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Main » Articles » First Look at Core Set 2020 Standard

First Look at Core Set 2020 Standard

Michael Flores
Posted on July 9, 2019
 Reddit

War of the Spark Standard... We hardly knew ya!

I feel like the optimal version of Mono-Red - the most popular and successful deck from the first week - never even revealed itself. It seemed (to me, anyway) that Mono-Green Superfriends was one of the best decks in the format... That produced maybe one big event Top 8.

But Core Set 2020 Standard is already upon us... Or at least strongly approaching. At the time of this writing there has been only one event worth talking about; but we can start to see the important themes of the set and format.

1. To the Surprise of No One, Risen Reef is the Most Important Standard Card of the Set

Temur Elementals was the most populous of the initial crop of 5-0 decks.

Temur Elementals | Core Set 2020 Standard | ARIANNE

This is a very proactive deck. It has, ahem, elements in-line with a Gruul Aggro or Green-based Planeswalker deck. It has some acceleration (and thankfully, on-linear) and a powerhouse top end in Nissa, Who Shakes the World.

At that low end starts Creeping Trailblazer. This card might not look like much to start, but given sufficient resources - mana and Elementals - just by itself it can end up punching like a truck. While it looks like an oddly codependent go-tall, Creeping Trailblazer might also be the best go-wide in the format, a Grizzly Bears that is also a Glorious Anthem.

The preferred build of Temur has not yet revealed itself. But we know these things to be true:

Risen Reef is not only a source of card advantage, it's one that helps you build even more advantages. Even when it's drawing extra cards instead of spreading out your resource base, Risen Reef dodges the pesky Narset, Parter of Veils.

For a "mere" 4-drop, Omnath, Locus of the Roil is an incredible game in and of itself. Coming down, it has a Flametongue Kavu-like effect. If Omnath is your only Elemental it can still kill an opposing Risen Reef! In the middle turns, especially if Risen Reef is going unopposed, Omnath's passive resource generation exploits can take over the game entirely.

Temur Elementals | Core Set 2020 Standard | SAMUELGRAEBNER

Which Chandra gets played in Temur is still up in the air, but I'm betting on three over six in the long run; you know...

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

At a minimum, the Elementals-producing power of this version can create a snowball effect with Risen Reef. In the future, I can imagine Creeping Trailblazer not only helping to buff the usually small (and disposable) Chandra-Elemental tokens, but take advantage of their power contribution as well.

These early decks show us what might be as much as anything else. One build doesn't have the Trailblazer part and another plays the biggest Chandra instead of the littlest one. Look for Temur to solidify in the coming weeks. Look for it to pull away as format boogeyman... Or at least the first among equals.

Risen Reef did damage in decks other than Temur, mind you. Check out this update to Simic Mass Manipulation:

Simic Mass Manipulation | Core Set 2020 Standard | ZACHATTACK23

Leafkin Druid joins Llanowar Elves, Incubation Druid, and Paradise Druid for crossover synergy. It's a ramp card! It's an Elemental! It's casting Mass Manipulation! It's triggering off of Risen Reef!

Risen Reef's ability to help build mana bases sideways is obviously great in a deck that wants to make X very big for Mass Manipulation. Opponent lacking in the "interesting things to steal" department? No problem. ZACHATTACK23 has Finale of Revelation for an alternate big spell.

Rounding out the Core Set 2020 contributions is Leyline of Abundance. This card obviously has highly significant text in a deck with so many mana production creatures; all together they're just making X enormous.

Omniscience Risen Reef | Core Set 2020 Standard | PYKAPOWER

My favorite of the early Risen Reef decks has got to be this one.

Weird how the Mass Manipulation - sorry, Leyline of Abundance-into-Finale of Revelation - big spell deck isn't the most powerful one. This would have been almost unimaginable not long ago, but here we are.

PYKAPOWER's version shifts away from creatures-based acceleration (though they are not above a Leafkin Druid and Risen Reef teamup) to just plunking down permanents with good text boxes. Nice to see Urban Utopia - a self-replacing not-accelerator that came in with a lot of fanfare but failed to produce a good deck - finally contributing somewhere.

Those permanents; those Arboreal Grazers for instance; create a battlefield where Flood of Tears can attack, even while it's defending. And oh how it attacks.

Omniscience

It's on.

I mean, I suppose you can just cast this. But Flood of Tears is far faster and more frustrating for the opponent. It's also a potential loop for the deck.

If you have Tamiyo, Collector of Tales; Flood of Tears; and Omniscience (and a couple of other permanents) you can just loop. Cast Flood of Tears putting Omniscience into play. Play Tamiyo for free. Get back Flood of Tears. Repeat. If all you have is a paltry Gift of Paradise you can build a prohibitively high life total. Any card advantage or card drawing permanent at all will eventually get you there. Risen Reef, Urban Utopia, the odd Planeswalker activation... This deck's Jace, Wielder of Mysteries kill is quite novel. Personally I think it would be more fun to just fart my whole deck onto the battlefield and gain a bazillion life; but that doesn't actually win, here.

Dinosaurs | Core Set 2020 Standard| Boreez

After Risen Reef decks, the most immediate impact seemed to be from the Dinosaur tribe. This tribe has been around all along, but never before did it have Marauding Raptor.

The two-three punch in this tribe is perhaps its most important new feature. turn two Marauding Raptor into turn three Ripjaw Raptor and draw a card? That's some good Magic! Ripjaw Raptor was already one of the preferred methods of anti-Mono-Red technology for Green (with or without other Dinosaurs). Now we have a full-blown engine.

In the near future I would expect to see experiments with Dinosaurs playing Rampant Growth; little Dinosaurs that block sacrificing their 1/1 lives to make medium Dinosaurs that attack; all the while buffing the Marauding Raptor and lining up the [near] future for a certain Legendary trampler.

It's early still.

One thing that surprised me is how few established archetype decks made the 5-0 break. I assume due to card availability concerns there were more than one classic Esper; more than one Command the Dreadhorde; and certainly more than one Mono-Red Aggro. Yet there was but a single quartet of Goblin Chainwhirlers in the initial crop of undefeated sixties.

From my perspective Mono-Red may be a great choice early on because of its speed. "Mono Dead" say certain fancypants mages when confronted with a first-turn basic Mountain. They know they might be in trouble in the face of a fast clock plus removal. Shock and Goblin Chainwhirler are about as good of responses to Risen Reef as you can expect; and the rest of the burn spells (Lightning Strike, et al) are still fine, right?

But as surprising as the small number of established archetypes at 5-0 might have been, the re-emergence of a different classic really caught my eye:

Mono-Blue | Core Set 2020 Standard | LLEAF33

Mono-Blue loves to race!

Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer's initial [+2] is helpful in a race. But her follow up is utterly mind boggling in this strategy. Let the opponent untap with Mu Yanling and you'll be facing an Air Elemental (but at a steep discount in mana and time). You know what else loves a race? A 4/4 flyer... That you under-paid for.

Spectral Sailor is the card that really brings sexy back. This flashy flyer simply stole Mist-Cloaked Herald's spot on the team. A full four-of now, Spectral Sailor offers a little trickery (due to flash), the evasion (obviously), but maybe most importantly, a one-card combo.

No one is saying this need breed of Mono-Blue can't exploit the Chart a Course and Curious Obsession lines. Those cards are still present in abundance. But the ability to hang back on Wizard's Retort and especially Spell Pierce to just Jayemdae Tome up a card every turn or two with your 1-drop attacker offers a truly meaningful new functionality to the deck.

Is it Fish?

Is it Draw-Go?

Orzhov Aristocrats | Core Set 2020 Standard | MAZUKU94

There were lots of new decks revealed this week.

There were more than one Orzov creature decks, in fact.

But I wanted to end on MAZUKA94's. What sticks out at you about this list? For me it is the four - four - copies of Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord. Sorin's normally innocuous "ping for one" ability has new meaning in a world where Risen Reef is the dominant form of card advantage.

This deck has a surprising number of layers. It has the creature thing going. Advantage creatures that block well; that make removal unattractive. Four copies of Ravenous Chupacabra to kill Risen Reef (or big threats). Cavalier of Night as the sole Core Set 2020 contribution next to seventy-one established spells.

The Cavalier leads an important life gain charge. With lifelink itself, this creature synergizes with Sorin, with Basilica Bell-Haunt... And oddly with Midnight Reaper. All that life gain gives you fuel for your Reaper!

Finally, it seems just really well prepared to me. Sorin is a good answer to Risen Reef on the one end; life gain with plenty of guys with four or 5 toughness line Orzhov up well for Mono-Red. While it lacks kind of the nuts and bolts you might expect in the middle turns - there isn't a single Cast Down or Vraska's Contempt in the seventy-five - this deck makes up for that interplay a little with the sideboard.

Duress (especially paired with pressure) can solve a lot of problems, and the one-two punch of a Bell-Haunt follow-up can make life (or at least in-game decisions) quite difficult for the other Planeswalker at the table.

Now all I have to do is figure out what Core Set 2020 cards to order here on Cool Stuff...

Risen Reef I think?

LOVE

MIKE

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, michael flores, core set 2020, #mtgm20, 07092019

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