Final Fantasy is here, and with it some new updates to Standard as we know it. Standard is in kind of a weird interim phase right now. For starters, we're only about a month and a half away from rotation, with the release of Edge of Eternities in late July. The next Standard RCQ season also doesn't start until early August, meaning Pro Tour Final Fantasy is the next major Standard event for the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, Final Fantasy has provided a slew of new exciting cards to add to the format, and there are a couple of fun and competitive decks on my radar now that the set has been out for a couple of days on MTG Arena. While I'm not expecting the format to change drastically until the release of Edge of Eternities in July, I am curious if any new decks will show their faces at the Pro Tour, or if we'll see any existing decks get some upgrades.

This week of a new Standard started how it usually does for me, with multiple friends sending me a Control list that did well online.

Ultima is the real deal, and while I think four copies might be a lot, it definitely is potent against Izzet Prowess. This list feels loosely based on Chris Bothelo's second place finish at RC Hartford, with a swap from Jace, the Perfected Mind to Elspeth, Storm Slayer. Biased as I may be, I think Azorius Control is a great place to start right now, since you can position your deck to be good against Red and Cutter while also slotting in a new wrath that's just good in multiple matchups.

Ultima stifles Heartfire Hero, kills Cutters where Temporary Lockdown can't, and can even stop your Dimir opponent from flashing in an Enduring Curiosity (unless they want the enchantment to stick). While five 5-drops in this list does seem like a lot, I have to remind myself that Jeskai Control plays four Shiko, Paragon of the Way (and sometimes an extra Sunfall-esque card). I'm a little sketched out by No More Lies in a five colorless lands deck, but with so many copies of Marang River Regent, I kind of just want to play Dispelling Exhale instead (albeit, this deck does have two less dragons than your typical Jeskai Control list).

Next up is Abzan Yuna, a deck AliEldrazi used to hit Mythic on MTG Arena.

This deck looks like a blast to play, and includes five separate new cards in the maindeck! One overlooked card from Final Fantasy that impressed me was Resentful Revelation, seeing as how popular Moment of Truth has been in recent decks. Resentful Revelation seems like the perfect card for a deck like this, as it allows you to bin your reanimation targets and grab either a reanimation spell, or something handy like your third land drop or timely removal piece.

I'm also super excited to see Esper Origins in this list. Esper Origins was a card that I had a hard time analyzing. It certainly looked very powerful, but I was unsure what home it would fit in. Turns out this is a great one, as you can bin it off multiple cards in this deck and it also is a nice way to fill your graveyard while gaining life against Aggro decks.

With so many cards from Domain leaving Standard in a few weeks, like Leyline Binding, Herd Migration, and Zur, Eternal Schemer, Yuna, Hope of Spira feels like the next best way Domain Overlords can stay relevant - and who doesn't like the idea of reanimating Summon: Bahamut?

Another fun graveyard/combo-y deck I found is this Esper Jumbo Cactuar deck by MTG Creative Combos.

This deck sort of operates like the Yuna deck, in a weirder way. It involves first getting a Jumbo Cactuar in your graveyard, and then utilizing Kaya, Spirits' Justice to exile it, and by proxy, turning one of your tokens into a Jumbo Cactuar and attacking! You have lots of fun ways to make tokens, such as utilizing Collector's Vault (which doubles as a way to get a Jumbo Cactuar in the graveyard) and Spyglass Siren. Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator both makes tokens that can become Cactuars while also having a tacked on ability to make your Cactuar unblockable. This is definitely a more "fun" deck than a highly competitive one, but it can definitely catch your opponents off-guard and might be a great choice for the Best of One ranked ladder on MTG Arena.

While there are a lot of new decks floating around in Standard, I'm still wary of how impactful Final Fantasy will be to the format when Cori-Steel Cutter and Monstrous Rage pose such a threat to the format's diversity. It is worth noting that later this month we do get an updated Banned and Restricted announcement, plus that incoming rotation with Edge of Eternities. While we may not see any breakout decks at Pro Tour Final Fantasy I think there's a lot to be discovered depending on what gets banned and what cards are in the next Standard set. In the meantime, it's cool to see cards like Final Fantasy X's best girl making waves.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

-Roman Fusco