudes, play more dudes, drop one of the above permanents and smash for the kill. This is a variant on the Eldrazi Green/Elf-drazi decks we saw here and there in standard, but better. Again, we see Lotus Cobra for explosive turns. There's mana guys in Arbor Elf and Joraga Treespeaker. Throw in a few token makers in Wolfbriar Elemental and the Eldrazi spawn-makers like Kozilek's Predator and Nest Invader, and you've got a deck.

The takeaway here is once the bulk of the super-efficient removal leaves the format, a deck like this can really shine. It can bounce back from Wrath with Vengevine. It can win out of nowhere with super-charged mana dorks via Monument or Beastmaster's Ascension. There aren't many cards that will spike in value, but you can pull those Beastmaster's and Wolfbriar's from your junk rare pile, as people will probably be looking for them. The best part about this deck is it will remain relatively cheap to build – save for Vegenvine. And who doesn't love just smashing with green guys?

Another mono-colored deck flexed it's muscle in Block was Devastating Red. There is very little change to this deck from the one in standard, as it pretty much just loses Lightning Bolt. Devastating Summons is the real deal, and is still solid even when not tag-teaming you in the face with Goblin Bushwhacker. Getting two 2/2's very early can put many decks in a bad spot, especially when they've been taking the beats for the first few turns. For what it's worth, the card has gone from about $.50 to nearly $2. It will always be a niche card – but will join Goblin Guide as a staple rare for red mages for the foreseeable future.

Kargan Dragonlord has been much talked about, but post-rotation it will be difficult to argue his inclusion in red decks. Without Terminate and Path punishing him, he will only get better. For a Mythic, he remains affordable at about $10, so there's a chance to get some value there.

There a few other cards I wanted to highlight from the first large Block event of the season. Avenger of Zendikar appeared in ramp decks and as a finisher in control decks. Dropping him followed by a fetch (or a fetch and another land with Oracle) will end the game very quickly. The card that punishes the plant tokens this guy brings to the party – Maelstrom Pulse – is rotating, so he should be able to close games with a 2/3 plant army in the coming months. Like Comet Storm, Avenger is a $2 Mythic so remains very affordable.

Unfortunately, the "big three" Mythics – that is Jace, Gideon, and Vengevine – will not lose any value come Alara's rotation. If anything, the nightmare of Jace hitting $100 may come true. These three are just that good. If you plan on playing control or any green aggro deck, just pony up and try to get these now before they go up even more.

And while not any one card, Vampires are poised to make some sort of leap. It made a solid showing at San Juan and the vast majority of the cards are in Zendikar. It has not gotten a lot of help since that set, but Bloodwitch, Hexmage, Bloodghast, Gatekeeper and Nighthawk remain a very solid backbone for a black midrange deck. Oh, and Mind Sludge is an enormous beating. The deck is probably 1-2 more pieces away from being a huge threat (hopefully not a $30 Mythic), so keep an eye on the bloodsuckers.

It may be a few more months before people are forced to shelve their Bloodbraids and Leeches, but change is on the horizon. For now, enjoy Block and try your hand at adapting them for some fresh decks at FNM.